Just beachy...

Yesterday was the end-of-the-academic-year party with the kids' charter school class. Like last year, it was held at the beach. Like last year, it was overcast most of the day, but not too cold. And like last year, we had a lot of fun! Elf was drawn straight to the water, and spent much of his day standing about knee deep in (gentle) waves. Fairy decided she was scared of the water this year, and so spent a lot of time playing in the sand. We took a loooong walk by the water's edge (the kids, my mom and I), looking at shells and sand dollars, identifying footprints in the sand... really kind of relaxing. I chatted briefly with a couple of the other parents, but then many of them got into a very political discussion, which I didn't feel like even trying to be part of.

Fairy also spent a fair amount of time burying, and being buried by, other kids from the charter school. And some kids dug a giant hole, so Elf had to dig small tunnels going into the giant hole. Then most of the families left, and there was only us, another mom, and her daughter. So they played in the hole some more (sliding into on their bellies being penguins), made sand angels, and climbed on a giant driftwood log. Finally, we were worn out, and headed home. Not worn out enough though to miss our town's Wednesday Night Market, where we got some great fresh bread, tasted about 6 kinds of honey (Tupelo honey, while not local, has a really good flavor), bought beets, and generally wandered around for an hour. Both kids really enjoyed the variety of live music. I talked to the lady at the honey booth we checked out, and got advice on using honey as an allergy preventative, which we've tried with a little success. Apparently, we should use honeys seasonally - fall wildflower honey in the fall, spring wildflower honey in the spring - to help more, plus she said the fall wildflower honey has been known to help strengthen immunities to poison oak. Alway worth a try!

Today we are a bit sunburned, and needing to sit down for a little school work. Our last "official" week of the academic year is next week - how did it get here so fast? We're going to finish up a few light things over the summer, enjoy some good books (see my book list in the side bar), and learn a little more about Ancient Greece, but nothing too academic until September. The long lazy days of summer are almost here....

Summer 2008 Reading List...

Here are my plans for summer reading, both for myself, as well as the Elf and the Fairy...

Kids, Read Alouds:
Finish Charlotte's Web, by EB White
James & the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Start on The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

For Elf to Read Aloud:
Little Bear, by Else Holmelund Minarik
Father Bear Comes Home, by Else Holmelund Minarik
A Kiss for Little Bear, by Else Holmelund Minarik
Little Bear's Friend, by Else Holmelund Minarik
Little Bear's Visit, by Else Holmelund Minarik
Oscar Otter, by Nathaniel Benchley
Dinosaur Time, by Peggy Parish
Space Cat, by Doug Kushman
Mouse Soup, by Arnold Lobel

My Reading List:
The Stranger, by Albert Camus (assigned summer reading for fall college program)
The Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola
More Charlotte Mason Education, by Catherine Levison
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
Plenty, by Alisa Smith & J.B. Mackinnon

Weekly Report...

Been a while since I've posted one of these, but they really help me keep on track! So here's a brief rundown of this week....

Language Arts:
the Elf:
Read aloud, of his own free will, each night before bed. Currently favorite: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Copywork is up to three sentences at a time - we were still at one just a few weeks ago
Almost done with ETC 3

the Fairy:
Lots of alphabet singing
Practiced writing alphabet in lower and uppercase
Lots of starfall letter activities

We are finishing up Charlotte's Web and I plan to read Farmer Boy out loud next, as we have been very busy in the garden lately, and the Elf keeps saying he wants to be a farmer.

Math:
the Elf:
Up to lesson 94 in Saxon Math 2 now. We plan to finish this in the fall, then work out of a different book for most of 2nd grade. He's doing multiplication, word problems, telling time, fractions and more at this point.

the Fairy:
Review of numbers 1-10, starting work on 11-15. I use a lot of learning page printouts with her.

History:
We are working our way through a unit on Ancient Greece. We read 2 chapters in SOTW, and looked at Greek art online. We made togas this week out of sheets... so what if they were orange and bright green... ;) I dug out my copy of Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to Daily Life in Ancient Greece, etc. for next week - I think we'll try mosaics!

Science:
We are reading about protazoa in RS4K. Elf has spent a lot of time using his microscope since Wednesday (it was a birthday gift). Both kids help out a lot in the garden - all our beans and lemon cucumbers are sprouting! Elf is still very interested in birds and has spent a fair amount of time watching them. Fairy collected, and set free, about 20 ladybugs this week.

Other:
Wednesday we took the day off, mostly, due to a birthday.
The kids finished up their charter school classes this week, so we're done with art, Spanish and music until fall.
Elf has built approximately 8 million Lego creations in the last 2 days!
Fairy has been in a difficult mood all week - hope it ends soon.

SEVEN...

