We started with the Book of Mormon, sang 5 Little Monkeys and read a bunch of poems from Animal Crackers. That has to be one of the best books for quick poems that appeal to kids. They aren't sickly sweet (although they are sweet) and they aren't about how they hate their brothers. I just really like the book.
Harry had a spelling "test," which really is a spelling test. He writes the words from his lesson this week and if he gets any wrong, he writes them in the little spelling glossary section of his book. Today he got three wrong, which means that instead of moving on to a new lesson next week, we'll go over the concepts from this one again.
He also took a math test, which he aced. Skip counting is just plain fun. Oh yeah, we also did a quick grammar review in the form of "Simon Says." The kids just stand up and I'll say a word. If it is a verb, they do that, if it is something else they stand there and stare at me. Actually, Harry identifies the part of speech it is.
In between all of this learning and reviewing, Sam and Annika were making me delicacies with the new kitchen we got the other day.
I also read to Harry from 50 Famous Stories--it was about a rock in the North Sea. We looked up the North Sea and he narrated the passage. I'll post it later if I can.
Over lunch and snack we read Archimedes Takes a Bath. We haven't finished it yet, but so far everyone loves it.At some point we took out William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki and read a little about Shakespeare's life. I thought I'd impress the boys by telling them that I have been to his house. They just looked at me, blinking, "you've been to someone's house, yay." They didn't say that, but I know that's what they were thinking.
After lunch they went out to play where Annika go filthy and had to have a bath, so we had an impromptu bathtime for the kids. Harry also amused himself by finding all of the contractions in a passage. Hey, it works for him.
Now it's quiet time--the boys are acting out invasions and wars in the loft and the little girls are asleep (I love saying that). We'll go out later on--to the library and Kinko's or Staples, but for now, we're all tucked in nice and cozy at home.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Aftermath
It looks like a volcano and an earthquake hit our kitchen!
A close up of Harry's: (The little guy is saying, "run away!")
Here's Sam's: (I made the one in the background)
Annika was busy too:
A close up of Harry's: (The little guy is saying, "run away!")
Here's Sam's: (I made the one in the background)
Annika was busy too:
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Upcoming Week
We have a busy week this week--full of friends, family, doctor's appointments, classes, and other fun. So I need to be especially organized to get everything accomplished that I need and want to.
Here's what's happening:
Monday: Sea World in the afternoon with Adam
Tuesday: Speech all morning and Harry's friend from preschool is coming over in the afternoon
Wednesday: Harry has classes all day
Thursday: Speech first thing in the morning and another friend coming in the afternoon
Friday: Emma has a doctor's appointment at 11. (side note, no more appointments at 11, it just doesn't work for us!)
Things I need/want to accomplish this week:
Math: Lesson 6.
Spellng: Review Lesson 32. Only 4 more in this book.
Grammar: A lesson every day. Action verbs are a lot of fun around here!
History: Athens and Sparta. We're backing off a bit, not abandoning it all together. I think we'll do the "book work" for now and save the project time for science. Speaking of which...
Science: Earthquakes and Volcanoes. We'll build a pretend seismograph and a paper volcano. I have absolutely no desire to do the baking soda version right now. Maybe when we finish our earth science studies, but not now.
Season notebooks: More about winter. Somewhere I have a list of what I wanted to put in their notebooks. I'll find it and do it. Then I can return all of the winter books to the library and check out the spring ones.
Poetry, art, music. Please.
President's Day is tomorrow--we'll continue to read George Washington. At this rte we might finish it by President's Day 2009!
Various other readings from the Ambleside list.
That's all. I think a week should about do it. I'll let you know how it turns out in the end!
Here's what's happening:
Monday: Sea World in the afternoon with Adam
Tuesday: Speech all morning and Harry's friend from preschool is coming over in the afternoon
Wednesday: Harry has classes all day
Thursday: Speech first thing in the morning and another friend coming in the afternoon
Friday: Emma has a doctor's appointment at 11. (side note, no more appointments at 11, it just doesn't work for us!)
Things I need/want to accomplish this week:
Math: Lesson 6.
Spellng: Review Lesson 32. Only 4 more in this book.
Grammar: A lesson every day. Action verbs are a lot of fun around here!
