Critterfixer Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Good morning, one and all.   I'm  trying to be cheerful, while the report of the house goes something like this: 1) "I have NOTHING to wear! Why don't I have anything to wear!" DS1 2)"I can't wear this! It isn't comfortable enough!" same DS as above. 3) "We've got to do boring school." DS2 4) "It's going to be sunny and warm and nice and we are going to be stuck inside doing boring school." DS1 again. 5) "Why are the dishes not clean? Why are they in the dishwasher, we have no bowls and nobody ran the dishwasher?" Me, still a little miffed over the laundry still being incomplete as I left DH in charge. :cursing:  But we are up, moving, and Latin is in the bullpen warming up. So clothes or no clothes, bowls or no bowls, happy players or not, the game goes on. :laugh: Just Latin and Math today, and Math is going to be some concentrated work on fractions and decimals in preparation for the test on Tuesday. I'm trialing something for four weeks, so I'm steeling myself for disaster. I just sent DH out for the week's groceries. I've pretty much figured out that after working Friday and Saturday and spending close to eight hours on the road over those two days, I am in no shape to climb into the truck again and go to the store Saturday evening. I wish I had the energy, but I just don't. And I can't shop Sunday without getting up at 5:30 am, and three days in a row of being up at that time of day just isn't something anyone else could stand. So we are going to try this and see if it works.  Anybody else trying something new this week, school related or other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 We are trying out a new vocab program this week: Science Roots. My hope is that it will help prepare him for 9th grade biology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I'm mostly trying to get back on track with more read alouds, more enjoyment and less box-checking. I think my own outlook has been off track lately and it's wrecking our days. It's not a new thing, per se, but it's a renewal I suppose. I don't blame my mother in law for my own attitude, but she's been stressing me out with all her reading and writing comments about my kids. She means well, but so WHAT if my child can't read at the same level as other kids yet? She's said that if they're not up to speed by foruth grade they just get farther and farther behind. That's in PUBLIC school. I can continue to accomodate their current level. Their ability to read doesn't hamper the ability to learn as long as they don't have to read it lol. I'd love it if my kids were reading better so they could work a little more independently, but they're in 2nd and 3rd grade and it is what it is. (ran over. sorry) Â We did a bit of History this morning. I'm a few chapters behind where I'd like to be so I figure if we *can* do some, we should, since who knows what will come up? If I'm sitting in a good spot I feel more relaxed and we can take advantage of spontaneous opportunities. If nothing does, well then we're done earlier for summer, right?! Â Any history we do on weekends I call chocolate chip history because all correct or even attempted or partially correct answers earn chocolate chips. The kids love it ;) We're listening to SOTW2 and learning about the Crusades presently. I don't recall learning any of these things as a kid and I'm finding them very interesting. We're going to start reading Robin Hood by Eyewitness Classics this week too, and I really enjoy the story of Robin Hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Hi all! I'm going to try and add a bit more technology into our school. I have some pretty cool apps on the iPad that would be great but I always forget they're there and so we don't use them. For instance, I have an app called educreations, it's a whiteboard, what I didn't realize is that I can actually record myself teaching him a lesson on the whiteboard and let him do it alone. Yeah, I'm thinking how could I have forgotten that too. I've even looked up a few more apps to put on my kindle for the my1st grade. I'm hoping that by pulling out the games, things will be a little bit more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Hi, happy new week :)  Commiserations re the whinging dc. But good on you for delegating something to your husband.  Today is a light day for us as it's a public holiday (Australia Day AKA Invasion Day). We had pavlova for breakfast (disgusting idea, not recommended), it's almost 9.30 and the kids have just started their math.   Our big new thing for this week is that we're launching into SOTW for another go-round. Last week we whizzed through all of prehistory. This week we are celebrating Lammas and baking the Harvest Loaf so I'm doing a little unit about grains, which will tie in with early farmers in the fertile crescent in history.  