Accountability Dec 14th-21st

[Soror]

Hey all,

Running late here so I'll be quick. Evidently we are taking off all of next week as we have to go to the city next week for a Neuro Psych appt for ds to start Cog Med so between that and Christmas we might as well take off. Should be a quiet week here and I'm looking forward to it.

 

I've got a craft to do with the girls this week and I want us to start planning our Christmas baking/cooking a little bit earlier than the day before like we did Thanksgiving. I've got a couple more science read-alouds to finish with ds and I need to start Kringle, the last Christmas read aloud I'd checked out.I think ds and I will work on finishing Time Travel Math this week, but that might be a bit ambitious, it might not get all the way finished until the week of New Years.

 

I need to start getting out some curriculum for dd as I'm planning to start Sentence Family and perhaps WWE in the new year. I believe the month of January will be low key for ds, with doing CogMed his brain will likely not be up for much.

[Critterfixer]

Hope everything goes well for everyone this week!

We are having our last week of school before the break. Yesterday was actually the best Sunday we've had in a long time. We had our Latin and our Math as usual, but last week I threatened to play Orinoco Flow  (Enya) when they earned their five minute rest-and-have-a-drink break in their speed drill contest. They both hit it, so I made good on my threat, and we had a blast dancing around the room in a display of silliness that I'm sure would get me some pretty strange looks should anyone have been at the windows. 

They ended up finishing math in record time, and spent the rest of the day playing with a friend, staged a drinking contest in which it was found that nobody can chug lemon juice without puckering, and decorated the Christmas tree we picked out Saturday. 

 

Nothing special planned this week, just the usual suspects. Just finishing off the plans for December and then break.

[mama25angels]

I hope everyone has a great week as well! We don't have much planned for this week either, probably just morning time and phonics and math. I think we will do phonics for the younger and math for the older over the break as well. I would really like to try and keep some small parts of our routine over the break. I don't know how successful I'm going to be as I can see things starting fall by the wayside already, lol!

[Tawlas]

No school here this week either :) Except my kids NEED the structure so we'll be busy making house and tree decorationsand baking during our school time. Today dsd is going to town for a bit of Christmas shopping with her mom so things will stay low key so she doesn't miss anything really good. My oldest daughter, who will be 20 on Christmas day, will be here next week! We're preparing a few dozen sugar and gingerbread cookies to decorate, and all the tree decorations we'll need for when she gets here.

 

The only academics I'll be asking of them is to read a few pages from Bob Books or Magic Treehouse, depending on the kid lol. I'm really looking forward to this week!

[Sahamamama]

Goals for this week [progress denoted by strike through]:

Christmas tree up & done

deep clean upstairs
deep clean downstairs
regular chores, meals & laundry
sew pot holders

sew rice bags -- will do these after Christmas, for an anniversary present for my parents, who are always cold

all gifts wrapped & done -- nearly there... pant, pant....

grocery shopping
host my aunt on Friday -- a lovely time was had by all
play outside ("fresh air hair")

play outside (mud is our friend, mud is our friend)

family hike (even in the bleak midwinter, we hike)

We will still do 2-3 "short days" for school (independent work they can do while I clean).

 

Short Day #1

Short Day #2 -- nope, didn't do this, but they sure watched a lot of nature documentaries on the new TV! (we've never had a TV until now) The Private Lives of Deer; Coywolf; Swarm; Cold Warriors: Buffalo & Wolves; Secret Lives of Plants

Short Day #3 -- ditto, plus TOO MUCH Curious George. Ooooo-oooo-oooo. Monkey noises all day.

We probably will do more school next week than this week, actually. But I have to get this house clean! The dust on the ceiling fans is falling on our heads! I am approaching the Cliffs of Insanityyyyyyyyyyy!

 

Aaah, my house is reasonably clean (good enough). I cut branches from the many evergreens way out back, and made arrangements for several rooms. The tree is also up and done. The smell of fresh-cut pine and fir and spruce is in the house! It smells like Christmas now. :)

[Tawlas]

Sahahamama, I just set up an index card for each room in the house with notes on each one specifying exactly what it is I hope to accomplish in each room! We have 3 weeks off of formal school so I'm hoping to get a bunch done around the house. Plus finish buying and wrapping gifts, plan and shop for a Christmas Eve appy feast and a New Year's Day Feast with the neighbours and host the in-laws from the 26th until the 29th. And plan the next six week chunk of school (that's mostly done, it's just the details and library books I need to figure out). And if I'm really lucky, planning, shopping and prepping a dozen or so crock pot freezer meals!

