Week in Review

Today is as good as any day to start off on a new resolution to blog more often.  I actually had some good post ideas this week at times I had no way to write them, so I'm not sure if any of my ideas are still accessible.  Even with no one in diapers, the days are still busy.

Our enrichment co-op starts the spring semester next week.  I am teaching 2 classes and the kids are all taking 2 classes (except Irene, but she gets 2 hours in the play room, which she may or may not enjoy, she is pretty picky when it comes to caregivers!).

For Annalise's group I am teaching a class on Lewis and Clark.  Basically I am doing the same book/lapbook/video that I did with my own kids last year.  It is a little stressful to plan because I do not know how the video portion of the class will go.  I don't know if the kids will be mostly hams or mostly shy.  I don't know if adding a dress up and play acting element to the class with make them hyper and silly.  I don't know if the lighting in the room will look right in my cell phone videos.  I don't know what I will do if we have to miss a class or if the kid playing Lewis is absent a lot or if all the girls want to be Sacagawea.  And I don't know if the cardboard keelboat I made will fit in the minivan!

But the more I learn about Lewis and Clark, the more I like the story.  It's full of adventure and discovery.  So even with my what ifs, I'm looking forward to the class.

For Natalie's class, I am teaching a class on China.  I've done two different things at once lots of times and almost always I find common threads that tie the two things together in unexpected ways.  I am not finding that with China and Lewis and Clark!  The only thing related to China is that they hoped to find a water route to the Pacific for trade with the orient (i.e. The Northwest Passage), but they didn't.

There are only 4 students in Natalie's class and one of them is a bumped up K-4 (he's already 5), so I realized I can simplify this class significantly and still do a lot of fun activities.  After I had collected books, crafts, activities, and themes, I saw I had way more than I needed.  And with only four 5-7 year olds, I am not so concerned with everything running smoothly.  Since we don't have a culminating project, I can just take things one class at a time.

I talked with a friend today about possibly organizing a more local group next year.  The idea is to organize field trips to help build a community of home schoolers.  Maybe in the process we will meet someone more capable of organizing a more formal co-op.  That sounds like too much for me right now, but field trips, that I can organize.

For Christmas Annalise got a book about making clay food for her doll house.  She has always liked tiny things and we found a 1:24 scale house at a garage sale - the right size for Calico Critters.  She and I worked together to make some bread, pretzels, a pizza, cinnamon rolls, and a cake.

Hopefully the splint will be gone next week.

We had a fun Christmas morning and lots of good food, I had a lovely dish-free birthday, and we chowed down again for New Years Eve.  Natalie has a very loose tooth (her first!)  And all the kids have had so much fresh air and outdoor play. My tomato plants are growing taller! We are expecting a cold front this week - yay!  Next week, I resolve to post again.