Week 7 Wrap-Up

This week began with high winds and rain as we were hit with what was left of hurricane Matthew.  I think there were quite a few folks in these parts who had to change their Thanksgiving dinner plans when they lost power and couldn’t cook their turkeys.  Thankfully my parents didn’t, and we enjoyed a delicious feast on Monday afternoon at their place.  There is nothing like a turkey dinner with all the trimmings!

This week’s wrap up is a bit late.  We decided to take a more intentional sabbath this weekend.  Friday was a preparation day of sorts, catching up on laundry, preparing easy meals ahead to eat today, and tying up loose ends in various areas of life.  It was a nice feeling to wake up this morning and wonder what we were going to do with our day.  Turns out we decluttered, cleaned, and organized our family room.  So much for intentional rest.  But actually it did feel restful in the sense that it was our choice to tackle it.  It wasn’t a pressing item on our to do list, just something we fell into as the day unfolded.  And, man, does it feel good to have that done!  

The girls went away out of province with grandparents last night and are due back this evening.  I’m sure we’ll hear all the fun details of their overnight adventures when they get home!  PJ and Little Mister and I went out for supper last night at a popular local seafood joint…probably our last feed of clams for the season.  They were soooooo good!  Little Mister loved the hand cut fries, but when he started shovelling in the clams they came back out even faster.  He wasn’t a fan.  I think he was disappointed they weren’t chicken nuggets.

Favourite one-on-one moments this week:

C-Bear and I are reading through Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus this term; hence we have learned the definition of a Pyrrhic victory.  In her Canadian history book this week she was reading an account of the heroes of the Long Sault.  We learned that this battle was a strategic victory for the French and a Pyrrhic victory for the Iroquois.  I must say, I was pleased that I knew what that meant.  (I had never encountered the term before.  I guess I’m not up to speed with my war lingo.) But I was even more pleased that my 10 year old knew what it meant!

We finally harvested the remnants of our garden’s goodness this week.  Boo and had a great time together, pulling carrots and beats and onions, scrubbing them all, and laying them out to dry.  It felt good to get our tiny garden ready for winter (and ready for what we’ll plant next spring).

Now for a one-on-one moment I overheard the other day.  Belle (age 6) and Little Mister (age 2) were playing nicely together while I was doing lessons with the older girls.  Belle says, “Ok.  You have to listen carefully because you have to narrate back to me. Once there was a girl named Mary. And the fairy appeared to Mary and said…” At this, Boo looks up from her work and says, “A fairy???  It wasn’t a fairy!  It was an ANGEL!”  It was all I could do to keep a straight face.

From my journal of thanks this week:

• 2km hike on a new trail and spontaneous Thanksgiving pop-in and chit chat with good friends
• gifted leftovers for supper on such a busy evening
• the way God provides in surprising ways when we act in faith
• thankful that simple things make my kids soooooo happy 
• laughs and great conversation with my geek (I mean GREEK) study group (No, we’re not learning Greek together.  We are studying the Greek epics…currently reading through Homer’s Iliad.  I love that I have found a group of moms who enjoy the challenge of such literature and value the time to talk about ideas together.  On to books 16-21 for our next gathering.)

On our nature walk this week we collected seeds of all shapes and sizes.  We hiked about two kilometres on a trail that runs along a river.  I am so loving not being restricted by a stroller!  At the close of the week we talked about how seeds get dispersed (by plants themselves, with the help of animals or birds, by water, and by wind).  Then we took a look at the seeds we had collected and tried to determine what mode of dispersal would likely fit each of them.  And then, of course, we spent some time sketching our seeds in our journals.  I am really enjoying separating our nature walks and journaling times this year.  We aim for a walk at the beginning of the week and spend time sketching in our journals on Friday.  So far it’s working great for us and we are actually doing nature study weekly!  I hope we can keep it up.

Keeping company today at Joyous Lessons and linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers weekly wrap up.