Apologies if this was posted twice or you received duplicate copies. When I posted it the first time it came up with a 2nd September date, which was wrong. So I reposted. With the correct date. I hope. Not sure though….don’t really know what I’m doing half the time!
This week started off with a bang with A turning 6 and us hosting a Little Miss Splendid’s Spa themed birthday party for her:
I worked incredibly hard to get it done in time and had barely recovered by Saturday night when we had a 50th birthday party to go to. The three older children were asked to serve at the party so had to look smart. T12 didn’t own a pair of black trousers (the theme was white and black) so we took in a bag of stuff to the Red Cross and received £2 to spend in their shop which we promptly did on a pair of black trousers! I thought they looked amazingly grown up so had to capture it of film:
By Sunday B3 sounded as if she was coming down with something chesty. Ever since she had Scarlett Fever she seems a little run down and catches cold type infections really easily. T was on the case though! He researched which herbs would be helpful from one of his many herbology books and went into the garden in search of them. He then proceeded to run in a lovely hot bath for B3 and also boiled the kettle for some inhalation bowls. He placed lots of herbal inhalation bowls on stools and sideboards around the bathroom:
I know he’s my son, but isn’t he just incredibly kind? B3 definitely enjoyed the attention as she asked for another herby bath the next day!
Monday saw us beginning our Native American studies with the fun unveiling of all the resources they would be using over the next few months:
We also begun our read alouds of a Native American history book and the first book in the Birch Bark House Series during our morning meeting:
This immediately led to much pretend play, building a tepee (of sorts) in the garden which has over the course of the week turned into a wigwam (!) and beginning some weaving on a loom:
We really have had a very good school week this week. We’ve done a stack of hands on stuff as well as lots of written work, reading, narrations, research and playing. It has been a perfect balance. Here’s a collage of snippets of our week but I will be posting more in-depth posts next week:
Classes have begun for all the children with T12 fencing, C11 singing lessons and L11 continuing with gymnastics and A6 beginning gymnastics and continuing with swimming lessons:
Little B3 is a bit young for formal classes (although she does do swimming lessons once a week) but she enjoys running off steam at the soft play area each day:
And I shall leave you with one last picture of B3 trying to click her fingers. Each time she ‘clicked’ her fingers together she made a clucking noise with her tongue. Cute, no?
I am so blessed.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend with much love and laughter filling the hours.
Really great to hear your update of this week, I find it all so interesting. Glad you had a good week, with everything. Take care and love you all lots xxxxxx
Thanks Carolyn!
What a fantastic week! How handy to have help caring for the littles when they are ill!
The three older ones are fabulous and always eager to help, but T in particular grows herbs for the purpose of helping the family. I love parenting this age.
Yes, you are really blessed. Me, too. You know it is funny, because I always think you get so much more done each week than I can accomplish. 🙂 I think the care in which they show each other is exceptional and speaks volumes for you and your husband. I love the pictures of your older kids. And yes, the little ones both are so cute.
I can’t believe how big they are all getting. The older ones are almost fully grown. T is almost the same size as Gary! When did that happen?
I really love their red hair!!
The “black and white theme- picture” is too cute, because of the pink accessories, I like it.
I´m very curious about the interesting creation on the cardboard and all your other activities! You are great! Have a nice weekend.
You’ll have to wait and see next week!!
I love the red hair as well, especially the fiery redness of B3, much like her personality!
I’m loving the Native American study already! What a great idea to have an “unveiling of supplies” – it makes it all so much fun.
This is the most fun we’ve had since last summer’s unit on Little House. I am so excited, I’m unbearable!!
You are indeed blessed with such a loving and beautiful family, Claire! I love reading about your weekly wrap-up, especially about the kindness and care shown by your children toward one another. The older ones look so grown-up in their black-and-white themed clothes. The littles are just ever so cute! 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you Hwee. My weekly wrap ups are my favourite posts to write. I’m glad you enjoy them too!
