Tawlas Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Well, here we are in mid-August and after a week, the boys are still camping and fishing with the grandparents! This summer we were going to do nature study, photography and kidblog, and first nations studies and a light unit in math each and read every day. Oh and dsd8 was going to master her multiplication facts to make her division chapter a cinch :P I haven't had more than a 3-4 stretch with all three older kids home at a time!! We did ONE photography lesson. That's it! Â My dsd8 is about 1/2 through her fractions chapter in Math Mammoth lol. At least all of them have been picking up fun books to read randomly throughout the day. Given that I have two older struggling readers, that's a HUGE bonus for me - they still like to read for fun!! If I'm lucky, my MIL has been doing math with ds8 but I'm not holding my breath - camping is way more fun! It's awesome that they've had such an action-packed summer, I'm just sad we don't get to do some of these fun extras. And some of the things I'd planned would sort of pave the way to make things easier the rest of the year. . . oh well. Homeschoolers are nothing if not flexible and adaptable, right? I'll figure it out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Still have Latin to do.  We'll get to it eventually.  Doesn't take very long.  I just ate three handfuls of MnMs, and now I feel sick.  Why do I do things like that?  I have no self-control.  I'm debating whether I should switch from 180 days of school/4 days a week (45 weeks) to squishing those 180 days into 144 days/4 days a week (36 weeks), just doing more on each day.  It would be less days teaching, more of a daily workload for the kids, but more time off as well...  Decisions, decisions... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015  I just ate three handfuls of MnMs, and now I feel sick.  Why do I do things like that?  I have no self-control.  :grouphug: Yeah, I just gobbled down part of a thing of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I KNOW better than to do that.  We had a good movie night, and now the boys are off to bed and hoping to catch a glimpse of some meteors in the wee hours of the morning. We'll see how they feel about that at four. They set their alarm to get up, so it isn't up to me if they want to come out and look. I got my new signature up for fall term, so now I guess I've really got to do it, right? :laugh:   3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Yay, for a new siggie!! I'm going to update mine when i'm fully awake and can see straight! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Maybe I should have waited until I was fully awake. I forgot to put French on there. I am worn out and half asleep this morning. We ended up staying up late to see meteors, then we went to bed, then we got up at one to see if the meteors were any more abundant. They were, but I think I yawned through most of them. The boys, showing the resilience of youth, were up bright and early, cheerful as birds. I'm sipping my first cuppa and casting longing glances back at the bed. Â This morning I had done chores, and am getting ready to do the housekeeping for today. That would be cleaning up all the animal areas and cleaning the chicken house. I'll make syrup for bees to feed later this morning or late afternoon. After that, we have Latin, Math, a spelling quiz and geography readings to do. Then we will be done for the week. The last week of summer term is next week, then we get to start our fall stuff! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We missed the meteors, I totally forgot about them, maybe next time. Anyway, I would love some advice on what would be my last curriculum purchase for a bit. The WWE workbooks, have you used them? Would you buy books 1-3 if you found them for a good deal? I would use book one this year and the rest subsequent years, that is if it was a good fit. I have the hardback book and had just thought about following the instructions in it using our own literature but man those workbooks would be great. What would you ladies do? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I forgot the meteors too, though I thought about them before going to bed. I intended to take a peek during the night but didn't even think of it when I was up with kids. Too tired. I remember watching this meteor shower as a kid, it has always been my favorite. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneGirlAcademy Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We have been chugging along with our topics. Very happy with our "new" schedule.  Yesterday, I was able to help another homeschool mom with scheduling her curriculum. It was fun playing with all the new and shiny books.  I'm hoping that the contractor will call today to get a date to start to put my kitchen back together. Going on 10 days without a kitchen. The novelty of "camping" at home has worn off.  If I can get my hinny in gear today, I am going to paint over a bedroom that I painted a hedious purple.  Also, thanks to all the talk of m & m's, I'm going to have to buy a bag!