Blech: Weekly Report

So for one of the very few times since we began homeschooling, I really started to think that maybe I am not cut out for it and that we'd all be better off with the kids in school. It was that bad. Honestly I can chalk a lot of it up to being gone for two weeks on a road trip, having car trouble and getting the flu, but that doesn't explain all of what I was thinking and feeling.

Sure we did work, but if I measure out our weeks in how much time I convinced the kids to "just sit down and learn something" I'm not really fulfilling what I've set out to do. And that is? That is have a happy family; one that loves, trusts and relies on each other.

Next week will be better, I'm convinced. And I'm not just thinking hopefully either. We've been back for long enough to be used to being home (I don't look for maid service every morning anymore) for one thing. Also, the kids went to all of their outside classes last week, so we have an idea of what our week is going to feel like. And closer to home, I think I've got a better handle on our lesson schedule and I've rearranged and reorganized a few things so the days should more better in general.

It's going to be a good week, next week.

It has to be.

The Fun Stuff

Every year I swear that we will do more projects and fun stuff and less sitting with books. And every year that lasts about two weeks. Fortunately for the kids we are still within the two weeks. So last week they made bean people and dig an archeological dig in our sandbox.

 Today we made tortillas and painted "caves."

Let's just see how long this lasts.

A Post from the Past

Annika's birthday is tomorrow so I decided to go through my family blog to see what I've written in the past about her. I don't like to repeat my birthday posts. Anyway, I found this post that I wrote in January 2007. At the time Annika was about 18 months, Sam 4 and Harry 6. I had just pulled Harry out of a really bad kindergarten situation. I thought it was kind of interesting to read 4 1/2 years later.

 a new old normal

I've been thinking lately about this whole homeschooling idea. It seems to me that we are in something of a good rhythm. Things aren't perfect--the kids still fight, lessons don't go as I'd like them to, and the house is something of a mess, but I like what is happening.

Before Harry went to preschool we did little lessons or crafts every day. They weren't necessarily fancy or elaborate, but we did something every single day. We also had time to go to the park and play with friends, even though we did go to the occasional baby class or had a doctor appointment that messed with the schedule. All in all we had a slow pace of life that allowed me to do what I dreamed of and wanted to do with our kids.

Then Harry started going to preschool and there was stress. And driving. First the stress--is this the right preschool, what should he be doing in preschool; all of those questions that I continually asked myself. Once I found a preschool that I loved, I had to volunteer twice a month and drive all of the way over to it. It was fine--I felt like I was doing the best thing for Harry and I really did love the preschool. I also don't regret taking him there, he made a good friend he still plays with and I think it was a lot of fun for him. I also loved his teacher.

I also don't regret that he didn't finish out the year. It was stressful to have Annika with me and try to find a place for Sam to go when I volunteered. So when he decided not to go anymore last January, that was fine.

We tried to get into a good rhythm last year when we were "homeschooling," but it never worked. We had a hard time getting back to the crafts and little lessons he and I used to like. I also felt like I was continually shoving Sam to the side. (I couldn't do the same with Annika since she was nursing still and demanded to be fed!) I kept trying to get Harry to sit down so he could learn something and keep up with this or that curriculum . Yes, I know he was barely 5 and if I could go back, that is something I would change.

So it was off to kindergarten for Harry. He loved parts of it, but was continually stressed. I kept trying to do little lessons with him when he got home or before he went in, but more often than not we concentrated on being on time! It just didn't work for all of the reasons I've already mentioned.

Now, we're back. We do little lessons on things he needs to know. We read a lot, we draw and paint and play outside. We play math games and occasionally do work in his math book. We pull Sam in and teach him the words we are reading. I still nurse Annika so she's right in the thick of things.

Mostly we live. We do all of the things that got lost and made me feel good about being with my children. I'm a much better Mom now. So when you visit, expect a mess, children everywhere (it's amazing how three can suddenly feel like 300), and a happy family. Back to what worked so well, just bigger.

Unexpected Curriculum Problem

Is it weird that I continually mix up Annika and Harry's math books?

The reason:

Sorry the picture is upside down but I only have a minute and can't figure out how to flip it.

