Weeks 6 & 7 in Review

Oy!  These were a rough 2 weeks.  Week 6, we were fighting colds & sinus infections. I don't remember who wasn't feeling well, but I was on an antibiotic and was just kind of fuzzy headed.  Week 7, we had a follow up with Jacob's neurologist because his headaches have been worse (requires almost 4 hours of driving roundtrip), I had an eye appointment that took up 3 hours (they'd had an emergency in the morning, so there was a longer wait time), Ezekiel fractured his hand (required the trip to the pediatrician to be sent to x-ray, and then a trip on a different day to the ortho for casting), and finally I had a follow up with my rheumatologist.  I counted the days they weren't at their enrichment program as half days, so we got about 5 days of school work in over the two weeks.  But this is life, right?

I will not let perfection get in the way of the good.

We got bits of math and Greek and reading and grammar and Latin and spelling and phonics and history done (I almost typed science, but I'm 95% sure no one actually did any science, unless you count studying the x-ray of Zeke broken hand).  We did spend one afternoon finishing our read-aloud book, Escape Across the Wide Sea.  I haven't had as much time to read aloud as I did last year, and I miss it and the boys miss it.  I miss the shared stories, but we're so busy that is is hard to justify it.  I listened to a lecture by Andrew Pudewa, though, and was reminded of the importance. Craig will be home in the evenings more now that he's out of class, so we'll restart family read-alouds in the evening (we've all missed it), and I'm going to try and read-aloud during the day on Thursday and Friday.  I figure that's better than not at all.

I will not let perfection get in the way of the good.

As I sit here surrounded by piles of incomplete assignment sheets and stacks of papers to check, I'm reminded that my boys learned lessons that weren't in textbooks.  I'm also reminded of a great benefit of having them home together.  Zeke's hand was fractured when he and Luke were play fighting on the couch.  Luke kicked, they heard a pop, there was a lot of pain.  Luke felt awful.  Zeke's biggest concern was that when people heard how it happened, they would think Luke did it on purpose when they were just playing.  His mind wasn't on revenge, as many people we encountered speculated, it was on the fact he didn't want his brother to be mischaracterized. Sure, they fight and argue (this is bound to happen when you're together as much as we are), but they love each other and are very close.  All five of them.  When we started this adventure 9 years ago (10 if you count preschool), it was for academic reasons.  That is still a very high priority, but now that they are almost7 up to just13, their relationships as brothers and our relationship as a family is at least as high a priority as academics.  It's such a blessing to watch these relationships grow and develop.  

So, I will not let perfection get in the way of the good.

Green & Gold cast in honor of the Packers