Accountability: 9/27-10/3

[Critterfixer]

It is almost October, guys! Looking ahead in my calendar, I see that I have scheduled a break for October 18-24, and that I've got to stay on target with Math and Latin over the next three weeks to be where I want to be by break time. It also looks like I've scheduled an intense housekeeping for the laundry room, and the flashing around the chimney needs to be repaired properly this month. 

Today, though, it's the usual lineup of French, Math and Latin and day 1 of Composition, followed by cooking, the washing of all linens in the house and cleaning at MIL's house. She is set to come home on Tuesday! Today I think that all of us will be out there getting the house ready, so I'll have company while I work.

 

I think that this will be the first October I've reached without wanting to change a thing. I don't know if I've simply reached that point in my homeschooling journey where I'm comfortable adapting curriculum or if I'm just happily apathetic! Most of the time by this month I'm itching to toss something, add something, or convinced that we are not at a pace that sets us up for our mandatory testing. This year, nothing is troubling me. Yet. :laugh:

[Soror]

Hey Critter, glad to hear that your mil is coming home soon, I'm sure that will be a relief to all of you. 

 

Let's see today is family gathering day, so I'm busy cooking this am, after the get together tonight I plan on enjoying the eclipse together, other than that there will be some cleaning and laundry done before we leave and that's it.

 

Tomorrow we start back with our fuller schedule until Thanksgiving. Ds is finishing up BA4D in math and will be rolling into Jousting Armadillos, he is continuing Horizons 6 as practice/review. I had thought we'd just continue BA this year but they've still yet to even release a publish date for 5A and I think he is ready to move on, I've been going back and forth on that for a good while, not being sure if he was ready but it seems it is now time. I'm still waffling on writing, I had thought I'd do the first weeks of WWS with him to organization but I'm considering going a different track altogether and just embracing BW wholehog for a bit and work on developing the love of writing. 

 

We are studying China next for cultural studies, ds is moving onto Ancient Greece and continuing Physics and the whole family will be doing lots of art and nature studies.

[Critterfixer]

 

Let's see today is family gathering day, so I'm busy cooking this am, after the get together tonight I plan on enjoying the eclipse together, other than that there will be some cleaning and laundry done before we leave and that's it.

 

Thanks for reminding me about the eclipse! I'd forgotten.

 

[mama25angels]

Hi ladies, happy October! Critterfixer, I'm happy that your MIL is coming home soon and that you're not needing to change anything school wise. We had church today, but nothing else, I think I'm going to take some mess for my sinuses, pop a movie in and try to rest and prepare myself for next week.

 

Jean, How long does your dad work on Khan academy each day?

[Tawlas]

Happy Sunday everyone :) Are we all ladies so far? I always want to say ladies but I don't want to leave out any homeschooling dads lol

 

I'm trying not to "hyperventriliquate" over here. The sheep, the stud and the rams are nearly all out of feed and dh doesn't get home for two more days. Cross your fingers they make it cause it's a lot of time for me to get the tractor out and fetch them some hay (wheras it would take dh all of two minutes). One of the guinea fowl is sick (again) We've already lost one to the same thing and I'm not sure what it is. I *think* I know, but not being a vet, I guess I can't say for sure. I'll medicate them just in case I'm right, I suppose. One of the fences around the garden is barely packing a charge and since the sheep are feeling sorry for themselves, I need to fix that before they figure it out. And I don't want to take any more time off school since we already missed two days unexpectedly this week!

 

But school went well. My kids each wrote an amplified version of The Hunter and the Doves in CAP Fable. For a first effort, it's not bad and we did over two days so neither of them figured they should die pencil-phobisis. It's posted in K-8 writing subboard. Math is taking a solid hour, if not more. I'm not sure it's time saving to do both kids at once lol! But I'm feeling better about CLE and using it more as a guide, not do every problem or die.

 

Okay. Off to grain the cow and feed animals (but not too much lol) And medicate poultry and electrify a fence. Jeez. THink I can get that done in a half hour?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Jean, How long does your dad work on Khan academy each day?

You mean my dd, right?  It really depends.  She does as many mastery challenges as they give her.  Then she does two separate skills.  If the skills are easier ones at the start of the grade level than it can go very quickly.  The further she goes in the grade level, the harder the skills and the more time it takes her.  If she's been working hard at a new difficult skill, I will sometimes pull the plug if she's put in a half hour or so on it.  Then we'll move to another skill for awhile.  But we both know the skill she was working on will be there waiting for her the next day.  And the next, if she still doesn't really master it etc.  So that is the long way of saying that she could in theory get through math in 15 minutes if there weren't a lot of mastery challenges and she got through everything quickly and chose the easiest new skills at the start of a grade level.  But most of the time it takes her 30 to 45 minutes.  And occasionally longer esp. if she's not listening to me and I let her figure it out on her own because she's not teachable at the moment.  