Anyway, I get them mixed up because Harry's is purple and Annika's is yellow. My kids are color coded--Harry is green, Sam is yellow, Annika is purple and Emma is red. That's how it goes when I buy toothbrushes or print their daily sheets or anything that it will be helpful to tell who's it is at a glance. So to have the books the "wrong" colors is really throwing me off.

Of course, if this is my worst problem, I'm doing pretty well.

Whew...

One of my biggest ongoing worries has been Harry's writing. He reads a ton but has never been one to make up stories about his animals or anything that I would say is a precursor to writing. He's done narrations and we did most of Writing with Ease and all of Sentence Island, but it still was a nagging worry in the back of my head. The schools around here also do a lot of writing, starting in kindergarten. Seriously. One of Annika's prompts was "The cloud in the sky looks like.." and they had to write three sentences about it. It's a little ridiculous.

Anyway, we started Writing with Skill last week and we're planning to start Paragraph Town in a few weeks, so we aren't lacking in curriculum. But I was still worried. Harry hated the first couple of days of Writing with Skill and the work I saw didn't help. So yesterday I sat down next to him and went over exactly what I expect from him for his WWS assignments. I stayed next to him while he worked and didn't let his frequent sighs and moans distract him or make me feel like the ogre he sometimes thinks I am .

Lo and behold, his assignment yesterday was better. I was really impressed. He didn't like actually doing the work, but hey, he's ten, he doesn't have to. But the writing he gave me was good. I know that WWS and the fact that it takes you through exactly how to do the assignment helped, but I liked how Harry used words.

Today I wasn't able to sit next to him, so again I was concerned. And again, he impressed me. This was a longer assignment and he did really, really well. There were seven well-formed sentences waiting for me.

So, in short (haha), I think Harry's problem is with the actual writing, not writing. I'll have him try typing the next assignment out, instead of hand writing it. And maybe we can turn something that makes both of us scream into something tolerable.

I Will Survive!

Well, it took us two weeks to finish a week's worth of work, but that's kind of how it goes sometimes, especially in the beginning. I'm not going to go through everything we did because I think that would be the world's most boring post. Here are some snapshots and thoughts about the first bit of school:

• My biggest challenge this year? Figuring out how to organize my days. I have the work figured out, the papers are all in folders, and the books are checked out and ordered. Those are variables I can control. What I can't control are the people. The best laid plans are still at the mercy of Emma wanting to sit on my lap, Annika not understanding 3+5, Sam forgetting he just read, or Harry freaking out about writing a sentence. Or me losing it because all of these things happen at once. I need to make sure I can keep my calm and project it to those around me. Much easier said than done.

Annika's first science page.

• Harry hates writing. I do mean hate. With the passion of a thousand fiery suns. Which kind of makes me hate writing. He started Writing with Skill this week. That seems to be going fine, probably because the book is telling him what he has to do. The real problem is the written narrations he has to do. He looks at me like he's never heard of something so cruel and promptly forgets what he's just read. I'm mean enough to tell him to sit still and think. I think he's old enough to write on his own five sentences about a book he's read. Otherwise he's doing pretty well. His work is basically a continuation of what he's been doing for the past few years.

This is how we are keeping track of books or chapters read. Annika gets a bead for each chapter she reads, the boys for each book. Emma pretty much if she asks. (What can I say, she's really cute.)

• It's fun to teach Annika. She really likes to figure things out. She can whip through the work I give her in just about an hour which means she spends the rest of the time that I'm working with her brothers asking me for more. Thankfully we have a bunch of cheap workbooks. Her reading is taking off and I'm having a blast starting First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease with her. It's a lot of fun to do the same things with her than I did with the boys. And to find new things just for her. She's starting Singapore Math from the beginning instead of Math U See. She's also reading different little stories than the boys did. I'm trying to make sure I spend time actually with her on my lap, reading. It's something that gets lost easily in the chaos.

From a Classical House of Learning project. They made people out of beans. Emma just used the glue. 

•  Sam does everything quickly and perfectly. My challenge with him is to keep him challenged. For now I've added Latin to his studies and he's reading a lot. He has a tendency to "shut down" if challenged to much, so I often feel like I'm walking a tightrope between what I know he can do if he tries and what he's willing to try to do. I've added Latin for Children to his work this year and he's doing a bit of Singapore Math with his Math U See. MUS is going well, I just want to make sure his whole brain is working. I'm also trying hard to keep him in books. Some kids outgrow their clothes all of the time, Sam outgrows his books. I'd say it's annoying but it's really pretty cool.

