This Was Not The Best Week of Our Lives
It still feels like we're just getting back into the swing of things, even though we have been home for weeks now. We're restarting all the kids' social activities: nature groups (three a week!), ballet class from a friend's older sister, library trips, etc. And of course getting the basics of school happening.
January is always an exciting time in our homeschool. Every year, we retell the Montessori Five Great Lessons: The Story of the Coming of the Universe, The Story of the Coming of Life, The Story of the Coming of Humans, The Story of Communication in Signs, and The Story of Numbers. The goal is to put all learning into context and make it exciting!
We did the first Great Lesson this week, which covers the Big Bang up to the Earth being covered with water. The big hit of this one is always the volcano, which did not explode in a very satisfactory way this year. Alison wants to remember to use a disposable water bottle for the reaction chamber next year. Rea made a better volcano for the kids after the story was over, and we read lots of books about the solar system. The kids planned a play to introduce all of the planets, but we never had enough people to do it.
January is also Carnival season! In Latin American countries (and Louisiana), Carnival is a season of parties and festivities from Christmas to Mardi Gras. We have weekly parties with friends during Carnival. This week was Gideon's turn to plan. He chose to invite his cousins on Saturday for lunch and have an ocean theme. We had croissant sandwiches in the shape of crabs and a cake, which we forgot to decorate. (Oops!) Amy's family brought chips and Becky's family brought a salad, and the kids ran off in a pack and played for hours while the grown ups chatted. It was great.
Baby Elizabeth has been a rotten sleeper for months now. We finally figured out that the reason she would scream and scream at night was because she got too distracted to nurse well during the day, so she was hungry all night. This week Alison tried moving her nursing chair into the Montessori room and locking the door and pulling the blinds when Baby needed nursing. It worked; Baby doesn't scream for hours at night now! However, she had a cold and some very bad teething this week, so she's still not sleeping through the night. But just needing to be patted back to sleep is an improvement! (The sitting in a dark room while the other kids do who-knows-what is a challenge, too, but sleep is worth it.)
The really bad teething has been going on for three days now, and Mike and Alison are getting worn out. Baby needs to be held and walked around for more than half the day, and sometimes she's even refusing to nurse. Alison has been pumping and giving her milk in a cup, which is no fun for anyone. We sure hope this passes soon!
Mike is having a difficult time this week with his new team lead, and he has been considering whether he's ready to quit his day job and only have a night job, but he thinks it's probable that he won't. We're not quite financially ready for that, but we're looking forward to it in a few years.
On the positive side, Mike and Alison are both exercising more and keeping a food journal. Alison wants to get her BMI back to a healthy level and Mike wants to lose some inches around his waist, and we're making good progress! (Well, progress, anyway. Any progress is good right now.)
Mike has been building a relationship with a famous board game designer for a while now. Just recently, he said that he was looking for co-designers on a couple of games, so Mike volunteered for one! He's very excited to work with someone he respects and maybe get another game published.
January is always an exciting time in our homeschool. Every year, we retell the Montessori Five Great Lessons: The Story of the Coming of the Universe, The Story of the Coming of Life, The Story of the Coming of Humans, The Story of Communication in Signs, and The Story of Numbers. The goal is to put all learning into context and make it exciting!
We did the first Great Lesson this week, which covers the Big Bang up to the Earth being covered with water. The big hit of this one is always the volcano, which did not explode in a very satisfactory way this year. Alison wants to remember to use a disposable water bottle for the reaction chamber next year. Rea made a better volcano for the kids after the story was over, and we read lots of books about the solar system. The kids planned a play to introduce all of the planets, but we never had enough people to do it.
January is also Carnival season! In Latin American countries (and Louisiana), Carnival is a season of parties and festivities from Christmas to Mardi Gras. We have weekly parties with friends during Carnival. This week was Gideon's turn to plan. He chose to invite his cousins on Saturday for lunch and have an ocean theme. We had croissant sandwiches in the shape of crabs and a cake, which we forgot to decorate. (Oops!) Amy's family brought chips and Becky's family brought a salad, and the kids ran off in a pack and played for hours while the grown ups chatted. It was great.
Baby Elizabeth has been a rotten sleeper for months now. We finally figured out that the reason she would scream and scream at night was because she got too distracted to nurse well during the day, so she was hungry all night. This week Alison tried moving her nursing chair into the Montessori room and locking the door and pulling the blinds when Baby needed nursing. It worked; Baby doesn't scream for hours at night now! However, she had a cold and some very bad teething this week, so she's still not sleeping through the night. But just needing to be patted back to sleep is an improvement! (The sitting in a dark room while the other kids do who-knows-what is a challenge, too, but sleep is worth it.)
The really bad teething has been going on for three days now, and Mike and Alison are getting worn out. Baby needs to be held and walked around for more than half the day, and sometimes she's even refusing to nurse. Alison has been pumping and giving her milk in a cup, which is no fun for anyone. We sure hope this passes soon!
Mike is having a difficult time this week with his new team lead, and he has been considering whether he's ready to quit his day job and only have a night job, but he thinks it's probable that he won't. We're not quite financially ready for that, but we're looking forward to it in a few years.
On the positive side, Mike and Alison are both exercising more and keeping a food journal. Alison wants to get her BMI back to a healthy level and Mike wants to lose some inches around his waist, and we're making good progress! (Well, progress, anyway. Any progress is good right now.)
Mike has been building a relationship with a famous board game designer for a while now. Just recently, he said that he was looking for co-designers on a couple of games, so Mike volunteered for one! He's very excited to work with someone he respects and maybe get another game published.
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