I know I have been absent lately. Most of my most recent posts were reviews for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. I declined to join again for 2021 for several reasons. While I really enjoyed receiving and using a wide variety of homeschool products, it is very time-consuming and time is not something I have an excess of right now. Here is a rough overview of what's been going on in my life the past few months.
October 22, my oldest daughter Mikaela gave birth to a baby boy! Daniel Wyatt Wilson weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is now two months old and the cutest baby ever! He had a rough patch for several weeks of crying and being an unhappy baby, but it seems like he has turned a corner lately. He has been smiling, laughing, trying to coo, and generally in a better mood.
Mikaela has decided to go back to high school in person (she was doing virtual and it's had a lot of difficulties). She's a senior, so she only goes until around lunchtime. I'll be watching Daniel for her. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I teach at my cottage school. My mom comes and sits with Zeke, and she will also sit with Daniel now. Thursday and Friday I'll have him at home.
We also decided as a family not to celebrate the world's holidays and celebrations, and instead to observe the Biblical Holy Days God outlined in Leviticus 23. This has been a challenge in some ways. Christmas was always a huge deal to me. It feels strange right now, December 25, to be writing a blog post with no plans for the day except lesson planning. I have such a peace about it, though. I don't want to get into the why's because it's a personal thing for our family. Not everyone will feel the same way, and that's totally fine! I may write a post about it soon.
We did celebrate Hanukkah this year, even though it's not one of the Levitical feasts. I think it's a great time to reflect on your relationship with Jesus and rededicate your life back to Him, just like the Jews rededicated the Temple after reclaiming it and restoring it. I didn't take any pictures, but we did light the candles each night (we missed two nights because of basketball games) and say the blessings. I did a few extra things, like making envelopes with the nightly Scripture readings and an 8-Night Countdown Chain with fun activities, like baking Hanukkah cookies and having a movie night with treats. I gave the kids gifts each night, which I will likely not do next year as it got expensive. Or if I do, it will be one big gift and then smaller gifts.
I have taken a break from my Instagram account due to the new policy regulations. I don't think I'll be going back to it. It's actually been a relief not to have to post toddler trays each day - which was the premise of my account. I still do the toddler trays, but Zeke enjoys them much more without all of the photo-taking. I plan to put his weekly tot school on this blog, though.
Our cottage school is going well! I have lost some students due to various reasons (financial mainly), but we are still plugging along. We use Mystery of History for history, which is great because it's written for three days a week which is how often we go. We are using Properties of Ecosystems for science right now. I did switch most of the kids to Math Lessons for a Living Education, and they are loving it. Grammar is just a mix of worksheets and fun activities.
We also read and write poetry, having a quiet reading time each day, monthly book report projects, and more fun stuff! I have really enjoyed it, but it is exhausting to plan for and teach other children besides my own. Mikaela was helping me teach the Kindergarten and 2nd graders, but now she won't be there. I will be teaching them all. I'm trying to work out a schedule/plan to do this.
Zeke has been using Moms Have Questions, Too Toddler School Curriculum. It is a letter of the week type curriculum. We will be starting the letter H next week. I'm going to try to post A through G over the next few weeks, as well. Maybe a letter a day until we get caught up? He is fun to do tot school with! He turned two on Thanksgiving this year and had a Brown Bear, Brown Bear birthday party.
I'm going to try to post the Weekly Homeschool Highlights each Friday (but I haven't had a great track record so...). Link up any homeschool-related post below!