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Accountability Thread 2/1-2/7


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Happy February, one and all. February has never been one of my favorite months, but it has never been really a downer, either. I suspect the early daffodils that start coming up right at the end of the month help make it bearable.

Anybody got some daffodils for February school? Our daffodils are a field trip to a museum at the end of this week, a trip to an aquarium two weeks later and one week off just to relax after six weeks of hard work.

 

Today we have the usual math and Latin study, and then I'll be doing some cooking. I'm pleased to report I am less tired today, and slept better than usual. I've been nursing a sick cat for a few days, and he's beginning to turn the corner, I think.

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Glad to hear you are feeling and sleeping better. Some flowers are thinking about popping up here but I haven't seen any daffodils

 

We had a nice, solid and balanced week last one and hope to continue that trend this week. It should be a bit less busy this week, although we have a dentist appt (filling for dd) should be our last dr. visit for awhile, barring illness I think we're finally caught up with check-ups. We've also got a robotics meeting this week for the first time in 2.5 months and we've got to make the decision whether or not to do the 4H robotics competition. I'm considering a field trip to the local wildlife preserve for their eagle program this coming weekend but I'm afraid it is going to be packed, which is never fun for me. I think I'm going to call tomorrow and see if they will have any of the displays during the week when the whole public won't be there. 

 

The weather is looking much more dreary this week, so that is a bummer but I'm hoping we get some outside time. I need to make it by the library to do a good stock up, which means I really need to decide for certain what we study for nature studies next. I'm very excited for writing next week as we are doing a bit of a review before ds heads onto notetaking and reports. I believe we are both ready to move on and I'm anxious to see how he does. I think he is ready and I'm thinking hard about taking this work and integrating with our science and history next year for writing, depending on how it goes.

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Not much outdoor activity happening here, either. It's rainy and cool today, then plain cold and nasty. The weekend looks nice for the trip on Friday, however.

 

We made it through Latin and are working through math while the chili simmers and the cornbread bakes. I also am trying to figure out how I want to handle next year and science. Our local library happens to have a whole series on weather so I picked up the first book to read sometime in the next week to figure out if I would like to use it. There always seems to be so many things I want to look at or plan for or do and never enough time. 

I scheduled us a break in February to give me the time to handle such things. I hope I use it wisely! :tongue_smilie:

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Spring started last week, so other than a few cold days, everything's coming up roses (and carrots and spinach...our garden is growing wonderfully.) It has been raining quite a bit, though, so if DD and/or the dog goes out, they practically have to be hosed off to keep the mud outside, where it belongs.

 

We started new curricula the week before last, so we're still in that honeymoon phase with most things. I plan to FINALLY finish reading Bomb aloud this week (it's been more than a month since I started it) and hope to get some planning done for the next semester/school year. Otherwise, we'll just keep chugging along with our other subjects. 

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Nothing much going on here today, I did get lessons planned for next week. We finished our read aloud and started another, we are reading two different series and the boys love them both, which is surprising. 

 
 

You know, this isn't fair. 

Here I am trying to figure out how to say which series-es. Which two? There you go.

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Ahhh...hot place. That figures. Get everybody else well and down you go.

 

That's about the size of it. Two out of three children here were sick last week (all week) and part of the week before. They are all feeling fine, just fine. I'm glad, but... I woke up in the middle of the night with The Miseries upon me, and I am just. so. frustrated. I do not want to be sick (she whines).

 

At least I felt fine yesterday (my birthday).

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Well, I got my housekeeping done, typed up the compositions from the end of the week that will be undergoing revision this week, watched three hours of PBS The Spartans (very good) and figured out the math I want for this week's study session. Not bad. I plan to spend the rest of the evening writing.

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I slept most of today (Sunday). Slept and slept and slept some more. When I woke up, I got out of the bed, moved to the sofa, fell asleep. Then I got up, moved to the recliner, fell asleep. Then, back to the bed. I had a fever and chills, excruciatingly sore throat, headache, cough. It was that kind of day.

 

We missed church, because hubby didn't want to go with the girls and leave me alone with fever and chills. And, the above-mentioned two children -- you know, the ones I said were well -- they are back to coughing and gagging and sneezing, again. What is this? Will it end?

 

We are not used to being sick. We hardly ever are.

 

 

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So I have just discovered this accountability thread and I must say it is an answer to prayer. I had no idea it was here. I have been asking Real Life People for some kind of accountability for the past year!

Today I pre-read all of dd's books for the week, looked over MEP lesson plans, read vintage rhetoric texts, and realized for the hundredth time that I am one of those DIY/ minimalist types when it comes to school....well, and everything else, I guess!