Ă°Å¸ËœÂ± 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We went outside and I saw a huge meteor. Â Kinda shocked me actually. Â Then nothing. Â I can honestly say I didn't stay out long at all. Â I think this goes on for a few nights, right? Â Maybe those who missed it can try again tonight.Today is our "Not-Back-To-School Day." Â We watched the big lot of school busses drive by from our kitchen table. Â I think later today I might take the kids to go get ice cream or visit the library in the middle of the day when they ought to be in school. Â We have another homeschool family who might come play outside with us and our homeschool neighbors. Â We'll have 14 kids. Â My six year old is working on designing some t-shirts. Â He wants to have an etsy shop. Â I might try to call a t-shirt printer today. Â DH and he are trying to come up with a script for a youtube commercial. Â It is pretty hilarious. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Arliemaria--I can't wait to see the YouTube commercial! Enjoy your not back to school day. Â Onegirlacademy--I was thinking of going and getting a bag or two of MnM's just a minute ago! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 To do school today, or not to do school today... that is the question.  Starting a new schedule, making it the first day of week 4, so it could really start on Monday.  Or I could just start it today.  Or tomorrow.  It's a good day to do school.  I can do it!!  Yeah!!  Let's do it!!!!  (I've got to get myself psyched up sometimes). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 To do school today, or not to do school today... that is the question.  Starting a new schedule, making it the first day of week 4, so it could really start on Monday.  Or I could just start it today.  Or tomorrow.  It's a good day to do school.  I can do it!!  Yeah!!  Let's do it!!!!  (I've got to get myself psyched up sometimes).  You can do it!!! Start today, it'll be one more day down!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I ordered a map from UPS of England to go with our Our Island Story reading.  I ordered one from BF Books for Paddle-to-the-Sea that was 18" X 24" so UPS is printing my England map the same size.  I need to find a good map now of the Ancient World for our Bible Reading and Misc. Ancients.  Any recommendations?  ETA:  The map needs to not focus entirely on Egypt. It needs to be closer to Israel-Palestine, and show Nineveh and Babylon.  I need to go to the produce stand and pick up a few watermelons for this afternoon's play.  I have a few picture ideas for watermelon eating I've wanted to take and never remember.  Today might be the day.  :)  Math is on the agenda for school.  Also would like to read a few of his library books.  I need to have him also make a card for his grandma who broke her arm a week ago.   I called the screen printer to see how the t-shirt process will work.  Feel kinda silly doing this, but maybe he will actually make a little bit of money.  This would go straight to his savings account. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We missed the meteors, I totally forgot about them, maybe next time. Anyway, I would love some advice on what would be my last curriculum purchase for a bit. The WWE workbooks, have you used them? Would you buy books 1-3 if you found them for a good deal? I would use book one this year and the rest subsequent years, that is if it was a good fit. I have the hardback book and had just thought about following the instructions in it using our own literature but man those workbooks would be great. What would you ladies do?  About WWE - I should first tell you that I think it does a great job of teaching summarizing and more, but when I tried to use it several years ago it felt tedious to me. So, take my advice with a big grain of salt. I think I would only get WWE 1 so that in case you want to change things up a bit later you haven't bought so far ahead.  2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 One thing I'm trying this year that's working pretty well is an "inbox" for things I need to check. I was constantly falling behind or even forgetting to check certain things. Now I have an inbox and if they have independent work I need to check they put it there. It's a visual reminder to me of what I still need to check before they begin work the next day. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We missed the meteor showers too, although I was awake. Â We've got the bulk of our work done here. Everybody was ready for a break though and is playing quietly and leaving me alone. I've yet to read aloud to the girls, they are really enjoying Dr. Dolittle, I'm sensing a pattern, they love animal stories! I'm trying to decide what extra to do this afternoon. I'm thinking about a Japanese tea party and haikus and some of our Japanese picture books. Â 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 One thing I'm trying this year that's working pretty well is an "inbox" for things I need to check. I was constantly falling behind or even forgetting to check certain things. Now I have an inbox and if they have independent work I need to check they put it there. It's a visual reminder to me of what I still need to check before they begin work the next day. I bet with as many as you have it would be a help! I can't imagine the sheer amount of papers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Well, I'm back from doing school at the park. We got there early, slipped into the reading room unannounced and got through our Latin and half of math before some guy with a computer came in and threw off our groove! The nerve of him! The boys had a good time anyway. :laugh: So school is done for the day, housekeeping is done, and library is later today. I think we will read Jane Eyre, and then I may take a nap. I'm pretty tired after meteor watching. Saw a really nice one around ten, and a few small ones after than. By one the show had improved, but I was too tired to really appreciate it. The boys liked it. I must say, I really enjoyed being at the park today. We didn't see many kids there. They were having a fishing tournament for one thing, and I think a lot of folks are out doing back-to-school shopping today. We had Shell Beach all to ourselves. I sprawled out on the picnic table bench and just watched sun and leaves and clouds playing together for a while and the boys amused themselves launching "crocodile" logs back into the water and digging channels from puddles back out to the lake. Very restful, and just what I needed today. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 About WWE - I should first tell you that I think it does a great job of teaching summarizing and more, but when I tried to use it several years ago it felt tedious to me. So, take my advice with a big grain of salt. I think I would only get WWE 1 so that in case you want to change things up a bit later you haven't bought so far ahead.   Well, I already bought all of them, i'm hoping that we love them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Wow! So many new faces! Must be the beginning of a new year ;) Â Dds8's REWARDS Intermediate FINALLY arrived today! I'm telling you, living an hour from the nearest spec of FedEx delivery is a PITA. I was playing phone tag with the delivery guy all week but DH was finally able to get a hold of him while he was in town today and they managed to meet up. Darn thing was more expensive than planned with taxes and duties at the border too, so it had better be worth it! I'm eagerly reading it with wine and scotch mints tonight (gad. now that I've written that down I see how odd of a combination that is lol!) Â You guys all make me feel lazy. 1/2 of my kids are camping with with their grandparents (supposed to be gone a week, now on to day 11!!). That leaves the 2 year old master of chaos and the dramatic nearly-nine year old. We've done math about 3-4 times in the past week, which I count as a win. Only 6 1/4 of a page left (see what did there? It's a FRACTIONS chapter LOL!). When we counted them up she was like, "Yay! That means I"m done math for the rest of the summer!" Lol. I didn't have the heart to tell her that regular school starts back up in just a few weeks :) Â I file the kids papers for the year and now I'm trying to decide if I should file the pages from the REWARDS book. I'm tempted (cause I love it being all neatly organized) but I think I'd better see what her learning pace will be first. I suspect some kind of (mild?) learning disability with this child but whatever it is, it's not straight forward, so I know I should wait. Â Have a great evening every one! I'll probably spend more time at my desk tomorrow (rather than the kitchen trying desperately to keep up the zucchini, cabbage, broccoli and tomatoes!) so I'll check in again soon :) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Tawlas, so good to see you!! I sure wish you could send some scotch my way, lol, i'm bidding my time until tomorrow and then I think i'll have a glass of wine or two to end the week. I agree with you on waiting and seeing what her learning pace is with the program, i'm so glad you were finally able to get it!  Critter--I'm so glad you enjoyed the park! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I spent most of today trying to put together a workable schedule for extracurriculars. Not completely sorted out but making progress. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Well, I already bought all of them, i'm hoping that we love them.  Yay! You will! And you will appreciate the convenience for sure.  3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Wow! So many new faces! Must be the beginning of a new year ;)  Dds8's REWARDS Intermediate FINALLY arrived today! I'm telling you, living an hour from the nearest spec of FedEx delivery is a PITA. I was playing phone tag with the delivery guy all week but DH was finally able to get a hold of him while he was in town today and they managed to meet up. Darn thing was more expensive than planned with taxes and duties at the border too, so it had better be worth it! I'm eagerly reading it with wine and scotch mints tonight (gad. now that I've written that down I see how odd of a combination that is lol!)  