The other exciting thing is that Ms. 6 is right back into music after an extended break (fractured wrist was in a cast so she couldn't do any fingering on her violin). I love practicing with her and now we've started three new pieces. She'll be starting to take lessons again in a couple of weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hello all, we are set to start back up tomorrow, it has been an extremely productive break and I'm ready to dive back in. I think I'll probably be a little rusty tomorrow but that's ok. Nothing new here, well nothing new this week. I'm just planning on keeping on with what we've been doing for now. I want to start some new stuff with science/nature in a couple of weeks but I already have an idea of what we are doing and planning will wait on that.  Ds is finishing up a couple of astronomy/space books and we are starting to study westward expansion and the causes of the civil war in history. We're back to Tales Before Tolkein for RA lit and ds is reading Wrede's dragon series on his own. I'm reading TumTum and Nutmeg to the girls, along with various picture books and fairy tales. I'd like to have a time for poetry tea time again this week, we'll see. We've got some meetings/appointments this week, which will make for another busy one, hopefully we can keep our days calm however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 We're trying a new school schedule for DS1. It's been almost a week and so far so good! We've been having major schedule issues this whole year, and have tried several other things that have crashed and burned. I "gave" him every other day off. Really, I condensed his 6 day schedule to 3 days with a "day off" in between. The work load is exactly the same. So day 1 he has one chapter or lesson for all subjects and day 2 on the calendar is blank, but anything that wasn't done on day 1 is to be done on day 2. He's so excited by all the "days off" that for the first week all year he's gotten all his work done with no complaining or fighting! I hope the honeymoon for this lasts awhile longer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 What a delightfully devious schedule. I hope it continues to work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 What a delightfully devious schedule. I hope it continues to work! Lol! Delightfully devious, I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Morning, happy Monday :) Â Typical day today, except dh arrives home after being gone the last four day - which is nice because then I don't have ranch chores any more! The cows have been making me nervous, I know they're ready to be fed again and all that's keeping them off the hay stack is one, thin steel (electrically charged) wire. I can stop stressing I guess. Â This week, on top of the usual school stuff, I *think* I'm going to try doing some extra math with dsd. She's going to be away for two weeks with her other parent and family, which is one more week than I'd planned on taking off. Science is fine, we can cover two weeks in one cause it's pretty light right now, but I want her to get in some extra math so she's not as far behind as she would be. I'm thinking an extra half hour in the afternoon. She's working on the intro to multiplication and the money chapter from MM3, which aren't challenging concepts for her, they just need to be done, ya know? That just leaves history . . . she's got a few hours' worth of a drive, maybe I'll get her to listen to the SOTW on CD. . . It's not a big deal, but it would be nice to squeeze it in somewhere. Then if she just reads, reads, reads while she's gone, we should be good. Right? Â Have a productive, peaceful day all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sdel Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've been missing the last two weeks. It's been very stressful and I really haven't coped well, and of course I'm exhausted all the time since baby is still more or less staying up til 2 am daily......and up and going all day by 6 am. Â The week before last we were supposed to have a transition point with the baby and his parents. I'm super stressed about them moving to unsupervised visitation. We are pretty sure his mother doesn't want him. She's been hiding something about her mental health and she was supposed to have her doc call us to answer questions and give us an all clear......but the day before her appointment was conveniently rescheduled. So..... Â Last week we got DD's OT eval back. They won't do anything. They say her coordination, both fine and gross, are average. As far as the sensory eval we got.....they were vague but dismissive. For her energy/attention issues they recommended that I google "heavy work" and for the postural stuff they just recommended correcting her when I see her do it. I really think this has to do with our insurance's attitude and not a lack of a problem. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from a 7 year old to be able to buckle her own seat belt without having to lean over so much she practically falls out of her car seat, still doesn't pull out the belt enough to get it around, and then still can't coordinate enough to push the belt into the buckle without pushing the buckle all the way into the seat so that it won't latch......and she still hasn't gotten much better even though she's been doing it herself for 6 months. We'll look at going to Houston or Austin for a real eval in March. Â And to start off this week the baby didn't go to bed until around 1 am and woke us up at 2:30 am vomiting. He vomited until 7 am and it is now 10 am and he's still up. Â Just feeling a bit defeated lately. Â Stefanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015   Just feeling a bit defeated lately. :grouphug:  Hasn't been exactly our best day today. Hopefully the afternoon will not be quite so rough. Boys spent a lot of time with cousins and friends this weekend, and honestly, I think they are just a touch "funned" out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Well today wasn't our best day either, it stared with me getting frustrated and yelling this am, it ended with youngest falling off his bike and getting scraped up. We did get morning time, math and writing done. I finally screwed up the courage to download the Coursera app, I'm hoping that Ds and I can take a course next year or the year after. I'm also looking at iTunesU courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Things have been a little better this afternoon, but only because the boys are out of free complains on the day. :glare: Nobody has been "on" today. I am seriously debating sending everyone, including myself, to bed early. I don't know when I've been more disgusted with a day. It's past three, and we are just getting to history and science. I had planned to open the hives today and check bees, but with the rest of the housekeeping that must be done this afternoon, I won't be getting to that. I'll be lucky to get my room, the bathroom and one other room cleaned today. Even the dogs are being bratty.  Sigh. Better luck tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Blah, sorry for the rough days everyone. Our day went okay but Dh won't be coming home till evening now, flight delay! Considering someone was half way to the airport to pick him up (two and a half hours away) before they got the message, it's gonna be tricky to get him later tonight. Me and my big mouth saying I could quit worrying now :s  School wise at least things got done. Hoping to do a touch off history and dsd extra math still this afternoon. We all need a break now though, and quiet while the baby naps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Sorry for the rough days, mama. DC5 got his violin practice and read to me a beginning reader book, so I feel pretty okay with what he did today. My DC8 did her Rosetta Stone Spanish, practiced piano, did a LoF chapter, a FLL lesson, added to her history timeline, did a written narration for history, and a pre-test for spelling this week. Both kids did a bit of a lesson from Drawing with Children with me. I didn't get as much done as I would like, but I never do. Everyone got fed. We got chores done. Everyone spent some time outside. My eldest had time to read. My youngest had lots of play and audiobooks. Maybe my eldest could have had better behavior, but overall I'd call the day a win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 We ended up having a pretty good study session tonight, bad day and all. The boys got through a quick Latin review and a little bit of fractions and decimals, and then we opted to watch part of that documentary on Greece that I borrowed from the library. I had planned to do about 30 min of review, but it ended up being about an hour and a half with the film. No complaining. I think the hot chocolate I served as a study snack might have had something to do with that... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I'm so Ă°Å¸ËœÂ at myself! I forgot about my webinar tonight, I'd been looking forward to it all day so I don't know how I managed to forget Ă°Å¸ËœÂ¢. Anyway, the rest of our day was ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Well our day was a bit of a wash out today, but for a good reason! Â Last week we went to the circus. There was great excitement as it was all the kids' first time at a circus under a big top, but the main reason we went to this one was because they have half a dozen gypsy cob (gypsy vanner) stallions, which my horse-crazy kid is mad about and had never seen irl before. For some reason the stallions didn't perform that particular day, and Ms. 9 was somewhat distraught. I went to the box office and told them she was upset to miss those horses. They ended up phoning and offering her a private appointment to meet all the circus horses and ponies, plus free tickets for all of us to see the circus again when the horses were performing! Here is happy Ms. 9 getting to know the stallions (this was before they were washed and groomed - they looked magnificent on-stage):Â Â Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Stefanie- I'm so sorry to read the appointments were a bust and the baby keeping you awake, goodness, no wonder your feeling defeated, it is a wonder your still standing. Have you talked to the ped about the baby? It sounds like there is something else going on with that many sleep issues. Food was a major cause of nightime sleeping issues here, just a thought.  