Accountability: 9/27-10/3

[OneGirlAcademy]

We are done for the day.

 

Schoolwork accomplished:

 

Caesar's English

Spelling Wisdom

Using English Well

Hot fudge Monday writing assignment

Real World Algebra

Getting Started with Spanish

Spanish Ten Minutes a Day

Spectrum Science ( such a surprise she calls this her favorite science)

A chapter in a History of U.S.

 

 

 

School Work that didn't get done:

 

Visual Latin

Don't Check Your Brains

 

 

 

Highlights of the day:

 

Hot Fudge Monday. I don't know if she is learning anything but she has really enjoyed the writing assignments. I like to break up some of the more boring writing curriculum with it.

 

She had a question about the Vietnam War so we went on a major bunny trail. The best video on this subject came from Kahn Academy.

 

All in all a very good day. I got four loads of laundry done. Dd picked apples so I will can some applesauce tomorrow. Looking forward to tomorrow.

 

Good evening ladies.

[Sahamamama]

Monday's Work

Chores, laundry, cooking

Prayer & devotional reading (all)

Bible memory work (all)

History memory work (all)

Poetry memory work (all)

Geography memory work (all)

Wordly Wise (girls)

Spelling (5th)

Typing practice (5th)

Instrument practice (all)

Assigned Independent Reading (& notebook summary writing, girls)

5th Grade Tutor Time -- Math, Grammar, Latin, Composition, French, Instrument Lesson, Reading Check-In

3rd Grade Tutor Time -- Math, Grammar, Latin, Copywork, Composition, Reading Check-In

Popular Mechanics for Kids (all)

Awana (all)

Bedtime (all) :)

[mama25angels]

Critterfixer, I believe you will sleep well tonight too!

[Soror]

I meant to comment on cleaning Mrs. Robinson. Years ago I did Motivated Moms for a year, although I no longer follow it I found it a great help in wrapping my brain around organizing our work. There is daily work, every 2 days or so, weekly, monthly, seasonally, yearly. So, in times that I'm short on time or energy I will hit the daily stuff but the rest will slide. Now, even that list can be even more pared down, as it was when I really feel bad. Also, another thing I read in the Smart and Scattered book was to use whatever system is the easiest system to accomplish what you want to accomplish. I know in the past I've felt like I was lacking something because I didn't follow some big complicated system of housekeeping but I realized that we were keeping our house clean enough by our own standards and that was all that mattered. Remember to lay the foundation, like we do with skills, what work needs to be done every day and then look at adding on once that is done well. I think as far as when, that is whatever works for you, there is no right way. I read one thing that said that your laundry should be done all at once, otherwise it is a waste, well when I'm the most organized I do it daily or so and sometimes we end up doing it weekly, as long as we stay up on it. So, try your schedule and see how it works and tweak it for you.

 

 

AnotherLynn- ds has been doing his history reading on his own this year too and I'm hoping to add in some read-alouds here, we'll see how it goes....

 

 

So, I've been awake since 2:30am, not sure why, I slept really well. We'll see how the day goes....

 

Today's List:

math- all

spelling- ds/dd1

phonics/writing/spelling-dd2

history and science reading- ds

grammar and writing- dd1

Unbroken and Odyssey read-aloud ds

 

all:

Poetry Tea:

Prelutsky and Poached Pears- 

Poached Pears are in the China section of our cookbook and we just saw it on Master Chef, I picked up some new Prelutsky(sp?)books at the library since they were such a hit last week

 

read-alouds

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- want to finish this by the end of the week for family movie time

walk (that might be a bit hopeful considering my sleep)

Moon or China read-alouds- maybe a coloring or activity page to go with these, the girls love coloring sheets and I haven't printed any for them lately and that is easy for me! I also have activity sheets about the moon that the Children's Librarian sent home with me after I told her we were studying the moon this week.

 

 

drawing- it occurred to me today that we didn't get to any drawing last week as we did so much painting so I'm hoping to get in a little time today

 

Robotics at 4pm

I plan/hope to do my Pork and Fennel tonight but I might end up making it a leftover night if I don't get enough umph, thankfully I have enough leftovers from sunday and Monday to feed us all.

[MrsRobinson]

Soror- I'm up too but I know why. The baby decided 5am was a good time to play. :/ You know your right about cleaning. Whatever it takes to get it done. Everyone sounds so fancy when they say "I follow motivated moms" or "fly lady." I always think ooh... their house must be super clean since they're following an official schedule! Ha! My schedule is official if it works for me! And yay for helpful children's librarians! Ours is practically a celebrity in the eyes of my kids.

 

I'll come back later to post about our day, I think the babe is finally ready to nurse and go back to sleep.

[Soror]

Soror- I'm up too but I know why. The baby decided 5am was a good time to play. :/ You know your right about cleaning. Whatever it takes to get it done. Everyone sounds so fancy when they say "I follow motivated moms" or "fly lady." I always think ooh... their house must be super clean since they're following an official schedule! Ha! My schedule is official if it works for me! And yay for helpful children's librarians! Ours is practically a celebrity in the eyes of my kids.

