Is anyone having a *good* day?

[Brooketopia]

I know, I know, I generally come sniffing around the boards when I'm having a difficult day or have a question about something, so please know that I'm not pointing at anyone. The boards are great for the tough stuff.

 

I'm just really craving some warm and fuzzy thoughts that make me think homeschooling is all kinds of awesome (again). I’m hugely inspired by those kinds of threads, so…GO!

 

BRAG, CHEER, GIVE THANKS . Who has stories? Tell us, tell us!

[lewelma]

I'm having a great day. It is school holidays here. I have put my youngest into gymnastics and my oldest into art, and I am sitting here with a cup of tea!!!

 

We had a great day a couple of weeks ago that I posted about here: http://forums.welltr...ut-huge-for-us/

 

Ruth in NZ

[Kelly1730]

We had a "normal" day, nothing too exciting. I'm actually sort of sad to think that this school year is almost over. Sure, I'm ready to sit by the pool and relax but it makes me sad to realize that we finished another year and will be moving onto sixth grade in a few months. My babies are growing up!

[Mandy in TN]

We had a small group of kids over today to discuss botany. I told them the story of John Muir. We did a mini-book on trees. We discussed leaves, photosynthesis and transpiration. I had an indoor plant that I had a plastic turkey bag over so that they could see transpiration. We did a mini-book on leaves. We read 3 poems: Trees by Sara Coleridge(trees), a haiku with a kitten and fallen leaf by Issa (leaves), and the first 2 couplets from Song of the Sun by Christian Morgenstern translated by Max Knight (photosynthesis).

 

Then, we went to the park where we spent time with other homeschool families. After the park we stopped for ice cream for the little man and then walked from the ice cream shop to his mandolin lesson. Shortly, we will be leaving to go to Chik-fil-A family night.

 

It was not a hugely productive day as far as schoolwork goes, but all-in-all it was a good day. :)

Mandy

 

ETA: maybe I can have him do some math and grammar in the car on the way to Chik-fil-A. lol

[PollyOR]

11yodd and I finished school in a mere three hours! I think it was a record for this year. :hurray:

[melbotoast]

We just moved into a new house, so we're starting back up again slowly. Today DS enjoyed doing math facts while running and jumping in the backyard. It's a small thing, but we are so glad to be in a house now instead of an apartment!

[AK_Mom4]

We had a good day here, too. DD11 finished her schoolwork in record time. She finished her science for the year yesterday so we decided to finish out the last few weeks by starting some plants for the garden and watching cool science videos on Netflix. She made lots of progress on her end-of-year report for English (five page paper on our state capital)

 

My car died at saxophone lessons today, but that turned out ok too because I got a chance to chat with her teacher while DH came to rescue me.

[Koerarmoca]

I went to a informational meeting on a local homeschool enrichment program it looks great and the are in SOTW 2 which is what we would be doing next year so I'm kind of excited about the possibility. They meet 1 day a week and have tons of options for the kids.

 

 

So that will be my positive of the day!

[boscopup]

We had a pretty good day. Got school going before 8am and were able to knock out some things that we'd blown off yesterday (such nice weather the last two days!). DS1 finished his math book. He melted down a bit during handwriting and grammar over silly things, but it turned out later this afternoon that he was getting sick. So he slept the afternoon away. It's a cold. DH has had the cold, and I've had the cold. It's been a bit like this:

 

http://youtu.be/mz6DktXFvg4

 

So now DS1 has the man cold. :)

 

DS2 was productive in his school today too. He finished the first section of Phonics Pathways (where it says they should be at in 1st grade). I'm quite proud of him! He also ended up doing two reviews in math. He really wants to do division this week. :D

 

I've put away some laundry and run another couple loads. My kitchen is clean, dishwasher running, sink shiny. I'm feeling pretty good!

 

 

 

(and I should say in defense of my man cold victims, DS1 *does* have a 101 fever, so he really isn't feeling good, and I suspect DH also had a fever when his man cold started... I haven't had a fever so far, just lots and lots of sinus drainage, which is annoying, but oh well)

[SorrelZG]

I've been having decent days this week. My firstborn ASKED to write a paragraph yesterday for English. I expected him to change his mind after having to complete his English lesson first but he didn't. I worked through to the problems with his first draft with him and he got halfway through writing his second draft before moving on to his educational DVD of choice. He is loving history and science (does most of his learning on his own time and then shares with me as it comes up while we're reading his core books), math is going smoothly (miracle of miracles) and he's finally getting the idea of fractions (I love his math book) and did I mention he ASKED to write a paragraph?! My next two are coming along very well in their phonics lessons and all my younger ones actually WANT to do phonics lessons (Firstborn had to be bribed and/or dragged kicking and screaming into the reading world but now he knows mother knows best, even if he hasn't applied that lesson to other areas). Oh, and they are all helping with chores around the house (not always perfectly - in action or attitude - but enough to usually make a pleasant difference). There is the issue of the local language that we aren't making much of any progress in but ..slow and steady, right?