Tawlas- That is too bad about your dh, hopefully it all works out and you don't have to worry or do all of his work. Oh, and I use chocolate chips for my kids sometimes when we've played various phonics or math games, they love that, although we don't have a catchy name for it :)  Isabel- what a lovely thing to happen, the horses look beautiful as is, I bet the kids were thrilled.  We had a good start back here, I wouldn't have minded to get in some more reading to ds, but I'm calling it a success considering it was our first in a couple of weeks. Everything flows so much more smoothly when everything is in order around here. We got our chores done, school done, a bit of extra cleaning (I had to finish the laundry room/pantry and my room is becoming my eBay hub) and we played outside exploring the forest. We talked about animal homes, checked out some rocks (which was a good tie in for ds as they worked on Geology in Cub Scouts) and climbed trees.  The day felt very balanced and productive. We have appointments/outside commitments the rest of the week and Friday will be a total wash as I have to go to the city for ds' post Cogmed assessment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 We're still chugging along with bare-bones minimums (math and reading) plus whatever educational stuff the kids do on their own; sort of partial unschooling. Â I'm in nesting mode, cleaning and decluttering and organizing. Â Baby's still contentedly staying put, so I figure I have a few more days. My mom gets into town on Saturday and then we'll be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Isabel-those horses are beautiful!! Â maize- so excited for baby, happy, healthy baby vibes coming your way! Â Soror- you guys did great coming back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 We are on track for the day. Far less grumbling today than yesterday. I feel behind. No good reason for it, but I seem to have been scrabbling to keep up today. Couldn't have a thing to do with the fact that I lost track of time last night when reading Profiles of Ancient Greeks and ended up going to bed around midnight! Sadly, don't remember much except that it was very interesting. Which serves me right. Â We are done with our fifth light unit on the year. Considering that curriculum came in late last fall, I'm pretty pleased. Scores were decent on the test today. Latin went very well. Spelling and Grammar were done just before lunch, so that leaves a pretty straightforward afternoon with writing, history and science. Â I plan to have another study session tonight, this time involving grammar and math, and we will watch a science related DVD. Tonight's study snack is cinnamon toast. I believe I ought to sit down with a graph pad tonight and figure out a good schedule of topics and methods to use during these study sessions. I might do that this afternoon. I want to be careful not to introduce much (if any) new material during study time, or if I do, to simply use it to address an area of interest or to enhance a topic we have been working on. That's harder than it sounds, because I'm always wanting to add more, when in this case, less is what I'm looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Maize - Good luck with your impending birth! Isabel - What an awesome pic of your DD with the horses. Â Still chugging along: My middle finished violin, a little handwriting, some counting practice, and read to me another beginning reader book. My eldest added to her timeline, did a history narration, Spanish, piano, typing, FLL, LoF, and map work. Both kids did music appreciation with me. My DD acted better today. We got out into the forest for a bit and did some chores and had a poetry tea party. Things are going pretty swimmingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I haven't looked at the thread yet, just want to check in while I have a moment and then I'll go over the thread in the next day or two ... we're well here, but feeling a bit off our game. Today's science turned into rodent management: ick. But the garage is almost certainly rodent-free and Grandma is keeping her sweet potatoes somewhere else, so it ought to stay that way.  goals: keep going on our basics (writing/grammar, math, Latin, science, history) and get in poetry, drawing, Spanish, CA history sections and literature reading each day too. Extra credit for bringing my AO-related reading up to date: King James, Shakespeare.  ETA -- I realized it sounded like I was dis'ing Grandma -- no troubles there, sweet Oma was just very very upset when she wanted to retrieve sweet potatoes for dinner and found only Sweet Potato Shreds and Rodent Droppings. She was grateful that I cleaned it out for everybody, so no hard feelings anywhere. Well, I'm annoyed at the rats. She is too. okay. back to academic topics.  