The happy medium

I'm feeling all creative these days. Today has been a really good day. I've not gotten an ounce of housework done, but that's ok. I'll work on it tonight when the kids are at adventurers and it's just me and Zachy poo.
I have been quite upset with myself for not focusing more on Collin and Zachy while Matthew and Dillon are doing school. It's almost been an impossibility. But now Matthew is a good reader and Dillon is well on his way. So last night, we went to the education store and picked up some things. We got a set of pegs which Zach and Collin can stack and sort and string and count etc. And we picked up these stringing beads with pattern cards . We also picked up a workbook for Collin.
So this morning while Matthew and Dillon worked on their own work, I was able to sit down with Collin and Zachy and do "work" with them. Collin kept saying, "mommy, this is awesome" talking about his worksheets. He cannot wait to show daddy when he gets home.
Eventually, Matthew and Dillon moved out the school room and into the dining room with us. They had questions and what not. While they were in there, they were both helping the little ones do different things.
Around that time, Dillon was working on the sound 'wh' and had a coloring sheet where he was supposed to color the 'w's black and the 'h's blue. Well, we couldn't find a black crayon, so I decided to throw in an art lesson. We discussed different mediums and he did his black with charcoal and the blue with oil pastels. He thought it was so great.
Everyone got all their work done in a very timely fashion too. I love days like these.
Then the occupational therapist came and all the kids stayed downstairs with us today, and it was so wonderful. They were all pitching in to help Zachy do the things he needed to do, and Zach was in a good mood the whole time.
After she left, Z took a nap and I gave Matthew and Dillon a piano lesson. We tried this last year, but they just didn't have it in them. So we're trying again this year.
We are about to start a big unit study. I never thought I would do a unit study, but here we are. Sea World is opening March 4, the kids are excited. So I decided we are going to learn about the animals first. Matthew will do killer whales, Dillon will do dolphins, and Collin is doing penguins.
The oportunity for teaching computer and library skills has never really arisen yet, so we are going to change that. We will learn about the Dewey Decimal system, and about google. They will have art projects relating to their animal. They will have to research and answer questions about them. The list keeps growing! I was going to take a week and have them do math and the study, but I may even incorporate the math into the study.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what homeschooling is all about, and I absolutely love when it all comes together like this!!