C.O.'s Chickenque poster was published in our county homeschooling newsletter! Too cool - I opened it up, and there it was! He's delighted too, and I am definately saving this issue.
We had a great homeschool day today. I met with his teacher, who told me that thanks to all the work C.O.'s put in this year, he'll officially be doing second grade work next year, for his first grade year. Definately a sign that we've accomplished something. Then she and I started browsing through all the available curriculum choices, everything from real textbooks (which I dislike and she strongly discourages for many subjects) to Oak Meadow. I am such a geek - I have tons of fun digging through all that stuff. C.O. read out loud for us (a Bob book) and did it perfectly. Then we came home, dashed through a math lesson, and the 4 pages left in HWOT, and ran off to a park since the weather is gorgeous again. C.J. hasn't wanted to homeschool so much this week - she's too busy drawing very intricately decorated Easter eggs!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Not much to report... again...
Though we did go to a carnival last Thursday, and the beach yesterday!
The carnival was probably one of the smallest I have ever seen. Both kids loved the carousel, and the car-go-round, and C.O. loved the little roller coaster also - though he was really freaked out when it started (I rode it with him). By the end of the second pass, he was a roller-coaster champ! He immediately insisted that his dad ride it with him, which M did, while I took C.J. on the carousel again.
The beach yesterday was one of those spur-of-the-moment trips, and we were only there about an hour, long enough to walk up and down by the water's edge, collect some shells and beach glass, check out various forms of seaweed, and make plans to go again as soon as the weather is nice. It was a different beach than we usually go to, and the sand is perfect for building sandcastles, so we've got to load up all our shovels, buckets, and so forth. C.O. and C.J. did have a bit of an accident - they ran full force into each other, hard enough to fall down, and C.O. bruised and split his lip on one side. He looks like someone punched him! Which I guess is close enough to the truth, if you look at it as C.J. punching him with her head! Poor boy - he hates the sight of his own blood.
C.O. is moving well through math, and has finished a unit in his language arts book. I plan to have him finish up Maps, Graphs, Globes and HWOT this week! C.J. is, at the moment, working on matching uppercase to lowercase letters (just A-E). She's making great progress with letter identification, beginning sounds, and basic math! We never got to our science project last week - life has a way of getting in the way - so we're starting it today. The guy at Trader Joe's was nice enough to give us a few balloons for the banana-gas project, in case the first one doesn't work. C.O. also helped me comparison-shop while we were there! We're working on learning about recycling/conservation, and the kids want to donate money to a local environmental group for Earth Day, so we are saving all our change for that. C.O. and C.J. have offered to help with our household recycling. Our apartment manager called the disposal company this last week, and they delivered a recycling dumpster for the entire complex to use, which is great, so we figure we'll set up a tub, and whenever it gets full, we'll wheel it down in our red wagon. C.O. is demanding the rights to pull the wagon, which is fine with me.
The carnival was probably one of the smallest I have ever seen. Both kids loved the carousel, and the car-go-round, and C.O. loved the little roller coaster also - though he was really freaked out when it started (I rode it with him). By the end of the second pass, he was a roller-coaster champ! He immediately insisted that his dad ride it with him, which M did, while I took C.J. on the carousel again.
The beach yesterday was one of those spur-of-the-moment trips, and we were only there about an hour, long enough to walk up and down by the water's edge, collect some shells and beach glass, check out various forms of seaweed, and make plans to go again as soon as the weather is nice. It was a different beach than we usually go to, and the sand is perfect for building sandcastles, so we've got to load up all our shovels, buckets, and so forth. C.O. and C.J. did have a bit of an accident - they ran full force into each other, hard enough to fall down, and C.O. bruised and split his lip on one side. He looks like someone punched him! Which I guess is close enough to the truth, if you look at it as C.J. punching him with her head! Poor boy - he hates the sight of his own blood.
C.O. is moving well through math, and has finished a unit in his language arts book. I plan to have him finish up Maps, Graphs, Globes and HWOT this week! C.J. is, at the moment, working on matching uppercase to lowercase letters (just A-E). She's making great progress with letter identification, beginning sounds, and basic math! We never got to our science project last week - life has a way of getting in the way - so we're starting it today. The guy at Trader Joe's was nice enough to give us a few balloons for the banana-gas project, in case the first one doesn't work. C.O. also helped me comparison-shop while we were there! We're working on learning about recycling/conservation, and the kids want to donate money to a local environmental group for Earth Day, so we are saving all our change for that. C.O. and C.J. have offered to help with our household recycling. Our apartment manager called the disposal company this last week, and they delivered a recycling dumpster for the entire complex to use, which is great, so we figure we'll set up a tub, and whenever it gets full, we'll wheel it down in our red wagon. C.O. is demanding the rights to pull the wagon, which is fine with me.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Not much to report...
but I thought I'd update anyway!
