The fire danger has mostly passed for us and it was back to our normal days. More or less. I woke up at 3:30 this morning and didn't fall back asleep until 5:30. Those are an important two hours apparently in my world, so I'm a bit tired.
Anyway, this morning Harry did a timed math drill and got 66 correct in 5 minutes! That is the most he has ever gotten and I'm really proud of him. He just sat down and worked really hard for the entire five minutes. We're working on a goal of 100 correct in 3 minutes. This supplements the MUS work he does. He finished his lesson yesterday, so I'm waiting until Monday to introduce another one.
We also read another chapter of Children of Noisy Village and the children who live in my noisy house clamored for another. So I think later at snack time we'll do that. They are all really into it.
And we finished Midsummer! Yay! When I started this our, I was pretty nervous, not sure if Harry would follow it or understand everything, but he turned out to be really interested in the story and fascinated by the fairies. This morning he got out another version I had from the library and read that on his own. So now he really knows the story.
Still to do today: a chapter from Burgess Bird Book, writing practice, and a few pages of Benjamin Franklin. I'd better go get him from quiet time and get started!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Fire, what fire?
We don't need no stinkin' fire!
(A tribute to Sam--he memorized that and will spontaneously come out with it using whatever is nearby!)
Anyway, Jason is still home. There are still fires, but in my efforts to keep things normal, we did our normal stuff today. Of course between fielding phone calls from concerned family (thanks everyone, we're fine).
Harry managed to do his timed math drill without too much trouble. He also did some writing practice and cooler than all of this, we did an easy little experiment about water condensation. We just got a glass, filled it with ice and water and watched what happened. He also filled in his little experiment record about it.
During quiet time we read some more Benjamin Franklin and talked about some of his sayings. Then Harry had to write one of them for copywork.
That's it--it never looks like as much as it is.
(A tribute to Sam--he memorized that and will spontaneously come out with it using whatever is nearby!)
Anyway, Jason is still home. There are still fires, but in my efforts to keep things normal, we did our normal stuff today. Of course between fielding phone calls from concerned family (thanks everyone, we're fine).
Harry managed to do his timed math drill without too much trouble. He also did some writing practice and cooler than all of this, we did an easy little experiment about water condensation. We just got a glass, filled it with ice and water and watched what happened. He also filled in his little experiment record about it.
During quiet time we read some more Benjamin Franklin and talked about some of his sayings. Then Harry had to write one of them for copywork.
That's it--it never looks like as much as it is.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Weird Day
The fires in San Diego County are all around us, and since there are 8, it's not too hard to be surrounded!
Jason's work was closed for the day, so he has been home, which is always nice, but throws off our studies a bit. I thought about just playing all day but decided that we needed to have as normal a day as possible.
So here's what we did, more or less. Read a chapter from Story of the World about Egypt's Middle Kingdom. Is it possible to be tired of Egypt? It seems as though most of what we study in history is new and totally interesting, but Egypt is cool for a while and then just is kind of done. Anyway, we read and did a map and looked it up in a couple of other books.
After that I pulled out Benjamin Franklin by the D'Aulaires. Harry has been very excited to read it so it was a big hit. We read a few pages but not too far, I want the book to last. Harry narrated the pages we read--I'll post it tomorrow.
He played for a while after that. Jason took Sam out to get batteries and Harry and I got back into the math. He did both a page in MUS and his timed drill. I need to make sure he does the drill every day, I can tell by his scores if he takes days off of it.
He also practiced his writing. And we read the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. After that we drew some wolves that actually look like fluffy turtles!
Jason's work was closed for the day, so he has been home, which is always nice, but throws off our studies a bit. I thought about just playing all day but decided that we needed to have as normal a day as possible.
So here's what we did, more or less. Read a chapter from Story of the World about Egypt's Middle Kingdom. Is it possible to be tired of Egypt? It seems as though most of what we study in history is new and totally interesting, but Egypt is cool for a while and then just is kind of done. Anyway, we read and did a map and looked it up in a couple of other books.
