Critterfixer Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 New month, new week, new thread. I have to order materials for standardized tests this week. Enough said. Other than that, I have nothing new planned. I got all the books I ordered last week, including two resources for Greek History and Roman History. They are the Oxford Profiles for Ancient Greece and Rome. I could lose myself in those books. I also got two other books: Warriner's Complete Course in English Grammar and Composition and The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. Looks like I will be doing plenty of reading this week in addition to teaching. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 What standardized test are you going to order Critterfixer? Is testing required in your state? I think we're finally on the mend from this most recent virus, so hopefully we will have a more productive school week this coming week. I'm still working on better organization and scheduling, things are getting more complicated with more kids. DS9 wrote an email to his grandparents this week and I realized looking over it that he is clueless about capitalization and punctuation, though he has lovely spelling. Seems I need to address that :). I've taken something of a "wait and see what they pick up on their own" approach with language arts, my oldest got the mechanics of writing without being taught... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 The Iowa is the test I have used in the past. Testing is required in my state, or you can bet I wouldn't do it every year. :glare: Every other year, maybe. I dislike the interruption that testing causes. I really don't like the fact that they change the week on me every year, forcing me to adjust everything as soon as I get the information. One year we got it right after spring break--talk about a real pain in the neck to get back on schedule after that! I also have some organization to get done today. I have the new story for the week to prepare, poems for memory work to copy, grammar to print out for study sessions, and so much Latin review to insist upon in the evenings. Then there is the cooking and cleaning to do. DS9 wrote an email to his grandparents this week and I realized looking over it that he is clueless about capitalization and punctuation, though he has lovely spelling. Seems I need to address that :). I've taken something of a "wait and see what they pick up on their own" approach with language arts, my oldest got the mechanics of writing without being taught... I struggle with mechanics. Hence the Warriner's for me to do in the evenings. I'm starting with punctuation. Commas kill me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Hello all! It is March! One week closer to Spring and from the looks of the weather forecast we have one more week of bad weather before we get some warmer temps again. Last week was ho-hum. I didn't feel the best early in the week and our schedule was up in the air with appointments, which always throws me a bit off. However, now everyone seems to be over the illness and I'm sleeping well, which is making a world of difference in how I feel. I fleshed out all the details for our schedule for the next 2 weeks (until our next break), lining up documentaries and Science/History readings. I'm actually combining my oldest 2 a bit for science, I have him doing more on his own but she is sitting in once a week. I plan to combine them next year as well so it is good practice. Ds does reading on his own as well and in these next 2 weeks he is going to try out MSNucleus online. It seems that online hasn't worked the best in the past but I decided we would try it out. If he/we like it I might have him continue with it for the rest of the year. Critterfixer I have Warriner's here but I've not used it too much. I ended up working through a book titled Practical English (iirc), I need to get back at it as I never did finish the second volume and what I did finish I'm sure I only remember part of it. I got in Forester's Algebra and I feel slightly scared, it is a real textbook. EEK. I'm planning to start going through it myself to get my skills brushed up before ds is ready for Algebra. maize- glad to here you guys are all recuperating, it is tough especially with lots of little ones. Our schedule is going ok here right now but I was just considering the fact that I'm adding on next year and ds and dd will be both moving up in expectations. Dd will be going beyond the 3Rs and ds will be going deeper with everything. I can foresee a lot of planning this summer. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Thank goodness for the new month!! My boys are feeling a bit better today and I got our new read aloud in the mail today, yay!! I've got some organizational things to take care of as well. Critter, I have Warriner's third course that I need to work through, his explanations are wonderful and CLEAR, lol. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Everyone sounds like they've got a good plan for the week anyhow. I'm just gonna keep on keeping on I guess. Funny, I think for me, March is the tough month. Still winter up here, although the snow is mostly gone it's supposed to 21 below freezing tomorrow. No real break in sight. I'm thinking we're going to skip a chapter in history. Having my 8 and 7 year olds learn about the Ottoman Empire isn't worth feeling behind in history lol. Plus, that means we can start the black plague this week. Yahoo. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 The boys are wrapping up the day with some cursive handwriting practice. One boy wrote about echinoderms, the other is copying a quotation from Demosthenes. He won't let me look. Evidently he is adding extra flare. :laugh: We had a really good day. We got everything accomplished that I wanted to finish. I think I had one complaint total concerning schoolwork. The boys even helped me with some cleaning that isn't in the usual rotation. No school for us tomorrow. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Critter yay for a good day!! We had a really good day as well AND we got everything done AND Ds only shed a few tears at math time, but was able to collect himself and do his problems with ease!