Accountability Thread 8/30-9/5

[Critterfixer]

Welcome to the last week of August, Accountables! I'm counting on you to hold me accountable for keeping to our routine and not allowing myself to be shaken off my perch by circumstances, okay!

Today's plan is to listen to our French, do Latin and Math, and do Day 0 of the week of writing imitation (pick spelling words and discuss the composition assignment for this week). I'd like to finish Jane Eyre this week. I'm closing in; I think we have four chapters left. Then I'll have to pick a new read aloud, or give us a break for a month. Haven't decided yet.

 

Soror, your trip to the museum sounded really interesting and enjoyable! I hope I'm halfway coherent this morning. I've had a rough weekend, and things are not settled yet, not by half! I don't do drama of any kind and I've been pretty much flailing around since Thursday. Hoping to at least be dog paddling this week, however.

[Tawlas]

Morning critter :) I'm also not a drama kind of girl, *at all*, so I feel for ya. Hope things smooth out a bit and you can just ride the waves by the end of the week (dog paddling feels so awkward after a bit). You can do it! I'm watching! (that's me, trying to keep you accountable)

 

I think today we'll try a lesson from Home Art Studio . . . at least, if the kids are interested. We start full on school tomorrow! Good bye summer :( I guess it's not as bad as that, considering we have a week off after this one (dsd is going to visit other parent) but it still means a big change for us all! I got All About Reading coil bound and 3 hole punched (student) in town yesterday, then got the pages filed last night. Nothing like a bit of last minute filing to start the school year.

[Critterfixer]

 

 

Morning critter  :) I'm also not a drama kind of girl, *at all*, so I feel for ya. Hope things smooth out a bit and you can just ride the waves by the end of the week (dog paddling feels so awkward after a bit). You can do it! I'm watching! (that's me, trying to keep you accountable)

Thanks. Not much of a surfer, but maybe I can lay flat on my back and float it out, eh? 

Got through French and Latin. Heading into Math in about five minutes. We are really making headway this morning.

[Aurelia]

Well, we got nothing done that I'd planned yesterday, except groceries and a little housework. DD got 2 new books from the bookstore and finished them both yesterday. I desperately need to do laundry today. I should have started this morning. Oops. DD is currently working on math, which is the first in the lineup. So much stuff to do, so little weekend to do it in! It makes me want to curl up and hibernate until Christmas.

[kathy_overman]

I want to join holding myself accountable.  The big challenge will be my 13 DS who is ultra-resistant to everything.  I realize how I feed into this, and too often let him get away with doing less. Tomorrow is our first full day back, and he must complete everything on his list.  More importantly, I must hold him and myself accountable.

 

I must stop looking at new curriculum, I do not need, and stick to our current plan.

 

I must plan better and stick to one planning approach, instead of always creating a new and improved checklist.

 

I must stay focused and not spend so much time on my distractions (i.e., anything online).

 

Tonight, I surf the web, for tomorrow I must focus!

 

 

[Laura Cook]

I need some accountability this week! At the beginning of July we started doing light school and worked up until the last 2 weeks, when we took off school to move. The new place is mostly unpacked and all our stuff is ready to go so its time to jump into our full plans. Tomorrow we don't have anything going on out of the house until DS8's basketball practice in the evening so we have a whole uninterrupted day to work our plan. As of tonight the kids were looking forward to starting up again, we'll see what the morning brings but I'm not anticipating any huge problems from them. Hopefully those words don't come back to bite me! The hard part is going to be dragging myself out of bed before they get up, its been an issue since we moved. So on that note, I'm hitting the hay. I'll check back in tomorrow, hope you all have a good days!

[mamiof5]

I have also been wanting to jump in this for a while. Too many things to be accountable for, but will start small. I need to start going to bed before 11pm. With kids, would like to start spelling program. And must have dd wrap up and finish English class (need to finish a book report, write another one, and take a reading comprehension test). Sigh! So much to do, too little time

[Soror]

Welcome new accountibuddies :)

 

My Sunday didn't go exactly like planned either, I wasn't feeling that spunky. The girls did do their Art Tango lesson and ds did his FLL research and fixed the last project model, otherwise ds read and I read to him and the girls made themselves cookies and had a tea party. We finished the night cleaning up and folding laundry as an incentive to watch some tv, so I guess it was a somewhat productive day. 

 

Tonight we have our AHG kick-off for which I'm responsible so I'm going to get off her in a minute, like a good girl, and finish planning our events. I think we'll try to finish our globes today for science(although they look quite the mess) and I'd like to do some Japan reading as well. It all rather depends on when everyone gets up and how fast we are moving, I'm crossing my fingers for a good day so I can make sure I'm ready for tonight without a big rush. 

