Accountability Thread 9/29-10/5

[Critterfixer]

Last week of September! How did it get to be October so fast? If the weather would cool off, I could believe it.

Today's schedule: Revising some work I edited last night, then drafting and some character work. My children are still away, so I need to get done what I can finish before they get back tomorrow. We'll have a light school week because they'll be tired from their trip, and I have another doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Probably just get Latin and Math done this week, and take up the full schedule again next week.

[Mommyof1]

Hey All,

Today church, lunch with Daddy and currently letting DD6 run wild at the park. Let's burn off all that energy. 

Me- clean the house.

Her- after the park she is going to be doing an art project out of cardboard while listening to an audiobook.  She loves that.

[serendipitous journey]

🙂 

Well, today was totally Plan B b/c I'd forgotten about a local "fair" that younger DS was looking forward to -- as I tucked him in last night he reminded me that we'd be getting up for the 8:00 pancake breakfast.  !!!!  We actually got there 'round 9.  Then a brief bit back home, Bible Studies, and back with both boys for the mid-day event; home again, nap/lunch, Bible Studies with elder DS (who is Completely Uninterested, sigh) and now Sunday afternoon Pokemon at the game store with younger. 

Not sure if I'll focus on planning or setting up Role Playing stuff while younger is playing: maybe a bit of both.  So do something productive here, home for a run and bit of exercise with elder, make dinner, bathe younger, read stories & tuck boys in.  Hope to do a bit of yoga or something before bed. 

Most important planning: I've sketched our week out, I need to get us open-and-go for tomorrow.  Plan to start with some very informal nature study in which we figure out what plants &c we can identify in our yard & find some we can't ID, and try to figure out if we can ID any birds or not.  Start school with piano & language with younger while elder works independently; then Bible Studies with elder; then probably another round of language with younger, and Bible Studies with him.  I'd like to knock our school out before lunch and will need to focus if that's going to happen. 

And my Christian Studies is not quite open-and-go; I'd like to make a checklist of supplemental readings for my elder.  Plus get our Bible Studies memory work up on the board along with Greek forms for younger. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by serendipitous journey

[Critterfixer]

Morning! No school for us today. The boys got in yesterday evening, and I thought they were coming back today! So instead of school, they'll rest up from the 8 hour drive and a week of geology study, and maybe crack some more of the geodes they brought home. They founds some really nice ones.

For me: basic chores and some cooking, plus a ton of editing and revisions. The boys will probably stick to a light schedule this week while I see what I can get done with concentrated effort, and resume a full schedule next week.

[Mommyof1]

All is done but math. She had a big meltdown and asked to go to bed because she was tired. 

She slept for 2 1/2 hrs. Until Daddy got home and woke her up to play.

She is currently playing games with Daddy then he will work with her on math.

 

[Critterfixer]

Morning. I have a medical appointment today, so not much is planned for today. A whole half-day out of the house pretty much wrecks the day. But I am taking editing and revision work with me, mostly because I get so bored in the car and in the office waiting, and I don't want to miss a whole day of revisions. The boys get a nice day off. They'll crack more geodes.

[Mommyof1]

Yesterday stunk. She got school done though. 

Today tried to be different. 

Bible time

Phonics and spelling 

She read to me

Still needs penmanship and math.

Dad is home today but still sleeping.

Outside time, science, art, music and we read to her. We also have audiobooks when she draws or plays (upon request).

Church dinner and Bible Club tonight. DD and DH going to be apart of our churches Christmas Choir. Rehearsal starts after Bible Club tonight. 

Tomorrow Homeschool Co-Op in the morning. 

 

[serendipitous journey]

Morning! 

We are due to start next term tomorrow.  I was hoping to be better-prepared but I've been under the weather the.whole.break.  !!!  Still: we are trucking along. 

Good news: the Christian Studies is up and running, we did that through break and got most of the kinks out.  If I can assemble my teacher notebooks today AND make & print the boys' memory work & verses to go in the notebooks we'll be golden. 