 

I'll come back later to post about our day, I think the babe is finally ready to nurse and go back to sleep.

commiseration

 

My (nearly) 3 yr old woke up too and I think that is what kept me from falling back asleep. I finally laid back down with her and then her along with my own weird dreams kept waking me up, so I guess at this point I give up, I probably need to add nap to my list!

 

You know I used to have a friend obsessed with Fly Lady, ironically her house was and is one of the dirtiest I've been in. I think she was obsessed because she knew she needed something but none of it actually helped her in the end. What did help was bartering for housekeeping services. Our house stays clean, I mean compared to my sil who has 2 older kids, is never home and has a housekeeper, no my house is not as clean as hers but compared to other hs moms my house is generally cleaner. Now my Fly Lady friend- I don't know that she will ever have a clean house without outside help. I truly think she must be undiagnosed ADHD or something, it will always be hard for her, she however has her own strengths that I don't have and never will. I used to wonder what was wrong with her and why she couldn't get it together but now I just hope that she finds whatever works for her and if that is having a housekeeper then that's great. I have another friend, whom always has a fairly immaculate house even with lots of kids and hs'ing, she like me is into organization- although she takes it up to a level that seems crazy to me but the big key however is she has a husband more particular than her with a very light schedule who is often home and jumps on whatever cleaning needs to be done. Now, my husband helps more than many but if he sees a sink full of dishes he has no compulsion to clean them! So, we are each so different in our resources, strengths and weaknesses it is hard not to compare but really we shouldn't, especially us moms with many kids that are younger, its hard!

[MeaganS]

Today is going well so far. I'm hopping on here while DD7 finishes her reading time. It is still raining and has been for days and looks like it will for the next week. I'm enjoying it for now, although I'm pretty sure my chickens are sick of being cooped up. I'm jealous of all of you who could see the eclipse. We had no chance at all with all the cloud cover. We had to satisfy ourselves with looking at friend's pictures on Facebook.

 

School for today:

DD7: History, Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Geography, Writing, Piano, Math

DD5: History, Phonics, Spelling, Handwriting, Piano, Math

DD3: Phonics apps on the iPad, Math

 

Other for today:

Clean girls' bedroom and bathroom.

Fold and put away 2 loads of laundry.

If I'm still going strong, straighten up downstairs and go through big box of mostly useless homeschooling stuff someone from church gave me.

 

Oh, and dd7 has an ear infection, so I need to make her an appointment and take her in. It is nice that DH can now diagnose these for me so I know it isn't pointless to bring her in. 

 

It is funny so many of you have been talking about bugs. We have an amazing spider web right outside our kitchen window with a large spider in the middle. With all the rain, the web looks awesome and if I had any photography talent at all, I would have taken a picture. As it is, we've admired it several times in the last few days, including being grateful that the spider is outside our house and eating all the mosquitoes rather than inside where it would have to die an unavoidable quick death.

[Tawlas]

Morning :) I didn't get a chance to check in yesterday afternoon. We had a pretty darn good day! At least until ds crashed face first Calvin & Hobbes style (he reads them all the time) and ended up with a concussion, a bruised a scraped up face and a considerable cut inside he lower lip. It's an hour into the ER and he was *SO* strange on the way in, not remembering things, forgetting what I did tell him, arguing with me (which is really unlike him). By the time we got in, he seemed a lot better. Ended up staying in the ER for a few hours to observe him and got the okay later. He's pretty sore this morning, but much better. Considering I've been a parent now for 12+ years, that's only my 2nd trip to the ER. And his first! He's a pretty adventurous little soul, so that's probably pretty good :)

 

Our power was out for nearly six hours after the kids went to bed. We ended up just going to bed early which was probably exactly what I needed. Also, dh got home late last night, which is wonderful. He'll get all the animals fed, then head out again for a few more days.

 

Today's list:

 

Morning time

Chores/Spelling (ds8 and dd8)

Calendar/Math problem

Grammar

Writing - read and discuss new fable

Latin

Read Aloud (finish?)

Math (ds8 and dd8)

Break: eat lunch, feed animals, finish vacuuming I started when dd8 crashed yesterday

Reading/quiet time alternating kids + Math for ds6

Snack, DEAR

Odds and ends: piano practice, typing/cursive/printing

Tidy playroom

 

I also need to get a few emails sent. Poor ds8 can't really move his face, so soft foods are on the menu. I was already planning corn chowder for supper, we can do yogurt and home-canned fruit for snacks. Lunch? He likes canned beans. . . Better go stir the cream of wheat he's requested for breakfast. Have a great day everyone!

[Sahamamama]

Re: Poetry Tea

 

Last year, we enjoyed doing regular Poetry Teas and/or Cocoa Classics. We even did Cafe Classics a time or two. We simply put a pretty tablecloth on the table, made a pot of tea or cocoa (or pot of coffee), and enjoyed our warm drink with cookies. I read my choices while the girls ate and drank. After their tea/cocoa/coffee and cookies were consumed, the girls cleared the table, and then they took turns reading from our Poetry & Classics basket.

 

For poetry, we read from:

 

A Child's Introduction to Poetry (slightly creep illustrations in some places)

 

Poetry Speaks to Children

 

We also had several of the Dover thrift poetry collections.

