CM/Classical November! - Page 3

[AngelBee]

Off to our homeschool meet up group. Everyone have a great and blessed day!

[MyLittleWonders]

Well, our day started with an earthquake! It was very fast - usually we get really rolling ones that build and then slow down, but keep rolling for 15-30 seconds. This one felt like it lasted all of 5 seconds, but jarred the house really well. According to the news, it was only 3.7, but centered very, very close to us (within a couple miles). All is calm now though.

Dh took today off for me. He's been saving all his sick days so he has flexibility after the baby is born, but I didn't sleep last night at all until I went to the couch and I feel lousy today. So, he's home "subbing" for me. As much as the boys love having him home, I think they were a little bummed because they knew with me feeling sick, we'd do the bare minimum today and they'd get to watch TV. With dh, they'll do everything (which honestly is still not much on Fridays) and won't be watching TV!

So, I think I'm going to relax in bed today. If I'm up for it, I might use the time to start working on Mr. Popper's Penguins. I think I'm going to read it through and use a pencil to mark passages I like for dictation or narration.

[425lisamarie]

I am subbing to this thread. I am dreading. every. morning.

I do NOT know what happened. but all of the sudden DS is totally cranky every time it's time for "school." We are doing math mammoth. DH has been out of town and so busy with work, I need him to be more involved but right now it's just hard. He is SO creative with math (he's an architect and very hands on with his company) and I just don't know how to make things fun and interesting. I obviously KNOW math, I just don't know how to make the worksheets less boring. I did get this word problem/real life kind of math book that he likes ok.

Maybe I am expecting too much? DS is 1st grade, how much math do you all do a day? one day last week I skipped math and I had to tell myself all day for like 3 days "it will be ok" . When I see with my eyes every day how bright they are, good logical thinkers, reading very well, etc, I feel like I must have done something right. I don't know what my all of the sudden insecurity is.

I think lately we've been doing like only 30 minutes or so of actual anything. We have neo science and have done a few smaller expiriments from the other books but I am planning our next week to include one of the planned lessons.

Maybe the fact that I have had an IUD and NO cycle for the last 3 years, and now I don't and have had a period and I feel very hormonal and scatter brained has something to do with it.

I need to stop comparing HS'ing life to all day in public school. I have to remember that being their 6 hours does not mean they sit with paper/pencil that long.

Jessica - I can relate to what you said about why you want to homeschool. Not just for better education but so they LOVE learning. I feel like I am NOT doing good enough with this. I am totally positive and love learning with them and willing to do anything, I am just not as creative as you all! When it comes to art/music, antyhing in the kitchen I have it down. I just feel like I am sucking the fun out of math and reading with all these "assigned reading" things.

We did nix the explode the code online and start with the books and they LOVE them.

[MyFullHouse]

My daughters have been semi-unschooled this week.

I've been so wiped out by this pregnancy, and it's taken me by surprise. We were rolling along just fine, so I started to expect that it'd keep going that way. Instead, I've spent all week telling them to read a book or play a game or watch an educational movie.
Fortunately, my 12yo has managed to keep up with a good 80-90% of his work without much input from me.

I really need to come up with a plan for the girls for the next 6 weeks. I've scheduled an entire month off after the baby comes, and I'd really hate to have to cut into that time.

Any suggestions for temporarily replacing the teacher-intensive WWE, FLL, and AAS with something(s) that can be put in a binder for independent work?

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by MyFullHouse

My daughters have been semi-unschooled this week.

I've been so wiped out by this pregnancy, and it's taken me by surprise. We were rolling along just fine, so I started to expect that it'd keep going that way. Instead, I've spent all week telling them to read a book or play a game or watch an educational movie.
Fortunately, my 12yo has managed to keep up with a good 80-90% of his work without much input from me.

I really need to come up with a plan for the girls for the next 6 weeks. I've scheduled an entire month off after the baby comes, and I'd really hate to have to cut into that time.

Any suggestions for temporarily replacing the teacher-intensive WWE, FLL, and AAS with something(s) that can be put in a binder for independent work?

I just responded over on WTM. I'm right there with you in terms of thinking I'd be able to go full steam and suddenly realizing I'm getting my bum kicked in these last few weeks.

[Bluegoat]

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

I am subbing to this thread. I am dreading. every. morning.