 

This is our last week before Fall break so I want to make it a good one! We will be wrapping up our studies on Ancient Egypt for history and Japan for culutural studies for the girls. We are still planning another cultural gathering for Japan but I believe we'll save it for one of our two off weeks to ease the burden this week.

[maize]

OK, list for today:

 

dd12:

Math

violin

blitz clean

dance

 

ds10:

Math

French horn

blitz clean

 

dd7: 

reading

harp

blitz clean

gymnastics

 

ds5:

reading

cello 

blitz clean

 

Mom:

work on prospectus

feed the kids

help the kids with school

don't forget the baby

chauffeur

make necessary phone calls

clean and declutter and organize

school planning

 

Going easy on school because I've got too much on my plate at the moment and we're just getting back into the swing of things

[fairy4tmama]

Ok I am in serious need of accountability right now, we just decided that we will be moving back to our home town (just moved last sept) and I really would like to fixate on moving details but I know from last year that I.can.not allow this move to eat up our HS year. 

 

We tried to start school last week and it just did not go as planned with too many last minute end-of-summer type interruptions...so putting on my big girl pants and making.this.happen

 

All kids math every day

DS12 and 10 independent reading every day

DD8 read with mom every day

DS12 SpellingWisdom, Current Wars every day Editor in Cheif and least 2 days

DD8 and DS10 will do BYFAIR work every day with mom (do at least 2 chapters), Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well every day (at least two lessons)

DS2 marauding, eating, distracting and hopefully reading a book a day with each of us.

 

Everything else will be gravy. I want to start our Power Hour but I think that might be over zealous this week. 

[Critterfixer]

Looks like we might be headed for another tough day. Saturday we went to my grandfather's funeral. His two old cats are staying with me for a little while, and they are really having a hard time of it. The dogs are in the garage, and I'm trying to keep the air conditioner from breaking down, since I now have to cool the garage in addition to the house. So it's hot, inside and out. Additionally, one of our old hens is probably going to die today. I've been tending her since Friday night for an anemia that isn't responding to treatment. She's a favorite, so we are all going to take the second death in a week pretty hard.

I'm just trying to keep everyone working since there really isn't anything else for us to do at this point. I do have some distraction things planned for this afternoon and evening, provided I'm not still doing hospice nursing for the bird. Grr. Why do all our animals have to be old? 

 

Anyway, we've done French, Latin and are working on Math. Chicken appears more or less comfortable for the time being.

[mommaduck]

We are having our first formal, sit-down day and we are attempting the new schedule. We're all tired and some are slightly cranky, but we are coming out of it. Things are getting done. 

[Soror]

Critter- I'm so sorry to hear about your Grandfather :( May you be comforted in this time. 

 

 

We're getting through the day, we've had better and worse. I just got done reading to ds for 1.5 hrs straight, we were both desperate to find out the ending of The Graveyard Book, it did not disappoint. Right now we're having a break and ds will be watching a video for an easy science day today. Still on the docket; writing and grammar with ds, reading with the girls and phonics for dd5yo. I'd like to have some family time to read and share quotes and copywork from our books, ds and I picked out some favorite lines from The Graveyard Book already but dd8 hasn't had her reading time yet and she's not at the stage to do so on her own. 

 

Planning it out, let's see:

1-1:30- Science Video +Lunch

1:30-2:00- Ds write from his outline- Reading lesson w/ dd2 + Dd1 read aloud

2-2:30 Silent reading and sharing +copywork

2:30-3:00 Read-Alouds for the girls

 

Eek, it will be tight, I'll have to report later to see if we get it done! After that the girls will be getting ready for dance and I'll be in a mad rush to finalize my preparations for tonight, not to mention cooking. I should have stopped reading to ds about an hr earlier, oh well, there are worse crimes!

   

[Sdel]

Critter - *hugs*

 

 

Okay, I'm ready for the day/week to be over already.  GS is in his room playing and eating Cheetos and DD7 is in her room watching TV, and I am here for 30 minutes on "me time".  Yesterday was busy, I was out of the house pretty much non-stop running errands for 10 hours.  I went to 3 grocery stores and two libraries to get all the groceries and books we needed for the week.  I don't know what it is, but busy grocery stores give me anxiety (I always miss something crucial) but the smaller one that I love just doesn't always have the best selection on the regular items (they are great for the health food selections though).   GS starts mother's day out on Thursday.

 

School started today.  My alarm started off bright and early at 6 am....I snoozed it 'til 7:15.  I might have made it up at 6 if I hadn't been tossing and turning still at 1 am.  I managed to cook breakfast and put dinner in the crock pot by 9:30.  GS played in his room for an hour while I did math and LA with DD.  Then I cooked lunch, sloppy joes, put in a bit to much vinegar because they were really tangy, but not inedible.  I need to clean up the living room/kitchen before heading off to gymnastics this evening.  I cleaned out our bookshelves.  Some books are damaged, but many are just titles that have characters from shows that were big when I was DD's age.  She just isn't interested in them.  Need to figure out what to do with them.  They are pure fluff, so I'm leaning towards just dumping/recycling them.

