March 17-23, 2019
This week was Hamilton County's spring break, which means Rory was home with us. We love having him home, but it definitely changes the dynamic of our lives and impacts our daily routine. The boys chose to engage with screens a lot more frequently. We had originally planned to take a trip to Atlanta but between having Rory with us, and both Rory and Salem battling cold, it just didn't happen. Having all four boys home also creates a lot more work for me, just in the day-to-day care/feeding/cleaning up, which is why it has taken me so long to record the week's activities. Rory returned to school yesterday, and we are slowly getting back into a more typical routine.
Sunday
Honestly, I cannot tell you a lot of what happened on Sunday. Salem and I ended up staying in bed until late in the morning. I ran some errands and did yard work the rest of the day and the boys were left to their own devices. I am fairly certain the majority of the day was spent watching television and playing video games.
Monday
On Monday, Liam did not have The Blessing Place due to spring break, so we decided to head out to the river walk for some scooter practice. We had a treat on the patio before walking along the river, then we realized the trail was closed so we headed back. We ended up taking a stroll through the sculpture garden at the Bluff View and while enjoying the art and fountain we ended up discussing the price of art (one of the sculptures was for sale for $4,500 which the boys found absurd).
Tuesday
We had more friends come over to play on Tuesday. The kids played together well, both inside and outside. I served a family-style lunch and enjoyed seeing the kids help serve each other and engage in conversation. In the afternoon, after one friend was picked up, the kids created their own superhero costumes out of paper. They asked to eat dinner outside and spent the entire evening playing on the trampoline and picnicking. At one point, Dexter was having a hard time, so he came in to play some video games. He played No Man' Sky and Typo-man. Typo-man is far beyond Dexter's literacy skills but with some guidance he can play it and it is great letter recognition practice. When it got too dark and chilly to play outside, the kids came inside to have ice cream and watch a movie. Their friend spent the night and it went great!
Wednesday
On Wednesday, the HIVE co-op we attend was having a Spring Equinox celebration at the park. The kids got up and spent the morning watching cartoons before we headed out to pick up our contribution for the party. Afterwards, we headed to the park, were we ate, planted seedlings, read a spring story, and hunted for eggs with our friends.
Thursday
Thursday morning, Dexter had an Outschool class at 7:00 a.m. It was a dinosaur class that he really wanted to take so we signed up in spite of the early time. It was still dark, but Dexter was excited and ready to go! He ended up being the only student and he enjoyed having the teacher's undivided attention, but later he said this made the class less fun. He learned a little about dinosaur classification, read a dino book, colored some dinos and played dino bingo. At one point, he yelled something about a dinosaur having a vagina and his teacher handled it like a champ!
While Dex was in his class, Liam woke up early and ended up spending a little bit of time looking at an art book I had gotten from the library. He has been studying art in his drop-off co-op and it is neat seeing him make some connections between what he is learning in that class and other areas.
We spent lunch at the coffee shop down the street with Papa. The boys played board games while they ate. In the afternoon, the played video games while I played with Rory and then Dexter helped me make some chocolate chip cookies.
Friday
Friday was a very lazy day. Rory and Salem were both sick. The big kids spent a lot of time playing Minecraft as I finally broke down and purchased the PC version of the game in addition to the pocket edition they both have on their iPads. On Friday afternoon, Liam went to play DnD with his homeschooling friends and Dexter went to spend the night with Grams.
Saturday
Since we "only" had three kids on Saturday, we went out to breakfast and then took a walk to the Saturday market. Afterwards, Ryan and I did some yard work while Liam played Minecraft and the babies napped and then we went to Grams house to have dinner and pick up Dexter. The kids were able to ride their 4-wheelers at Gram's house before we left.
So, it was a bit of a strange week but we still had some good experiences! The boys did finish up reading The Little Prince with Papa this week, so they will need to find a new bedtime read-aloud. The boys and I are still working on Fudge-o-mania. There was a lot of screen time, but there was also a lot of outside time and some great imaginative play! It is disappointing we did not get to go on our little Atlanta trip but hopefully we will have some fun trips coming up in the future!