[Sdel]

Very frustrating visitation drama all during the last week.  We had something planned last Sunday and gave them options.  They chose to change to this weekend.  Then we got a call from one of the other set of grands about how they wanted to see about a visit this weekend.  So, we spend 3 days with DIL being difficult to get a yes or no answer about if they'll take their visits with the other grands.  Eventually, it was a "no" they had to work and they wanted their time and "just couldn't go without seeing him".   So, exactly how much of their precious time did they take?   3 hours out of a possible 8, and they were an hour late for that 3 hours.   They have "other things to do".....

 

*grrr*   I am, quite frankly, infuriated on behalf of the other grands, not to mention the complete disregard for my time since they cancelled 10 minutes before they were supposed to be here.  If they were only going to take 3 hours, they could have come today when he got home.

 

On the homeschool front, well, continuing on.  We are going to try more scaffolding for reading comprehension.  After a little research it seems the whole "can't remember anything I just read" is a common ADD/ADHD issue, which I'm sure she has.  I guess we'll start learning note taking a bit early.

 

Stefanie

[MeaganS]

We are revving up to start again after a 2 week vacation. By vacation, I mean lots and lots of work for mommy, so not relaxing 2 weeks or anything. A wedding, two oceans, and a bunch of travelling (driving and flying) were included. But for some reason I'm feeling up to starting tomorrow, so we will. I'm also going to start piano with the older two girls. I'm using Hoffman Academy, which I'm hoping will be good. I can play the piano, but I'm not looking forward to teaching it and honestly just wish it was in the budget to outsource right now, but it isn't. Luckily, the girls are enthusiastic and it looks like the curriculum I chose has me more as a tutor than a teacher, which is infinitely preferable.

 

I'm loving the cool, rainy weather and fall being here. It is cheering me up and I am hopeful that this will be a good week. As an added bonus, the girls haven't re-adjusted to the time change from our travels and have been sleeping in an extra hour or more the last few mornings, so I might even have a peaceful morning tomorrow!

[Sahamamama]

Sunday 9/27

Church

Grocery shopping (& putting it all away)

Play time/free time

Stay up late to watch the eclipse!

Well, we tried, but it was so overcast, we couldn't see anything. Oh well.

 

Monday 9/28

Regular meals, chores, laundry

School work

Awana

 

Tuesday 9/29

Regular meals, chores, laundry

School work

More school work

Movie: Ice Age 2

 

Wednesday 9/30

Regular meals, chores, laundry

School work

Nap -- must have a nap

Church midweek

 

Thursday 10/1

Regular meals, chores, laundry

Extra house cleaning

School work

Children's choir

 

Friday 10/2

Regular meals, chores, laundry

Time with Grandparents

 

Saturday 10/3

Nine hours of yard work (all me, just me) ;)

Four hours of yard work (twins, just twins) :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly:

 

Hubby and oldest child sat inside and said, "It's cold, it's wet, waaaaaaa." Twins and Mommy got it done.

[MrsRobinson]

Thank you all so much for sharing your thoughts and routines for school and life with me in the last thread. I've been mulling things over for the last few days. Jean in Newcastle, your point about 5 days school for the sake of keeping the routine in place really got me thinking. My kids are good to go as long as they can look at the to do list every morning to see what's in store for the day. They love to come back to check things off the list. If the day shifts to accomodate something unexpected, they flip out. I, however, can't stand for all our days to be the same. I need variety. I have worked well in the past on a weekly routine in which every Monday has the same tasks, all Tuesdays are alike but different from Mondays and so on. So I think I'll try that again. I also have concluded that the kids would veg in front of the TV if I was cleaning and not providing them with some sort of structure.

 

Here's what I've jotted down so far:

 

Mondays

• school lessons after breakfast (2- 2.5 hrs)
• bike ride after lunch
• quiet time
• 4 loads of laundry through the day including ds' bedding
• clean out fridge and trash out to curb

Tuesdays

• school lessons after breakfast
• bike ride after lunch
• quiet time
• prep for all errands to be done on Wednesday
• crock pot dinner
• evening out of the house activities

Wednesday

• weekly menu/ shopping list before kids wake up
• school lessons after breakfast
• errands and shopping after lunch
• late afternoon quiet time
• dinner at in laws

Thursday

• school lessons after breakfast
• bike ride after lunch
• quiet time
• 3 loads of laundry through the day including dd's bedding
• 4pm-7pm babysit nephews
• freezer meal for dinner

Friday

• independent school morning with file folder games and activities, math games, educational apps, etc.
• clean house during independent school
• 3 loads laundry through the day including my bedding and dh's work clothes from the week
• bike ride after lunch
• play date at our house 1:30pm-5:30pm
• family movie night/ game night rotating weeks

So what do you all think? Do-able? My biggest concern is cleaning the whole house in one shot in the morning. I don't know if I'll have enough time to get it all done. I guess I'll try it for a week and report how well its going... or not. ;)

•  

 

[Aurelia]

This weekend has gone pretty well, school-wise. DD has been working steadily on math (but she doesn't want to do more than one lesson a day, even though she needs to do 6-7 lessons a week if she wants to take a break before Christmas). I told her she could take a two week break from school completely if she finished her math book before January 1, and she was all excited about that, but when it comes to doing the daily work, she really doesn't want to do any extra. She wouldn't be so behind, but my mom was handling math for several months (she handles some of the school stuff while I'm at work), and seemed to think it was ok to do one lesson 2-3 times a week, even though I had already told her that math needed to be done EVERY DAY. That's the way the book is structured. We can't skip ahead, either, because DD does not know/remember the material. 