 

So, theoretically the schedule is going to look something like this:

 

9 AM - drop GS off at mother's day out

9:30 AM - 10 AM - some sort of physical activity (swimming T/TH)

10-11 AM - Language arts and math (30 min each)

11 - 11:15 - break

11:15 - 12 - Spanish, Science and History*

 

Spanish - 15 min alternating days of grammar/reading practice

Science - 30 min, Wed and Thur.

History - 30 min, Mon and Tue.

 

12 - 1 - Lunch

1 - leave to pick up GS

 

Friday's are co-op days.  Art fell through, so I now have to do art too.  We did get signed up for a geography class.  Also, there is going to be mommy and me time for the littles to join the older preschool class at co-op so we'll be doing that with GS too.  In a way, it's going to work out.  I wasn't exactly looking forward to chasing the GS around for 2 hours since the designated play space at co-op can be a bit underwhelming sometimes.

 

So, Fridays we can be more relaxed getting started.  I think we'll do 15 minutes of "fun" math and puzzles.  Then we can do art or some other "project" before we leave for co-op.

 

Ugh....now to spend a couple hours cleaning.  I think I'll put DH on notice that tonight the kids are his; not mine.

 

Stefanie

[Critterfixer]

Closing in on the day. One boy has a few pages of Morpurgo's Beowulf to read, and he's done. The other boy just finished. 

I am completely beat. 

[Laura Cook]

Our day went pretty well. Everyone was up on time, not a lot of complaining, except from DS8 about reading and spelling. Which is usual, he finds those two pretty hard most of the time. After lunch we started our states study, and did a section from history. We were going to do science but we need the bathroom scale for an activity and it is no where to be found. I spent half an hour digging through our remaining unpacked boxes with no luck. Now I'm just peeved and think I will go read for a bit. I'd be willing to bet money that DH will find it for me in a matter of minutes once he gets home. He's lucky like that, lol. Probably just going to push science off until tomorrow. Soon it will be time to get dinner made so DS8 can eat before basketball practice. All I really want to do is take a nap!

[kathy_overman]

Phew, our first day is done.  Well the school day. :closedeyes:

 

I feel good about what we did, but I had to go read what I was trying to do.  Ha!  Oh, how short my memory is when I want to forget!  Guess, I need to write down my goals for tomorrow.

 

Not sure what they are ... just keep getting organized, DO NOT look for new curriculum, make the the Boy do all I assign.    Stay focused.  Off to write this on my goals list for tomorrow.

 

I love making myself look back at the day.  

[Aurelia]

Well, Monday is mostly over with, thank goodness. DD is on the couch doing her schoolwork, soaking her ankle in a tub of Epsom salt water because she came home from tumbling with a sore Achilles tendon. At least she has something to do while sitting still. ;) I did a little exercise and fixed dinner after a crazy workday. DD spent 3 hours folding, hanging, and putting away laundry because she didn't want to do any of it yesterday, like I had suggested. 

[Soror]

 

 

 

 

 

Planning it out, let's see:

1-1:30- Science Video +Lunch

1:30-2:00- Ds write from his outline- Reading lesson w/ dd2 + Dd1 read aloud

2-2:30 Silent reading and sharing +copywork

2:30-3:00 Read-Alouds for the girls

 

Eek, it will be tight, I'll have to report later to see if we get it done! After that the girls will be getting ready for dance and I'll be in a mad rush to finalize my preparations for tonight, not to mention cooking. I should have stopped reading to ds about an hr earlier, oh well, there are worse crimes!

 

 

Reporting Back- we did get it done! Woot! I'm loving our reading together times. Tonight and this evening was chaos but it is now done, whew! At least tomorrow will be a slower day and we don't have to leave the house, although we have a meeting at the house. 

 

Tomorrow specials will be:

Poetry Tea

Read-Alouds for dd- a couple of Japan related books

 

Not sure what else I'll sleep on it and think :)

[Tawlas]

Ermagad. I'm alive. Barely.

 

School is hard work! Did well, for the first day. There's no easing in here, just full bore. Having said that, due to explanations and first time kinks and shenanigans, we didn't get to read-aloud during group time, nor silent reading for the lot of us in the afternoon, nor read-to-me for the two eldest during their LA time. Or afternoon tidy up, but dsd had her riding lesson at an odd time this week, so we had to do some scrambling. But every thing else got done! I'm happy about that. Even got outside for a bit to look at stuff with magnifying glasses, and ds drew a nifty pic of a grasshopper lol.

