Our lives have been in such upheaval for the past few months. The uncertainty surrounding Emma has made such commonplace activities as food shopping a huge undertaking - when is it "safe" to go, dare I chance missing a phone call from the hospital, dare I spend money on groceries that I may not be here to prepare for the children. The one thing that has kept all of us "sane", I believe, is our schooling.
We have completed week #9 of our Summer Term. I have changed some things that did not work, added some things that might make the whole year a bit more fun. Monday through Friday, we know that we will get up, get ready for a school day, and learn. There have been interruptions - an unexpected break taken for me to be near Emma. But in all reality, it is impossible for me to be near her each day while she is in Philadelphia - practical issues like travel expenses and time spent in traffic need to be taken into consideration. Plus, the children are not allowed to accompany me, so there is child care to consider. While my heart desires to be near the most critically ill member of my family all the time, it is just not possible. So off to school we go.
Today, we began our foray into the world of classical music. We have treaded into this water before - well, the twins and I have. But now we are using the guide from Beautiful Feet Books, and it looks like an interesting and fun study. There are so many wonderful resources out there - CDs, books, videos. But this guide will provide me with the structure I need to pull it all together. It will be easier to schedule all the extras when I have the skeleton of our study in front of me. This morning, we made our cover pages, illustrated The Ride of the Valkyries, and studied a bit about what made the Baroque Period The Baroque Period.
We used to have Fine Arts Friday, and I think I will try to implement that once again. It lends an ease to transitioning into the weekend, and ends the week on a light note - a reward for the hard academic toil of the previous four days!
Some people have remarked, "You're not actually doing school during this time, are you?" My answer is a simple, "Yes". School for us is as routine as brushing our teeth. It is us, it is our norm, it is part of our life together. Yesterday, the children put on a play for me. Their dialogue was punctuated with old English and Latin phrases, and their use of accents is simply charming. It was imaginative, and required the cooperation of a 6 year-old, who is not real big on conformity. It served as a reminder to me of how our non-traditional ways have so many rewards. When they are grown, I hope my children will be best friends with one another, and recall fondly the numerous plays, skits, and anecdotes of their academic years. Of course there are moments of tears - math is not a favorite subject of the twins, and Latin last week only required one paragraph of translation while this week it morphed into four paragraphs! Egads!! However, overall, I would not trade this time of family bonding for a schedule of buses to catch, lunches needing to be bagged and permission slips to be signed for anything.
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