I was sick a couple of weeks ago (still am a bit, it's dragging) and signed A. up for Hebrew and Chinese afternoon classes. !!! The Hebrew was paid for by our charter and it's like the 3rd Classical Language (after Latin & Greek) so that seemed an obvious "yes" to my fevered brain, and the Chinese is free b/c the teacher is building experience and I'd hoped to start Chinese next year but had no native-language speaker. So we are busy afternoons now. DH is feeling just a bit smug, he knew it was silly to add all this but I didn't tell him until after we signed up. Feverish indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 We had a good day! We got our regulars done and got some more outside time in. I downloaded the Coursera app and I'm just not feeling the love, I like the itunesU offerings better so far, but won't really know for sure until I try a class in both. I've also been looking at some of the minecraft classes for him, I know he'd love those so I may sign him up at the end of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Today was our busy day with piano and gymnastics in town. Next week though piano is moved to Thursday (to coincide with swimming) and gymnastics is done! So only Thursday is busy. But DS7 will be starting archery next week, so there goes Saturday . . . I guess I need to figure a new schedule since we corrently do geography and science that morning. Â Despite the busy day, we got all I had planned done which is so satisfying and then I didn't need to bringt he baby to town with us which is AWESOME!! Makes for a quieter, simpler, more relaxing town day :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 We had a decent day, although I was in a bad mood, for reasons unknown to me. Yesterday was our worse day with activities and meetings, so I'm glad that it is done. Today is a bit better, just 2 things TKD and dance and the times are nearly the same. Ds had his first sparring class and really enjoyed it, he'd like to do it 2x a week but with the way it is scheduled that would make us busy from Mon-Thurs and I'm not keen for that on a weekly basis. I'm glad that he is enjoying it and the girls their dance.  mama25- ds has done a few of the Minecraft classes, he really seemed to enjoy them, I dropped them during Robotics as we just had too much going on. Speaking of which we are starting Robotics next week again, although the plan is to keep the meetings much less frequent than the 2+x a week we were meeting. We are thinking of competing in a 4H Robotics invitational.  I started short daily review sheets for ds yesterday, I had thought about it before but never got around to it, so glad I finally printed them off. I believe these will be just right, they are 7 problems of mixed review. Ds is not very fast so tons of review problems take up too much time. I'm not certain if we are sticking with BA for next year though, I think he may be ready to move in, in which case I don't know where we're going, likely Jousting Armadillos.  Still not sure on writing either, ds is buzzing along and is doing well with his paragraphs and TC and will be moving onto reports in 2 weeks, it looks like he will be ready. Dd is just doing homemade copywork, I need to change up what she is doing in our next session, but I'll have to think about it more. I need to look at some vintage programs I have downloaded to see if they will fit her, if I can find something that saves me the work, all the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 We got side-tracked at the end of last week and the beginning of this one with a sick child (with a fever that wouldn't break), then two out of three. They couldn't talk, but could croak. They couldn't breathe and eat at the same time. Poor kids! I do still have one very bouncy girl. She has more energy than that pink rabbit with the drum.  I decided yesterday that if we ended the day with the sick ones feeling better than they did at the beginning, that would be "success." We did only restful things, nursed them back to health, and they felt better at the end of the day. They are both doing much better this morning, so I think we'll be able to get back on track today (or tomorrow). Now we just need to get more tissues, Vicks, and apple juice in the house.  Wednesday -- Good day, they all felt better than they have for a week. We worked hard and accomplished good things, without wearing out the recovering children. ;) Regular chores, meals, laundry Done School work -- Keeping in mind that they still are not feeling 100% Done Church midweek -- If they are up to going. I'm sure they will say they are! Done  Thursday Regular chores, meals, laundry Done School work Done, got a ton of work accomplished today Choir rehearsal -- Unless they look too ragged, KWIM? Nope, not this week. Crash doesn't have a voice, anyway. Boom is still coughing and barking, but declares she is better. Bang wasn't sick this week at all, but still needs to rest today. Parental consensus is that they all need to rest, or no sleepover tomorrow at Grammy's. ;)  Friday Regular chores, meals, laundry Done Early morning drop-off to sleepover at Grammy's (the kids) Done My Day Alone at Home No kids, no hubby (until the afternoon), just me and the bunnies, ahhh. I got a TON of school prep done, drank tea, enjoyed the solitude. Date Night with Hubby I had a lovely time with my favorite person :biggrinjester: :001_wub:  Saturday My Birthday My parents will drop off the kids & stay "just long enough to sing Happy Birthday" ;)  Sunday Church Dinner & Nap    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Good morning, one and all.   