 

But it was BUSY. Man, those 2 1/2 year olds. Some days you don't know whether to laugh or cry! Maybe both at once? I have most of her toys tucked into five bins and I plan on pulling them out, one for each day of the week. She occupied herself for 45 minutes in her room (with a baby gate up) while I did grade 1 with ds. It was wonderful. There's a toy lending library in town that lends out themed boxes so I'm planning on getting one of those each week as well.

 

I let my younger ds pick between Little Bear and Mr. Putter & Tabby for his read-to-me thinking it would be something that would be right on his challenge level and he would need some help. I got distracted helping older two log in to RAZ kids for the first time and ended up missing it - he read the whole chapter all on his own lol. Maybe I'll look into Magic Tree House? My two older kids are not even reading magic tree house independently, so this is amazing to me!

 

Okay. Off to go do something relaxing (NOT facebook lol). I attempted to get on this thread at lunch, but only got as far as the sign in page before I had to go :P

 

 

ETA: Critter, I forgot. I'm so sorry to hear of your granfather :( I hope the chicky is just enjoying the extra love and is delaying her full recovery and I hope the kitties settle in quickly. Stay cool and take care of yourselves!

[mama25angels]

Critterfixer-so sorry about your grandfather, praying for your family. Praying your chicken gets better soon!

 

First break I've had since yesterday, had some minor emergencies but was able to get most of our day completed yesterday. We're almost fully up to speed! Hoping the remainder of everyone's week is stress free.

[Sdel]

Heading to the zoo today. After that we'll be visiting my aunt. We did our swim lesson early today to accommodate the zoo trip and while we were there the homeschooling swim team was practicing. DD talked to the coach and agreed to try it out. It is a big jump in commitment going from two 30 minute lessons a week to 2 hour practices five days a week (and earlier than I usually get up). We were told we could attend as many or as few practices a week as we wanted. I think the swim team will be good for her.

 

Stefanie

[Tawlas]

Stephanie, sounds like a big jump indeed! If it's worth it, it's worth it :). And I wish we lived somewhere near a zoo. . . Not that living on a ranch is so bad, we've got our own menagerie that's for sure!

 

Critter? How's chickie?

 

We all got on swimmingly so far. Morning time, breakfast and chores complete (not in that order lol). Kids are playing outside while I have some coffee, then we'll get on to group time stuff. Today we try our first science experiment. Yikes! Really want to get to all the extra reading today. . .

[mama25angels]

Tawlas please tell me how the experiment goes? We have one coming up this week and I really don't want to do it but my boy loves it so I will be sucking it up!

[Critterfixer]

Chickie passed peacefully in her sleep last night. I have told the boys that it is now officially time to start choosing breeds for our next flock. I expect to lose at least two more birds this winter to old age.

Kitties are not settled in, but they finally started to sneak out to eat at night. Since they are both older, and one struggles with weight loss, that's very good news to have them eating now. I've caught both of them strolling around their room once it gets dark, and one cat found the windowsill for moonlight basking. I think they will do okay, but it will be good when they can go to a new home. With dogs, other cats and two boys, it's very hard to recreate their peaceful, regular environment that they were used to.

 

We're doing okay. We got through French, Latin and Math already, and the boys are working on spelling right now. Grammar is an easy lesson on pronouns. At least I thought it should be easy, but the boys are proving to me that they never paid one iota of attention to the FLL lessons on pronouns. :tongue_smilie: 

I'm covering shuffle steps for sentences in writing today and tomorrow while the boys work on their retelling of our model for this week. After that, one boy is studying Cleopatra in history, the other is learning about air pressure. That reminded me of how carefully Grandpa kept track of the weather. I remember him going out to monitor the barometer religiously. I think all southerners are somewhat obsessed with weather, weather sayings and trying to avoid the weather in one way or another, but you could always count on Grandpa to know the exact temperature, the pressure and the amount of rain that fell to the tenth of an inch at a moment's notice. I have one little boy who has almost the same devotion to collecting weather observations--guess I know where he got that from! :001_smile:

[mama25angels]

Critterfixer-so sorry about your chickie, but I'm glad the kitties are adapting. I'm glad you guys are doing ok.

[Soror]

Tawlas- I feel your pain, I have a 2.5 yr old, it is mostly controlled chaos!

 

Critter- what a sweet remembrance of your grandfather, we are towards the south as well and you're right weather is a bit of an obsession :) Coincidentally we hit pronouns today too, ds could remember what they are but as to remembering which were which type, that might have fell out of his head. 

 

Today has gone well, except the part where I crashed at 2pm for a nap. I'm working on willing myself up to tackle poetry time, the last item on our list today. Tonight is robotics meeting so we need to get with it so we can finish the clean-up we started this am, of course dd3 made a trail of chocolate chips half-way across the house, I'm not sure why I thought sweeping this morning would work.