 

For "Cocoa Classics," we read children's stories, such as Classic Fairy Tales by Scott Gustafson; fables, such as Aesop's Fables by Milo Winter; short stories, such as Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin (and others in his series); and Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit.

 

This year, we are still doing occasional Poetry Teas/Cocoa Classics, just not as frequently. We do miss this, though, so maybe we'll gather around the teapot more often. I warn you, once your children get used to this, they will not want to give it up! :)

 

 

[Critterfixer]

When you are done with the rain, MeganS, can I have it? Just a stray shower or two; I'd be content with that! It's dry, it's hot, and this is completely unacceptable to me as I specifically expect the heat to be vanishing right about now. It's cloudy, and it feels like a set of gills would come in handy for breathing, but it will not rain.

 

I was unavoidably detained in getting to sleep. There was something that needed my attention that required me to be up until two in the morning, but I'm actually not all that tired this morning. Well worth the time. In fact, I'm in extraordinarily good humor. We'll see if that lasts through the day. Just the usual line-up for us: French, Latin, Math, Spelling, a touch of grammar, Writing, History and Science. We start Chamber of Secrets today. That book has always grated on me as a read aloud, but I'll manage. 

[Sahamamama]

Ds crashed face first and ended up with a concussion, a bruised and scraped up face and a considerable cut inside his lower lip. [snip] Poor ds8 can't really move his face, so soft foods are on the menu.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: Oh, poor thing! I hope he feels better soon. We had a crash-landing-on-face a month ago, and it was only the visor on her bike helmet that saved her from worse damage. Other than the dangling tooth, it all healed up. She said, "Mommy, the one good thing about this is that I am getting so much attention!" I said, "Sweetie, if you want attention, please just ask next time!" :)

 

Applesauce, oatmeal, refried beans, mashed potatoes, ice cream, and extra snuggles. :grouphug: :grouphug:

 

[Critterfixer]

Ouch! Poor guy! 

I had one go off the side of a scooter once, but he got my hard head and didn't sustain a concussion, thank goodness! 

 

 

 

Morning  :) I didn't get a chance to check in yesterday afternoon. We had a pretty darn good day! At least until ds crashed face first Calvin & Hobbes style (he reads them all the time) and ended up with a concussion, a bruised a scraped up face and a considerable cut inside he lower lip. It's an hour into the ER and he was *SO* strange on the way in, not remembering things, forgetting what I did tell him, arguing with me (which is really unlike him). By the time we got in, he seemed a lot better. Ended up staying in the ER for a few hours to observe him and got the okay later. He's pretty sore this morning, but much better. Considering I've been a parent now for 12+ years, that's only my 2nd trip to the ER. And his first! He's a pretty adventurous little soul, so that's probably pretty good  :)

 

[MrsRobinson]

"Dangling tooth" *shudder* bad memories people!! I fell off my bike at age 6, knocking out one top front tooth and the other dangling. My memories of that experience are still so vivid. The hot blood filling my mouth and running down my neck, the horrified look on my mom's face as I ran inside. She had to wake the night worker neighbor to borrow her car to take me to the dentist because ours was in the repair shop.

 

Anyway, I came on about 20 minutes ago to post our plans for the day and I was going to say reading, language arts done and dd is currently darting around measuring various objects and furniture pieces around the house and recording them while ds tags along acting like he knows what he's doing. Then the doorbell rang. It was our Beautiful Feet history order! Dd ran to the book basket to choose a bookmark and demanded we read the first chapter right then! How could I say no to that?! So now history reading is done and they are back to measurement fun. Days like this one are my number 1 reason for homeschooling. <3

 

Still to do today:

-science

-bike ride

-catch up on mail and random paperwork

-piano lesson

[MeaganS]

When you are done with the rain, MeganS, can I have it? Just a stray shower or two; I'd be content with that! It's dry, it's hot, and this is completely unacceptable to me as I specifically expect the heat to be vanishing right about now. It's cloudy, and it feels like a set of gills would come in handy for breathing, but it will not rain.

 

You are welcome to it. It has been raining since Wednesday last week, so we will have had almost 2 full weeks of rain. It has also been in the 60s and 70s temperature-wise, so we turned off the A/C, but right now it is starting to get a bit warm in here and the mugginess isn't helping the swelling in my pregnant feet. :)

[Soror]

Tawlas- Your poor baby :(

 

Mrs. Robinson- Happy Box Day!!!!! It is great when they get all excited about books.

 

sahamama- Hmmm. I've never heard of Cocoa Classics, I like that idea, the kids love cocoa, maybe we could alternate with poetry or.... I'll have to think

 

 

I'm not surprisingly very tired and not moving too fast.

 

On the plus I have:

- caught up my documentation on Scholaric- I was about 2 weeks behind and I had to go through old accountability threads!

-ds finished all his robotics research and typed it up

-dd's painted beautiful rainbow pics- their idea

-math for ds

- spelling for dd

-most of dd's math and most of ds' spelling- they both seem to be having brain malfunctions today- not sure if we're going to call it good and pick it back up tomorrow or hit it again later, ds is still not feeling the best and I think that is what is going on with him, dd1 isn't feeling super peachy either

-dd2 language work

 

Dd1 and 2 are on breaks as both were getting a bit, I don't know, ds is reading about Greece and I'm getting ready to read aloud to him.

