Jump to content

Menu

Well, how was your day?


Recommended Posts

Pretty good but long and not done yet. We do take a few breaks for lunch, quiet time (30-1hr so my youngest can nap), folded laundry/put it away, & we just had a cookie break but they still have 1 subject left each. But even though it was long, it's been peaceful and an easy day all in all. Even my tot likes the relaxed way of having breaks in-between subjects. We'll see how their work looks when I check it this evening. 

 

I hope others are off to a good start...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty good but long and not done yet. We do take a few breaks for lunch, quiet time (30-1hr so my youngest can nap), folded laundry/put it away, & we just had a cookie break but they still have 1 subject left each. But even though it was long, it's been peaceful and an easy day all in all. Even my tot likes the relaxed way of having breaks in-between subjects. We'll see how their work looks when I check it this evening.

 

I hope others are off to a good start...

So glad your day was relaxed!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it was (another) snow day for my older PS daughters, so we didn't do a full day of school.  It turned out to be great, though.  The olders baked with the 4 year old while I got DD3 started on her math.  She worked independently while I made beds, gathered/started laundry, and tidied the kitchen after the gingerbread was in the oven.  After math, we broke to play a new Christmas gift game.  It was fabulous.  I'll link here because it is such a great learning game: http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-Historical-Events-Card-Game/dp/2914849869/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389045784&sr=8-2&keywords=timeline+game  

 

For what it is worth, the 9 year-old won a couple of the rounds (thank you, Classical Conversations!). After the game, we did our CC memory work review and then pulled out another Christmas gift/learning game: GeoPuzzle Europe.  The DDs 3 & 4 assembled it while I folded laundry.  I read aloud a couple chapters of Johnny Tremain while they ate lunch and then all went out to play.  For two hours.  It is only 7 degrees, but we got 14 new inches of snow, so they braved the frigid temps to build sledding ramps off the back deck.  It was the quietest, most relaxing two hours of my recent several months!  Yea for snow days!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We started back today!  It was a great to for it since it is so darn cold here.  Nice day to cuddle up and read together. :)  Despite the two littles coming down with colds, we've had a peaceful day.  And it's nearly a miracle I've had time to peruse this board!!  YAY!

 

ETA: I can't wait to check out snap circuits.  My son is in love with his new "big boy" lego set.  We're pretty thrilled about that. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We started school yesterday. Today was more work in a way since we had to be done by 1.

 

Eldest still dislikes division. He says it doesn't make any sense. Mind you he can do all the non long division ones and find remainders, and can eventually figure out long division ones... His problems is he just doesn't see the importance of writing out long division the right way. He tires to do it all in his head. Even ones like 465 / 3 . He Might jot some numbers down to help him keep things straight. He just wouldn't write it down in the nice simple form they teach in school.

 

So I now he understands it. ... But to him unless you can do it in your head without much effort you don't understand it.

 

(insert crazy mom emtionicon)

 

Everything exception piano is going well. The boys have a lesson on Thursday then we will get back to weekly practicing, but I dare not get them to now for I will get lots of complaints of, "I don't know how to". Till then the only piano practice is, "play something you like and know and can play without complaint." not productive for moving forward on learning. But holding steady is better then going backwards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ours is going well! 

I like to rearrange our classroom over the holidays, mostly to turn it into a discoteca ( :thumbup: ), but also because it feels SO good to come back on Monday morning to our "good ol classroom."

 

I made sure to fill out our planners yesterday and figure out what books everyone was reading, etc,  so everyone knew what they had to do.

 

Then of course there was Starbucks for breakfast. Haha! We're fading fast now. Maybe it's tea time... 

 

It's good to back! Yay! I LOVE my work and schedule!! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it was (another) snow day for my older PS daughters, so we didn't do a full day of school. It turned out to be great, though. The olders baked with the 4 year old while I got DD3 started on her math. She worked independently while I made beds, gathered/started laundry, and tidied the kitchen after the gingerbread was in the oven. After math, we broke to play a new Christmas gift game. It was fabulous. I'll link here because it is such a great learning game: http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-Historical-Events-Card-Game/dp/2914849869/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389045784&sr=8-2&keywords=timeline+game

 

For what it is worth, the 9 year-old won a couple of the rounds (thank you, Classical Conversations!). After the game, we did our CC memory work review and then pulled out another Christmas gift/learning game: GeoPuzzle Europe. The DDs 3 & 4 assembled it while I folded laundry. I read aloud a couple chapters of Johnny Tremain while they ate lunch and then all went out to play. For two hours. It is only 7 degrees, but we got 14 new inches of snow, so they braved the frigid temps to build sledding ramps off the back deck. It was the quietest, most relaxing two hours of my recent several months! Yea for snow days!