 

So, we did math, started the MBtP unit on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (I deliberately chose an "easy" lit unit to start with because she struggles with the reading comprehension questions - most LA skills, other than reading, are not easy for her, though spelling is s.l.o.w.l.y improving, and writing has gotten much better), listened to a couple of sections of King Arthur while she did her art projects, read a couple of chapters in the history book and she did a handwriting page each day. 

 

In other news, I had to drop $85 for a new tumbling team leotard because my child won't stop growing and the manufacturer discontinued the old leo that was $20. I've got my fingers crossed she won't outgrow it this season. Last year I had to buy one in September and another in January because the first had gotten way too small, by 2 whole sizes. Everything else is same old, same old. I keep telling myself I need to finish my workout and practice guitar, but I just ate dinner and have laundry to do. I swear it never ends.

[kathy_overman]

I hope to one day plan out the entire week, but I am not there yet.

 

My big project, for this school year, is to NOT "enable" by DS (13), as much.  He has been spoiled and I have been there to catch him when he falls --- I know, I know - not good for him (or me).

 

My goal for tomorrow is to not sit with him during his online French class. This will be the 4th class, and there were problems in the beginning, so I held his hand.  Tomorrow, I will not tell him the answers to the questions he does not know.  He can learn to say "I don't know" to his teacher.  Or spend some time studying (novel idea)!  As I type this, he is actually reviewing his French!   :hurray:

 

Please be nice to me - for me, this is a big deal.  I guess I say this, because I have been reading some of the "Discipline" thread..  I am scared to admit how "soft" I can be.  Yes, discipline, is not my strength - but I have  big heart.  :001_wub:

[Critterfixer]

 

Please be nice to me - for me, this is a big deal.  I guess I say this, because I have been reading some of the "Discipline" thread..  I am scared to admit how "soft" I can be.  Yes, discipline, is not my strength - but I have  big heart.   :001_wub:

 

I don't know. The way I see it, a big heart is absolutely essential for discipline. I wouldn't want to train under anyone that strained the quality of mercy!

 

 

So what do you all think? Do-able? My biggest concern is cleaning the whole house in one shot in the morning. I don't know if I'll have enough time to get it all done. I guess I'll try it for a week and report how well its going... or not.  ;)

 

Try it and see! You won't know how much time is takes until you measure it over a few times. When I set our schedule the first thing I did was to time how long it took me on average to complete certain sections of work in the house. Because I did that, I know that I can shift days or tasks if I need to based on the average times. It allows for maximum flexibility in the day. I shift housekeeping to the mornings during the summer, and back to the afternoons in the fall. I don't try to clean everything on one day, however. Wouldn't work for me, but it might be just what you like!

 

I'm heading out to check out this eclipse, then read to the boys before bed. I got so much work done over at MIL's today, but didn't get through any of the cooking. So, I'll be cooking tomorrow on top of everything else.

[mama25angels]

I hope to one day plan out the entire week, but I am not there yet.

 

My big project, for this school year, is to NOT "enable" by DS (13), as much. He has been spoiled and I have been there to catch him when he falls --- I know, I know - not good for him (or me).

 

My goal for tomorrow is to not sit with him during his online French class. This will be the 4th class, and there were problems in the beginning, so I held his hand. Tomorrow, I will not tell him the answers to the questions he does not know. He can learn to say "I don't know" to his teacher. Or spend some time studying (novel idea)! As I type this, he is actually reviewing his French! :hurray:

 

Please be nice to me - for me, this is a big deal. I guess I say this, because I have been reading some of the "Discipline" thread.. I am scared to admit how "soft" I can be. Yes, discipline, is not my strength - but I have big heart. :001_wub:

 

Big huge hugs, I know how you feel. I think it's ok to give help sometimes even when they're older, I still do.

[mama25angels]

Jean, thank you for your response. I have another question, what grade level are you using in the program? Thanks

[Jean in Newcastle]

This year is 7th grade.  She's done it since grade 5.  

[mama25angels]

This year is 7th grade. She's done it since grade 5.

Thank you so much, I think we're going to work with the program a bit.

[Penguin]

We did our first round of biology fieldwork over the weekend.  We went to a bog preserve on Saturday.  The goal, beyond enjoying nature in decent weather, was to learn how to take proper field notes and to then transcribe them into a field journal (more or less following the Grinnell method).