 

Who knows what we will get done today, we are just putting one foot in front of the other!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Soror, today is a "put one foot in front of the other" day for me too.  

[MeaganS]

And school is done. Well, except for DD7 finishing her math fact flashcards, but she's working on them right now. And oh my goodness, it was a whiny day today for her. Math took her an hour and a half and should have taken half that. Every 2 problems I had to get her back on task. So rough day with math, but everything else went fairly well, I think. 

 

We have a well-documented phenomenon that happens at our house, and I'm wondering if we are alone. Apparently her bum gets itchy (really just her very lower back, so not THAT gross) and she can't focus. Every day. Only during math. It seems like she has found the perfect excuse. What do I say to that besides, "better hurry up and get your work done, then." I think this is related to falling out of your chair disease. Maybe it makes your bum slippery too? :)

[Critterfixer]

 

We have a well-documented phenomenon that happens at our house, and I'm wondering if we are alone. Apparently her bum gets itchy (really just her very lower back, so not THAT gross) and she can't focus. Every day. Only during math. It seems like she has found the perfect excuse. What do I say to that besides, "better hurry up and get your work done, then." I think this is related to falling out of your chair disease. Maybe it makes your bum slippery too?  :)

 

:lol: I have one who always finds that his nails are in desperate need of chewing during math. And then they hurt and he can't concentrate. It doesn't help that math gets more complicated and there is more to practice to keep the memory fresh for them. Even dear CLE seems to have a soul-sucking amount of problems to do daily. C'est la vi. 

Today I dispensed chocolate chips to act as an antidote. It seems to be having some effect, but I've no idea if it would work for itchy bum.

[OneGirlAcademy]

MeaganS- when my daughter was in a private school, grades 1st-4th, every day during Math time she would go to the bathroom. She would be gone 20-30 minutes. The teacher would have to go and search for her. So, you are not alone.

[Soror]

No itchy bums here, although we do have the affliction of loosing our pencils....

 

Jean- sorry to hear your having a rough day too.

 

Ds read about Ancient Greece and we started on The Illiad, with plenty of side tracks looking up maps of Ancient Greece. I also read Unbroken to him. I'm scraping Science today as we spent so long on History.

 

rest of the day, hopeful plans:

Maxwell's with dd1- 15ish min

Math with dd2- 15ish min

Grammar ds- 15 min on his own

writing ds w/ me- 30 min with me

family read-alouds 30 min

poetry tea 30 min

 

I think I have time for everything although I'm not feeling hopeful about drawing or supper....

[Tawlas]

Well, here I am again. Kids are eating lunch and it's ten to 1. Yikes! Science took longer than I expected as it was a rather long lab using marshmallows to figure out the "build" of each of the first 10 atoms, then sorting the electrons (mini marshmallows) into their proper energy levels. I took Chem 12 and I don't even remember about energy levels lol. But I let them have a few marshmallows from each type of marshmallow, so they're currently gulping down their grilled cheese to get to their treats.

 

I may let them play past 130 a bit since we finished so late. They need time to run around in the sunshine and wind to come back and tackle reading with a little oomph. Really that's all that's left, reading. And odds and ends. And ds6's math. I need to figure out what to do with him as far as math goes, the first few chapters of MM have not challenged him at all. But I think time and place value should. So really, it's not that I have to figure out what to do, I just need to do it. And then I'd like to get him onto CLE flashcard system for fact memorization, but ds8 is still using them as he finishes the last part of 200. At least for today, instead of more "this is how we subtract" type sheets, we'll play some right start games.

[Critterfixer]

We are done with school for the day. I'm hoping to get the kitchen cleaned, then we will make a trip out to MIL's to visit with her since she was supposed to come home today. After that, I might write for a while. Funny how a long, wakeful night seems to jump start a creative spell. I have never quite been able to figure that one out.

School went pretty well. I took a look at tomorrow's math lesson and got to work with the gold pen cutting and slashing. Math should be far more pleasant tomorrow with some judicious trimming of the problem set.

[Sdel]

Done for the day.   Just did science and math.  We started late again.....but I guess the important thing is that we started.  Science was a bit of teeth pulling....but we did a mind map for "notes" on rocks.  Before we start tomorrow, we'll go over them.  I had to do the math lesson twice after a short break of chores.  It was obvious that DD was playing.  She was insisting she "didn't understand" what we were doing (review work) and purposefully messing up her numbers.  I can tell when she is playing vs. when she doesn't really understand because she'll slit her eyes and tilt her head and say something in a funny voice, and then glance over me to see if I bought the act.  The second time around she was much more compliant and efficient in her work.  I think I'm catching on to something here.....

 

I just shipped her outside to jump on the trampoline since she seems to feel the need to jump from fireplace to my couch.....something she knows is unacceptable and against the rules.  Once she comes back in, obviously winded from jumping, she can do a few more chores.

