Day 61

I haven't written for a while.  The cause would be Thanksgiving, which was nice but busy.  The only thing I can think of that I could have written about was yesterday.  We came home from church, and I announced that we were going to work outside.  I heard a chorus of "Nooo!"s, and I then told them that game-time was riding on them helping.  I went out to work alone. 
Pretty soon, Emily came out.  I told her where the work gloves were, and she got them.  She asked if she could do the job I was doing, which was raking muck out of our small pond.  I gladly let her so that I could start taking dead stalks out of the pond's surrounding garden. 
While I took the sopping muck and dead leaves to the edge of the woods for disposal, Emily asked if there was something else she could do ("What, you don't want to help move mucky bio-hazardous waste?  What's the matter with you?") so I sent her to Rabbit Hill.  Rabbit Hill was at one time a pile of dirt that we had delivered.  It was supposed to be screened top soil.  Instead, it contained little surprises like half of a brick, or broken glass.  Not cool.  So, instead of being used and spread and beautiful by now, we had Rabbit Hill, a collection of ragweed and other noxious weeds that could not be mown.  The dirt had been delivered in April.  It's now the end of November.  It was getting to the point that we couldn't open the car door on that side of the driveway because of the weeds. 
Anyway, all this time, Luke was whining at me from the doorway.  I told him go in or grab gloves and come out and help.  To my Utter Astonishment, he grabbed gloves and came out to help with Rabbit Hill.  We ripped out weeds and they climbed up and got the top weeds out, and we soon had an impressive pile of weeds to cart to the woods.  Emily took a well-deserved break, and Luke and I carted the stuff.  He helped until it was all gone.  I think somewhere along the line, it became less about a reward, and more about enjoying doing the job.  It was uber-cool.

Now, on to Monday:
I am constantly surprised by how up and down one day can be.  This morning, anticipating trouble from the ranks, I pulled out the big guns right away.  "No video games for a week if you give me trouble!"  As it turned out, though, I didn't really have to.  Luke gave me very little trouble on our way to orchestra, and even played well.  His only comment was to ask if we 'had to stay' after.  I said no, as we were going to Aikido, and that seemed to help.  It also helps that we have an audio book in the car, and the only time we listen to it is if we are in the car.  It's not the most cerebral stuff, but it is entertaining, and at least the vocabulary is ok, and the characters have moral questions to deal with.  But while Gregor the Overlander isn't exactly educational, it helps get us where we are going. 

After Aikido is when things started heading downhill.  School after Aikido in the afternoon seems to be a big issue.  I may have to reorganize our 'schedule' that we put together to take that into account.  Luke is also extremely tired which, while I understand it, doesn't excuse him from doing work or being civil to his sister.  Things deteriorated until Dad came home and saved the day.  He displayed the utmost patience when I couldn't, helping Luke through math and English.  After dinner, he even cooked with each kid, seperately.  Luke and Dad made chocolate chip cookies, then Emily and Dad made banana bread.  Dad also did all the dishes and made the coffee for the morning!!  He's the only reason I'm sane at the moment.  I need all the sane moments I can get.  I love that man!

Day 60

It was the worst of times...

If only I had showered at 8am this morning like I had planned, this whole day would have been different.  The idea of going out to the car, chucking the kids in, and depositing them at the nearest school would have been not just tempting, but a definite possibility.  It was one of those mornings.  We began well, but then we got off track, and I lost it somehow.  I was screaming, there were tears (mine and theirs), and it was bad.  I do think there is an element of competition between Luke and Emily within all this, but I find it very hard to take.  Have I mentioned that I've heard 4th grade is hard?  Have I?

Despite the tremors in our morning, we managed to get a lot done.  A math lesson plus a test, English, grammar, geography, a touch of chemistry (mneumonics), helping with household chores, typing, spelling games on the computer...Wow!  When I put it like that, it sounds like we had a great day!  We rounded it off with a movie and staying up late (as we can all sleep in tomorrow anyway), and me reading two chapters of Cheaper By the Dozen.  Relative happiness reigns.

Day 59

Orchestra.  The idea of orchestra is wonderful.  It's fun, it's lively, it's cool people, and it's academic in many ways without having to be academic in nature.  I love it for many things.  Yet I dread it. 

