Monday

Our Mondays are very laid-back now that co-op has ended for the year. Just the way I like it.

The kids were finished with everything but their MCT[ref]Michael Clay Thompson’s ‘Grammar Island’[/ref] language arts by 10:30am. The only reason they didn’t get to that earlier was that I decided to revise my schedule for the program, because we’d gotten way behind on what I’d planned to do with it. That’s what I get for tying things to specific dates. It was nearly noon by the time I’d finished and printed my now date-free revision, so we waiting until after lunch to settle onto the couch for predicates, subjects and Latin stems. We finished up around 1:30, and the kids had the rest of the day to do with as they pleased.

Tuesday

Pete wanted to do his work from a Super-Spy Fortress on Tuesday, so our first order of business was to build a Super-Spy Fortress. (Sidebar: He’d be a huge fan of Fort Magic, if anyone’s looking to give him a rather expensive gift.) Once the fort was completed, he took his books, a pencil and a battery-powered lamp inside and got to work. I was admitted to the fort to help with math — because today’s lesson introduced a new concept — but he did his handwriting and spelling on his own.

Poppy, meanwhile, chose to work at the table as usual.

Other things that happened on Tuesday:

We finished “Sarah, Plain and Tall” in the morning, and the kids weren’t ready for it to end. Poppy found the conclusion “kind of abrupt.” I love the book, but I agree with her assessment.

We stopped at Sonic on the way home from tae kwon do for slushes. Pete dropped his on the garage floor, and sadness ensued.

The kids continued to enjoy working on Code.org.

Suddenly it was 4pm and there were a few lingering things yet to do. And so the kids did them, and then they were done.

Wednesday

Poppy and Pete did all of their work on Wednesday, but I neglected to write anything down about what we did. I do know that we started our new read-aloud book — “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” — on Wednesday.

The kids are about halfway through their art class, and they’re starting to bring home projects. The class is focused on “FUNctional art,” and all I’m allowed to say about exactly what they’re doing is this: The grandparents are going to be getting awesome Christmas gifts this year.

Thursday

Sometimes when people learn that we homeschool, they say “Oh, I could never do that! I just don’t have the patience.” To which I laugh and say, “Neither do I,” which is completely true some days.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Yesterday I reached my breaking point after yet another round of the children complaining about their schoolwork. Most days I more-or-less-calmly explain to them that there are things in life they have to do even if they don’t want to, and math/spelling/grammar/writing is one of those things and let’s just get through it and then we’ll move on to something else. Yesterday wasn’t most days, though. Yesterday was the day I yelled and stomped and grounded everyone for life. Yesterday wasn’t pretty.

After I’d apologized to the kids for my tantrum, we talked about my expectations for them. We talked about how frustrating it was for me to be the object of their irritation so often, and we talked about finding and holding on to kindness in all of our hearts. And we agreed that until they show some major improvements in their attitudes, they won’t be using any of our varied electronic devices.

The kids did end up doing the rest of the work without incident, and them karma twisted my back into knots and I spent most of the evening on the couch with a heating pad.

Friday

Poppy and Pete still have a couple of things left to do today, but it’s been a much better day than yesterday was. They’ve been polite to me, and they’ve been kind to one another. They’ve been playing with Pete’s castle set since just after lunch, and no one has asked for permission to play a single video game.

The highlight of the day so far has been our history lesson, in which we took turns being Louis XIV getting ready for his day. The 10-course breakfast included raisins, marshmallows and tortilla chips. I’m relatively certain that isn’t historically accurate, but it was fun anyway.

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