 

Stefanie

[Jean in Newcastle]

Tuesday - 

 

Bad day for me today physically but I think we've survived.  I'm in the homestretch now.  We did not have a picture perfect school day today but I think I need to let that go.  It's what I would advise others to do, afterall.

 

Math - Dd was very motivated today.  We go out for frozen yogurt whenever she hits a ten percent increase in Khan Academy.  Today she worked and worked (she was close) until she reached 50% mastery.  We all like it when she wins frozen yogurt because we all go along and have some too.

 

Vocab - fine

 

Language Arts - grammar today.  Fine

 

History of Science - We put together a bunch of preliminary things that have to dry before we can continue with the project.  We'll finish it tomorrow.  

We did not get to regular history or regular science or Spanish or Sherlock.  I feel a twinge of guilt about this that I am trying to stuff deep down so that eventually I will need therapy.  

 

Part of the reason we cut things short was so that I could take ds18 for a job interview.  This interview is for all things geeky and is right up his Aspie-ish alley.  We'll see if he gets it.  I consider these job type things part of his education right now.  

[Another Lynn]

Y'all have heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results?  Well, sign me up.  I just keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  Two most recently.... Last spring trying singapore when I know we're most successful with spiral.  (I did this with the older two about 5 years ago, and now have tried it with the younger three.)  And another one.  I tried VPSP history 4 years ago for 2nd ds and 2 or so years ago for 1st dd.  Neither one made it the whole year.  I should have seen a pattern.  But, no, since my youngest is 2nd grade this year, I was thinking she could start the series this year and complete all of the levels before middle school.  What a great plan.  Not.  She's been losing enthusiasm for awhile now and finally today tells me she doesn't want to do history on the computer any more.  She just likes it when I read to her.  Come to think of it, maybe that's what's wrong with me too.... no one who really needed me to read history to them.  Problem solved.  Hopefully I'll remember this lesson for more than 2 years this time?

[Sahamamama]

Apparently her... lower back [gets itchy], and she can't focus. Every day. Only during math.

 

You need Magic Math Lotion, a small tube of sweet-smelling lotion that comes out only during math. Rub some on the affected spot, and voila! Magic Math Lotion always cures the itch and enhances focus. ;)

[Sahamamama]

Tuesday's Work

 

Made meat loaves

Made beef-veggie stew (huge CP)

Made sausage-peppers-onions-zucchini (huge CP) -- we need a better name for this, I think

Fruit tray

Cleaned the kitchen

Laundry

 

Independent Work -- French, Wordly Wise, Instrument Practice, Poetry MW, Independent Reading & Notebook Summaries (Bible, Science, Biography, Literature, Civics, History, Math, Composer), Greek (alphabet review)

 

3rd Grade Tutor Time -- Reading Check-In, French, Composition, Spelling, Math

5th Grade Tutor Time -- Reading Check-In (and a hopefully gentle-enough-but-firm-enough lecture on managing her time and focusing on her assignments and due dates!), Math

 

Watched Ice Age: Continental Drift :)

 

Supper & clean up

 

Play time

 

Bed time

[Sdel]

Exhausted.....I hate to say it, but right now I'm *done* with DD.  Since 2:00 pm every word out her mouth has been a rude demand, a whine, a complaint, or an argument about what I just said. 

 

I know the driving factor was she was tired.  She fought going to be last night and I woke her up early to get her to swim team today.....but SOMETHING has to change because this attitude happens more than it doesn't.  It's time to go military academy on her rear end.....

 

Stefanie

[Sahamamama]

I was unavoidably detained in getting to sleep. There was something that needed my attention that required me to be up until two in the morning, but I'm actually not all that tired this morning. Well worth the time. In fact, I'm in extraordinarily good humor. We'll see if that lasts through the day.

 

 

After that, I might write for a while. Funny how a long, wakeful night seems to jump start a creative spell. I have never quite been able to figure that one out.

 

Oh, you were writing. Somehow, I had read that first post differently, and I was thinking, "Wow. Two in the morning? No wonder she's the Energizer Bunny."

[Critterfixer]

 

Oh, you were writing. Somehow, I had read that first post differently, and I was thinking, "Wow. Two in the morning? No wonder she's the Energizer Bunny."

 

Well, naturally...what else would I be doing at two in the morning, hmm? :laugh:

I don't think I'll be up that late tonight though. At some point good writing becomes monkeys at keyboards and sleep deprivation prevents one from recognizing the changeover. 

 

Started The Chamber of Secrets tonight and I managed to read with enthusiasm and energy. But that's about all I've got left on the day. 

[MrsRobinson]

Perhaps my last post recounting to you all the horrors of my bike accident was prophetic, I don't know...

 

After piano lessons, we dropped all the kids at grandma's so we could go sign final closing papers for our house sale. Well dd tripped over a blanket of all things and landed on her arm just perfectly so that it broke all the way to the elbow socket requring surgery by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon first thing tomorrow morning to place pins in her arm!!!!! You can't make this stuff up!!!!

 

She just got settled to bed about 15 minutes ago and I have to wake her up in an hour for more pain meds. We have an hour drive at the crack of dawn to the hospital. It's gonna be a long night and a long day.