School-wise, C.O. is moving into counting by 5's, and has been playing a lot with his set of Learning Wrap-Ups. I got him a set of Bob Books, as I have this theory that if it is easy for him to read, he'll be less reluctant to read, and will move gradually toward more complex reading without much resistance. Guess what? It's working - he's actually excited to be reading out loud! He is also moving into using lowercase letters as opposed to all capitals, all at his own desire and pace.
C.J. is doing well with printouts from Enchanted Learning. She does a lot of color-and-count pages, along with basic alphabet activity sheets. I have started some phonics work with her as well, and we spend a lot of time playing around on Starfall.
We're starting a unit on recycling (just in time for Earth Day next month!), combining it with our other studies. Our apartment complex doesn't do recycling, as far as I've been able to find out, so I am working on a proposal for the property managment company. In the meantime, I can teach the kids about taking care of the Earth, and they can help sort our recycling. I actually have a lot of recycled-materials-art-projects at my fingertips, so we will be doing some of those. If anyone reading this knows of any good books, projects, etc., for young kids learning about the environment and conservation, let me know!
School-wise, C.O. is moving into counting by 5's, and has been playing a lot with his set of Learning Wrap-Ups. I got him a set of Bob Books, as I have this theory that if it is easy for him to read, he'll be less reluctant to read, and will move gradually toward more complex reading without much resistance. Guess what? It's working - he's actually excited to be reading out loud! He is also moving into using lowercase letters as opposed to all capitals, all at his own desire and pace.
C.J. is doing well with printouts from Enchanted Learning. She does a lot of color-and-count pages, along with basic alphabet activity sheets. I have started some phonics work with her as well, and we spend a lot of time playing around on Starfall.
We're starting a unit on recycling (just in time for Earth Day next month!), combining it with our other studies. Our apartment complex doesn't do recycling, as far as I've been able to find out, so I am working on a proposal for the property managment company. In the meantime, I can teach the kids about taking care of the Earth, and they can help sort our recycling. I actually have a lot of recycled-materials-art-projects at my fingertips, so we will be doing some of those. If anyone reading this knows of any good books, projects, etc., for young kids learning about the environment and conservation, let me know!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Slow days...
C.O. did twice his average lesson workload earlier this week, so we're taking it a bit easy. He is officially 3/4 of the way through his first grade math - I honestly thought we weren't quite that far along!
I realized that I hadn't really thought about art all that much for next year, except as projects to go along with science or history, but not as art for art's sake. Of course, my kids are always drawing anyway, so I am not sure how much of an art curriculum we'd need. I did find this book... The Everything Drawing Book, which looks promising, and I hear Drawing with Children is good, so I may have to look at that one too.
As far as music goes, I have some cds that I think will lend themselves well to our studies. I have Mozart in Egypt, Ravi Shankar's The Sounds of India, and Silk Road Journeys (Yo-Yo Ma). I plan on collecting more over the summer - music that reflects different cultures in the regions we'll be studying.
That's all for now!
I realized that I hadn't really thought about art all that much for next year, except as projects to go along with science or history, but not as art for art's sake. Of course, my kids are always drawing anyway, so I am not sure how much of an art curriculum we'd need. I did find this book... The Everything Drawing Book, which looks promising, and I hear Drawing with Children is good, so I may have to look at that one too.
As far as music goes, I have some cds that I think will lend themselves well to our studies. I have Mozart in Egypt, Ravi Shankar's The Sounds of India, and Silk Road Journeys (Yo-Yo Ma). I plan on collecting more over the summer - music that reflects different cultures in the regions we'll be studying.
That's all for now!
Can't work be this rewarding every day?
First, found a notice in my mail box that yes, I do get my raise this month. Then I had my first official evaluation - all good scores, and I am now a "permanent" employee as opposed to a probationary one. Then, back to my desk, with the phone ringing - turns out to be payroll saying "oops", they made a mistake - owed me a(nother) raise since December and they've accidentally been taking retirement out of my checks, so I get all the retirement money back, along with back pay at the end of the month! The amount they're refunding me is twice what I just spent on summer clothes for my ever-growing elflings. Not a bad day at work!