Our archeological dig.

I'm always more interested in projects at the beginning of the year. By the end I just want to get through things.

I wonder what a car, baby, dress, money, gun, Cub Scout belt loop, Pokemon, and stick can tell us about the civilization that went before?

 As you can see we have some challenges ahead, but that's always true. It wouldn't be homeschooling if I were completely confident about everything I'm doing. Oh, one thing that's going well is our memory work. I put it in their Fancy Folders (Annika named them) and we pull it out first thing every morning. It's been a great thing in a lot of ways. The obvious one--they are memorizing and using their brains. But I didn't expect the kids to become closer because of it. Some of what they are memorizing is the same for each child, so they kind of compete on that (not cool, they are different ages) but most of it's different. But because Harry can see Annika and Sam working hard to memorize something and actually get it, he cheers them on. And it's the same for the other kids. Totally unexpected benefit, but absolutely worth it.

The First Day...

So...today we started school today. Fifth, third, and first grades, plus preschool.

It went fine. We all survived and did everything on my list. Emma was very excited to be called a preschooler and I absolutely used that to my advantage all day long. (Preschoolers are good listeners, preschoolers eat all of their dinner, that kind of thing. It worked pretty well.)

Annika was beside herself to start first grade. I planned for her to do just a little bit today--some math, OPGTR, read alouds and a craft. Everything she does is pretty teacher intensive so I knew I couldn't really leave her alone, so I thought I'd let her play if she needed to wait for me to finish with the boys. She would have none of that. If she finished something she immediately wanted something else to do. It didn't matter if it was a worksheet or a read aloud, but it had to be some kind of work. Reading to her didn't count as school, which I think it a lingering effect of kindergarten. In kindergarten they were busy all of the time...if she finished gluing at one station she immediately went to the next where she would write her name five or six times. Their teacher read one or two stories throughout the day, but it was just for fun, not learning. Anyway...she'll get used to being home pretty soon.

Sam and Harry weren't quite so excited to start. They have been through my lessons and are pretty used to how things work around here. They grabbed their notebooks and just started working. It was pretty light for them too. We're taking about two weeks to do one week's worth of work. (Alliteration, cool.) I did find out that I don't have the correct edition of Grammar Town and I didn't get Sam's copy of Writing with Ease 3 because the charter we use can't get it together. (Yes, we use one of those evil public charters. No, I don't feel bad.)

Anyway, as far as first days go, it was pretty good. We're taking tomorrow off (I know, it's weird) because the kids are hanging out with their Uncle before he moves to Stanford on Friday. It also gives me time to go over some things that I want to tweak for Thursday.

Butterflies in my Stomach

We're starting tomorrow. Why do I suddenly feel like I am nowhere near ready when all I've done for the last month is plan for tomorrow?

Eek.

The Method Behind the Madness

I love looking at how people have their homeschool stuff organized. Someday (maybe even this week) I'll paint the room we use for homeschooling and then show you the entire room, but until then, I'll let you see some bits and pieces. All of these ideas are things that I've thought of or that I've cobbled together from other people's ideas. What works for people is so individual that I haven't ever been able to take someone's whole idea and just implement it. I always have to tweak things first.

So, each child has a notebook:

Harry and Sam's are recycled from last year, Annika and Emma's are new this year. Emma doesn't really need one because she's only three but she really wants one. So for peace in my little corner of the world, she gets one.

I love scrapbooking supplies, but don't actually scrapbook, so this is my chance to buy the stuff and not feel guilty. The paper is new each year. At the end of the year, I rubber band their old work with the paper on top. That way when they are 30-something their kids can look at the old work they did and mock them. (Not that that's happened to me and if it did, I'm not bitter at all.)

That's all well and good (and a little bit fancy), but how do I use the notebooks?

Let's look inside:

This is the inside of Harry's notebook. He has tabs labeled for each book he uses (not each subject) and one labeled "Today." That will hold the work he is to complete each day. On top of the "today" tab, there will be an assignment sheet each day. This is the link to Harry's sheet. I plan to print these onto different color paper for each child. (Except Emma, she doesn't get one.) I also pretty the pages up with silly clip art and never fill in every single square. For a visual kid to see my writing in all of those square is death. That's why there are so many.