 

Sounds like a fun "break" for moms, now doesn't it ;)?

 

At least I'm also planning on a family sledding day on the 24th and setting up a skating rink while the In-laws are here :) Oh, and it should snow again (we had snow but it melted) so I can break out the cross-country skis. We generally have snow from the beginning of December until the end of March, so winter sports are an absolute must.

 

Now that I've looked at my list, I realize I better go bet back to work lol!

[Critterfixer]

 

 

Sounds like a fun "break" for moms, now doesn't it  ;)?

Speak for yourself! I don't plan on doing one iota of deep cleaning, any more baking than I would normally do, and aside from mailing a few Christmas cards and sticking some stuff in stockings I am DONE!

I've got a few extra days of work during the holiday weeks, but other than that I will be working on my literature/writing project, looking through the books I picked as my Christmas gift and probably listening to anything other than Christmas music.

[Soror]

Love your list sahamama~~

 

Tawlas- sounds like loads of fun at your house, no winter sports here, it is a lucky year here if we get to sled once.

 

Another day down here. Finished our star book, now I'm trying to decide what to read next as a read-aloud. I might have requested too many books but then again it is nice to have choice for me and ds. I pick the read-aloud and he picks his book for independent reading. 

 

I'm running late today, we had a late evening with scouts and Christmas parties so I'm not wanting to get around. Must get up and get going.....

[Sahamamama]

Sahahamama, I just set up an index card for each room in the house with notes on each one specifying exactly what it is I hope to accomplish in each room! We have 3 weeks off of formal school so I'm hoping to get a bunch done around the house. Plus finish buying and wrapping gifts, plan and shop for a Christmas Eve appy feast and a New Year's Day Feast with the neighbours and host the in-laws from the 26th until the 29th. And plan the next six week chunk of school (that's mostly done, it's just the details and library books I need to figure out). And if I'm really lucky, planning, shopping and prepping a dozen or so crock pot freezer meals!

 

Sounds like a fun "break" for moms, now doesn't it ;)?

 

At least I'm also planning on a family sledding day on the 24th and setting up a skating rink while the In-laws are here :) Oh, and it should snow again (we had snow but it melted) so I can break out the cross-country skis. We generally have snow from the beginning of December until the end of March, so winter sports are an absolute must.

 

Now that I've looked at my list, I realize I better go bet back to work lol!

 

Your description of a "break" made me laugh. It's true, that is what our breaks look like. It's still going to be fun, though, right? ;) I'm looking forward to having a shiny-clean house, a pretty tree with presents all ready-to-go, Christmas music playing softly in the background, and well-exercised children that smell like fresh air. :)

 

Well-educated will have to wait until 2015, LOL.

 

A crock pot of something spicy would be a pleasant addition to this scenario.... hmm... chili?

[Critterfixer]

 

A crock pot of something spicy would be a pleasant addition to this scenario.... hmm... chili?

 

Chili goes well with everything, work and play.

My children smell mostly like mud. I smell like garbage--the neighbor's mastiff cross decided to break into the trash last night, so the garbage didn't go and I spent most of my morning picking up the mess. Just now getting my morning cup of tea, and we've got to start school in about three minutes. :glare:

No, make that  :cursing: . I went all thermonuclear on the dog when he followed me to the house, and attempted to TURN OVER MY TRASH CAN WHILE I WAS LOOKING! Anyone within a mile of my house probably heard the Banshee Scream of the Bobcat Mother.

 

Somewhat cathartic though. I have warned both children to tread somewhat carefully on their mother's frayed disposition, and to give me five minutes of peace and quiet to drop the reactor temperature. 