I also need to get our first couple of days' work sketched out and have our term goals outlined.  I think this ought to be our "Slow and Steady" term.  I'd like us to knock out a LOT of earth science, to really wrap our Medieval work and do a week of Early Modern at the end of the term (or have Early Modern be our "term break" subject -- that's probably a better idea) and because a variety of events over the last year have put us behind it is tempting to cram it all in.  But if I focus on working steadily on all our subjects we'll be better off in the long run. 

Also: exercise, dinner with DH 🙂  , get a nap if possible. 

ETA:  Bible Studies checklist:

• get verses into a word processing program, print for my notebooks<--- nixed that, too time-consuming, will just use memory verse cards and print out our other memory work or write it in as we go (books of Bible, days of creation, &c)
• print my weekly plan template + specific lesson plans and get into notebooks
• paste preferred translations onto those memory verse cards for which I'm using Everett Fox translation
• EC: organize the verse cards for this unit of Bible Studies, for both boys

Edited October 3, 2019 by serendipitous journey

[serendipitous journey]

Still need to finish the Bible studies verse card work. 

First day of term here; have work for "e"lder and "y"ounger.  Today: keep up with Bible studies (e/y) & languages(eg, el; yg, yl).  Add math (e /y), earth science (e/y), and art (e/ y) and be more focused about piano (e/y).  Set things up for language arts (e/y), more earth science (e/y), history (e/y) & literature (e/y) tomorrow. 

ETA: today will be slow going ... started with a lost math book (my fault).  I'm going to need to take 20-ish minute teacher planning breaks to organize as we go, and come up with our term goals & c for the subjects + get materials organized.

Draft math plan, incl. things to address standardized testing results for boys; draft rough earth science plan -- spread the work across the term in a rough-and-ready way -- and draft a list of earth science books to reserve at library; rough list of videos. 

ETA #2: school's done, heading into finishing piano, play, chores, exercise, prep &c.  I'm sick so we stopped an hour early today; if we'd kept going for the extra hour we would actually have done everything!  As it is: elder does math & Greek first tomorrow, younger starts with art. 

Edited October 3, 2019 by serendipitous journey

[Mommyof1]

Good Morning All, 

We had Homeschool Co-op this a.m.. They did a unit study, flex class and P.E.

At home Bible time, penmanship and she reads to us.

Audiobook with more arts and crafts.

Dad is teaching her to sew. (a purse for Barbie)

This Saturday is a makeup day and she will do her core subjects then.

 

[Critterfixer]

Morning. Boys are doing just Math and Latin today. Next week I had planned to start in with our other subjects after that week of being off, but it looks like we may be taking one day out of the week to go to the lake because the weather has finally decided to cool off and be pleasant. Have to see what we can do to work around that.

[Mommyof1]

Today is Bible, she reads, audiobooks, practice her choir music for Christmas, storytime at library, science and crafts. 

Lunch with Dad at work

Park time

Birthday party for a friend.

 

[serendipitous journey]

9 hours ago, Critterfixer said:

Morning. Boys are doing just Math and Latin today. Next week I had planned to start in with our other subjects after that week of being off, but it looks like we may be taking one day out of the week to go to the lake because the weather has finally decided to cool off and be pleasant. Have to see what we can do to work around that.

We took a 30-minute enjoy-the-weather break yesterday.  🙂 for lake days when the crisp fall air hits!!! 

Today: hit the stuff we didn't do yesterday, piano lessons, if we can get by the grocery store w/o stress that would be great.  will edit with specifics when have time ...

ETA: we did essential languages, the piano, plus some extras: I did art with younger, elder caught up with his math, I did some science with both + literature with elder, spelling with younger & Bible memory all around. 

