What a nice day...

I got up early this morning to go interview for the good grocery store, and they'll be calling me in 1-2 weeks with details on starting around mid-November! The new store opens officially the first week of December. Turns out they love ex-corporate-grocery-store employees because we are very well trained. As a bonus, my sister, who was also applying, brought me a lovely latte, which I rarely buy myself because they're just too expensive.

So that put me in a good mood. Then I came home, had some coffee and read for a while, cleaned the kitchen, and baked a lemon cake for my friend W's (late) birthday celebration. M cooked dinner this evening, and the kids, W and I cleaned up all the old branches from the apple tree in the backyard - they, along with about a million little apples, have been cluttering the ground out there for a couple of weeks now. Without them, the yard looks much better, although still dead. I think I am going to make apple butter with the remaining million apples on the tree. Wouldn't that taste wonderful on fresh-baked bread in the winter?

Then, my mom sent me pics of curtain material for the kids' room, that she bought and that I will sew. I'll post pics when they're up. Suffice to say, they will go nicely with the rug, but thankfully I don't think they'll be overwhelming.

I think I'm off now to brew some tea and bathe the elflings, who are at the moment possibly quite the dirtiest children in the world.

Finishing the week up...

So, here's the update for the week ending on Sept. 29!

the Elf:
He is now (as of today, the 28th), keeping a journal, as part of a collaboration between his IST and myself, in order to get him in the flow of writing more easily. It will not be corrected, so all the spelling and unique grammar will be entirely his own! Today, he wrote (and incidentally almost all even spelled perfectly) about hot rods. And then drew a picture of a hot rod, with giant exhaust pipes and flames down the side.

In math, he is, as always, trucking along. I think it took him all of 5 or 6 minutes to do a whole worksheet today! He's really enjoying keeping track of the weather with his Meeting Book, and plans to count up the hot, warm, cool, and cold days at the end of each month for comparison purposes.

Historically speaking, we read today about Osiris (how do you pronounce this? I hear different ways from different people) and his evil brother Set. Then we had an interesting discussion about gods, and why people believe in them/him. I also did some digging around and found this site (scroll down to find Color Me Egypt), and this one for more coloring pages. We also actually did all the comprehension questions from part one of this chapter, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Elf did listen!

In language arts, he has finished his review of capital letter formation in HWOT, and has gotten through the first couple of lessons in ETC. He's also still reading aloud in the evenings, usually a Bob Book, although he's working on a set of readers that we got from his school, along with a caterpillar chart to color in as he masters each book. He's been doing some copywork as well, plus now journaling, so I think we're making some good headway in this area.

For science, we've been studying Animals of the Ice and Tundra, and if you look under Science Samples in the sidebar, you'll find his caribou drawing. He's also been spending a lot of time playing with the microscope, and of course, both kids are fascinated by the snake!

Other than that, he draws something everyday, so I haven't been bothering with art lessons at the moment. Musically, we've been listening to a cd called Mozart in Egypt. He's working really hard in gymnastics, and has even asked M to show him how to do some strengthening exercises at home so that he'll perform better in class. We're looking forward to having a weekly park day, as long as my job schedule meshes well with it.

the Fairy:
Not a heavy schoolwork week for her. She has been working a lot with her alphabet flashcards, and playing a lot of self-designed counting games, as well as spending an hour at a time at the little drafting table, drawing insanely intricate pictures of... well, things. She also colors the Egyptian handouts (as I type this she's working diligently on a picture of Osiris), and participates in the SOTW discussions, as well as following the science topics, so I'm not worried about her "falling behind".
She's also been working hard in gymnastics, and practices some of it at home as well.

In general household news, there's a fabulous grocery store opening up nearby, and tomorrow they are holding open interviews for all positions. If they pay any better than where I work now, I'm jumping ship. Unlike where I work now, they are not a corporation - instead they are a small, local chain (this will be the third store). Also, Elf cooked a whole dinner by himself last Saturday! He made turkey sloppy joes and coleslaw, his absolute favorite meal in the world. I just oversaw the process of cooking to make sure there were no burns, cuts, etc. Ummm.... let's see... oh, check out the new link at the bottom of my sidebar - cool whale pictures, some of which were taken by my brother-in-law.