[Tawlas]

critter, your poor family is really having a rough go. I'm sorry about chickie. What's the plan for the cats? Love that your son is as into weather as his great grandpa :)

 

mama25 - well . . . science "experiment" may have been pushing it. Perhaps I should have said "lab"? Really all they needed to do was find chemicals around the house - so looking at ingredient lists, naming favorite foods and drinks etc. The point was, chemicals are everywhere ;) They did enjoy it, though, stampeding all over the house looking (laundry room, bathrooms, garage, kitchen). I *know* they're gonna love it when we get into actual demonstrations where cool things happen. When I told them we were going to do science today, ds8 was like "Cool! Lets turn people into toads!" Huh? It's science! Not magic class lol!

 

well. Most of the day is done. Got to our read aloud (yahoo). Just the two olders individual work to do as well as silent reading together (and it's not actually all that silent in our house. At this point, silence is just a theory!) They're outside playing, toddler is supposed to be napping (also theoretical in this house), I just finished lunch, gonna grab a cup of tea and read a chapter in my book before I call them back in.

[Critterfixer]

 

 

 When I told them we were going to do science today, ds8 was like "Cool! Lets turn people into toads!" Huh? It's science! Not magic class lol!

I want to make toads! :lol:

 

We are done for the day. We did 8:30 to 3:30 today, and I'm tired. Toad tired; I think a dark, damp flowerpot sounds like a pleasant spot right now. I've got the housekeeping done, and enough leftovers for everyone to fend for themselves for dinner. At some point this evening I need to type up questions for history, do a little writing and think ahead to our next read aloud. Almost done with Jane Eyre.

 

I believe there is a plan in place for the cats. I'm just the Halfway House. I don't know exactly how long I will have them. Right now, there is just a lot going on, so better they be out of the way in a safe place until they are ready to go to a new home.

 

[Tawlas]

May Day. We have lost an iPad mini. I'm not terrified at this point, but definitely concerned. ds6 had it at quiet time to listen to audio books. I saw it with him in the playroom. He came upstairs at 230 for a snack, then went outside to play. What happened to it at that point . . . I'm really not sure.

 

Good news: We did all our "extra" reading (not reading lessons) except for dsd8. But she did a placement test and 1/2 a lesson in Rewards and I'm pleased so far. Everyone's been working really hard and it's been awesome (two days in lol!)!

[maize]

Oy, really struggling here. Just too much on my plate and I don't know how to prioritize.

 

Finishing my capstone for my M.Ed has to be high on the list, I need to be done with the written project probably by the end of October. Under the circumstances, I probably need to keep homeschooling to a bare minimum; once the capstone is done I am done for good with school and my plate will be lot lighter.

 

Music practice needs to happen because lessons are wasted otherwise.

 

Math needs to happen, but I could cut back to four days per week for now.

 

Reading for ds5 and dd7.

 

Dance and gymnastics.

 

I need to contact our Chinese tutor about starting lessons again.

 

Sigh. My head is spinning.

 

And I just came back from a meeting for a charter school board I got roped into and found out I am supposed to be heading up a committee.

 

And a friend called to ask if I could teach her dd violin and of course I said yes.

 

I really like my life, I just need to be able to split myself three ways to get everything done.

[Tawlas]

aw maize, being overbooked is no fun. Can your friend hold off on the violin lessons once you're done? Is there a comittee you can head that doesn't really get going until January? Can your chinese tutor come to your house? Can your olders listen to your youngers read - or can you get a subscription to RAZkids or similar for a while?

 

And when you can, watch the movie Multiplicity (save it for later :P). I always wish I could photocopy myself, except the photocopy of a photocopy makes me laugh :)

[OneGirlAcademy]

Our one week off is over tomorrow. 😨

 

Tomorrow we start back up.

[Soror]

maize- Girl, you've got to be dropping some stuff, no wonder your feeling stretched and with a baby too!

 

Tawlas- ACK, hopefully the Mini shows up soon! We once lost a Kindle Fire and then found it randomly months later, in a spot we had looked at I don't know how many times(couch cushion).

 

We did make it to poetry, we wrote animal poems this week after listening to Gaiman's Jabberwocky and reading various fun animal poems, lots of Lear and Ogden. All our BW activities have been a hit and I'm still gobsmacked at how much my son is enjoying this, my I hate to write, I'm not creative son, I actually believe I'll have to increase our writing time to 10 min(we started easy at 5). Yet again, as with his freewrite, he asked me to check for any mistakes and by golly he only had one, a misplaced homophone. He was so eager to show his poem to all of our robotics moms and proudly placed his handwritten poem up on the door with a magnet, seriously! I was still brushing my hair and washing counters as everyone arrived but it was worth it.

