Woodland Notes

2011-07-04T11:32:00.001-07:00

Ontario Virtual High School- look at syllabus for the Chemistry 11 and 12 classes

I think we can start Zumdahl this year- see how far we can get and supplement with Khan, Joy of Chemistry, and Periodic Table Videos and Books as needed. Labs will be from the Illustrated Guide mixed with the Joy of Chem labs (which are easier- and that I still need to do with Ar!)

It's a plan!!

2011-06-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

9th Grade Science for the girl!

Biology and Chemistry looks like a good fit. We will go between the two:
Biology: Zoology colouring book, Exploring the Way Life Works (see online syllabi for ideas), Biology Colouring Book, Units on 5 Kingdoms from Apologia book, Froguts for the lab work as well as our Microscope (need slides to create some new slides), some of the lab activities from Quirks and Quarks (blog)

Chemistry: Zumdahl text, Khan lectures, the Joy of Chemistry, The Elements, The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments with the Homschooler's Kit!

Obviously this will take much more than a year... but I know she will like the change!

Also.... botany studies with art!

2011-06-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Chemistry Links...

Great Lectures:

Khan academy

Oxford -has a great link to online labs as well

middle school chemistry for C.

Possible enrichment for Hannah down the road at the U of M

Chart for 40s chemistry from the Manitoba Government (don't look at the rest of document- unless you want a thorough course in educationalease!)

I have ordered the Zumdahl book and will order the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments!! I think I will use these last two, along with the text on my shelf, to cover the 11th grade Chem. with H. this year, which will leave time for more Biology and some Botany and Astronomy (our Natural History Studies with C. and Ar. and Aa.)

Ar. will do a combined Natural History, Marine Biology and Chem. experiment year!!

On another note.,,,

To Eyre- shawl pattern here

Grade 9 or 11 Chemistry

2011-06-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

Some links to sites that support the Prentice Hall Text....
notes etc.
powerpoints and notes
squidoo link
topics
kahn academy videos
my old chemistry text

H.'s reads last year..

2010-08-27T23:27:00.001-07:00

Some of the reads from the last part of the year:
Adam Bede
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
Jane Eyre
Bullfinch's Age of Chivalry (the Mabinogean part)
The Two Towers (yeah Hannah)
The Return of the King(Way to go!!)

Neat book..

2010-08-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

Writing in English- out of print but free online! A nice change and great models!!

Read Alouds at Present....

2010-04-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Great Expectations- done (what a marathon- but it was worth it!)
Julius Ceaser- done
Around the World in 80 Days
Simirrillion- H, A, and I
The Silver Chair- Papa to boys
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader- done
Trumpet of the Swan- Aa. and I
Jane Eyre- (still) H. and I
An Island Story- the boys and I

Wed. April 14th, 2010

2010-04-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Let's see...
All:
Prayers and Acts of the Apostles
2 Chapters of Around the World in 80 Days
Artist Study- Lawren Harris- Beaver Swamp (oldest three wrote out their narrations)

A:
Algebra- 1/2 of new lesson
Read: Blessed John, Caesar's Gallic Wars, Microbe Hunters (?)
Biology: studied more Cnidaria and made a page on P. Man of War
Writing: Description exercise in Writing in English (did a good job!)
Pennywhistle: off to tea and tunes tonight

H:
Algebra- 1/2 of new lesson
Read: The Fellowship of the Ring, spiritual reading
Writing: art narration
Rest of the day at play practice for Twelfth Night

C:
Math- next lesson
Read: Harry Potter, 2 chapters of The Last Battle
Writing: art narration
2 chapters An Island Story on audio at lunch
LOTS of outside play with water fight etc.

A:
Math- couple of lessons
Read: Explode the code
Writing: a wee bit of copywork
2 chapters An Island Story on audio at lunch
Ditto C. with the play!

Lunch:
Baked beans, carrots, and toast
Dinner:
hmmmm (way to nice outside- prob. whip up a red lentil soup and serve it with bread).

Last night we had a nice long Simmirillion read- that book goes down like honey- it is so hard to stop reading. Papa is reading the Silver Chair to the littles at night when he can fanangle the last Harry Potter book out of C's grip.

Boys are on the Wii and A is off to his music night (H. is off at ballet all night).

That's a wrap!!

Up Next...

2010-01-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

For C. and Aa.
~keep on in Child's History of the World and read last 6 lives in Plutarch for Children: Greek Lives
~ then keep on in Child's History or begin Famous Men of Rome- but honestly I think I need a break from this book. I have read it through twice out loud to my kids and as good as it is I must admit that when I near the end of the book I don't ever want to hear about another famous man of Rome!). Maybe we will just read in the Hillyer book or maybe in the Story of Rome by Macgregor that Ar. loved or perhaps we will read in Hillyer and C. can read the Story of Rome later to himself.
~when we get to Rome I will read Ceaser's Gallic Wars (kids) to all the kids- I have wanted this book for years and finally found a reasonable copy.
~C. is reading Otto of the Silver Hand, but when he is done I might give the Children's Aeniad or In Search of a Homeland. I personally like the first one better but I think he will enjoy the pictures in the second one.
~H. is plugging away in Dicken's History of England and getting more into Ivanhoe
~Ar. is approaching Alexander the Great (he will read the Plutarch life for him I think). After this I will have to rethink the Rome part of his year as the Greek part will take us over half. My thoughts (off the top of my head) are...
~ the Aeniad (he really wants to read this)
~Ceaser's Gallic Wars (kids version with the family)
~Julius Ceaser- Shakepeare (being read now)
~readings from A Short History of the World by Robert's with notetaking
~not sure after that...

Today- Tuesday January 25th

2010-01-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today I was feeling a bit better and M. was working closer to home so we drove him to work, got some groceries and hit the fish store. H. has been working hard on her marine bio. and I have been promising her a trip to look at the sponges and fish and for the kids to grab some more fish for the tank.

