Work Plans for the Week of January 20, 2013: Skiing, Science, and Scouts

Happy Martin Luther King. Jr. Day! We've had a lovely, meaningful holiday so far--we watched Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech over breakfast (and yes, I did pause it periodically to ask comprehension questions--"What did Dr. King mean when he said that they've written the negro a bad check?" "Why do you think the camera showed the Lincoln Memorial?" "What do you think Mississippi and Alabama have in common, that some people would act so racist there?", etc. It's such a rich speech, and there's so much historical, geographical, political, and economic context to unpack!), then Matt took the kids to a Girl Scout service project while I went alone to our weekly volunteer gig, which was kind of like a mini vacation without my two squabbling little helpers who sometimes dare each other to eat jalepenos and then come to me crying and tattling.

At our family meeting on Sunday, we decided that because of our very short week (the kids and I are going skiing for the first time tomorrow!), we would forgo work plans, and instead we made a list of some projects that the kids should work on--the rest of the activities for their World Thinking Day badge, their Science Fair project, their performance for a talent show that they're participating in next month, practice for the spelling bee that Will's competing in this weekend, and so on. Our last two school weeks have ended up being very intense academically, so my hope is that I'll have a little breathing time of my own to finish spelling bee prep, plan a field trip to the local university's art museum for our homeschool group, finish up the pattern for Syd's fashion show garment (I've developed a dress pattern that I *think* I can walk her through sewing, although how this will be less work than doing it myself I do not know), and get some book reviews powered through.

Okay, that doesn't sound at all like breathing time, but what can you do? I'm taking a break from word problems and lesson plans, so there you go.

In other news, we have a huge collection of huge play silks that I've dyed for the children over the years, and lately they have both become obsessed with getting a grown-up to do this with them:

You've got to wrap the kid completely up like a mummy (thank goodness silk is so breathable!)--

--and then set her somewhere to wriggle around:

They both LOVE this activity, Syd most of all. This reminds me, though, that I promised to dye one of our newest, largest by far play silks rainbow for them this week, a process that involves seven full pots of dye, and takes seven times as long to do because I only have one big pot.

Ah, well, perhaps next week I'll have breathing time.