Just sharing our day....

[stm4him]

I missed the morning because I had to go take a 2 hour glucose test, but while I was gone they got their math worksheets, thinking skills, and Greek done. One got Latin done but the other needs my help so we'll have to do it tomorrow. When I came home they were raking leaves and actually enjoying it (odd, I know), so I'll have to check tomorrow that they really did all that they said they did and we'll have to make up the math lesson part they missed today. While I was at the doctor I read portions of Echo in Celebration again and a chapter from A Mind at a Time. I realized my daughter's attention issues are not related to her work load or sleep schedule, but her ability to regulate her attention on any given day. I will have to look into how to better help her with this.

 

Anyway, when we got upstairs I read to them the back of a timeline card and we discussed it. One couldn't find his notebook so he'll have to make his up later. The other is behind on hers so she notebooked an old card. Actually she drew the picture and had to go back later before dinner to finish it, but it got done. We reviewed week 13 of last cycle for history and sang all our current cycle history songs to this point. Then I read this week's history highlights and they notebooked that. We looked up the verses mentioned about Cush in the Bible. We discussed and went over our two labs from CC yesterday and they filled out their lab worksheets from CC Connected, including a Bible verse for each.

 

We then practiced our current week memory work all together and they located the places on their trivium map (well, three out of the four did). We reviewed all our Latin from this year and week 13 Latin from last year. Then we had lunch and recess. My husband and I had a brief conference call with my son's cancer doc about his upcoming treatments and I was encouraged that it might not be as bad as I thought it was going to be.....

 

After break they were sent up to work on their poem and catechism but I think only one did :-( Then we jumped into a grammar lesson at the chalkboard. They sat on the floor with whiteboards. It was hard to get them to sit up and be attentive and my oldest had a momentary meltdown that she didn't understand what in the world we were doing (even though she had been doing them right for several minutes). We were discussing verb tenses and reviewing irregular verbs from last year. But eventually she figured it out and it was ok.

 

We watched the phonogram DVD I just bought and they laughed through most of it. I think it was just the afternoon giggles or something. Then I met with my second one for an overly easy quiz of the 1st 26 phonograms. We worked on dress ups for his IEW outline and then he read me a McGuffey lesson. He took a McCall Crabbs comprehension test and I read him the first five lessons that he has already done to see if any of them were a narrative structure. I forgot to mention that after the video I had taught them about narrative structure, point of view, fiction vs. nonfiction, and a few basic genres in a fast 10 minute lesson. While I met with him my oldest did her coloring pages of the phonograms, cursive, literature and a lit guide (which we are dropping when she finishes the current one), and read from The Rat-Catcher's Son for her free reading time (related to our history topic today). Then they switched and she worked with me. For IEW today since we were behind and it was running really late I just let her illustrate some previous IEW compositions I had typed up. We forgot to do Rhythmic Writing (her therapy homework) which will no doubt cause problems tomorrow at her lesson but its too late now to fix that.

 

After dinner (hubby made bacon sandwiches and cheesesticks...lol) we had a devotion where we sang three hymns and read the history of the new one we are learning. We discussed the manner of thanking people when we are invited over and greeting everyone in the household. Then we watched a short video introducing our character trait of the month, which is generosity. I forgot to say I had already introduced it a little at memory work time. Then I got the littles ready for bed and read to them a Bible story, Mother Goose, and Miss Rumphius. Then I put the little girls to bed and read a more in depth Bible story to my almost 6 year old. I had a Bible time with my oldest two where we learned about the authors of the Psalms and the different kinds of Psalms there are, etc. Then they wrote out their ACTS prayer notes and we prayed. My third one came in to kiss me so he joined us in prayer too. Then I read one chapter of Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot and one chapter of Prince Caspian. And they just went to bed.

 

My house is a complete mess, my laundry looks like Mt. Everest. I didn't work with my little ones today on their schoolwork and there were a few loose ends that didn't get done, but all in all it was a good day and if we can keep on track with our schedule I think it will be much better. I felt much less pressure today without so much language arts curriculum to do and instead had a list of topics to cover. I think we all enjoyed learning a lot more. I just need to get better at setting them up to be attentive and taking away distractions while I'm teaching, but I think I can do that.

 

It's frustrating to go to bed with a messy house, piles of papers to put away from over break, and a ton of laundry to do, but I feel my cup overflowed today with the knowledge of Him and He was part of almost all that we did and learned today. My kids wanted to snuggle with me tonight which means their cups were filled too. I enjoyed teaching today (most of the time) and I hope this is a new beginning in which searching Him out is the goal, and I can rejoice in the victories and look past the shortcomings.....

[Jean in Newcastle]

It sounds like you got a lot of school done despite being gone for your test. Good job on focusing on the Lord.