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)
-----
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.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Just feeling chatty
It's like such a huge weight has been lifted off me now that I've identified some of the issues going on this year. I'm so eager to get back on the right track! I don't yet have it all worked out how the 16yo will get her work done without me neglecting the others or how we'll organize stuff, but I'm going to rely on the kids a lot to figure that out. Things worked so much better when they did most of the school decision-making, too.
I do think my tiredness is definitely part of the problem. (Pam, if you're reading this--do those herbs you mentioned help people sleep longer, or just help them get to sleep? I can get to sleep no problem. But I have a hard time sleeping past 5! And usually, if I fall asleep before 10, I just wake up that much earlier (but not at all feeling rested); fall asleep after 10, and I'm still awake around 5 or so.) I can totally empathize with the 16yo because *I*'m having such a hard time.
But back to my originally scheduled babble:
I want to have some fun. With the kids. I want to play recorder and flute. I want to play some of the school games we have. I want us to come up with games we can play. I want to play word bingo and math bingo and French bingo. I want to do more art. I want to do more science. I want to put together timelines like I've wanted to do for sometime. (I actually started, but my original plan didn't work out so well and it was just too cumbersome to work with, so I've got another idea in mind: use 8.5" x 14" paper, each sheet for a particular century, or something. Haven't figured it out more than that, unfortunately! Century might be too long when looking at the ancient stuff we've done--it's almost got to be one sheet for each half millennium. lol) I want to go to Millennium Place. I want to have fun at the park instead of just sitting there. I want to be in shape. (Okay, so maybe I'm going a little too far with what I want for school! lol) I want to do sewing with the kids and so much more.
And I know if I could come up with some more simple games, ds would definitely be interested in doing more school stuff. He asked for this hockey math game from Scholastic and loves it. We've got to play more games.
On the note of ds... I have to say that despite my neglecting him a lot this year academically, it's still turned out okay--benign neglect. :) He's reading a little more each time, reads digital clocks without hesitation and can almost always tell you how long it will be until the time set for something. For example, if I tell him lunch is at 11, and he looks and sees it's 10:52, he'll tell you it's in 8 minutes. He's actually started extending that and can usually tell you up to 15 minutes before the time--even if you've told him something is at 1:30 or 1:40. That's very cool. He hasn't been working in his cursive book much, but he does still enjoy doing a little bit of it--just not a whole lot at once. It's an A Beka kindergarten book and it's just wonderful. It's started having the kids match up the cursive vowels with the print--he thinks it's a grand game! He really just wants to get to the pages where he can colour, but at the rate he's going, that won't be until he's 10. ;)
The 12yo--13 in a few weeks OMG--has been making some progress, too. We've had more talks and it does seem to help. We eased up on the reading level of his oral reading which made him much more interested in reading other things. He's started reading Superfudge--which I read to them all a few years back--and he says he likes it: it's still fairly easy to read and understand, even if there are some words here and there he's not getting. I think it's probably a perfect independent reading level for him right now. His handwriting... Wow. I mean, it's not beautiful, but he started writing this story about my niece and her obsession with the potty the other day and I absolutely had to comment on his printing. "You're printing looks like it's from a totally different person compared to the stuff you were doing last year!" He was pretty proud.
More babble... My niece (2yo) was crabby this morning. Didn't get her proper nap yesterday then was out in the evening and just didn't get enough sleep last night. She wanted to go outside with my two kids around 10:00 this morning--but have her shorts on first. Since I couldn't go out at that point, I told her "later". She pouted and put herself on the ground, on her stomach, in front of the back door. She laid there playing with her stuffed animal for a while. Then the 16yo says, "I think she's asleep. She's kind of half-sucking her soother." She was asleep. Here's what she looked like:
Poor kid had serious rug imprints on her face! I did pick her up and put her in bed. I never would have thought she'd fall asleep there.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
A Blah Week
We didn't get a whole lot done this week. There's just a general lack of energy and all the crummy weather did not help at all! So, it was kind of a relaxed, unschooly week. LOTS of things got printed off for colouring--I'm amazed at the number of hours spent colouring. The 16yo was feeling kind of guilty on Friday, but I said to her, "It's felt good having a break though, hasn't it?" She definitely agreed.
