Wednesday: Today became a quiet day with gentle pursuits! In other words we had a very loose structure and what happened happened.
The day started with the kids wanting to go down to the cattle yards for their outside time. It took a while to find hats, shoes and water bottles but off they all went. The house was so quiet, even the dog had gone with them. When they go down to the cattle yards it is the one time that I have no idea what they do they play, have adventures, explore and imagine. They sit and read or write. It is their world away from the house.
Joshua and Jessica both did their math lessons with Math-U-See. Nomi and Daniel played Memory and Snakes and Ladders.
Jessica worked on another flow chart and a list. Nomi made a collage with torn paper making a picture of two parrots sitting in a tree. Daniel is working on making a book. Nomi and Daniel spent a lot of time colouring in a memory verse colouring sheet. Josh continued to type his story. Jess spent sometime in blog-world making friends.
Josh watched Battleplans on the ABC. This tied in nicely with a quote that our visitor, who also loved history, was able to discuss with Josh. Those who dont learn from history end up repeating it. This may be a shortened version of the full quote.
Daniel had his speech therapist appointment today. He finished off the language testing he started a fortnight ago. He did really well in his comprehension and telling stories section, as well as the math/language/vocab sections. He had no clue as to what the parts of his body are called. The other thing that we observed (without actually scoring the test) was that he picked up on new concepts fairly quickly, which indicated that he was learning! So it was very encouraging and next week I expect a written report and new direction for our weekly sessions. The Speech Therapist also left me with some Cued Articulation notes, which will help me indicate to Daniel where the sound comes from in his mouth as he struggles with certain words.
Thursday:
Our visitors leave. Jessica is sick hopefully a 24 hour tummy bug. So today is going to be light and flexible.
This week I have started to be consistent with training Nomi towards having her own personal devotional time with God in the mornings. We have been talking about what makes you a Christian and whether it depends on your feelings or not (Objective truth if you believe in Jesus etc you are a Christian regardless of whether you feel different or not!)
First up after breakfast the kids (except Jess) spend some time back at Portcullis (their cubby) down the road. I let them off from their morning chores, which excited them no end!
After we dropped our visitors off at the airport we didnt stay like we usually do because Jess was starting to look pale again. Josh went to the library and the rest of us went birthday present shopping (Josh turns 13 on Saturday). Jess started to feel better so we all spent a little time at the library getting a book or two.
Our latest game we have introduced to our collection is Dominoes. I bought a book that gives a lot of variations to the game I am thinking that there is a lot of scope in Dominoes further than the usual preschool matching that we automatically do.
After dinner the kids all had table time Joshua is writing another story not so much in the fantasy genre this time but set in Dark Ages. He spent a lot of time researching and thinking his story through. Jess went to bed to read. Nomi did some copy work on Birds and Daniel drew a picture.
So even though we have had yet another light day, when I look back we have covered our Discipleship studies with various discussions and personal devotional times. Every one (except Jess who has been sick) has done some form of writing and even Jessica has been involved in language with her reading and devotional time. The three younger worked on math / shopping skills. Joshua has spent time in research. So it has been a full and learning day!