I do NOT know what happened. but all of the sudden DS is totally cranky every time it's time for "school." We are doing math mammoth. DH has been out of town and so busy with work, I need him to be more involved but right now it's just hard. He is SO creative with math (he's an architect and very hands on with his company) and I just don't know how to make things fun and interesting. I obviously KNOW math, I just don't know how to make the worksheets less boring. I did get this word problem/real life kind of math book that he likes ok.

Maybe I am expecting too much? DS is 1st grade, how much math do you all do a day? one day last week I skipped math and I had to tell myself all day for like 3 days "it will be ok" . When I see with my eyes every day how bright they are, good logical thinkers, reading very well, etc, I feel like I must have done something right. I don't know what my all of the sudden insecurity is.

I think lately we've been doing like only 30 minutes or so of actual anything. We have neo science and have done a few smaller expiriments from the other books but I am planning our next week to include one of the planned lessons.

Maybe the fact that I have had an IUD and NO cycle for the last 3 years, and now I don't and have had a period and I feel very hormonal and scatter brained has something to do with it.

I need to stop comparing HS'ing life to all day in public school. I have to remember that being their 6 hours does not mean they sit with paper/pencil that long.

Jessica - I can relate to what you said about why you want to homeschool. Not just for better education but so they LOVE learning. I feel like I am NOT doing good enough with this. I am totally positive and love learning with them and willing to do anything, I am just not as creative as you all! When it comes to art/music, antyhing in the kitchen I have it down. I just feel like I am sucking the fun out of math and reading with all these "assigned reading" things.

We did nix the explode the code online and start with the books and they LOVE them.

30 miniutes seems like a lot to me for a first grader. We use a CM style, and so keep lessons to about 10 min, especially for math and reading. I actually spend a bit less on handwriting. The MEP K level lessons we've been using for math work out to about that long once I've adjusted them for use with a single child.

[425lisamarie]

well today I decided to try and not be so formal and announce everything if that makes sense.

We have played a few games of chess, and a couple online games of the like. We did some reading independently (by their choice) baked some bread and pizza and made b-day cards for daddy.

He did fill out a 10 by 10 addition chart out of the blue, by himself, so I think taht counts as math for the day! I just discovered he LOVES making addition and subtraction tables. Talk about good math facts practice!

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

well today I decided to try and not be so formal and announce everything if that makes sense.

We have played a few games of chess, and a couple online games of the like. We did some reading independently (by their choice) baked some bread and pizza and made b-day cards for daddy.

He did fill out a 10 by 10 addition chart out of the blue, by himself, so I think taht counts as math for the day! I just discovered he LOVES making addition and subtraction tables. Talk about good math facts practice!

Awesome! What do the charts look like? The numbers across the top and side with blanks to put the sums?
Like this?

+ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0
1
2
3
4 6
5
6
7
8
9
10



Or is it something else I'm not imagining? Thanks!

[425lisamarie]

Yep that's pretty much it.

He's done them in the past on worksheets and I rememberd for some reason he always loved that part. I have some grid paper and he just started making one this morning and it was 10 by 10 all on his own. Then he said he wanted to do one as big as I could make. We taped up several pieces of grid paper at the table and he said he's working on it every day until it's done. We wrote 30 across the top and down the side to 20 but we can fill in more. He's doing double digit adding so this is GREAT practice! He is using the white board to show work .

[crunchy_mama]

Ack, gone a couple of days and too much too catch up~!

Welcome LisaMarie- good to 'see' you again!

On lesson times it is a rough routine of sorts that has been sort of evolving as we go. We have been working on encorporating a walk into the morning as it seems to work the best to do it then as if at midmorning we never start back or it has to wait for afternoon and that will be hard w/ daylight savings time.

Anyway, it is singing, memory work and some lit. selection and then a walk from 9-9:30 and 9:30-10:00
10:00-12-12:30- We do religion(10-20(depending if we do a craft)), Math(trying to keep that to 20 min), Handwriting(10-15- He just writes until he is tired of doing it), Reading 15-20 min
Project time- History/Art/Nature Study- 30 min- 1 hr- A bit of reading and then either Art- notebooking/coloring- or some handi-craft
15-20 min of snack in there as well

We do read-aloud after lunch for an hr or so.

MLW and MFH- I am taking notes from you ladies- I think you are doing awesome! The end of pregnancy can really suck it all from you.

