10 Days Into the New Year

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This first full week of the new year we didn't have our "normal" school schedule. I'd made the lesson plans before Christmas! I never plan that far ahead you just never know what the heck is going to happen between now and then you know. When I looked at those plans I knew there was no way it was going to happen without a lot of hard work and some creative scheduling. We decided to school on Sunday, which we hardly ever do, because Tuesday morning Peanut had a doctor appointment and Wednesday was ECJ's 12th birthday with Noni coming out for an afternoon visit and shopping. 

So, Sunday morning we began our lessons. Since the new year has begun we've worked a new routine into our days. We still begin with our daily binders, then any worksheets and copy work is done, next onto our daily devotionals, followed by textbook work, computer lessons, and finished up by any music practice that the children would like to do. Right now we're not asking the campers to practice their new instruments any day but Fridays and if they choose to on the weekends.

It felt odd all week long to be a day or more "ahead" on our lessons since we'd started on Sunday with Monday's work. Peanut took all of Tuesday off of her lessons as she didn't feel up to them after her doctor's appointment. Wednesday morning we did a couple hours worth of work before Noni showed up. And by 3 PM on Thursday we were completely finished with our lessons for the entire week!!

Now, I'm staring Friday in the eye. But, a Friday with no lessons isn't "normal" around here! So, what in the world are we going to do?

Well, turns out I'm pretty savvy about some stuff and had originally (we're talking when we first started homeschooling) had planned for Friday's to be light on school work and heavy on fun. And with the temperatures supposed to reach a balmy 36 degrees F (imagine the eye roll here please) the children will finally be able to go outside for a while. We'll be able to check off a few of our outdoor items from our Winter Bucket List thanks to the 24+ inches of snow on the ground. We'll also do a few of our indoor items from that list. I'm actually really looking forward to it. The children have been cooped up for almost two weeks between stomach viruses and arctic temperatures and they're beginning to act like wild animals.

PreK/K has been just flying by! Though she likes to keep relaxing in her favorite chair at the table when I'm snapping a picture she's learning a lot faster than I anticipated. We purchased a load of new workbooks, this time for Kindergarten, on Wednesday afternoon. I chose to stay with School Zone instead of ordering the MEAD workbooks online. She seems to be enjoying and thriving on them. 

Third grade is moving at a more steady pace now that YCJ has discovered that she can read. I'm no longer having to spend hours at a time walking her through her lessons. I can give her instructions and then just stay available as she does her lessons. She's been working on cursive for the last two weeks and though the picture is of the letter A she's now finished with the letter B. She also did a wonderful job on Wednesday showing off her math skills to her Noni who'd given her a shopping budget. With only the occasional question she did all of the math in her head, originally she had three items picked out (four dollars under budget I might add) and then spotted one item that she wanted more. She put the other three items back and said, "I've hit my budget, but budgets suck." LOL. Well, kiddo get used to it but great job!

Sixth grade is bouncing from being a breeze to being a struggle. Some things, like book work and computer lessons, he just flies through. It's the whole read this book and give us either an oral or written report thing that takes a lot of teeth pulling. Oh, he'll read the book no problem (unless it's Little Women) but giving us a report is like torture for him. It's not that he can't do it it is that he prefers not to. He's pretty good at getting his work done, and given the right incentive (going birthday shopping as an example) will keep him up late into the night working so that he knows for sure he'll get it done. Every night he reads before bed. Now, if only we could get him to pay attention to his chores just as well.

Something new we're doing is Keyboard Classroom. YCJ has been working on it and is really enjoying it. (Yes, this is an affiliate link.) It's working really well for her and there are no games until you earn them by completing tasks! She hasn't earned any games yet but she's still enjoying learning to type through this program! I find it amazing and seeing her type away happily (even if it's only six keys right now) makes my heart happy.

An update on Peanut: Last week I mentioned that Peanut's headaches were back and the migraine medicine that she was on no longer seemed to be working. The trip to the doctor's office this past Tuesday eased our worries a bit. Her medicine was upped by one milliliter, so now she's on a 3ml dosage every night before bed. And though the doctor saw now cause for alarm, he did make a referral to a pediatric neurologist for next Tuesday. It's a long drive from our home and will take awhile to go through everything, plus it's early in the morning. However, it's much better that we find out if anything hidden is wrong now than be surprised later on down the line. Her new dosage seems to be helping some, but it's really too soon to tell as the medication makes her drowsy to begin with and she's only been on it a few days. Please, if you pray, keep her in your prayers this next Tuesday the 14th. I thank you in advance.

Next week's schedule won't be the same as this past week but neither will it be our "normal" schedule either. Since we'll be making the trip down to the pediatric neurologist on Tuesday we'll be stopping on our way back to do our monthly grocery shopping. It makes no sense for us to go 30+ miles one way to go shopping and over 70+ miles the other way for the doctor's appointment and do it within days of each other. While we're that general direction we may stop and Grandma and Papa's house for a quick visit.

Posts you may have missed this week:
Making Things Simple
A Revealing Menu Plan
1st Monday Winter Bucket List Link Up
6 Things That Make Me See Red
ECJ Turns *gulp* 12
Keyboard Classroom in Use

Linking up this week with:
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Homegrown Learners
Faithful Mom of 9
and
Great Peace Academy

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