Glad to have found this and hope you all have a great week.

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Happy February :)

 

Hope those who aren't feeling well (including pets) will feel better soon.

 

Today I started something new: a regular weekly library visit. Previously we'd go whenever I had books on hold to collect or if I thought we hadn't been for a while, but I've decided to make it a weekly thing. So that went well, apart from Mr. 11 sitting in a corner whining "Why can't I have a book? There aren't any good books here!". In the library. 

 

I also started making a home ed blog to record some of the thing we do (I used to have one but wound it up a while ago, so this is new).

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I keep wanting to like your threads, Sahamamama, but being sick is the pits! So I'll like them hoping that you and yours get well as soon as possible. Everybody sleep lots and drink lots of hot tea, eat warm soup and watch movies.

 

IsabelC, we love our library night! It's sort of the end-of-the-week fling, and the boys wouldn't miss it, although the selection isn't always great. Still, we enjoy it, and the library folks all know to expect us on Thursday night. 

 

Welcome all who are joining the thread! It's always a lot of fun to see what people are doing, how things are going and just to share the ups and downs of the day to day.

 

Just finished printing off the latest story needed for my plot study with the boys. We start Pursuit this week. I've got two weeks or so on that, then we move on to Rescue. We will be revising the latest writing project from the last Quest plot story, but that will give me a good week to discuss literary elements, in particular, conflict and tension. I'm thinking about really getting into action verbs this week. We've been mired in nouns in grammar and in Latin lately, I'm wanting me some verbs!

Our story for Pursuit? The most basic, easily recognizable one in the world: The Pancake--aka, The Gingerbread Man.

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On track so far today. Latin and math are down, spelling is out of the way, and I opted to create my own exercise on contractions instead of Harvey's for grammar today. 

I also finished out my Latin grammar charts today for fourth and fifth declension. I feel...deeply satisfied. I made those charts for the boys at the start of fourth grade when we started LC1. I had to take them from other books and I felt very confused making them, but I managed the first and second declension and just penciled in the third, fourth and fifth. Today I filled in the third and fourth and fifth. I feel I did a good job picking the animal picture for the third declension. I picked a snake to represent that declension. (First is a frog, second is a fish, third is a snake, fourth is a duck, fifth is a wolf.)

 

I also hung up my poster with common contractions, and I plan to put up my grammar posters again. Gradually, my kitchen and dining room are taking on a schoolroom appearance again. 

 

ETA: Silly, I know, the things that make me feel "complete" in some weird way! :lol:

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Sahamamama -I hope you feel better soon and I'm glad you were not sick for your birthday.

 

Our day is going pretty good, we've done morning time, math for one, Latin, copy work and phonics. After lunch the boys will complete their individual work and sadly I don't think we will get to go outside today, there's quite a chill in the air.

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Last week was a tough one for us as illness, lack of sleep, and the fresh energy from a long X'mas break petered out. My reaction has been to slow down and realign. What worked before last week? A strong focus on learning from mistakes, being happy about small but solid gains, and being forward-planning (ds was a star in that he looked ahead and planned). What didn't work so well this week? Dwelling on mistakes and feeling irritated by them. Ds, that is. I'm trying hard to turn the ship back to the previous weeks of cheerful learning. I'm also trying hard not to lead, but to support. Ds is older than most of the kids here. He is 12, and he has strong ideas of what he wants done. I'm keeping my mouth shut about what he should be doing daily to fulfill his own weekly goals (which we worked on together). As long as that is worked on with some resolve, I'm fine. We can always adjust the pace. Maybe this *is* part of being on track - to explore, make mistakes about attitude (esp for a kid) and muse over them so as to avoid doing it again, over time. 

 

On a separate note, ds read his way through a ton of books. I can see his absorption level increase, and he's raring to go to the library today. He's loving his Great Courses DVD (mental math). We've also had very good heart to heart chats about his perspectives and feelings. Communication is critical all the time, but I feel it very keenly now.

 

The goal this week is to encourage ds to write in his planner, which he skimped on last week. And to help him think of making small but steady steps.

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Well.... We've taken a snow day. We got about 7 inches over night, maybe more. The kids were begging to go out and play, so I let them. It is a beautiful, sunny day and all of five degrees! We can catch back up Thursday and Friday mornings. I already had school planned for Saturday this week. Glad they are out getting exercise and fresh air.

 

Critter fixer- the declension charts sound awesome! I worked through dd's first form for this week last night. Makes my head hurt!

 

Maize-congratulations!!

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Welcome to all!

 

sahamama- So sorry you are feeling sick, I hope you improve soon :(

 

Quietchapel- sounds like a great day for a snow day! Glad you found us, I hope the thread is a help.