Other than that, I got 99 out of 100 on my art history paper. I think I did okay on the midterm for that class. I have another anthro "midterm" next week or the week after, so I had better get to studying.
Other than that, I got 99 out of 100 on my art history paper. I think I did okay on the midterm for that class. I have another anthro "midterm" next week or the week after, so I had better get to studying.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
So proud...
Today at 4-H, C.O. won (in his 5-8 age group) for best poster, for the upcoming 4-H fundraising barbeque! This means his poster will go on to be judged at the county level! Here it is...
He is so very excited - he had the greatest smile ever when he heard his name being called! He couldn't wait to show his daddy (who is thrilled too BTW). C.O. spent 3 days working feverishly on the poster so this was very gratifying.
In homeschool news, we are making good progress in math. C.O. is still reluctant to read if asked, though he is becoming more fluent. We're continuing, at his request, with planetary studies for another month'ish, and we're still studying the United States for social studies. C.J. is working hard on writing numbers and letters, and coloring. She colors inside the lines nearly as well as her brother.
The weather here is fantastic. It's sunny and warm, and the kids play outside all evening with the neighbor kids. There's a new little girl neighbor (she's only here 3 days a week) that C.J. has befriended - they're really cute running around together. C.O. runs around like a maniac with 2-3 other boys, all ages 6-8, riding scooters, playing HotWheels, trying unsuccessfully to climb trees.
He is so very excited - he had the greatest smile ever when he heard his name being called! He couldn't wait to show his daddy (who is thrilled too BTW). C.O. spent 3 days working feverishly on the poster so this was very gratifying.
In homeschool news, we are making good progress in math. C.O. is still reluctant to read if asked, though he is becoming more fluent. We're continuing, at his request, with planetary studies for another month'ish, and we're still studying the United States for social studies. C.J. is working hard on writing numbers and letters, and coloring. She colors inside the lines nearly as well as her brother.
The weather here is fantastic. It's sunny and warm, and the kids play outside all evening with the neighbor kids. There's a new little girl neighbor (she's only here 3 days a week) that C.J. has befriended - they're really cute running around together. C.O. runs around like a maniac with 2-3 other boys, all ages 6-8, riding scooters, playing HotWheels, trying unsuccessfully to climb trees.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Beautiful...
My daily drive to work, that is. It's only about 5 and a half miles each way. I avoid main roads as much as possible, always, preferring the twisty little, moderately unknown roads instead. Half my drive is on one such road, full of 45-degree turns, and a one-lane bridge. It goes past vineyards, a eucalyptus grove, and an ancient prune-plum orchard. Today there were remnants of fog hanging in the trees, with the sunrise turning it all red. Just beautiful, looking out over a field, toward a group of giant oak trees, gold and red mist everywhere.
I am going through a period of household purging, finally. For some reason, I suddenly feel ready to get rid of things I have been hanging on to for years, like the box I pulled out of the elflings' closet this weekend, full of barely-worn baby and toddler shoes. I am keeping a couple of pairs, for sentimental reasons, but the rest are getting donated. Same with baby clothes, kids' toys and books, and my own books and magazine archives. I want to have more of a sense of space at home, and less clutter. I can see that this will be an ongoing process for some time, with the sheer amount of stuff I have. The elflings understand that they will have more room for new things too if they help get rid of the old ones.
Other than that, I am keeping very busy, with work, college (I have an art history midterm this week), homeschooling, housework, extracurricular activities (only 2 this week, both 4-H related), and life in general. Still haven't found time to learn to knit!
I am going through a period of household purging, finally. For some reason, I suddenly feel ready to get rid of things I have been hanging on to for years, like the box I pulled out of the elflings' closet this weekend, full of barely-worn baby and toddler shoes. I am keeping a couple of pairs, for sentimental reasons, but the rest are getting donated. Same with baby clothes, kids' toys and books, and my own books and magazine archives. I want to have more of a sense of space at home, and less clutter. I can see that this will be an ongoing process for some time, with the sheer amount of stuff I have. The elflings understand that they will have more room for new things too if they help get rid of the old ones.
Other than that, I am keeping very busy, with work, college (I have an art history midterm this week), homeschooling, housework, extracurricular activities (only 2 this week, both 4-H related), and life in general. Still haven't found time to learn to knit!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
"Stole" this list from Two Kid Schoolhouse....
Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
I'm marking the ones I've never even heard of with a bold question mark
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. LOR: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. LOR: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) ?
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) ?
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) ?
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) ?
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) ?
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) ?
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) ?
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) ?
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) ?
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible read most of it anyway
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) ?
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) ?
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) ?
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) ?
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) ?
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) ?
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) ?
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) ?
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) ?
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) ?
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) ?
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) ?
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) ?
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
I'll admit that many of these books (the Steinbeck ones, Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and so on were books I had to read in high school, so it's been a while, but still, I did read them!
Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
I'm marking the ones I've never even heard of with a bold question mark
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. LOR: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. LOR: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) ?
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) ?
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) ?
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) ?
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) ?
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) ?
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) ?
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) ?
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) ?
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible read most of it anyway
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) ?
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) ?
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) ?
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) ?
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) ?
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) ?
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) ?
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) ?
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) ?
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) ?
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) ?
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) ?
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) ?
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
I'll admit that many of these books (the Steinbeck ones, Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and so on were books I had to read in high school, so it's been a while, but still, I did read them!
Friday, March 9, 2007
Just found this, and it looks FUN!
So I thought I'd share.
Circus! Science Under the Big Top
I think I know one place we'll be heading this summer!
Circus! Science Under the Big Top
I think I know one place we'll be heading this summer!
Stickers, stickers everywhere....
There are stickers popping up everywhere in my house. I found C.O.'s name in stickers on the bedroom door, there are stickers on the fridge, stickers on multiple pieces of paper.... I entirely blame the local homeschool association, as they are the ones that arranged the super-cool factory tour at Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory. We had so much fun! Both kids behaved really well for the tour itself, though I'll admit C.O. was really impatient to get started when we got there, and were waiting for other homeschoolers to finish arriving. We are working very hard on patience! They did love decorating postcards with stickers, as did I, because that was a lot of fun! Plus we got about a million free stickers to take home, and I bought a few... I couldn't resist one alphabet set that was just beautiful, see?
Plus the kids each got a set of reusable ones, and a grab bag. I could easily have spent loads of money - thankfully I had left my debit card at home and had to use cash!
We've done some math, some language arts, a little mapping, a little bit of planet studies this week. Today I'm taking a "mental health" day and we're going to clean and rearrange the kids room so that there is a little more open floor space for playing. I also realized that I don't really need to keep an entire large box full of outgrown baby/toddler shoes, so I think I'll be cleaning out the top shelf of their closet (who knows what other treasures lurk up there???). Today's educational plans - math, language arts, coloring a picture of the solar system, and starting the next unit in Maps, Graphs, Globes, which is... ummmm... let me go look.... okay - Symbols and Map Keys. I also need to spend some time today figuring out what to study next - do we want to stick with the planets for another few weeks, or move on to something else? I'll have to ask the kids. Maybe dinosaurs? Archeology? I also realized yesterday that if we keep up our math studies at the rate we're going, we will finish Saxon Math 1 before the end of June. We will also finish Maps, Graphs, Globes, and the last 10 pages we have of Handwriting without Tears. Our language arts book from Houghton Mifflin is another story - we will be working on that again in the fall, which is fine with me because it is a grade level above where C.O. "should" be, and he's about halfway through it. We're actually doing spelling and vocabulary lists already! We've done maybe a third of the experiements in The Everything Kids Science Experiment Book, but there are a number that will be fun to try next year, and even beyond.
So there, in a long rambling nutshell, is our progress report!
Plus the kids each got a set of reusable ones, and a grab bag. I could easily have spent loads of money - thankfully I had left my debit card at home and had to use cash!
We've done some math, some language arts, a little mapping, a little bit of planet studies this week. Today I'm taking a "mental health" day and we're going to clean and rearrange the kids room so that there is a little more open floor space for playing. I also realized that I don't really need to keep an entire large box full of outgrown baby/toddler shoes, so I think I'll be cleaning out the top shelf of their closet (who knows what other treasures lurk up there???). Today's educational plans - math, language arts, coloring a picture of the solar system, and starting the next unit in Maps, Graphs, Globes, which is... ummmm... let me go look.... okay - Symbols and Map Keys. I also need to spend some time today figuring out what to study next - do we want to stick with the planets for another few weeks, or move on to something else? I'll have to ask the kids. Maybe dinosaurs? Archeology? I also realized yesterday that if we keep up our math studies at the rate we're going, we will finish Saxon Math 1 before the end of June. We will also finish Maps, Graphs, Globes, and the last 10 pages we have of Handwriting without Tears. Our language arts book from Houghton Mifflin is another story - we will be working on that again in the fall, which is fine with me because it is a grade level above where C.O. "should" be, and he's about halfway through it. We're actually doing spelling and vocabulary lists already! We've done maybe a third of the experiements in The Everything Kids Science Experiment Book, but there are a number that will be fun to try next year, and even beyond.