I'm  trying to be cheerful, while the report of the house goes something like this: 1) "I have NOTHING to wear! Why don't I have anything to wear!" DS1 2)"I can't wear this! It isn't comfortable enough!" same DS as above. 3) "We've got to do boring school." DS2 4) "It's going to be sunny and warm and nice and we are going to be stuck inside doing boring school." DS1 again. 5) "Why are the dishes not clean? Why are they in the dishwasher, we have no bowls and nobody ran the dishwasher?" Me, still a little miffed over the laundry still being incomplete as I left DH in charge. :cursing:  But we are up, moving, and Latin is in the bullpen warming up. So clothes or no clothes, bowls or no bowls, happy players or not, the game goes on. :laugh: Just Latin and Math today, and Math is going to be some concentrated work on fractions and decimals in preparation for the test on Tuesday. I'm trialing something for four weeks, so I'm steeling myself for disaster. I just sent DH out for the week's groceries. I've pretty much figured out that after working Friday and Saturday and spending close to eight hours on the road over those two days, I am in no shape to climb into the truck again and go to the store Saturday evening. I wish I had the energy, but I just don't. And I can't shop Sunday without getting up at 5:30 am, and three days in a row of being up at that time of day just isn't something anyone else could stand. So we are going to try this and see if it works.  Anybody else trying something new this week, school related or other?  Just curious -- Did he handle the grocery shopping with more, um... competence than the laundry and dish washing? ;) I just have to know, LOL. You're not the only one who gets "miffed" when returning to being the PIC (Parent In Charge). I once said, "Of course you think it's easy, if you only do half the job." :toetap05:  ROFL.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015  Just curious -- Did he handle the grocery shopping with more, um... competence than the laundry and dish washing? ;) I just have to know, LOL. You're not the only one who gets "miffed" when returning to being the PIC (Parent In Charge). I once said, "Of course you think it's easy, if you only do half the job." :toetap05:  Yes. Mostly. Of course, after he got home, I remembered all the things that ought to have been on that list that I didn't put on, because I would have remembered them when I went shopping. Gotta work on that.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Yes. Mostly. Of course, after he got home, I remembered all the things that ought to have been on that list that I didn't put on, because I would have remembered them when I went shopping. Gotta work on that. OH, I totally understand that one, but I guess it isn't reasonable to expect them to read our mind :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015  OH, I totally understand that one, but I guess it isn't reasonable to expect them to read our mind :)  I had not planned for him to make the grocery run, so everything was on my usual legal pad. But this week, I'm ready. A long time ago I made up some typed grocery sheets, with every category so that I could run down them and simply put a check or a number beside the item. Now, it needs updating. I think baby wipes and diapers are probably still on that list!  I'm going to trial this for a good six weeks and see if this can work. It will enable me to get up at a sane hour (seven) on Sunday, have an hour for waking up and getting around, and I can start school on time, thus making it possible for the boys to have the afternoon off so I can cook, write, and do some studying. So it is certainly my intent and desire to make DH into a competent grocery shopper. :laugh: He purchased shrimp for me this last trip, but instead of buying the little bag, he bought the big one. We'll use it, and per lb I'm sure it was the best price, but I would have balked at the price! (They were really good pan-seared, though!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I'll come over and help you eat up the shrimp! I'll bring garlic and EVOO, and we'll finish off the Big Bag. Ha ha. Â You think I'm kidding.... Â I told the girls this morning, "Group Work and Tutor Time will not commence until all the Morning Routine (chores, rabbits, meal job, grooming, bedroom) is done and all your assigned Independent Work is done, and you will not be going to ______ (insert fun activity that they want to do) tonight if you don't get crack-a-lackin!" So they are nearly done with The List, and we'll start on our Group Work. Â I anticipate a lovely day. As I look out the window, I am inspired to write a haiku: Â Sun shining on snow. Leaning men with sticks for arms, Bent by winter wind. