I know, catchy title, ehh?
Today was broken up because one of the builders' people had to come in and fix some things. It's kind of nice to point and say, "fix this" and they do. Anyway, it was kind of a bland day today, just us hanging out and skipping speech. (We slept in.)
We started off with math. Two digit addition is really proving hard for Harry. Usually he can finish a lesson in a week and move on, but we are going to spend at least another week on it. He's having a hard time putting numbers into the right places and going from right to left in his adding. I don't know how to help him really except have him work on it a bunch. He needs to get this cemented in his mind so that when we get to carrying, he isn't even more confused.
Harry and Sam then played Romans for a while so I could talk to the builder. Annika followed me around watching to make sure he didn't touch her stuff! Emma slept. W read something after that, but I have no idea what.
Spelling came next. It's interesting that in both spelling and math we are hitting things that challenge Harry. We are, in all honesty, not used to that. Reading came easily to him as have most of the concepts that we've covered so far. We worked through his spelling issues today, but I'll have to review them tomorrow. I might give him a real-life, actual spelling test. He'll love it. He loves anything that we can put a grade on!
I think we took a break for lunch and quiet time after that. It's amazing how few things can really take up a morning. But that's okay. While everyone but Harry, and including me, took a nap this afternoon, Harry read all of the books I checked out of the library. Really. They were mostly short books about Greece and Rome (I know, big surprise) and he was bored. There was history for the day!
Mom and Dad sent the boys a train and a car to make out of plaster of Paris, so we did that after a snack. Then we read more from Story of the World. I love SOTW. Really, really love it. Sometime, when there isn't a baby lying on my chest, I'll tell you why. This is on the Persian Empire, so Harry did the map work from the Activity Guide. Finally, I capped off our learning day by reading The Trojan Horse to Sam. He sat on my lap and everything for it.
Oh, yeah, I know what I read earlier, a story about the tasks of Heracles.
I've know got to go tuck little people in, see you tomorrow.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
About the Playmobil
The first picture, above Harry's reading is named Harrius the Mighty. The one above Sam's reading list is a little more complicated: Sam William the Conqueror Volcano Slider. Apparently Volcano Slider is his middle name.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Snow!
Jason went back to work this morning, so we got right down to our lessons. First up, as usual, Math. Lesson 4 in Beta--Commutative Squares and Estimating. I honestly never though Harry would have so much fun doing his math work. MUS is working well for him, but math is a lot of drill, which he has never been fond of. But this lesson was fun--so fun in fact, that he asked to do another page of the lesson. Commutative Squares are a little like magic, you add the squares together and they all work out. It was pretty fun to watch him get so excited.
We took a break from all of that fun to have a snack. During snacktime I read the kids all three books about winter. We are doing a unit on winter to add to our seasons notebooks. We read The Mitten by Jan Brett and two others that I can't think of right now. After that I printed out an activity to go with the book for Sam and Annika while I did Grammar with Harry. Not quite as much fun as Math, but close. We did decide that the Pronouns would have beaten the Patriots yesterday though. There are no end to pronoun jokes around here.
After another short break for something else, oh yeah, feeding Emma, we headed back to work on Spelling. Spelling is probably the most truly boring subject we do so far. He did the review and we moved on with our lives.
I'm still trying to convince Harry that the Greeks were important to the Romans, so we shouldn't skip them. To that end, I read our passages from Story of the World as if they are the most exciting things ever! It's hilarious to hear me, but it works. The other thing that works is to point out the things that the Greeks did before the Romans. Today we read an entire chapter on Greece and looked it up in our history encyclopedia.
I need to go help the kids, so I'll have to finish later.
Later never came. But I wanted to talk about snow. We read a bunch of books about winter and spent a good two hours cutting out snowflakes. It was really fun. Harry went from not being sure what to do, to being able to make beautiful snowflakes. Sam decided that making snowflakes wasn't for him, so he just folded and cut paper into interesting shapes. Our day culminated in a snowstorm!
We took a break from all of that fun to have a snack. During snacktime I read the kids all three books about winter. We are doing a unit on winter to add to our seasons notebooks. We read The Mitten by Jan Brett and two others that I can't think of right now. After that I printed out an activity to go with the book for Sam and Annika while I did Grammar with Harry. Not quite as much fun as Math, but close. We did decide that the Pronouns would have beaten the Patriots yesterday though. There are no end to pronoun jokes around here.