 

Aurelia- Ds listened to Bomb last year and loved it!

 

Critterfixer- sure sounds like you have been mighty productive.

 

Isabel-You'll have to share your blog. We need to get back to more visits, we don't have a great collection of non-fic but I can usually find some decent fiction, especially newer award winners. It seems I can find quite a bit in ILL too.

 

Mukmuk- I think that is great that your ds is becoming self-directed, I'm sure that is challenging. It is good to read about those with those at more advanced stage.

 

Nice day here, I slept terribly but the kids woke up motivated and by the time I rolled out of bed at 7:30 breakfast was waiting on the table and the kids had half of their chores done. Having family meetings on Sunday is evidently very motivational for Mondays, which was good since I wasn't feeling all that motivated myself, thankfully yesterday was a good day so I got some extra work done, as I know that I need to bank anything I can when I'm feeling good. 

 

So, I might be crazy but I ordered CLE math for ds. I know, I know. I had added in some review to what he was doing but I've had this nagging feeling about it. This tends to happen any time we do BA solo for too long, it is great but not on its own for ds. I considered him going ahead and starting Jousting Armadillos and was but decided he needed some work on some of the topics. We had been doing Horizons for review but 4 and up just had too much on the page and the instruction was lacking (IMO). He tested into CLE 500 we're going to start at the beginning and accelerate as needed. He actually liked the pages fairly well, they are clearer than Horizons or MM, although they have more problems than BA they are easier. I think he will appreciate going back and forth between the two and hopefully I can ease my worry about him remembering various odds and ends when not doing them and trying to make my own review. I'm still deciding on a schedule, he is half-way through the current BA book. Considering publication schedule I need to add something, which had been a hodge podge but I'm growing wreary of putting it together. I'm dissapointed as I was hoping BA with some supplement would work until pre-A but it just didn't seem to be the case.

 

Otherwise we rocked it today, with the early and motivated start we got done way early and got lots done, school, chores, outside time, the girls cooked, ds read various magazines, etc. 

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Evening everyone!

 

Critter, my February daffodils: two weeks off! Well. Mostly. Just a bit of reading and math and printing, no content as we're missing one-two kids for the next while. I think we're going to go to the aquarium next week too :) Love it! I also love planning and I've been doing plenty of that too. I plan in six week sessions so getting our next session's detailed as well as pricing out/overall planning the next school year so I have it all ordered, delivered, copied and printed as needed, then spiral bound (teacher's manual's) or filed (kids consumables) by July. Also, I was super disappointed when our provincial homeschool expo was cancelled and I was left with the Christian conference or nothing (I'm not a Christian). But I've since looked further into their seminars and workshops and I'm really excited! There are some great options! So I'm researching and deciding what to attend, where to stay and who to bring with me (if anyone!). February will fly by at this rate! And March is birthday season in this house and spring finally hits in April. Piece o' cake. I hope. Oh and I've had my mom visiting since Thursday :)

 

I feel like I've been going great guns but not getting a lot done for the past week, school wise. I was hoping to get ahead with dsd last week (as she's gone for two weeks) but ended up needing to do extra review and only just broke even. Now I have another kid leaving unexpectedly for grami's house tomorrow and we spent today with a bit of extra math. But, we did break even all said and it shouldn't be too hard to "catch up" to my original plan. I just don't want to be doing school in July that's all!

 

This week is just my Kindergarten lil' man so we'll hit the books each day and be done in less than a half hour lol! He's got a playdate on Wednesday so it'll be just me and my babes. Neato!

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New on this thread also. 

 

Congratulations, Maize!   :party:

 

 

Our metaphorical daffodil is a museum field-trip at the end of the month; as for anything "real" sprouting, I think that will be a loooong time coming still.  Our district has had 5 snow days in the last 6 school days, and dh has had two company snow closures as well.  Normally a "snow day" means we get more work done, not less, but dh's presence has slowed us down a bit (in good ways).  Nevertheless, I'm hoping that Tuesday-Friday will be more productive than today was.  

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I'm still sick, but we're going to work on school today, anyway. The worst of this is that it's impossible to sleep, since the coughing is ceaseless, no matter what I do. So tired.

 

And I have no voice. Attempting a school day with no voice is going to be interesting.

 

Well, here goes... the second cup of coffee is done. 

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I'm still sick, but we're going to work on school today, anyway. The worst of this is that it's impossible to sleep, since the coughing is ceaseless, no matter what I do. So tired.

 

You are a braver woman than I would be. 

