Just for an hour early Wednesday afternoons. On Wednesdays, Elf has 45 minutes of Spanish and an hour (more or less) of art. Well, today Fairy was invited by Elf's IST to join the art class, so while Elf was in Spanish we went off to feed ducks and then headed back to find out that the mom that had coordinated the project-of-the-day idea had decided to do something else, so the IST asked me if I would be willing to supervise the finger-painting station. It was soooo much fun! There are only about 12-14 kids in the class, in grades K-2, so I only had 2-3 kids at the table at a time. Such nice kids overall too! The IST asked me if I would be available on future Wednesdays, and let me know that Fairy is always welcome in her classes. I asked Elf what he thought of me being in his class each week, and he said "Mommy, I'd love it!", so classroom volunteer I am! This is great because the IST said she would sign a form for the college I'm transferring to so that I have credit towards the 120 hours of classroom service I need before entering the teacher credentialing program in another 2 years.
Speaking of his classes, he is friends with several other boys, and a couple of girls, that are in his blended class, so I was excited for Fairy today when the new kindergarten girl asked Fairy to play at break time, sat next to her at circle time, and worked with her at the coloring station. They're really close in age and have a lot in common (right down to the silver hoop earrings). Makes Fairy really feel a part of the class.
In other news, the manager of the good store is "very excited to welcome me on board". Haven't even had my second interview yet, so that's pretty good! I won't get the new store a mile away as too many of their already-hired employees transferred there, but I'll work just across town, and yes, I'll likely earn a little more, plus it's just a way cooler store. I also got my midterm grades - a solid B in algebra (yaaaay!!!) and satisfactory (no letter grade yet) in the other 2 classes. Phew!
Schoolwise, we've just been plugging along. Elf is whizzing through math, and Fairy is doing well with handwriting and phonics, except that she tends to write her name completely backwards, letters and all. Is that normal for a left-handed kid developing writing skills? Elf never did it, so it's new to me. At least she has all the right letters, in the right order if you read right to left or in a mirror. We started our apple mummification project, with slices of untreated apples as the control factor, and we're going to make mummy dolls with sarcophagi in the next couple of weeks.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Nice rainy week...
Here's our week's round-up. It was kind of a slow-feeling week due to the loads of rain we got, which we sorely needed. Our once-dead lawns are turning green again (mostly)!
Language Arts:
Elf worked through the last part of Lesson 3 and all of Lesson 4 in ETC. He also got 100% on his spelling test (trim, trap, frog, trot, rip, press, and clam). Of course much of this involved moaning and groaning. He loves the ETC workbook, except that he's not very fond of all the writing! Funny, because he's really enjoying his journal. This week he wrote a little about our house, and drew a picture of it. Fairy drew a picture too, and I'll tell you, our house looks very different from one picture to the next! Elf also finally read aloud a Level 1 book - #11: Snip Snap - that he's been avoiding because he thought it looked too hard - surprise! He read the whole thing quite well, if a little slowly, which I'd actually rather he do than rush through and make up words. In addition, he flew through a few more pages in his HWOT workbook.
Fairy is finishing up with the letter m in her Get Ready for the Code, and spends a fair amount of time going through her alphabet flash cards, singing the alphabet or naming the items on the cards with a lot of emphasis on the beginning sound. She's enjoying her HWOT book as well, and is asking for a journal.
Math:
We're up through lesson 32 in Saxon Math 2. Elf has learned this week about temperatures to the nearest 10 degrees, doubles plus one, a review of addition & subtraction word problems and some patterning, plus I tried him out on simple double digit addition involving carrying numbers, and he got it right off the bat! We'll see how well he remembers it later on though.
Fairy has been (mostly) completing worksheets that I print off Enchanted Learning or LearningPage dot com, as well as keeping her Meeting Book up to date. We go over the days of the week every morning with the Meeting Book, and she's looking forward to a new color pattern next month (this month is brown and orange).
History:
We read chapter 4 in SOTW this week, and browsed through a few books on ancient Egypt from the charter school. I've "chickened" out (sorry, couldn't resist) and decided we're going to mummify apples instead. By the way, Jenny, how are your game hens doing? We're thinking we might make it to the Egyptian Museum sometime in November - we'll see. Both kids are really enjoying the Egyptians, so I am happy we went with chronological history. We also did some map work and coloring pages this week, and I need to do a search on my tv for related shows (the History Channel usually has some good ones).
