Recent stuff

"I want to bake lots of stuff, Mommy." says Justin. Ok, kiddo. Here's the pretzels we made. YUM-MEEE. We've also gotten REALLY adept at making homemade pizza and working on the homemade bread ideas...
Poor little homeschooled girl... Allowed to dress herself any which way she likes and to play in buckets of water to see which animals float... Also, the Barbies are welcome to visit in the water but must be naked or else Mommy gets mad. Ever try to dry a Barbie wedding gown? It's not a pretty picture...
Every day can be pajama day, if you want it to. Which we do on Monday, Thursday and Friday as we have nothing pressing on any of those days. Also, it's much easier to do your physical fitness in comfy pj pants than jeans...
Corinne is liking her new math games from the library book I borrowed. Mostly just reminders about using dice, bundles of ten and matching different types of numbers together. I think I'll make another set of cards with Roman numerals on them, too...

We are soooo glad that February is almost over. With March comes the possibilities of outings and field trips. Spring break is right around the corner and I know that we all need a week off of the handwritten stuff. Evan has been working harder with his multiplication tables and spelling, thanks to some short books from the library that group certain types of words together. He is basically learning new words each week without having the stress of "Spelling Tests". Justin alternately has fabulous days and horrendous days. There doesn't seem to be much of an in-between for him. Though he DID do wonderfully on his science test today! After that, though, the day went downhill and FAST. I think he was just eager to move onto his Birthday stuff, though.

Tomorrow will find us at the library getting the second book in The Hunger Games and then at our homeschooling group meet-up. It's been a while since everyone's been healthy enough to get together and we really miss the other families! We're doing a study on China which is an interest of Justin's. I think we'll also bring Evan's National Geographic map of China that has been taped and re-taped...

Update

And so the cycle of ups and downs continues. Today's ups:

~ made bundles of ten popsicle sticks for Corinne and encouraged Evan to be the teacher. She did really well and figured out the whole "2 bundles = 20 sticks" idea and it helped to reinforce Evan's math skills without making him feel like he was doing "babyish" work.

~ Justin studied for his 3rd chapter test out of his Life Science book. He continues to do well with the break-downs and seems to be retaining the information from week to week. I continue to like the layout of this book and hope that I can figure out a way to get him to like the Algebra one better.

~ I made several math skills sheets for Corinne for hands-on activities. I think I will encourage Evan to continue to be her helper or "leader" so that he can feel more confident in some of our school activities. Most of the time he feels defeated, even though the work I give him is completely within his skill level and abilities. It's frustrating for us both...

Downs:

~ Ugh. PMS for Mommy means less than adequate patience for Evan's daily brick wall of resistance to all things school-related.

~ A cousin's husband unexpectedly passed away last night and this leaves me feeling reminded at just how short life is. I then begin to wonder at the purpose of education and all of the miniscule details that we think are necessary for life. That frame of mind is not conducive to a fabulous teacher.

~ I took my wedding ring off today for the first time in AGES. Nothing's wrong! I am just worried that the gold is way too worn around the diamonds (I already had one of its teeny ones in a baggie) and I cannot afford to replace the diamonds. So, it's in a hiding spot until we have money (HAHAHAHAHA) to fix it.

~ The pantries are empty and my pockets are, too. Waiting for Friday and payday...

Bizzzeeeee!

Very, very busy.

Trying to crush the darkness of February. Trying to create literary geniuses. Trying to cook food that is moderately healthy. Trying to defrost myself over the heating vent.

Succeeding and failing in all of the above. Will again post soon. Still teaching. Still alive. Still hanging in there...

Ghetto Spelling

"Mommy, how do you spell 'eyeballs'??" Evan asked me as he filled in the MadLibs "plural noun" line.

"Break it down, hon. How do you spell 'eye'?"

"E. Y. E. ??"

"Yep. Now how do you spell 'balls'?"

(from the office, before Evan can respond, Patrick exhibits reason number 1,784 why he is NOT the teaching parent...)

"N.U.T.S. !"



Nothing but class over here, folks. Straight up, hardcore, CLASS.

Kinda getting the hang of this...

The lessons for Justin are planned for the next 2 weeks (He does well with a firm plan of what is expected of him every day and likes to get most of it done as soon as he wakes up). He is LOOOOVING his Painless Life Science and will be starting the Painless Algebra book next week.

Evan's stuff for the next week is loosely inserted into a folder (he does better with a less rigid schedule). He is improving on reading due largely in part to his love for the Jigsaw Jones book series. His imagination never fails to astound me and his new love for all things athletic is pretty cool, too. I mean, how many 7 year olds do you know that can do over 100 sit-ups?

Corinne's desk was freshly cleaned off and I noticed just how much writing and math work she has been doing without my knowledge. She is well past the pre-school stuff and almost past the kindergarten curriculum! I am amazed at just how quickly she is absorbing the concepts behind the reading/writing process and the mathematics that she comprehends is also something to make me shake my head in wonderment. Is she really only 4 years old? Go Baby Girl!

We have Corinne's ballet class tomorrow morning, so I have the boys' schoolwork all packed up and sitting beside the front door so that they can do some of their work while she tiptoes around in her ballet slippers. (they each have a clipboard and clicker pencils. Ultimate in Coolness, apparently). The boys may grumble about having to go to ballet class, but they no longer feel as though being homeschooled isn't the same as being "schooled." It's nice to watch them help each other out and BE with each other on a daily basis. It's just nice to be with my kids every day and not feel rushed on our time together...

I kinda sorta almost feel like I have a handle on this homeschooling gig...

Which, of course, means that very soon, something will fall from the sky and disrupt all of my diabolical plans. Until that day, I plan on appreciating this moment of organized chaos in our school routine...

Should I be worried?

So, after our trip to the Museum of Science and Industry last week, Evan's mind is still filled with information on cloning, DNA and genetics. His brilliant idea tonight was as follows:

"Mommy! I had this great idea! You could take a human cell and put animal DNA into it and make a mixture of the two! Wouldn't that be cool? You could mix black bears, wolves (which I am, Mommy) vampire bats, and cheetahs! And then the animal-humans would attack the scientists and EIGHTY scientists would be killed and the animal-humans would escape!"

Ummm... Should I be worried? And also, doesn't this sound familiar?


Maybe I'm raising the next H.G. Wells?

A cozy, happy morning...

It's 10:52 am. Most of the schools near us are closed today or will be closed tomorrow. You know, a few (or 12) inches of snow and they get all wimpy about opening their doors. ;) My kids have been doing their work since they got up and are taking a late breakfast break of bacon and eggs and a kid tv show. This break follows Evan's own P.E. regiment (I do believe he can do over 100 sit ups and 50 push ups. HE'S SEVEN.), Justin's cookie baking break, several chapters of Jigsaw Jones read by Evan on the couch (in our jammies) and 15 minutes of absolute bliss where I stood by the stove frying bacon, listening to Justin explain a worksheet to Evan while Corinne colored paper doll clothing. All of this happened before 11 am and includes the two youngest kids following me into the snow drifts at 8 am to "help" clear the fluff off of the driveway before it piles up to my waist. And even though the house is quite messy and the laundry is beginning to form legs of its own and I probably won't get a shower in before the baby that I watch in the afternoons comes over, I am quite happy in my cocoon...

Today? Today is a good day.