Project 52 {Week 4}

Peek at our Week {Changing it up}

Well, my weekend didn’t go exactly how I planned for it to.


We all ended up with another stomach bug, and spent the weekend completely miserable.  I really don’t understand how one family can be sick as much as we are…






Fortunately, we were all better by Tuesday, so we could try out our new school routine.

We’ve had so many breaks from our lessons, that now we really have to buckle down and get as much done as possible.  I decided to switch up our schedule and do the boys’ school first thing in the morning.  They do Bible, spelling, and history together, with me. Then they are free to work on their independent studies through the day: math, reading, and writing.  I usually have about an hour or so before lunch to work with Elaina, and my part of school is done with in the morning. 

So far, it’s working really well.  We’ve been able to cover twice as much as we had been doing on a daily basis.  It also gives them more of a push to get their own work done, rather than lolly-gagging around and having to be reminded to stay on task all day.





In our Abraham study, the boys learned about the old and new covenant, the tabernacle, and the torn veil. 



In history we are finally moving past the Pilgrims.  The boys have done a great job on their “Make-Your-Own-History” books.  I’m hoping to finish up with history in the next month, so that we can start on our science unit.  That might be wishfull thinking though...



The boys and I went on a nice long hike one day this week.  It was fun spending some time alone with them! 



Elaina asked to do a theme unit on oceans, so we got out our Ocean Pack and lots of other fun themed activities. 







Olivia had a really off week, and was difficult to entertain.  She’d sit and work for a few minutes and then was done.  Now I know why she was so whiny…she came down with chicken pox on Saturday!  Poor Baby…






Friday we got together with our good friends for Fun Friday.  We did a Dinosaur theme and the kids had a lot of fun.  I feel terrible though that we’ve accidently exposed them all to the pox…..







We ate a lot of comfort food this week – soups and breads and chocolate.  This Tuscan Sausage Soup is a new favorite of mine.








We finally got around to removing the tack strips in the upstairs hall bath.  A lot of the wood was rotten, and part of the subfloor too.  This is turning out to be a bigger project than we were planning on…

The girls were having a hard time keeping up with all of their toys in their room, so we moved nearly all of it down to the play room in the basement.  It’s amazing how much stuff two little girls need to keep busy!



I'm not sure what this week will bring for us.   Since Olivia has chicken pox, we'll be home-bound.  I'm sure that Elaina is next to follow suit, but hopefully the boys won't get it since they were vaccinated.

It would be so nice to get a break from illness that lasts longer than a week.  But truthfully, this time of year is usually like this for us. 

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Peek At Our Week

We did our best to get back to normal this week.  I prepared myself for attitude issues and was pleasantly surprised when very few came.

Here’s some of what we did:







We worked diligently all week with Olivia, introducing lots of vocabulary.  She actually enjoyed going through several sets of our flashcards.  None of the other kids liked flashcards. Both boys were exceptionally early and clear speakers, and Elaina wasn't too far behind them.  I think the key with Olivia is realizing how much we caved into her screaming, rather than asking her to express herself with words.  Hopefully she'll be back on track soon!









Olivia took these “pit-chos” of me.  She’s still not diggin the camera these days.



Elaina did a bunch of review this week.  She’s seemed to forget a bit from our prolonged Christmas break.  I got a bit nervous when she wasn’t able to recognize some of her numbers and had forgotten a few letter sounds.  After a day or so, she was back though.






She did “_AT”  words this week, and was proud of herself for being able to read the new words.  She is so hard on herself, and needs constant reassurance and encouragement.  I won’t mention who she gets that from….


We’ve spent a fair amount of each day, reading and re-reading through her texts.  She is so sweet, and hugs me when we are done, and tells me how much she loves reading with me.

I love it to! 






I gave Elaina a hair cut this week, and cut nearly 7 inches of hair off.  She was having a really hard time managing the length of it.  It still goes halfway down her back, but with the ends trimmed up and even, there seem to be less tangles.



Nate had a fantastic week.

Which, if you know Nate, is a big deal.


He worked hard to get his work done quickly each day, handled conflict with his siblings with an even temper, and was over-all happy and pleasant most of the time.  We are getting into new territory in math now, and I’m so proud of how hard he is working to understand the new concepts.





We had some freezing weather this week and Nate was the official “Fire Keeper” filling and refilling the wood basket as needed. He was doing great, carefully adding wood logs to the fire, and keeping watch between lessons.   That is, until  I looked over to see him flinging around a burning piece of paper….

He was dismissed from fire duty after that.







He played a few games of chess with Saul, and  spent some time playing Solitaire too.  I think he is getting bored since he has run out of reading material.  Time to go to the library again….





Isaac had an unusually hard week.  He was extra emotional and had a hard time focusing on his school work and his chores. There was a lot of regression from our break, and we did a bunch of review to get him up to speed.  I decided not to do our afternoon lessons because of it.  Poor guy…next week will be better.






After putting it off for nearly a week, I finally made it to the grocery store.  Since we were down to practically nothing, I baked a lot to stretch our meals. 






I made a yummy Chicken Scallopini, Chili Colorado, and our favorite Homemade Pizza.  Elaina and I made Choux pastry for Lemon Cream Cheese Puffs, and Chocolate Chip Scones again.







I’m finally feeling back to myself.

Whew.

That was rough.

I’m finally able to eat normally again.  I’m not sure if I’d worked myself into having an ulcer or what, but that was miserable.  My leg pain has eased up enough that I’ve been able to exercise, and Olivia’s been sleeping through the night.  I’m sure all of that combined with some serious down-time, has helped my mood and energy levels.  Next week I start up with a new Women’s Bible study at church that I am really looking forward to it. 

Saul has the weekend off and we have to tackle the upstairs hall bathroom.  It’s a REAL mess!  He’s already taken out the carpet and pad, but still needs to remove the tack-strip.  I’m hoping to paint the walls, the cabinet, and the trim so that the kids can get back to using their bathroom again and I don’t have to share mine with them.  Selfish, I know, but a mom needs her space. 

Even if it is a tiny lavender-walled washroom. 

It’s mine and I don’t like to share it.