After that I pulled out Benjamin Franklin by the D'Aulaires. Harry has been very excited to read it so it was a big hit. We read a few pages but not too far, I want the book to last. Harry narrated the pages we read--I'll post it tomorrow.
He played for a while after that. Jason took Sam out to get batteries and Harry and I got back into the math. He did both a page in MUS and his timed drill. I need to make sure he does the drill every day, I can tell by his scores if he takes days off of it.
He also practiced his writing. And we read the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. After that we drew some wolves that actually look like fluffy turtles!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A True Adventure
I've been feeling lately as if our Family Learning Adventure is, well, lacking in adventure. So I've been looking for ways to remedy that. A hs group here in our area sent out an email that they were going to have a nature walk this morning in a place a little less than an hour away. It didn't take me long to scrap our learning plans for the morning/day, pack a picnic, and set off.
The first sign that this plan might go awry was the place where the nature walk was to be held. It wasn't in some gorgeous park with trees and good signage. It also wasn't really in a great neighborhood at all. But we were on an adventure so we persevered on, making sure to lock the car doors.
We were the first to arrive--only a bit nerve-wracking when we realized that we were in a not-great neighborhood and even the coordinator wasn't there. Still, we were up for an adventure. And we wandered around the preserve. It was billed as a native-plant preserve, so I pictured some cactus, sage, stuff like that. And it was there, kind of. There were very few signs to tell us what we were seeing and of the signs that were there, most were broken. Also, quite a few of the plants were dead.
Honestly, I was thinking, "I wasted my gas for this, I put three kids in the car to see a few half-dead plants which we can't even identify? And where is the coordinator? Was the whole thing a scam to get pregnant women and their children into a remote, not-very-nice place?"
But I sucked it up and adventured onward, trying to have a good attitude for the kids while looking around the whole time for escape routes. They, on the other hand, had a good time finding neat plants and rocks, sitting on the various benches and rating them for cleanliness. They also sat down on one of the clean benches and drew pictures of one of the things they had seen that they liked.
Even I was getting into the adventure. Until the dog came...But you can read about that below.
The first sign that this plan might go awry was the place where the nature walk was to be held. It wasn't in some gorgeous park with trees and good signage. It also wasn't really in a great neighborhood at all. But we were on an adventure so we persevered on, making sure to lock the car doors.
We were the first to arrive--only a bit nerve-wracking when we realized that we were in a not-great neighborhood and even the coordinator wasn't there. Still, we were up for an adventure. And we wandered around the preserve. It was billed as a native-plant preserve, so I pictured some cactus, sage, stuff like that. And it was there, kind of. There were very few signs to tell us what we were seeing and of the signs that were there, most were broken. Also, quite a few of the plants were dead.
Honestly, I was thinking, "I wasted my gas for this, I put three kids in the car to see a few half-dead plants which we can't even identify? And where is the coordinator? Was the whole thing a scam to get pregnant women and their children into a remote, not-very-nice place?"
But I sucked it up and adventured onward, trying to have a good attitude for the kids while looking around the whole time for escape routes. They, on the other hand, had a good time finding neat plants and rocks, sitting on the various benches and rating them for cleanliness. They also sat down on one of the clean benches and drew pictures of one of the things they had seen that they liked.
Even I was getting into the adventure. Until the dog came...But you can read about that below.
Lame
What kind of person sees that his large dog is terrorizing three small children while their very pregnant mom is trying to pick all three of them up so the dog doesn't jump on them, and then walk leisurely over to get the dog? And then not even put the dog back on the leash which is in said lame person's hand and allow the dog to run more through the park?
Sometimes I get REALLY annoyed with people.
Sometimes I get REALLY annoyed with people.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Terrific Tuesday?
Today went quickly. It seems as though the days do that lately.
