Weekly Review: A Fly on the Wall

This year has been a very different one to previous years. Up until last year I had five children who were all home at different times throughout the week, studying or working part time and for the few years before that there were seven filling up the house. It's been a very a different dynamic this year with only the two youngest at home during the day.
I've always had a flexible approach to home schooling and whilst I can't see myself getting rigid, I think I do need to be more structured. When I had lots of kids to teach, I naturally fell into a routine. I had to or I never would have got anything done. Now that I don't have the same pressure of circumstances, it's easier to let the time leak.

Sometimes I find it helpful to write down what we're doing as we go, to get a better idea of where the leaks are occurring and to see where I need to be more intentional.

This is a fly on the wall's view of a couple of days of this past week.

Wednesday

Got up at 7am.

Zana (22) first year of teaching (Year 6); Nougat (18) apprentice plumber, have already left for work

Benj, Moozle & I do our individual Bible reading 

8am - Dad leaves for work 

Benj (15)- Maths & Science; Jensen's Format Writing

Hoggy (20) goes for a run, and then heads off to TAFE - he's in his 3rd year of a 4 year cadetship & studying electrical engineering technology.

Moozle (10) - Cello practice. I do some patchwork and keep an eye on her practice to make sure she's doing what she should. She has an exam in about three weeks.

Copy work; listens to times tables & does her drawing practice using Mark Kistler's Draw Squad:

Singapore maths with me

Age of Fable - I've been reading this aloud to her; oral narration

Drawing pactice while listening to Dvorak's Largo:

Benj - piano practice

Moozle - Dictation, Grammar using the dictation passage (colour the proper nouns blue, underline nouns in purple, circle the verbs green.

'Europe was at peace, and Napoleons in exile on the Isle of Elba. Matthew hardly knew of this, for he had been in bed sixteen weeks, steadily becoming weaker.'

Maths speed drill

Poetry review while continuing with drawing 

Lunch - free reading 

Together time

Devotions: Bible, memory work, prayer time

Poetry - William Wordsworth. I've used The Harp & Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist to delve a little deeper with poetry with the older children. She has some commentary on various poems & a good selection.
Read aloud: A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey - an Australia classic set in the outback of Western Australia. It's good.

Hoggy comes home - takes Benj to work at 3.30pm

Moozle and I go to Orchestra rehearsal

Home around 5.30pm

I pick up Benj from work. He's doing some training for the part-time job he's starting which has thrown a spanner in the works a few days this week.

Dinner

Zana and I have a quick trip to the Library

Come home and spend some time with that man of mine.

Thursday

6am - Dad has a conference call at home for work

7am - I head off to the markets on my own to do a quick shop

8am - I get home; cook breakfast & dh and I have some time together before he goes to work

Benj - Maths, Reading, oral narration, piano practice

Moozle - Maths, Cello practice, Latin 

I read aloud Old Man River and Monarch of the Western Skies to Moozle while she 

does her drawing practice (she likes drawing, in case you didn't realise)

French & copy work

We take Benj to work at 12pm

Lunch

Listen to Folksong:

Washing & other domestics

We leave home around 3pm to pick Benj up from work and go to swimming lessons.

5.30pm - I head home with Moozle & make dinner.
Thursday evenings are generally erratic at our place with swimming, soccer, and everyone arriving home at all different times.
Usually I go back to the pool to get Benj but not tonight. Dad is running late so he goes straight to the pool so I can start:

7pm - Book Club at my place. We're working through Start Here by Brandy at Afterthoughts.
I've really enjoyed reading through For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay yet again. Brandy's study links the chapters in Schaeffer's book to Charlotte Mason's Philosophy of Education:

The rest of the family go to bed before we finish our study...

11.30pm - winding down & off  to bed at midnight.

Some things are worth losing a bit of sleep over...now & again.



Linking up with Weekly Wrap-up