A:
~work on narrative essay from the Illiad (a few hours again!- looks great). We worked on the polishing together this afternoon
~Henle Latin (he did this on his own- probably 4 sentences of translation in Unit 3)
~Algebra
~Ancient History and Lit: listened to the Illiad (he has read all the other books this year and we found a great reading of this at the library so he decided to do this one as an audio book, not his usual medium for books!)
~Science- did so much yesterday. We are swamped in all the functions of the parts of animal and plant cells that I told him to skip it today
~Spiritual Reading: Gospel of John with commentary
~Music practice

H:
~field trip at the fish store!
~Algebra
~Spiritual Reading- Gospel of Luke
~Lit: The Two Towers (almost done!!! Way to go!!!)
~Science- a great review of thermohaline circulation. We finally got it I think! Made a great blown up map of the global conveyer belt for her science fair project
~making a great soup as we speak

C:
~field trip at the fish store!
~Timez It
~a chapter of The Order of the Phoenix
~30 minutes violin practice

Aa:
~Explode the Code- consonant blends
~read lots of Russian Folk Tales to him over the last couple of days while I have been sick (my they are gruesome!!)... but no books to him today yet. Right now he is hooked into the retro cartoons as we got cable for the Olympics
~violin practice

Me:
~kept up the laundry mountain
~mopped the floors
~morning prayers
~good lunch of chicken soup and grilled cheese with Papa home for lunch
~off for my knee exercises and some Crime and Punishment

Until next time...

Monday January 11th, 2010

2010-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

All: (while playing Lego- a patience testing ordeal but Aaron was a little put out today)
Church History- 2 pages
The Mother Tongue- review of 1st 4 parts of speech and adverbs review and exercise
Julius Ceaser- Act 1 scene 2 (a long one!)
Great Expectations- 1 chapter
The Jungle Book- finished the chapter
Golden Bible- Joshua
Bede's Ecclesiastical History- 2 chapters

Aaron:
Read in the Beg. Bible and did a bunch of Explode the Code. He wrote out some Orthodox copywork with 3 perfect words! He practiced his name in cursive and basically poured over the new lego mag.- this should be a quarterly holiday because my boys can't focus at all on that day!

Caleb:
Read Otto of the Silver Hand- 1 chapter
Violin- 4 pieces with listening
Math- next exercise
Writing- copywork from Paedia classics
Spelling- day 1 copywork

Hannah:
Read the Two Towers- 45 minutes in bed
Read the Gospel of Luke- 1 chapter
Writing- Orthodox copywork and narration of St. Photina
Math- next lesson and #4
Latin- vocab. drill
Science- read in Seaside Naturalist
(off to ballet now)

Ariel:
Spiritual Reading
Read the Illiad
Writing- Orthodox copywork from quote from St. Seraphim of Sarov in cursive
Science: spent the morning on unit 6 day 1 (hard stuff) in Biology
Latin-vocab. drill
Library job
Hopefully some good music practice in there!! (30-45 min. whistle)

Dinner: mac and cheese and carrot sticks (Ar. will put it on the table and serve but I will make it tonight~)
Lunch: fresh bread and poached eggs/cream cheese and jam

Me: 2 loads of laundry folded and hung and washed.

Good day (with a very late start!)

Today- October 13th, 2009

2009-10-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

MT: Prayers and Golden Bible

chores: laundry H, vacuum Ar., sweep C. , Aa???

Ar: Algebra
Latin (oral and review plus some new stuff)
Lots and lots of science studying then we did the test orally- 18 out of 21!!
Read Herodotus (wrong chapters first-ouch- than the right ones) and Moby Dick

H: Algebra
Latin- ditto what Ar. did
Diagramming- first stanza of the Highwayman
Read 45 minutes of the Two Towers
Painted

C: Math
Entire week of Latin
Lots of Painting
Read comics and The Trumpet of the Swan

Aa: Math sheet
Read some poems
Lots of Lego
Traced the capitals in Italics B
Practiced his violin

During Lunch: Macbeth
After Lunch: (to three youngers)
The Story of the World 1- 1 chapter
Some poetry
Worked on the Ode to Mr. Toad with two little boys
Read many Greek Myths from the D"Aulaire book
The Childrens Homer
More painting....

Then off to the park, made dinner with Hannah, and games to end it all! Tired just thinking of it!! Did I mention that I woke up at 6 (it is now 1 am nearly, so time to call it a day!!)

Last spring's read aloud list...

2009-10-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Founders of Russian Monasticism- Mom to all
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe- Papa to boys (March)
The Magician's Nephew- Papa to boys (March)
The Story of Mankind- mom to olders
The Princess and the Goblin- mom to all
Underground to Canada- finished.
Secret of the Andes-not a go..again (third time trying)
Charlotte's Web- Mom to Aaron...finished
Byzantium- Matt to Ariel
Sense and Sensability- Mom and Hannah
Asterix, Asterix and Asterix!! Everyone loves Asterix!
Winnie the Pooh- myself to little boys
Harry Potter 3- Papa to little boys. Temporarily on hold.

Thursday and Friday (November 13-14th)

2008-11-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

Thursday

Homeschool Swimming Lessons
Came home and ate lunch while I read SOTW 2 (last chapter) and As Rich as Croesus.

Then we had friends over for the afternoon to play.

Ballet, Bible Study, etc. and bed.....

Friday

Slow morning after yesterdays busy day! But so nice to be inside with the wind howling outside. C. and Aa. ate breakfast and went outside to play in the snow as I prayed which was so nice.

All:
Prayers and today's Gospel reading
Poem recitations for all
Read The Practical Geologist to all re. Plate Tectonics
Read a page of One Drop of Water (what a neat book)

Ar:
Algebra- Lesson 2 Review (going very well)
EGrammer Plus- next page
Read: The Age of Fable
The Story of Art
Cleaned Room and changed sheets
Still need the whistle and Latin!

H:
Algebra- Rest of Set 2 (She is loving the graphing)
Spelling
Read: The Turning
Cleaned Room and changed sheets
A few scales on the piano
Latin: new vocab. review, chants of flumen etc., oral translation lesson

C:
Math- out loud (too busy building Bionacles to stop!)
Writing- Italics
Traced and labeled a bunch of rocks from the rock book
Chores and Violin still to come....(as well as the Hobbit on his own reading time)

Aa:
Designed some really cool Bionacles
Life!

I will read to them over lunch from East of the Sun and West of the Moon. H. and I are going to have a read of the Borrowed House this afternoon- this is an awesome and gripping book. We are almost halfway done in two reads (and I have the perk of owning it so I can flatten the spine (don't tell my husband- it would be sacrilige in his books!) and knit at the same time.)

Knitting group on here tonight and then preparing for Aa.s birthday. Does anyone know how to create Popeye with icing??

So, for the sake of my brain....

chores for little boys
instrument practice
quiet reading for little boys
Latin for Ar. (after lunch when the little boys are cleaning their room) with me
read aloud with H. when the others are in quiet time

That seems to wind up a nice serendipitous day here (although on paper or screen it doesn't look quite as mellow as it has been to live first hand.)
.
Thoughts brewing in my head from this post: Too Little, Too Much. My initial thoughts love the idea of lots of good living books and not much of the assigned types of writing- hey, I like that. It's what happens very naturally around here. It's another reason to leave the heaps of educational baggage at the door!