And that's it from here for now!

Elf's caribou

Here is Elf's drawing of a caribou, from our "Animals of the Ice & Tundra" studies:

Building a shaduf

Since we read chapter 1 of SOTW, we've been talking a lot about ancient farming techniques, so today Elf and I built a miniature shaduf in the backyard, from odds and ends we had laying around. Best of all, it worked, so both kids got a really good idea of this simple farm machine.

Here he is digging an irrigation ditch...
Tying the shaduf together with string...
Testing out the finished project...

Feels like fall...

Cooler outside, with a brief, intense rainstorm in our neighborhood. The wind is blowing, howling in the eaves. My absolutely favorite season - I love fall, when the air is crisp, and the leaves change color. I keep thinking of autumn things, like corn mazes, gourds, pumpkin muffins, mushroom-barley soup, hot tea, walks on windy days...

Anyhow, on Saturday Elf, Fairy and I curled up on the couch to watch Walking with Cavemen. Fairy fell asleep about halfway through, but Elf and I watched every moment eagerly. It's so nice to have someone else in the house that is fascinated by this stuff! By the end of it, Elf was trying to figure out which of our human ancestors contributed what to the mix we are now.

Today we got a chance to actually sit down and "do school" (okay, it's been a really busy week). Fairy wasn't really interested, so after doing her Meeting Book, she ran off to play with her "babies", leaving me with some one-on-one time with Elf. We blazed through 2 pages of math, 2 handwriting pages, and 3 pages of phonics, before Fairy came back, just in time for the first chapter in our Animal Encyclopedia - animals of the ice and tundra. Both kids loved all the pictures of the animals, especially the penguins and caribou. Elf is working on a drawing of a caribou, which I'll post when he finishes. He's also really enjoying Spanish class on early Wednesday afternoons - today they worked on the names of body parts.

Tomorrow I hope we'll get a chance to read chapter one in SOTW. I work, all day pretty much, so we'll see how it goes (yeah, they messed up on my schedule at work).

Thursday and today were much more productive...

Yesterday we worked on a plethora of school subjects - math, phonics, handwriting, geography and history. We started with the story of the wolf in sheep's clothing, then completed (and caught up on) our Meeting Books. After that, each kid did 2 pages of phonics, 2 pages of handwriting, and a page of math. Then, I read aloud from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, about archeology and what history is. The kids both love the photos in those.

Both of them also got some practical, hands-on lessons yesterday. Fairy helped her Nonna make a batch of cookies, and Elf used a drill press (under M's guidance and very strict supervision) to make a screwdriver rack.

Today, we read about the boy who cried wolf, and then worked on our Meeting Books. We then moved on to math worksheets. Elf did a regular page and a drill page of doubles up to 5. Fairy worked on matching birthday cakes (for pictures of both, see Math Samples in my sidebar, under Sum & Substance). We worked on phonics next (again see sidebar). Today I combined the idea behind Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families with Explode the Code. I wrote down the words from the first unit we've covered, gave Elf our letter cards, and had him sound them out when I read them out loud. He got all of them right, on the first try! I also used our alphabet flash cards for the first time, with Fairy. She can identify nearly all the letters and the sounds they make. After all that, we moved on to science, and we made a Jello cell model. It came out pretty good, although I think I could have used the bigger box of Jello. Still, we're now ready to move on to animals next week. I think the first section of the Animal Encyclopedia is on Arctic and Antarctic animals.

Tomorrow I have the day off, so we'll watch Walking with Cavemen as a segueway into the actual first chapter of SOTW. Yesterday, I read a little bit about cavemen to the kids, and they spent the early afternoon pretending to be Neanderthals. They hunted animals (teddy bears), made a tent of skins (towels and our table), and ate their kill (leftover chicken drumsticks).

