I feel great

I was thoroughly worn out by last night--ended up falling asleep for about 1/2 hour before Numbers started, then watched Numbers with dd, then went downstairs to watch TV with dh, but I'm sure I was passed out by 9:30. Woke up close to 11, could barely walk, got myself upstairs and in bed and slept until 5:15 or something like that. That's almost 8 hours of continuous sleep (if you don't count the 2 minutes it took for me to get off the sofa, go kiss dh good night--he was on the computer--and walk upstairs, somehow manage to get the blankets pulled down and get in bed). I feel really good. I'd love to get that kind of sleep more often!! Now, before you tell me to just go to bed at 9:30, that usually doesn't work for me--I end up waking up by 4:30 most of the time.

[Correne, I had a look through my blog--you're right. It's been since last year's spring time change that I've been having sleep issues and just feeling tired and school feeling difficult. I don't know if this book on insomnia I read has changed some of my internal thinking or something, but I have been sleeping a bit better lately and even had the almost 8 hours last night. There are some little things they suggest I'm going to try out for the next while and see if I can get even better sleep.]

I also love that I told myself yesterday that there's nothing I really have to do today. If I don't do a single thing, so be it. And yet, I want to do things. After my brief computer time here, I'm going to spend about a half-hour just taking care of household things. Then we're having an early lunch and I'm taking the kids to see Bridge to Terabithia at the cheap theatre. Then we're all going out shopping this afternoon--one, to buy this cheap, but nice-looking, patio set for the backyard and two, so dh can get some new clothes. (He's almost completely colour blind and needs to be told sometimes if things go together or if it's something with thin stripes, he often can't figure out the colours at all.) Then we'll come back and I'll just hang out and relax some more. :D It feels good. I wish I had this energy during our school weeks!

Oh, speaking of school... I ended up writing some things down yesterday and even thinking of things today. Also looked through my blog a bit and was reminded of the need for a certain amount of structure for things to get done. Things aren't getting done and it's far too early to be breaking for the summer! The 12yo has said repeatedly that he likes having a routine spelled out for him. I want the routine to change a bit--a specific block of 30 minutes set aside for the two of us to work on phonics/spelling/oral reading/etc., which can be whenever, it just has to be in there--and I want him to choose when it will be. Right now, I think first thing in the morning is probably best--his sister's not quite ready to get going and I can do things with dd and ds before that.

Anyhow, my thoughts:

Dd
-she actually has her own work chart she designed but we haven't really been following it; this week will be to make sure she does follow it and that I have things ready for her to do

12yo
-30 minutes a day focusing on phonics/spelling/etc.
-daily silent reading for at least 15 minutes (we need to discuss as a group if we want a collective reading time or just let it be; dd likes to read at various times but the 12yo, when left to reading on his own, will read for a whole 2 minutes and say he's read silently)
-daily assigned reading and response questions: he has a gr. 7 workbook that he's done a bit from, but not a whole lot; I want this workbook worked on!
-daily composition work (he's got a story started, plus an essay started)
-daily math: he likes it all structured and set out, so one page of stuff from Ray's (he really enjoys doing it for the most part; I've moved him into beginning division work) and one page of stuff from his MathPower (this week's focus will be geometry: angles work (two intersecting lines and figure out what all the angles are based on one angle being given), can't remember what else he has
-daily French: I was going to have him do some vocabulary building work (reading and writing vocabulary, that is) but we have access to Rosetta Stone French for a bit and I think I'll have him do that each day instead, at least to try out
-science: this doesn't have to be daily, but there's a really interesting unit on structures (kind of engineering for gr. 7 kids) in his textbook and he loves that kind of thing, so we'll try to work through that and have him (with others, as they wish) do some of the activities
-social studies: keep adding 2 provinces each day to his map to learn them all

If he does the phonics and stuff with me first thing, this is what his routine will be:

Math

LA
-assigned reading and questions
-composition time

French

Science/Social Studies

Other (his choice of educational activity: art, computer studies (including his web page building), educational game, other; if there is no assigned silent reading time, he can fit it in between subject areas--but he has to be timed to make sure he doesn't read a page and think he's read for 15 minutes--or he can do it at this point; outside time is a possibility, too)

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Well, shoot, I've had interruptions and this took longer than I expected. I don't have time to get much done around the house since we have to have lunch and leave at 11am. I've got to hurry!

Have a great long weekend, all the Canadians who have Monday off! (I don't know if anybody else has Monday off.) Victoria Day this Monday, which is also the day we celebrate the Queen's (that is, Queen Elizabeth II) birthday.