Today- November 8th 2008

2008-11-07T16:15:00.001-08:00

After a couple week wonderful break with the grandparents!!

An early start (yeah for the winter time change.)

All:
Prayers and Gospel
SOTW 3- Shakepeare
The Taming of the Shrew (from Lamb's)
The Wheel on the School
East of the Sun and West of the Moon (after lunch)

Ariel
Algebra- Set2
Writing- New exercise with thesaurus
Reading- Age of Fable, Story of Art, various other reading
Music- Whistle

Hannah
Algebra- new lesson and set 1
Writing- ditto what Ar. did
Reading- the Turning
Baked cookies for a dear friend who lost her dad this morning.
Lots of knitting of mittens.

Caleb
Math U See- next page
Math It- double it and times it
Reading- The Hobbit and Mad Libs
Lots of lego, creative play with Aaron and snow play

Aaron
Math with mom!
Reading lesson- my creation
Italics book A
Read- the Foot Book

Lots and lots of great outdoor time, first thing after breakfast and again after quiet time. Quiet time was great today and the early morning and hence early start was heavenly!

Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 8-9)

2008-10-10T11:49:00.001-07:00

Wednesday
Today was going to be a day out this afternoon so I sort of planned accordingly (HA!)

I think in the morning the children all covered their Math and reading. The older two worked on their Latin (I made them some worksheets from Henly- easier for them to be self motivated then) and H. did some copywork from the Lady of Shallot.

The middle two went to knitting class then off to the optomotrist and violin. A. stayed at home and read the Age of Fable and pulled off a great narration on the computer! Much LOTR video game for him at this point.

Thursday:
Swimming in the am then friends over in the pm. A. still did math later around dinner time and the three oldest read LOTS today.

Friday:
Was going to be another friend day but friends were ill so H. just went to a friends. She did copywork and reading first, as well as cleaned her room.

A. cleaned his room and vacuumed, did a heap of math, and is copying out his current poem 'If' by Kipling. He is still going to do some reading for me today.

C. did some Math, reading, and is going to copy our his poem on the computer as soon as I vamoos from here. He also read me a whole Norse Myth- that kid is a great reader!

A. did some reading and I read him some Frog and Toad up in his room.

C and A and I made some killer double chocolate cookies and I baked cinnamon buns and bread!! We are all WIRED!!

Language (Grammar) and Writing Plan

2008-10-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Love how Valerie has organised a multi-level plan here....
I would follow this, using Warriner's for some help in the teaching of the paragraphs and sentences department, and using my EGPlus for some grammar practical stuff for Ar.

Our Books and such at the moment...

2008-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Poetry: Emily Dickinson and each a poem to memorise
Shakespeare: the Tempest
Art: Millet
Nature Study/ Art: Fabre's Insects (Eomar), Geology (All)
Literature: Taran Wanderer
Winnie the Pooh
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
History Read aloud: I, Juan de Pareja
Michaelangelo (Stanley)

History Plans

2008-10-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Right now we are at the Rennaisance. We will continue to do this together and add in some great picture books. I will also tie in some Canadian History and the Little History of the World for the older two.

Eventually (later this year or next) we will move onto the Modern Era where we will branch of out of our 'group'. Ar will read from Sonlight 7 and 300 (adding in necessary Canadian History), and we will do some read alouds together and Ar. will listen to SOTW CDs and the Little History of the World and narrate etc. Small ones at this point??

Edited to add: I like how Valerie uses topic weeks (such as how Tapestry of Grace does it) to organise her studies. This would be helpful for us, but we would definitely not stick all that info into a week (it would just be a good way for my mind to look at it- a skeletal plan of sorts.)

Tuesday October 7th, 2008

2008-10-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

Chores:
Ariel-swept main floor and garbages
Hannah-laundry
Aaron-sink
Caleb-white floors

Morning Time
Prayer- the Trisagion Prayers
Each child chose a poem and we read them out: Hannah- the Lady of Shallot (again!)
Ariel (can't remember), Caleb- Cornish Magic, Aaron- The Rain
Geography- we went over countries vs. cities, Canadian provinces and capitals then Caleb moved onto Geosafari. The older two and I reviewed continents and major bodies of water.
New Art Print- Millet (the Haystacks). We just discussed it today.
Geology- online (went well!). Interactive rock cycle and description of metamorphic rocks.
Bible- continuing on in Genesis...

Pippin
-Alphaphonics
-poem
-read some Calvin and Hobbes buddy reading

Merry
-violin right after breakfast (up to 15 minutes on the new big violin!)
-Math lesson 14F Gamma
-ETC page
-English from the Roots up- 5 cards and he made his own

Arwen
-read the Turning (her assigned reading) in bed
-Algebra lesson 6 finished (only one wrong!)
-Latin- finished ex. 47

Eomer
-read Journey to the Centre of the Earth (finished)
Story of Art
-Latin- finished ex. 47
-writing- continued on LOTR retelling

At this point we still need to do spelling with two olders, math with Eo., writing with Ar., and M. needs to do his reading.

Lunch: cheese melts and apples
Dinner: roast potatoes and quiche and coleslaw
Tonight: ballet and whistle

The Return of the King

2008-06-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying this book so much....again.

Right now the men of the Mark have just encamped by the Paths of the Dead.

Forms

2008-06-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

At this point I think we would do well with some goals for next year and in that vein I have begun some focused planning and much too much of the unfocused type (the type that fills up headspace but gets you nowhere).

Willa has one form here which I really like the flow of. So much so that I think I will plug in my own things under her headings. For me forms have to be appealing to look at and visually work with my brain. This one does.

Next step: filling it in.

My Reading on Writing

2008-06-16T20:36:00.001-07:00

Since the Well Trained Mind came out I have balked at the whole idea: it looked too overwhelming, too structured, too much, and so on. Even the Story of the World books, that my kids do enjoy, I have sort of avoided. I think it is the idea that my 6-9 year olds need some sort of in depth chronological history study. Yes, I am opinionated. (I think that there are way better ways for that age group to spend their time.)

That said, somehow I linked over to the WTM boards and found out that Susan Wise Bauer is writing a series of books on the topic of writing.

I downloaded a sample that outlines that three stages of a writer. I went in thinking it would be all complicated and drudgerous but came out agreeing with a lot of what she wrote and appreciating the simplicity of which it was set forward.

The Three Stages

Wednesday April 30

2008-04-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

We started the day of SLOW with a capital S. Too many late nights around here!
The older two children did their reading in bed (Hannah is nearing the end of Many Waters (she likes to have one book at at time on the go, unlike the rest of us) and Ariel was reading the Brendan Voyage and he has finished up Call of the Wild. He also listened to SOTW 4 on his Ipod today), we all ate pancakes together at the table while having a section of Acts read to all by me. Then ...