Science:
Elf has been studying owls at his charter school and is fascinated by them, so we've been talking about them a lot, drawing pictures, looking at all the cool little bones he got out of the owl pellet he dissected at the charter school... we also read, cover to cover, the Zoobook that arrived on Tuesday - all about sharks. He says he wants to continue studying animals for a while, and in another month or so we may move into anatomy (animal and human). Maybe a trip to the zoo is in order too!
Fairy on the other hand is very interested lately in both snakes (due to Blackberry) and bunnies. There are several of the regular pet-type bunnies loose in our neighborhood, so she runs to the livingroom window every morning to look for them.
Home Ec:
The kids helped me make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies this week - I had them measure and add the ingredients while I supervised. Only problem was, it was hard to keep the raw ingredients in the bowl rather than their mouths! They also helped me clean the house as we were expecting company today - first time my dad has been here to see the house. Elf is getting really good about trying to keep the room he shares with Fairy nice and tidy. Still a ways to go, but he's learning! I've given both of them a few chores to do daily, and they're doing well with them. M and I have decided that the time has come to officially start an allowance for them, provided they do their chores, and their homeschooling.
Other:
Elf has gotten through the boring intro in Maps, Globes, Graphs and is now working on chapter 1, which is all about landscape features, like mountains, rivers, plains, etc.
Art-wise, they're both drawing between 1-10 pictures a day, so I haven't been worrying about that, although there are a couple of drawing projects on KinderArt that I'd like to do with them.
Musically, we've been listening to variety of music these days. E likes jazz, so we hear a fair bit of that, and today we watched Fantasia 2000 - art and music!
Speaking of movies, Fairy wants to be Snow White for Halloween, but had never seen the movie. It turned out my dad had an old VHS copy he didn't want anymore, so he brought it over today when he came for lunch, and we finished it a couple of hours ago. Parts of it freaked both kids out, but they laughed almost hysterically through a lot of it. Elf is going to be Optimus Prime. We still need to make it to the local pumpkin patch! There was a homeschool association field trip on Friday to one, but since it rained, I don't know if it happened or not.
I called the good grocery store this week to see what was going on, and I'll be going in for a second interview within a week. Yaaay! I aslo got another perfect score on an essay for my Political Science class, which is just funny because I still don't own the textbook (don't tell my teacher that). I base everything I write for those off his recorded lectures (it's an online class), stuff I've read or seen, and what I can find on the internet or in the encyclopedia.
And that's it for now!
Language Arts:
Elf worked through the last part of Lesson 3 and all of Lesson 4 in ETC. He also got 100% on his spelling test (trim, trap, frog, trot, rip, press, and clam). Of course much of this involved moaning and groaning. He loves the ETC workbook, except that he's not very fond of all the writing! Funny, because he's really enjoying his journal. This week he wrote a little about our house, and drew a picture of it. Fairy drew a picture too, and I'll tell you, our house looks very different from one picture to the next! Elf also finally read aloud a Level 1 book - #11: Snip Snap - that he's been avoiding because he thought it looked too hard - surprise! He read the whole thing quite well, if a little slowly, which I'd actually rather he do than rush through and make up words. In addition, he flew through a few more pages in his HWOT workbook.
Fairy is finishing up with the letter m in her Get Ready for the Code, and spends a fair amount of time going through her alphabet flash cards, singing the alphabet or naming the items on the cards with a lot of emphasis on the beginning sound. She's enjoying her HWOT book as well, and is asking for a journal.
Math:
We're up through lesson 32 in Saxon Math 2. Elf has learned this week about temperatures to the nearest 10 degrees, doubles plus one, a review of addition & subtraction word problems and some patterning, plus I tried him out on simple double digit addition involving carrying numbers, and he got it right off the bat! We'll see how well he remembers it later on though.
Fairy has been (mostly) completing worksheets that I print off Enchanted Learning or LearningPage dot com, as well as keeping her Meeting Book up to date. We go over the days of the week every morning with the Meeting Book, and she's looking forward to a new color pattern next month (this month is brown and orange).