 

On Sunday, I went out for the day with a friend.  I had fun, but it left me playing catch-up this morning.

 

We are hoping to travel to Rome in November, and I started planning the trip.

 

Mondays are a bit annoying to me right now.  Busy weekends are trending towards late starts on Mondays, and we have to stop at 3:00 to get to the extracurricular. I don't like feeling behind on a Monday.  Something to ponder over...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Penguin]

dp

 

 

 

 

 

[Laura Cook]

Good morning! We had a pretty nice weekend. Saturday was spent with a little housework and a lot of reading, gaming, playing outside and movie watching. On Sunday we cleaned house, went to a birthday party and watched the eclipse. A pretty relaxed weekend overall. I feel like we needed it.

 

I am mostly ready for this week. Yesterday I made some general plans and did some printing and prep for now through the end of December. I didn't quite get all the printing done that I needed to, but plan on finishing it this morning before the kids get up.

 

I'm feeling a little concerned about DS10 and writing. He is working through WWE3 and seems to be having a really hard time answering the questions after he reads the passage to himself. I don't know if he is reading too quickly or just skimming it and wonder if reading it out loud to me would help him remember. We are going to try it this week and see what happens.

 

On the list for today:

 

Math

Reading

Writing

Spelling

Handwriting

History

Poetry Tea-maybe

Basketball practice - DS8

 

Time to get off here and get this day started!

[Soror]

Well, not sure how today will be ds was not feeling well last night, he rarely gets sick and usually not for long so we'll see, it might be a rest day for him. 

 

this week's activities:

Monday: 4- 5:15: Dance -dd1, TKD - ds :NO SCOUTS YA

Tuesday: 3:30-7ish: Robotics- my house

Wednesday: Dentist Appts: 3-4:30(finally we will have these all done except the ortho consult I keep putting off)

Thursday: 4:15-6:15 Ds TKD; 6:30-7:30 Dance and Tumbling dd1 and 2- I'll take ds in ; dh will take care of the girls and picking ds up

Friday: Sewing- 9-1- dd1; Robotics Field trip; 11-1- ds(someone else taking him due to the location and timing)

Sat: Local Festival-9 Ds' first race; dd Back Handspring Clinic- 10:30-12

 

This is our last week of sewing, dentist appts and hopefully robotics field trips. I've loved the sewing classes but I'll be thrilled to have some Fridays free again. I had planned on the girls doing art every other week but I think we are going to push that to just monthly for now, we have enough other stuff going on as it is. I hate that we have to go in Wed for appts but at least they will be done and thankfully we'll be home in plenty of time to eat at a reasonable time. 

 

Back at it again with school this week as said ds is diving into the Greeks, continuing Physics. DD's (and really the whole family) is going into China and Nature Studies- the moon this week. I need to look at ds' math, I think he has one chapter left of BA4D but he has been going through them rather quickly so I'm expecting 3 weeks at most and I might just let him work on the harder problems at the end depending on how he does. 

 

My focus for the house this week is to work on cooking, everything else has went ok but cooking has been rather lackluster.

[Soror]

I forgot to make my daily list, I'm working on keeping it fairly easy day for our first one back it, I'm also trying to make sure to keep our schedule free enough to enjoy time outside and some projects:

 

Ds:

History reading(library books- his choice) 30 min; Science Reading- Physics-Adler- 30 min

Grammar, Spelling- 30 min total

Math- Horizons 6- BA4D; 60 min

Mom Read-aloud; Unbroken- Odyssey

 

DD1:

Horizons Math- 30 min

Spelling- 15 min

 

DD2:

Miquon Math and LoE Foundations- 30-45 min

 

Family Work:

Read-alouds- China(stack of library books); Moon(library books) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Family reading- Mom's reading The Magic Art of Tidying Up ; Lord of the Rings - Fellowship; DS- not sure he's working on a stack of them; dd1- needs to pick a new book; dd2 and 3; whatever picture books they like

Writing: copywork- (preparing for studied dictation for ds), book discussion and starting work on our 90 Second Newberry- Cricket in Times Square(we finished it this weekend)- 45ish min

Project: No flour playdough- I remembered all the ingredients- Maybe make homemade almond rocca 

 

Household: 

AM Chores- we cleaned up last night so it isn't bad today- need to vacuum and put a load of clothes on to wash

Put Chicken on to marinate- Coriander, Ginger and Chile Butter from Gordon Ramsay- swoon!

Walk/Run

Pm Chores- pick up; fold clothes

Errands- Pick up fennel(tomorrow nights recipe) while in town; maybe pick up nature books for next week while dd1 is in dance

 

 

[Sahamamama]

I admit it, I was disappointed. I was so looking forward to viewing the eclipse last night, but that Great Gray Blanket that is Mid-Atlantic autumn weather covered the skies. Could not even see a single star!

 

Seriously bummed.

 

I got out of bed at 11 pm, 12 am, 1 am, and went outside (nightgown & flashlight) to see if anything was visible. Behind the Great Gray Blanket, the moon was obviously shining brightly. The glow was lovely, but still...