So there, in a long rambling nutshell, is our progress report!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
One more decision about next year...
I just got a nice email back from C.O.'s "teacher", and it looks like we'll be continuing homeschooling through the charter school next year. My primary concern was flexibility with our studies past kindergarten, and she assured me that we still have plenty of flexibility in choosing what we want to cover for all the primary grades, so it looks like I can continue to move forward with a classical education, and C.O. can still enjoy his twice-weekly classes!
The last couple of days have gone pretty well with lessons, etc. We have done math and phonics two days in a row so far, along with a little planetary science (studying Mars this week) on Monday, and social studies (coloring a picture of our national bird, the bald eagle, and coloring a U.S. map by regions) yesterday. We also had a 4-H arts & crafts meeting yesterday, where all the kids made accordian books with tie-dyed covers. There were enough supplies that all the younger siblings got to participate too, which was very nice for C.J. and her friend Cassia. A few of the kids, mine included, filled their new books up with drawings right away. C.O. and C.J. were so proud - they couldn't wait to go pick up their daddy and to show him all their "hard" work. When we did get there to pick him up, we got to go in and see the giant automatic paper cutter, which is both a neat thing, and a little scary, as it can chop through 100 or so picture mattes at a time.
C.J. was also thrilled yesterday at 4-H when her birthday was announced! She told me later she "liked feeling special in front of all the big kids", and she loved showing off her earrings.
Now, the only thing I am still trying to figure out for next year is science. Aaarrrrggghhhh! Why can't there be ONE great program instead of half a dozen to choose from?
The last couple of days have gone pretty well with lessons, etc. We have done math and phonics two days in a row so far, along with a little planetary science (studying Mars this week) on Monday, and social studies (coloring a picture of our national bird, the bald eagle, and coloring a U.S. map by regions) yesterday. We also had a 4-H arts & crafts meeting yesterday, where all the kids made accordian books with tie-dyed covers. There were enough supplies that all the younger siblings got to participate too, which was very nice for C.J. and her friend Cassia. A few of the kids, mine included, filled their new books up with drawings right away. C.O. and C.J. were so proud - they couldn't wait to go pick up their daddy and to show him all their "hard" work. When we did get there to pick him up, we got to go in and see the giant automatic paper cutter, which is both a neat thing, and a little scary, as it can chop through 100 or so picture mattes at a time.
C.J. was also thrilled yesterday at 4-H when her birthday was announced! She told me later she "liked feeling special in front of all the big kids", and she loved showing off her earrings.
Now, the only thing I am still trying to figure out for next year is science. Aaarrrrggghhhh! Why can't there be ONE great program instead of half a dozen to choose from?
Monday, March 5, 2007
Trying new things...
I just finished signing the children up for new classes, both of which start next month. They decided, after much thinking, that since they have tried gymnastics already, they were ready to try new things, so C.O. will be taking Aikido once a week, and C.J. will be checking out ballet classes - also once a week, both through the city parks department, since it is an inexpensive way to get an introduction to things. Of course the classes are on seperate days, which means we have something going on nearly every day of the week! But we'll figure that out later. My mom will have to take C.J. to 2 of her 8 classes, as they are on the same days (and in the middle of) C.O.'s Lego Engineering project, but I'll be there for 6 of the classes, so I think that will work out pretty well.
Still no decision on science, or whether or not we're going solo next year, or sticking with the charter school. What I need to do is contact C.O.'s teacher, and find out what their goals for first grade are, and go from there, since I know I want to follow a classical education outline.
Today we plan on doing math, language arts and social studies, maybe coloring a U.S. map by different regions. We did 4 out of 5 days I had planned last week, so I think we're doing fairly well with lesson plans, though we'll still shoot for 5 days this week! We also have a couple of afternoon activities this week - a field trip and a project meeting, so we'll be keeping busy!