Eomar and Arwen:
Practiced their instruments, did some laundry, sweeping etc. then moved onto their Math

Merry:
He hung the laundry (in quite interesting ways) , practiced his violin right after breakfast, then did some pages in the Singapore math book.

Pippin:
Got himself ready and played outside, did a reading lesson, read Peg and Ted, I read Sinbad the Sailor (comic version) to him.

At this point we came together for prayers and Merry and I picked a new Diego Rivera print to look at. Then we looked over the characteristics of the Mustard Family and I asked the kids (with mixed results) to put something in their Nature books about it. Eomar photocopied the page and colored it, Merry did also (after crumpling many first and becoming distracted and finishing it much later in the day!), and Arwen did a stellar creative, insightful drawing and booklet (yes, she loves hands on projects!).

Lunch was a wee bit late as we had mid morning choco-chip cookie overload (probably partly responsible for my sluggish feeling today.) We ate a beautiful lunch out on the deck, watching the birds collecting nest materials (and taking it into our attic), and listened to some of the Vikings.

During lunch prep I sliced open my finger cutting a frozen bagel so by about 3 I figured it was time to go get some steri strips from the drugstore and some new bandaids. Pippin and I went and then decided to get him a haircut at the same time (to fix up the years worth of 'mommy' haircuts). The time out was good for all of us and when I got home the kids were happily engaged in their own pursuits; Arwen and Merry with creating a set for a video they were making involving mummies coming back to life, and Eomar downloading books onto his Ipod.

On the way to ballet I asked Matt is he could see that Merry read some of his book. I am trying to do this more as I see that he is really butting heads with me when I ask him to do things lately.

Dinner: potluck (I made ceaser salad, fried rice with garlic and cilantro, and leftover minestrone soup)

Lunch:bagels, smoothies, and oranges

It's nice at the end of the day to write this out and look over it. It was a tough day in some respects, but looking back on it I see joy and light woven through and it makes my heart glad as I prepare for bed.

Finishing up the year...

2008-04-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

This time of year my mind moves over to the planning of next year and I can cease being present in the here and now. So, I am starting to mull over what we would like to do to finish up this season well.

Some of my thoughts off the top of my head are:
Math
Ar- keep doing a page or half a page a day as retention with him is much better this way than a long break
Hannah- her book will be done and I am in the process of getting her Algebra book. Maybe I will download her some interesting geometry stuff to work on, or have her peruse the I Hate Mathematics Book (which she always laughs at because she really likes math)
Caleb- not sure. This kids loved math until I got him a text. I might just ditch it again- he's so young still

Reading
Aaron- keep on with the 100 easy Lessons but find something more interesting to move onto as he is getting a little bored with the format. Make up a basket of early readers for him to practice on. Work on this with him throughout the summer as a priority. Read to him heaps!!

Caleb-get him to finish The Horse and His Boy and keep strewing for him!

Latin
Not sure here. Perhaps daily chants together and alternating days of exercises in Henle??
Maybe I should use the Quia for the summer?

Writing
Bravewriter's lifestyle is looking great for spring. We will do a day of copywork, one of dictation, and then a free write.
The younger two have stories they need to wrap up.

History
Should we shelve the MA for now? Basically we just read anyways and we will keep doing that. No one seemed to interested (or maybe I was just not motivated enough) for a more hands on study (not really my style anyways!).
Hannah wants to study India- I am not a great rabbit trailer. We have read a bit of Indian history here and there, we eat Indian food a couple times a week anyways, and we read about Gandhi and Mother Theresa this year already. So not sure what I will do with this. I always feel guilty when I don't follow up on these things. This child just has so many and she doesn't like to read alot at this point and for me a study=books!

Nature Study
I want to really focus on this. I just recieved Botany in a Day and we are going to start to look at the Mint family this week. I want our drawings/outings/writing to come from here alot and make this part of our week/day a priority. Have to plan some fun out of the city low stress outings.

Art
We have been looking at Diego Rivera's paintings on our moniter. We decided to skip the lurid details of his life (not a very kid friendly picture- I sort of compared some his exploits to those of Zeus, whom the kids like to joke about).

A good spring schedule might look like this (famous words of a non-schedule-conformist..)
Prayers and Instruments
Math (20-30 minutes for Ar and H, a little for Caleb)
Latin (recitation or short translation and flash cards)
Nature Study/History Reading
Literature or History Reading at lunch.
Writing incorporated into the Nature Study, Art Study, or copy/dictation some days and a freewrite on Friday.
Independent Reading- in bed in the morning or sometime throughout the day.

Note to self: Do I continue to assign Ariel reading at this point or should I just let him finish the Brendan Voyage, listen to the History CDs and let him gobble up books like he always does (I will strew with this)?

Looks good on screen, we will see how it fleshes out.

Let's see- Where did April go??

2008-04-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

A visit from the Grandparents
The best weather we have had in a VERY long time (only to be replaced by another snowfall, which thankfully has melted)
More math
A smattering of the third declension
Heaps of Asterix (that would be 5 family members reading it up!)
Some retellings of a creepy story of Baba Yaga (just have to love those stories of the creepiest lady around) by Hannah and Caleb which are still in progress
Various copywork by hand (Ar) and in cross-stitch (Hannah)
Designing the up and coming tree fort
Lots of time outside
Newly refinished hardwoods (and consequently, conveniently misplaced lesson books!)
Three Part Parts of a Flower cards
Some seedlings rising up on the craft table in front of the sunny dining room window
Our first bike ride of the season
Baseball in the backyard
Outdoor Ultimate
Spring swimming lessons

Those were some of the up points from my perspective (the boys would probably add on that we had our first ever month of cable, to coincide with my parents visit and the Masters. Sorry boys, that month ends soon!)

Thursday March 6th, 2008

2008-03-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

All:
-CHOW Arabian Days (looked at some pictures also in Mosque)
-Nature Journaling while I read from The Burgess Bird Book and The Handbook of Nature Study (we were studying the Nuthatch today). Ariel narrated in his book, while Hannah pasted in some drawings she had finished earlier and Caleb drew and labeled his picture.)
-finished The Last Battle. We read it at lunch and at dinner, as Papa was out for dinner.