It is going to be so fun to watch your Native American study come to life! I can’t wait to see it….I also love all the photos of the older children in their dress-up clothes!
Thank you Rebecca. Taking the photo of them looking so smart was a proud mummy moment for me. They don’t usually look so clean!
What a lovely week and what a sweet son. He will make a great husband and dad some day.
Blessings, Dawn
Thank you Dawn.
You seem to have enjoyed another lovely week together. You have such a caring and kind family.
I always enjoy reading about your adventures:) I hope to see you soon over on the link:)
I linked up this week! We’ve been off school for two weeks so I didn’t really have much to post or link! It’s good to be back though.
You are so blessed with such a sweet, thoughtful, close-knit family. You make me smile.
Thank you Kris.
They do look so grown up and lovely. Your children are so wonderfully kind and considerate of each other. I just love to read about them each week.
Aw, that’s sweet Christy. Thank you.
Your kids DO look so grown up. I love all the pictures but especially the sweet hug your 2 daughters are sharing. Precious. As always I love the way you ‘do school’. I love how you all learn together. Happy 6 to your girl. She is so adorable. And YES I wish we lived closer too. We would love to be able to share your large family and have tea parties! 🙂
I love that picture too, not only because it shows how close they are but also because it highlights their different personalities. C (left) is very exuberant and loving, whilst L is calmer and gentle. We’re thinking about blowing the picture up and putting it on the wall.
hi Claire I just wanted some advise, I have a daughter same age as your twins and we are using galore park in maths the’ so you really want to learn maths book 2′, I am finding it way above her limits and also I am not finding the explanations thorough and am having to’ you tube’ a lot of methods, what are you using for your twins. Help!! Thank you debbie
Hi Debbie. This comment came through on the post I deleted so I took the liberty of transferring it onto this post so I could answer it. I hope that is okay?
My girls use Book 1 because they find maths hard. My son uses book 2 and he is whizzing through it (he will be 13 in Jan) but has done a lot of the work in Saxon text books so a lot of it is revision.
The best way I have found to teach the girls is to focus on one chapter at a time and teach them in a hands on way without using the text book. When I think they fully understand they can then do the chapter questions, which are usually completed without any difficulty.
These books are written for private school and may very well be harder than the age for which they are set. T is on the book for his age but was a couple of years ahead in Saxon. The girls I am allowing to go with their ability rather than their age which has so far prevented any problems.
My friend uses Galore Park and she believes they are about a year above the age they are recommended for. I don’t know if that is true.
I do know what you mean with regards to the answers having no explanations. I am fairly strong in maths but sometimes I can not for the life of me understand how they came by their answer. I just figure they must have got it wrong!!!
Has she already done book 1? All three books are almost identical with the concepts being just a little bit harder. Maybe checking book 1 and seeing if she has missed anything would help, or if she has not completed book 1 have her do that first.
I hope this helps a little.
I think I’ve figured out the secret, go to another post and then come back to this one.
Your olders do look so grown up! Especially the girls in their fancy dresses, they look beautiful.
T is being quite a great older brother and maybe someday he’ll be a trained herbalist (one of my friends is going through that process now, and she always has great advice for health problems).
I often wonder what he will do. The world is his oyster!
Such a busy, active family! How wonderful and thoughtful of T to look after B so well – I hope she is feeling better.
She is, thank you for asking. I need to build up her immune system because the Scarlett fever really has shaken it.
You are so blessed! What a sweet young man you have! A beautiful, hard working family!
Thank you Sylvia.
Oh, Claire, I am not sure how I missed this post, but you have such lovely children. They look stunning in their dress clothes! So beautiful and handsome. I should think you would cry when you look at them! Your photos certainly show the love they have for one another. I love your “Precious Moments” posts. They are just that! Thank you for taking the time to share them with all of us.
Thank you Donna, and it’s my pleasure to share.