Um...Weeks 8, 9, 10, & 11

Don't laugh.  How did I miss 4 weeks?  How is it that it's time to buy the turkey?  And most importantly, WHY IS MY FAVORITE RADIO STATION PLAYING CHRISTMAS SONGS??!?

So, it's been busy around here.  Not necessarily busy how I'd planned, but busy nonetheless.

Grandma & Grandpa Larson and Aunt Sherry came for a 6 day visit.  There was lots of football, basketball, baseball, and slacklining going on the the backyard with the boys and Aunt Sherry.  Ben (Sherry's son/the boys' cousin) and his wife Belu came for the weekend.  It was great to see them (and meet Belu!).  There were several games of Scattergories, and one 5 hours game of Monopoly (which Nicholas Trump most likely won).  And the boys loved staying up late, eating junk food, and watching the entire Lord of the Rings triology over 5 nights.

Then there was the election.  It was educational, but I don't want to talk about it.

Ezekiel got his cast off on the 9th and was released to do anything within reason.  "Within whose reason?," I asked.  "If it hurts he shouldn't do it," the doctor said. "Judo?"  Cleared.  "Gymnastics?"  Yep.  "Back Handsprings?"  Not a problem.  Then the doctor showed me the x-ray and there wasn't a blemish anywhere.

The last big thing that happened was Nick turned 7 yesterday.  He had friends over to play and eat cookies, and then we had a family celebration last night:  presents, pizza, cake, VeggieTales, and Mythbusters.  Among other things, he received a Fortamagjig Fun Fort and I think he's going to have a lot of fun with it.  It's a large piece of nylon with various velcro loops and fasteners on it, so you can hook it to almost anything to build a fort.

Grandma & Grandpa Burns will be here next week for Thanksgiving, so no school will get done.

On the official school front:

• Luke can now work linear equations with two variables with confidence.
• Jacob, Micah, and Nicholas finished The Pilgrim Story online class.  They really enjoyed it.
• Nicholas has been reading the books I give him in one sitting, instead of over a few days (as I planned it).  They're books like Balto, so not long chapter books, but it's fun to watch him enjoy books and ask for the next one when he's finished.
• Nicholas declared "the x math" (mulitplication) the "funnest math" (thanks, Miquon!).
• Luke & Ezekiel are reading Chosen by God, and they're enjoying it.
• Luke, Ezekiel, Jacob, and Micah have finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and will start Prince Caspian after our break next week.
• All are progressing, though slower than I'd like thanks to life interruptions, with spelling & English grammar.  Luke, Ezekiel, and Jacob are moving along with Latin, and Luke & Ezekiel are continuing to make progress in Greek.
• Writing and lit discussions aren't getting as much attention as I'd planned.  I need to figure this part out.

I'm still having trouble finding a balance to schooling 5.  I'm leaning toward pulling Luke & Ezekiel out of their enrichment program at Christmas so we have that day at home for academics.  Objectively, as their teacher, it's the right thing to do.  But then the Mom part kicks in and I doubt the decision (they enjoy it and have a couple of friends there).

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner!  I'm going to take the advice of my wise friends and plan in time for cookie baking and other fun holiday traditions.  We'll do as much school as we can through December, but I'm ready to shelve some subjects some days so we can make memories some days.  Time is passing too quickly; I don't want the boys to remember the holidays as the time of the year that Mom was crazier than normal--I want to enjoy them and have some fun.  We'll see how I do...