Ariel
-Whistle
-Math 20D Zeta
-Latin: rest of ex. 25 Unit One Henle. He also did his vocab. drill.
-Read: -Tom Sawyer
-Fabre Book
-Gospel of Mark
-Writing: he wrote more of his battle scene from The Return of the King
-Spelling: we continued our small foray into a spelling focus by starting the list from the WRTR and reviewing the 1-1-1 rule and the dropping the e rule. Boy, I don't know any of these rules and they do seem a bit much.... we will see!

Hannah
-Math 25 D Zeta (ordered her next book today)
-Latin: rest of ex.25 Unit One Henle. She did her vocab. drill.
-Read:- out loud to me today from the Young Person's Book of Virtues
-a story from the Pink Fairy Book
-Writing: copywork from current poem, Spring by Tennyson (she is making a booklet from this with watercolors)
-Spelling: ditto what Ar. did except I did them separately. Oh yes, and they both did all 70 phonograms.

Caleb
-Math 8D Gamma
-Writing: oral lesson from EFTTChild and his nature journal
-Reading: Spiderwick Chronicles Book 4
-violin

Aaron
We had a nice time in the morning reading a new Anansi story. Later, we worked on a page in Word Mastery (this needs some sprucing up with some stories...it can get dull!). Then we looked at his grip a bit and I made him a cute fruity math page (Caleb always liked these). Then I did something I had done with the other 3; I wrote out the first line of Twinkle, twinkle little star and cut each word out and we practiced putting them in order. That was so easy for him he wanted to do the next line which he also got no problem- he was so proud of himself and grinning ear to ear. I also wrote him a little comic today which made him really happy.

We had a late lunch and then H. and I researched making a larger Guinea pig pen for Ginny. Caleb and Aaron had a blast playing so I really let them be a lot today. After a while we regrouped and did our Nature Journals and then I sent everyone out for some fresh air- the older two walked Goldie and the youngers played in the snow. Boy is it ever cold here again!

After dinner I decided we would play Blokus. I have wanted to for so long but have always been puttering around too much. It was alot of fun, and even Aaron had a good time.

Dinner: Rotini with sauce, coleslaw and garlic bread.

Tuesday and Wednesday March 4th and 5th

2008-03-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Tuesday

Learning Centre Day.
All: we prayed on the drive and listened to the second to last chapter of A Single Shard. My how I love this book, and it is so wonderfully read.

In the morning....
Chores were done by all.
Ariel did Math.
Hannah baked lots of cookies and touched up her chickadee presentation.
Aaron read a bunch of words from Word Mastery and Starfall.
Caleb did his chores and violin EXTRA fast to get to play his new multiplication game Timez Attack (ht. Lissa for this one).

Bedtime Read Aloud:
Magic Treehouse etc. for younger set
Last chapter of A Single Shard for everyone.

Dinner: black beans with sauteed veggies and cumin and cilantro with cornbread (YUM!)

Wednesday

All: chores
Lord of the Rings- big read with Papa while children drew

Ariel:
whistle (big practice)
Math- next page in Zeta
Writing- rewrote passage of Mark and added to his retelling of the large battle at the end of The Return of the King
Latin- oral drill of all grammar cards and did Ex. 26 Henle outloud with H. and I
Read- Tom Sawyer (no Nature Study or History for this bit)
We also did a Writing Road to Reading Session for some spelling practice.

Hannah:
piano (a few songs and some scales- first lesson with Joy this week)
Math- 26D Zeta (she flew through this)
Read- part of a story in the Red Fairy Book
Latin- oral drill of all grammar cards and did Ex. 26Henle out loud with Ar. and I
Writing Road to Reading Session for spelling practice. (went well for all!)

Caleb:
Violin practice
Math- Timez Attack (he is onto the 3s and picking up speed!)
Read- The Minstrel in the Tower
-a story from the Book of Virtues out loud to me
Writing- dictation

Aaron
We worked on some reading and holding our pencils!
Read him The Meat Eaters Arrive

I went and helped a friend move today for a couple hours over lunch. Unfortunately I let myself be sucked into blogland soon after this so I have to pull it together to make dinner and get ready for ballet. The kids are playing a Harry Potter Board game Ar. got for Christmas. Oh yes, and Ar shoveled the front walk this afternoon.

Dinner: black bean soup and cornbread for potluck (made extra beans the night before!)

Monday March 3

2008-03-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

We began our day with a prayer time. I have just been rounding kids up in whatever state of readiness they are at (teeth brushed etc.) , before or after breakfast, and having our Morning Prayer. This has been working great. We are still working at memorizing the Beatitudes.

Ariel: Math (at breakfast)- lesson 20
Whistle
Latin-oral with me
Poem- with me and on own

Hannah: Math- new lesson 25 (also lots of Timez Attack)
Latin- oral recitation with me
Poem- with me
Writing-lots of writing on her Chickadee project, including a poem and short report! Note to self: this child loves projects .

Caleb: Read in bed in am (Spiderwick book 3)
Poem with me
Math- lots of Timez Attack

Aaron: Read new list of words
Poem with me
Read a few books on Starfall

We gathered for a good read this morning, with lots of good Lincoln log play, knitting and cross stitching. It was so refreshing, as it seems as if the 'list' was ruling our days as of late! (Also, I was up ridiculously late at Ultimate last night and was determined not to let 'grumpy' mom rule today!).

We read a picture book (it was a wee bit strange), a chapter in The Last Battle, the chapter in FMOMA on Charles Martel (with a good discussion) and I think something else as well. Over lunch I read some random poems from the Harp and Laurel Wreath.

After lunch we gathered and I decided to do Drawing With Children with Ariel and Aaron. Hannah wanted to join in and we made some great birds. Caleb did one after we were done and did a fabulous, creative job of filling his in (I would love to post the pics but our camera is still in the shop).

We got up the second bird feeder and were thrilled to see lots of chickadees and nuthatches at both Hannah's homemade suet log and our old feeder. (Thanks Papa for the great new setup- what a great view from the table!)

Hannah got busy in the afternoon (no surprise there) with her chickadee project. She wants to present it at the Learning Centre tomorrow. Ariel and Caleb played a game of Monopoly and I had a very long bath and a good read of the Simirillian.

Outside play for three boys while Hannah made cookies for the LC. Phase 10 with Papa and then a great Cauliflower Cheese Soup and homemade bread.

It was a nice easy flowing day. No Latin, missed a bunch of music practices, but it was the kind of day we needed. Refreshing, even after only 5 hours of sleep!

2007-11-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

I am way behind on my notes on this blog, probably because I have actually been posting on my other one!

We are having an exam week of sorts, so I will post more about that soon.....

Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 29,30)

2007-10-30T20:39:00.001-07:00

Monday:
We started the day off with a read again....