I need to debrief this week a little to set us up for next week:

1. We are doing pretty well!  esp. given that I've been sick and sweet DH is stressed out of his gourd, his work is crazy right now but -- for which I am so thankful -- not crazy in any existential sense: we're not worried about job security at the moment, just managing his actual work. 
2. The "Forest" app is so so helpful for us.  I started elder on it a week ago (gave him a head start over his super-competitive younger brother) and now we all have it.  The boys are growing trees (for 25" of work) and bushes (for 10") like mad, it really does motivate them to stay more focused than otherwise, and the trees get extra-interesting at 60" and also at 90" and 120".  I think it is counter-productive for the children to try to "focus" for more than 30 minutes but they get to plant longer-term virtual trees during their online classes and piano lessons so that's a win. 
3. Adjusting goals to achieve the Most Important: I need to get our weird-translation Bible Verses into my regular memory work (my Mod Podge failed on the shiny cardstock I need to use, will have to troubleshoot that, it might be because the only stuff I have is the Super Gliter version).  I need to prioritize Earth Science, hands-on crafts & art, and literature while ensuring that our skills and languages stay on target and we keep piano strong.  I'm going to look at our next term, which goes from week after Thanksgiving until January 14th, and have an idea of what I want us to really work on during the weeks that their online classes are on Advent break but I am still schooling them: that will give me a LOT of time if I am organized enough to seize it.
4. If I can run two read-alouds per school day that would be awesome.  One at lunch, one at PM snack.  May not be feasible though.
5. DH is traveling next week, it will benefit me if I go through our stuff and make it open-and-go and have a good plan of the work for the week.
6. I want to try and scoot us toward faster dinners.   I'm cooking more and keeping the kitchen cleaner for DH (he cleans up after dinner while I shower & then do stories/tucking in).
7. Related to the above: I need to have a plan for how I'm going to run our evenings without DH around and keep them from running late, which is what usually happens when he travels. 

So, tomorrow I'll tackle all that stuff.  Tonight: check over math work for the day, clean the school stuff up, put things away and launch into Dinner Moment.  Cheers, y'all!

Edited October 5, 2019 by serendipitous journey

[serendipitous journey]

Morning!  Around here, DH is taking point on the boys today.  I'm doing getting-sick-prevention -- I have a cold/flu something flirting with me; so zinc tablets + rounds of brief exercise -- and working on yesterday's list.   Getting the house clean-ish, planning our days & meals & some down-time for me even though DH is away next week, getting school prepped & open-and-go, maybe some garden work, generally working through the tasks I listed yesterday: this is the goal. 

If any of y'all have post-stress-triggered sickness/migraines regularly (I do for sure) this article is worth looking at and at the end suggests a preventative/ treatment regimen that has actually helped me.  I'm starting to come down off the church-disaster anxiety/depression AND elder DS' health is steadily improving (for which I'm beyond grateful) but life and all it's little challenges is still trickling along, so the post-stress thing is an ongoing concern for a bit: there's much less stress, but not so little that I can really just recover. 

I keep getting tossed into stress-overdrive and then drifting out again.   Much better than living in stress-overdrive 24/7, though.  🙂 

ETA: first short-list: draft next week's schedule, include: 2x/day read-aloud times to aim for, visit to garden store, time to cut boys' hair (had to nix hair-cutting this week, we'll just wash it plenty), classes, goal dinner times, RPG night + time to prep for the new game.  Then rustle up some manila folders for our earth science and language arts and slap our weekly targets for the term into them: most of our stuff is do-the-next-thing or "x"-times-per-week, but this term I'd like to have younger DS finish all his third-grade-level-programs, both boys finish the earth science, and elder DS stay on target with his writing program/grammar.  Last thing on short-list is to get my main teaching notebook functional: clean out the stuff I'm not using, get those target goals into it and set up an attendance page, attendance being the only thing I'm legally required to record here.  Okay!

Edited October 5, 2019 by serendipitous journey

[Mommyof1]

Hope you feel better soon SJ.

Dad at work.

Today is make up day.

Math, phonics (spelling rules) review from this week, Bible time, poems, penmanship, classics for kids (music), her reading, practicing her music for Christmas choir and my reading to her plus audiobooks while she does art and/or crafts.

Clean the house.