 

Homeschool funny though, she was reciting Who Has Seen the Wind? to me over and over to distract herself while the nurses put in an IV. Ha-ha!!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I can't like your post, Mrs. Robinson.  ((hugs)) for you and your dd.

[Another Lynn]

:grouphug: Mrs. Robinson.  That sounds terrible!  Hope it heals quickly.

[Sahamamama]

Perhaps my last post recounting to you all the horrors of my bike accident was prophetic, I don't know...

 

After piano lessons, we dropped all the kids at grandma's so we could go sign final closing papers for our house sale. Well dd tripped over a blanket of all things and landed on her arm just perfectly so that it broke all the way to the elbow socket requiring surgery by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon first thing tomorrow morning to place pins in her arm!!!!! You can't make this stuff up!!!!

 

She just got settled to bed about 15 minutes ago and I have to wake her up in an hour for more pain meds. We have an hour drive at the crack of dawn to the hospital. It's gonna be a long night and a long day.

 

Homeschool funny though, she was reciting Who Has Seen the Wind? to me over and over to distract herself while the nurses put in an IV. Ha-ha!!

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: I am up at dawn, East Coast time, and you and your daughter are on my prayer list. Cat nap when you can, Mrs. Robinson.

[Soror]

Mrs. Robinson, huge hugs that is horrible, I hope it goes well today.

 

Stefanie- I hope today is a new day for you!

 

Miracle of miracles we made it through the day. We were only running 30 min late(I was vacuuming when our guests arrived) but we made it. Well, everything but some drawing but I'm calling a great day. The kids did not like our poached pears, they thought they were too sweet, I thought they were yummy with the vanilla icecream I shouldn't have ate :) I whipped up some meatballs and fried rice to go with our leftovers for an easier supper(since me and the kids ate some leftovers for lunch I needed to stretch it). Poetry time went well, the kids are loving reading Prelutsky and I'm just happy they are excited.

 

I've doing cuisanaire math with dd2, sometimes Miquon or some Education Unboxed or sometimes our own thing, well today I tried some Gattegno Math with her. I seen it posted on here(somehow I missed this before), it is Cuisanaire math but kind of scripted a bit more and there is a sequential order. She enjoyed it and I like it well enough and it is free so we'll see how it goes. 

 

I had a thought about our science, instead of trying to run all these different things I should embrace the fact that they want to do it together. Yesterday I read about and discussed the Moon with the girls, well ds loves read-alouds and is always there with discussion so he was right in it too. Some went over their head and some was new to him, so although he didn't work on his science he did do some science, the same can be said of nature study, he always participates in this as well and when he does his Bite-Sized Physics they tag along with the activities. So I can do 1 day of read-alouds focused towards the girls, 1 day of nature studies, 1 day of physics(even at 1 lesson a week we'll finish by the end of the year) that itself is 2.5+ hrs of science a week for them, which IMO is sufficient, especially as we always do stuff on our own as well. On days when the girls are doing some kind of craft or such for cultural studies that he doesn't want to do I'll just have him do some reading on his own.

 

I slept last night so I'm hoping for a good day, although they are still asleep at 7:30..... We do have dentist appointments so I'll have to stop by 2:00pm at the latest so we can get cleaned up. 

 

I'm totally geeked out and excited to see our school gelling together more and more as we get on with the year, it is neat to see my younger ones able to start in with discussing and participating with our activities.

 

Today's List:

Composition- dd1-ds1

Ancient Greece reading -ds

RA: Unbroken and Illiad- ds

 

All:

Math

Spelling/phonics

Physics

Read-Aloud- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- we're finishing today, maybe we can watch tonight, all the kids are excited- crazy as it seems since we've watched it several times before, even dd3, who is (nearly)3 keeps bringing me the book to read

 

Chores: 

Dishes

Laundry

Kitchen Sweep 

Prepare Pork- it needs to be in the oven before I leave as it takes 5 hrs to cook

[Soror]

OH, I forgot about drawing, we're doing it straight away so it doesn't get dropped today. The girls are busy coloring.

[Critterfixer]

 

 

After piano lessons, we dropped all the kids at grandma's so we could go sign final closing papers for our house sale. Well dd tripped over a blanket of all things and landed on her arm just perfectly so that it broke all the way to the elbow socket requring surgery by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon first thing tomorrow morning to place pins in her arm!!!!! You can't make this stuff up!!!! 

:grouphug: Oh, that poor baby! I hope she was able to rest well last night and that surgery goes perfectly today. 

 

 

I know the driving factor was she was tired.  She fought going to be last night and I woke her up early to get her to swim team today.....but SOMETHING has to change because this attitude happens more than it doesn't.  It's time to go military academy on her rear end.....

 

:grouphug: Ain't fun. I hope she got a good rest last night and that today is better.