 

The boys are doing school this morning, and I'm blinking owlishly over my third cup of tea. I think. I may have lost count. I was up until midnight working on a few things that couldn't be put off, and up again at six this morning to work on more of the same. So I'm not sure I'm much good for anything but yawning cavernously and growling whenever anyone so much as thinks about whining today. :glare:

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Lotsoflittleducklings, quiet chapel, and any other new posters: Welcome to the thread! I really look forward to it each week.

 

Critterfixer, I did the midnight thing on Sunday. I just HAD to keep tweaking OneNote. Could. Not. Stop.

 

I am SO excited about our new schedule. Too bad two dentist appointments this week are already interrupting it :)

 

We are trying out a university model schedule. Each class meets twice per week, and I will expect him to come to class prepared to discuss whatever readings I have assigned.

 

If I have something for us to do together, I now know exactly when to schedule it. And he knows exactly when his blocks of time are for independent work.

 

But if I don't have something in mind for "class" then class can last five minutes and he can get on with things.

 

Math and grammar exist outside of the schedule with their own daily time slots. Our grammar is short and 90% oral.

 

I had to cut his work load down this week to allow him an adjustment period, and probably will do the same next week as well.

 

Oh, and I have explained to DS that my office hours are 7 a.m to 4 p.m. If he wants to work outside of those hours, I take only very simple questions :)

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Day not going well, one of the boys is sick, so no sleep and minimal work has been done. Morning time and lots of reading aloud, we are now watching LOTR TheTwo Towers because it's his favorite, the extended edition because he will sit and rest for the 24 hours it's on, lol. Don't know if I'll get a chance to post again today or not, but hoping everyone is having a wonderful productive day.

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We are about to wrap it up here for the day. The boys are working on science and history, having finished writing after lunch. I've fed bees (it did get warm enough for them to emerge from their hives), and I have pretty much been a slug except for taking care of the needs like making lunch, doing the laundry and dishes and so forth. 

I did rouse myself enough to teach a spelling rule with our word study as part of writing today, and defined onomatopoeia, which the boys found pretty fun. 

I do want to do a study session tonight, but it is going to be pretty short: just some place value work with decimals and some basic diagramming, followed by more of the documentary on Sparta. I think we will probably have some cinnamon toast with our study tonight. 

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I slept most of today (Sunday). Slept and slept and slept some more. When I woke up, I got out of the bed, moved to the sofa, fell asleep. Then I got up, moved to the recliner, fell asleep. Then, back to the bed. I had a fever and chills, excruciatingly sore throat, headache, cough. It was that kind of day.

 

We missed church, because hubby didn't want to go with the girls and leave me alone with fever and chills. And, the above-mentioned two children -- you know, the ones I said were well -- they are back to coughing and gagging and sneezing, again. What is this? Will it end?

 

We are not used to being sick. We hardly ever are.

 

 

Hugs all around, and if you don't recover soon, get checked for whooping cough (pertussis), even if y'all were vaccinated.

 

I had it last year; I have never been so sick for so long (well, until I got mono this year).  Your symptoms sound very much like it (especially if the coughing keeps you up all night, leaves you gagging, or you feel like you can't breathe or will break a rib while coughing).

 

Rest and hang in there.

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Today was a good day, in spite of me being sick. The girls were all feeling fine and were ready to work, hubby was home (we affectionately call him "The Cafeteria Lady" because he does all the meals & clean up), and we had our LISTS that I printed out last night.

 

I am thankful today for my school planner, and the daily school work lists that I make up from it, one for each student. I email the lists to my Kindle, and I work from that, but the kids need a printout. Without those school work lists staring me in the face, I would have crawled back into bed this morning, for sure. As it was, we simply prayed, read four Bible chapters, and our day began. This is what we accomplished:

 

Group

Prayer

Read Judges 13--16 (Samson)

Tested out on Bible memory work for our church's midweek ministry

Discussed the new chore charts & "Manager" responsibilities for 2015 (we kicked it up a notch, LOL, they get to manage each other -- Oh, boy, is that exciting, or what!)