As far as my organization goes, I use something like this. This one is from Sam's third term of last year. I don't have this year's finished yet. Very basic, but they keep me on track plus it's easy for me to draw arrows if we didn't finished something during the week it was scheduled. Not pretty, but it works for me.

I plan nine weeks at a time. Any fewer than that and it feels like I'm doing major planning too often. And more than that never goes well. I don't pull things apart because then I'd be completely drowning in paper, but anything I have that's printed I put in a file box, like this:

I don't know how well you can see, but the tabs are labeled Harry-1, Harry-2 etc and repeating also for Sam and Annika. I also have folders labeled Harry, Sam, Annika future. That's for stuff beyond the nine weeks I'm thinking of.

This is what's in Harry's week two folder:

This is his map activity for Sumer I think and his Classical House of Learning assignment sheets. Some weeks have a lot in them, some weeks hardly anything. There will also be more later once I get all of their books and everything completely scheduled.

Once Harry actually does his work he'll put it behind the labeled tab and I'll check it over . If we need to talk about anything, we will, if not, hey, cool!

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour through my organization system. And I hope it continues to work this year too!

Fifth Grade History

My college degree is in International Relations, focusing on the European Union and my graduate is in Education, specifically Middle and High School History. So, to say that I have been waiting for this day is a serious understatement. I have notebook upon notebook of history info and worksheets that have just been sitting around waiting for someone to get old enough to use them. Poor Harry, though...I did try to use a few of my resources way back when he was in first grade. Ah, the plight of the first child. But I digress.

Right now my plan is for Harry to read SOTW 1 with Annika and Sam. That will start off his week and give him an idea of what he's studying. Then he'll go over to the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and outline from that. Initially I'll be doing a lot of that for/with him since it's a brand new skill. (I expect tears and am getting a large bag of m&ms just in case.) One of the things I brought with me from teaching is a book of reproducible map worksheets, so he'll do the worksheet pertaining to the week. If there isn't one he'll just follow along with everyone else. Because his brother and sister are also doing SOTW, we'll do a project together and he'll do anything else that I find interesting for him. Oh, yeah, I plan to have Harry use the review cards that come in the Activity Book for his timeline. If they will fit I want him to just glue it into the appropriate time period.

One thing I haven't scheduled is his reading. I'm using the Classical House of Learning Literature's Logic stage Ancients, so he'll read what's scheduled through that. I will also check out a bunch of other books from the time period for him to peruse at his leisure. I'm sure at some point he'll pick one or two of them up and educate himself.

But overall it seems like quite a bit of work for my ten-and-a-half-year-old to complete each week and I'm looking forward to helping him through it.

If you have a great desire to see how I've planned it all out, go here. Please remember that there might be mistakes in it and that it's really for me to know what's going on. Harry won't ever see it and if things aren't going well, assignments can be shifted and projects skipped. I'm hoping that won't happen, but I'm also pretty realistic. I have four kids, three of whom I'm teaching this year, so I'm just hoping for the best.

Only Three More Weeks

School officially starts for my kids on August 24th. We're actually going to start some things on the 16th (shh, don't tell Harry) because we have a quick vacation to meet my newest niece the first week of September. So I've been spending the last week planning and organizing for Harry's fifth grade, Sam's third, and Annika's first. I've done this before a few times, plus I was a teacher, so you wouldn't think this would be so stressful. But it is. I want to get as much organized before I start teaching as I can so that things will go smoothly. I try to plan nine weeks at a time. That way if things don't go quite as planned I can adjust without having to go back and change everything around. And if they do, I just have to plan the next nine weeks sometime during the first. It sounds more complicated than it really is, I swear.

Anyway, I've been more stressed this year because Harry is going into fifth grade and that's the Beginning of the Logic Stage (cue the anticipatory music). Starting homeschooling was pretty scary at first, but I could always remind myself that it was first (or second or third) grade and I couldn't do too much damage. Now things seem to be more important. If I mess up now it could actually affect his life (cue Jaws music). Anyway, I'm probably taking this way too seriously, but I've spent the last week living, eating and breathing reading lists and logic and biology. I keep hoping I'll have something to show for it soon, but for now, it's just a really messy desk.

Hey, kid, get out of the pool. Don't you know you're in 5th grade now and you should be all stressed out about it?