Harry started off in Math--he did a page in his MUS book, actually he did two. It's hard--he needs the practice on these simpler problems, but at the same time, he's kind of past it. I want to start him on the next level, but I don't know if he truly is ready or it's me pushing him.
Anyway, he did his math in record time. I had a little thing for Sam and Annika to do, gluing letters onto some paper, and Harry joined them once he was finished.
Ahh, and the bane of Harry's existence came next. He HATES copywork. Actually he hates any kind of writing. But the only way to get better at it is to do it, so...he had some copywork next. It dealt with the weather which is what we are working on for science. It took him less time to actually accomplish it than it did to whine about how much he didn't like it, a point I made sure to show him!
Since we got home from speech classes late, it was lunch time, and we read yet more of Midsummer. During quiet time he and I looked up the weather around the country and our area.
And the schooly part of our day came to a conclusion!
Harry started off in Math--he did a page in his MUS book, actually he did two. It's hard--he needs the practice on these simpler problems, but at the same time, he's kind of past it. I want to start him on the next level, but I don't know if he truly is ready or it's me pushing him.
Anyway, he did his math in record time. I had a little thing for Sam and Annika to do, gluing letters onto some paper, and Harry joined them once he was finished.
Ahh, and the bane of Harry's existence came next. He HATES copywork. Actually he hates any kind of writing. But the only way to get better at it is to do it, so...he had some copywork next. It dealt with the weather which is what we are working on for science. It took him less time to actually accomplish it than it did to whine about how much he didn't like it, a point I made sure to show him!
Since we got home from speech classes late, it was lunch time, and we read yet more of Midsummer. During quiet time he and I looked up the weather around the country and our area.
And the schooly part of our day came to a conclusion!
Monday, monday
I was all set to post and blogger was down, so here's the Monday wrap up.
We started out by reading more Midsummer. Not a whole lot, but enough to advance the story. Harry really thinks it's funny. I love it. While I was reading he painted a picture of the Fairy Forest in the story and when I was finished with our reading for the day, he told me all about it. I'll post his story in a little while when the kids aren't right here. Plus I have to go downstairs for it and I really don't want to again.
After Harry and Annika went outside to play for a few minutes while I got set up for our next thing. Which I suddenly don't remember. We read some Aesop's Fables, he narrated one. We also read Horatius at the Bridge from 50 Famous Stories Retold. He narrated that too.
Harry watched the next Math-U-See lesson on subtracting from 10 and did the page in his book for that. He also did his timed test for the day.
We picked up Sam from preschool and did some shopping. (Harry needed new church pants and a white shirt for Sunday). I ended up without a white shirt but with church pants and a couple of outfits for the new little girl that will be joining us soon. That was fun!
In the afternoon we did a neat craft that involved acrylic paints and a chrysanthemum. The boys made "Mum Prints." Annika painted herself with blue and purple kid paints. I'm not about to give her something that's going to stain.
That's about it. It was a pretty nice day.
We started out by reading more Midsummer. Not a whole lot, but enough to advance the story. Harry really thinks it's funny. I love it. While I was reading he painted a picture of the Fairy Forest in the story and when I was finished with our reading for the day, he told me all about it. I'll post his story in a little while when the kids aren't right here. Plus I have to go downstairs for it and I really don't want to again.
After Harry and Annika went outside to play for a few minutes while I got set up for our next thing. Which I suddenly don't remember. We read some Aesop's Fables, he narrated one. We also read Horatius at the Bridge from 50 Famous Stories Retold. He narrated that too.
Harry watched the next Math-U-See lesson on subtracting from 10 and did the page in his book for that. He also did his timed test for the day.
We picked up Sam from preschool and did some shopping. (Harry needed new church pants and a white shirt for Sunday). I ended up without a white shirt but with church pants and a couple of outfits for the new little girl that will be joining us soon. That was fun!