History: Athens and Sparta. We're backing off a bit, not abandoning it all together. I think we'll do the "book work" for now and save the project time for science. Speaking of which...
Science: Earthquakes and Volcanoes. We'll build a pretend seismograph and a paper volcano. I have absolutely no desire to do the baking soda version right now. Maybe when we finish our earth science studies, but not now.
Season notebooks: More about winter. Somewhere I have a list of what I wanted to put in their notebooks. I'll find it and do it. Then I can return all of the winter books to the library and check out the spring ones.
Poetry, art, music. Please.
President's Day is tomorrow--we'll continue to read George Washington. At this rte we might finish it by President's Day 2009!
Various other readings from the Ambleside list.
That's all. I think a week should about do it. I'll let you know how it turns out in the end!
I never expected this
Harry has been interested in the military and weaponry since he was very small--it happens when you idolize your Uncle who is a Marine. He's always checked out library books about the military and that's been fine. We made the decision to channel that interest into history--specifically, Roman history. So for the last couple of months, he and Sam have "been" Romans. Again, that's fine.
For a while it was fine at least. We thought it was fun and interesting to see both Harry and Sam so involved with something. But, Harry is slightly obsessive, which means that he will only want to know about or do one thing at a time. He doesn't want to do his school work because he only wants to study history. He tries to make deals with me, "I will only do this math if we do history first." While one of the nice things about homeschooling is that he can follow an interest for a while. But he's not following an interest anymore--it's become his life!
I'm making the conscious decision to put history on the back burner for a while. We'll still study and find out information, but I won't be checking a ton of books out of the library for further study. I will try to steer him to other books when he has free-reading time. We are going to get back into our nature walks a bit more and finally finish the "winter" portion of our seasons notebook. We will study history a bit, it just won't be the focus. We are also going to put the playmobil away for a while--the Romans and the castle guys. We are pulling out the legos and the trains and building huge train tracks that stretch between the rooms.
My hope is that he'll realize that there is a lot of information out there and not all of it has to do with war and fighting. I'm sure he'll get obsessed with something else soon enough and I'll be back here trying to figure out what to do again!
For a while it was fine at least. We thought it was fun and interesting to see both Harry and Sam so involved with something. But, Harry is slightly obsessive, which means that he will only want to know about or do one thing at a time. He doesn't want to do his school work because he only wants to study history. He tries to make deals with me, "I will only do this math if we do history first." While one of the nice things about homeschooling is that he can follow an interest for a while. But he's not following an interest anymore--it's become his life!
I'm making the conscious decision to put history on the back burner for a while. We'll still study and find out information, but I won't be checking a ton of books out of the library for further study. I will try to steer him to other books when he has free-reading time. We are going to get back into our nature walks a bit more and finally finish the "winter" portion of our seasons notebook. We will study history a bit, it just won't be the focus. We are also going to put the playmobil away for a while--the Romans and the castle guys. We are pulling out the legos and the trains and building huge train tracks that stretch between the rooms.
My hope is that he'll realize that there is a lot of information out there and not all of it has to do with war and fighting. I'm sure he'll get obsessed with something else soon enough and I'll be back here trying to figure out what to do again!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Harry's Book Reviews
Life in a Medieval Castle, by Jane Shuter
It didn't give that much information about knights. It had a lot of information about how people lived in castles. If you like castles, you should read it.
Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of History
I read the parts about Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Medieval Castles. There is a part about the first Olympic Games that's interesting. The parts I read were good because they gave a lot of information. But it doesn't give all of the information you want, so you should look somewhere else for more.
Eyewitness Books: Castle by Christopher Gravett
It had a whole bunch of information about castles and more information about knights than Life in a Medieval Castle. I liked the information and it has pictures about the things they were talking about in it. If they were talking about knights, they would show a knight.
Usborne Book of Castles, by Lesley Sims
It has chapters about different topics, so one chapter is called "war" and it shows what knights would do in a war. There is a lot more information in it than the Eyewitness Book of Castles. They both have the same kind of pictures though. If you were going to check one of them out of the library, you should get this one. (He's taking a quick reading break.)
Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children
It has a whole bunch of Greek myths. There is one called "The Gift of Fire' and the chief god Zeus let the people live on earth but he didn't let them have fire. So the god Prometheus stole a piece of burning charcoal from Zeus' palace. Zeus could smell the food that the people were having and he knew that Prometheus had stolen charcoal from his palace. He chained Prometheus to a mountain side and ever day an eagle tore out his liver and every night a new one grew back. He had to sit there for hundreds of years until the god Zeus forgave him.
There are lots of good drawings in this book too.
The Trojan Horse, by Warwick Hutton
The Greeks won the Trojan War by building the Trojan Horse. It's a big wooden horse that the Greeks made and the goddess Athena told Odysseus to write her name in the side. Then the Greek ships left and the Trojans thought they had won the war and they brought the Trojan horse in the city. Then they feasted and danced until they got tired and went back to their houses. When they were all tired, Odysseus and the other Greeks opened the door to the city so the other ones could get in. Then they stormed through the city and won the battle.
How to Be a Medieval Knight, by Fiona MacDonald
It has a lot of information about knights--more than any other of the castle books. It tells how the knights fought and what they used for their weapons and how they lived and practiced and became knights. There are questions in the back to answer. They are about what knights did and what to do if you were under siege. The answers are on the last page on the bottom right corner.
If you were interested in knights, this would be a good book to read.
There are other ones like this on being a Roman Soldier and a Samurai Warrior. And an Aztec Warrior.
It didn't give that much information about knights. It had a lot of information about how people lived in castles. If you like castles, you should read it.
Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of History
I read the parts about Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Medieval Castles. There is a part about the first Olympic Games that's interesting. The parts I read were good because they gave a lot of information. But it doesn't give all of the information you want, so you should look somewhere else for more.
Eyewitness Books: Castle by Christopher Gravett
It had a whole bunch of information about castles and more information about knights than Life in a Medieval Castle. I liked the information and it has pictures about the things they were talking about in it. If they were talking about knights, they would show a knight.
Usborne Book of Castles, by Lesley Sims
It has chapters about different topics, so one chapter is called "war" and it shows what knights would do in a war. There is a lot more information in it than the Eyewitness Book of Castles. They both have the same kind of pictures though. If you were going to check one of them out of the library, you should get this one. (He's taking a quick reading break.)
Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children
It has a whole bunch of Greek myths. There is one called "The Gift of Fire' and the chief god Zeus let the people live on earth but he didn't let them have fire. So the god Prometheus stole a piece of burning charcoal from Zeus' palace. Zeus could smell the food that the people were having and he knew that Prometheus had stolen charcoal from his palace. He chained Prometheus to a mountain side and ever day an eagle tore out his liver and every night a new one grew back. He had to sit there for hundreds of years until the god Zeus forgave him.
There are lots of good drawings in this book too.
The Trojan Horse, by Warwick Hutton
The Greeks won the Trojan War by building the Trojan Horse. It's a big wooden horse that the Greeks made and the goddess Athena told Odysseus to write her name in the side. Then the Greek ships left and the Trojans thought they had won the war and they brought the Trojan horse in the city. Then they feasted and danced until they got tired and went back to their houses. When they were all tired, Odysseus and the other Greeks opened the door to the city so the other ones could get in. Then they stormed through the city and won the battle.
How to Be a Medieval Knight, by Fiona MacDonald
It has a lot of information about knights--more than any other of the castle books. It tells how the knights fought and what they used for their weapons and how they lived and practiced and became knights. There are questions in the back to answer. They are about what knights did and what to do if you were under siege. The answers are on the last page on the bottom right corner.
If you were interested in knights, this would be a good book to read.
There are other ones like this on being a Roman Soldier and a Samurai Warrior. And an Aztec Warrior.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday
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.
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.
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.
Friday, December 07, 2007
More Christmas Activities
Here are a couple of things I'm going to do with my kids and something I did with the Activity Day girls a couple of years ago.
Terra Cotta Trio just looks like fun. It also looks easy enough to keep the kids attention. I like the idea of them making their own little nativity. I have another one I'd like to make, but that will be for next year, when I have time and can breathe a little.
Marshmallow Snowmen. No link, but it's easy. Just use the marshmallows as paint brushes--the big ones for the snowmen and the little ones for snow. It's another quick and easy activity.