 

Did any of you get to really see the eclipse? If so, tell me about it. I will try not to be jealous. :D

[Sahamamama]

 

I forgot to make my daily list, I'm working on keeping it fairly easy day for our first one back it, I'm also trying to make sure to keep our schedule free enough to enjoy time outside and some projects:

 

Ds:

History reading(library books- his choice) 30 min; Science Reading- Physics-Adler- 30 min

Grammar, Spelling- 30 min total

Math- Horizons 6- BA4D; 60 min

Mom Read-aloud; Unbroken- Odyssey

 

DD1:

Horizons Math- 30 min

Spelling- 15 min

 

DD2:

Miquon Math and LoE Foundations- 30-45 min

 

Family Work:

Read-alouds- China(stack of library books); Moon(library books) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Family reading- Mom's reading The Magic Art of Tidying Up ; Lord of the Rings - Fellowship; DS- not sure he's working on a stack of them; dd1- needs to pick a new book; dd2 and 3; whatever picture books they like

Writing: copywork- (preparing for studied dictation for ds), book discussion and starting work on our 90 Second Newberry- Cricket in Times Square(we finished it this weekend)- 45ish min

Project: No flour playdough- I remembered all the ingredients- Maybe make homemade almond rocca 

 

Household: 

AM Chores- we cleaned up last night so it isn't bad today- need to vacuum and put a load of clothes on to wash

Put Chicken on to marinate- Coriander, Ginger and Chile Butter from Gordon Ramsay- swoon!

Walk/Run

Pm Chores- pick up; fold clothes

Errands- Pick up fennel (tomorrow nights recipe) while in town; maybe pick up nature books for next week while dd1 is in dance

 

 

Please post this. I must know, and after last night's eclipse letdown, musing about comfort food will be good for me. LOL.

 

(Actually, I could muse about comfort food any time).

 

Cream of fennel soup?

 

Pot roast is good with fennel.

 

Sauteed? I can't do the fancy French accent. Sorry.

 

I very obviously need some acorn squash soup. Or mulled apple cider. Then I will forgive the heavens for thwarting me, and just be content with earthly pleasures.

[Critterfixer]

After a late night with the moon, we are all getting around rather slowly this morning. We will start at nine, I think, instead of eight-thirty. We have the usual today:

French-Unit 2, written exercise 5

Latin-Lesson 8, review vocabulary and grammar orally, worksheet 2

Math-Light unit 4, lesson 2, Key To Fractions pg 25

Spelling-copy words chosen from the model, use six in sentences

No grammar today beyond Latin

Composition-The new plot of the next 2 weeks is Temptation. Today I will read the story aloud, we will divide it into the major acts on the board, and delve a bit into character as the basis for plot. We will brainstorm for various temptations, and then evaluate various character traits or backstories that would leave the character open to temptation.

Science/History-For science, a chapter and readings on Wind, for History, chapter 18 on Gladiators

Literature/Geography-Morpurgo's Beowulf-pg 54-66, for Geography, lesson 4 on the southern tip of Africa

 

For me: Latin, Algebra, Writing and I have several library books to skim and evaluate for use. I need to make a list of books that I'd like to order soon for winter term. And there's a list of about seven things I have to cook today. Housekeeping this afternoon will be cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms. Linens got done yesterday. I've got one remaining closet in one room to purge.

[Critterfixer]

 

Did any of you get to really see the eclipse? If so, tell me about it. I will try not to be jealous.  :D

 

Yes. It moved faster than I expected. We had limited cloud cover last night, so we got a good look. The moon looked very rust colored at the peak. However, one of us brought something in with us last night. I came into the kitchen and there was a good inch diameter wolf spider on the kitchen wall! Kind of startling when you walk by and it's at eye level with you!

[Soror]

Please post this. I must know, and after last night's eclipse letdown, musing about comfort food will be good for me. LOL.

 

(Actually, I could muse about comfort food any time).

 

Cream of fennel soup?

 

Pot roast is good with fennel.

 

Sauteed? I can't do the fancy French accent. Sorry.

 

I very obviously need some acorn squash soup. Or mulled apple cider. Then I will forgive the heavens for thwarting me, and just be content with earthly pleasures.

You have me LOL'ing it is Pork Butt with roasted fennel :)

 

I bought a butternut squash too this week, I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet. 

 

We did get to see the eclipse, the clouds parted just in time but no time now to describe and I rather suck with the written word. Needless to say it was neat and the owls and coyotes blaring away in the background gave us some awesome background music.

[Critterfixer]

 

We did get to see the eclipse, the clouds parted just in time but no time now to describe and I rather suck with the written word. Needless to say it was neat and the owls and coyotes blaring away in the background gave us some awesome background music.

 

No fair. We just had one barred owl and tons of crickets!