Still no decision on science, or whether or not we're going solo next year, or sticking with the charter school. What I need to do is contact C.O.'s teacher, and find out what their goals for first grade are, and go from there, since I know I want to follow a classical education outline.
Today we plan on doing math, language arts and social studies, maybe coloring a U.S. map by different regions. We did 4 out of 5 days I had planned last week, so I think we're doing fairly well with lesson plans, though we'll still shoot for 5 days this week! We also have a couple of afternoon activities this week - a field trip and a project meeting, so we'll be keeping busy!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Birthday!
Today was my girl's birthday! She enjoyed all her myriad of gifts (especially the "jewelry" set from her brother), and her afternoon at the park, where she rode ponies, the merry-go-round, and the train! We had a good time with the family - both sides, and the weather, while not as gorgeous as the last 2 days, at least cooperated enough to stay warmish and dry.
Here's my girl on the merry-go-round...
Here's her 'strawberry lemonade' cake (strawberry cake, lemon filling, lemon cream frosting) - I had to share this because I think it turned out quite well...
Altogether, it has been a very nice day. C.J. is very tired now, and cosy in my bed watching Cinderella, after devouring on her specially requested birthday dinner of homemade Chinese chicken wings and fruit salad. C.O. got a couple of small toys too, and is busily playing with, and improving, the Lego ambulance he spent the evening putting together. Back to normal life tomorrow, so I am off to do my evening round of tidying up, getting stuff ready for tomorrow, and then getting ready for bed myself.
Here's my girl on the merry-go-round...
Here's her 'strawberry lemonade' cake (strawberry cake, lemon filling, lemon cream frosting) - I had to share this because I think it turned out quite well...
Altogether, it has been a very nice day. C.J. is very tired now, and cosy in my bed watching Cinderella, after devouring on her specially requested birthday dinner of homemade Chinese chicken wings and fruit salad. C.O. got a couple of small toys too, and is busily playing with, and improving, the Lego ambulance he spent the evening putting together. Back to normal life tomorrow, so I am off to do my evening round of tidying up, getting stuff ready for tomorrow, and then getting ready for bed myself.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Sunny skies...
I love the weather the last couple of days! Yesterday we went to our homeschool park day, taking cupcakes, frosting and sprinkles with us, to celebrate C.J.'s birthday with her friends. The few kids that were there had a blast decorating their own cupcakes, and they all ate a lot of them. I am sorry to any moms whose kids went home hyper from all the sugar! C.J. even got a surprise present - a little bear you can draw on, wash, draw on, and so forth, from her favorite friends. She loves it - she's barely put it down since yesterday! As usual, it was a bit difficult seperating them from their friends at the end of the day, but I don't blame them. They had a lot of fun, and the sunshine was warm, the sky blue.
Today, C.J. got her ears pierced - she looks beautiful with her sparkly little pink gemstone earrings. She was nervous, but got through it like a champ. She has been showing them off since we got home. I had to immediately take her over to her Nonna's house, which fortunately is only a few blocks away, and she can't wait for her birthday party tomorrow, when she can show them to everyone else! We also went to the bookstore, where the kids each picked out a puzzle book from the discount rack, and I found a children's atlas, an illustrated book of Aesop's Fables, and a book of poetry for children, all at quite inexpensive prices.
We've been doing school work the last couple of days after taking Wednesday off, but it's been a light load of work, mainly math and phonics, and a bunch of story-reading. A friend alerted me to a message board where I learned about R.E.A.L. science, so now I have even more choices to deliberate over for next year. Thanks to my art history class this semester, I think I'm set for art (appreciation) next year; I've got the basics of history, math, and language arts figured out, but science is a puzzle still, mainly because there are several excellent options out there, and it is very hard to choose just one. For C.J., we'll be doing history, art appreciation, Saxon Math K, and probably Letter of the Week, for her 'official' pre-K year, since she's really enjoying having homeschool lessons of her own to work on.
Well, it's still not quite here, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAIRY GIRL!!!!!
Today, C.J. got her ears pierced - she looks beautiful with her sparkly little pink gemstone earrings. She was nervous, but got through it like a champ. She has been showing them off since we got home. I had to immediately take her over to her Nonna's house, which fortunately is only a few blocks away, and she can't wait for her birthday party tomorrow, when she can show them to everyone else! We also went to the bookstore, where the kids each picked out a puzzle book from the discount rack, and I found a children's atlas, an illustrated book of Aesop's Fables, and a book of poetry for children, all at quite inexpensive prices.