Now for the more involved activity:
This is the song: The Nativity Song.
Here are the pictures I used with the girls:
Terra Cotta Trio just looks like fun. It also looks easy enough to keep the kids attention. I like the idea of them making their own little nativity. I have another one I'd like to make, but that will be for next year, when I have time and can breathe a little.
Marshmallow Snowmen. No link, but it's easy. Just use the marshmallows as paint brushes--the big ones for the snowmen and the little ones for snow. It's another quick and easy activity.
Now for the more involved activity:
This is the song: The Nativity Song.
Here are the pictures I used with the girls:
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Some Christmas Activities
This is a list of some of the activities I would like to do with the kids. There is no way I'll do them all, but that's okay. With everything that is happening in our lives right now, I think keeping Christmas fairly simple is going to be the way to go.
Religious Activities (primarily):
A Week for the Christmas Story: We did this last year when the Friend came out and it was neat. I'd like to do the same thing again this year. It condenses the Christmas story into a week and even I won't forget, I hope!
We've already made the next two things that also came from past issues of The Friend. I can't find them in the index right now, so here are the directions. Both of them are slightly harder than they look to be. I used a glue gun for both so the kids wouldn't have to wait for them to dry too much. Also because it was easier in the long run. I also used wooden craft spoons instead of erasers because I happened to have them on hand. I'm trying really hard not to run to Michaels each time I see a neat thing I want to make.
That's it for now, I need to concentrate on Harry's party that is coming up, not on things further away. I also need to find a place for us to live come the 28th (Happy Birthday Ben!). So I'll post more another time.
Religious Activities (primarily):
A Week for the Christmas Story: We did this last year when the Friend came out and it was neat. I'd like to do the same thing again this year. It condenses the Christmas story into a week and even I won't forget, I hope!
Advent Calendar: What Is Christmas?
I like this advent calendar, I remember working on it a couple of years ago with Harry. There is another one I like better though.Christmas Countdown
It's the one above. (Because I'm importing links, the spacing is a bit off, sorry.) Annika likes this one mostly because of the Baby Jesus and the animals. I'm hoping she won't like it enough to tear pieces off of it, but we'll see.We've already made the next two things that also came from past issues of The Friend. I can't find them in the index right now, so here are the directions. Both of them are slightly harder than they look to be. I used a glue gun for both so the kids wouldn't have to wait for them to dry too much. Also because it was easier in the long run. I also used wooden craft spoons instead of erasers because I happened to have them on hand. I'm trying really hard not to run to Michaels each time I see a neat thing I want to make.
Okay, I found the link just now. It is: Christmas Workshop
That's it for now, I need to concentrate on Harry's party that is coming up, not on things further away. I also need to find a place for us to live come the 28th (Happy Birthday Ben!). So I'll post more another time.
More Christmas Books
We went back to the library this morning to get more Christmas related books. It's okay since we read 2-3 a day. They are short picture books, although I am looking for some longer ones for Harry.
Oh yeah, before I forget, if you have taken a look at my other Christmas Book List, I would not recommend Christmas Tapestry. Parts of it are really good, but the book introduces the Holocaust. I don't think my kids are ready to know about such a horrible event yet. It also talks about the stresses of being a "preacher's kid" which my kids can't relate to. So that one is off our shelf for this year.
On with the updates:
There was no snow on Christmas Eve / by Pam Muñoz Ryan ; illustrations by Dennis Nolan.
The Christmas bird / by Sallie Ketcham ; illustrated by Stacey Schuett.
Lucia and the light / Phyllis Root ; illustrated by Mary GrandPré.
One wintry night / Ruth Bell Graham ; illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson.
The Christmas cobwebs / Odds Bodkin ; illustrated by Terry Widener.
Sing Noel : Christmas carols / selected by Jane Yolen ; musical arrangements by Adam Stemple ; illus
Oh yeah, before I forget, if you have taken a look at my other Christmas Book List, I would not recommend Christmas Tapestry. Parts of it are really good, but the book introduces the Holocaust. I don't think my kids are ready to know about such a horrible event yet. It also talks about the stresses of being a "preacher's kid" which my kids can't relate to. So that one is off our shelf for this year.