[Sahamamama]

Yes. It moved faster than I expected. We had limited cloud cover last night, so we got a good look. The moon looked very rust colored at the peak. However, one of us brought something in with us last night. I came into the kitchen and there was a good inch diameter wolf spider on the kitchen wall! Kind of startling when you walk by and it's at eye level with you!

 

Oh, a widdy-biddy wolf spider? That's kid's stuff. ;) I was taking laundry off the line the other day and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fully mature (and therefore large and dangerous) one of these in my hair.

 

Now that I think about it, the freaking out I did over that may have been what ruptured the blood vessel in my eye! Ha ha ha ha. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

At our old house, we had a lot of wolf spiders in the creepy basement (where I did laundry). I captured a large one, set her up in a Critter Keeper, and we named her Charlotte. :001_wub:

 

I highly recommend doing this. You just put a layer of sand or soil on the bottom, put in a bottle cap with a circle of towel (so you can wet the towel for the spider to drink from), and a few pieces of bark (for a little place to hide). We caught little crickets and flies outside and fed them to her through the top hatch. Snatch! It was cool.

 

But, alas, Charlotte made an egg sac, and my husband was concerned about having 200 baby wolf spiders escaping through the vents on the keeper. My mother thought the whole thing was nuts. So I let go of Charlotte in the woods behind our house. It was a bittersweet day. I liked that spider. She had more intelligence and skill than I would have ever attributed to a spider.

[Sahamamama]

And finally, does anyone think it is ironic that I am delaying the start of school by repeatedly posting on the Accountability Thread? :leaving:

[mama25angels]

And finally, does anyone think it is ironic that I am delaying the start of school by repeatedly posting on the Accountability Thread? :leaving:

 

Lol! I'm joining you by liking posts in the accountability thread.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Bzymama23 and anyone else who does these - can you tell me about the poetry teas?  

[Soror]

Ironic that I'm posting to accountability while ds does review and the girls break....

 

Poetry tea here-

 

We read, discuss and then write poems together.

Ideally we have some lovely snacks at the same time.

[Critterfixer]

Oh, wheel bugs! I simply call them assassins. They get my respect for the work they do, but they actually are dangerous. Hurts like a son of a gun if they stab you with their beaks. Think red-hot, dull needle injecting venom. I'm pretty sure I'd have broken something trying to get one out of my hair, too!

I just caught and released Aragog back outside. I figured I need it on the porch doing her job. 

 

Poetry tea-the boys recite their poems after lunch and we have a little snack and a fortifying cup of hot tea before writing. If I have a good poem to share, I do. Today I discovered Carl Sandburg's Worms and the Wind. I will read that at our poetry tea because I found it so interesting and we might discuss it.

 

Moving right along today. Math is getting done between snacking. I think the boys are fixing to have a growth spurt because they are eating more or less in a continuous, caterpillar-like fashion. I wonder if I should measure them today and see how much they grow this month. They find it hard to complain when they are chewing at least.

 

Found a great Latin saying today; Magister dixit. I am so writing that on the whiteboard.

[mama25angels]

Jean, I have another Khan question for you, where are the mission foundations? We're using the Arithmetic program, or that should say trying to use it, if that makes a difference. Thanks

[MeaganS]

Piano went really well! The girls found Mr. Hoffman to be engaging and I loved that he was teaching and all I had to do was pause and reinforce. Maybe I won't hate piano after all? The rest of school went fairly smoothly as well, although I didn't make dd7 do all her flashcards in math because she looked like she was just about at the breaking point. We have to work back up to full stamina, but we should be there in a day or two. Every other subject got done and we are on track to make it to co-op in time. AND I made brownies!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Jean, I have another Khan question for you, where are the mission foundations? We're using the Arithmetic program, or that should say trying to use it, if that makes a difference. Thanks

If you hit the underlined sentence that says "show all skills", the mission foundations will be the first skills shown.  

[mama25angels]

If you hit the underlined sentence that says "show all skills", the mission foundations will be the first skills shown.

 

Where's the underlined sentence that says " show all skills," I'm having a doozy of a time navigating the site. We did do more work on the program and had a decent math time. He experienced some frustration writing the answers in with the stylus, but I think he'll get used to that soon, at least I hope he will. I'm having a hard time doing things when I'm logged in, should I be working the same program that he is in order to recommend things for him to do. We were able to complete several mastery tasks, I sort of like those.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Where's the underlined sentence that says " show all skills," I'm having a doozy of a time navigating the site. We did do more work on the program and had a decent math time. He experienced some frustration writing the answers in with the stylus, but I think he'll get used to that soon, at least I hope he will. I'm having a hard time doing things when I'm logged in, should I be working the same program that he is in order to recommend things for him to do. We were able to complete several mastery tasks, I sort of like those.

Under the round wheel that shows percent mastery.  BTW - I do everything on a laptop so I'm not 100% sure if you use a tablet that you are seeing the same things I'm seeing.  