Every Monday, Luke gives me trouble about going to orchestra.  For all of the last two years (this is our third year), I think I can count on one hand the number of times Luke has been happy to go.  When I dwell on this, it makes me sad.  How awful to have our musical outlet be the source of so much sadness and upset for him!  Today, on the verge of deciding to quit after the next concert, I was fairly decided.  I was done forcing my son to do this 'dreaded' thing every week.  I also decided against forcing him to come in.  When we arrived at 9:58am, I took our stuff out, and Emily got hers, and I headed in.  I fully expected Luke to stay in the car. 
Wishing I had parked right in front of the building even though we weren't far, I started towards the door, only to hear Luke's car door open and close.  I didn't look.  Emily turned her head, and I quickly told her not to look.  It was like having a large bird behind us.  If we didn't look at it, we wouldn't spook it.
Sure enough, Luke came in.  He huffed.  He got a chair and set himself up.  Got his trumpet, his stand, and demanded his music.  Sure, kid, sure. 
To my surprise, he played.  He didn't look thrilled, but he got those notes, and he got them pretty good! 
I was shocked, and saddened to think I wouldn't be bringing him past January because he doesn't like coming.  He could be good! 
Afterwards, he came up to me, and I told him how proud I was that he had played, and how good he sounded.  Then I heard the words come out of his mouth.

"I like Orchestra."

Then he ran off to play with the other kids.

Day 58

The 58th day of school, and what did we do?  Math Mixed Practice didn't get done until the evening, because the day was spent cleaning the two rat cages, looking up redness on rat feet, trimming rat nails, doing a dance recital for a senior group with Emily, and going to Aikido.  Toss in some laundry and dishes, and that was my day in a nutshell. 
Sigh.

Day 57

We had History class today.  While Luke gave me the typical trouble with putting on his shoes, we got off without too much trouble and actually made it on time.  This was my week to lead the class, and we shared our projects, did our maps of Columbus' route, and played an Explorer game. 

(We did learn what sort of man Columbus was, so I think I'll be hearing about it every Columbus Day from now on, which I'm glad for.  One should know the truth about one's country and not necessarily stand on tradition if tradition is wrong.)

The first thing we did was share our projects.  Luke and Em had worked on their dioramas last week, and had not added to them, but they were admired by all.  Several of the other kids brought their projects, and they were all enjoyed and admired.




Cortez on a bridge to Tenochtitlan fighting with the Aztecs (Luke's) The horse was attached so he could be pulled from one side to the other and 'walk' across the bridge.  The bars you see taped to the 'water' are gold bars, like the ones Cortez lost off the bridges, then could never regain.




Cortez attacks the Aztecs.  There is a ziggurat in the background, as well as information scrolls.  Emily drew the natives, and behind them you can see Cortez' horses (he being the first to bring them to the Americas).

 We then moved on to the maps.




Top: Luke's Bottom: Emily's Middle: Sample

 I had prepared for the craft by procuring brown paper bags, playing pyromaniac by ripping the edges to map-size and burning them slightly.  Then I crumpled them all up, smoothed them out, and finally ironed them out flat again.  A lot of work to prepare for 15 students, but they all seemed to like it.  We used markers to outline and write, and watercolor paints to color in the water and the land (and sea serpents, if they had them).  The project went over fairly well.

The other thing we did was play an Explorer game similar to Concentration.  We had read the chapter on Explorers, but there were so many and they all sort of ran together, so I printed out facts about each in different colors and attached them to cards.  They could then match the explorer to the card, and that made it go much more smoothly, and they all took turns just matching the fact to the explorer. 

Somehow, we seemed to arrive home in a decent mood, and got our work done according to the schedule we had made up as closely as we could, and made it to the last Library program for the Fall.  A busy day!

Days 55, 56

Day 56 was much better than Day 55.  Day 56 was full of Dance for Emily and myself, and Trevor Zoo, which we really like.  We had friends with us, and even company in the car, so we did well and enjoyed it.  We even read some history when we got back!  Much better than Day 55.

Day 55 was a mess.  Day 55 was yelling and crying, and that was just me!  Later, Emily went to Numeracy Club, so that was a good thing, and Luke went with me to the store.  After that, things were somewhat improved.  That's as far as I want to go with Day 55.

Tomorrow we'll have History class, and I'm not sure how it will go, but I have high hopes as we are doing a craft and a game, and showing off our dioramas.   Later we have library story time, and after that their cousin's birthday.  Should be good!

Days 53, 54

Saturday

I feel a little guilty.  I had the kids do a math test on a Saturday!  They both did well, and we then went to Nana's house where we went crazy making candles of all sorts.



