Monday, September 11, 2006

Day's almost done

It was okay today. I couldn't really expect for better given my tiredness, the lack of any established routines and even the kids' tiredness. The 15yo did some very light stuff, the 12yo did a math page (but was conveniently tired and bothered by his back throughout the whole thing--was fine afterwards and before!), I did one letter with ds (he spent the rest of the time doting over his cousin, which isn't a bad thing as it kept her occupied) and dd read a bit, but then twisted her back wrong and just kind of laid around.

I read to dd and the 12yo part of a book I found on Thomas Edison. They liked that he was educated at home. :) We also made it to the playground this morning, transferred the betta to the other aquarium AND ds helped me repot the plant this afternoon. So, not too bad all-in-all. Oh, and I even went over some of the school's field trips to see if the kids were interested in them. The 3 oldest will go see "The Barber of Seville" in February and dd and the 15yo will go see the first act of the ballet, "The Nutcracker", in Dec. So, got lots of stuff done, just not as much bookwork as I would have preferred.

So, how to make things work better for tomorrow?

I'm going to give planning sheets to dd and the oldest. They can figure out a few things they would like to do, including the things I want them to do with me (review of French phonograms, start writing them down). I've found in the past this helps focus their attention on activities and they get going on their own. After about a week or two of planning sheets, they tend to scrap them and just get into work without thinking it all through ahead of time. The 12yo will not, in my experience, fill one of these sheets out so I've already got my schedule in place for him. He'll have to work on today's unfinished work and work towards finishing tomorrow's work. I didn't plan a whole ton of stuff this week, so it shouldn't be a problem. He has two questions to finish on his math sheet and then tomorrow's sheet to do. We need to do the Writing Road to Reading work we didn't do today (I won't double up on that), we'll read the story in Literacy Power together and he'll get started on the follow-up work for that, and he also needs to start reading a very simplified version of Robinson Crusoe, the book I've decided to assign to him for reading on his own. Oh, and write a very short blurb--can be just one sentence--on what he's read. I actually want him to write a letter to someone in the chapter or to the author. I don't care if the letter is only one sentence long, "Why did youwant to become a sailor?" I insist that he writes. Other than that... there's social studies scheduled for tomorrow--label and colour a Canada map (I think we'll play some games with a Canada puzzle map I have, too)--and I'll continue reading from the book on Thomas Edison.

Hold on a sec. What I need to do first of all is make sure the desired routine is clear. That is, make sure my expectations are clear. I should type something up and post it on the one wall in the kitchen area. I'm also going to get a little Control Journal à la FlyLady set up for the 12yo. If it's written down and clear what he needs to do, that's it. There's no forgetting on anybody's part, no nagging on my part, just "You've checked your list?"

Hm, bringing up FlyLady makes me think: perhaps a good way to get into a work groove is to set a timer tomorrow for 30 minutes or something. Then we're not trying to get used to having 3 hours ahead of us, just need to focus on something for 30 minutes, take a small break if desired, then move onto something else for 30 minutes. We need something to kick start ourselves or they'll never get working well. I've seen it happen after breaks in the past. It's too easy to let tiredness and other things take over. If I set a timer for not too long, it should work.

There! I've got a plan that I think should work! I guess only tomorrow will tell. :D

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! Someone else who is accomplishing very little! Go us! Go late start to the school year! Go go go!
:-)

Are these School of Hope field trips! I feel so lost! We have heard nothing and last Friday when I talked to Lisa she said we were only half registered! Huh?

Oi! I am trying to stay calm, go with the flow and just be at peace with it all. Trying is the key word in the above sentence. Mostly I have various minor panic attacks and all of us are feeling a bit confused these days. I should have just taken off to Hawrelak today to breathe in the last of this summer weather. Did you go?

Considering going to Parent's Place in Sherwood Park tomorrow morning but everything is complicated by Griffen's Kindergarten schedule. Damn school system! :-)

Anyway--let me know when you guys get some serious work done so I can feel worse about myself...till then keep on doing very little, ok?

:)

One Alberta Voice said...

Check your email. I've sent a response there. BTW, Yahoo says your account is bouncing!

Jane said...

Robinson Crusoe......they believe it was based on the island of Tobago....its beautiful there....my ex was from Trinidad :) There are even people in Tobago who claim they are descendants of Crusoe ;)

One Alberta Voice said...

That's funny, Jane! Descended from a fictional character. hehe.

I haven't read it myself. I'm thinking I should get a full version from the library and keep apace with him to be able to add additional details here and there.

Jane said...

Ah well, they are a funny bunch in Tobago....its all that rum ;)