 

I love the look of that game, I'm putting it on my wish list!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I was going to try to be all organized and actually have a plan for what we would cover...it kind of worked but I apparently overestimated how much he could do.

 

We had a few tears over math (and I thought it would just be easy review!). We did some b4fiar for dd and that went well. All in all, not bad.

 

However, I'm exhausted. Was I always this tired after a school day?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was shocked at how well today went. After 2 weeks off, I was expecting the worst! My 7 year old was doing math while kneeling ON his desk, but that's kind of par for the course for him. :tongue_smilie: He got all the problems right on his math speed drill. Wasn't as fast as normal (which I expected), but he got them all right, so that wasn't expected. And he did really well on everything else as well.

 

My oldest tried to play around a bit, especially at the beginning of math, but then he started to get back in the working groove. I disrupted his writing to have him help me take hay to the horses (and when will I learn that all the gate latches will be frozen shut when it rains before a freeze?!? I'm too old to be climbing gates :lol:), and he never got back to it, but I read what he has so far and was very happy with it. I'll have him finish it up tomorrow.

 

So good day. We even did science!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day started with me getting ds13 up and ready for the bus at 7:30, just to discover that he doesn't go back to school till tomorrow.

 

Kids dragged but out of bed, but we did manage to start school by 9.

 

We got exactly 3 subjects done before we had to go to a double dentist appointment (no cavities :-).

 

We come home to an empty pantry so I start making a costco list. Dh comes home and informs me that we are leaving the house at 4 for a double date. I thought we didn't need to leave till 5:30.

 

So instead of costco I go to Safeway for enough to get us through tomorrow. While at Safeway I get a text that the dress is "dressy casual" for tonight. I rush home and dig through my hamper, throw my only pair of nice fitting pants into the wash and I am now waiting for them to dry. It's 4:03.

 

My day could have gone better. At least dinner will be yummy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After a lengthy monologue on why he shouldn’t have to do lessons today, ds1 did surprising well. 

 

Ds2 was in comedy mode.

 

Me:  ds2 can you count to twenty?

Ds2: Sure. Ten, twenty.

Me, sighing: By ones, please.

Ds2 complies.

 

Me: Good, now can you count backwards from twenty to zero?

Ds2:  …15, 14, 12, 11

Me: 14, 13, 12

Ds2: I don’t like thirteen. 14, 12, 11 …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine was actually great!  We haven't done any school work since November so I thought today would go badly. My dh didn't have to work till today so after breakfast I ran out to do and errand and ds read to dh. Then dh,ds, and dd played a math game together till I got back.  I was then able to take ds upstairs alone to get math and phonics done quickly.  DH then read to the kids about reptiles and we all discussed what was read.

 

The best part of the day was when my ds (name Simon) asked if there was a saint Simon. I think his brain exploded as I explained that Peter's name was originally Simon.  He then asked if Jesus would change his name when he meets him.  I'm hoping tomorrow runs just as smoothly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best part of the day was when my ds (name Simon) asked if there was a saint Simon. I think his brain exploded as I explained that Peter's name was originally Simon. He then asked if Jesus would change his name when he meets him. I'm hoping tomorrow runs just as smoothly.

That was adorable!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started the morning with the pipes solidly frozen. I had planned on a full day of school, but ended up with a half day. This was my first day ever of homeschooling, so I was already nervous. Kevin spent the day on a quest for the electronics (which I hid). However, we did manage to: read a child's version of Romeo and Juliet, do long division, handwriting, and a little spelling. He also worked on a power point of Greek Mythology, and did an Art unit in K-12. That's all I could manage...I think it took about three or four hours. He also plays classical piano, so I counted his practice time as music. I really, honestly, don't feel like I know what I am doing, despite having taught college students. This just isn't the same, since I have a 10-year-old little boy to discipline who is addicted to MineCraft. Any suggestions? Other than hari-kari?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had tears over math, tears over handwriting, and then she got into Latin and spent three hours on it. I figured that was enough for today ;)

 

Major tears here too. Latin was a chore, I barely survived math with the 1st kid and then the 2nd kid threw a 45 minute crying jag about a 10 minute reading lesson. I'm ready to give up and have been searching reading tutors all afternoon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, this was week #2 back.  Sylvia was on her best behavior, as she's trying to earn back computer time.  Rebecca, however, decided to take THREE HOURS to do two subjects.  I got tired of it and informed her that the rest of  her seatwork was homework (do you know how hard it is to type homework when you're used to typing homeschool?).  We did our "together" work and I set them to work on their homework.  And amazingly, it didn't take her that long.   :glare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a great day.  Morgan, who often yanks my chain by complaining about school, started saying yesterday how *totally* excited she was to start school again.  I suspect that it had something to do with the fact that the night before I was away on a girl's night out overnighter (the first time I've done this since before she was born).  She figures she has to be *really* adorable to keep me from doing that again, I guess!  :lol:

 

Anyway, she did great! Totally enthusiastic about school.  Shannon did great too - we're changing up our schedule a little bit to build in more discussion time for history and to get all our piddly, short subjects done before lunch, rather than waiting till the end of the day when I am out of gas and prone to skip them and call it a day.  It was a really good plan.  So she's now doing Math, then English, then piddly stuff (typing plus critical thinking plus spanish) before lunch, and doing the meaty and exciting subjects of History and Science in the afternoons.  This is going to be good, I think.

 

We went for a walk, and I exercised at lunchtime!  Yay, one New Year's resolution kept!

 

Although I did just pour a second glass of wine . . . so there goes the second NY reso!  :001_rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dd's checklist went well, and she was able to sew a skirt, make ham broth, and research her Holocaust stuff on top of it, so that was good.  I kept ds occupied with the new MP enrichment stuff and pages from Enchanted Learning, and that went well.  I'd say we're off to a good start!  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was it better than expected? Worse than expected? Did it go as planned? Ours was better than expected after starting off rocky. I was so excited and I think that helped the boys get in the mood. Can I just say that snap circuit kits are awesome!! I'm starting to save now for another one.

 

 I never heard of those kits before you mentioned them. I just looked at some on Amazon and Ebay. Which do you recommend? They look really interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It had high points and low points.

 

I had to do a pep talk for the usually efficient & productive boy over today's writing assignment, which unexpectedly involved poetry, but when I remembered the Bravewriter notion that it's totally appropriate to co-write with your kids, and let go, he started smiling and enthusiastically participating again.

 

I got my older son to engage with his new writing book by telling him it was the program I used when I was a homeschooled high schooler. I guess he thinks of me as a good writer because that got him going, and he did produce an amazing first assignment.

 

But we utterly failed at biology again. Couldn't get the textbook PDF onto the new Kindle, couldn't get Adobe to quit crashing on the laptop, had to run to the corner store for paper to print the worksheets because something spilled on the new stash, it was too rainy to do one lab, and the first step in the other lab was, "soak the cork overnight before beginning this experiment." That was the last straw. My thirteen-year-old read that aloud and said, "Biology DOOOOOOOOOM!" and we all then had the giggles the rest of the day.

 

Actually, we often all laugh a lot all day long. My response to them grumping is to get their mood to shift. I kind of take it as a personal goal to make them crack up whenever they are trying to be cranky, and that has resulted in a general school atmosphere of humor. Today was a good reminder that we have a great dynamic and are good at this homeschooling thing, even when we are bad at it, if you know what I mean. *knocks on wood*

 

And to the moms who had a day they regret, I want to say that I have had many of those too, and offer you a hug. It gets better. You find ways and learn the tricks and after a while you realize you're right where you want to be and you start to be able to breathe. Take heart and kiss your sleeping cherub-faced ones and in the morning hide a baby picture of them in your IG so you can remember that is who is sitting next to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I really, honestly, don't feel like I know what I am doing, despite having taught college students. This just isn't the same, since I have a 10-year-old little boy to discipline who is addicted to MineCraft. Any suggestions? Other than hari-kari?

 

It actually sounds like you had an amazing first day! Congratulations! There's never ever a day that offers no important alternative activities, like fixing frozen pipes. If you can school despite it you win. Looking at what  you describe, I see nothing lacking. Some basics, some extras. That's perfect. 

 

Locking up the electronics is what I did for years, literally. When we moved recently, I decided that the TV, Wii, iPad and iMac would live in my bedroom. I can lock my bedroom door from the inside or the outside and I do, every day. I'd say just make sure the stuff is securely locked away and then let him hunt. He'll grow bored of it eventually and at least he's actively using his brain to work the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was a great day, all in all, a bit messy and chaotic, but that is par for the course :) We started the day w/ some singing and read-alouds. Ds and I played math games w/ multiplication and fractions/percents. We read Archimedes and Door of Science for Science and then worked on some experiments. The girls were busy coloring and then playing mom and baby/dress-up while we did math and science although dd1 did help w/ experiments. Then we had a long break for lunch and the kids worked on making cream cheese frosting (and I vegged on the comp for a break :) ), dd1 had made a cake last night and was wanting to practice some more. After making the frosting ds helped dd1 look up lego projects online as she was looking for something new to build w/ her new legos.