Why Would You Do That to an Innocent Penguin?

I finally ordered a copy of Deconstructing Penguins. I checked it out from the library and read it a few years ago, but for whatever reason nothing stuck with me. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

But anyway, I ordered a copy from Amazon a few days ago (thank you Amazon Prime) and started reading it again. This time I decided to take notes on what I was reading and actually think of ways to apply it to my (our) homeschooling. As I read I started thinking about books I wanted the kids to read and how I would love to spend some time with them having discussions about them. We've discussed books before, but usually in a "Child, narrate to me what you read in this chapter" way. Or I've had them read books for lessons and had a specific reason for it, like the reading that goes along with their history work.

So last night as I lay in bed thinking about how I wanted to read these books with the kids it dawned on me that I could, in fact, read these books with the kids. We're going to start a Family Book Club. Or at least a Boys and Mom book club. I'd like to hold it while Annika and Emma aren't around so we can have some uninterrupted time. That may be wishful thinking but if it's only once a month, I think we can swing it.

My plan right now is to hold the book club the last week of the month and introduce the book the first week. The boys will have to read the books on their own but I will remind them and help them as much as I need to. My biggest problem won't be that they can't finish the book in time, but that they read it too fast and didn't get anything out of it. That's something Harry really struggles with and doesn't realize it's not a good thing to just read super fast to say you've finished something.

We'll have snacks, I'm hoping to rotate that amongst us as the boys really like the idea of cooking. I'm looking for the Book Club to last about an hour, but I have no real time table for it. I just don't want the kids to look at me like a deer in headlights for an hour.

We'll start in September, I'll let you know if they survived.

Hi Again

So...it's summer time and we're hanging out at the beach and pool. Don't worry, all four of you, I'll be back soon. We're scheduled to start late August. Until then I'm planning, planning, planning. Oh my is 5th grade scary. And really having a 1st, 3rd, and 5th grader at the same time as a crazy 3yo? Stuff of nightmares.

I'm determined to start the year off right and get rid of the boogeyman in my closet (spellcheck actually has a preferred spelling for "boogeyman, btw) I'm organizing every little thing I can. I feel like I'm about halfway there right now--enough so that I can feel like we won't be sitting around staring at the ceiling, but not enough that I feel like I know what I'm doing.

As soon as I come out on the other side, I'll post some plans and ideas for the coming school year. Until then, enjoy the break!

Last Days

Annika had her last day of kindergarten yesterday. She's leaving school a few days before the year ends so we can go on a quick vacation and she won't be going back for first grade. Up until this week she's been fine with the plan.

What's changed in the last little bit? Her teachers are talking up first grade like it's one big party. She's visited the school's library where next year she'll be allowed to check out a book each week! And she visited the first grade classrooms where she might get to do some art! The teachers showed her the cafeteria where she'll be able to buy her lunch, eat with her friends and play on the big playground!

So, what is my response to my poor five-year-old that now thinks school is going to be so fun? Nothing. Really. I tell her that the things they've showed her about school seem a lot of fun and I'm glad she's growing so much and wants to do big things. But I don't try to convince her that homeschooling is going to be better or that she'll have lots of new friends or anything. There will be time for that and she'll live her life and she'll move on.

Change is hard on a little one. Especially one that's high-strung and whip-smart. Even though she's seen her brothers do school at home, only spends three hours each day at school and spent half the year bored, she knows what to expect at school. She has friends there, school is built on routines and predictability and she loved her teacher. So now we live our life and see what happens. It's summer. We'll hang out with her friends, from school, church and the neighborhood. We'll start first grade at home when the time comes and continue to live our lives.

And if that doesn't work? We'll tell her that if she went to first grade we couldn't go to Disneyland in the middle of the week.

The Last Five Weeks...

When we last heard from our heroine, she was valiantly homeschooling through the pain, but things were going pretty well, mostly because she was valiantly homeschooling through the pain. (I know, I know.)

Well, the pain is now gone thanks to the modern marvels of outpatient surgery. But it's really hard to get back into homeschooling when it's been so incredibly disrupted. So I don't really have much to report. Harry wants to be finished, Sam wants to be finished. I want to be finished. But I don't want to have to go back and do anything in the books from this year, so we are trying to plug along.