 

Today our specials will be:

Nature Walk before lunch

Oral Narrations after our afternoon reading time

 

We don't have anything this evening, ya! I'm excited for a nice relaxing day without being rushed. 

[mama25angels]

Maize-I needed a break just reading your plans!

 

Soror-so glad you guys are getting the extras done, that's are mission this week.

 

Tawlas--I hope you find that iPad! I would be freaking out if mine were lost.

[Critterfixer]

I hope the i-pad mini has been found, Tawlas.

Maize, I've often wished for a clone, but then had to conclude that I wouldn't be able to give myself orders. :laugh: Way too stubborn and authority-resistant.

Soror, I am so happy your ds loves his Bravewriter! It's so neat when writing assignments become interesting and delightful. I'm of the opinion that when writing is interesting (not always fun, but of personal interest) the learning from the assignment tends to stick. And you are a very creative person, just not in the same way your son is. I'm also of the opinion that there isn't a homeschooling mom out there that isn't creative. We are all performing balancing acts, exploring and delving into new curriculum and ways of making it work, and finding ways to get it all done without falling over at the end of the day. That takes some serious creative thinking, folks.

 

We are getting through the day, one thing at a time. French went really well. I was nervous about French, but the program is easy, doable in thirty minutes (less than that if it is a listening day), and I'm getting no resistance from the boys on doing it first thing in the morning. Latin continues to present us with plenty of challenge, and one son is going to have to step up with his independent studying. I think I'll have him work with me in the evenings on vocabulary cards and extra grammar work and see if he can be proactive this winter. I'm really happy to be back to narrative writing. I got a little carried away with the shuffle step fun, and the boys got a little tired. I should get to steps 5 and 6 (expanding a sentence, rewriting with same grammar, new idea) today. Then it's weather for science, Augustus for History and some reading in Beowulf and geography of Africa to get done. And we are two readings away from finishing Jane Eyre.

[againstthegrain]

Stepping in, I'd love to join the weekly accountability thread. I love reading all your goals and watching you meet them!

 

 

This week has been to get our normal studies done, start a new read aloud and need to decide when DS should start his IEW writing curriculum.

 

Adding in a couple videos this week.

[Soror]

Critter- I was just talking to a friend today about creativity, I think a lot of the issue with me and perhaps a fair chunk of people is that we are fed the line that there are artistically gifted people and the rest of us and the fear of being a failure and doing things that are hard- I'm trying to get over all of those things. 

 

Our day is going well but terribly behind as everyone slept in this am. We are taking a break now, it is lunch time irregardless of the fact that we've not got everything on my list done yet. On the plus side ds and I started a new read-aloud, Danny Champion of the World, after the Dahl thread it seemed like a good choice and we've never read it, it has pulled us right in, I don't know about the rest of the book but the beginning is such a sweet description of a father and son relationship and now my son is dying to try a fire balloon! The girls have been busy coloring this am and my son, yes my son, even did some coloring, he colored in the butterfly on his poem he wrote yesterday.

 

I told them all about the county fair coming up in a few weeks and they are excited to enter something, ds is sure he wants to enter his poem or perhaps his drawing he did a couple of weeks ago. The girls have all kinds of ideas as well, my kitchen is going to be quite busy with the baking experiments I'm sure. I've been planning for us to take it easy the next couple of weeks, not quite a complete break but light schooling, so I think fair projects would be a great way to spend time. I think we might take that time to work on a new lit project as well, the 90 second Newberry, I can't wait to do this with them- my only concern is picking a book together. I've been making appts this am so we'll see how the schedule looks after then and what time we'll have. Dd1 is going to be doing a sewing class starting next Friday for 4 weeks, so that will be our park day, thankfully the weather will be perfect this time of year.

 

Anyway, time to get off my butt and back to work!

[Aurelia]

Yesterday, the subjects we got to were done well. The only problem was we only got to math and a bit of science. DD watched a couple of hydrogen-related videos, one about the element specifically (and the igniting of a large hydrogen filled balloon), which segued into a video about the Hindenburg. 

 

Today, so far, almost everything has been accomplished, history, science, literature, vocabulary, spelling. DD is supposed to be working on math and then writing in her journal, but keeps trying to do anything but. I told her she has to finish before time to leave for tumbling or she's not going. Apparently so much schoolwork works up an appetite because she ate lunch twice (once at 11 and again at 2.) Maybe I won't have to feed her dinner. She's old enough to know how to make herself a sandwich, right?

 

Edit: Done with school for the day, finally! I swear, I should just record myself saying "Focus please. Back to work." I say it so. many. times a day. Now I just have the evening stuff: DD's tumbling, my exercise and guitar practice plus I have a Coursera lesson to do, that I've put off since Monday. And I need to buy something for DH's birthday this week. 

