Amy Scott's Thoughts

The big news of the week is orthodontia is officially a thing in our household. Owen got his metal-mouth “installation” today. He has braces on his top teeth and both an upper and lower palate expander. The process for orthodontia has changed since I had braces as a teen. They start so much younger these days. While I understand the reasons, I can’t help feeling like Owen is too young for all this. Poor kiddo (and poor empathic mama – apparently, I’m super tender when it comes to my kiddos being uncomfortable). I’m doing my best to reconcile that Owen is now in the double digits and has a mouth full of metal. Suddenly, he seems way more like a tween! Thankfully, he’s not acting like a tween yet! Praise the Lord!

I could ramble on about all the feelings ortho triggers for me, but my family and friends have listened to me lament for months now, so I’ll spare them hearing it again. Let’s focus on happier things. Last Friday was our first family home day in what felt like forever – well, it wasn’t forever, but our last home day was a sick day, so it was nice to be home and healthy. I declared it “Cider Day” since we had a full day to enjoy a crockpot warming with apple cider. Home days make the best cider days! Jeremy was able to do some yard projects. I did a few chores. It was a good day to wash the sheets, take a walk, read a book, and play a game. Owen and Jeremy made homemade bread. The combo of the bread baking with the simmering cider smelled amazing!!! I realize that most people don’t celebrate a day fully spent at home like it was a holiday, but it certainly felt like that to me. As introvert who needs plenty of margin in my calendar, Cider Day definitely filled up my cup in more than one way!

Saturday, I met up with my forever friend, Maggie, for a red cup at Starbucks and then an early dinner. As kindred spirits, Maggie and I take red cups at Starbucks quite seriously (I say “seriously” because I am an Enneagram 1, but my dear Enneagram 7 friend would probably have found a more festive word). Red cups are a celebration in a cup and the kick off to the holiday season. It’s always a special treat to get red cups together. With a major move in Maggie’s future, I’m soaking up our time together. It’s always sweet!

Sunday, as you all know, was daylight savings. Falling back used to be my favorite day ever. It was right up there with Christmas. The older I get, the harder time changes are on my body. I just don’t adjust well. And as a parent, retraining my family schedule twice a year is no fun. I’m all for getting rid of daylight savings! But I digress… Sunday was still an enjoyable day even though I was a bit off. We had family come over for a game day and tacos. It was a great way to wrap up an awesome weekend.

The last adventure of our week was a field trip to our local veterans museum with our homeschool co-op. We got an educational guided tour by a museum volunteer. At first, I wasn’t sure how my kiddos would handle the content – war isn’t an easy topic. We had some good and thoughtful conversations on our drive home. I realize that our country isn’t perfect, but this field trip gave us an opportunity to discuss our history and why we honor veterans. Homeschooling is a blessing in moments like these because I get to walk alongside my kiddos as they process heavy stuff. On a bright note, they loved getting to take pictures in the museum’s collection of vehicles. It was the highlight of the field trip.

Okay, that’s the November news… thus far! Each month is always an adventure. Each month certainly has it’s highs and lows and November is no exception. We’ll see how things unfold in the coming weeks.

We’ve spent the last week wrapping up our school year. The boys completed their 36 week curriculums on Thursday. It’s always a celebration to finish the school books. To mark the occasion, we had Dominos pizza for dinner and I baked cinnamon rolls and brownies as a special dessert for each kid. It was a quiet close to the school year, but still very much a celebration.

We’ve made the decision to homeschool again next year. We are enjoying the homeschool process. The kids are enthusiastic about it and we have good momentum. We were a part of a co-op for the last 7 weeks of school and we all appreciated this learning environment. The co-op is hoping to continue next year and we are looking forward to being a part of it again. Adding a social/classroom environment was a positive enhancement to our homeschool experience.

At the end of 2nd grade, Owen was required by our state (Washington) to do an end-of-the-year assessment. There are multiple options depending on the student. We opted for the California Achievement Test. We used an online, untimed version which was super convenient. I was a little nervous about what to expect since this was our first time. It went surprisingly well and it was quite the celebration to complete it this morning. It was the last thing to finish for this school year. We are now 100% done!

We are taking an extra long Memorial Day weekend before starting our summer workbooks in June. Reading and books will continue to be a focus over the summer. We’ll visit the library to participate in their summer reading program. We also hope to visit some historical sites for educational outings. We’re trying to sneak in some learning with the summer fun. It’s been a great school year, but a change of pace will be nice. Bring on summer mode!