Hopefully, back to the school work on Monday. I'm reading "Positive Discipline in the Classroom" which has a whole bunch of stuff on class meetings. Actually, it's basically all about class meetings. Our schooling seemed to go so much better when we were doing our daily meetings with one or two bigger meetings during the week. The kids were more focused, more motivated. We worked more together rather than me being a constant directress.
I know I've said in the past that I wanted to resume the meetings, but they don't seem to get resumed for more than a couple of days. Why? Tiredness is the main thing I can think of. I really, really don't get enough sleep. Some people can survive well on the sleep I'm getting (6.5-7 hours), but I can't. And on days where it goes below 6 hours, I know better than to attempt to drive. I've started reading a book on insomnia and already I've been doing a bit better with my sleep. I'm still waking up really early (around 5, sometimes earlier), but... a few times this week, I've actually managed to fall back asleep afterwards. That's new! The problem is that while I'm getting maybe an extra 20-30 minutes of sleep, I feel even more tired, although more rested at the same time. I suppose it'll just take me some time to get to the truly well-rested level.
Hopefully, back to the school work on Monday. I'm reading "Positive Discipline in the Classroom" which has a whole bunch of stuff on class meetings. Actually, it's basically all about class meetings. Our schooling seemed to go so much better when we were doing our daily meetings with one or two bigger meetings during the week. The kids were more focused, more motivated. We worked more together rather than me being a constant directress.
I know I've said in the past that I wanted to resume the meetings, but they don't seem to get resumed for more than a couple of days. Why? Tiredness is the main thing I can think of. I really, really don't get enough sleep. Some people can survive well on the sleep I'm getting (6.5-7 hours), but I can't. And on days where it goes below 6 hours, I know better than to attempt to drive. I've started reading a book on insomnia and already I've been doing a bit better with my sleep. I'm still waking up really early (around 5, sometimes earlier), but... a few times this week, I've actually managed to fall back asleep afterwards. That's new! The problem is that while I'm getting maybe an extra 20-30 minutes of sleep, I feel even more tired, although more rested at the same time. I suppose it'll just take me some time to get to the truly well-rested level.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
To Start Again
The past few weeks or so have been just difficult and crazy!! Let me see if I can start anew this week.
I have to admit to being in a slight panic mode: May begins this week, which means within the next two months, we will be doing our year-end review with our facilitator. Yikes! It's like going to the doctor or dentist: always makes me nervous. Plus it means putting things together to show what we've done. It'd be better if I did that as we went along, kind of kept a running scrapbook or binder of sorts, but, alas, I don't. Kind of like my taxes, which still aren't done...
Anyhow, the 12yo had a great work day last week and was so proud of himself. He says he wants to work like that more often. (Of course, that day was followed by a day of him feeling crummy and not being able to work like that, but hey.) He basically did all his work in less than an hour. Which tells me what? That he's capable of FAR more. So, I'm planning in what I think to be 2 hours per day of work this week. I have to make sure I stay firm--and put reminders up for myself in not-too-obvious places--that he is not to have free time for stuff until he can prove to me his work is done. I also have to remind myself to tackle his idea of what learning is (it clicked recently that he doesn't see all this work as learning, but doing, and that he seems to think he should just know the answer) and to have him decide who/what he's going to let be in control: his difficult feelings when he gets frustrated or doesn't know something (which will only cause him to lose out) or him and his desire of being at grade level and having big options later on (he's always had his sight on something in the sciences).
So, what's my plan for him this week?