On with the updates:
There was no snow on Christmas Eve / by Pam Muñoz Ryan ; illustrations by Dennis Nolan.
The Christmas bird / by Sallie Ketcham ; illustrated by Stacey Schuett.
Lucia and the light / Phyllis Root ; illustrated by Mary GrandPré.
One wintry night / Ruth Bell Graham ; illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson.
The Christmas cobwebs / Odds Bodkin ; illustrated by Terry Widener.
Sing Noel : Christmas carols / selected by Jane Yolen ; musical arrangements by Adam Stemple ; illus
A December to Remember?
With all of the house chaos and birthday chaos and baby chaos, school for us is going to be pared down a bit until after Christmas. That doesn't mean we won't do anything, but the style will change somewhat. For instance, you read my big list of books. That's about half of the books we'll be reading this season. The rest are at the library waiting for me to pick them up. That'll be, to an extent our reading "curriculum" for the month. We'll read other things, but that's what I'm focusing on.
For math, we'll continue as usual. Math is a skill that needs to be repeated often or the facts get lost. However, we won't just do book work. We'll double cookies, figure prices for gifts, and do some worksheets (gasp) that are Christmas themed.
Grammar and spelling will continue also. I don't want Harry to backslide because we're having too much fun!
On the other hand, we're adding in one Christmas project a day. That is a little tricky for me because I don't want to decorate the house just to put everything away in a few days, plus we don't really decorate until after Harry's birthday. But we'll muddle along. The projects are loosely broken into categories: cooking/baking, gifts, religious, fun. That doesn't mean they can't be more than one thing, but I'm trying to pull from each of these once a week.
For geography, we're doing a Christmas Around the World Theme. We're reading books that talk about Christmas in other places and maybe doing a project about it. I don't want to do too many projects, that get tiring and the amount of "stuff" gets overwhelming, but some are fine.
Gotta go, speech classes. I'll update some specifics later. If I get a chance!
For math, we'll continue as usual. Math is a skill that needs to be repeated often or the facts get lost. However, we won't just do book work. We'll double cookies, figure prices for gifts, and do some worksheets (gasp) that are Christmas themed.
Grammar and spelling will continue also. I don't want Harry to backslide because we're having too much fun!
On the other hand, we're adding in one Christmas project a day. That is a little tricky for me because I don't want to decorate the house just to put everything away in a few days, plus we don't really decorate until after Harry's birthday. But we'll muddle along. The projects are loosely broken into categories: cooking/baking, gifts, religious, fun. That doesn't mean they can't be more than one thing, but I'm trying to pull from each of these once a week.
For geography, we're doing a Christmas Around the World Theme. We're reading books that talk about Christmas in other places and maybe doing a project about it. I don't want to do too many projects, that get tiring and the amount of "stuff" gets overwhelming, but some are fine.
Gotta go, speech classes. I'll update some specifics later. If I get a chance!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Christmas Reading List
Here is our preliminary reading list for the season:
My Little House Christmas Crafts Book
A World of Holidays: Catherine Chanbers
The Baker's Dozen: Heather Forest
The Night Before Christmas: illustrated by Tasha Tudor
The Beautiful Christmas Tree: Charlotte Zolotow
Let's Celebrate Christmas: Peter and Connie Roop
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: Gloria Houston
The Little Fir Tree: Margaret Wise Brown
A Christmas Celebration: Pamela Kennedy
An Early American Christmas: Tomie dePaola
The Legend of the Poinsettia: Tomie dePaola
The Christmas Camel: Nancy Winslow Parker
Hark: A Christmas Sampler: Jane Yolen
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree: Robert Barry
Christmas in Denmark (they didn't have one for Sweden, I figured it was close enough for now)
Cranberry Christmas: Devlin
On Christmas Eve: MW Brown
Christmas Tapestry: Patricia Polacco
Silver Packages: Cynthia Rylant
Joy to the World: Saviour Pirotta
This isn't an exhaustive list of everything we're reading this season, but it's a start. We have some that I haven't typed in also, because I can't find them. Unfortunately most of our books are already packed away ready to go. But I imagine I'll update this every few days, assuming I can find some more.
