Today was the big 20-week ultrasound. I was elated to find out that we have a healthy baby who is growing right on track, to the day, and now weighs 12 oz!
Despite popular belief, we are having a baby BOY!
I am so excited to be having another boy!
The older two are very disappointed to be having another baby brother.
Our daughter is especially upset. Hopefully, she will come around in time.
Now to pick out a name…
This week, the children and I spent three full days at a Classical Conversations Practicum. You may remember that we have decided to join Classical Conversations for this coming homeschool year. Parents were able to attend the Practicum for free and there were several camps offered at a low cost for children.
Our littlest was in the nursery while the middle two were in Play Camp. Our oldest was in a Geo-Drawing camp, which he claims was boring because he “already knew how to draw a map of the world.” I think they all had fun, but by the last day, they were ready to be back home again. Three full days is a lot for small children, especially since they spent last week at VCS for five days in a row. They were exhausted by Thursday morning.
This year’s Practicum was about Math, specifically High School Math. I should have known this ahead of time, and if I had, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the Practicum. We have decided to homeschool one year at a time. That means that right now I am only looking ahead to this coming year. During and after which, we will re-evaluate and see what we think is best for our family in the coming school year.
One of the benefits of the practicum itself was that I was able to recognize, for probably the first time ever, that I am good at Math. By the time I started High School, I considered myself more of a literature/writing/music/drama type of student, so I didn’t push myself in Math or Science very much. I kept my focus in other areas. But I enjoyed working the Math problems in the afternoons of the Practicum, even though it did get a bit monotonous. It gave me a bit of self-confidence regarding my ability to teach the children higher-level subjects. I wish we had had more time to talk about how to apply the Classical Model to homeschooling, but I was able to talk with some other moms in order to have my questions answered.
I am certain that we are all going to enjoy this new journey of homeschooling as a complete family. Homeschooling one child had its challenges, but I think that when we are all working together on the same basic schedule and uniting ourselves in this way, homeschooling and life in general will function a lot more smoothly.
Besides educationally, in what ways has
homeschooling benefited your family?
Yesterday we had one of those lazy days. Our kids slept in until forever-and-a-day o’clock, which is beyond rare especially considering the fact that our three year old usually wakes up before 6am. By the time my husband and I got out of bed, we quickly realized that we didn’t have enough time to get six people ready for church. Sunday morning fail.
It worked out OK because we were able to rest and get some things done. Not ideal, but it is what it is. I put away laundry, watched some Storm Chasers while cleaning our bedroom, and sewed a new purse:
Unfortunately, in the midst of this, Gregory walked into a wall… the flat part of the wall… and injured his eye. I realized that is was just a conjunctival hemorrhage which would heal on its own, so I didn’t take him to the UTC when it happened. But then he kept crying and screaming randomly for the next hour or so. I finally gave in and took him to the ER, since the UTC was now closed.
It took the doctor all of one minute to say that he is just fine. It is a conjunctival hemorrhage on his right eye and a bruised bone. They sent us away with some medicine for his eye, and we were home within a half hour.
Poor kiddo had a difficult night, but finally fell into a deep sleep some time after 10pm. Once again, every slept in, although not as late. But, hey, I’ll take what I can get!
If you are an Orthodox Christian family who is homeschooling,
please take a few minutes to complete the following survey:
Orthodox Christian Homeschooling Survey
This survey is being conducted by request of His Grace, Bishop THOMAS.
He is Bishop of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic, in the Antiochian Archdiocese.
The education of our children is a subject dear to his heart (see, for instance, his essay).
His hope is to collect some data on Orthodox homeschoolers, across jurisdictions,
so as to better understand and minister to our needs.
Also, please post to blogs, forward the link to friends, etc.
Thank you!
The other morning, the kids went to the burrow and found it empty. Fortunately, for us, the bunnies were still close by because they thought themselves trapped inside the chicken wire. We adjusted it a bit, and they haven’t been back since.
This little guy tried to get out through a hole in the chicken wire.
Fortunately, David saved the day and pulled him back through.
This is my favorite shot- makes me think of Beatrix Potter.
Once I was certain that they had moved out, I filled the area with dirt and planted some flowers near my tomatoes. Not the prettiest garden in the world, but, hey, things are growing!
