Monday

Is there any Monday more loathsome than the Monday after Christmas break? I think not. We had a very, very slow re-entry to schoolwork this week. After multiple breaks, a trip to the library and a jaunt to the playground, the work the kids normally finish by 10:30am was still looming over us at 5pm.

We started the morning by listening to a “Story of the World” chapter that covered Metacom (who led the Wampanoag and Narraganset in a war against the settlers and came to a rather terrible end) and Pennsylvania founder William Penn. I’m not entirely sure why they shared a chapter.

Poppy is still reading “Harriet the Spy” and working through its corresponding study. She says “At least now I have something to say if someone asks me my least favorite thing about school,” if you were wondering how well that’s going. She had to list four adjectives describing Harriet for Monday’s assignment, and we practiced by describing one another. She said I’m “strict” and “comfortable (because ‘sweatshirt-ish’ isn’t a word),” while Pete described me as “funny, huggable, blue-eyed and hungry.” All of which is true enough, I suppose.

Tuesday

Between an appointment for me and tae kwon do followed by afternoon playdates for the kids, we didn’t get as much work done as we should’ve. Pete did his spelling and handwriting, and he finished his first-grade math book (he started it midway through last year), but Poppy didn’t do much of anything.

Wednesday

I had another appointment on Wednesday, but it was the only major interruption in the day so we were able to get most of our work done. Poppy took a break from spelling lessons for the first part of this year, but it became apparent that she wasn’t ready to abandon them altogether. So on Wednesday she resumed her spelling studies. The kids also started memorizing “Casey at the Bat,” and we started reading “Family Poems” (selected by Belinda Hollyer) together. For history, we tried to talk like William Penn-era Quakers for the afternoon. The kids did not enjoy it.

Thursday

Our schedule has changed a bit for this half of the year, so our at-home schedule is a little lighter than it was the first half of the year. It was a breeze to get through yesterday, even though we took multiple breaks. Next week the kids start a couple of outsourced classes; we’ll see if I lightened the workload sufficiently.

Friday

Our co-op’s council had its monthly meeting this afternoon, and it was at out house. That meant that any schoolwork we were going to do needed to happen before the meeting. There are many council-meeting days when that doesn’t happen, but this week the kids were focused and cooperative, and they finished everything on their lists. It was rather refreshing.

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