It should be a nice, regular school day. :D

[Tawlas]

Aw Critterfixer, that sounds terrible! We have waaaayyy to many dogs (we're at about 12 or 13 right now) and they live in crates in our garage. My husband raises cow dogs. They are way too smart, way too active, way too much trouble lol. I can't tell you how many things I have had wrecked in the past from dogs! A scene like that happens about once a week around here (the banshee scream I mean, we've finally figured out how to avoid them getting into the garbage lol) I have one "pet" dog whom I adore, but beyond that, I don't really care for dogs at all any more which is really sad :(

 

Sahahamama, I too adore when everything is all ready to go and everything is so pleasant and holiday-ish :)

 

As for us, we're assembling cookie-in-a-jar mixes for piano teacher and gym coach, then making snowflakes for the ceiling and paper chains for the tree today. Sounds like a very hard day, right? AFternoon we have the last piano lesson and gymastics class before the holidays and of course, a bunch of errands to run. I'm going to round up most, if not all, of the library books and get them gone for the holidays as well as the toys from the toy lending library. Cleaned out several closets and cabinets yesterday too, so there's a bunch of stuff to go to the share shed, recylcing, food bank and thrift store :)

[Critterfixer]

I'd like this dog better if I didn't feel I had to teach him some manners before he kills himself. I had a good scan of the trash and I think at this point it looks as if he just got everything out for inspection, but didn't eat anything. He was lucky. 

Next garbage day I'm roping the two cans together back to back. He's strong, but he's not strong enough to knock them both over in that configuration.

 

So far the day is going pretty well. The boys are through Latin, Math and Grammar, and Spelling will be done before lunch, so we are on schedule.

[mama25angels]

Critter, hugs!! I can't imagine how livid I'd be if I had to pick up trash from someone else's dog, we're having trouble keeping the cat from knocking over our Christmas tree. We did no school today or yesterday, but will be back to work tomorrow. On Monday, we had some major errands to run and today I did a favor for friend. I need to get Christmas cards in the mail tomorrow.

[Critterfixer]

Dogs and cats do dog and cat things. Can't fault the critter for thinking garbage smells delicious. But if he has upset belly when he goes with us on evening walkies tonight I'm likely to remind him of why!

But yeah, I wasn't really very happy this morning. 

 

But the rest of the day has gone well, so can't complain too much. Finishing up with Ferns and Horsetails in Botany, and as luck would have it one of the boys collected a fern plant in his moss terrarium and it just happens to be illustrating the fern life cycle very well right now. We got to Early Rome in History, which is where I aimed to be by Christmas, so that's good. And the boys are writing yet another adventure story, and each outlined their plots yesterday. (I was careful to remind them that a good story often tries to wander around the plot rather than follow it in a straight line, so they would be prepared for that eventuality. Both read me their first chapters today--sound pretty good so far. Things to work on, but pretty good. The one boy is proud to point out his use of quotation marks. :laugh: And I didn't even have to prompt. 

 

[Soror]

Critterfixer- sounds like an exciting day at your house :)

 

I'm feeling a time crunch here, yes I know, on the supposedly relaxing week. I've still not finished Christmas shopping, here's hoping that I get that done today. 

 

Ds was dwaddling again yesterday, he doesn't mind school when we're doing it, well most of it anyway, but it is the getting started with it that he doesn't like. So, I made him a check list so he an see what he has to do every day and I'm hoping it is some motivation for him to see what is needed to do and also help for him and his time management. I warned him that he wouldn't have free time before TKD if he didn't get his work done and he kept telling me he had plenty of time, and of course he had to work right until time to leave to get it done. 

 

Nothing excited to report otherwise, we did this and that :) Currently we're reading about dark energy and black holes for science and Kringle for literature for ds, and Paddington for the girls, which I'll finish today. I'm unsure if I'll continue the series or go onto something else. 

 

The girls are obsessed with cooking challenges as of late, which is great, although we still have to work on the cleaning up after ourselves :)

[Tawlas]

Soror, I sometimes wonder if my kids would like checklists, especially the eldest. But I think it needs to wait until they're reading more independently.

 

ETA what are cooking challenges? sounds like something my kids would enjoy? My dsd8 just told me she wants to be a slave when she grows up lol. Upon further questioning I realized she meant waitress and/or cook lol!!