History:
We read chapter 4 in SOTW this week, and browsed through a few books on ancient Egypt from the charter school. I've "chickened" out (sorry, couldn't resist) and decided we're going to mummify apples instead. By the way, Jenny, how are your game hens doing? We're thinking we might make it to the Egyptian Museum sometime in November - we'll see. Both kids are really enjoying the Egyptians, so I am happy we went with chronological history. We also did some map work and coloring pages this week, and I need to do a search on my tv for related shows (the History Channel usually has some good ones).
Science:
Elf has been studying owls at his charter school and is fascinated by them, so we've been talking about them a lot, drawing pictures, looking at all the cool little bones he got out of the owl pellet he dissected at the charter school... we also read, cover to cover, the Zoobook that arrived on Tuesday - all about sharks. He says he wants to continue studying animals for a while, and in another month or so we may move into anatomy (animal and human). Maybe a trip to the zoo is in order too!
Fairy on the other hand is very interested lately in both snakes (due to Blackberry) and bunnies. There are several of the regular pet-type bunnies loose in our neighborhood, so she runs to the livingroom window every morning to look for them.
Home Ec:
The kids helped me make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies this week - I had them measure and add the ingredients while I supervised. Only problem was, it was hard to keep the raw ingredients in the bowl rather than their mouths! They also helped me clean the house as we were expecting company today - first time my dad has been here to see the house. Elf is getting really good about trying to keep the room he shares with Fairy nice and tidy. Still a ways to go, but he's learning! I've given both of them a few chores to do daily, and they're doing well with them. M and I have decided that the time has come to officially start an allowance for them, provided they do their chores, and their homeschooling.
Other:
Elf has gotten through the boring intro in Maps, Globes, Graphs and is now working on chapter 1, which is all about landscape features, like mountains, rivers, plains, etc.
Art-wise, they're both drawing between 1-10 pictures a day, so I haven't been worrying about that, although there are a couple of drawing projects on KinderArt that I'd like to do with them.
Musically, we've been listening to variety of music these days. E likes jazz, so we hear a fair bit of that, and today we watched Fantasia 2000 - art and music!
Speaking of movies, Fairy wants to be Snow White for Halloween, but had never seen the movie. It turned out my dad had an old VHS copy he didn't want anymore, so he brought it over today when he came for lunch, and we finished it a couple of hours ago. Parts of it freaked both kids out, but they laughed almost hysterically through a lot of it. Elf is going to be Optimus Prime. We still need to make it to the local pumpkin patch! There was a homeschool association field trip on Friday to one, but since it rained, I don't know if it happened or not.
I called the good grocery store this week to see what was going on, and I'll be going in for a second interview within a week. Yaaay! I aslo got another perfect score on an essay for my Political Science class, which is just funny because I still don't own the textbook (don't tell my teacher that). I base everything I write for those off his recorded lectures (it's an online class), stuff I've read or seen, and what I can find on the internet or in the encyclopedia.
And that's it for now!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Plugging along...
Today was a lot better. We started out with Meeting Books, which both kids willingly brought up to date. Fairy recited the days of the week in order, which she was very proud of because Elf still has trouble with this! Then Fairy completed a Halloween counting worksheet, even writing the numbers herself instead of having me write them so she can trace them, and Elf did a drill page on addition, and a regular worksheet with fractions and word problems. In ETC, Elf finished Lesson 4, except for the spelling test I plan on giving him tomorrow, while Fairy worked diligently on "m" sounds. Elf then read a Bob book aloud, I read one of Aesop's fables, and we finished by re-reading Chapter 3 in SOTW, and then made clay tablets:
This project was lots of fun - we ended up using some clay I had on hand, but it's not the bake-able kind, so they made other things out of the tablets afterwards:
In the background, you can see my ever-so-lovely wallpaper (which I have started removing, although M thinks it now looks even worse with a bare patch on one wall). We're planning to have it stripped and repainted well before Christmas.... I hope.
Oh, I also added a new link to my curriculum in the sidebar - Book Lists.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Most of a day off...