You guys all make me feel lazy. 1/2 of my kids are camping with with their grandparents (supposed to be gone a week, now on to day 11!!). That leaves the 2 year old master of chaos and the dramatic nearly-nine year old. We've done math about 3-4 times in the past week, which I count as a win. Only 6 1/4 of a page left (see what did there? It's a FRACTIONS chapter LOL!). When we counted them up she was like, "Yay! That means I"m done math for the rest of the summer!" Lol. I didn't have the heart to tell her that regular school starts back up in just a few weeks :)  I file the kids papers for the year and now I'm trying to decide if I should file the pages from the REWARDS book. I'm tempted (cause I love it being all neatly organized) but I think I'd better see what her learning pace will be first. I suspect some kind of (mild?) learning disability with this child but whatever it is, it's not straight forward, so I know I should wait.  Have a great evening every one! I'll probably spend more time at my desk tomorrow (rather than the kitchen trying desperately to keep up the zucchini, cabbage, broccoli and tomatoes!) so I'll check in again soon :)  I have felt a bit lazy checking in here too. Our start up weeks are lighter than some of the summer work going on here! (Critterfixer, all that you're doing is amazing!)  4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I spent most of today trying to put together a workable schedule for extracurriculars. Not completely sorted out but making progress.  This is still my big unknown too. We were on the go a lot last year and I'd like for this year to be simpler, but I'm not sure that's going to be the case, lol.   5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 No tea party yesterday afternoon, I did mention it to the girls but they actually weren't in the mood, oh well I was tuckered anyway. Another night of not good sleep but I'm hoping for a decent day, I'd like to end on a high note. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Yay! You will! And you will appreciate the convenience for sure. Â Â Another Lynn- convenience is exactly what I was going for in getting them, I did look at the samples albeit after I had already purchased them, lol. I think they will work, I'm planning to use them at an accelerated pace for my 7th grade writing phobic son and at regular speed for my 2nd grader. The older one will write in a spiral notebook and the younger will use the WWE workbooks. Â Soror- I'm sorry you didn't get any sleep, it sucks not being rested for the day. I do believe that you'll have a great day! Â Ok ladies, please don't laugh but, I've decided not to do history next year after all, I'm going to let the history in our Unit study be enough and we'll do geography instead! I promise this is the last change I make, it has to be, we start next week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 This is still my big unknown too. We were on the go a lot last year and I'd like for this year to be simpler, but I'm not sure that's going to be the case, lol.    In the past we have gone in cycles--crazy busy, then I decide we need to cut back, then the busyiness creeps back in...  My kids are becoming more involved in ongoing activities though and we can't cut back so easily. Dance and gymnastics pretty much require lots of outside of home time.  I grew up in a music oriented family, that was easier from a logistical perspective since most practice could be done at home. Doesn't work so well though for kids with attention issues who can't focus to practice on their own; I think this is why we have gravitated towards activities where practice happens at the gym or studio with a teacher or coach standing over the kids directing them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 After we picked up our watermelons yesterday we still had about a half hour until our friends were coming to play. Â I took the kids into a thrift store and found some great stuff. Â I got one of those butterfly kits where you mail away for the caterpillars. Â I don't know if I should send away for them now or put it in the closet and wait until next spring. Â Watching a butterfly's metamorphosis has been on my list for a LONG time. Â Especially because it is on Charlotte Mason's list of attainments. Â Opinions? Â If I could time it right it would be a nice Easter/Lent gift. Â How nice would it be to release the butterflies at Easter or the week or so after? Â Goals today: Â Math workbook, Read Aloud, maybe we'll get to a fun extra like making sidewalk chalk together. Â I truly need to clean the kitchen today. Â We have some friends coming over on Sunday for tea so I want to get everything together to make a summer dessert with plums. Â Must be vegan. Â I really need to try to make it today because tomorrow we might go pick apples. Â We picked on the 16th last year and I'd like to pick on Saturday and then we would have the apples to be blessed on the feast of the Transfiguration later next week. Â Right now my kids are eating bowls of rice and watching Mati and Dada. Â So we'll probably have to paint soon... Off to clean before we have a new mess. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Morning everyone  Maize, we live an hour from town so our extracurriculars are severely limited. Plus, since 99% of them are geared toward schooled children, they often happen in the evenings and by the time we get home, it's late. My kids are all in bed around 7pm. I'm not willing to have them awake till 830 at night on a weekly+ basis. And honestly, I like it that way. Our small town options are also limited and it's frustrating because we won't even know what the community center will offer until August 24th, which seems very late. How do working parents handle those unknowns when they're trying to line up childcare?  Soror, I'm pretty sure it was you that recommended I look for braised cabbage recipes. I found one that included bacon and made it yesterday for dinner. OMGosh! I'm in cabbage heaven! It was awesome! I even had a big bowl of leftovers for breakfast. So thank you :)  arliemama, how do you make a family nature journal work? I'm interested. I've actually scheduled in a weekly nature walk on Monday mornings so they may actually happen (in the past I've though 'oh, yeah, we should do that on Sunday afternoons' or something like that and of course it rarely happened). I want to eventually evolve in nature journaling so I'm curious how that works in your family of young children. Also: we used the CLE Calendar booklets last year for all three older children and it was a big hit! I'm starting to really like CLE stuff even though I'm solidly secular by nature.  mama25 we've completed WWE1 and 2 and I bought both level 3 and CAP W&R Fable this year. After looking through both and knowing I was definitely ready for a change and I thought at least one of my kids were as well, I decided to go with Fable this year. I'm keeping WWE 3 in case Fable doesn't work out for anyone this year (I'm REALLY hoping not to do TWO separate writing programs though!) or because I suspect we'll come back to WWE 3. I feel like it's a pretty solid program - although, really, what do I know lol?! - but it seemed like level 3 was a bigger jump than my struggling readers and pencil phobic kids were ready for. And while I love routine and structure, after two years of the same types of exercises, it was time for a change.  So, today, for me, there's very little in the way of school accountability for me to accomplish. I would like to get at least 2 pages of dsd8's math pages done. I would LOVE to spend more time looking at REWARDS and figuring out how it will work into our day this fall. I'll check my list of prep work to do, I'm sure there are a few odds and ends I could tick off my list. Other than that, I thik I'll feeze some more cabbage, maybe some broccoli and I have one pooooooooor tomato plant that is just SO LADEN with tomatoes it's flopped it's cage over (despite being stakes with a length of metal rebar!) so I'll try and fix the poor little thing up a little. I'm also hoping the chickens have laid a few more eggs so I can mix up a triple batch of zucchini cakes for the freezer, but it's been a little slim lately. Especially cause one keeps on getting out and hiding her eggs in the garden somewhere . . .  Anyhow, that's a novel! Sorry! Have a fantastic day all! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble staying logged in and posting for their ipad or other device? I've tried posting from my ipad and it won't let me.  Tawlas--post the cabbage recipe when you get chance. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Des, yes, I was on my phone a little while ago and I couldn't stay logged in there. Hopefully, it's not a problem on the computer. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Maize - I understand what you're saying about needing activities where the practice takes place with a coach/instructor. We really need that for physical activities especially - we're just not very disciplined about exercise. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Tawlas, the distance and late hours drive me crazy. The main studio for dd's dance school is an hour away and her classes often go until 9:00 PM . I honestly don't know how the families with kids in school manage, even if they live close by; we've compensated by sleeping in in the mornings. It's far from ideal but the benefits have outweighed the negatives so far for our family. Not anything I would have envisioned a few years ago, though. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 My phone wasn't letting me stay logged on either. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Tawlas- Your welcome, I can eat nearly an entire head of cabbage braised :)  mama25- Like I said I used WWE with ds 1-3 I think it was good for him and at that level, it is easy to use and quick  Scratch any hopes of today. We'll have to rest on the fact that we got in 4 fabulous days because I crashed, hard, I hadn't had a good nights sleep in over a week, my body gave out. I've just not been feeling well and I finally called the dr today, hopefully I get a call back and I can get some bloodtests done to see what's going on. Fingers crossed that I can start sleeping and feeling better and have another good week next week, hopefully without the crash. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Tawlas- Your welcome, I can eat nearly an entire head of cabbage braised :)  mama25- Like I said I used WWE with ds 1-3 I think it was good for him and at that level, it is easy to use and quick  Scratch any hopes of today. We'll have to rest on the fact that we got in 4 fabulous days because I crashed, hard, I hadn't had a good nights sleep in over a week, my body gave out. I've just not been feeling well and I finally called the dr today, hopefully I get a call back and I can get some bloodtests done to see what's going on. Fingers crossed that I can start sleeping and feeling better and have another good week next week, hopefully without the crash.  Soror--Thank you, I do think it will be good for both of my boys. I'm so sorry that you aren't feeling well, I hope the dr calls you back today as well. And 4 fabulous days is better than no days, you did good!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 My kids aren't super deep into any one thing but we do a good chunk of things, with more kids and as they get older I have a feeling it is only getting harder. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Maize my ipad and iphone haven't been letting me stay logged in for weeks now. It's SO irritating. I don't even think it's related to updates, but if it's a universal problem, maybe I'm wrong? I keep meaning to play around in settings and see if my toddler switched something (she's contantly stealing my devices lol) but it was always quicker just to sign on and do what I need to do. Â mama25, here's the link: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10712-braised-red-cabbage-with-bacon 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Maize my ipad and iphone haven't been letting me stay logged in for weeks now. It's SO irritating. I don't even think it's related to updates, but if it's a universal problem, maybe I'm wrong? I keep meaning to play around in settings and see if my toddler switched something (she's contantly stealing my devices lol) but it was always quicker just to sign on and do what I need to do.  mama25, here's the link: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10712-braised-red-cabbage-with-bacon  Thank you 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 In the past we have gone in cycles--crazy busy, then I decide we need to cut back, then the busyiness creeps back in...  My kids are becoming more involved in ongoing activities though and we can't cut back so easily. Dance and gymnastics pretty much require lots of outside of home time.  I grew up in a music oriented family, that was easier from a logistical perspective since most practice could be done at home. Doesn't work so well though for kids with attention issues who can't focus to practice on their own; I think this is why we have gravitated towards activities where practice happens at the gym or studio with a teacher or coach standing over the kids directing them.  This is us, too. I didn't want DD to do NO music this year, so I put her in choir, and they are talking about doing rehearsals twice a week instead of once, which helps DD, because she barely runs through her songs once a day otherwise.  We started tumbling with a recreational class one hour a week several years ago, and this year are looking at 6 hours (3 times a week), plus a homeschool gymnastics class twice a week and choir and my mom keeps hinting about joining a once-a-week co-op. I think we'll have to cut back next year. Then again, when DD broke her ankle in November and couldn't do anything, she was so sad. And fidgety. She needs outside activity and socializing. Every summer I say we're going to take a break from tumbling, but every summer I let her keep going because she makes more progress then than the rest of the year (smaller classes because a lot of kids drop in the summer, not prepping for competition, so she gets more practice time on new skills) and it's the only chance she has to work on moving up to the next level, which she desperately wants to do. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 I am so tired. I've been up since 5:30, got 30 minutes for lunch (cheese and grapes and glad I ate it when I did or I would have had no lunch!), then got stuck behind a three-truck accident on the way home which stopped traffic for over an hour. I just got dinner. I have to work tomorrow, and get to the library after work. So before bed tonight I've got to collect and load library books since I have to get up at 5:30 again, and there won't be time to load books and get all the chores done before I leave the house at 6. Weekends are exhausting.  