 

On the agenda today are finishing the snowflakes from yesterday: they need to be ironed, tied with a thread and hung from the ceiling. Then we'll move on to evergreen arrangements for the planters out front, a few wreaths - Gonna bring one to our neighbors I think, and maybe I'll get really creative and make a few center peices (but put them on the entry table and side table). I can only do the planters if it gets above zero . . . Hopefully! Also, we should fine time to complete the paper chain. We should do it while watching a Muppet Family Christmas again :).

 

If there's any time after that, we should tackle baking, but I may put that off for another day. Baking with four kids like mine is a challenge! Tomorrow I'll have adult back up lol.

 

That's it for today. Such a tough week lol

[Sahamamama]

Chili goes well with everything, work and play.

My children smell mostly like mud. I smell like garbage--the neighbor's mastiff cross decided to break into the trash last night, so the garbage didn't go and I spent most of my morning picking up the mess. Just now getting my morning cup of tea, and we've got to start school in about three minutes. :glare:

No, make that  :cursing: . I went all thermonuclear on the dog when he followed me to the house, and attempted to TURN OVER MY TRASH CAN WHILE I WAS LOOKING! Anyone within a mile of my house probably heard the Banshee Scream of the Bobcat Mother.

 

Somewhat cathartic though. I have warned both children to tread somewhat carefully on their mother's frayed disposition, and to give me five minutes of peace and quiet to drop the reactor temperature. 

It should be a nice, regular school day. :D

 

My set of (nearly 8 year old) twins just came in from a glorious morning outside. They are muddy, but your boys take the prize! My oldest (nearly 10 year old) daughter has a magnetic field attracted to mud, but your boys still take the prize! LOL.

 

It builds their immune system, I think.

 

Garbage and mastiff, eh, not so much. Are you dog-sitting?

 

We decided to ditch the cleaning plans today and go for a family hike at our local arboretum. This is "vacation," right? Tomorrow it will probably rain. We can clean the bathroom in the rain. This is New Jersey. We get two, maybe three, nice days each year, and this is one of them. We're going on a hike.

 

Ahh, the second cup of coffee has arrived. (Hubby is home). I love being nurtured. :001_wub:

 

 

[Critterfixer]

Not dog-sitting. The neighbor's dog just likes to come over when his folks are out for the day. He knows our routine all too well, and accompanies us on walks, usually making trouble with my three dogs because he's just a big pup. An annoying big pup at times.

Let's hope mud builds a good immune system because there always seems to be a mud puddle with a great big boy magnet at the bottom of it. 

 

I spent the morning at the dentist office getting my teeth cleaned. :thumbdown: It's one of my least favorite activities because it involves being still for thirty minutes, and hanging mostly upside down. I try to be good and not bite. Or kick. Or sting. I just hate having my teeth cleaned. I can be a perfect angel for extended work (had two sessions with fillings this summer) but I simply don't like being a good girl for cleanings.

Anyway, we got a late start. Still, we finished our last Latin lesson, and about half of the math lesson, and we'll finish that after lunch. No history or science today, since we got to a good stopping point yesterday. We'll have spelling and a writing session for everyone after lunch (including me) and that should wrap up the day.

Three quiz/tests tomorrow and that's it!

[Sdel]

We've kind of dropped school for the rest of the year while I regroup and re-think some things.  I've finally admitted that DD7 has some issues that most likely need some kind evaluation and intervention.  Specifically I'm thinking sensory issues as it would explain so many things.  Evenings work better, but I can't consistently contain her in order to get work done.  We have a pedi appointment on the 23rd and I'll be asking for a referral. 

 

Stefanie

[Soror]

Soror, I sometimes wonder if my kids would like checklists, especially the eldest. But I think it needs to wait until they're reading more independently.

 

ETA what are cooking challenges? sounds like something my kids would enjoy? My dsd8 just told me she wants to be a slave when she grows up lol. Upon further questioning I realized she meant waitress and/or cook lol!!

 

On the agenda today are finishing the snowflakes from yesterday: they need to be ironed, tied with a thread and hung from the ceiling. Then we'll move on to evergreen arrangements for the planters out front, a few wreaths - Gonna bring one to our neighbors I think, and maybe I'll get really creative and make a few center peices (but put them on the entry table and side table). I can only do the planters if it gets above zero . . . Hopefully! Also, we should fine time to complete the paper chain. We should do it while watching a Muppet Family Christmas again :).