 

Mastery tasks will eventually cycle in some old mastered skills just to make sure he still knows them.  If he doesn't, it will have him master it again.  Just so you know.  (A lot of people say that Khan doesn't have enough practice and that you can master it once for the "test" and then never have it come up again.  It doesn't work like that but you have to do it awhile to see the whole system.)  

[mama25angels]

Under the round wheel that shows percent mastery. BTW - I do everything on a laptop so I'm not 100% sure if you use a tablet that you are seeing the same things I'm seeing.

 

Mastery tasks will eventually cycle in some old mastered skills just to make sure he still knows them. If he doesn't, it will have him master it again. Just so you know. (A lot of people say that Khan doesn't have enough practice and that you can master it once for the "test" and then never have it come up again. It doesn't work like that but you have to do it awhile to see the whole system.)

 

No, I don't think we're seeing the same thing. Well, poo! I don't know what to do now, I think I'll check out the site and see if it's better than the app.

[Soror]

The kids generally spaz about spiders but I don't find them as terrifying as I once did. We saw HUGE banana spiders while butterfly hunting, one was eating a cricket, dd1 didn't care to see it but dd2 enjoyed the show.

 

lunch time break, it has gone very well today, ds doesn't feel the best but he has been able to do his work.

 

done:

chores

walk- no run ds didn't feel up to it

chicken in marinade

CNN student news

 

math

LA- dd2

writing and grammar with dd- I had thought we'd just do family work but in the moment I thought again, we do enjoy our vintage programs

WWS d1wk1 with ds went just fine; Fix-It Grammar ds

ds- science and history reading

Unbroken read-aloud- I forgot about Odyssey and read long on Unbroken, we might just start it tomorrow

 

lunch

no flour playdough is made and they are currently playing with it, I'm going to do some read-aloud while they play

 

To do:

family read-alouds

family reading and copywork

pick-up(we've done some as we've went but we need some dedicated clean up time)

 

[MrsRobinson]

critterfixer- you are right, I need to try it and time it to get a better picture. This house is so much bigger than our last one, I feel like it will take forever to clean! I would prefer to do it in the afternoon but the baby is still waking twice through the night and my energy is gone by afternoon.

 

Sahamamama- that is such a bummer that you didn't get to see the eclipse. We had a ton of fun watching. We are still working in Life Science but skipped our lesson today in favor of some Moon science. I hope dd remembers fondly that we woke her up to come outside and watch the eclipse.

 

The new schedule is going well today although Mondays are one of the easiest in the plan. The laundry is rolling along, we sailed through our lessons and I'll send them to bed for quiet time in about 10 minutes. We didn't go for our bike ride but dd is still recovering from a bug and I didn't want her to over do it, especially since she was up late watching the eclipse. This is the last warm day before cool fall temps set in so bike rides the rest of the week should be lovely.

[mama25angels]

Well, we're done for the day and there was only one crying incident, because he brought his phone up during lessons and he knows very well that he's not permitted to do that. glad to hear that everyone's day was good. Critterfixer, I think I've decided to take a few days off after our co op ends off to rework our schedule and get some major house cleaning done. I do have a day scheduled off next month because dh and I are going out of town for a weekend, that's why we can't take the full week.

[Tawlas]

Sahamama, we missed it too. Solid cloud, not even a start! Ds8 was so disappointed he went to bed in tears. Of course, this morning at 530, it was out in all its glory, but it was just another full moon at that point.

 

We had a great morning. The older kids are writing blog posts. So far, they've only written them down in their blog notebooks lol. Still haven't figured out the app on their iPads and I really need to get on that!! I'm impressed with their stamina and even their writing considering we've done practically none before this. We also did a quick experiment with balloons and static electricity which of course, the kids had a lot of fun with.

 

By some miracle, all the sheep seem content today. I'm not sure why today is better for grazing when they were so obviously disatisfied all day yesterday? In any case, I'm taking it! Otherwise I'll have to put them all in the corral for the afternoon and night. Dh will be home late today, yahoo! He can get them squared away tomorrow. Which reminds me, I need to get out and grain the cow, feed the rams and shut up the stud horse so he doens't play the pig with the remnants of his bale of hay. Better get a move one!

 

Have a great day eveyrone!

[Another Lynn]

We had CC today.  The last several weeks we killed time at the library to go to cross country practice at 3:30.  Today we came home after lunch.  We made a quick stop at the library and were home around 2:00.  Heavenly!

 

I have not been doing a history read aloud this year.  I just have everyone doing their own thing for history and so haven't made it a family-wide subject.  I'm starting to get a little bit of an itch for something.  I don't know what yet.  Possibly American.  They don't know near as much American history as I did at their age because we're always cycling through world history.  But finding a decent spine, not too biased, not too dry, that appeals to a wide range of ages, is a about like asking for the moon.  (Speaking of the moon, can you believe I forgot last night?  I thought about it once and then got caught up in the evening routine.  Oh well.)

 

 

[Sdel]

Okay day so far. I hope I am not coming down with the flu. It is already here. The last two days I have woken up incredibly sore and blah feeling, but no fever.