[Tawlas]

Phew! Another morning's work finished!

 

I was positively surprised today when instead of a whole bunch of moaning and groaning regarding re-writing the tale of the Lion and the Mouse in W&R Fable, they were enthusiastic and excited! Of course, once DSD realized that meant she'd actually have to write down her actual ideas (she was copying the original word for word except for substituting her own characters, which I was fine iwth at that point) she began paraphrasing big time. In the end I wrote out the endings on both their stories, however, it was a very pleasant surprise. Tomorrow is town day but on Friday, we'll polish them up a teensy bit, then read them out loud. First week of writing went well! What a relief! (hopefully that's not premature)

 

And no. No mini. Jeez louise. wracking my brains and trying not to clobber his trying to figure out where on earth he put it. He's my absent minded professor. but he's never lost anything so valuable before!

[Critterfixer]

Grading Latin tests this afternoon. Boy across the table from me:

"Is it okay to have a dark secret, Mom?"

"Depends. Is it hurting you?"

"Yeah, kind of." Thumps pencil for a moment."I've been looking at the answer key when I don't know the answer and just writing it down in Latin. Sometimes math." Looks over for the shock value.

"Yeah, I can tell."

FYI, kid, Latin and Math won't let you bluff and not tell on you in the end. ;) He is now fuming because he has to spend break week mornings with me for Latin intensive review of three of the last six lessons. Got to love preteen boys.

[OneGirlAcademy]

Well, it sounds like I'm not the only one trying to get my dd to go to bed at a decent time so she can get up at reasonable hour. Her quality of work is so much better if she starts early.

 

Today was a good start back. She had a little problem focusing.

 

She did:

a chapter in Don't Check Your Brain's

some Caesar's English

one lesson in Hot Fudge

A lesson in Spectrum Science

30 min in CLE math (this was were she lost most of her focus; but the cat enjoyed the extra attention)

one lesson of Using English Well

Listen to the last disk of Sounder (good, but a little depressing)

Visual Latin

Spanish

 

All of this was completed by 2pm. Now I have to correct that work.

 

Attitude i would have to say was very good.

 

I got lots of laundry done this morning and my afternoon chore this afternoon is to clean the inside of my refrigerator.

 

I am going on my 38th day without a kitchen. It looks like I might get my kitchen back in about 3 weeks from today. But, I must say that my kitchen is starting to look beautiful.

 

Looking forward to reading everyone's posts.

[Tawlas]

Critter, I have to admire his honesty. Way to go! He may be fuming, but I'm sure he knows it's fair. Too bad YOU don't get a complete break off though . . .

 

Aurelia, I'm full admiration for the fact that you take your excercise so seriously. I was taking a walk every morning earlier this summer but I"ve had foot and back problems for more than a month so I've gotten out of the habit. I can *see* how important it is to do something every day. My Oma is 86 and still lives a pretty darn independent life (she goes for a walk every day) and my gramma passed away nearly two years ago after years of supported living (never went for a walk as long as I knew her). They were only a few years apart in age. I know those aren't the only factors, but I really do believe they make a big difference! So. Back to early morning walks, darn it.

 

 

Onegirl, my kids are also at their best before noon. So am I. I kind of wish I had one night owl so I didn't have to try and get everyone's best work in before noon!!

 

Which leads me to my next htought . . . I'm not sure that my current day is going to work best for dsd8. Right now, we do all of our group work before noon, Then I work one on one with the first grader while others do independent work (toddler has room time), followed by a lunch/play break. Then I work one on one with the second grader while the the other three nap or have quiet time. We all meet up again for snack and lounge/read in the living room for a bit. Then the two littlest play in the play room, third grader gets his own quiet time and I work with dsd8. We're doing fourth grade work (although she's definitely behind in reading) and often we aren't starting until 3 pm or even later if we're enjoying our books. The house begins to get busier and noisier around 330 and she's fairly easily distracted by noise (and has a hard time maintaining her thought processes) and I think she's worn out from her day in general. She's a gal that gives 100% to everything and it just might be too late.

 

Granted this only day three but I suspect this isn't going to change. . . . I may need to break up what I thought would be "just over an hour" to two forty five minute sessions. We still haven't even cracked open her "fun reading" book (Ivy and Bean) and we're already a page or two behind in math (oh the HORRORS lol). Maybe I can squeeze one into the morning? Or maybe I can try my first grader in the afternoon instead (he always seems as fresh as a daisy lol) Need to think on this. She's going to visit her other parent in a few days for a week, so I have lots of time to ponder and tweak.