 

Today should be pretty routine for us, although I do have an errand in town this afternoon before I can come home for movie night. We should finish another unit in French today, and finish the last worksheet on the Latin lesson. I trimmed the math lesson, because the boys are dragging through math lately. I took a look and had to say that sixty-plus problems was overkill, so I selected about half of the problems and left the others in case review was needed. This should improve morale and I honestly think they may concentrate a little better on the problems they will be doing. No grammar today, but the boys should work on sentence composition in combination with their spelling practice. For writing, they will be working from the scene outline they made yesterday for the first act of the model. I'd like them to get a rough draft for that scene today. For history, we have business and trade in Rome. Science deals with precipitation--I wish there was some to demonstrate. :glare: Geography is a review lesson and a quiz. In literature we should get halfway through the last story that deals with Beowulf and the dragon. 

I'm excited about getting to Celtic mythology soon. That's our next read, and I've more than half a mind to do some personal reading in the area. I love some of those characters, and wouldn't mind spending a little time on some of those curious cyclical stories. Actually, I feel the same way about Norse mythology. So it should be a fun few months once we move into the Middle Ages.

[OneGirlAcademy]

Mrs. Robinson- positive thoughts of healing, less pain, and less worries coming your way.

 

Sahamamma- I'm was like you, I wasn't really clear what Critter was doing at 2am.

 

Soror- glad you got some rest. Have fun getting your geek on.

 

 

Sdel- I have been there also with my daughter. It is not fun. Being tired is a big part of it. I hope you guys find your balance. It took a lot of tweaking on time schedules, curriculum, goals, attitude both for me and her, and heart to heart honest conversations for us to come out of that cloud of misery. To be honest, that beast still rears it's ugly head once in a while if I or

she slides from that balance.

 

Well, dd is not ahead of the weekly schedule like she was last week. In fact, she is a little behind. But, yesterday she had an orthodontist appointment. Which didn't really effect her schedule but it sounds like a good excuse. I'm not too worried. At least, I'm trying not to let my dd see it. I'm trying to be more relaxed this year.

 

The apple sauce turned out to be a lot of work with very little gain. I think it's a lot cheaper just to buy apple sauce from Trader's Joes.

 

After the orthodontist appointment, dd and I bought matching pumpkin t-shirts at Walmart. We are going to an awesome pumpkin patch this weekend; so a perfect time to wear matching pumpkin shirts.

[Tawlas]

Mrs Robinson! My goodness, that's awful! I admit, her poetry recitation made me giggle though. All the best for today :)

 

The usual here. Some serious things to go over with dh, I'm very concerned about his stress level, but I don't expect it to disrupt school. I guess things are always stressful on a ranch this time of year but stil . . .

 

Anyhow. Dd8 starts girl guides this evening. Hope she likes it!

[Soror]

Today has went swell, getting ready to read Charlie before we clean ourselves up and go in town. I've got the pork ready to go in the oven and it will only have to cook 2.5 hrs and not 5 like I thought. Hopefully we'll tackle laundry while watching the movie, it is a tradition to fold and watch here :)

 

Today's List:

Composition- dd1-ds1

Ancient Greece reading -ds

RA: Unbroken and Illiad- ds

 

All:

Math

Spelling/phonics

Physics

Drawing+ Coloring

Read-Aloud- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- we're finishing today, maybe we can watch tonight, all the kids are excited- crazy as it seems since we've watched it several times before, even dd3, who is (nearly)3 keeps bringing me the book to read

 

Chores: 

Dishes

Laundry

Kitchen Sweep 

Prepare Pork- it needs to be in the oven before I leave as it takes 5 hrs to cook

walk/run

[Sdel]

OneGirl - yes.  It seems like she is always exhausted.  I'm sure a good portion of it is sensory related and I honestly believe she can't tell when she is tired, hungry, or needs to eliminate (though she doesn't have accidents).  I know when she is hungry because she'll get orally fixated but she'll insist she isn't hungry when I suggest it.  Same when she is tired....she insists she's "hungry" but once I get her to sit still and shut up, she's out.   When you try to get her to go, she'll argue with you that she doesn't need to....but then 5 minutes later (when she's finally still because she's in the car) she suddenly has to go right then.... 

 

As far as school, not happening today.  We are in overload right now.  We are starting horseback riding lessons this week.  I had my first lesson in over 10 years....and I can already feel it.  And because it was the first lesson and I was figuring out my way around and how they do things, it took a lot longer than expected.  DD goes tomorrow.  DH had a sleep study last night, and since he wasn't home, I threw the dead bolt.  He got released super early because equipment malfunction (although they had enough to make a diagnosis) and so he had to wake me up at 3:30 in the morning to let him in.  It took a while to get back to sleep, and then the early morning for swim.  I'm really trying to get up the motivation to go clean bedrooms since its visitation day instead of take a nap on the couch.  I may luck out there, parents are already saying they may not show......

 

Stefanie

[Tawlas]

Okay, so dd8 slept in this morning so I went light on the Morning Time so she didn't miss her favourite books. Still, it was a good opportunity to review French with ds8 who didn't have 2 1/2 years of immersion to help him out like dd8 did. After that we got:

 

Spelling for two olders

Chores/coffee :)

Math problem/calendar for littles

Writing (reviewed fable and discussed, dictation which wasn't great but not awful)

Practiced FLL poem "The Land of Nod"

Latin, finished chapter 6

History Read aloud: Finished our Viking Sword novel. On to very early Canada.

