** so this was supposed to.post this morning.. it did.not..lol.

Hello everyone!

We have been working hard over here, with school and physical therapy! We have been very productive – and I have been pretty tired by the time I get in bed at night. It’s a good tired though, the kind of tired that you feel when you know that you have worked hard and had a good day. Today though we are going to play, and go to a marsh in Ohio, and hopefully see some pretty leaves and enjoy some time in nature.

Let’s start with school. It is weird how we are running into a theme of people protesting, in so many of areas of Wyatt’s learning. We are reading Hoot for Language Arts, and although we have quite gotten into it yet, the burrowing owls living on a live construction site are going to cause protests although right now, it is just mild tampering on the site with stakes being taken out of there spots. In science, we are talking about swamps and marshes, and Wyatt just learned about Marjorie Stoneman Douglas and all she did to save part of the Everglades – and she continued to do it even into a very advanced age. She died at 108! And finally, in history we are right on the brink of the revolutionary war, and we just covered the Boston tea party and Paul Revere.

Yesterday we had a fun Friday for school – I used to save Fridays for field trips and errands only, but now with physical therapy two days a week, we need to use Friday as an instructional day. I figured we might as well make them fun if we are having school on them now. We did so many cool things yesterday!

First, we started with making a lantern, like the ones of “One if by land, two if by sea” fame. We only made one, so our British came by land unlike the real ones that Revere warned of. And he didn’t ride around yelling “The British are coming!” although that would have been cool. It was more of a quiet version, telling people that the Regulars were coming, and only people who needed to know, knocking on their doors and telling them.

I think this project turned out pretty cute. Wyatt’s Aunt Chrissy came in for the win with the milk carton, finishing up her oat milk so that we could use her container.

After making the lantern and watching a reading of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride by Longfellow, we moved on to our artist of the month, Salvador Dali. We talked a little about surrealism, and looked at Dali’s most famous painting, The Persistence of Memory. Then we started making clay versions of the watches from the painting, which were inspired by melting cheese, of all things. Since we had to wait for the clay to dry (and we are still waiting) we just cut the circles out and moved on for now. When they are dry, Wyatt will paint them.

Next, we made a wetland! We have been talking about the importance of wetlands, swamps and marshes and mangrove swamps, and how they protect the land from flooding and also filter the water, and I thought it would be neat if we could test it out. So, using the directions from a book that I got from the library, we made a wetland out of a paint tray, sponges, and clay. However, we made the unfortunate decision to use a red soap dye to color the water… it looks a little like a crime scene, sorry.

It didn’t filter everything but it did some which was cool!

We also played a reading game but I didn’t get any pictures of that. It was a fun way to learn on a Friday!

I mentioned that Wyatt is doing awesome in physical therapy last week, and he continued working hard this week as well. His therapist was happy with the range of flexibility he is getting, but we need to keep working on strength, so that is what we focus on both at therapy at the center and at his home therapy. Our list of therapy activities for everyday is very long, and I have to be inventive sometimes to work it all in, and combine it with school when I can.

My mom is also starting physical therapy! She got her staples taken out from her cut, and she is getting a physical therapy eval today so that she can start next week. They are coming right to her apartment so that is awesome. I talked to the therapist on the phone, since I am not able to stay, and I discussed her mobility limitations, and what we are hoping for. I would like for them to focus right now on weight bearing on her right leg, and building strength, same as Wyatt. I would also like them to work on getting up off of the floor, and standing easier. I also found a few items online that I want to purchase for her to make things a little more functional for all of us. She has severe osteoarthritis in her hip, which we learned from scans she got last weekend, and that unfortunately, we can’t do much about. So we need to work with it the best that we can. Any suggestions are welcome!

And with that I am off! I hope you guys all have a great day!