We've been doing school work the last couple of days after taking Wednesday off, but it's been a light load of work, mainly math and phonics, and a bunch of story-reading. A friend alerted me to a message board where I learned about R.E.A.L. science, so now I have even more choices to deliberate over for next year. Thanks to my art history class this semester, I think I'm set for art (appreciation) next year; I've got the basics of history, math, and language arts figured out, but science is a puzzle still, mainly because there are several excellent options out there, and it is very hard to choose just one. For C.J., we'll be doing history, art appreciation, Saxon Math K, and probably Letter of the Week, for her 'official' pre-K year, since she's really enjoying having homeschool lessons of her own to work on.
Well, it's still not quite here, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAIRY GIRL!!!!!
Friday, March 2, 2007
Sunshine, tax refund...
Starting out to be a good day! I wasn't expecting the tax refund until the end of the month, so the boost in my bank account was a welcome surprise today. The sunshine is nice too after a few days of rain, though the elflings and I did see the most wonderful rainbow yesterday shortly before sunset. There was the primary rainbow, from one horizon all the way over to the other, very bright, with reversed rainbows above and inside it, all framing the moon in a steel-blue sky. Just beautiful. We stood in the parking lot of our complex, in the rain, just staring at it for about 20 minutes, until the secondary rainbows began to fade. I went out half an hour later to out in a load of laundry and the primary rainbow was still there! It didn't fade completely until sunset.
Spoke to our landlord yesterday when I paid rent. I mentioned that our lease ends this month, and before I got any further, he asked if we would consider renewing, since we're "great tenants". So, I think M & I are making the right decision for now.
In other news, my fairy girl is turning FOUR on Sunday. Just incredible to me how fast it's going by. She's getting to be very grown-up, very quickly, in most ways. She's cooking now, learning to sew, learning basic math skills, developing lovely handwriting, and still a bit shy, and very cuddly. She loves fairies, princesses, painting/drawing, digging in the dirt/sand, running, dancing, her scooter, and ponies. She makes up little songs about everyday things, and is very tactile-oriented. To me she is the most beautiful little girl in the world. Today we're taking cupcakes (along with frosting & many types of sprinkles) to our homeschool park day, and Sunday we're having our family party at another park, where there is a carousel, and real ponies! I have a little more shopping to do, and tomorrow we're going to see if she wants her ears pierced. There's a shop nearby that does both ears at once, so I though I'd take her there and let her pick out a pair of piercing studs, and go from there. Then she and I can have a nice lunch out, just girl time. I took C.O. out yesterday so he could pick out a present for his little sister - he got her some dress-up costume jewelry, which I think she'll love.
Couple more months and my elf boy will be SIX!
Spoke to our landlord yesterday when I paid rent. I mentioned that our lease ends this month, and before I got any further, he asked if we would consider renewing, since we're "great tenants". So, I think M & I are making the right decision for now.
In other news, my fairy girl is turning FOUR on Sunday. Just incredible to me how fast it's going by. She's getting to be very grown-up, very quickly, in most ways. She's cooking now, learning to sew, learning basic math skills, developing lovely handwriting, and still a bit shy, and very cuddly. She loves fairies, princesses, painting/drawing, digging in the dirt/sand, running, dancing, her scooter, and ponies. She makes up little songs about everyday things, and is very tactile-oriented. To me she is the most beautiful little girl in the world. Today we're taking cupcakes (along with frosting & many types of sprinkles) to our homeschool park day, and Sunday we're having our family party at another park, where there is a carousel, and real ponies! I have a little more shopping to do, and tomorrow we're going to see if she wants her ears pierced. There's a shop nearby that does both ears at once, so I though I'd take her there and let her pick out a pair of piercing studs, and go from there. Then she and I can have a nice lunch out, just girl time. I took C.O. out yesterday so he could pick out a present for his little sister - he got her some dress-up costume jewelry, which I think she'll love.
Couple more months and my elf boy will be SIX!
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Going to wait a little...
on moving that is. M and I talked about it at length over the last couple of days, and decided that maybe we should wait a bit, while he settles in at his job, etc. We're also just not ready to move. I want to get rid of more old toys, more baby clothes (yes, I have a hard time parting with these), more books... so that we actually have less to pack next time. Also, there's a pool here, which would be great for the summer. Finally, it costs a lot to move, and I don't want to wipe out our savings! This gives us more time to look for the right place too.
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