Oh, here are a couple more:
Who's that Knocking on Christmas Eve: Jan Brett
The Gingerbread Baby: Jan Brett
We have a bunch from Sweden by Astrid Lindgren, so when Annika isn't sleeping in the room they are in, I'll get them and type those in too.
My Little House Christmas Crafts Book
A World of Holidays: Catherine Chanbers
The Baker's Dozen: Heather Forest
The Night Before Christmas: illustrated by Tasha Tudor
The Beautiful Christmas Tree: Charlotte Zolotow
Let's Celebrate Christmas: Peter and Connie Roop
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: Gloria Houston
The Little Fir Tree: Margaret Wise Brown
A Christmas Celebration: Pamela Kennedy
An Early American Christmas: Tomie dePaola
The Legend of the Poinsettia: Tomie dePaola
The Christmas Camel: Nancy Winslow Parker
Hark: A Christmas Sampler: Jane Yolen
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree: Robert Barry
Christmas in Denmark (they didn't have one for Sweden, I figured it was close enough for now)
Cranberry Christmas: Devlin
On Christmas Eve: MW Brown
Christmas Tapestry: Patricia Polacco
Silver Packages: Cynthia Rylant
Joy to the World: Saviour Pirotta
This isn't an exhaustive list of everything we're reading this season, but it's a start. We have some that I haven't typed in also, because I can't find them. Unfortunately most of our books are already packed away ready to go. But I imagine I'll update this every few days, assuming I can find some more.
Oh, here are a couple more:
Who's that Knocking on Christmas Eve: Jan Brett
The Gingerbread Baby: Jan Brett
We have a bunch from Sweden by Astrid Lindgren, so when Annika isn't sleeping in the room they are in, I'll get them and type those in too.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Back to the Grindstone
Sort of. It's hard to call anything where your six-year-old says, "Yay, we're learning about Carthage now," a grindstone. That is a direct quote. Jason's been playing a game on the computer where the Romans pretty much defeat everyone under the sun and he's fighting Carthage right now. How's that for a "real life" application of history!
Jason went back to work today after taking last week off for Thanksgiving. There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth on Annika's part. She was most unhappy that Dada was leaving. I figured that we should get back to work too.
We started off the day with Happy Times in Noisy Village. We read a chapter about a sheep so the entire time Annika baaed like a sheep. It was a little distracting, but she's supposed to be working on her speech, so we didn't say too much.
We were then joined at the table by an entire army of Bionicles. After telling their commander that only one was allowed at the table at a time, they took turns sitting and watching Harry and Sam do their work. Annika's doll, perhaps wanting to keep her distance, stayed on Annika's lap! That's how we did Math (lesson 28--we're almost finished with the book!) and grammar. Grammar culminated with some copywork, which Harry is strangely compliant about. It makes me worry--have we turned a corner where he will be okay with writing from now on or is he going to regress into his "I don't want to write" mode? I try not to shake too much as I hand over the part he's to copy and just go with it, but it's harder than it might seem.
He played a while after that--actually they all did. I lured them back to the table with the promise of some clementines. As they ate the last three clementines, my mouth watered and I devised plans to steal one. Harry also did some spelling. Not very exciting, especially since he's just beginning the book. I'm trying to whip through it, but not let him miss anything. So we do a book lesson a day, but go over the rules all week.
Once he finished his clementine (no I didn't actually steal anyones) we read about the Phoenicians, glass blowing, and snail boiling. Apparently Tyre was an incredibly smelly place since that is where they made all of the purple dye for the ancient world. Boiling sea snails does nothing for your reputation as a vacation spot--it's too smelly! That's when the above comment about Carthage was made--as Harry asked if we could read another chapter of history. I actully said no. Normally I'd say yes and bask in the glory of raising a kid interested in the outside world, but today he's going to a friends for the afternoon and we needed to have lunch and some quiet time.
That's where we are right now. And despite the fact that I went to bed at 7:30 last night and work up at 7:15 the morning, I'm going to lie down before we need to get in the car.
Jason went back to work today after taking last week off for Thanksgiving. There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth on Annika's part. She was most unhappy that Dada was leaving. I figured that we should get back to work too.
We started off the day with Happy Times in Noisy Village. We read a chapter about a sheep so the entire time Annika baaed like a sheep. It was a little distracting, but she's supposed to be working on her speech, so we didn't say too much.