In the afternoon we did a neat craft that involved acrylic paints and a chrysanthemum. The boys made "Mum Prints." Annika painted herself with blue and purple kid paints. I'm not about to give her something that's going to stain.
That's about it. It was a pretty nice day.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I didn't realize
it had been quite so long.
Yikes. Well, in my defense, there has been learning happening here, I just haven't posted about it.
So without further ado, here's what we've done this morning:
Math--one page of his current lesson in MUS. I also decided that Harry really should know how to grip a pencil correctly, so we worked on that.
We read a bunch pages from Midsummer Night's Dream. The version we are reading is really interesting and fun, Harry keeps asking to read more. Sometimes I do, but most times I don't--I have to make sure he understands what is happening. (True story: Harry just saw me writing this and, I quote, said, "I wish we were reading Midsummer right now. I really like it. So, does Oberon think that Puck is funny? I don't, he plays mean tricks on people") I think he understands it pretty well!
I had them color and cut out a bunch of autumn shapes yesterday so we strung them onto a ribbon for a decoration. Today they had to match up some leaf stickers by shape and size so we could make it even prettier.
Play and snack time.
I got out the play dough and everyone joined in. We read a chapter from Story of the World about ancient China--farming, pictograms, and dynasties. We used play dough to make up our own pictograms and talked about how life was different back then. Harry and I used the SOTW activity book directions to begin making our "Ming Bowl." Once it dries, he'll paint it blue and white.
Lunch time and Child's History of the World. We read a chapter on the Egyptians. This led to another chapter also on the Egyptians and a discussion about if these people were alive at the same time as people in the Bible and Book of Mormon. I really need to get started on some kind of a Book of Centuries or time line. Things will make way more sense.
It's quiet time and Annika is asleep. Sam and I are going to play a game he got from speech (I'll have to write about that soon) and then I'll get both boys up to paint with acrylics. Not something I'm willing to do when Annika is around!
After that is an early dinner and soccer practice.
Thursday is our "day off," we only have Sam's speech class which ends at 8:25. Then we get to go home and do fun learning things. I love Thursdays!
Yikes. Well, in my defense, there has been learning happening here, I just haven't posted about it.
So without further ado, here's what we've done this morning:
Math--one page of his current lesson in MUS. I also decided that Harry really should know how to grip a pencil correctly, so we worked on that.
We read a bunch pages from Midsummer Night's Dream. The version we are reading is really interesting and fun, Harry keeps asking to read more. Sometimes I do, but most times I don't--I have to make sure he understands what is happening. (True story: Harry just saw me writing this and, I quote, said, "I wish we were reading Midsummer right now. I really like it. So, does Oberon think that Puck is funny? I don't, he plays mean tricks on people") I think he understands it pretty well!
I had them color and cut out a bunch of autumn shapes yesterday so we strung them onto a ribbon for a decoration. Today they had to match up some leaf stickers by shape and size so we could make it even prettier.
Play and snack time.
I got out the play dough and everyone joined in. We read a chapter from Story of the World about ancient China--farming, pictograms, and dynasties. We used play dough to make up our own pictograms and talked about how life was different back then. Harry and I used the SOTW activity book directions to begin making our "Ming Bowl." Once it dries, he'll paint it blue and white.
Lunch time and Child's History of the World. We read a chapter on the Egyptians. This led to another chapter also on the Egyptians and a discussion about if these people were alive at the same time as people in the Bible and Book of Mormon. I really need to get started on some kind of a Book of Centuries or time line. Things will make way more sense.
It's quiet time and Annika is asleep. Sam and I are going to play a game he got from speech (I'll have to write about that soon) and then I'll get both boys up to paint with acrylics. Not something I'm willing to do when Annika is around!
After that is an early dinner and soccer practice.
Thursday is our "day off," we only have Sam's speech class which ends at 8:25. Then we get to go home and do fun learning things. I love Thursdays!
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