 

If there's any time after that, we should tackle baking, but I may put that off for another day. Baking with four kids like mine is a challenge! Tomorrow I'll have adult back up lol.

 

That's it for today. Such a tough week lol

You should post pics of the snowflakes.

 

Cooking challenges are just them making something to eat for ds and I and then we have to judge it. My dd1 always says she wants to be a Mom first and foremost when growing up.

 

It builds their immune system, I think.

 

I totally agree!

 

We decided to ditch the cleaning plans today and go for a family hike at our local arboretum. This is "vacation," right? Tomorrow it will probably rain. We can clean the bathroom in the rain. This is New Jersey. We get two, maybe three, nice days each year, and this is one of them. We're going on a hike.

 

Ahh, the second cup of coffee has arrived. (Hubby is home). I love being nurtured. :001_wub:

 

I'm jealous, hubby home and a family hike!

We've kind of dropped school for the rest of the year while I regroup and re-think some things.  I've finally admitted that DD7 has some issues that most likely need some kind evaluation and intervention.  Specifically I'm thinking sensory issues as it would explain so many things.  Evenings work better, but I can't consistently contain her in order to get work done.  We have a pedi appointment on the 23rd and I'll be asking for a referral. 

he 

Stefanie

Hugs, I hope your eval goes well, it is hard to admit but knowing answers really do make it easier, even if it is terrifying at first.

 

Ds worked well with the checklist and actually finished by lunch, which he hasn't accomplished in a while. The girls were busy designing clothes with the staple gun since they couldn't find needles. 

 

I really need a good break, did I mention that? Yes, I think I did :) I'm trying to talk myself into entirely taking off until the week after New Year. Rationally we are over half way through all our curriculum, ds is 2/3rds done with his hours. I feel guilty because I think I should already have everything back together but it seems like every break we've had has just had too much else going on to have enough time. Of course I know others get by with getting things done in less time, sigh. Then I have books coming ILL and I get no renewals on them. So, I'm thinking that I'll just do read-alouds and games. I don't know. Then I think we'll why not do this or that. 

[Tawlas]

Soror, a break sounds like such a good idea since you've all worked so hard so far! I always *think* I'm going to take a break, then realize my kids need structure or they just start arguing with each other for fun lol. That or I *think* I'm going to study Native Americans over the summer "for fun" and we barely cover more than one week's worth lol!

 

Sdel, I'm reluctantly starting to wonder if there isn't something going on with my dsd8 too . . . just some kind of LD perhaps? Maybe it's simply that she's not sounding out each letter in a word and guessing from the first few letters? She was in ps previously and she was struggling there with reading as well. But it was French Immersion. I dunno. In any case, I've tentatively set up an evaluation in January just to see if there's actually something going on or if she just needs more time. She's had a LOT going on in her life this past year too, so I'm sure that doesn't help. We'll see! Good on you for taking that first step!

 

Today our neighbor is coming with her boys for coffee around 10am. We're having a mock piano recital. I may even let the kids decide if they'd like to try out their new clothes for the occasion as well - that way we can see if it all fits etc. In the afternoon, I'd like to finish the snowflakes and paper chains (didn't get that done yesterday). We made some really pretty "faux stained glass" ornaments with tissue paper yesterday too! If we have time, I'll get the kids to help wrap gifts for grandparents and other extended family and write a few Christmas cards to a few aunties and uncles. Tonight I'll make cookie dough so we can have a massive cookie cutting/baking marathon tomorrow :)

[Critterfixer]

Today is our last day before our Christmas break. We only have two things to get done today-a Latin quiz and a Math test. We'll probably spend time writing today--because we like it. :D

I plan on working on my writing this afternoon, and do a little work on my literature/writing project for The Quest Plot. If I get a fire under my backside, I might get out Homer and plan the first few weeks of work. But for today it's time to play.

[Soror]

Tawlas- I hope that they had a lovely "recital", it sounds very nice and what good sports your neighbors are to come listen. I hope the eval is fruitful.

 

Critterfixer- I see you've changed your sig, your in the mode for planning :)

 

So, in the vein of needing a break and working on the Smart but Scattered book alongside documenting here as we've went through various levels of structure it is painfully and sadly apparent to me that we too need more structure than I personally like. I'm sitting here contemplating it all, we've tried out various schedules this year but the hard part is being objective about it from their point of view, not mine. 