That's probably a big reason why I don't have the boys in anything extracurricular, and have even been very much on the fence when it comes to things like sports and music. I'd like to have the time, but when you do school all week and work all weekend, there is pretty much just time to fool around with the bees a little and very occasionally, take a trip to the park without the rest of the day waiting on you, like a leopard waiting to spring as soon as you get home. I don't know how you brave folks manage multiple children with multiple activities on multiple days of the week. I'm pretty sure I'd pull all my hair out in a week.  Anyhoo, y'all carry on the good work. I'm off to load the library and then get my shower, if I don't fall asleep standing up. :lol: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Well our school day started at 8am,and then I sent my kids back to bed at 815 because of all the crying and whining and fighting. We tried again after 30 min and it was a successful school day. I ended up not schooling yesterday because I had forgotten that it was country line dancing day, so we did that, then I took the kids to the pool and fed them ice cream for dinner. Because I'm awesome like that. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Well our school day started at 8am,and then I sent my kids back to bed at 815 because of all the crying and whining and fighting. We tried again after 30 min and it was a successful school day. I ended up not schooling yesterday because I had forgotten that it was country line dancing day, so we did that, then I took the kids to the pool and fed them ice cream for dinner. Because I'm awesome like that. Â I honestly did not want to cook yesterday. Â Mostly because my kitchen has been a mess most of the week. Â My little baby has her first minor minor cold and I've just wanted to hold her every minute and forget about the kitchen. Â Ice cream was my plan. Â I told them all day we would have ice cream for dinner. Â Then after our afternoon play time with all the neighbor homeschoolers we went to an impromptu birthday party for another neighbor kid. Â We did end up having ice cream. Â They also had chips and cake. Â With all the fruits and vegs they ate while playing outside I counted it as good enough. Â :) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 arliemama, how do you make a family nature journal work? I'm interested. I've actually scheduled in a weekly nature walk on Monday mornings so they may actually happen (in the past I've though 'oh, yeah, we should do that on Sunday afternoons' or something like that and of course it rarely happened). I want to eventually evolve in nature journaling so I'm curious how that works in your family of young children. Also: we used the CLE Calendar booklets last year for all three older children and it was a big hit! I'm starting to really like CLE stuff even though I'm solidly secular by nature.  I recently wrote a bit about nature journal on the Pre K/K  sub-board.  http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/559947-starting-a-nature-journal-for-k-ideas-needed  This past weekend we were at a lake.  My son and his cousin caught lightning bugs.  After they had a jar full we saw some bats and my sister-in-law had us go inside.  I think it frightened her a bit.  I pulled out the colored pencils and clip boards.  Robby and his cousin drew very nice pictures of the jar full of the lightning bugs.  They each cut their pictures out and I made a page in our journal with their drawings.  I wrote the date, location, their names next to each of their pictures and their current age.  I think most people just think of it is a much bigger difficult thing to do than it is.  From catching the bugs to gluing the pictures and writing my small description I think we may have spent a half hour total.  That was the only entry we accomplished last week.  Sometimes it goes a month or so before we do a picture.  That does not mean we haven't observed anything, just nothing that has striked anyone's fancy to record.  My husband has snapped pictures of some of the elements and I would like to get some photo corners and put those on the adjacent pages to their drawings.  For example, we were at a Ren Faire and found a grey ladybug.  He snapped the picture on his phone so we could id it later.  There is a neat site called the Lost Ladybug Project.  I still haven't done an entry for this, but it can be done anytime.   I have one drawing from Robby when he was 3.  It was a self initiated drawing of a daddy long legs.  I was really impressed when he did it because he chose a perfect brown pastel that matched it very well.  Then he drew exactly eight legs.  It was one of those first lessons in observation.  I think that is the main point.  It can be VERY simple and become more as you add to your book.  I don't have a requirement for output at this age.  I try to do an intentional nature walk once a week, but I don't force anyone to draw anything.  I do encourage it.  If we find a stink bug or a new flower I might say something like, "That would be perfect for our nature journal."  Usually that is enough to spur someone on to complete a drawing.  I have dictated letter by letter occasionally the name of his subject like Box Turtle.  Sorry to ramble.  Hope that helps.  I don't know how much we'll do with the calendar book yet.  