After another short break for something else, oh yeah, feeding Emma, we headed back to work on Spelling. Spelling is probably the most truly boring subject we do so far. He did the review and we moved on with our lives.
I'm still trying to convince Harry that the Greeks were important to the Romans, so we shouldn't skip them. To that end, I read our passages from Story of the World as if they are the most exciting things ever! It's hilarious to hear me, but it works. The other thing that works is to point out the things that the Greeks did before the Romans. Today we read an entire chapter on Greece and looked it up in our history encyclopedia.
I need to go help the kids, so I'll have to finish later.
Later never came. But I wanted to talk about snow. We read a bunch of books about winter and spent a good two hours cutting out snowflakes. It was really fun. Harry went from not being sure what to do, to being able to make beautiful snowflakes. Sam decided that making snowflakes wasn't for him, so he just folded and cut paper into interesting shapes. Our day culminated in a snowstorm!
Friday, January 11, 2008
A good, well, decent, day
Jason went to work for a while today. Cue screaming--children of course. Moms don't scream.* They just eat every brownie in the pan. We survived and even got some things done this morning. I think.
Harry worked on his math some more. He did another three pages without me even sitting on him to get them done. Monday we will start with new material, so we'll cut it down to one or two pages--he'll be very relieved.
While he worked on his math, Sam did some pages in his phonics work book. Sam loves workbooks--he feels very accomplished to say "I did 5 pages today!" And he usually has done five pages. I don't push him, if he wants to work on them great, if not, great. Usually he does a few pages, then goes to play for a while and does that a few times during our lesson time.
Today I put Annika on my lap while the boys were working and read to her from a nursery rhyme book we have. She loved the nursery rhymes. It was so cute. Her favorite was "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater." She's been coming to me and asking me to say it all day long. And I can't just say it once, if I would she'd have me saying it all day non-stop.
Back to our day. After math we had a snack (I know, hard life, right, but it was 10:30 and the little people were hungry, all of them). And a girl from up the street came to see if Harry could play. I wanted to say no, but we just moved here, there are only a few kids on the block, and they all go back to school Monday, so this was the last time during our school hours that they would do this. Of course, if I had realized that she would stay and stay and stay at our house until almost 1, I would have said no. (And yes, it's my fault she stayed, I was the one who invited her to lunch, so no more complaining.)
After she finally left, Harry finished a spelling lesson. It was on the long-vowel A. Yep, we're doing exciting stuff here. Oh yeah, I meant to say that during snacks, I read the kids a story about George Washington, the farmer. Yes, he was our First President, I know, but this one focused on farming. We also discussed crop rotation. Different than crop circles. And as long as I'm putting every little thing we did in this post, I read them two chapters of the Mischievous Martens at breakfast today.
Spelling was the end of our formal lesson time today. Harry also read a bunch of books on armor, his Bionicle Encyclopedia, built several pyramids, and talked with me about the Greeks and Romans. He wants to learn Latin now, so he can be true Roman. Oh my. What have we started?
*We don't scream much, and usually not when the children are around. Usually. It doesn't mean that it's wrong or never happens. But eating brownies is usually preferable. Although sometimes you have to scream and eat brownies. It happens.
Harry worked on his math some more. He did another three pages without me even sitting on him to get them done. Monday we will start with new material, so we'll cut it down to one or two pages--he'll be very relieved.
While he worked on his math, Sam did some pages in his phonics work book. Sam loves workbooks--he feels very accomplished to say "I did 5 pages today!" And he usually has done five pages. I don't push him, if he wants to work on them great, if not, great. Usually he does a few pages, then goes to play for a while and does that a few times during our lesson time.
Today I put Annika on my lap while the boys were working and read to her from a nursery rhyme book we have. She loved the nursery rhymes. It was so cute. Her favorite was "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater." She's been coming to me and asking me to say it all day long. And I can't just say it once, if I would she'd have me saying it all day non-stop.
