Silhouette Art

We followed Henry's plans to rearrange his room and got it done just before he fell ill this week.  He was sick all week with a sore throat, headache, stuffy nose, and ear ache (both sides).  You can tell when he's sick because on a normal morning, he walks downstairs, eyes barely open, goes straight to the school room and gets all the books he needs that day.  The whole stack.  Then, with his eyes still barely open, he'll get started on math.  He's been encouraged to eat breakfast and be fully awake before starting mathematical calculations, but that's just what he does.  This week, he got out only his math and handwriting books, did the lessons, and then laid down for a few hours.  That was all he had the energy to do.  Within a few days the other two kids had come down with similar symptoms.  I was worried it was covid because of the symptoms.  We had him tested for covid and strep, but both came back negative, so it was just a regular old virus.  We stayed home from CC and everything else this week.  Caroline recovered very quickly.  Josiah has had a lingering unwell feeling, but few symptoms anymore.  Henry was feeling pretty crummy until Saturday afternoon when all of a sudden he was Mr. Energy again.  Fortunately, this coming week is a break week for CC, so we'll have additional time to recuperate.  

And his room.  Before:

After.  He wanted his desk under his window like Josiah.

Josiah tried to do CC through Zoom.  It was difficult to follow in-class discussion over Zoom, but he toughed it out.  He was able to read his paper on invertebrates, which made him happy.  He chose to write about beetles, of course, and drew them rocking out to The Beatles.  Science may be one of his favorite subjects this year because of the artwork that goes along with it.  Josiah cannot understand why some of his classmates print out pictures of their animal/plant/etc.  Drawing is the best part!

This year Josiah has been studying Latin.  I had been negligent and had not bought the answer key, which meant I had not corrected any of his work.  For four weeks.  This week I finally bought the answer key and then went to correct his workbook.  That was when I discovered many blank pages and quite a few errors on the completed pages.  At first I wasn't too happy about it (mostly the blank pages).  But it wasn't all his fault given the fact that I hadn't corrected it.  So, we sat down together and worked on some of the blank pages.  It was really hard.  I discovered how much time Latin really takes.  Instead of translating the 10-15 sentences they had in each section, we did 3-4.  After 30 minutes my brain hurt from learning how to figure out the declensions and conjugations and word order and noun cases.  I had a lot more empathy for him and we'll do Latin together from now on (til it clicks a little faster).  I am very grateful for the break week so we can get a little caught up.  

Saturday, things were turning around for the kids and everyone seemed to be feeling a bit better.  Todd and I did yard work and after we finished, the kids asked to play with the water.  This time they did silhouette art which I thought was very clever.  Josiah was the poser.  Caroline directed him on his stances, and Henry controlled the hose.  You have to use 'flat,' not 'jet.'

Henry said these two are him.

They also carried out an election for House Protector.  Benson was running for this position, though there was uncertainty whether he had an opponent or not.  Josiah was his Campaign Manager and VP-elect, and he had drawn up posters to beef up his voter base.  Henry was assigned Secret Service detail to protect Benson on the campaign trail.  Caroline was a grassroots voter who wore a sticker, "I voted for Benson."  The final vote count was in.  1-0.  Benson won.  

We tried out new donuts at The Grove again.  This time, no-shirt-Josiah ordered Oreo cheesecake, Caroline chose Smores, and Henry picked the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with a donut bun.

Caroline has figured out how to pause video.  She finished her school work early on Friday and made 25 "I love you so much" videos.  She says she teleports to different locations in the house to make them.  

 

It looks like we have a tropical storm headed our way, so it should be a very wet week.  We feel sorry for Benson already.