Discussed our upcoming Science work (hubby will be teaching Astronomy for all of February)

Discussed requirements for this week's History Reports

Discussed today's Independent Work & my expectations for the day

 

4th Grader

Household chores

Rabbit chores & time with rabbit

Free play time in the Play Room

Instrument Lesson

CLE Math Lesson (our first one in CLE, so we took our time and got oriented to the CLE way of things)

Latin Lesson, with full grammar drill, full vocab review, lesson, exercises, prayer & a song

Grammar Lesson

Writing Lesson

Guided Reading

Spelling

Cursive Copywork

Greek alphabet workbook

Greek alphabet card game (group)

Nap (3:30 to 5:00 pm)

Read her Bible handbook, chapter on Luke

Kumon workbooks, 2 lessons

Free reading

 

2nd Graders

Household chores

Rabbit chores & time with rabbit

Horizons 2 Math Lesson

Math Fact Practice

Latin Lesson, with full vocabulary review, prayer & song

History reading (20 minutes)

Health & Safety, Fire Safety

Exercise

Science reading (20 minutes)

Greek alphabet card game (group)

Free play time in the Play Room

Nap (3:30 to 5:00 pm)

Free reading

Games with Daddy

 

I think that's not too bad for a Sick Mommy day. [contented sigh]

 

It's time to go make the school work lists for tomorrow, "tuck in" the school room, drink my sleepy time tea, and go to bed. :seeya:

 

 

 

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Today was a good day, in spite of me being sick. The girls were all feeling fine and were ready to work, hubby was home (we affectionately call him "The Cafeteria Lady" because he does all the meals & clean up), and we had our LISTS that I printed out last night.

 

I am thankful today for my school planner, and the daily school work lists that I make up from it, one for each student. I email the lists to my Kindle, and I work from that, but the kids need a printout. Without those school work lists staring me in the face, I would have crawled back into bed this morning, for sure. As it was, we simply prayed, read four Bible chapters, and our day began. This is what we accomplished:

 

Group

Prayer

Read Judges 13--16 (Samson)

Tested out on Bible memory work for our church's midweek ministry

Discussed the new chore charts & "Manager" responsibilities for 2015 (we kicked it up a notch, LOL, they get to manage each other -- Oh, boy, is that exciting, or what!)

Discussed our upcoming Science work (hubby will be teaching Astronomy for all of February)

Discussed requirements for this week's History Reports

Discussed today's Independent Work & my expectations for the day

 

4th Grader

Household chores

Rabbit chores & time with rabbit

Free play time in the Play Room

Instrument Lesson

CLE Math Lesson (our first one in CLE, so we took our time and got oriented to the CLE way of things)

Latin Lesson, with full grammar drill, full vocab review, lesson, exercises, prayer & a song

Grammar Lesson

Writing Lesson

Guided Reading

Spelling

Cursive Copywork

Greek alphabet workbook

Greek alphabet card game (group)

Nap (3:30 to 5:00 pm)

Read her Bible handbook, chapter on Luke

Kumon workbooks, 2 lessons

Free reading

 

2nd Graders

Household chores

Rabbit chores & time with rabbit

Horizons 2 Math Lesson

Math Fact Practice

Latin Lesson, with full vocabulary review, prayer & song

History reading (20 minutes)

Health & Safety, Fire Safety

Exercise

Science reading (20 minutes)

Greek alphabet card game (group)

Free play time in the Play Room

Nap (3:30 to 5:00 pm)

Free reading

Games with Daddy

 

I think that's not too bad for a Sick Mommy day. [contented sigh]

 

It's time to go make the school work lists for tomorrow, "tuck in" the school room, drink my sleepy time tea, and go to bed. :seeya:

 

Bravo! I'd love to accomplish so much on a healthy day.   :thumbup1:

 

Do your kiddos still actually nap, or just take a rest time? My littlest ones still nap, of course, but I've been undecided about how to handle to older children and their need for "down" time. 

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Much better day than Monday...

 

Reading and math for Kindy 4 and Kindy 5 were finished before breakfast (I love days when that actually happens); chores after breakfast; Bible school homework, reading, copy work, and writing for ds7 before lunch.  Afternoon was interrupted by extra play-time in the gazillion feet of snow, and a worrisome email re: our district's homeschool policy; but still managed to get spelling and grammar done for the three big kids, dinner cooked for everyone, a list of roofers compiled for work we need done (blech), and afternoon chores finished.  

 

Dropped the ball on math for ds7, and group history, and morning meetingĂ¢â‚¬Â¦ but did manage to rush out before dinner to help represent home educators at our local school district's committee meeting, which I think actually, maybe?, went well.  We shall see.    

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sahamama- Sounds like you were awfully busy for a sick mom, don't push it too hard and rest up.

 

My lack of sleep Sunday night caught up with me today and I wasn't quite as spunky but it was a decent day. Ds has started his rewrite and today he compared his new paragraph to his old and we started revising. I forgot to mention that I talked to ds about doing some different math and he was really fine with it and couldn't understand why I was even worried or considering that he might mind. LOL he is sure easy going. I do think after printing out some samples that it will work well as a reinforcer/review for BA. 

 

Dd was a bit grumpy today, I think because we got to bed later than usual, she crashed early complaining of a headache. I hope it was just tiredness. I'm getting ready to crash myself.