I get up early, but I also go to bed early. If not I don't know if we would every get going well. I need that afternoon quiet time myself.

We took off yesterday as I needed to catch up around the house. Currently we are working on splitting the kids into their own bedroom- they started asking to sleep alone so I guess it is time, so I am in a tizzy getting that all together. I told dh this is for my homeschooling as it is stressing me out keep up with all the house and the schooling as I cannot keep things well organized as it is. So, now I have a big desk in my living room, some extra shelving as well. I am feeling better about it already. I hope to get to get a good chunk done tomorrow so we can start fresh Monday.

Is everyone taking a break for Thanksgiving? We are planning to take off that whole week as I need time to prepare my next term's schedule. I am thinking of continuing w/ the Poetry of Milne- moving on to Now We Are 6 and then start on reading Winnie the Pooh with it as well. I need to get coloring sheets printed up for everything as he adores those. I want to start w/ AAS then as well. I do have Nature Study planned for Winter already. Need to work on Artist and Music Study, History and perhaps some Science ala WTM. Ack- lots to do!!

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

Ack, gone a couple of days and too much too catch up~!

Yikes! No kidding! I have a bunch of stuff that I really need to go do, but I thought I would come catch up with you all first. I think it's going to have to wait until later when I have more time! You have been busy, busy posting away and it will take me forever to catch up!

[425lisamarie]

Nice to see you too crunchy

Dangit life sure changes fast. I am SO happy to hear some are taking a thanksgiving break as well, because we still do holiday breaks. I think the kids look forward to that. My house is too big, over 3000 square feet which is nice some days, others it's just so overwhelming. I really want to overhaul my den down here which houses everything in my house I don't have time/room to put away, and my sewing desk which is burried. It's a decent size room, and I'm thinking I should be able to have sewing corner, and then use it for keeping all our work and craft stuff instead of it covering the dining room.

I met a nice HS'ing family last night at a b-day party with the kids. They have 5 kids, 2 in early highschool and they are all AMAZING. It was a nice kind of in your face reminder of how different people can be, and still the same. I got some good advice and resource.

[Bluegoat]

No Thanksgiving break for us - we're done with it and on the way to Christmas - they already have the stuff out in the malls.

Dd had a great play-date with the little girl from her music class yesterday, which was nice because we haven't really met a lot of kids since we've moved. She and her sister play well together but they do get on each others nerves at times. I had a nice visit with her dad, which was nice too - when dh is away I find I start to get a bit squirrely due to lack of adult conversation.

We're done our phonics workbook, but I've found that dd no longer remembers plain old short vowels. so I guess it's time to practice practice practice.

[Mama Rana]

We'll be taking a week off for Thanksgiving to travel to my aunt's house [other than co-op which is inexplicably meeting that week], then another week off in December for a cruise, and at least a few days off at the end of the year for our own personal Christmas celebration, and then another at my sister's at New Year's. Seems like a lot, but then we'll probably work almost non-stop until April/spring break/DS1's birthday. Or at least that's the plan, but I recognize that it might change as the bleak winter drags on.

[*Jessica*]

Ok, I know I'm never going to post again if I wait until I have a chance to read through the posts I missed. Forgive me for not catching up.

I'm taking a quick break. After breakfast I started cleaning out and organizing my dresser full of school supplies. While I was doing that, the boys pulled out some Martha Stewart puppet kits that I bought at Big Lots for cheap last year. They are writing a script for a play right now. I told them I would take a video later, after they have practiced it and are ready.

Before that they were playing "toy store" and taking turns being the cashier. They found some Dollar Tree money and clock window clings that I had pulled out of the dresser I was cleaning and put those up on our big mirror. We haven't focused too much on money yet, and clocks seem to be something that Nik struggles with, so I think we'll take some time today to learn about those topics while the interest is there.

I have a feeling we will get to very little of what I had planned for the day, but I think it's going to be a good day anyway! I need to run and get dinner in the crockpot and a loaf of bread started.

What is everyone else up to today?

[MyLittleWonders]

We have a short week here - dh has Thursday and Friday off (Friday is a furlough - at least they tried to back up the furloughs to already assigned days off). Right now the younger two are trying to build a wooden marble run and the oldest is playing ball with the dogs. I need to get our morning going - I do like the time change though. It tends to get us up earlier and going earlier so we have more time in the evening before bedtime. (Last night we ate dinner at 5:30, which is unheard of around here; we usually eat around 8pm!) So, I'm going to use it to our advantage.