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 I hear you on the beautiful day! It is sunny, and we might just make it to 70 today. I am seriously considering opening the windows, and could almost be persuaded to take all afternoon off to bask like a lizard on the deck. However, we have done Latin, and I sent the boys out to enjoy the sun before we start math. I set the boys to learning their colors in Latin today, along with their usual work. We are starting a new Light Unit today in Math. I found a good place to get some printable worksheets for our study sessions that provide just practice, and just a few problems, so we won't bog down in our nightly study sessions. Spelling and Grammar will be more sentence work, and abbreviations. I need to get ready for contractions coming up, and drag down my old wall posters to get them all up for study. I now have a monster wall on which to hang them if I so choose. For writing today we will be working on a two scene narrative, involving a reversal in one scene and the recognition in the other. I hope I have not been too aggressive, but I think they can handle it. After that we have worms in science, and Sparta in history. We'll see if we get there. It sure is pretty outside! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 We spent the afternoon outside!! It was glorious!! We did morning time, Latin and most of math done and copy work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 The nice weather has been our number one distraction here today, but we got done. I still have to type up the rough drafts from the writing project today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 After that we have worms in science, and Sparta in history. We'll see if we get there. It sure is pretty outside!  Worms? Sparta? Beautiful weather? Now that is a delightful homeschool day! And I am feeling envious.  I'm in my 2nd week of using the write in the notebook the night before method of planning for my 4th & 6th graders, and it is going well, overall. But it didn't turn drudgery into joy. Still, I know *exactly* where we stand each evening, which I could conviently avoid with my nicely typed/printed weekly lists... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Good day here yesterday, getting more into the groove of things. Today we will be trying to wrap up what we can of the rest of the week since we have to be out of the house on Friday for ds' appt, which will be an all day thing due to how far away it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Should be a light day for us today. We have a quiz in Latin, a spelling test and a very short grammar exercise, and free writing today. Can I just brag on my kids for a few minutes? I set them a task in writing to do a two scene retelling, involving the reversal and recognition events for the protagonist, and they surpassed themselves in making sure they had every Theon's component covered in both scenes, amplified the description, added dialogue and all on their own initiative. Not that they don't have things to correct and sentences that could be better, and punctuation difficulties, but they did a very good job, and I'm proud of them. I thought I had set that bar a little high for this point in CW Homer. We have more worms and more Sparta in history this afternoon, so what's not to like? Tonight is library night, so any study session tonight will be short. Possibly, I might be coerced into making popcorn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Things having been ticking along here. . . our weather is back below freezing, which is warm for January really, and we haven't seen the sun in weeks! Literally, weeks. The clouds can leave any time!! Â Today the kids have swimming lessons in town, so We need to be on time and get things done. My mom is arriving either tonight or tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much we'll get done after this. Plus, dsd is leaving to visit other parent tomorrow for two whole weeks! We've been doing extra math this week and I'm planning on sending a few websites and phonics pages with her. Need to get that organized tonight, I guess. Â Have a great day all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 No study session today. I'm wore out. AND I'm sitting here looking at an index card that I started earlier today to remind me what I need to do before next week and I can't read it because I scribbled in my haste to get them all down. Will have to decipher it later, because all I want right now is a shower and bed. We had a mostly good day. I had some trouble with one boy this morning when it was time to start school, and he got so out of hand that he couldn't get anywhere with his Latin quiz and pretty much imploded. I have given him the opportunity to study this weekend, with the understanding that I am not going remind him or be on his case about it, he knows what he needs to study based on what bothered him with the quiz. He'll take the quiz on Sunday when we are getting ready to start the next lesson. Thankfully, FFL has a lot of