Our Jello Cell Model

Art Samples from Sept 14 2007

Elf's art project

Fairy's art work

Phonics samples Sept 14 2007

Example of Elf's work from this week

Example of Fairy's work from this week

Math Samples Sept 14 2007

Elf's math from today

Fairy's math from today

Not off to the greatest start this week...

Well, Monday we had C.O.'s first enrichment class, then I had to finish my algebra homework (yay), then we went to gymnastics... in other words, very little homeschooling got done, although Mondays are supposed to be our "light" days due to outside activities.

Tuesday, I spent the whole morning into early afternoon at the the heart center, while my dad got his surgery done. Good news, and a little iffy news - he didn't need any stents, which they were expecting he would, so that was good. However, it looks like he had a heart attack some time ago without knowing it, which closed off a major vessel to his heart. But, another one grew longer and attached itself to take over. They don't want to operate to correct this unless the pain becomes unmanageable. After the surgery, I had work, so again, no lessons.

Today, I had every intent of getting stuff done, before C.O.'s Spanish class. But, we all overslept instead. C.O. did read out loud for his IST with no trouble! And she loaned me a few more books on biology, and ancient history, plus a bunch of Level 1 readers. I'm really not sure what happened to the rest of the day after Spanish, except that I cooked a really good dinner and went to class.

Well, tomorrow is another day! And we don't have to be anywhere until I go to work at 3.

End of "week" one...

Well, it was a three day school week! But, everything is going well so far, and we're off to a good start.!

Math:
We're actually using the Meeting Books that come with Saxon Math this year. Both kids fill them out every morning. C.O. loves doing his weather graph (he got to mark "cool" yesterday and was very excited), and C.J. is definately learning patterning. C.O.'s worksheets are mostly review at this point, so he's flying through them. I've been printing out basic worksheets for C.J. from Enchanted Learning, and she's been exploring manipulatives.

Language Arts:
Both kids are enjoying their Code books. C.O. has done most of the first unit of Explode the Code 2, and C.J. is working on the letter "f" in Get Ready for the Code. They both did a couple of pages in HWOT as well, plus we're reading a lot. C.O. reads a Bob book out loud every day, and I am reading the classic Winnie-the-Pooh stories to them at bedtime. I've also been reading one of Aesop's Fables to them as a start to homeschooling every morning.

Science:
We're studying cell structure. I am going to give the kids another overview on cells this next week, and then we'll make a Jello cell. After that, we'll move on to our animal studies (starting in week 3). I just want the kids to have a basic understanding of what everything is built from!

History:
We read the intro to SOTW this week, and are now focused on archeology. I read to them a bit from the book Archeology for Kids, and we're exploring a really cool website - Kids Dig Reed, which is a site dedicated to an actual dig in the U.S. Yesterday at the park, C.O. and C.J. kept asking me to bury things so that they could excavate them. I have a few books on hold at the library that I'll pick up on Monday, and I may set up some sort of backyard project next week. I also ordered Walking with Cavemen from Netflix.

Other:
No gymnastics this week because of the holiday, but we'll start back up next week. We did go to a park day, and again worked on identifying poison oak. As far as art and music, we'll start that up next week. C.O. also starts his enrichment classes next week.

So there's our first week in review.

What a weird and awkward day...

About 10 this morning, I got a call from my mom, letting me know that my dad is going in for heart surgery next week. It's the same surgical procedure he had done on his carotid arteries almost exactly 7 years ago (when I was about 2 months pregnant with C.O.), due to the fact that his unhealthy lifestyle leads to a lot of plaque buildup in his arteries. Anyhow, then there was a 2% chance of negative side effects, and within 24 hours of that surgery, he had a stroke. He's never been the same since. I am terrified that this will give him another stroke, or worse, that he won't make it through this one, since he is in worse health overall now, as well as in his mid-seventies. He hasn't been the best father, but still, he's my dad. I don't want the kids to lose another grandparent. We've lost all 3 of their great-grandparents (the ones they knew), and one (step) grandfather within the last year. So please, keep my dad in your thoughts.