ALL:-Gospel of Mark
-finished the Aeniad
-practiced the Bath Song (our Tolkien poem)
-chores

Ar-Math
-writing: quidditch commentary
-Read: The Life of the Spider by Fabre, drew picture (yikes!... the spider, not the picture))
Oliver Twist- 2chpts.
lots of other stuff I'm sure....

Hannah-Math (hard stuff- Test 16)
-writing: quidditch commentary (very creative)
-Read: HP and Bible

Caleb- played dutch blitz with him and all kids (he needed a boost)
-read in his Magic Treehouse book
-had a little phonics lesson
-Math-U-See (almost ready for Delta)

Aaron- I Spy on the Computer
-phonics and some letters with me

Played outside lots in the afternoon, talking to Papa who was working. At night Hannah and I are still wolfing down the fifth HP together (and snuggling up with tea) and Matt is reading the 1st with the two younger boys. The younger boys and I enjoyed the St. Francis book as well as the awesome book called the Treasure.

Tuesday
Started off this day with no chores and a good Latin lesson instead!

(Caleb practiced violin before breakfast.)

Ar-new Henle lesson (went great) and made new vocab. cards
-Sequential Spelling
-Read: Bible
Rule For A New Brother
Oliver Twist
Book about Shackleton
(Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry at nighttime)
-Math (boy he is getting this great!!)
-writing: copywork from LOTR
-lots of pennywhistle

Hannah-new Henle lesson and new vocab. cards
-Sequential Spelling
-lots of piano
-writing: a bunch more of her commentary
-Read: HP, In God's Garden (7 pages...this is lots)

Caleb- Math (next page), also reviewed subtraction
-Sequential Spelling (he asked)\
-played with Aaron while I taught the kids Latin and spelling (great!)
-violin before breakfast
-read a Jataka tale online
-italics (2 lines)

Aaron- an informal reading lesson, and he also wrote out a bunch of letters, also counted to 100 (was very nice)

All: Memory verse and Bible
Read Aloud at lunch- The Door in the Wall
Tea Time- we all read a poem we picked (and I read Aaron's). This was amazing! and it
worked so well to do it later in the afternoon after lots of free time.

Nice Day. Slow start, but such is the course when we are all up late!!

Tuesday to Friday

2007-10-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Let's see...
Tuesday:
All- Math
-Bible (section from the Gospel of Mark)
-the Aenied
-Looking at a new Winslow Homer painting
-instruments practiced

Ariel and Hannah -dictation from Beren and Luthien

Caleb- copywork from HP

Then we went to chess club

Wednesday:
Began the day with reading aloud, slipping from Breakie to the couch....
(This worked well again- we so love this time of our day, and the change from this to something active like chores and then math is a good mix up of types of energy and mindwork)

All: Gospel of Mark
The Minotaur-the first half
Child's History of the World- Ceaser
Recited our Poem- The Bath Song by JRR Tolkien
Read two picture books from Chiina- The Firebird (by Demi) and another one

Chores for all

All: Math
Instruments

Ariel: -read lots of his Gregor novels (3 of them today)
The Life of a Spider by Fabre (orally narrated it to this arachnaphobic mom, and then we looked up the dens of Wolf Spiders after this.... by this point I was downright creeped out and called it a day!)
- did a worksheet of grammar
-wrote a poem of the story of Bruce and the Spider

Hannah:- read In God's Garden and The Order of the Phoenix
-did a good amount of LOTR copywork
-practiced piano
-did grammar worksheet

Caleb :-read the story of Icarus and Daedelus from a Book of Virtues
-did copywork from HP

Hannah had ballet this night. She is doing so well and really progressing.

Thursday:
Table to couch again for stories....
All: -Gospel of Mark at table
-Read the rest of the Minotaur
-Read 2 great picture books (The Treasure and another one??)- Aaron loved this
-read A Midsummer Night's dream (the rest of scene one- mostly to Ar and H)
-finished our Magic or Muggle potion (we are pretty magical here!)

Chores (let the kids fold while I read)

Ar: -Math (percents- he is really getting this!!!!)
-grammar recap with mom and worksheet and latin drill
-lots of copywork to finish Beren and Luthien (and a few changes on his poem)
-Read 2 chapters of Oliver Twist (and THE REST of the Gregor books (all 4)

H:-Math (circumference and area of a circle -HARD stuff!0
-grammar recap with mom and worksheet and latin drill
-copywork from LOTR
-read Order of the Phoenix (I am just so glad she is reading-I am not pushing which books too much. She is to read 4-6 pages twice a week of her Saints book)

C: he was snuffly and tired looking (he is so cute!) So we played Sequence, and he did a few math questions (borrowing and perimeter and thousands place, phew!!)

Aaron has been drawing like mad all week. His people now have ears and often the right number of fingers and toes, as well as noses! He is definitely missing Caleb, as Caleb is now doing table work and playing with Hannah more.

Hannah went with her dad to work at the community house and they did some traditional native beadwork on looms. Hannah LOVED it and has been busily beading ever since.

Friday:
All:Friday room cleaning chore (then I did a major decluttering attack of our closet and most rooms)

Ar and H:Math for both

Caleb: read his Magic Treehouse book

Aaron read Go Dogs, Go to me and then I went and had a long shower at this point, made some snacks and got out the stuff for our Friday craft. We did beautiful watercolors, I am so happy with them.

All: The Aeniad (second to last chapter)

Friday's are working well in a great rhythm. . We start the day with room cleaning each Friday. Then the older two are still doing math, but Caleb has a free day. After this we do something different. The last few weeks we have done craft projects from the Usborne book, Hannah picked them out. I am loving this, working in this creative and special moment into our weeks.

Other ideas for Fridays...
-geography day
-science day (or on Thursdays)

Notes:
-have tea time with heaps of poetry books on Tues. or Wed. afternoon next week
-look for some books for a science focus possibly
-for Ar: next week or two he will do Shackleton
week after (or 2) will do Mao (read and write papers on both these books)
continue with Oliver Twist and Life of a Spider
-make up a map match up for countries of N and S. America
-Make time for Aaron's letter learning and create some cards etc.
-I am excited about the list of Writing projects. I think this will be a great visual for me. I might make it a separate document if I get a chance.

Recap for Wednesday and Today

2007-10-25T10:18:00.001-07:00

Wonderful day so far... will post soon. Off to play Sequence with my sniffly Caleb.

Writing Idea

2007-10-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Writing a script for the announcer at a Quidditch match ie. Luna or Lee style!

Ariel jumped at this one!