Candles we made at Nana's


We fluffed up the wax and made 'snow' that we coated onto existing candles, we filled molds with different colors and scents, we made tealight candles...It was a lot of fun to do with their Nana, cousins, and Aunt Kris.  And now we have a bunch of candles to burn!  Yay!

Sunday

So the next day, Sunday, we went for a walk in the afternoon.  It was such a beautiful day!  We went on the rail trail, enticing the kids with walkie talkies.  Notice in the picture, Dad is surrounded by kids with the walkie talkies, and also notice the dog's "I'm Not A Deer" bandana.  All in all, a nice weekend. 



Dad surrounded!



Monday

That's when we hit Monday.  Monday was pretty bad.  First, Luke didn't want to go to orchestra.  I'm starting to feel like I'm losing this battle.  He'll have to come anyway, but I'm tired of fighting him.  If he'd enjoy playing the keyboard with simple lessons, I'd do that, but I don't get a good response from him about that either.  Oh, well.  May be a moot point by next year anyway.  So, we did that, then went to Aikido, which was fine, but afterwards, I couldn't get them to participate without having a tantrum myself, and I feel stupid for it.  But in the end, people rallied, and we managed to play with measurements in a reasonably good mood.  We figured out how many cups in a pint, pints in a quart, quarts in a half gallon, and half gallons in a gallon.  That last was pretty easy, really. 

So, between my weekend and today, I'd say this more than counts for two days!

Days 51,52

Yesterday we had company and it was nice to let the kids play.  I don't think they've had a free day to play with company for a long time.  It wasn't all free play, though.  We did some serious work on our history dioramas for next week.  I think they were both getting pretty into it by the end!  I often have to step back and ask myself what it is that I think they should know, and I have to say that they retain a lot of what we read about history.  I'm not sure it's very real for them, but I think that only comes with time.  I'll be posting pictures of our dioramas next week when they are done, I hope!

Today we stayed out too late.  After a slow morning getting everyone going, we finally reapproached math, and I think we're going to try a new pattern.  We've made the decision to stick with Saxon, and we're going to do 2 lessons a day without the Mixed Practice.  We'll do that 3 days a week, and the fourth day we'll only do Mixed Practice.  We'll do timed math every day.  I think this is a decent compromise, as we will be moving at a faster pace, and the Mixed Practices we do will show me if there are any problems we need to work on.
So, two math lessons were accomplished today with a minimum of complaint.  We'll see how long that lasts.  My bet is not long, but I'll take what I can get.

What Luke did like was a new (to us) typing program for kids.  I'm very glad that he's learning to type properly as I'm sure he'll type more than he writes for whatever career he chooses.  At the same time, Emily was practicing her violin, which was nice to see, and I finally found a way to encourage her that doesn't make her scowl and leave me wondering what I said to offend. 

Meantime, we had a library program tonight that the kids really seemed to enjoy.  It was all about solving mysteries, and it looked like a lot of fun!  Our library has great programs, and a great staff. 

Afterwards, we drove the 40 minutes to another library's book sale.  We ended up getting some books for the kids, of course, including one historical fiction book that I think Emily might like. Then we needed a snack and after all was said and done, we didn't get home until after 9pm.  Late for us!  But a pretty good day all in all.

Day 50

Such a full day!  Poor Emily must be exhausted.  We started with Dance, and Luke went to Nana's house.  Then we went to the Esopus Bend Preserve with our group, COKAH.  We have been slowly evolving into something we weren't when we started, but I'm good with it.  It was great when the kids were younger, and it's great now.  Just different.  But then, so is life, so it's all good. 

After our walk, we dropped off the dopey dog at home, and played Flip4, a math game that they seem to like.  It's all about adding, subtracting and multiplying the dice rolls.  After that, I took them to Aikido.

Full day, right?  Well, not done!  Dad decided to do chemistry tonight.  It was the perfect lesson for tonight, because it was basically a refresher, and building an atom.  They then did the Crazy Electron Dance, which I unfortunately missed a picture of.  You haven't lived until you've seen two 9-year-olds and a grown adult doing the Crazy Electron Dance around the nucleus of black and yellow balloons.  It was really cool.

Not sure if you can see the plus signs on the yellow balloons showing that they are the protons, and they have grapes in their hands for the electrons.  They were very enthusiastic about this, which is saying something considering how busy we were all day!

Days 48, 49

Wow, mamma never said there'd be days like this!  What a roller coaster ride!  I have to say, by the end of the day, I've been ready to knock a few back.