 

Hoping for a good one tomorrow, we don't have to get around as early since dance isn't until 4:30 tomorrow, which relieves some pressure. 

 

Oh, I made a huge trip to the library so I have a restock of books, I grabbed a bunch of bird books since I'm planning on that being February science. I also grabbed a graphic novel about the Donner Party for ds' independent history reading since we had just read some about it in our history RA. 

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@ Sahamamama, OMGoddess  I am seriously in awe of what you managed to achieve; I'm reasonably sure I have never got through that much stuff in one day. Now I want you to move in with me and be my kids' governess!

 

@Soror, hope your dd is feeling healthier and more cheerful in the morning

 

The main thing we achieved today was that all the kids have more or less memorized the first speech in the Shakespeare Book ("I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" from Midsummer Night's Dream). I managed this by the simple expedient of grabbing a bag of choc chips and feeding them one every time they recited a bit correctly. (Yep, junk food as a bribe. #3874 in my list of Things I was Never Going to Do with my Kids.)

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@ Sahamamama, OMGoddess  I am seriously in awe of what you managed to achieve; I'm reasonably sure I have never got through that much stuff in one day. Now I want you to move in with me and be my kids' governess!

 

@Soror, hope your dd is feeling healthier and more cheerful in the morning

 

The main thing we achieved today was that all the kids have more or less memorized the first speech in the Shakespeare Book ("I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" from Midsummer Night's Dream). I managed this by the simple expedient of grabbing a bag of choc chips and feeding them one every time they recited a bit correctly. (Yep, junk food as a bribe. #3874 in my list of Things I was Never Going to Do with my Kids.)

dd seems fine today, I think she was just tired.

 

LOL, my kids beg to do school games so they can get chips or marshmallows, it totally works.

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Two words: Latin translation. :svengo:

We are just now getting done with math. I'm thinking today might be somewhat truncated. Their brains are all but fried.

 

Note to self: I believe I will be shifting the schedule on translation days from Latin/Math to Latin/Spelling and Grammar. Or Latin followed by large doses of chocolate and outdoor activities. We went right from determining subject nouns and direct object nouns in three declensions to simplifying fractions. Not good, not good at all!

 

 ETA: They did have GREAT attitudes about it, however. Nobody lost their tempers and they just slogged through like Spartan warriors. :001_smile:

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hello ladies! I'm now only home with my Ker and toddler so school is pretty much not happening lol. However I'm getting all sorts of things done for the upcoming session of school (the next five weeks or so). It's exciting.

 

lotsoflittleducklings, we do a quiet time in the afternoons for non-nappers. Even once the littlest quits napping, we'll continue it. I *need* it. They also play outside during naptime since the little one naps for 2-2 1/2 each day. I'm considering putting in an hour of school in the afternoon as I'm starting to feel the pressure of geting 3 children (one who's somewhat accelerated) done before noon, but we'll still do outside time and quiet time. I can't imagine not getting that silent blissful long break after a morning surrounded by exhuberant kids!

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Bravo! I'd love to accomplish so much on a healthy day.   :thumbup1:

 

Do your kiddos still actually nap, or just take a rest time? My littlest ones still nap, of course, but I've been undecided about how to handle to older children and their need for "down" time. 

 

What they do with that required quiet time in a dark, still room and that soft, warm bed is up to them. The fact that they have to be in that room, on that bed, and be quiet for a specific time is up to me. If they sleep, fine. If they stare at the wall, fine. I really don't care. If they say they are "bored" during Quiet Time, I tell them to sleep and have interesting dreams.  :nopity:  I'm not sure this encourages actual sleep, but it does seem to encourage creative storytelling.

 

When they were very little -- I'd say, up to about 5, 5, and 7 -- they all actually slept about two hours, every afternoon, seven days a week, and I never had a problem with them sleeping twelve hours a night. But they've all always been like that, needing tons and tons of deep sleep. They take after their father's side of the... no, scratch that. Why blame his entire family? They take after their father.

 

When my oldest was eight, we moved to this house, and for the first time, she had her own bedroom. She started to get quiet permission from me to "sleep a bit, read a bit, crochet a bit, whatever -- just don't let me or them hear you." I was glad we moved then, because she was starting to need more flexibility with her afternoon down-time. Her own room gave her (and me) that freedom to turn Nap Time into Quiet Time.

