Tuesday (so far)

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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)