We were then joined at the table by an entire army of Bionicles. After telling their commander that only one was allowed at the table at a time, they took turns sitting and watching Harry and Sam do their work. Annika's doll, perhaps wanting to keep her distance, stayed on Annika's lap! That's how we did Math (lesson 28--we're almost finished with the book!) and grammar. Grammar culminated with some copywork, which Harry is strangely compliant about. It makes me worry--have we turned a corner where he will be okay with writing from now on or is he going to regress into his "I don't want to write" mode? I try not to shake too much as I hand over the part he's to copy and just go with it, but it's harder than it might seem.
He played a while after that--actually they all did. I lured them back to the table with the promise of some clementines. As they ate the last three clementines, my mouth watered and I devised plans to steal one. Harry also did some spelling. Not very exciting, especially since he's just beginning the book. I'm trying to whip through it, but not let him miss anything. So we do a book lesson a day, but go over the rules all week.
Once he finished his clementine (no I didn't actually steal anyones) we read about the Phoenicians, glass blowing, and snail boiling. Apparently Tyre was an incredibly smelly place since that is where they made all of the purple dye for the ancient world. Boiling sea snails does nothing for your reputation as a vacation spot--it's too smelly! That's when the above comment about Carthage was made--as Harry asked if we could read another chapter of history. I actully said no. Normally I'd say yes and bask in the glory of raising a kid interested in the outside world, but today he's going to a friends for the afternoon and we needed to have lunch and some quiet time.
That's where we are right now. And despite the fact that I went to bed at 7:30 last night and work up at 7:15 the morning, I'm going to lie down before we need to get in the car.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I can't remember now
if it's Wed, Thurs, or Fri! I had a mini panic attack a while ago because I suddenly thought it was Friday and I had all of these things to do, RIGHT NOW before going to Bunko at 6:30. (Yes, I know it's lame that I play bunko, but it's something to do occasionally). Anyway, I realized it was Thursday and I was fine, but then somehow I decided it was Wednesday a little while later. One of the problems of homeschooling maybe? Although I don't think I want to blame my inability to follow a calendar on homeschooling. Pregnancy maybe, but not homeschooling.
So what did we do today? Again, we started put with Math. Harry did two pages. Moved onto 50 Famous Stories and read about William Tell. Harry drew a picture of WT shooting the apple off of his son's head that's pretty neat. We talked about what a tyrant is and isn't and had a nice little discussion from that. I think they went to play after that for a while.
I lured them back into the kitchen with the promise of snacks and we read a couple of Thanksgiving stories. I keep meaning to post our Thanksgiving readings, but I also keep forgetting to. Maybe soon I'll get it finished. Hopefully before Thanksgiving. Harry did some spelling words and then we read some pages from D'Aulaire's George Washington. I'm not entirely sure everything is totally accurate in these biographies, but I'm willing to overlook that for now. This isn't the only biography Harry or Sam will read on Washington--it's just an introduction. Anything that needs to be cleared up will be.
During quiet time he read more of Eragon. He is really into that book. A lot more than Harry Potter. I think it's more exciting to him--there are dragons and a quest instead of a kid going to school. I got him out of quiet time early to work on his science. We are still studying rocks and fossils. Today I got out the igneous and metamorphic rock kits. We looked at them and tried to decide the colors, texture, and a bunch of other things that have slipped my mind now. We also did a sink or float experiment. He told me if he thought the rock would sink or float and we tested it. It was a lot of fun--we had a great time together looking at these rocks and talking about them. Harry's observational skills are getting better and better.
At the end we made Edible Igneous Rocks. It's basically fudge. We boiled the ingredients and then cooled them until they were hard. The only problem is that they aren't getting hard--in fact, quite the opposite. They are as runny as soup. So much for that, but he was so excited and could really grasp what we were doing.
Ahhh, what will tomorrow bring?
So what did we do today? Again, we started put with Math. Harry did two pages. Moved onto 50 Famous Stories and read about William Tell. Harry drew a picture of WT shooting the apple off of his son's head that's pretty neat. We talked about what a tyrant is and isn't and had a nice little discussion from that. I think they went to play after that for a while.