I don't really have anything to report or any pictures of any kind. But I'm happy to tell you that I'm back and I'll try to create a year-end wrap up within the next couple of weeks.

Why I Will Homeschool My Girls

I have two beautiful daughters, one is five and one is three. They are smart, hilarious, and kind. They are also crafty, creative, and if the moment calls for it, pretty sneaky. Annika is my third child but my first daughter, so while I am used to being a parent, I'm still figuring out how to parent a girl. It's still fun to buy dolls and walk through the girly aisles at the store, even five years later.

Annika goes to regular kindergarten right now. It's not ideal--there are 34 kids in her class for one thing, but for the time being it's better than having her home. I am planning to fold her into our homeschooling next year, for which I will probably need therapy, but I'm really excited to keep her with us. It's just been a recently that I've realized how important it is for me to homeschool my daughters. Let me tell you a story.

Annika's class had a Valentine's Day Party, pretty standard fair for a kindergarten. She dutifully made her 34 valentines and one for her teacher. I helped, but she did most of the work. She proudly put them in a bag and took them to school to hand out to her friends. This is where the story might get confusing. I think her party was on a Thursday. Annika has pull-out speech therapy on Tuesday, so on the day the kids made their Valentine's bags she was not in the classroom. Instead, on Thursday morning, Annika's teacher pulled her into the classroom to finish the bag. Annika did and put it on the drying rack so it would dry before the party. (I didn't know any of this before I picked her up.)

I picked Annika up from school and asked her about the party. I asked to see her valentines before we left the school grounds and she told me that she didn't have any. I couldn't figure out what had happened so I asked her if they didn't have a party or if they didn't hand out valentines after all. She said they did and she handed hers out, but that she didn't get any. I talked to her friends that were standing there and the girls had all gotten valentines. It was all very mysterious. Annika's teacher was still there, so I asked her and immediately the teacher figured out the problem.

Annika's bag was still sitting on the drying rack. The teacher forgot and Annika didn't want to make waves so she didn't say anything about it. So my little girl put her valentines in the other kid's bags knowing that she wouldn't get any herself and never saying anything at all. It broke my heart and I couldn't figure out why she didn't say anything to the teacher about her missing bag.

It all turned out in the end, there were valentines left over and most of them were just sitting on the teacher's desk. The teacher gave those to Annika in the bag that she had made and Annika was just thrilled. She was okay originally, but she was so excited over those valentines.

Annika is a nice girl, mostly a good girl. She doesn't make waves at school and can easily blend into the background. Her teacher didn't even know that she could read for a couple of months after she started. Annika just wants to be liked by everyone there.

At home, she's completely different. She lets her needs be known, she is sweet but it's not fun to cross her.  Annika knows what she wants and she will get it, by hook or crook. While it can get annoying at times, I'm glad she does. Annika needs a place where she can be "bad" and know that she will still be loved. I work hard so she knows that she is an important part of our family and she is allowed to express her opinions. (She has a lot of them.) She doesn't need to be indoctrinated into the thinking that in order for people to like her, she must be quiet and well-behaved. I don't want her ever to think she's bothering someone for sticking up for herself.

So, along with reading, math, and spelling, I plan to teach my girls to stand up for themselves. To make sure they are treated fairly, even if it means they stick out. I don't want them being "nice" in order to be liked. I want them to be liked for themselves and to have the strength to know who that is. I don't want them to miss out on something because they didn't raise their voice. There will not be another Valentine's Day without valentines. This is something I know I can teach better than the schools.

And that is one of the big reasons why my daughters will be homeschooled.

Weekly Roundup, The Not Gallstones Edition

It turns out that I don't have gallstones, but no one is quite sure what is causing the pain in my side right where my gall bladder is. So I still have a lot of pain, but no answers.

In any case, this turned out to be a great week. We had a couple of missing books and one child that just sat there staring at his book mystified but not wanting to ask for help, but really, that's just normal. I did have a couple of appointments and will have more next week, but it's turning out to be a good thing. I don't want the kids to miss out on schooling because of me and I can be in pain moaning about it or doing lessons. So I think it's kind of spurred me on in a weird way.