Yes, my boy is SEVEN. Last night I said my last good night to my six-year old, and today my first good morning to a seven year old. I'm not sure I am ready for him to be this old, but I guess I don't get a choice in it. We had a great birthday today. Started off with a couple of gifts, then a lovely breakfast that involved waffles, then we took off to Spanish and music class, along with a batch of vegan vanilla cupcakes (one of the kids' classmates is vegan and I really didn't want to leave her out). I ran errands while the kids were in class, but still made it back in time for music, which is always fun to listen to, and to watch!

Home, I cooked a nice dinner, cleaned house, M got home so more presents, I frosted a race car cake, then entertained relatives, who came bearing loads of super-cool Legos. So now, my kitchen is a disaster zone (I think the tornado Jenny's dh is worried about came right through my house); the kids are all wound up; Fairy is still singing "Happy Birthday (cha cha cha)"; Elf is building something, carefully following the "constructions"; and I feel about ready to just sleep where I am.

It has been interesting lately, watching Elf entering a new stage of his childhood. He's getting more and more independent, which I do love, but at the same time he's so obviously not my baby anymore. It is all the little things - making his own bed because he wants to, helping construct our garden without complaint, reading to himself at bedtime, wanting to push the cart at the grocery store (and write the grocery list for me), brushing his hair in the mornings... while he still needs my guidance and assistance, he does so much more on his own. But, I can still hold him in my lap for a story!

On another note, I am DONE with school for the semester. Yaaaaaaayyyyy! And now a summer off, though I still have work, which I am angry with at the moment. You'd think that after nearly a year of me telling them I am unavailable on Saturdays they'd get it, but apparently not. Aaaarggggghhhhh...

Anyhow, I've got to go wrestle cake-filled children into bed.

Overhaulin'...

I have decided that is the theme for my summer! The shelves are up in the garage-turned-play-&-school-room, but there are still boxes and miscellaneous stuff everywhere. I want to put up a big bulletin board, some posters, a few more (book) shelves, and get it ready for fall! I also hope to finally paint my kitchen, dining area, living room, the kids' room (once a lot of stuff is moved out to the playroom) and my bedroom over the summer. Lots of stuff to keep me busy.

And between then and now, we are down to our last few weeks of homeschooling. I have only a handful of classes left myself, with finals next week. Thankfully, both my remaining finals are on Monday, and Elf's birthday next Wednesday will be free and clear. Tomorrow night we have the science fair, so we've been busily prepping for that. Saturday I need to go out shopping for my little man's big day (yikes!). Never a slow moment around here.

Other than that all is as always. I keep busy schooling the kids and trying to keep up on my own homework. We are studying Ancient Greece right now, and the kids are really enjoying it. I started by reading them the chapter on the Minoans from SOTW, and they spent the evening practicing to be bull jumpers. They love some of the legends, and are excited to hear more. I really love it when something comes up that they enjoy so much! I need to actually reserve some books at the library and then carve out the time to get there. Thankfully, I have some good "extra" reading on hand already. So, we'll finish up the school year with the Greeks, and in the fall we'll go through the Romans (maybe read some stories to them over the summer) and into the Middle Ages. My goal is to hit early exploration by fall of the next year. And then our studies will actually flow very nicely into current California history curriculum standards, which by the way are up for review this month, and will likely be changing to represent more of a broad world view than being focused as much on the U.S. as they are now. Once in a while there's something on the news that interests me!

And now I must run off to algebra...

I know it's a day late...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Working a full shift yesterday, I sold so many cards and flowers it was almost unbelievable. So many sweet-faced little kids coming in with their dads, clutching the strings of "I Love You" balloons, carrying bouquets larger than themselves.... it made me smile with each order I checked through. You could tell too, when a dad stepped back and let the child choose the card, or the balloon, or the candy, and some would even hand their kids the money to pay - you should have seen the ear-to-ear grins on those kids!

We started celebrating Saturday, due to my work schedule. Elf and I made cinnamon buns first thing in the morning (he did a lot of it), then sat around and watched cartoons. Later in the day, E took Fairy shopping for some new glasses for the house, while M and I took Elf to the nursery to get veggies (my gift from M). I think we may have overdone it on the tomato plants (is that truly possible?)... Then we came home and planted them! I also have my basil in finally, alongside the rosemary, sage, bronze fennel, thyme, and yarrow. I still need parsley, cilantro, dill, and a few more herbs, and we're planning on adding other veggies too. We're waiting on lettuce, for example, until the beans are up and going so that the beans provide shade for the lettuces.