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Well, I spoke too soon yesterday. DD1 started puking and puked and puked and puked, she seems to have finally stopped- I hoped- the last was 3 hrs ago. DD2 threw up this afternoon, all the while I was in the midst of cleaning up the overflowing toilet from DD3 whom decided to go potty by herself. Semi-miraculously ds finished his work and I've kept the house mostly in order, my poor washer and dryer have been running all day cleaning puke and poop and now it is time to make and decorate a cake for our scout banquet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Well, I spoke too soon yesterday. DD1 started puking and puked and puked and puked, she seems to have finally stopped- I hoped- the last was 3 hrs ago. DD2 threw up this afternoon, all the while I was in the midst of cleaning up the overflowing toilet from DD3 whom decided to go potty by herself. Semi-miraculously ds finished his work and I've kept the house mostly in order, my poor washer and dryer have been running all day cleaning puke and poop and now it is time to make and decorate a cake for our scout banquet! Soror, I hope DD doesn't puke anymore. This seems to be a bad year for the sickies 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 I can't like puke and poop and non-stop laundry. :grouphug: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Remember how I said it had been a pretty easy year for us so far...... DD1 is still puke free, DD2 is still throwing up every 30m-1hr. Oh, and the cake I made for ds, it looked decent enough, I mean it wasn't going to win any contests but the frosting slide off on the way there. Its that kind of day. At least ds had some gf cake for dessert. I've been up and down running around all day I swear. I need to get up to clean the kitchen again but I don't want to!!! Tomorrow is appointments for the kids that aren't currently puking, here's hoping it stays that way, the day will be off sense our appointment is so early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 I can't like running around all day, runny frosting and an evening of cleaning up the kitchen, either! What a Jonah day! :sad: Oh, and the cake I made for ds, it looked decent enough, I mean it wasn't going to win any contests but the frosting slide off on the way there. Its that kind of day. At least ds had some gf cake for dessert. Hoping tomorrow is a better day for you, Soror. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 In blue when completed. Monday Chores, meals, laundry School day -- Good, productive work day Doctor's appointment for me -- This went well Tuesday Chores, meals, laundry School day -- Another solid school day Nap for children (and winter-weary adults) Wednesday Chores, meals, laundry School day -- Another solid school day Church midweek -- It wasn't canceled, we went and had a good time. Thursday Chores, meals, laundry School day Children's choir -- Most likely, this will be canceled due to the snow storm. If it is, we'll do crafts in the afternoon and watch The Incredibles. Friday Chores, meals, laundry School day Family Movie Night Saturday Math with 4th Grader Errands Sunday Church Rest/nap 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Well, seems like mostly better days now! Except in soror's house. Sorry soror, hope it passes quickly :( Pretty good day here too. Everything that needed to get done, was done. I ended up having the kids listen to the chapter on the Ottomans, but we didn't do the map work or anything lol. They conquered Constanople - the very last shred of the old Roman Empire! We listened to it during snack. couldn't help myself. My five year old is going through one heck of a dramatic phase. Holy smokes! Not with school, just with the rest of his life. Drama king indeed. Hoping it's just a phase any how, not the beginning of a volatile temper ;) Currently researching common place book. I think I ahve one going although it's crossed with a visual journal/art journal! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Tough day over here. DSD8 so often gets in her own way while reading. She *hates* trying to figure out a word she doesn't know. At the end of a sentence I'll ask, "does that make sense?" and she'll say yes, then create some elaborate thing to explain what she'd just read. For example, she was trying to tell me that "the knight ties a calf from his favorite landing on to his lane" made total sense when the sentence was actually "The knight ties a scarf from his favorite lady on to his lance". It makes for a long lesson. I get that picking apart words in a sentence and sounds in a word is TOUGH but you still have to do it if you want to actually glean anything from a story. I think I also need to do some deliberate lessons on how to divide a word up into syllables to help her with longer words. Anything over 4 or 5 letters and she just sort of whithers away. . . Sometimes I think maybe the book is too hard, but we only read about 5-10 sentences a day and she knows all the phonics in the words. This is where I'd like her to practice the sounds put together, ya know? We have a reading time where I provide stacks of much easier reading for them to read on their own. Teaching reading to those for whom reading doesn't come naturally is hard! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Teaching reading to those for whom reading doesn't come naturally is hard! I've had 2 of those so far, dd is still becoming fluent. For dd it has helped to read books under her level, she gets discouraged easily and she needs lots of practice. I'm finally seeing some progress making her read about 15 min a day. Today the girls seem to be doing better although still not great, I figure we still have a couple of days until they are up to snuff, I don't know if dd will be doing any school this week! Ds had a good school day, he is liking the msnucleus site so far. Writing is going well, although he needs to type quicker. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Another day done. We cut a few corners since the boy from next door is visiting and there's a birthday in the house :) We do some reading below level too. I get stacks of levelled books from the library. She *barely* reads at that point, mostly just looks at words. She'll get to a word that's requires just a little effort and skips to the next page or switches up the book. Still, there's been improvement from last year so I keep hanging on to that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 The day’s schoolwork is almost done. I have had the most dreadful time getting motivated to do anything today. It has rained since last night. Now it is sleeting. All I want to do is curl up and sleep. All the same, we are getting things done. Latin went well. I’m struggling with an adjective issue, but I’m not sure that it means much in the great scheme of things. Math also went well. Aside from some grumbling over the writing this afternoon, the day has been mostly free of complaining. We are watching part of a documentary on Rome for history this afternoon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 The last two days have been glorious for us!! I'm very happy with what we've accomplished this week, my hope is that it continues next week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sdel Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Been slacking the last few weeks. School going okay, well, getting at least 1 -2 things done every day, I just been busy and trying to cut out my own screen time as an example to the kiddo. Soccer started up and we added another activity: private swim lessons because we are getting to the point of no return on her learning how to swim. Still having lots of toddler and his parents stress. Finally had the big showdown part 1. Still waiting for the big showdown part 2.....so, just stress getting in the way of motivations. Oh, and we might take a day off tomorrow if we get snow tonight. We have a 30% chance of getting <1 inch. Most likely it'll be freezing rain and microscopic specks of snow, but we'll see. If we have anything significantly fluffy I'm waking up the kiddo at 3 am. Stefanie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 We got Latin done. That might be the extent of school today. Two inches or so of snow fell last night, the neighbor boy has a snow day, and all three are outside pelting the side of the house with snowballs. I will insist that the math quiz be completed today at some point, but anything else is probably not going to get done today. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I sat down with DS4 for a first reading lesson today. As I suspected, he took to it like a duck to water. I've been holding off because dd7 is struggling with reading and I was hoping to get her fluent before he caught up, but he is really wanting to both read and write so it is probably not fair to hold him back. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sdel Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Well, no snow.....I'm not even sure that we got any ice. It didn't rain all night like it was supposed too. But it is cold and wet and nasty out. Cancelled the swimming lesson for today because while the pool itself is heated, the air around the pool isn't....and its in the mid to low 30s. Toddler spent all night screaming. Not sure what happened.....he and the bed were completely dry when he went to bed. He started crying several times through the night and when I picked him up I didn't notice his bed/outfit was wet....but this morning his pjs and bed were soaked.....so, not much sleep for me last night. I'm not even sure how it got so wet since it wasn't a diaper fail. Maybe a sippy cup fail sometime in the night? Thankfully DH will be off early so he can get up this afternoon and give me a nap. Tomorrow I'll be a ball of stress all day, I just know it. School is going to start in about 45 minutes. Stefanie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I would be so happy to share our snow, we got at least 8 inches, just as the last bunch was finally melting. We're still sick here, well we are better and then worse. 2 pukers today, although nothing like the other day, I'm struggling myself today. Good thing I only had ds to school (since dd1 is sick), we had a good productive day. The only thing left on the list is a science documentary, which we're about to start here in a bit. Thankfully this batch of snow shouldn't stay long since it is supposed to be warming up Sat, we're all sick of it. I'm hoping we're all improved tomorrow so we can have a normal day but I'm not feeling hopeful right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Not a whole lot to report lately, though I got DS7's new math program (CLE 200) in the mail yesterday and we tried out the first lesson this morning. I'm hoping the incremental approach will work better for him. He enjoyed the lesson, seems to really like the checklist. Here's hoping we're less frustrated than we are with math mammoth. My DS5 is driving me bonkers. Drama, drama, drama! Might start tomato staking him instead of letting him go play with the other kids because he just doesn't seem to be able to handle it and the whole family is getting frustrated with him. It's pouring rain today. Not sure how that's going to work, but if nothing else we'll watch a solar system DVD 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sdel Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Yep....just as I predicted, MAJOR stress ball today. We were supposed to have a contentious meeting with other grandparents, but now got word from our lawyer that there was a custody modification filed as well. UGH! Oh, well, they won't know what hit them. No school today....I'm just a nervous wreak. I did however find a new toy I want to play with starting next week. Its a timeline maker from tiki-toki.com. I bought the desktop app but they have a web based service too. I think it'd be a neat way to do "notebooking" with the kiddo as we can add movies, videos and links to it. I've currently got plans for a science and history timeline. I may even add a literature one later. I think it is something we can build on over the years as we revisit different things in science and history.'' Stefanie 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Stefanie that app sounds interesting. I hope you get through the stress and everything turns out well. I felt much better today and ds woke up early, as did I so we started at 5 something this am. Dd managed to get math done but that was it. Oh, and we did Geology together. We're deep into studying the Civil War and I've found it terribly interesting, we've been watching some documentaries this week- having them scheduled helps me remember what I wanted us to watch. Here's hoping that we stay well this time.. fingers crossed... decent week considering. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Okay, just wrapped up the week. We may or may not watch a DVD on the solar system and do an Artistic Pursuits lesson at some point this weekend, but all the "To Do" stuff is done :) Finally practically caught up in history and we start slowing down a bit, 1-2 chapters a week. Maybe we'll be able to do more reading and activities now? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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