Back to our day. After math we had a snack (I know, hard life, right, but it was 10:30 and the little people were hungry, all of them). And a girl from up the street came to see if Harry could play. I wanted to say no, but we just moved here, there are only a few kids on the block, and they all go back to school Monday, so this was the last time during our school hours that they would do this. Of course, if I had realized that she would stay and stay and stay at our house until almost 1, I would have said no. (And yes, it's my fault she stayed, I was the one who invited her to lunch, so no more complaining.)
After she finally left, Harry finished a spelling lesson. It was on the long-vowel A. Yep, we're doing exciting stuff here. Oh yeah, I meant to say that during snacks, I read the kids a story about George Washington, the farmer. Yes, he was our First President, I know, but this one focused on farming. We also discussed crop rotation. Different than crop circles. And as long as I'm putting every little thing we did in this post, I read them two chapters of the Mischievous Martens at breakfast today.
Spelling was the end of our formal lesson time today. Harry also read a bunch of books on armor, his Bionicle Encyclopedia, built several pyramids, and talked with me about the Greeks and Romans. He wants to learn Latin now, so he can be true Roman. Oh my. What have we started?
*We don't scream much, and usually not when the children are around. Usually. It doesn't mean that it's wrong or never happens. But eating brownies is usually preferable. Although sometimes you have to scream and eat brownies. It happens.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
"Tomorrow is another day"
She said!
After much weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, phone calls, baby feeds, big kid snacks, and whatever else they could come up with...
we finished math--3 pages in MUS Beta, a lesson in Spelling Workout, and the beginnings of a great big timeline. Now the kids are outside playing in the mud and loving it.
The amount of work we've accomplished today doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. We spent about an hour reviewing our history while creating the timeline. Three pages is a lot of math, even if it is review, and the spelling lesson was kind of a unit test on everything we've done so far.
We still have grammar to go for the day, so we'll do that during quiet time. Ahh, sweet quiet time. How I love you!
After much weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, phone calls, baby feeds, big kid snacks, and whatever else they could come up with...
we finished math--3 pages in MUS Beta, a lesson in Spelling Workout, and the beginnings of a great big timeline. Now the kids are outside playing in the mud and loving it.
The amount of work we've accomplished today doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. We spent about an hour reviewing our history while creating the timeline. Three pages is a lot of math, even if it is review, and the spelling lesson was kind of a unit test on everything we've done so far.
We still have grammar to go for the day, so we'll do that during quiet time. Ahh, sweet quiet time. How I love you!
Up for a Challenge?
Try teaching a seven-year-old, well, anything, while your five-year-old is singing about barbarian tigers (!), your 2-year-old is alternating between playing with her very loud farm and poking her baby sister in the head. And just for kicks, your husband is putting up blinds just two feet away.
Schools get snow delays, I'm calling a Sibling Delay.
Schools get snow delays, I'm calling a Sibling Delay.
Monday, January 07, 2008
A New Year
Thankfully we have moved and the new baby is here. So our BIG things are over and finished with. Now it's just a matter of unpacking the 43,857 boxes that we brought from the old house and finding a spot for everything. Yeah, that's all.
Anyway, we had to start back to our regularly scheduled learning days at sometime and I decided that we'd start today. If I had decided to wait until everything was perfect...well, I should just send Harry back to school. And that ain't gonna happen! Especially since the schools in our area don't start again until next week.
So today I made some scones for a treat (yes, it was a mix, I poured water and shaped the things), got out the books and called the boys down. I decided that teaching one kids wasn't enough and that Sam should start "kindergarten" now, so he joined us. He got out his workbooks and decided to do 3 or 4 pages in each and that was enough. It's interesting--Harry really doesn't like workbooks, but Sam looks through them lovingly wishing that he hadn't done the pages so he could do them again!
But really Sam's kindergarten is whatever he wants to do--it's prep for next year when he will need to work a bit harder. So, I concentrated on Harry. And he concentrated on eating his scone in the tiniest possible bits. Seriously, he'd look at it and decide which side to eat and pull off a tiny piece that wouldn't feel a mouse properly. While he did that, though, I had him working on his Math. He's finally made it into the MUS Beta book, hurray! Since today's work was review, he did three pages. And nearly died from the strain.
Fortunately, he survived after eating another crumb of scone. It gave him enough energy to finish a spelling lesson. Tomorrow is a review of what he's done in spelling so far, I can only hope he'll survive. And maybe spell jet properly.