 

My twins just turned eight last month, and they gang up on me, the whiners. "Nap? Nap? Do we have to take a nap?" I tell them it's Quiet Time, but those two share a room and a sense of mischief, so if I gave them any wiggle room to hang out or do crafts or read, they would turn into Rowdy Monkeys in a heartbeat. They are wilder than my oldest, anyway. She is more bookish, sedentary, and crafty, so she's really resting half the day. They are dancing in the play room, running in the yard, making noises near my head... :willy_nilly:    :001_rolleyes:     :willy_nilly:     :Angel_anim:  For them, it really is Nap/Quiet Time, whether or not they sleep. I say "Nap/Quiet" because I would like them to be quiet and sleep, but I'll settle for them simply being quiet. They have to be quiet on their beds in a dark room, so I usually get some sleep out of them, LOL. They need it more than they like to admit. They get ragged without enough naps.

 

They're all down to about 3-4 Quiet Times a week now, usually from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. Sometimes a tired child will "sleep out" until around 6:30 or even later, at which time we must wake her up for supper and (ironically) bedtime. When they're that tired, they are happy to eat, brush teeth, say prayers, and go back to sleep. We've had sickness here for almost a month, so plenty of naps lately. I think they got sick in the first place because we slacked off on making them nap, and they were worn out when they went to church and choir. They always sleep more in winter, and much less in the summer.

 

Wednesday's Report:

 

We had a happy, productive school day today, almost back on track with our "normal." The girls had a fun time at church midweek. I'm still coughing and my chest is aching, but my husband picked up a different (stronger) medication, so we'll see if that one works. Now it's bedtime for me. Good night. -_-

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Tawlas and Sahamamama -- Thank you so much for sharing your napping / rest time routines.  At the moment, we have rest time / quiet time when I need it or when the kids clearly need it, which usually involves separating everyone to different corners of the house for reading or drawing.  But I haven't been rigid about making sure it happens daily at set times.  Largely that is because of the logistical challenges I have right now: all five children share one bedroom (that is also the only playroom); only one of the big kids (ds7) really needs a true nap, while the other two biggies (dd5 and dd4) will be up all night if they nap during the day; and because everyone is still so dependent in school, I really need to use the littles' afternoon nap time (dd2 and ds7mos) for group work in language arts and content subjects.  We can't finish everything before lunch.

 

But your routines are giving me food for thought.  DS7 puts out to much more energy than the girls each day, and he truly does get "ragged;" space for him to actually sleep would be so beneficial. 

 

As for Wed/Thurs:  Yesterday went well, because we have "Bible School" on Wednesdays (Community Bible Study, which includes a homeschool class as well as classes for adults). Cabin fever was really setting in after a week and a half of snow so we all really needed to get out.  That takes all morning, and I use Wednesday afternoons for catch-up and content subjects and read-alouds, so yesterday we did History (the Viking explorers).   Today is on schedule in spite of a meeting I had before breakfast: skill subjects are done for dd5 and dd4, and the kids are finishing chores right now.  

 

 

 

 

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Lots of little ducklings. . . quiet time is for ME! lol. Were I in your situation I might do the following: DS7's quiet/nap time on my bed, girls' quiet time at the dining table and coffee table (or two other seperate, easy to define locations) and the toddler napping in her own room. I don't imagine that the baby has a set nap schedule nor do I believe you're lucky enough to have him sleep at the same time as your toddler, but maybe he could be accomodated in there somewhere? (whoops, just read that he's now 7months, not so new anymore. Still!) I'd hole up in the kitchen, tidying and puttering, maybe some dinner prep or school planning, with a cup of coffee and a good audiobook :)

 

I don't have as many littles as you, but I don't have a single independent reader yet, so we do 95% of our school work together (they do handwriting, some of the Explode the Code and most piano practice on their own). I keep the Ker (who's really working about grade 1) to a half hour of one-on-one, group them all together for memory, history, science, grammar and writing and French. I've gotten really creative with the toddler but I have a fair bit of storage space and that helps a lot. We start really early (6 am math class for ds7!) but I don't have a newborn either. All that to say that I'm determined to get it done by noon - well, often 1230 or 100 lol so they have time to get outside and play for an hour or two and time for quiet time for an hour or two (during nap time :) ) and then I get time to recuperate and gather my frazzled thoughts and put my house back together.

 

Do what works best in your family, but don't be afraid to shake it up and try other things, even just for a few weeks! i know not every mom is as neurotic as I am about having some time and space to myself each afternoon, but I find it to be the difference between a crazy grouch or a peaceful soul to get through dinner, baths and bed.

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I'm having one of those days where every noise is amplified and physically jarring and light and colors are almost painful they are so intense. Ever have those? They are disconcerting. 

The boys are being pretty good not to tread too loudly or talk at normal levels. I just asked them to please whisper and sneak! Hopefully this will pass in a few hours.