I lured them back into the kitchen with the promise of snacks and we read a couple of Thanksgiving stories. I keep meaning to post our Thanksgiving readings, but I also keep forgetting to. Maybe soon I'll get it finished. Hopefully before Thanksgiving. Harry did some spelling words and then we read some pages from D'Aulaire's George Washington. I'm not entirely sure everything is totally accurate in these biographies, but I'm willing to overlook that for now. This isn't the only biography Harry or Sam will read on Washington--it's just an introduction. Anything that needs to be cleared up will be.
During quiet time he read more of Eragon. He is really into that book. A lot more than Harry Potter. I think it's more exciting to him--there are dragons and a quest instead of a kid going to school. I got him out of quiet time early to work on his science. We are still studying rocks and fossils. Today I got out the igneous and metamorphic rock kits. We looked at them and tried to decide the colors, texture, and a bunch of other things that have slipped my mind now. We also did a sink or float experiment. He told me if he thought the rock would sink or float and we tested it. It was a lot of fun--we had a great time together looking at these rocks and talking about them. Harry's observational skills are getting better and better.
At the end we made Edible Igneous Rocks. It's basically fudge. We boiled the ingredients and then cooled them until they were hard. The only problem is that they aren't getting hard--in fact, quite the opposite. They are as runny as soup. So much for that, but he was so excited and could really grasp what we were doing.
Ahhh, what will tomorrow bring?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Tuesday
Someday I'll think of clever post titles, but it won't be tonight. I'm going to bed right after this. Today Sam and Annika both had their speech lessons and we jumped Jason's car so he could go to work. A library run was scheduled after that, but I decided that today we really needed food more than books. Tomorrow, we'll see. We got home in time for lunch, which Annika decided to fix for herself. She opened up one of my yogurts and had eaten half of it by the time I realized. All this to explain why we didn't get much done.
What we did? Math and spelling. Harry did one page of MUS quickly and well. I decided to see if I could skip Harry ahead in his spelling book by testing him on the words in his list of the week. Oddly enough, he got most of them wrong. Even the ones I know he knows--like Mom. It was a very strange moment. So he worked a bit more in his spelling book, which at this moment I'm not sure I like and am planning on trying something different. I'll check him again on Friday. After that he did another of his timed math drill. I learned something the other day--cover up the timer. When he can see it, he gets distracted thinking about the time going by. All I have to do is cover it with a sticky note and he can sit down and just get to work. Amazing what a post-it can do!
Tomorrow I don't expect us to get a whole lot done either, he has his coop classes. But I plan on getting a bit more done. The other issue with this week is Sam's birthday party on Saturday that I need to finish getting ready for--so the time that I would have extra is being used for something else. That probably doesn't make much sense. Here it is in plain English. Usually if we don't finish our work in the morning, I push it off to quiet time and finish it then. But this week I really need to use that time to get ready for Sam's party--I can't just push that off at all. So things are a little tricky in that department.
Okay, this has taken me way too long to type since I'm tired. So I'm going to bed. Good night!
What we did? Math and spelling. Harry did one page of MUS quickly and well. I decided to see if I could skip Harry ahead in his spelling book by testing him on the words in his list of the week. Oddly enough, he got most of them wrong. Even the ones I know he knows--like Mom. It was a very strange moment. So he worked a bit more in his spelling book, which at this moment I'm not sure I like and am planning on trying something different. I'll check him again on Friday. After that he did another of his timed math drill. I learned something the other day--cover up the timer. When he can see it, he gets distracted thinking about the time going by. All I have to do is cover it with a sticky note and he can sit down and just get to work. Amazing what a post-it can do!
Tomorrow I don't expect us to get a whole lot done either, he has his coop classes. But I plan on getting a bit more done. The other issue with this week is Sam's birthday party on Saturday that I need to finish getting ready for--so the time that I would have extra is being used for something else. That probably doesn't make much sense. Here it is in plain English. Usually if we don't finish our work in the morning, I push it off to quiet time and finish it then. But this week I really need to use that time to get ready for Sam's party--I can't just push that off at all. So things are a little tricky in that department.
Okay, this has taken me way too long to type since I'm tired. So I'm going to bed. Good night!
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