Do you have any recommendations for how to use it? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 arliemama, that was perfect. Very practical and very real. And it sounds do-able lol! Okay, so my second son is the same age as your Robby. He used it very dependently on me (but that was his kindergarten year). Poor kid, I really focused a lot more on the older ones but had I sat down with him every day and we went through it together, I know he would have gotten a lot more out of it. Â Bit of advice: Don't start with September! I'm pretty sure that was the month where they have you graph cloud types and it was too unfamiliar for my kids. In the instructions for use it mentions that there are more simple months (why didn't they put those in the beginning of the year when kids are still getting used to format and such?). I recommend waiting until a simpler month. Â I would do "kindergarten" type things with ds (days of the week, months of the year) and the bigger kids would record the date and check that month's item to track. Some of them were very simple. We would all work together to answer the questions about each month and when the month was done, we all worked together to graph the data. It was simple, but effective, and the kids really enojoyed it. took three minutes most days! Â Oh, and the pictures were good for a quick discussion, usually about seasons and usually instigated by them. But they rarely coloured them as suggested. My kids don't really enjoy colouring any more. Â HTH 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Sorry for whining yesterday, I should limit my contact IRL and online when feeling like that, sleep deprivation amongst other things doesn't make for the clearest head.  I did finally get a decent night of sleep, here's hoping that that continues. I really, really hope that I can get in an art lesson with the girls today. We don't have anything going on today (ya!) so my hopeful plans are some housecleaning, art and some time outside while the weather is so nice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Soror--you weren't whining at all, glad you got some sleep. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I am so tired. I've been up since 5:30, got 30 minutes for lunch (cheese and grapes and glad I ate it when I did or I would have had no lunch!), then got stuck behind a three-truck accident on the way home which stopped traffic for over an hour. I just got dinner. I have to work tomorrow, and get to the library after work. So before bed tonight I've got to collect and load library books since I have to get up at 5:30 again, and there won't be time to load books and get all the chores done before I leave the house at 6. Weekends are exhausting. Â That's probably a big reason why I don't have the boys in anything extracurricular, and have even been very much on the fence when it comes to things like sports and music. I'd like to have the time, but when you do school all week and work all weekend, there is pretty much just time to fool around with the bees a little and very occasionally, take a trip to the park without the rest of the day waiting on you, like a leopard waiting to spring as soon as you get home. I don't know how you brave folks manage multiple children with multiple activities on multiple days of the week. I'm pretty sure I'd pull all my hair out in a week. Â Anyhoo, y'all carry on the good work. I'm off to load the library and then get my shower, if I don't fall asleep standing up. :lol: (((Critter))) I hope you get at least an hour for lunch today and a nice peaceful off day tomorrow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I constantly feel like I don't get enough done each day. Â This has helped this week to write it out. Â I can look and see that I did do a lot. Â Â Yesterday we did some math in the workbook. Â I was occupied with the baby, but the kids listened (or not) to Peter Pan on audio. Â Later in the day we did some youtube read alouds. Â Robby had mentioned something about Chinese fishing with birds. Â So we listened to Ping. Â Then we watched some of Alina Celeste on youtube. Â Robby loves BJ Novak's The Book with No Pictures. Â He laughs and laughs. Â They played with Bendaroos. Â I put up a number line. Â Picked up the England map from UPS. Â I had to email them because neither did they print it the correct size nor did they print it on cardstock. Â Hopefully they will correct this. Â I went to Office Depot and picked up some of the sale items along with some primary composition books. Â I called our farmer Vern and he said the apples aren't ripe yet. Â Maybe another week. Â After we ran a few errands to the Dollar Store to get cleaning supplies and the grocery store we put a small dent into the mess. Â Then before bed we discovered Art Hub for Kids. Â Robby spent more than an hour drawing. Â First he did all the insects and now he is working through all the animals. Â This is a good resource for beginners. Â Â Goals today: Â Clean and make a beautiful dessert for Sunday. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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