[Eagle]

It was a great day here. Swimming lesson, music lesson, we made art to mimic the book "perfect square", had free-time crafts, built a puzzle, played lego, listened to Handel and Bizet, and played Go Fish with Post-Impressionist art cards.

[Julie Smith]

A good day here, followed by a pleasant night.

 

Now just to get the kids to bed. :) Wish me luck with that.

[JessMcG]

We had an awesome day, glad you asked. ;) DH was home and offered to watch the kids from 9-5 so I could have some free time. I opted to bring DD10 along. We went hiking, browsed Barnes & Noble, ate pizza and frozen yogurt, shopped for craft supplies, visited an elderly relative in the hospital, and went to my favorite tea store. But that is a rare event.

 

I really wanted to answer this question because homeschooling has gotten so much better since I've made THE CHANGE. You will see what I'm referring to in my signature. More specifically, around Thanksgiving I dropped around 50% of our curriculum. Since then, our school days have been good days with very few exceptions.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Well, today was good, but honestly that is typically normal. Now yesterday was a great day so I'll tell you about that. :)

 

Yesterday I taught my 3 co-op classes (Art History, Greek History, and Composition). We all had a good time and everyone learned something new. After co-op we returned home with my dear friend and her son, who have lunch and history with us every Monday afternoon. We had another wonderful lady from our co-op and her three children join us since they are thinking about using the same history and wanted to see how I planned it and how our "Project Mondays" were organized.

 

We all enjoyed lunch - the kids ate quickly so they could get some play time before we started history - and then we three ladies got to sit and chat for a bit. Hooray for adult conversation!

 

The dc came in after a bit, we discussed our history reading, did some geography, discussed the documentary everyone watched about Pompeii earlier in the week, and then let the dc create a volcano complete with lego buildings and lego "dudes" to represent Pompeii. It worked out wonderfully. It didn't look very authentic but the mentos in the coke was a huge hit. We were able to do it three times, which was prompted by the kids wanting to know if the soda would shoot higher if we put more mentos in. We weren't very scientific about it since we didn't actually measure the height of the soda, but the general consensus was that 1 mentos created almost the same "plume" as 5; much to the disappointment of all. :p

 

I'm actually glad that the majority of our days are typically good but fairly commonplace, and mostly predictable because it makes days like this one really special and memorable.

[Hedgehogs4]

we had a great day, too. After feeling very disorganized and frustrated for several weeks, I finally put together some workable lesson plans for the week, and the kids responded well. My DS 11 finished his first ever essay and dd7 stayed on task and didn't go off into LaLa land too much. They managed to check off everything on the list and even went to art class for 2 hours this morning. Good day. I really needed that.

[Mrs.Gregg]

We are having a fantastic week. My youngest who has been a reluctant reader is asking to read extra books and do extra phonics lessons. It's been so wonderful and my oldest has been blooming in math.

[*Lulu*]

Today was a very good day.

 

Punk and I had an awesome discussion about the Civil Rights Movement, he completed his math in record time and with great accuracy, and he had terrific emotional self-regulation all.day.long. *happy dance*

 

Sister completed all her work plus spent an extra hour or so reading something heavier than the Fairy series. *fist pump*

 

Bug made multiple mistakes but did not melt down and made a big jump in two areas where he had been stagnating. *tosses confetti in the air*

 

Yes, a very good day indeed.

[serendipitous journey]

I had a great day b/c A. sat his standardized tests all AM. Good grief, I had so much time to THINK!!!! whoo-hoo! Then his proctor reported that he thought the testing was so much fun.

 

hee hee. This is what comes of providing a child with constantly-challenging curricula -- test day is a treat! (he's neurotypical and a quick study, so my Rigorous Curricula can't take all the claim. Still. We work hard. Today was the kind of good feeling that you get when you stop banging your hand with a hammer ... Friday it's back to hammer-banging again ;) )

 

ETA: after seeing all the posts by folks who had a good day actually doing school and learning with their joyful children, I feel compelled to comment that A. is incredibly intense, temperamental, and structure-requiring. Really he is.

[PachiSusan]

We had an awesome day today! Girlie was happy and helpful and did her math with no problem. We went to the library and shot vinegar/baking powder rockets off, and now I'm baking Chocolate chip cookies and we're going to settle in and watch "National Treasure".

[happypamama]

We're winding down our year and only have a few subjects left to complete, so there's not a lot of drudgery "have to do this" stuff left. We've been having a great week, and I'm enjoying it. It's gorgeous outside, so the kids have been highly motivated to finish their work quickly, so they can head outside. Second grader is rocking fractions and cursive, and I actually had to pull him away from his book yesterday to finish his math. (Math is his favorite subject, and while he likes reading, he's still fairly new to it and doesn't have a lot of stamina for it yet, so for a book to be so interesting that he keeps reading it instead of jumping to math is pretty cool.) Fifth grader did well on her math test today and has been teaching herself to play various songs on the keyboard. I asked her for a paragraph about a recent talk she (and DH and the boys) attended about amphibians; she muttered about not wanting to do it and then wrote me two lovely paragraphs. I'll take it! Toddler asks for books all the time, and the 4yo attempted to clear out the library's sections on turtles, elephants, and owls (I limited it to 4-5 of each). Definitely can't complain about the past couple of school days. :)

[pitterpatter]

LOL! We had a GREAT day yesterday. But, don't ask me about the day before.