My brother, sister, the kids and I took my mom out to dinner last night at Flavor, while M and E took their mom out to dinner right down the street (funny coincidence). The kids were amazingly well-behaved. We read them the kids menues and then they were very proud to order for themselves. It was really cute watching Fairy order a Shirley Temple! After dinner, we went out to the park area in front, and let the kids toss pennies in the fountains. I tried to hand my brother some money to cover a portion of the bill, but he refused it, saying that it was my day too. Sweet. Then I came home and the kids were off to my mom's for an overnight stay. When I got here, my good friend W was here, bringing me lumber for the kids' sandbox (and some more bookshelves), and tile for my bathroom floor.

So it was a good Mother's Day. I hope yours was good too!

Book Tag...

Since this is on several of the blogs I read, I'll play.

*Pick up the nearest book.
*Turn to page 123.
*Post the 5th sentence.
*Tag 5 other people.

The closest book is the one from my child development class - The Developing Person through Childhood & Adolescence, 7th Edition...

"The best predictor of preterm infants' cognitive development is not their birth complications but the social support they recieve in infancy."

Now tell me that's not exciting! If you read this, and haven't played already, TAG!

So...

M and I have been really discussing where we're going with homeschooling. While both of us are very dedicated to continuing it, most of the weight of it has been on my shoulders, as far as curriculum choices, actually sitting down & teaching, etc. So, I ran through various approaches (Classical, CM, Waldorf, unit studies, and more) with him. His reply to everything? He likes Classical and CM the most, and says whatever I have been doing with them is obviously working, so keep doing it. I am appreciative of his support in this, plus his desire to get more involved is great!

I also sat down with each of the kids separately and went over what they want to do in the upcoming year:

Elf wants to continue history studies, starting with the Romans and going through the Medieval times, maybe into the Renaissance. He enjoys the copywork we've been doing, and would like to stop Handwriting Without Tears. He's okay with our math so far, and is very interested in earth and space science, as well as chemistry and all kinds of science odds & ends. He still enjoys the sheer silliness of ETC, plus I think it's good for him, though from the samples I was able to show him, he is interested in Primary Language Lessons (old version, not the revised, which I understand is more oriented toward Catholic teachings), so I may be adding that in. He enjoys the Oak Meadow stories. He would like to do some more of the Classical Kids series too.

Fairy loves ETC and enjoys Saxon Math also (so far). She really enjoys the Oak Meadow approach to learning letters, so I plan to continue with that. She would like to learn about "princesses, queens and knights" in history. She loves the idea of "lots of science topics" too. She seems interested in HWOT Letters & Numbers for Me. She also enjoys Classical Kids and would like to "look at paintings" (art appreciation).

So, I have a lot to think about over the summer! I have also decided to keep them together for science, history, poetry, music & art, but then to separate them for language arts (except ETC) and math. Since we do most of our work 4 days a week, I will teach Elf first (while Fairy has free time) two days a week, then teach Fairy (while Elf has free time). The other 2 days I'll reverse the order. Since I have access to them online, I plan to at least try to read a lot of Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series.

There's my rambling for the day!

Not much to report...

which is why I haven't been blogging. We've been plugging away with lessons. Yesterday we read a story called "The Golden Key". Fairy drew the golden key (and letter E) in her blank book, and I got Elf to write two sentences without complaint! We read some more about Ancient China, colored pictures, and looked at last month's National Geographic, which happened to focus on China and had great pictures. We also did some math review - Fairy reviewed the numbers 0 through 6 and Elf worked on subtracting two's. Elf also read out loud to his dad, and his fluency is really coming along. I'm letting him read the same handful of books over and over to help him read smoothly. (By the way, in regards to my summer school post, it isn't the charter school that's pushing me to have him reading better - it's me that wants him more comfortable with reading.) In the world of science, our sunflowers, planted in empty egg cartons, are really growing nicely, and we hope to transplant them to the yard soon.

So, we are wrapping up our unit on Ancient China, and next week we move on to Ancient Greece. I've already got a couple of activity books, so this should be fun. I tried reading aloud from SOTW in the last couple of weeks again, and for some reason the kids were much more interested in it, so we're giving it another try.

Let's see... other news... oh, I am a complete clutz and managed to slip, fall, and knock myself out momentarily in the shower/tub yesterday morning! M came home from work to watch the kids while I spent much of the day on the couch, including homeschooling time. I have a lovely lump on my head, some very colorful bruises, and a strained arm, but am doing much better today. M did go out and bought those non-slip decals to put in the tub, which he's doing this evening. It also gave me the opportunity to review emergency procedures (dialing 9-1-1) with the kids, which thankfully didn't need to be done yesterday, but I figure it's good for them to know.

And I have birthday planning to do, as my boy will be SEVEN in just a few weeks! Plus, we have a science fair at the charter school in a couple of weeks, and the kids will be performing with their music class!