Grammar came next, at which point I wished I had cut the scones into smaller pieces since it would take him approximately five hours to eat the thing at the rate he was going. But I was really proud of him for remembering "The Months" poem word for word. We haven't done any grammar/memory work for so many weeks, I was afraid it would be lost in the recesses of his memory. And it wasn't. Hooray. We discussed pronouns, and after defining them as words that no longer were considered amateurs, we figured out what they really were. There was a lot of giggling over the pro-nouns, and just as much over the examples of pronouns we figured out.
Before we began his lessons, Harry told me that if he couldn't do History first, he wasn't going to do anything at all. I know, he has developed quite the little attitude lately, which I squashed promptly. But that also goes to show you what he is interested in. I told him we'd get to History in due time, and to be patient. We did in fact get to history, and read about King Ashurbanipal and the Assyrian Empire. It was interesting if only because the Assyrians were great warriors and Harry could compare them to the Romans. But we spent a lot of time looking at their shields and siege towers and deciding if they really did influence the Romans and trying to figure out who would win in a battle--the Assyrians or the Romans.
So, we finished for the morning. The boys are off playing Romans--they got the entire Playmobil Romans set for Christmas this year. Their Romans always beat the Barbarians--of course.
PS: Sam wanted me to mention that they got almost the entire set for Christmas. They did not however, get the Commander's Tent. The set is now incomplete. Also Julius Caesar did not build the Colloseum, Trajan did.
Anyway, we had to start back to our regularly scheduled learning days at sometime and I decided that we'd start today. If I had decided to wait until everything was perfect...well, I should just send Harry back to school. And that ain't gonna happen! Especially since the schools in our area don't start again until next week.
So today I made some scones for a treat (yes, it was a mix, I poured water and shaped the things), got out the books and called the boys down. I decided that teaching one kids wasn't enough and that Sam should start "kindergarten" now, so he joined us. He got out his workbooks and decided to do 3 or 4 pages in each and that was enough. It's interesting--Harry really doesn't like workbooks, but Sam looks through them lovingly wishing that he hadn't done the pages so he could do them again!
But really Sam's kindergarten is whatever he wants to do--it's prep for next year when he will need to work a bit harder. So, I concentrated on Harry. And he concentrated on eating his scone in the tiniest possible bits. Seriously, he'd look at it and decide which side to eat and pull off a tiny piece that wouldn't feel a mouse properly. While he did that, though, I had him working on his Math. He's finally made it into the MUS Beta book, hurray! Since today's work was review, he did three pages. And nearly died from the strain.
Fortunately, he survived after eating another crumb of scone. It gave him enough energy to finish a spelling lesson. Tomorrow is a review of what he's done in spelling so far, I can only hope he'll survive. And maybe spell jet properly.
Grammar came next, at which point I wished I had cut the scones into smaller pieces since it would take him approximately five hours to eat the thing at the rate he was going. But I was really proud of him for remembering "The Months" poem word for word. We haven't done any grammar/memory work for so many weeks, I was afraid it would be lost in the recesses of his memory. And it wasn't. Hooray. We discussed pronouns, and after defining them as words that no longer were considered amateurs, we figured out what they really were. There was a lot of giggling over the pro-nouns, and just as much over the examples of pronouns we figured out.
Before we began his lessons, Harry told me that if he couldn't do History first, he wasn't going to do anything at all. I know, he has developed quite the little attitude lately, which I squashed promptly. But that also goes to show you what he is interested in. I told him we'd get to History in due time, and to be patient. We did in fact get to history, and read about King Ashurbanipal and the Assyrian Empire. It was interesting if only because the Assyrians were great warriors and Harry could compare them to the Romans. But we spent a lot of time looking at their shields and siege towers and deciding if they really did influence the Romans and trying to figure out who would win in a battle--the Assyrians or the Romans.
So, we finished for the morning. The boys are off playing Romans--they got the entire Playmobil Romans set for Christmas this year. Their Romans always beat the Barbarians--of course.
PS: Sam wanted me to mention that they got almost the entire set for Christmas. They did not however, get the Commander's Tent. The set is now incomplete. Also Julius Caesar did not build the Colloseum, Trajan did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)