[PeterPan]

My oldest is gone for the day. I'm having an AWESOME homeschool day. :D

 

For us having good day has become less about what we get done and more the peace and balance we maintain. Every day we have that peace and balance feels like a good day. On the days when she wakes up motivated and does her work herself, without me making her (like she has been this week!), it's a good day. When I see her doing her own personal projects (like Monday, filtering out aloe juice from the plants I thinned so she can save it to use for some project), it's a good day.

 

We have lots of good days now, and it's measured by the peace we maintain. Well that and whether their hugs and kind moments outnumber the sibling scrappings over who hit who, who pinched what, etc. :lol:

[Tracy]

Well, I am not sure I have a lot of great and awesome stories to tell. But our Normal is Peaceful. Ds and I wake up on our own about the same time. Then we go wake up dd8 by reading to her. After 20-30 minutes of snuggling, we get ready for breakfast. We are working on habits that keep our house clean and welcoming, such as putting dirty dishes in the sink, making beds, putting toys away when we are done, etc. We dust while we work on memorization. We play "Think of a Country" while we eat our meals. We listen to SOTW in the car. The kids have lots of time to play, and lots of time to see our friends. I have finally come to understand dd8's slow processing difficulties, and I have made a number of accommodations for her. Yet she is still ahead of her age-peers.

 

We don't have to get up early and run out the door every morning. I don't have to crack the whip to get them to do evening homework. Instead, the kids play with their father every evening, having all their school work already done. I don't have to fight with a teacher and administration to give dd8 more challenging work while expecting less output due to her slow processing difficulties. I don't have to worry that my bright, sensitive dc will be bullied at school. I don't have to worry about all the bad influences at school. (Ds5 just started t-ball, and the first rule was, "No cussing." I mean, do you really need a rule like that for 5yos? My dh assured me that we do.)

 

I can't say that it is exciting (but I am easily overwhelmed, and lots of exciting would be exasperating to me). It is pleasant and peaceful. My kids are happy and busy doing things that give them joy. I love our life.

[mama27]

We had a great day! We went to the zoo.

[PeterPan]

We dust while we work on memorization. We play "Think of a Country" while we eat our meals.

 

Love it!!!!!! :D

[Brooketopia]

Thank you all so much for sharing your days! I LOVE reading through them all! I like how some of you mention that normal/good is "peaceful." I've been feeling that way about the idea for a couple of months myself. There are so many normal days that get swallowed up and somewhat forgotten when compared to the AWFUL and the AWESOME days. We've had a good day here today, just getting work done and making time to play outside in the sunshine. We're winding down as well, which is so nice--I'm really looking forward to having June off and doing nothing but art, swimming, and hiking. Once again, thank you for sharing your happy thoughts, they really buoy me up. :)

[Gentlemommy]

We had a fantastic day! This morning I got to see our last foster baby again, help his mom out around the house with laundry and bathing him (she sustained some injuries that left her wheelchair bound, making some tasks really hard or impossible for her). I got to hold him again, connect and talk with his mom, and offer support. I love that, even though it's heart wrenching at times.

Dd1 (who I believe is 2E, this is a recent discovery and it has meant a total overhaul of our schooling) worked very hard at all of her school today. She read two chapters instead of one, worked ahead in her math, was open to a free write ala Brave Writer, and worked diligently in spelling/handwriting/grammar. We got through all of the things I wanted to get through, without any drama whatsoever.

She also has a riding lesson today, her last before her first show this weekend, and it went great! She was on her game, and luckily her horse was cooperative and responded very well to her direction. She paid close attention to her teacher, making the necessary changes and corrections and remembering past instruction. She applied all of her teachers notes, while maintaining her posture and gait.

Dd2 did well today too, although she is generally easier as far as schooling goes. She worked ahead in ETC, read a book to the dog, and played C-rod games with me. I felt like I got some good one on one time with her, which is something I struggle with. Between ADD dd1 and toddler dd3, dd2 (who finds schoolwork easy) gets lost in the mix. She usually pulls her books down and does the next lesson without me. I've been actively working on having time just for her, and today it went really well.

We have a mothers helper that comes twice a week, and today was her day. I love love love having her here, she is absolutely amazing. I got a chance to cook a nice dinner, work one on one with the two bigs, and have dd3 'help' mommy while the sitter played board games with the bigs.

It was a great day around here!

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We've been doing pretty well. I think I've gotten over the panic of the dark ages of January and February. It's not been a pretty spring school wise, but the ducks are busy nibbling away at each school subject.

 

DS #1 has hit some major milestones on getting his Eagle Scout project rolling. Momentum is good.