Play for littles, Math for olders. ds is nearly done LU 207 and dd completed 20 division problems on her own!

Science, pulled out "The Elements" so we could "oooh" and "aaaaaah" while figuring out symbols of specific elements

 

Now they're outside. I've had lunch, about to grain the cows and water my poor plants.

 

I was worried about having school all day (compared to half days last year) but I actually look forward to having 30-45 minutes alone with each kid while the others are tucked away somewhere quiet. It's much more relaxed and I feel like all my kids are well-matched to their phonics programs right now. I think I even figured out what to do with my advanced 6 year old. We're reading through 5 or more lessons in OPGTR just to see if there's anything he doesn't know but as soon as we're done, I think we'll read history books and science books since he's usually playing with the toddler while I do those topics with his older siblings.

 

I guess that's what you do once a child is reading fluently? Go from learning to read, to reading to learn? I dunno. I've never had a fluent reader before lol.

 

Left to do today:

Reading for olders

reading and math for younger

typing/cursive/printing

piano practice for olders

 

hopefully down hill from here! Good luck everyone!

[Sahamamama]

Wednesday's Work

 

Chores, meals, laundry

 

Civics (US Government)

History Lesson

 

5th Grade -- Latin, Composition, Bible MW, Math, Reading Check-In, more Composition

3rd Grade -- Math, Reading Check-In, Bible MW, Independent Reading & Notebook Summaries

 

Play time

Nap -- they must have a nap today!

 

Church midweek

[Jean in Newcastle]

What happened to my motivation?  I did fine on week 1 and 2 but this week has been the pits.  

 

Math - Had its moments but was fine overall.

 

Vocab - She's done for the week and did very well.  I am all caught up on grading as well.

 

Writing - She didn't do any today and is hoping I didn't notice.  Obviously I do notice but have decided not to push it today.

 

Science - I'm the one who didn't bring this up today.  I like experiments but I'm just not up to this one today.

 

Spanish - We both did fine.  We just did DuoLingo today.

 

History of Science - We finished the project we started yesterday.  It is drying now so I'm still not 100% sure we put the kit of a steam engine together right (though we did follow the directions meticulously).   Once it dries we'll try it out to see if all the part move correctly.

 

History/Lit.  - After doing a lot of study on the Victorian era, we started to read Sherlock Holmes today.  The first couple of chapters just set the scene.

 

Sherlock (as in how to think like him) - dd read a section on reading today.  Tomorrow she does a speed reading drill.

 

So I guess that means we did 6/8 (3/4 if you reduce it) school today.  

 

She is now baking.  

[Soror]

Stefanie- (hugs) to you , hopefully it is a restful night.

 

Jean- I hope you get your mojo back soon, sure stinks to not be motivated. 

 

So, we went to pick up our money from the Fair and what do I see but a sign about a class about Wild Edibles at a local cave next week. I just think we'll have to add that to our schedule if it is family friendly, I told the girls and they were really excited. I've bought books and I've worked on learning to identify various things but I'm always nervous that I'm wrong when it comes to eating anything! 

 

we're currently watching Willy Wonka, we finished it this afternoon, it was so cute to see my dd2, she was just so excited to hear the rest of the story she just wanted to read it herself. I think she will be more of a book lover like her brother!

[Sdel]

Stefanie- (hugs) to you , hopefully it is a restful night.

 

 

 

Hopefully.  No visit tonight, but it's only the start of the drama train with the parents.  By the end of tomorrow I'm sure they'll be pressuring us to let them borrow our "extra" car because they wrecked theirs today.  We are already getting the victim set up and the story changes.  I'm sure eventually that it'll come out that they don't have insurance.  People who have insurance don't talk about self pay for front end body damage in which the car is described as the "hood is in 'waves' and the whole car shakes at highway speeds".  It's very likely the car is totaled because it can't be worth much with as many miles as it has on it.

 

Stefanie 

[Critterfixer]

We had a good day. Got everything done. It's Movie night and the pizza is in the oven. 

No school for us tomorrow.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Gah - out of likes.  Critter, consider your last post liked!  

[Soror]

So, I got home and was excited because I thought Jousting Armadillos would be waiting at my door. Nope. Not there. Now I can't find any record of what I thought I ordered, I guess I never completely finished the order, so it is now really and truly ordered and should be here next Wednesday, I was hoping for more time to go over it before he was ready to start but we'll make it work. I also just ordered OUP's Ancient Greek World. I had planned to order Mill's book about Greece but never got around to it, ds tolerated the Ancient World book but didn't find it super engaging so since OUP is cheaper anyway I figure we'll try it and see how we like it. 

[MrsRobinson]

Update on dd:

 

Surgery went smoothly. We are home now and she is asleep til her next dose of pain meds. Wow, its hard to see your child in that much pain but I'm so grateful for the technology that allowed her surgery to be minimally invasive and the doctors and nurses that took care of her today.

 

We are looking ahead at a permanent cast next week, cast and pin removal 3 weeks after that, then physical therapy. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and that schedule doesn't get stretched any further.

 

Thank you all for your encouraging words and prayers. They truly helped.