[Critterfixer]

I get so tickled by his honesty, too. Yes, he knows that it is fair that he work on the lessons where he scored poorly. Didn't stop him being mad, but his way of dealing with his overall disgust was to ransack his dresser, get rid of all old, ripped and stained clothing, sort the rest, fold it neatly and reorganize it. Then he came and found me and said, "You know, Mom, there's a kind of satisfying feeling when you've got your room all cleaned up."  :laugh:

It will only be an hour in the mornings. I'll have the rest of the day to play, and so will he. We are all looking forward to our time off.

[Soror]

Critterfixer- Good for your son that he confessed! How long are you guys breaking? It is well deserved for all of you.

 

Tawlas- my 8yo is my early riser(usually) so often she will work with me before anyone gets up and knocks out a fair chunk of work then when it is nice and quiet. I get all her core work done in the am but a fair chunk of time I save their read-alouds to the afternoon. She is a fairly quick worker, her 3Rs take about 1 h15- 1hr30.

 

We have a field/fundraising trip for our Robotics team today at 12:30, I had hoped for later so we had more time but it didn't work out. I told the kids last night that they would need to hit it hard this am to be able to finish in time(just with the basics as we don't have time for it all) and they volunteered to do some of their work last night so we could get it done. Ds just has Physics, 1 pg MM and editing left and dd1 has reading and writing. I think I might just let dd2 off for today, we'll see how it goes this am. I don't know if we'll get to read-alouds, it might just be a short session. I have a science activity I want to do with the girls but I don't know if I'll have time to pull it off, that can always wait until next week though. I want to do a Freewrite today too since we'll be on another Field Trip tomorrow, going to visit a new cave(very excited about this!).

 

I'm scheming and planning what to do for our break I know I want to do at least 2 lighter weeks in that time we will be off on Fridays for sure since dd has sewing class and it is supposed to be park day for our group anyway, we'll enjoy it while the weather is nice. I also have appts one of those Fridays. I got the kid's cleanings scheduled and they are going to be next Thursday at 2. I still have to schedule a blood draw for me- hopefully next Friday am when I take dd1 to sewing, so it isn't another trip and I need to at least make an ortho consult for dd1, if not ds as well. 

 

On my to do list I want to get Fall cleaning done and hopefully, finally a yard sale with my friend. I want to look ahead to see what books we'll need, I've got my list for history I believe, now I need to see what is at the library, what I have and what I need to buy, we are studying Ancient Greeks next term. The girls will be doing Monet for art appreciation so I want to hunt down a few projects for that and I need to look ahead for nature study to see what is coming up. My goal is to perhaps get 30 min of math and spelling done on the days we are home with some projects here and there and nature walks. Or I might just let them entirely off math and spelling the first week, I don't know!

 

Oh, and we ended up doing our nature study last night, we studied moths, that was an adventure. Our plan to attract them to a sheet with a flashlight didn't work but we found a few small ones by the outside lights. Ds and I continued with stargazing after 2 HUGE hornets scared the girls away, it was a great night.

[Sdel]

Okay. No school yesterday either.  We've been having an ant problem (we always do this time of year) as the heat/lack of water outside drives them into the house.  I hit my wall yesterday and told DH I was on strike until he dealt with setting up the exterminator, which I'd kindly been asking for all summer.  So, we have an 8 am appointment. 

 

The only problem.....I've been slacking on cleaning all the non-public areas of the house.  So....I whirlwind cleaned yesterday instead of school.  Today....school and swimming.  Tomorrow we'll go try out swim team and have our first co-op class.

 

Stefanie

[Tawlas]

Town day for us :) No school - except dsd8, we'll do a page of math and a few pages of phonics in the library.

[Sdel]

Oh, yes....on the to do list is to take a nap.

 

Stefanie

[Soror]

Stefanie, enjoy your nap, I've been taking them myself since I've been waking at 4am, I'm hoping not to have one today, no time!

 

The kids woke up ready to go, ds has finished physics and I did LA and math with dd2 since she woke up first and dd1 has finished her reading. Our to-do list is down to:

Ds- Writing and 1pg MM

Dd1- Writing

 

Science project for the girls if we have time(it's looking good!). 

 

I've cleaned some here and there too and I'll have to take a shower. so glad we're having a good morning.

[Critterfixer]

We are having a late start this morning. We all slept in after a late movie last night.

Our day includes listening to our French lesson, correcting the Latin test from yesterday (no new material before break!), doing our math lesson and completing a page from Key to Fractions, a spelling test, diagramming some sentences for grammar, writing the final for our writing project; and a repeat of yesterday's history/science/geography/reading, since those are on rotation between boys twice a week. 

Housekeeping is cleaning the chicken house, feeding bees and doing a general sweep of the house. DH will be home tonight, since he has taken some time off next week as well.

One day to break! We have a week off, in which I plan to weed books, write and play. We've got a trip to the caves planned again, the long trail this time, deep underground. Looking forward to that.