Monday October 22, 2007

2007-10-22T21:17:00.001-07:00

It seems like I should put the year at the top... it has been so long since I have added anything here. I think I have been (blush) looking at a few too many other blogs lately, and consequently falling into a definite lack of focus. I am going to try to focus on recording some notes here regularly again so I can see which way we are going, and also to have something to look over when February hits!

Today was a great day. It was clear and not rainy, which has been a change this week. We had breakfast, quite late as we are all in the sort of winter sleep in mentality already, and then drifted onto the couch to continue reading Theseus and the Minotaur from Tanglewood Tales. (Aaron had brought out the book and asked me to read it). We had read a Bible story already at the table. We were so cozy on the couch, and Caleb was happy, so I continued after that to read out of Child's History of the World about Ceaser. That went well, and we prayed the Lord's Prayer together.

At this point we all seemed to jump up and be ready for some chores, and some of us (me included) to get dressed.

From there we headed into math.
Hannah- test 15
Ariel- test 11
(aaargh... that means they both have a new lesson the same day- I try to avoid this!)
Caleb- subtraction facts and borrowing. Got it like a flash! (I am creating my own Math-U-See pages with the help of my old Foundations TM as he was using his sister and brother's old workbook and it ended a few lessons earlier than I needed before I could transfer him into Gamma... )

Ariel and Hannah each practiced their instruments (none for Caleb as his lesson is today and it would tire his tiny little arms out too much!)

We were having a friend over for lunch for his birthday so at this point I slipped out to grab a few things and started to cook like mad. Hannah iced the cake and very artistically set the table. Ariel played with Aaron, and Caleb had a time and a half trying to get his card just right! (There are just too many ways to say 'er' in english... as in Berthday, burthday.....)

After lunch we all cleaned up and headed out to a nearby park for a walk. We flew kites (sort of), threw the disc around lots, the little boys played at the park a bunch, and Hannah drew a great tree. The rest of us didn't get to our nature journals, but hey, it was a great day out.

When we got home I made Aaron some hot lemon and honey as he has a head cold, and decided we would do dictation. We generally don't do things after an outing, but it worked really well. I zipped through a section of Beren and Luthien with both Ar and Hannah, and Caleb did some copywork from HP.

After this it was onto designing my post for hosting the apple fair, dinner, violin for Caleb, and a great night of reading.

Did we do everything? No. Should we have? No, I honestly can't say I am very sold on the idea it all has to be done each day. Maybe that is why I waver so. It all looks good on other blogs etc. but today sure was beautiful here.
Note to self: enjoy the process of your own family rhythms and joys, see what works there. We have many years together, so see the steps, and live fully!

Thoughts: We are going to go through with the Henle slowly. When we get to a grammar concept (like tomorrow and transitive verbs) that is 'foreign' we will stop and figure it out with the grammar resources on hand (Learning Grammar through Writing, Harvey's, and worksheets from Easy Grammar). While taking the grammar break we can do flashcards and chanting as Hannah loves this (and make more cards for vocab. down the road as she loves this even more!)

The HP unit with Hannah still is full swing in her books. I thought we had fizzled out (after only a few days, not unit study type I am), but she is determined. She is doing beautiful calligraphy in both her Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology books, researching for both of these, and even wrote out the lab for Potions. She LOVES the creative flair, and because this is her passion it is working great (vs. when I have a great idea about drawing something which often goes flat)

Do another craft this week out of the book that we did the turtles out of (great craft two weeks ago... watercolor painting, which is right up my alley).

Get some good nonfiction books for Caleb to read too!

Think of a science focus as I see the kids would enjoy this right now.

Tuesday (so far)

2007-09-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Had a great morning...kids up by 8, had pancakes, got ready and each did a chore (Ar did upstairs toilet and sink, Hannah hung a load after her Math, and Caleb folded (Aaron brushed his teeth!)

All:
-had a great time of Bible reading and discussion at the table with Papa (last night had a great
read also with Papa- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (everyone loves it))
-read Young Fu to the older kids while youngers made forts
-had a nice tea time with fresh homemade cinnamon buns and chai. We read St. Francis and the
Wolf
-poured over the plans at Theresa's for a Harry Potter unit (we are not unit study folks per se,
but this looks like it could be alot of fun!)

Ariel
-Math- started a Math Journal and did some review of fractions (this went well, and he seemed
relieved to have helpful info in a usable format)
-Dictation: Lament for Boromir (went very well)
-Latin: recitation and vocab. review
-off to read Beric the Briton and Bible now

Hannah
-Math- next page in Zeta
-Copywork: Beren and Luthien
-Latin: recitation and vocab. review
-read lots of HP 3 in bed

Caleb
-Math: next page in MUS 1
-Copywork: The Crocodile (Lewis Carrol)
-Reading: Viking Tales (in a minute!)

Aaron
-lots of KNEX again

Still haven't read much to Caleb. I seem to get to the older kids read alouds, history etc but he isn't as interested as of late. Maybe I will start reading him the 50 Famous Stories again, on his own with Aaron. Today the littles went and played while Ar, H, and I read and that worked great. Caleb did Math this morning after much play, played alot again, then did his copywork while I was getting our tea/lunch together.

I think this HP unit will be great. We aren't really unit people, we make connections in readings etc. but it flows more naturally. I am going to give it a go, and I think it will give us some good enjoyment together. After that I am sure I will be ready to go back to our regular groove.

Note: Since we are on the last page of our Latin, maybe we will just have recitation a couple times a week, math each day, and then the HP unit. Kids can read and practice instruments in afternoons or after dinner.

Another Note to self: Kids need to practice instruments!! (Lessons are too much $$ to be wasted!)

Meals:
-B: pancakes
-L: tea time of homemade cinnamin buns (made bread too today) and chai
-D: chicken soup and homemade bread ( maybe rice pudding to round it off)

Monday...

2007-09-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Did I say 'grace' at the end of my last post? Yes, forgot that quite a few times (sob). I was quite graceful for the morning chores and getting ready, which I will pat myself on the back for. But in the whole excitement (mine) of having more of a plan around time (reads: will get kids to do lessons between 9-11 or so and then break for our reading and prayers) I sort of lost focus of what it is all about!! Sort of needed to be reminded about this again.

Ariel
-read a wee bit of Beric the Briton (Henty)
-Next page in Zeta (Math)
-Rosetta Stone Welsh
-some Latin
-short music practice

Hannah
-read lots of HP in bed
-next page in Zeta
-Latin- 2 exercises
-wrote more of a written narration on the Marauder's map (did not like mom to come and correct spelling)

Caleb
-next page in MUS (seem to like this better than Singapore, and so do I- probably because it is
time 3 for me through the same book and it just makes sense!)
-1 page cursive italics
-I read him the Intro. to Viking Tales
-Read 1 chpt. Viking Tales
-some neat coloring on an illuminated 'M' (gift for me!!)