I decided this morning that we'd take today off, mostly. Elf did have Spanish (45 minutes) and Art (40 minutes) at the charter school today, and Fairy and I spent that time going to Whole Foods, the bank and the library (where we read books but did not check any out due to the astronomical amount of money I owe them), so I am counting all that as school for today. Especially since we are right on target (or ahead of) the goals the IST and I made for this month. We had a meeting (before classes and library time) with Elf's IST, where we went over his journal work, his finally finished writing sample, our history studies, math samples, and science. Plus, Elf read My Monster and Me aloud. He is so much more confident with his reading so far this year! This also means that he gets to color another segment on his bookworm reading chart.
On the homefront, I think we're getting somewhere with all the unpacking. Yes, we still have stuff to unpack, but most of that has been placed in the garage for now, and what is in the house is where we want it, for the most part. I need to make time to sew the kids curtains soon, since my mom now has the fabric on hand. I also want to sew curtains for the other rooms, but those can come later, as can painting. I am still trying to get accustomed to the fact that we own this house, we're not just tenants. I find myself thinking "well, someday we'll own a home". Duh. When does the unbelievability (is that even a word?) wear off? On a positive note, I am doing much better with my daily household chores here! Maybe it's having the space to put things away, maybe it's just the home ownership pride thing... but whatever it is, I am glad I'm keeping up with it. BTW, Jenny, what are you guys doing the week before Halloween? Maybe a Wednesday or Friday (pre-park time) lunch?
I am still waiting to hear from the other grocery store and will give them a call tomorrow to check in, since I am really hoping this will work out. The current grocery store manager is really giving me a hard time regarding my unavailable days, and so far we haven't made it to 4H at all because I am always working during meetings. We may have to just not do 4H right now. Aaaarggghhh! Well, it's always something, and overall things are good, so no more complaints for now about evil corporate grocery stores!
On the homefront, I think we're getting somewhere with all the unpacking. Yes, we still have stuff to unpack, but most of that has been placed in the garage for now, and what is in the house is where we want it, for the most part. I need to make time to sew the kids curtains soon, since my mom now has the fabric on hand. I also want to sew curtains for the other rooms, but those can come later, as can painting. I am still trying to get accustomed to the fact that we own this house, we're not just tenants. I find myself thinking "well, someday we'll own a home". Duh. When does the unbelievability (is that even a word?) wear off? On a positive note, I am doing much better with my daily household chores here! Maybe it's having the space to put things away, maybe it's just the home ownership pride thing... but whatever it is, I am glad I'm keeping up with it. BTW, Jenny, what are you guys doing the week before Halloween? Maybe a Wednesday or Friday (pre-park time) lunch?
I am still waiting to hear from the other grocery store and will give them a call tomorrow to check in, since I am really hoping this will work out. The current grocery store manager is really giving me a hard time regarding my unavailable days, and so far we haven't made it to 4H at all because I am always working during meetings. We may have to just not do 4H right now. Aaaarggghhh! Well, it's always something, and overall things are good, so no more complaints for now about evil corporate grocery stores!
Monday, October 8, 2007
I don't know if we should...
do any sit-down lessons when I'm sick. I've had this cold for nine awful days now, and it just won't budge, plus I think I'm anemic again, which just doesn't help. Lessons today were an awful combination of Elf fidgeting (his true talent) and me getting angry. I probably should have just stopped for the day, but I really want to stay somewhat on track, and when I feel that stubborn about something I have a hard time backing off!
Anyhow, we did accomplish something. He made three letter & color patterns with his name for math that turned out to be pretty neat. He did another page of math practically on his own. He finished the third lesson in ETC and got 100% on his spelling test! Plus he finally did a writing exercise for his charter school, where each child was given two pictures and had to choose one to write about, in whatever words they wanted, with their own spelling, grammar, etc. His is short, but he did it! Phew. I'm just glad it's over. I do have to say though that both are working hard in gymnastics. I'm beginning to really see progress in both of them.
