Friday, October 24, 2014

Weekly Wrap: Beginning and Ending with Art

Weekly Wrap-Up

Thankfully this week was a bit slower paced than earlier in the month. While it is still a bit over-scheduled, for now it's working. Although, I anticipate greater cuts to our outside activities next semester to allow more "downtime" in our week.

My oldest finally did his assignment.

Monday morning we were home! Yeah! We started the afternoon at our bi-monthly drawing class. I posted about this earlier this week (Why My Boys Take Art Lessons).

I also run a 4-H club and Monday was our first meeting of the new year. We finished wrapping up the year, talking about what this is going to be like and figured out what we would do this year for club projects. Not all 4-H clubs are animal focused. Ours is made up of kids from age five to fifteen with a couple of 2-3 year olds tossed in for good measure (younger siblings). All the kids involved are also homeschooled.

Last year we only met once a month. This year we are going to try meeting twice a month. The first meeting will be an arts & crafts project designed to both get our younger crew more involved as well as create projects to enter in to the fairs.

Our second monthly meeting will focus on our bigger club projects - GPS/GIS and Adventure & Challenge. I have some fun ideas for those but I don't want to tell anyone about them just yet.

Monday evenings find my youngest son at karate class and I go to my Zumba class. It's a great way to end the day in my opinion.

Tuesday is our crazy-busy-out-of-the-house-most-of-the-day day. Phew! That's about how I finish every Tuesday. We begin at 7:30 as we all head out the door as soon as my little charge arrives (I babysit a two year old boy). We drive 20 minutes to the next town over and drop my oldest son off at his weekly Adult Education class he's taking.

It's called College Transitions and it's designed to help people get ready for community college for the most part. They have a two hour math class, technology class, English Lit class, and a study skills/time management/test prep class. I think he's liking it but math is kicking his proverbial behind.

The rest of the boys and I then have an hour to kill in town until my youngest and middle son have swim lessons. This week I had a few errands to run so we did those and then headed to the college where the lessons are held.

I both love and hate swim lessons. I love that my boys are learning to swim really well right now (I do not). I hate sitting pool side for two hours while they have lessons - while wrangling a two year old. The way the schedule was set up this year, my youngest has class for 40 minutes, then all the lower level students have class for 30 minutes, and then my middle son has class for 40 minutes. It makes for a very long morning.

My two boys during lessons earlier this year when they had lessons at the same time.

However, this week we tried something new. I bought a day pass to the gym and, with his mom's permission, put the two year old into a play group that is designed so that Mom's can work out for an hour. I then plugged in some tunes and walked the indoor track for an hour. I could see him as I made my rounds. I could also see in to the pool area where I left my middle son to work on his schoolwork while my youngest had his lesson. This only left us an hour to fill with a squirming toddler. Overall he does really well, but it is hot in there!

We then head home where Mr. T (the 2 year old) goes immediately down for a much needed nap. The boys finish up whatever schoolwork they didn't get done before leaving or while at the pool. We only have 3-1/2 hours at home though before once again loading up in the truck. I take my middle son to his martial arts class and head back to pick up my oldest from his class.

I then bring the oldest and youngest home and head back to the dojo to pick up the middle one. I sometimes meet Mr. T's mom in town while picking up my oldest to drop him off. If she's unable to meet me, I drop him with his dad after picking up my son from karate.

Typically I then am home for about an hour before heading out to Bible study. This week we didn't have study so my hubby and I went on a date. Much needed.

Wednesday was a blissful day at home for the most part. We start the day with music lessons. My middle son is taking piano lessons much to his consternation. He's been playing for four years and I intend for him to play for at least four more. He'd like to quit immediately. I feel it's important for him to continue so he will continue. My youngest son has also been playing piano for four years. He just started taking violin lessons last month as well. I have a feeling, based on what his teacher has told me, that he may like that one better.

Wednesday evening we're again back at the dojo. Each boy has lessons twice a week but the schedule was changed a few months ago so they are there on different days of the week. This means I'm at the dojo Monday through Thursday.

Thursday typically means another early start for our family. Although, this week I started even earlier by heading to the gym at 5:30am for a weight training class called BodyPump. It's a group exercise class that uses low weights but high reps. Today (Friday) I'm feeling it and I've typically been going once or twice a week for the last month but my schedule got in my way so this was my first time going in a week. Ow!

My oldest also usually attends a math lab for his College Transitions class from 8-10am. Thankfully it was cancelled this week. I was thankful because my three boys and my nephew have a tutor for Spanish twice a month. We meet at her apartment. Class starts at 10am which means on Thursdays I usually have two hours to kill in town. Today we were just able to head in to class.

My sister and I usually walk around town with our toddlers in tow, well, we push them in stroller. However, we've been in the middle of a Nor'ester of rain and wind. Instead we opted to go shopping. We hit the thrift store in town and did a quick run through Wal-Mart.

For the last four weeks and for a few more, I've been attending a Titus 2 Bible study on Thursday evenings. It's been really excellent and I'm glad I can make the time to go.

Friday usually means we are home. However, this week we had a field trip. We headed to the Colby College Art Museum for a tour. We did a 30 minute tour of the contemporary art area. I'm always amazed at what people consider art.

Pieces of acrylic with gray colored edges and pops of colors behind it. 
It reminds me of lichen growing on tree. Not sure if that is what the artist had in mind or not.

We did see some amazing works of art as well by some very well known artists such as Georgia O'Keefe.

But one of the biggest reason I had scheduled the tour was to see the Bernard Langlais exhibit. This tour deserves its own post which I'll do another day.


We then headed to church for play practice. The two younger boys have parts in a rendition of A Christmas Carol put on by a group of homeschooling students. My middle son is playing Bob Cratchitt and my youngest the "Poulterer." They are really enjoying themselves and I'm glad they have the chance to not only see plays but to now be in one.

So a busy but full week yet again.

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