 

Anyways, ladies you'll have to forgive my incessant ramblings about schedules, you can just skim if you want :) Typing it on here helps me think about it, surely by the end of the (school) year I'll make up my mind, just in time to formally add another child to my school :). Heaven knows my dh most certainly does not want to hear about it and I have no close hs buddies that school similarly.

 

Back to my rambling and contemplation....

 

Ds likes the option of being able to finish his independent reading on his own before regular school starts but specific start times for certain subjects, like math, work well to keep him in rhythm. He has a harder time starting math and writing on his own, although he generally doesn't mind doing them once started. I think that at this time letting him entirely order his schedule is too much freedom for his own good, besides the fact that I grow resentful sitting and waiting for him to decide he wants to do it. 

 

So, dh is going to pick up my history books from the library and I believe I will go ahead and break for the next 2 weeks, complete breaks on the days dh is off, on the other days I'm going to have ds continue reading and continue with my read-alouds. Otherwise we'll have family time, I'm going to try and get the house back into order, and work on more intensive planning for our next session of school.

[Tawlas]

Soror, I'm a little scheduling obsessed myself. I see them as the key to . . . EVERYTHING! The perfect balance of active/restive, play/work, full/hungry, quiet/loud, group work/one-on-one/alone, challenging/easy, required work/free time will make Everything Better ;) I'm constantly tweaking, revamping, re-considering and re-arranging our day and week! If something isn't going well, I look to the "schedule" to see if I can't make it work better by changing the Order of All Things. I wouldn't say we follow a schedule to the minute, but it keeps our flow going and I attempt to maintain the magical balance by knowing who does what in which order, ya know? Except for meals, screen time and bed time. Those times are sacred lol!!

 

Good luck on figuring out the magical combination for you all!

[Penguin]

And we are DONE.  Whew.

 

We spent the last two days focusing on a research paper (600 word range).  We can't seem to fit writing into neat 45 minute time slots, and I am tempted to stop trying.  He seems to do better having two or three hours blocks of time to work on a paper.

 

I hope to spend our break relaxing and contemplating (my version of planning). I promised DS that I won't endlessly discuss school with him over the holidays, LOL.

[Tawlas]

Yay Penguin! Enjoy your holiday! I'll be doing a lot of planning and contemplating myself in the next few weeks, feel free to "talk" my "ear" off on here ;) Funny how spouses just don't want to hear EVERY single detail lol!

 

We had a very strenuous morning of cutting and baking cookies, reading a few chapters of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and completing a 100 peice Christmas puzzle. Now they're outside burning off some cooke dough sugar. Piano recital tonight so trying to keep it mellow this afternoon. Quiet time and maybe a short Christmas DVD. While they do that, I plan on trying to get the dog kennels out of the mud room and into the garage so there's a bit more workable area in there!

[Soror]

We're finished as well.

 

Well, twice this week ds has showed me he is up for more independence. This week he has been writing paragraphs from outlines, doing it on his own and then we edit it together. He has been able to stay on task fairly well and is really getting his ideas out there. Although he is writing from outlines (Treasured Conversations) he is adding his own style and touch to the story. I'm really impressed, yesterday he only had one punctuation mistake as well, which for him and his fluency issues is HUGE. I've been so pleased with this program, the little steps towards independence have all been helpful, even when it has seemed he was a bit past them the overteaching has been beneficial.

 

The second thing he has taken on is his 60 Second Sweep. Since we do it online I was typing it for him as he told me the answers. Being timed is an issue for him so I started it out this way as it spazzed him out, well we've been doing it over a week now at least 5 times a day and he took over for himself Thursday. To my surprise he did as well as he had been with my typing. For him to do it quickly and without mistakes is amazing. 

 

He is definitely ready for the checklist, perhaps my past attempts were just before he was there. Dd on the other hand who wanted one because ds did doesn't pay any attention to it, although for her, it is pretty easy she just has a few things and they are just go to the next page.

 

Anyway, it was a good end to the week and we are on break. I'll be hitting some planning but right now it will be cleaning. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Solstice or Merry Kwanzaa :)