Homeschool Last Week

We didn't do much "school" last week. I was busy trying to fit a week's worth of chores & such into a couple days. The rain made that more challenging. One of the things we SHOULD have done was our "Mammals" activity for the Nature Notebooks. It involves looking for animal footprints & would be best done right after a rain, we had plenty of rain last week but anytime it STOPPED raining I was rushing to do laundry (& hang it on the clothesline) or re-arrange the storage building (it's far enough from the house that I at least wanted the kids outside (where I could go look around the corner to check on them occasionally) while I did it. Ideally I'd have liked them to come up the hill w/ me, but they were too busy LOL. Washing doll clothes by hand and hanging them to dry didn't happen in week when I was scrambling to keep up with the regular laundry (because I wanted to hang it on the line, not use the dryer (note to self, basement is entirely too damp to hang clothes to dry down there, if I need to hang clothes to dry in the house it's going to have to be up in the bathroom). Plus, even on the days it didn't rain, there was a high enough chance of rain each day that I didn't want to risk doing the doll laundry & then having it rain & the girls be upset (if MY laundry got rained on I either pulled it in before the rain started or, if I hadn't caught one, would've just let it get wet & re-dry, but I wasn't sure the girls would be so philisophical about that).

So, we did circle time, and that was about it. Even putting out the toad house, the girls were "too busy" w/ other things when I suggested doing it.

So what DID we do all week?

• I got things shifted around in the storage building so that there weren't any cardboard boxes on the floor (plastic tubs on the floor, cardboard boxes all on the shelves) and to make room for more stuff coming up later in the week
• Our friends who used to live about an hour from our old house, then moved away & now that we've moved are, once again, about an hour away, came to play (the girls took quite awhile to warm up to the kids since it had been quite awhile since they'd been together, but in the end it worked well. The 3 "big kids" (my girls & J) had great fun working to fill in the hole that the landlord is SUPPOSED to be filling in in our backyard (I'm not holding my breath on the landlord doing it anytime soon) and then, when it started raining, had a blast playing in the rain (An (not quite 3) got in on that play as well). Interestingly, while there were some conflicts between the girls & J, they did quite well w/ An & baby M. Part of the rain play involved filling a cup w/ water (from the major gutter leak right over our front steps (another thing on the landlord's to do list, but one that I will begin to bug them about w/ increasing frequency as winter approaches, since it will make the steps quite dangerous come freezing temperatures) and dumping it on each others' heads. Both my girls were quite obliging in bending down so that An could reach to dump water on their heads LOL. They also helped her navigate our steep stairs once we got everyone dried off & they all came inside to play. And were gentle, helpful w/ Baby M as well. Overall, despite some drama revolving around kids they don't know well, and I think A either wasn't feeling good &/or had anxiety about this weekend, which added to the overall drama of the day, it was a good day!
• Thursday we went to Sesame Place (my parents came up again). The girls re-discovered the "Little Birds Rapids" ride that they enjoyed when they were 3, but were afraid to try last summer. They now thoroughly enjoyed it and, thanks to a short line, went on it at least 7 or 8 times. It was overall, a relaxing day for me with them either going by themselves (Teacups, Bed Bounce, Fountain pool . . .) or with Papa (there's a kid version of a gravity drop thing there that he took them on a couple times, and he also took them across the overhead nets (that I refuse to do). After watching them this time, if they feel the need to do it again, as long as there are at least 2 adults in the group, I'd be ok sending them on the nets alone, so my refusal to crawl around on nets suspended many feet in the air shouldn't be an issue going forward) and a few w/ Mama. I think the only thing I went on was the Flying Fish (like Dumbo at Disney) since Dad doesn't like "spinning" rides (but enjoys the Peek-a-bug which makes me dizzier than flying fish, but whatever) and of course I went to the show & Parade w/ them. And while they were in the fountain pool I sat in a lounge chair w/ my feet in the water & let the girls splash me, hee hee. We determined that trying to just eat lunch in the park makes for too exhausting of a day for the kids, so going forward we'll go back to going out to Taco Bell (only a couple minutes away) for lunch not only to give us a filling meal (instead of snacking on cheese & crackers & such) but also because it appears to give the girls a much needed "rest time" even if they're not laying down or really resting.
• Friday my parents helped w/ projects around here & dh & the girls left early afternoon to go to Grandmom's for the weekend (my parents "left" before the girls to avoid any tears about leaving Mama & Papa here, and then came back to finish Dad's project that wasn't done yet).