Anyway,  the big news for us right now is we are thinking of switching math curricula.  More than thinking, actually.  Emily has complained from the beginning that Saxon moves too slowly, is boring, is not challenging.  I have talked to MANY homeschoolers who use Singapore, and all really like it.  Understandably, DH is worried that it won't be comprehensive enough.  I understand his concern.  After all, one of the main complaints against homeschoolers at the college where he teaches is lack of preparedness in math (right after science lab work).  Not that they can't catch up, but if we can actually give them an edge, why shouldn't we?  So, we go looking at Singapore with some trepidation.  We are still in the placement test phase, and I'm really quite surprised at where they seem to be placing.  In Saxon, we are doing 5/4, and they are both pretty bored.  Not that they get everything right, but it doesn't seem like the lessons are teaching anything new, and what they get wrong will come with practice. 
So, what it boils down to is that we need something that is challenging, that we can suppliment with additional rote math as we will.  I think Singapore may be the answer, so we'll see!

Since I'm covering two days, I'll add another topic here.  I had been getting complaints about certain activities that we do (via the wondertwins).  I haven't heard so many lately, and I decided to ask how we felt about these activities. 
"So how do you guys like Orchestra?"  Last year: 1. OK  2.  Hate it!
This year: 1.  Good!  2.  Yeah!

"So how do you feel about Numeracy Club?"  3 weeks ago:  1 and 2.  BORING!
This week:  1 and 2.  Better!

"So what do you think of history?"  1.  I hate history!  2.  I hate history class!
This week:  1.  It's ok  2.  Not too bad.

Maybe we're settling into the routine, but I think it's a little more than that.  I think it's me learning two things:

1.  How to teach a little more effectively, and
2.  How to release my grip on them a bit and let them choose to go or not.

I'm learning all the time with this process called Homeschooling.  I'm learning academically (my addition has never been so good!) and otherwise.  In some ways, it drives me crazy, but sometimes I think this is the best job ever.

Day 47

In Which... We have a Slow Day, and Still Manage to do Little Academic Work

Actually, we got our math and English done.  We also practiced instruments, made caramel apples, and read about Bonfire Night, which is celebrated in England.  It's basically a celebration of the foiling of a plot to kill the king in the 1600's.  We made effigies of monsters, and talked about it being a celebration of burning the 'boogey man', and then we burned them outside in the very damp fire pit.  Luke was hesitant about the dark, but he braved up when the dog came out, too. 

Well, I'm off to finish making dinner.  I'm a hard worker, and I'm whipping together a dish I call "Fries with Dogs".  Can you guess?  At least dessert will be good... (Can you believe I asked the kids if "dessert' has one 's' or two?)

Day 46

Here I am again.  And I did indeed get my quarterly done.  Not mailed, mind you, but done at any rate.  My quarterly is very simple, and here's most of it:

Subject                 Materials/Covered                                                        Grade (P/F)

Math	Saxon Math Grade 4 lessons 1-35, Flip4 math game, Numeracy Club	Pass
Reading	Library program, independent reading e.g. Howl’s Moving Castle, the Harry Potter series, the Warriors series	Pass
Writing	Daily Grams, “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” lapbook project, Postcrossing: postcard writing	Pass
English	Library story time, English Fourth Grade Workbook, Daily Grams Spelling Connections	Pass
Geography	Geographic terms, maps, map reading skills	Pass
History	A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich, Brainpop US History class, Usborne World History, Timeline started	Pass
Science	Chemistry: elements, compounds, mixtures, atoms, periodic table Family Mole Night at SUNY NP Rocket Day Zoo program, Numeracy Club	Pass
Health	Hygene, diet, nutrition	Pass
Music	Singing, participation in MUSET orchestra weekly with practice in between on trumpet, exposure to various types of music, note reading	Pass
Art	Various crafts, card-making, drawing, painting Picturing America program Museums	Pass
Physical Education	Swimming Lessons, Hiking, Walking, Tennis, Aikido lessons, Outdoor recreation, Independent play	Pass

I always do grading pass/fail for my reports.  The fact is that *I* know how they are doing, and they are never failing, since as soon as something is not understood, we slow down and make sure that it is.  The school district will get the end-of-year test scores anyway, so pass/fail is fine.  It makes this process much more bearable.  I'm not sure if I can continue this into high school, but as long as it works, this is what I'll use! 

Day 45

Day 45.  So did I do my quarterly report?  No, no.  Don't be silly.  I spent all day searching for a library book and playing pyromaniac. 