We did a make-up session on Sunday, since I've been sick and therefore completely unmotivated, where he did beautifully, as did Fairy. They listened, did the work without complaint, and did it well... I was hoping today would be a repeat of that! I read Chapter 3 in SOTW (we're making flour-based "clay" tablets tomorrow) while the kids colored their Egyptian scribe pictures, did a few pages of math, handwriting and ETC, and Fairy worked really hard on her Code book, plus we caught up on science by reading about "Animals of the Coniferous Forest" while Elf colored a grey wolf picture and Fairy colored a (blue) snowshoe rabbit (printouts courtesy of Enchanted Learning). It was nice!
Well, maybe tomorrow will be better. I'm off to bed in a few minutes, with yet another cup of Throat Coat tea so I won't cough so much tonight. Jenny, if you read this, is there a Friday park day this week? I'm totally confused, because I thought it was going weekly, but the newsletter doesn't mention that... and we missed the last one. Of course, I could easily be mistaken!
Anyhow, we did accomplish something. He made three letter & color patterns with his name for math that turned out to be pretty neat. He did another page of math practically on his own. He finished the third lesson in ETC and got 100% on his spelling test! Plus he finally did a writing exercise for his charter school, where each child was given two pictures and had to choose one to write about, in whatever words they wanted, with their own spelling, grammar, etc. His is short, but he did it! Phew. I'm just glad it's over. I do have to say though that both are working hard in gymnastics. I'm beginning to really see progress in both of them.
We did a make-up session on Sunday, since I've been sick and therefore completely unmotivated, where he did beautifully, as did Fairy. They listened, did the work without complaint, and did it well... I was hoping today would be a repeat of that! I read Chapter 3 in SOTW (we're making flour-based "clay" tablets tomorrow) while the kids colored their Egyptian scribe pictures, did a few pages of math, handwriting and ETC, and Fairy worked really hard on her Code book, plus we caught up on science by reading about "Animals of the Coniferous Forest" while Elf colored a grey wolf picture and Fairy colored a (blue) snowshoe rabbit (printouts courtesy of Enchanted Learning). It was nice!
Well, maybe tomorrow will be better. I'm off to bed in a few minutes, with yet another cup of Throat Coat tea so I won't cough so much tonight. Jenny, if you read this, is there a Friday park day this week? I'm totally confused, because I thought it was going weekly, but the newsletter doesn't mention that... and we missed the last one. Of course, I could easily be mistaken!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Tagged!
I read Jenny's blog, so I've been tagged. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged too unless you've already played this round...
1. Your rock star name: (first pet, current car) - Felix Ford
2. Your gangster name: (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie) - Peppermint Gingersnap
3. Your fly guy/girl name: (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name) - GEst
4. Your detective name: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Green Dolphin
5. Your soap opera name: (middle name, birth city) - Ann Petaluma
6. Your Star Wars name (first three letter last name, first 2 letter of first name) - EstGi
7. Superhero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink and add "the") - The Blue Merlot
8.Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers) - Edgar Arthur
9. Stripper Name: (favorite perfume, favorite candy) - Green Tea Chocolate
10. Witness Protection Name: (mother's and father's middle name) Marlena Edgar
Okay, I like my rock star name, my gangster name (though admittedly it does not sound threatening), my detective name (which is almost the name of one of my favorite books), and my superhero name, although I can't imagine the superpowers that go with that one. My stripper name is just silly.
1. Your rock star name: (first pet, current car) - Felix Ford
2. Your gangster name: (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie) - Peppermint Gingersnap
3. Your fly guy/girl name: (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name) - GEst
4. Your detective name: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Green Dolphin
5. Your soap opera name: (middle name, birth city) - Ann Petaluma
6. Your Star Wars name (first three letter last name, first 2 letter of first name) - EstGi
7. Superhero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink and add "the") - The Blue Merlot
8.Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers) - Edgar Arthur
9. Stripper Name: (favorite perfume, favorite candy) - Green Tea Chocolate
10. Witness Protection Name: (mother's and father's middle name) Marlena Edgar
Okay, I like my rock star name, my gangster name (though admittedly it does not sound threatening), my detective name (which is almost the name of one of my favorite books), and my superhero name, although I can't imagine the superpowers that go with that one. My stripper name is just silly.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Meet Blackberry....
The kids are totally not scared of him/her, but instead beg to hold it all the time. I'm getting used to it too. He/she is a ball python, and may get up to 5 feet long - yikes!
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