Almost halfway through the school year! Ah, that is nice. January is often a hard row to hoe as far as homeschooling goes.
I think I will try this one chronologically like Ragamuffin Rosie did with hers. I liked the way it let her dwell on the big(ger) picture and that is what I really want out of the weekly reports anyway, since I already have a sort of accountability system built in with my daily logs.
This week was relatively quiet as weeks go. That is, we didn't have an enormous number of outside commitments. Still, it was hard for me to get mobilized towards the kids' intellectual pursuits. I am thriving right now, but they are stagnating. Past time to turn things around.
Monday: The occupational therapist didn't arrive so it was a quiet at home day. I cleaned quite a bit and wrote about economics.
Tuesday: Aidan's speech therapist couldn't come up to this area so we are scheduled to see her today. Another quiet day, almost sluggish on the academic front though I made progress in home upkeep.
Wednesday: Aidan had a GI clinic in the afternoon, but we managed to get the minimums done in the morning. His liver enzymes are up and that has been a cause of mild concern, but the operative word was "mild" on their part, which was reassuring. Aidan spoke up very well at the meeting though he still has the habit of saying "yes" to everything they ask. "Do you eat yogurt?" "YES" even though the sight of it makes him gag.
Thursday: no academics since we were travelling on the train. We left at 8 am and didn't get home till 6 pm.
Friday: everyone has colds. We have speech therapy and homeschool stations this afternoon. I am all thrown off by this. One is tolerable, two appointments in a row is too much for me. And I am not feeling good.
Now for the list of things that aren't going very well:
- The stagnation mentioned above. Today it got just a bit better since I actually interacted with Kieron about history. But in general, I have been helping them with math and that's about it for intellectual interaction for the day.
- Related to the first – I'm "next-paging" too much and not planning.
- Too much screen time. Way too much. I really hate that. That ought to be top on the priority list next week – cutting it down, even if I have to spend the day playing referee with cranky kids.
- Have to help Brendan get moving on his vocational decisions.
- I haven't been eating well, or exercising, or even getting outside for a bit of fresh air (it is very icy and cold outside). Same with the kids, generally speaking.
- Various character issues cropping up and the most bothersome ones are my own – mostly due to dislike of being interrupted/called away from things I want to do (or even things I SHOULD do but aren't of first importance right at that moment).
On the bright side:
- The house looks so much nicer. I didn't spend ALL that much time but it made a big difference in the superficial appearance.
- I have been learning a lot. I wish I could just study all day.
- Clare and Liam get to hang out together this weekend and do good cultural things -- this is valuable life experience.
- Aidan stays healthy.
Actually, there are a lot more bright things than negative but all I have to do with the bright things is acknowledge them and feel grateful (relatively easy) while the bad things are things I have to conquer, suppress, redirect, cope with (HARDER).
I hope/intend/plan that by next week:
- I'll have some history/literature/science/religion plans in place for the children.
- I'll be doing better with the food and exercise situation in this house (not just me but the children).
- I will be devoting more time and energy towards their actual instruction (reading to them, talking to them etc).
So there you go.
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