Actually, we did go to Dance today and got math and English done.  Other than that, the kids played outside, visited with Nana, and generally were happy to amuse themselves while I dashed about looking for a book that does not seem to be in the house.  Then I realized tonight that our crayons are missing too.  They were in the same bag for History class a couple of weeks ago, so I have a suspicion they will all turn up together.

Anyway, on to the pyromaniac issue.  We are going to do a map for the Explorers section of history, and one of the people in the class kindly donated the paper bags.  I unfolded and ripped each one up, then burned all the edges (outside at the advice of my kids) then crumpled them and then ironed them.  I questioned my self about the crumple-then-iron technique.  It seemed counterintuitive.  Why am I wrinkling something just to smooth it out?  I go to great pains not to wrinkle anything that would have to be ironed.  But I have to say, it came out pretty good, and I'll hopefully be posting pictures of maps tomorrow on 'scrolls'. 

Ok, other than that, I'm pooped, so the quarterly will go out tomorrow, but won't be written until tomorrow in the am.  Sigh...

Day 44

One more day before my first quarterly is due in.  Thankfully my school district is fairly easy going.  I'm not worried about it, and I may even do it during the day tomorrow.  I basically take last year's first quarterly report and keep the format, changing the info as needed.

According to the HSLDA web site:

"Required Days of Instruction: The substantial equivalent of 180 days. 900 hours per year for grades 1-6; 990 hours per year for grades 7-12. Required Subjects: (grades K through 12): patriotism and citizenship, about substance abuse, traffic safety, fire safety; (grades 1 through 6): arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, English, geography, United States history, science, health, music, visual arts, and physical education; (grades 7 and 8): English, history and geography, science, mathematics, physical education, health, art, music, practical arts, and library skills; (at least once in first 8 grades): United States and New York history and constitutions; (grades 9 through 12): 4 credits English, 4 credits of social studies—including American history, participation in government, and economics—2 credits of math, 2 credits of science, 1 credit of art or music, .5 credit of health, 2 credits of physical education, and 3 credits of electives. N.Y. Educ. Law §§ 801, 804, 806, 808, 3204. "

This seems very loose, and it is.  This is NY State law, and it's what we follow.  Hence the fact that I'm sending my quarterly after 45 days.  I can't count the hours, because I wouldn't know what to count.  Do I count listening to an audio CD in the car?  Probably.  Do I count discussing nutrition and labelling in a food store?  Sure, but how long does that count for?  Who can say?  What are they learning by observing when I don't know?  Are they really learning when I think they are?  I also frequently make the mistake of not counting the preparation time.  This is supposed to be counted in the total number of hours as well.  I tried counting the hours when the kids were in kindergarten, and stopped half-way through because we were already close to 900.  So, I'll count the days and go with that. 

Today was light, and it was really quite nice.  We had the morning off, and played tennis in the surprisingly nice sun, then had Numeracy Club.  Even with the morning at home, lessons didn't get finished until the evening because everyone had projects they wanted to work on, and we also watched Assignment: the World.  I like the way they always draw them back in with a story they know kids will enjoy.  Today they talked about Wallabys.  We'll work on the three clues they give for next week, and maybe we'll actually be able to guess what the stories will be if we get to it, but for now, it's enough to work out the clues and see that we got them right.  One thing at a time!

All in all, a decent day!

Day 43

Another Monday.  As usual, we were late to MUSET.  Not only that, but we managed to leave Emily's violin behind.  This is the third year we are in MUSET, and I don't recall ever leaving anything behind before.  That said, we did stay afterward and play, chat, eat lunch, and generally decompress after a long weekend of driving and wedded bliss for my brother and his new wife.

When we got home, my attention turned to books, at which Luke balked.  I decided to turn my attention elsewhere, and that's when I noticed how wilted the morning glory had gotten in the cold.  With that, I got the clippers and a bunch of gloves out, and got the kids outside.  They helped all the way through as we tore down all the vines.  We pulled them out of lattice, off railings, out of drainage, out of the floor.  It was crazy, and the kids loved it.  They got to use the clippers, and they got to yank and pull and have vines fall on their heads.  Then they rolled in them and hauled them away.  There are many, many days where if you told me they would do all this work, I would probably just laugh or cry.  Emily took some pictures to prove it really did happen.  Well, that may not be why she took them, but it's why I'll save them.



In summer, it was beautiful and provided shade and privacy!



Earlier today, eek!



My hard-working boy, taken by
my hard-working girl!