 

After lunch ds started his next lesson in WR Narrative and we did grammar and spelling. I tried to do work w/ dd after ds' work but we only made it through handwriting and a bit of reading work as she was not feeling well, it seems she is fighting daddy's cold. Ds got a new electronic kit in the mail today so he took the laptop to his bedroom to work on wiring it up. 

 

Somewhere in there the kids destroyed the house and then we put it back together again :) The baby was a tornado and we worked hard to make sure she didn't hurt herself w/ her climbing :) Dd and I went out to take care of the poor cats so they didn't freeze to death. The kids helped each other clean their rooms, they worked really well together today- I've been really trying to encourage this, so I was very happy to see them do it of their own accord, without prompting!

 

I looked some more for some living math books and found a couple to request from the library, I'll have to go to the library to ILL some more as they didn't have most of the ones I am wanting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had an entire day at home so got all dd's school work and violin practice completed, read a few chapters in a book together then each read our own books while snuggling, got all the laundry done from 4 days away over the weekend, finished up a project dd was working on that I am now trying to figure out how to get onto a DVD (and it isn't working very quickly), and finished up 2010 on my (way behind) scrapbooking project....now I am only 3 years behind instead of 4. Woohoo! :hurray:

 

I took care of a number of issues I needed to deal with for work and scheduling for the kids, too.

 

It was a very fruitful day. Tomorrow will be less so because I have to drive into the city to see if dd's bow can be fixed or if I have to buy a new one. I really hate having to drive into the city and pay to park for trips to the luthier.  :glare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We moved over the holidays so from Thanksgiving to New Year's, we were on break. I was dreading today, but it went pretty well, considering.

 

DD's notebook, which contains her MM workbook, is missing. She worked on some challenge math problems, but was able to finish her other subjects. DS did well in math with minimal review. He was upset about writing. After much bellyaching, he finished the lesson and said, "That wasn't so bad."

 

I didn't roll my eyes. I gave him a hug and a kiss. I think I deserve an award.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today was our first "official day of actual homeschooling". 

The kids have been home from PS since late September, and we've been pretty relaxed - doing the deschooling thing, figuring out what we want to do, tinkering with some work when the mood hit us. 

But today - was the first day getting to use some of our shiny new curricula. 

It went really really well. 

My 8 yr old who is normally allergic to anything resembling schoolwork, really buckled down and even when he was feeling the burn, he just kept pushing on. 

My 5 yr old - I can't keep up with her. I am now frantically reassessing where she may need to start or how fast she may move through some of the work we'd planned for her. She begged for more math, begged to do just ONE MORE lesson of LoE, and at that point I was pooped haha. 

 

This week we are just kind of getting a feel for how we want to plan out our day, tinkering around with schedule. My son asked to do SOTW every day instead of twice a week, daughter wants more math and LOTS OF BOOKS. 

 

SO today went exceptionally well. I am really looking forward to tomorrow. 

We're just starting right now with SOTW, LoE, and MM with some random science experiment kits the kids got for xmas. May have to add some stuff in as we go, if they keep powerhousing through it the way they did today :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a surprisingly good day. I cut ds's hair while we listened to Moby Dick. I didn't get the bangs too short, it still is long yet doesn't look as bushy. So, yea me! It's the first time I've cut his hair in a very long time. We're doing ACT practice this week, so it's low key on some subjects anyway. We started a new Japanese vocabulary notebook, and we let

start our day. 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, after a dishwasher with a burnt plastic smell last night, a garage door opener that wouldn't close (cold-related issues), and a bathroom vent that was full of ice (which melts over the toilet - drip, drip on your head), things started fairly well. Then, dd#1 felt dizzy so she took a two hour nap.

 

I spent the lunch hour looking for new dishwashers online.

 

But we got everything done that we were supposed to get done and early enough that dd#2 was "bored" and did her math for tomorrow already. ( :grouphug: to all those who had tears & yelling over math at their house today or ever. I'm empathetic!)

 

Tomorrow will be a FULL day, so we'll see how that goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was anticipating an unpleasant day, especially after DS6 informed me over breakfast that there was no way he was doing any school stuff today and that I couldn't make him do it. But then there was no fuss from him at all when we started! We started with a read aloud, then science reading, a history read aloud, and SOTW. We also did math, reading and handwriting before lunch. After lunch we finished up the rest of our language arts. DH was home early from work and he spent the next 3 hours working on a cardboard castle with the kids while I took a nap and played around on the computer. All in all it was a great day! I think the kids are secretly relieved to be back to our normal schedule, I know I am!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...