broken ankle

2018-19 School Year–Week Fourteen

I think this week of school felt a bit more “normal,” although we haven’t had school in the actual schoolroom since I broke my ankle. We’ve been making do with having our lessons in either the living room or even my bedroom.

Turkey and Bunny worked more with factorials this week, and they both scored 100% on the test, so it was a good math week! In chemistry, they learned about physical and chemical changes, as well as density, and did a few experiments to illustrate those concepts. Next week, they get to balance chemical equations, which was always one of my favorite parts of chemistry! They finally finished Act Three of Romeo and Juliet, and got to write a short story in the style of experimental fiction in creative writing, which was a lot of fun to read!

Ladybug worked with fractions in math, which was a nice follow-up to her review of decimals last week. Her science lessons focused on horse health, especially as related to the digestive system and vision. She also started her literature study of Justin Morgan had a Horse. In history, she learned about the feudal systems of medieval England and Japan, and their knights and samurai.

Chickadee practiced more subtraction and learned how to count by 2s in math. She also reviewed counting coins. She did a great job on her spelling lessons this week! She is continuing to improve in reading and handwriting, and she loves the stories in Treasures from Grandma.

We also had an unexpected mid-November snowstorm this week, which gave Moose a snow day. Since we had already taken the day off on Monday with him for Veteran’s Day, we still had school, but the children did have time to go out and play in the snow for about an hour yesterday afternoon. Bunny came in and grabbed my phone to take a picture of their snow creation to show me (snow and a broken ankle don’t really mix!)…I love their interpretation of Iron Man and Spider-Man:

The one thing we didn’t do this week that we normally would have was our annual “Thanksgiving School.” I place the blame for that partly on my ankle, and partly on the fact that Thanksgiving is so early this year. We weren’t going to be able to take our normal field trip to Cahokia Mounds, because there’s just too much climbing there for me right now, but I didn’t mean to skip over the books and crafts we should have been doing. I’m hoping to make up for it a little bit next week, with the reading of at least some of our favorite Thanksgiving books, and our favorite Thanksgiving craft: hand and footprint turkeys, but we’ll just have to see how it goes. At least we’ve more or less kept up with our Thankful Tree…I am thankful for many things, especially this CAM boot that allows me to walk around more than I would have been able to in a cast, and all of my helpers who have kept the house running!

2018-19 School Year–Weeks Twelve and Thirteen

What a week(s)!

Originally, I was going to do my weekly wrap-up for week twelve last Sunday…a few days late, because I was feeling lazy last Friday, and I wanted to share our Extra Life for Kids marathon on Saturday. Which I did…kind of. Except that on Saturday, in the middle of the marathon, I broke my ankle. By the time Sunday rolled around, I was lucky I could remember how to type anything, much less a homeschool wrap-up, so instead, I saved it to go with this week’s summary. Despite my ankle, we had a mostly normal week of school, except for the part where we did all of our subjects downstairs, because I couldn’t make it upstairs to the school room!

Turkey and Bunny have had all kinds of fun in math. They learned about Paschal’s Triangle, factorials, and binomial theorem. In chemistry, they learned about molecular geometry and non polar and polar covalent bonds. Their creative writing assignment had them writing a scene from a play, which went nicely with their continued study of Romeo and Juliet. In history, they studied Justinian, among other things (I think…it’s been a very long week!).

Ladybug got to learn about horses’ hooves and teeth in science. In math, she has been working with decimals. Her history lessons focused on medieval England…Edward the Confessor, the Norman conquest, the development of the English language, and the history of English castles. So basically all my favorite stuff! She’s almost done with Misty of Chincoteague…had it not been for the topsy-turvy week thanks to my broken ankle, she probably would have finished it already, and started her next horse literature selection, Justin Morgan Had a Horse.

Chickadee continued to work on subtraction in math. She practiced reading words that begin with blended sounds. She also enjoyed learning about English castles…she would like to play hide and seek in one! We finished Still More Stories from Grandma’s Attic, and she’s a little sad at how quickly the books are going. We get to start Treasures from Grandma next, which I’m really looking forward to, because it contains some of my favorite stories to share!

We’ve also been trying to remember to do a thankful leaf every day. That’s been a little challenging, because the tree is upstairs, and we’ve been doing school downstairs, but I’m sure we’ll catch up. I always love seeing what the children are thankful for, and how that reflects what we’ve been doing!

 

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This was basically the status of our home this week, as everybody tried to take over the jobs I’m pretty sure that they hadn’t really even noticed that I usually do. Fortunately, I’m getting a little better at moving around every day, so they won’t have to pick up all the slack for me too much longer!

“It took 15,000 men to take my place!” Mary Wickes as Emma Allen in White Christmas

Thirteen!

Today is Moose’s 13th birthday!!! Yes, we now have three teenagers in the house!

He starts school a little later this year than he has in previous years, so he had plenty of time to open his gifts this morning. The humor in him receiving a Lego City hospital from us (which I purchased months ago) was not lost on me, considering the events of the last week.

Things were even more fortuitous than that, though. He told me a few weeks ago that he wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. He didn’t require a cake with a special shape (that would require fancy frosting), or complicated fillings or anything. So it was an easy cake to make, even with a broken ankle, and it looked really fun thanks to the Funfetti frosting! As always for a 13th birthday, I bought candles that spell out “Happy Birthday” because there are exactly 13 letters in the saying:

It was a more low-key birthday than we usually have around here (well, except for the unexpected snow showers, which he was very excited about…I don’t think he’s ever had birthday snow before!), but he didn’t seem to mind, and I was just happy to be able to celebrate with him!

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This broken ankle is quite an adventure. Obviously, the ankle hurts. But I was not anticipating all the other aches that would come along with it. My hands (not to mention my armpits!) hurt from using the crutches. My right leg is sore from being the only weight-bearing leg I have at the moment. My tailbone is sore, from doing nothing but sitting around all day. Even my hip and my abs hurt! I seriously had no idea how painful a broken ankle would be…for the whole body. Frankly, this quote from Apollo 13 pretty much sums up how I feel about myself right now!

“Let’s look at this thing from a… um, from a standpoint of status. What do we got on the spacecraft that’s good?” Ed Harris as Gene Kranz in Apollo 13

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More broken ankle humor, this time from Fuller House:

I actually got knocked down, and I can’t get up again, so wrong song. Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner on Fuller House

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This is me, sitting around with a broken ankle…just waiting for my head to implode!

“You’re a problem solver. You’re one of these people who will pick up a rope that’s gotten all tangled up and spend an entire day untangling it because it’s a challenge, because it defies your sense of order in the universe and because you can. Sometimes I try to picture you sitting on a beach with absolutely nothing to do…And the picture always ends with your head imploding.” Mira Furlan as Delenn in Babylon 5

Extra Life 2018

Today is Extra Life Game Day! We were very excited about our sixth year raising money to support St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. This year was extra special, because we created a Thrivent Action Team to help support our event.

We had a fun time playing this morning, and raised $225, which is about 1/3 of our yearly average (yes, I did the math, and we tend to raise about $700 a year on average).

And then things came to a screeching halt, because…I broke my ankle. I’m not even kidding. I spent the whole afternoon at the hospital, and have a referral to an orthopedist to have a cast put on next week.

So, today was not our best attempt at raising money with Extra Life to support the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in St. Louis. But we’re not giving up…once things settle down, we’ll find some other opportunities to stream, so we can try to reach our goal of raising $1,000 before the end of the year!