After this call, we headed off to park day. I chatted with a couple of the moms, but was still down about the phone call. Then Jenny got there, and I just toally didn't know what to say or do, other than leave her alone until she's ready to talk. I just didn't want to make her cry, as I am sure she's been doing enough of that without my help.

So now, I am crying instead. I'm crying for my friend, who is a wonderful mom, and who I know would have been a great mom to another baby. I am crying because I am scared for my dad, who I am not ready to lose, or even face losing right now...

First day of "school"...

We had planned to start yesterday, but then I worked all day instead, so we started this morning. First, I read "The Tortoise and the Hare" from the book of Aesop's Fables we got a while ago. Then we moved on to math. We did our Saxon Math Meeting Books (never have done these before, but they're kind of fun). C.O. filled in his weather chart, the date, and started on a family birthday graph, while C.J. filled in the date and worked on a coloring pattern (light green and orange for September), then she played with manipulatives and counted items on a worksheet for me, while C.O. did side A of his first worksheet. After that, both kids did a bunch of jumping jacks, and then we moved onto phonics. C.O. did two pages on matching words and recognizing blended starting sounds. He got all the starting sounds on the first try, which made both of us happy! C.J. worked on the first few pages of Get Ready for the Code, which is on the "F" sound. We wrapped up today with science. I read to them from the Biology4Kids web site, and then they colored and compared plant and animal cell printouts from Enchanted Learning (well, okay, C.O. did. C.J. started to, but decided to draw with sidewalk chalk instead) - I'll post pics of C.O.'s nice work later under "Science" in my other blog. Overall, I think it went well, although I can tell it will be a bit of a balancing act managing both their efforts.

Now we are getting ready to go to the laundromat, since our garage is too full of boxes and furniture to fit in the washing machine my mom's loaning us. I'll still use our clotheslines though! We also got dishes done, watered the hydrangeas, vacuumed the family room... it's been a busy morning. It's really, really nice that they can run out back whenever they want - this is one of the biggest changes so far with the move.

Side note - C.O. has been willingly reading aloud to us from his Bob Books every evening before bed, before I read a story to them... right now we're going through the classic Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Anyhow, with all this practice, he's getting a lot more confident!

What a week!

It has been an absolutely exhausting week, but, we're basically done moving. M and I are going back to the apartment tomorrow to clean, and pick up the last 3 or 4 boxes, and that's it. Of course, the new house is in more or less complete disarray, but we're gradually getting through all the boxes, bags, etc. As always, for me at least, it is much more fun unpacking than packing. The kids are now getting used to, and loving, all the extra space. They really love being able to go out in the backyard and just play without having to ask first, and have an adult watching them (as they did when they wanted to go out front at the apartment). Our dog loves the yard too!

I did meet a couple of neighbors. One is a single part-time dad living next door - part-time in that his 3 boys are here only on weekends. They seem friendly, and the oldest boy is definately excited to have another boy living next door. I also saw one of my regular grocery store customers down the street a few houses, and I know she has 2 little girls. In addition, I met the lady from across the street, who has 2 boys, ages 3 and 4. Within the first minute of talking to her, she announced that she was "very glad to see another white family moving in". Yikes! And enough said there (though when you move to an area known locally as "Little Tijuana" you should probably be expecting that a few Latino families live there).

I met with C.O.'s IST (independent Study Teacher) last week as well, and we're totally on the same page with his education. She's never had a student use SOTW, although the charter school has it, so she's looking forward to seeing how he does with it. She also helped me procure Get Ready (and Get Set) for the Code, and a HWOT book for C.J., to go along with Saxon K, since C.J. insists she has to "do homeschooling" just like her brother. I now have all the homeschool stuff where it belongs, ready to go this week!

Well, that's it from here for the moment.