Harry:

• wrote his "pre" poem.
• raced his Pinewood Derby car.
• learned about fractions in math. He did really great with this, so far. We haven't gotten into least common denominators yet, so it could be premature to rejoice, but I'll take a happy kid doing his math happily any day without worrying what might come in the future.
• read more of Sentence Island. We're almost to the end and we'll all be sad about it. We love Mud the fish. 
• worked on more sentences in Practice Island. He was working on sentence 51 I think when all of the sudden he looked up and said, "Mom, almost all of these sentences are about the ocean and fish!" He's still having a hard time with prepositions so we're making a list of the ones he sees. That way he'll have a visual reminder and won't get frustrated when he can't figure it out.
• got to parsing in Latin. This might be his downfall. He is having a really hard time figuring out what to do and then how to do it. So we're taking it very, very slowly. We look back in the book for clues, he tells me what he knows and I use the answer key to guide him along. However long it takes is cool with me. Latin was his idea, not mine. Mine was Swedish.
• read about India and Pakistan and Israel and Palestine. Fighting over land just mystifies him. I love that.
• did some science too. He's finishing up the second of two chapters on electricity in his science book. I will be so happy when he is finished. I'm dying for something new!
• began Number the Stars, I think. He might have started it last week. If so, he continued with it.

Sam:

• made a ger and a Genghis Khan to live in it.
• began his new Singapore Science Cycles book by searching every book in the house for info on kangaroos. Apparently we have no good books on kangaroos. I can't believe we're even allowed to be parents, let alone homeschool.
• continued adding and subtracting with regrouping. What can I say, it's MUS Beta. He only has two more lessons though, then we get to move onto multiplication!
• read about the Silk Road and China. Impressed our German guest with his knowledge after the guest told us that he lives in one of the towns on the end of the Silk Road. Classical education is really good for impressing people. 
• Worked on two lessons from Writing With Ease 2 and a bunch (we've doing a few each day) of lessons from First Language Lessons 2. We're past lesson 20 in WWE and it takes away some of the summary questions for the narrations. It's been tricky but Sam's done well with it. His problem is that he wants to tell me everything that happened in the book, down to the word. It's hilarious and very long.
• raced his Rhino-shaped Pinewood Derby car.
• read The Silver Chair, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and is now in Prince Caspian. To say he reads fast is a huge understatement.

The week went well. I just hope I don't have to be in pain every time I want to have a good week.

Genghis Khan Slept Here

Last week Sam read the chapter in SOTW 2 about Genghis Khan. We decided to do the "make a ger" activity from the Activity Book, but first had to buy the right felt. I have every kind of felt except for brown. Buying the felt alone took three days and then I had to locate all of the other supplies (paper, markers, glue). It was a little ridiculous and I felt bad every time I saw the felt sitting there. But finally yesterday the stars aligned and we undertook our building project.

Drawing the lattice work onto the cardstock.

Trying to make the ger wider than it was tall.

Covering the ger with brown felt. .

Creating the doorway.

Finished! Ready for Genghis Khan to move into.

After he finished the ger, Sam realized that he had to make a Genghis Khan. So we grabbed some sticks, some clay, a coke bottle lid and the rest of the felt. Sam came up with this:

The sign in front of the ger says, "Genghis Khan lives here."

I love doing projects with Sam. He really gets into them.



Oh, and of course, please excuse the messy kitchen. If we had waited for everything to be all perfect, we never would have had a chance to create. Not that I'm making excuses or anything...Of course not.

Eek, a Fraction!

Many, many moons ago I studied fractions in high school. My teacher was very nice, but somehow I got the whens, wheres, hows, and whys of fractions so mixed up in my mind that I just gave up. That started me thinking I was no good at math, which continues to today. Once I realized that math was hard I just gave up and decided that I'd have to be good at something else. It's not an uncommon thought and I know it plagues more people than just me.

Today I started looking at fractions with Harry. I decided long ago to make math neutral, to just work on it with each of my kids and not get concerned or panicky if it looked like they weren't getting it. That decision holds better some days than other.

The math book said to get something to show fractions with, so I looked around and quickly spied our tower of lego heads. Perfect! Hopefully even if I can't make math neutral, I can make it fun. At least 2/3 of the time.

Pre Poem

Not "before the poem," but a poem using the prefix "pre." And yes, it's about Persian Ninja Zombies.


Persian ninja zombies ate premium prepackaged brains,
predicted Bob would ride trains.
But they would prefer to go by plane
to watch the premiere of Preschoolers in the Rain.