Sunday
Honestly, I cannot tell you a lot of what happened on Sunday. Salem and I ended up staying in bed until late in the morning. I ran some errands and did yard work the rest of the day and the boys were left to their own devices. I am fairly certain the majority of the day was spent watching television and playing video games.
Monday
On Monday, Liam did not have The Blessing Place due to spring break, so we decided to head out to the river walk for some scooter practice. We had a treat on the patio before walking along the river, then we realized the trail was closed so we headed back. We ended up taking a stroll through the sculpture garden at the Bluff View and while enjoying the art and fountain we ended up discussing the price of art (one of the sculptures was for sale for $4,500 which the boys found absurd).
We returned home in time for a couple of friends to come over to play. They spent the afternoon deeply involved in a make-believe game that included multiple puzzles that they set up and solved themselves to get to "portals" and travel to other dimensions. They spent a lot of time outside, and also played some video games.
Liam also started playing Typo-man. A video game that relies on the hero building words to solve varies puzzles. It is a great literacy tool.
Tuesday
We had more friends come over to play on Tuesday. The kids played together well, both inside and outside. I served a family-style lunch and enjoyed seeing the kids help serve each other and engage in conversation. In the afternoon, after one friend was picked up, the kids created their own superhero costumes out of paper. They asked to eat dinner outside and spent the entire evening playing on the trampoline and picnicking. At one point, Dexter was having a hard time, so he came in to play some video games. He played No Man' Sky and Typo-man. Typo-man is far beyond Dexter's literacy skills but with some guidance he can play it and it is great letter recognition practice. When it got too dark and chilly to play outside, the kids came inside to have ice cream and watch a movie. Their friend spent the night and it went great!
Wednesday
On Wednesday, the HIVE co-op we attend was having a Spring Equinox celebration at the park. The kids got up and spent the morning watching cartoons before we headed out to pick up our contribution for the party. Afterwards, we headed to the park, were we ate, planted seedlings, read a spring story, and hunted for eggs with our friends.
Thursday
Thursday morning, Dexter had an Outschool class at 7:00 a.m. It was a dinosaur class that he really wanted to take so we signed up in spite of the early time. It was still dark, but Dexter was excited and ready to go! He ended up being the only student and he enjoyed having the teacher's undivided attention, but later he said this made the class less fun. He learned a little about dinosaur classification, read a dino book, colored some dinos and played dino bingo. At one point, he yelled something about a dinosaur having a vagina and his teacher handled it like a champ!
While Dex was in his class, Liam woke up early and ended up spending a little bit of time looking at an art book I had gotten from the library. He has been studying art in his drop-off co-op and it is neat seeing him make some connections between what he is learning in that class and other areas.
We spent lunch at the coffee shop down the street with Papa. The boys played board games while they ate. In the afternoon, the played video games while I played with Rory and then Dexter helped me make some chocolate chip cookies.
Friday
Friday was a very lazy day. Rory and Salem were both sick. The big kids spent a lot of time playing Minecraft as I finally broke down and purchased the PC version of the game in addition to the pocket edition they both have on their iPads. On Friday afternoon, Liam went to play DnD with his homeschooling friends and Dexter went to spend the night with Grams.
Saturday
Since we "only" had three kids on Saturday, we went out to breakfast and then took a walk to the Saturday market. Afterwards, Ryan and I did some yard work while Liam played Minecraft and the babies napped and then we went to Grams house to have dinner and pick up Dexter. The kids were able to ride their 4-wheelers at Gram's house before we left.
So, it was a bit of a strange week but we still had some good experiences! The boys did finish up reading The Little Prince with Papa this week, so they will need to find a new bedtime read-aloud. The boys and I are still working on Fudge-o-mania. There was a lot of screen time, but there was also a lot of outside time and some great imaginative play! It is disappointing we did not get to go on our little Atlanta trip but hopefully we will have some fun trips coming up in the future!
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