Aaron
-we sat and read the Bob books together
-he kept himself pretty busy with Knex

All together
-We read the Bible at breakie, than at our break we prayed, read about the Romans from the Synge book (2chpts), read some poetry (talked about geography), and than at lunch we looked at Leaping Trout , our new picture study. (Also listened to a bit of Vivaldi during chores)

Meals
B-Cream of wheat and toast
L-sandwhiches (pb/cheese)
D-leftovers (dal, basmati rice, ceaser salad)

In the afternoon I dropped H and Ar off at their friends and Aaron and Caleb and I went for rootbeers and played at the park! Now it is dinner than violin, then home again , home again jiggetty jig!! (We usually aren't out of the house this much, but it was so beautiful today and thankfully there were leftovers!)

Some New Books

2007-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

I picked up my order today of a few new books- thanks to our great friends for the gift certificate!

Viking Tales- for Caleb
In God's Garden- for Hannah
Beric the Briton- for Ariel

I also picked up The Story of Mankind from the library for Ar to read when he finishes the Story of Rome.

I had meant to do some planning and some long range goals, but am sacking it tonight in favor of the third HP book and a cup of tea. However, I think this week we will have a spelling focus on Monday, dictation on Tues and Thurs and a written piece on our new painting one day for writing.

Also, I am going to order MCP 6 for Ar. I think it will be a good review and a much needed change for him.

I have the BOB books out and Aaron is loving them... will spend some good one on one with him this week.

Also, must sign off- I let the kids know I am going to wake them up around 7:45 or 8 tomorrow- so we can get moving a little better in the morning and have a nice slower afternoon! Grace is definitely needed- for me that is! Must remember that speed in the morning routine is not as important as love and grace!!

September... the first couple weeks

2007-09-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Back in the swing of things with Math, Latin (sort of ) and writing.
Ariel has been finishing off the Story of Rome, and I have begun reading stories about the Romans from the World History books (Book 1 by Synge) at the Baldwin Project.
Hannah is still devouring Harry Potter book 3 and has put together a beautiful quilt and is quilting it.
Caleb is really enjoying the Singapore 1b and Ariel and I have had two quiet (read no raised voice by mom) math sessions (a small miracle on my part).

Aaron is learning more letters and beginning the Bob books - he also counted to 70 today (I told him I would be that long before we could play baseball together. That kid loves to hit balls!).

I will record more soon with lists etc and goals. I am off to bed- need sleep !!

Tuesday July 17, 2007

2007-07-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is here in full swing... we are looking to a good long visit with the grandparents and old friends in a few days. As far as the formal things go, the lessons etc. we have mostly laid them aside. A few times in the past couple weeks I have required a few math problems for Ar, as he learned a new concept right before we sort of dropped math off! I think this will be helpful this year, much more retention when we move into a more high tide time for math. We also did Latin on Monday- have I said how much we enjoy Latin. I don't know what it is... maybe we are just nerdy! We reviewed all of our paradigms (grammar etc) and reviewed much of the vocabulary- had fun too!!

Yesterday Matt signed the kids up for a reading program- usually I think these are silly. However, it is $1 (to be used in the bookstore) for every hour they read. Now, Ariel reads about 2-3 hours a day usually, but the other two readers don't often pick up a book (until I 'suggest' it) to read these summer days. But this $$$ for books has inspired them- Ariel is up to 8 hours in the last 24 hours (yes, he did sleep), and Hannah and Caleb are both past and hour!!

Overall we are just enjoying this time.

Thursday and Friday

2007-06-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Lets see..
Thursday we had a nice lazy start but I got everyone into gear and back into chores.
Ariel- practiced his pennywhistle
-did Math
Hannah-practiced piano
-read and did phonics
-did math
Caleb-Decided to sit down today and ask this guy to do some things
-read a book to himself
-wrote out a line of copywork
-did all his addition facts out loud jumping
Aaron-we had a nice time reading together

We had a good read aloud at lunch: started reading Lancelot and Elaine from a book of Tennyson that I picked up at a yard sale. We also read the Aeniad.
Then we picked up some new wool for Hannah at our fave. store (she is going to make a full sized intricate poncho!), picked up a friend to visit for the day, came home, I made dinner for a new mom and we went swimming and to frisbee and soccer (phew that was a mouthful!!). Busy day for us folks, but lots of fun!!
Dinner: beef curry and lemon loaf with basmati

Friday..
Nice slow start (late night last night).
Hannah read her Bible and Caleb read to me. Ariel started a new blog.
I weeded the garden a bunch, and the kids did a Mad Lib and had fun with the 20Q game.
Seemed to be in a better groove today. Summer has definitely clicked in and I think my every year 'curve' (Mom is grumpy at first as all kids are sometimes grumpy with less sleep and more wide open time with less routine) is over and our routine is falling in. I still think we will do a bit of math etc. until we have family coming in 9 days.

Read from Lancelot and Elaine and the Phantom Tollbooth at lunch.

Wish I had charged the batteries in my camera... Hannah and Caleb were snuggled on the couch reading together- it's moments like these that make my heart melt (especially after a few days of lots of sibling bickering!)

Thursday June 18, 2007

2007-06-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today...well??? One of those days. Should have known, who likes waking kids up to be at a 9am dental appointment, especially the one having the appointment who went to bed late and has had a slew of birthday party sleepovers?

With the downs there were also ups (which is one of the unsung joys of staying home with your children- yes there are ups and downs, but there is lots of time to work through the downs and enjoy the ups!!)

Dd and Ds12 both did math and Latin
Dd read some of her Tales of Ireland, practiced some piano, listened to Peter Pan and beaded
Ds12 read a bunch of The Story of Rome by Mary Mac Gregor, practiced the pennywhistle, and probably read a volume of something!
Frodo and Bilbo played lego, played lego, played magnetics, played lego and Frodo started knitting squares for an afghan (that kid loves to knit!!)
I read a wee bit of the Aeniad out loud during lunch between knitpicks
NOTE: put on the rainsuits and go outside tomorrow!

Dinner: (late again...sigh)
-homemade samosas, dal, rice, raita and leftover carrot cake
(lunch was homemade mac and cheese....very late)

The What of this Blog!!

2007-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

What we have been up to, what's going on now, and what are we looking forward to?? That will be the gist of this blog- lists of books on the go, a look at the day to day, and menus etc. Not that I think academics are the main thing, or even close to it, but this gives me a little bit of a journal thing. Bare bones as far as style goes, but a helpful platform for me for the nitty gritty!!