built in review lessons, and next week will be one of those. So he has more opportunity to continue to study the third declension. Other than that, it was a really good day. Math went well, with only a few mistakes made by the boys and no complaining. Spelling scores were good, and grammar was interesting, because I realized that I wasn't sure of every postal code in the US! I don't send letters all that often. Worms and Sparta were big hits, as was the conclusion of the battle of Thermopylae and the final confrontation with the Persians at Salamis. I looked at the calendar and realized that I have two weeks and then a scheduled break for a week to rest up and do a little planning. Looking forward to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Nice weather? Seems a long way off here. But the light is starting to come back and that is nice.  I want us both to move closer to a high school environment by the end of this year, but I can see now that it is happening inch by inch rather than all at once. We tweaked our scheduling again. He was floundering a bit with the whole week of work to manage. Our new scheme is to model the online class (Latin) which meets two days per week.  So next week's OneNote will have the due dates broken up this way:  Mondays: English and Danish Tuesdays: Latin and History Wednesdays: Danish and Science Thursdays: Latin and History Fridays: English and Science  Math is excempt from the system. Every other course has two days per week and at least a day between. So each course is targeted for either Tues/Thurs (Latin & History), Mon/Wed (Danish), Mon/Fri (English), or Wed/Fri (Science).   And...drumroll, please! I think I have just about resolved next year's high school science supplies, but only after countless hours of research and countless attempts at translating science supplies from English into Danish. Feeling relieved today.  Now that I have made progress on the science, I have another big research project to start on next week. I will be searching for new volunteer opportunities / extracurriculars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Penguin, that's interesting how you're inching your way there. I'm not there yet, but I ponder it occasionally. My eldest would probably like a little more independence but she's just not there yet being a young 8yo (in this area of her self anyhow). I think I'm going to give her a checklist for her independent work even though she probably could rattle off what she needs to do in that 1/2 hour period lol. A checklist somehow makes it more her responsibility and I know she'd love to check each item off as it's completed :) Â Our week is done. Somehow it seemed busier than usual, maybe because I was constantly trying to squeeze in a few extra math pages without overloading either of us and in the end we didn't get ahead because dsd needed more review than I'd anticipated on money. In retrospect, I should have sent instructions for her to practice counting money while she was away and we should have done extra work in chapter on multiplication concept! Oh well. We'll pick up where we left on when we get back. I set her to practice skip counting by 6s, 7s, and 8s while she's gone so hopefully she'll come back a multiplication genius ;) Â My mom is visiting this weekend. Usually we school light on weekends, but that combined with dsd being away makes it kind of silly to attempt. I will keep reading with ds and we'll probably do reflex math app for a while each day too. Â Have a great weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Happy Birthday Sahamamama!Ă°Å¸Å½â€°. Enjoy yor day! Pretty good week here, we did our morning time in the car the yesterday and spent the rest of the day working at the church. I've got lessons planned for next week, but I need to order a book from Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 We managed a short study session tonight with hot chocolate-Latin and long division. We are fixing to watch something on caves, and I think I'll just settle back with my hot chocolate and enjoy it with the family. I am so tired. It's been a long end of the week for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 We're trying a new school schedule for DS1. It's been almost a week and so far so good! We've been having major schedule issues this whole year, and have tried several other things that have crashed and burned. I "gave" him every other day off. Really, I condensed his 6 day schedule to 3 days with a "day off" in between. The work load is exactly the same. So day 1 he has one chapter or lesson for all subjects and day 2 on the calendar is blank, but anything that wasn't done on day 1 is to be done on day 2. He's so excited by all the "days off" that for the first week all year he's gotten all his work done with no complaining or fighting! I hope the honeymoon for this lasts awhile longer.... And crash and burn. Well, truthfully, everyone got sick. When we get well, it will be back to block scheduling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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