I think today we have Latin review (not starting a new chapter with only three days), IEW and WWE (I was going to drop WWE one weeks we did IEW, but I see now the need to do it every week, so I'm keeping it), plus math, our other L/As and history. I can't believe we have only this week and next week before we go on my maternity break! I remember making our lesson plans way back in the beginning of August, thinking how far away week 16 of school seemed to be; now it is upon us. So, I think this week I also need to make sure my maternity "plans" are in order, clean out the boys' curriculum bins, and also get the rest of Latin photocopied and filed for the year (I think we run out of prepared Latin pages after week 19, which is the third week of January for us).

[425lisamarie]

Jessica that sounds like a GREAT start to your day! We are doing a very non-schoolish day. We too are focusing more one clocks/money because they both are very interested. I bought them swatch watches while we were on our anniversary weekend in Vegas and they wear them alot now. They have the 5 minute increments on the side and it is really helping with both skip counting and having a better concept of just how much time is in a half hour/hour.

We have company today after noon swimming lessons and I am just low on groceries and the ambition to entertain today but I love our friends.

It was DH"s b-day dinner last night and after having a couple drinks which is out of my norm I am feeling rather trashed today.....but it's self inflicted so I guess I cannot complain about it.

Fall is really one of my favorite times of year. I love the chill, the rain, and getting ready for holidays!

I don't know what to do for dinner. I have two loaves of sourdough bread started so at least I know with fresh bread and butter at the table whatever else I make is ok LOL

[crunchy_mama]

BG- That is wonderful about the playdate it is so good to see kids having a fun time.

MLW- I hope you enjoy your time off!

Jessica- that sounds like a great day to me as well, I love it when they learn and have fun all on their own.

lisamarie- We love the fall as well. It has just been gorgeous as of late, it was sun- shiny and 50 this am when we took a walk, perfect weather. Sorry about feeling bad

I almost didn't do school today as I am still working on dd1's room. It was a good day afterall and ds's reading went great, I think our review really helped him. Math was good as well, we ended up spending much of last week writing equations and he started the Math time writing out various ones for me unprompted- and got them all right. We did lit, bible and writing as well. He is almost done w/ his writing book- should be right at the end of this term which will be Thanksgiving, so that works well.

Only thing we haven't done yet is painting, today is Rembrandt. Had a nice walk and there were 2 more dead possums on the road, the kids are fascinated by roadkill. There were tons of buzzards as well, which the kids enjoy watching.

[Jennifer3141]

Good morning, everyone!

I've missed you all. We had some yuck in life to deal with and as frequently happens, it's not as much yuck as we feared.

MLW, I cannot believe how fast your babe is coming. I remember joining the thread and thinking, "Well, THAT'S a long way off." No, it's not! Exciting and busy time for you!!

We won't be taking Thanksgiving or Xmas breaks. We won't be fussy about how much gets done but we're not taking days or weeks off. The kids get nutso without some structure.

Today is REAL science cells and then library day. Tomorrow, we'll do more science and then start the next history lesson. We're heading to my parents' for a short weekend. And then we get a fresh start on Monday. This week has been errand week. I cannot believe the week after that is Thanksgiving in the US. Wow.

Jen

[MyLittleWonders]

Ok, I'm trying to figure this out ... I just closed the window on accident! Jennifer - I can't believe how close I am to having this baby; it's starting to freak me out a bit! (Mostly in a good way, but freaking out a little none the less! ) 

And I so agree with kids being nutso without structure - mine are the same way. I'm hoping I have enough independent work (and work that requires minimal teacher-support from me) to keep the older two busy in the mornings so the unstructured time is lessened a bit during our "time off". 

Today is our last scheduled day today; I think tomorrow we'll watch a documentary on Alexander the Great and maybe do a little more art. Dh is supposed to have the day off, but he's going to try and get "maternity" plans made (basically he's trying to create 4 weeks of plans that he can use as needed (he's hoping to take 2 weeks off, but if the baby comes early, he'll probably only take one school week off as he'd probably be able to blend his leave into Thanksgiving week). His sub that he asked to work for him wanted to know yesterday when, exactly, he was going to be out! Dh was like, "Um, we don't know when, exactly the baby will be born." I don't think he probably sub has ever had a baby before.