 

We are done with Latin and Math for the day, and spelling should be quick today. We should be through with grammar before lunch, and writing is Free Writing this afternoon, so I may go lay down and put a cloth over the windows if I'm still in this sensory overload mess. Right now I just want to go put a blanket over my head. 

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Hugs Critterfixer- I was out of patience yesterday with the kids and noise as well, no good reason that I know of, I just was, lovely to see them mirroring my grumpy mood.

 

Tawlas- Good luck with your preparation.

 

Hooray for us, we finally have a day with nothing out of the house scheduled! Dd had her appt for her filling yesterday and it went splendidly, so thankful for that.

 

Decent day, although a later start since ds woke up late. 

 

I'm thinking about ds and writing, I think he is ready for notetaking but I'm nervous about taking him to the next level, I don't know why. We need to get back to doing some Killgallon, I had it on the schedule but when we took a break it didn't get added back. I like that it applies grammar to writing, especially since we finished MCT Town early and have just been doing review with it.

 

I received CLE Math yesterday, still not sure on the schedule, I think we'll have to try it out first to see what works best. I'm leaning towards doing a truncated lesson + BA work daily. BA has been rather easy this level so it is going pretty quickly, I'm hoping that it ramps up with the level 5 books. The CLE will be on the easy end too but he needs review to remember and increase his fluency and speed.  Looking over it last night I think it will fit him well and it seems much easier to use for review and accelerate than Horizons. I like the little bits of story they put in there, he is my story loving kid so I think he will find that enjoyable. The layout is very uncluttered, which is a plus. I was concerned about the number of problems but when I counted the number of problems in a lesson verses how much he has been doing of BA, he's actually been doing more in BA lately, so that eased my mind a bit, especially as a lot of the CLE will be review. Compared to Horizons, which we were using as a review it is easier on the eyes and I think the problems are certainly less, although there are more pages. Here's hoping that the combo is a good one. *Fingers crossed* (I'm also previewing to see what I think about using it next year for dd, so far my impression is favorable as to how it will work for her)

 

I'm reconsidering Foundations D (language arts) for dd, I'm thinking perhaps I judged it too hastily. We've just been working on practicing reading as I've considered what to do, now I'm thinking that we may pick it back up again and take it nice and slow. 

 

Ds enjoyed his book about the Donner Party and is also reading another book about black holes for science. We will be going to the local eagle event this weekend, so I'm excited about that. 

 

Trying to decide how long we will go until our break, we were scheduled off next week but since we broke for 2 weeks at the beginning it feels premature. I think right now we'll plan to go 2 more weeks and then break. I always hate to break when we get into a good groove (and we are just starting to get back there) but I always regret it when I try to push us too far.

 

Today will be a lighter day, for one thing I've been up since 3am and another I already had planned to hit some of the extras today and just core work. So, both will be doing math and spelling but writing will just be Killgallon for ds (I want to wait to start the next lesson on Monday for continuity anyway). We'll also be hitting religion and digging into our pile of library books more. Also on the agenda is a walk (the weather is supposed to be nice and sunny and reasonably warm for February) and lastly we have to prepare for ds' sleepover this evening (his overdue reward for finishing Cogmed).

 

Geez that is way too long, I'm too chatty when I'm up this early.

 

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Morning soror :) I'm always wordy on these types of posts. It's so helpful to get my thoughts sorted out for the day by typing the down! If it helps, I was interested in every word! You have a lot on the go!

 

funny, I'm also considering CLE for my oldest son. I think he needs more review than Math Mammoth, and possibly needs to slow down a little? I feel like the pacing in MM is perfect for dsd (and so far younger ds who only just started mm1) but math doesn't come easily, unless we're talking about cows (if dad had 12 cows in the corral and then you came along with 9 more, how many would you have altogether?). At first I thought maybe he was struggling a bit because we didn't do MM in grade 1, but now I wonder if it's moving a little too fast. I like the layout of CLE and I *think* I like the progression. I'm willing to try a few units to see how it goes, although I think he'll need to do the 2nd level over again . . . that kind of gives me a pause. He's not doing *terrible* with MM. . . but I think it's sort of killing his confidence so I'd like to see what else is out there. He's young!

 

And soror, weird! I'm also consideringour next break! Technically, we should have been schooling this week with a break next week, but dsd has been gone since last Friday and won't be back for a bit more than two weeks. We school for five weeks and take one week off but I'm thinking we may just skip the next week. We've been doing really well, but I hate to be a little behind. Guess I'll see how I feel and how the kids are doing. My birthday and my toddler's birthday are in that schedule week off so maybe we'll just take a few days and see ho it goes :)

 

Anyhow! Have a great productive, peaceful day everyone :)

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