 

We did reading, math and grammar, with the focus on reading comp. Math was the last of a series of "tests". She did okay, seems to have made a lot of silly mistakes from "playing" instead of focusing but no major conceptual issues. The rest of the week we'll work some practice problems of the type missed and really focus on the steps to solve.

 

Grammar was easy peasy. Reading took A LOT of scaffolding for comprehension. But, at the end of the day she remembered the story well enough to narrate back 5 - 6 fairly detailed sentences in the proper sequence to summarize the story. She only left out one detail in the sequence but touched on it at the end.

 

Now, all that is left is to do a couple of chores and then enjoy DH being home for a night before he goes back to the grind. I've missed him the last 6 days. He's really off two nights, but tomorrow he is doing a sleep study so he won't be home.

 

Stefanie

[Sahamamama]

Oh, wheel bugs! I simply call them assassins. They get my respect for the work they do, but they actually are dangerous. Hurts like a son of a gun if they stab you with their beaks. Think red-hot, dull needle injecting venom. I'm pretty sure I'd have broken something trying to get one out of my hair, too!

I just caught and released Aragog back outside. I figured I need it on the porch doing her job. 

 

Poetry tea-the boys recite their poems after lunch and we have a little snack and a fortifying cup of hot tea before writing. If I have a good poem to share, I do. Today I discovered Carl Sandburg's Worms and the Wind. I will read that at our poetry tea because I found it so interesting and we might discuss it.

 

Moving right along today. Math is getting done between snacking. I think the boys are fixing to have a growth spurt because they are eating more or less in a continuous, caterpillar-like fashion. I wonder if I should measure them today and see how much they grow this month. They find it hard to complain when they are chewing at least.

 

Found a great Latin saying today; Magister dixit. I am so writing that on the whiteboard.

 

Yeah, we do, too. Our neighbor was stabbed by one last summer, ended up with a terrible infection in his leg that took months to heal. He was lucky to keep his leg. They do eat brown marmorated stink bugs, but in a way, I'd rather deal with the stink bugs. They stink, but they are not dangerous.

 

I'm thinking that someday, your twin boys need to meet my twin girls, LOL. Boys who recite poems, but still play in mud up to their ears? Swoon. :001_wub:

 

:biggrinjester:

 

One of my 8.5 year olds has the most evident "fixing to grow" of anyone. She can go from hardly eating anything to eating seven tacos in one sitting.

 

In your case -- Magistra dixit. I suppose you can edit Aristotle?

 

Oh, we just got SO MUCH done today! Rocking school day. Gotta go. On to the next thing!

 

 

[Laura Cook]

Bzymama23 and anyone else who does these - can you tell me about the poetry teas?

Today was only the second one we've had! I thought it seemed like a nice way to add a little something special to our week. We just have something good to drink in the teacups that came with my grandma's wedding china and a snack. I've made a batch of cookies each week so far, PB last week and oatmeal raisin this week. But if I didn't have time store-bought would be totally ok! I read some poems from a children's poetry book we already have. This week I was going with fall themed poems. Our book didn't have many so I turned to the internet and we passed my phone around reading the ones we found. I talked about the ones I liked and how the choice of words helped me make a really good picture in my head. Very laid back! Once we were done today my kids had the idea of composing poems. I was more than a little surprised! My kids aren't really what you would call willing writers! But they are all busy writing now and told me they will read their poems next week at our tea. Poetry Tea for the win!!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Our Monday was not a good school day.

 

Basically we took off from school.  My intent was to run to Home Depot, get two necessary items for a science experiment, get a couple of things at the pharmacy and go home.  Instead, we were out from 10:15 am until 2:00 pm.  Home Depot took a very very long time.  And one item they didn't even have.  I think I have figured out that IKEA ironically is the only store that has the kind of wire I need.  I guess there is no need for it in most "modern" homes.  Then since we had already shot our time schedule I ended up running a couple of other errands and we ate out for lunch.  

 

The one thing we did get done for school today - we finished watching 1900 house.  My history hating daughter is really sad that this series is over.  She really liked it and wants to watch the other series they've done.  

[Critterfixer]

 

In your case -- Magistra dixit. I suppose you can edit Aristotle?

 

True, true. 

 

 

I'm thinking that someday, your twin boys need to meet my twin girls, LOL. Boys who recite poems, but still play in mud up to their ears? Swoon.  :001_wub:

 

They would rather play in mud up to their ears than recite poetry, but well...Magister dixit, after all. :D

 

I'm just about done with the day. School went well. Got through everything by 3:30. I cooked and did multiple loads of dishes every time I filled the sink. Then I cleaned my usual section of the house. It's raining a little bit. We need it, but it sure makes things hot outside. The boys are listening to Hank and drawing things. I should head out to deliver the meals, and visit MIL, then I've got the rest of the evening off except for the usual evening chores. I think I ought to sleep well tonight.