A Year in the Life of a Homeschooling Family: Day 11

Today I woke up before the alarm went off, no, actually, before the alarm should have gone off had I set it. Hmmm. I’m thinking there might be something in this. Maybe if I never set an alarm I’ll wake up early every morning…

I probably should mention that reason I woke up so early was gunk. Yes, gunk. I seem to have caught a chesty cold from someone. Boo hiss! I HATE being ill!

No matter, school was calling, and I’m nothing if not diligent in the schooling sphere. The little ones had done their chores and were sat at the table doing their ACE work:

Charlotte had also completed her chores and was sat reading Ovid’s Metamorphosis, waiting for me to jot down her school work for the day. I usually do it the night before for Charlotte, but I was so tired from my visit up to London, I went straight to bed. Now, I think probably I was coming down with the cold.

Lillie was still doing her chores. She chooses to do the kitchen, even though it is by far the biggest job in the morning. I grabbed a quick photo of Lil and her Dad, who was off work for the day:

Thomas went round to Granny’s house to help her lift something heavy in her garden, and she asked him to stay for a coffee and a chat. He needed no further encouragement. The only thing was he didn’t tell anyone where he was. I phoned him later on to ask where on earth he was, and he replied that he’d run away from home! He didn’t quite get the response he wanted when I asked him to get himself back here and do his chores first…then he could run away. But not until his chores were done! There was lots of laughter at the other end of the phone from Granny and Thomas! I had to pop round to Mum’s and get a photo. Mum is very close to each of her grandchildren and they are always popping round for a ‘quick‘ chat:

Once the girls had finished half their books, Daddy took them to the local bakery to buy an iced crown for morning meeting:

Aww, I love Gary being at home!

Poor Becca was really struggling today. When she was younger, she got a nasty case of Scarlet Fever, which really knocked her for six (whatever that actually means!). Anyhow, sometimes she still gets a residual tiredness, and today was one of those times. She had a few self tests to do as well as a spelling test. But when she is that tired she struggles to remember all she has learnt. So we snuggled up, grabbed a blanket (I was running a temperature and was cold and poor Becs is always cold), and we went through each of her self tests together. Yes, self tests are meant to be done by one’s self, but I personally would rather sit with Becs whilst she completes them and she is successful, than leaving her at the table feeling overwhelmed by it all. That said, I did ask her to write out the spellings she got wrong three times each. She was less than impressed!

Abs was also taking self tests, but she rarely has a struggle with them – the repetitive nature of the workbooks works really well for her and creates an environment for success. She had a large spelling test, for which she achieved 100%.

In the middle of helping Becs and testing Abs on her spelling, I was also using my home-made question sheet to quiz Lil on her Psychology:

She has been learning how to use the Mind Palace method of learning things. One task I set her was to create her own Mind Palace in order to memorise The Beatitudes:

And she managed it so well! She literally walked around the room in her own mind palace and recited the Beatitudes almost flawlessly:

Yay for mind palaces!

I managed to snap one of Thomas post-chores and just before leaving for college:

I do love my son! He came up and engulfed me in a huge hug and said how pleased he was that we were so close. I feel very blessed to have three teens who are so open with their feelings, good and bad.

Just before lunch, the girls and I finished up making their mummies:

and I prepped the tray which would eventually become our Planet Mars surface model, containing a possible living environment for Mars. The girls then used one of our favourite modelling materials, paper mache (we buy it because the paper mache mulch comes with a plaster dust in it, meaning it sets really hard), and created the base. I wanted them to include any main features of Mars to help remind them – they chose the volcanoes, the terrestrial surface and the smiley face crater, along with the ‘foundations’ for the living environment/ecosystem:

I am hoping it will be dry by tomorrow so we can add our rusty sand and clay stones, as well as some paint.

Although I had lots of activities planned for the afternoon, I was ‘encouraged’ to go to bed. It didn’t take much persuading though. Gary, bless him, took Charlotte to her physio appointment (where she was discharged – yay!), bought all the ingredients for a fresh bolognaise, came home and then cooked dinner for tonight. Am I not married to a good man?

As I write this, the older girls are finishing off their school work, after which they will be popping into the village to see a couple of their friends. The little ones are creating all sorts of stories with good ol’ Thomas the Tank Engine which we’ve not put away since the weekend:

And I am in bed watching the Great British Bake Off whilst trying not to cough.

Not the most productive of days, but everyone got all their vitals done…and there’s always tomorrow.