LA (about 60 minutes):
-auditory and phonics work
-spelling
-read aloud from McGuffey reader; then do copywork, then dictation of copywork
-assigned silent reading (about 3-5 pages or so of a book at a more challenging level than what he reads aloud to me)
-write about what he's read: one paragraph
-a grammar or phonics/reading worksheet
-work together on essay creation (he doesn't actually do any writing for this)
[Note: the above would not necessarily happen in that order! I think I'll break it down into 2 or 3 blocks and talk to him about what sort of order he wants to do things in]
MATH (about 30 minutes):
-since he's been doing his math sheets in about 10 minutes when focused, I'm going to give him 2 math sheets per day this week; this means that including any instructional stuff, it should only take him 30 minutes to do math
SCIENCE/SOCIAL (about 20 minutes):
-this will alternate days; for science, it'll be reading through safety stuff about his science kit; for social, mapwork (provinces of Canada)
FRENCH (about 10 minutes):
-he hears a lot of French and uses a decent amount (plus it's easy to fit in little oral things here and there); this French time would be focused on reading and writing--this week: simple syllables (I think I'll see if ds will join us and we can do some sort of games with this)
Yes, as you've noticed, I've scrapped the CM schedule. It never really worked super well. The idea of a general schedule is good, though, except now I want him focused on work rather than on time. His work the one day last week was amazing.
For the rest of the year, I'm really not taking a Montessori approach. I may use Montessori materials here and there, but I've finally worked through where *I'm* at and I just can not be that 'free' with them for the next month and a half or so. I have yet to work out specifically what I'll do with ds and dd, but it will be a little more structured. I need to have this year finish on what I feel is a good note!
I have to admit to being in a slight panic mode: May begins this week, which means within the next two months, we will be doing our year-end review with our facilitator. Yikes! It's like going to the doctor or dentist: always makes me nervous. Plus it means putting things together to show what we've done. It'd be better if I did that as we went along, kind of kept a running scrapbook or binder of sorts, but, alas, I don't. Kind of like my taxes, which still aren't done...
Anyhow, the 12yo had a great work day last week and was so proud of himself. He says he wants to work like that more often. (Of course, that day was followed by a day of him feeling crummy and not being able to work like that, but hey.) He basically did all his work in less than an hour. Which tells me what? That he's capable of FAR more. So, I'm planning in what I think to be 2 hours per day of work this week. I have to make sure I stay firm--and put reminders up for myself in not-too-obvious places--that he is not to have free time for stuff until he can prove to me his work is done. I also have to remind myself to tackle his idea of what learning is (it clicked recently that he doesn't see all this work as learning, but doing, and that he seems to think he should just know the answer) and to have him decide who/what he's going to let be in control: his difficult feelings when he gets frustrated or doesn't know something (which will only cause him to lose out) or him and his desire of being at grade level and having big options later on (he's always had his sight on something in the sciences).
So, what's my plan for him this week?
LA (about 60 minutes):
-auditory and phonics work
-spelling
-read aloud from McGuffey reader; then do copywork, then dictation of copywork
-assigned silent reading (about 3-5 pages or so of a book at a more challenging level than what he reads aloud to me)
-write about what he's read: one paragraph
-a grammar or phonics/reading worksheet
-work together on essay creation (he doesn't actually do any writing for this)
[Note: the above would not necessarily happen in that order! I think I'll break it down into 2 or 3 blocks and talk to him about what sort of order he wants to do things in]
MATH (about 30 minutes):
-since he's been doing his math sheets in about 10 minutes when focused, I'm going to give him 2 math sheets per day this week; this means that including any instructional stuff, it should only take him 30 minutes to do math
SCIENCE/SOCIAL (about 20 minutes):
-this will alternate days; for science, it'll be reading through safety stuff about his science kit; for social, mapwork (provinces of Canada)
FRENCH (about 10 minutes):
-he hears a lot of French and uses a decent amount (plus it's easy to fit in little oral things here and there); this French time would be focused on reading and writing--this week: simple syllables (I think I'll see if ds will join us and we can do some sort of games with this)
Yes, as you've noticed, I've scrapped the CM schedule. It never really worked super well. The idea of a general schedule is good, though, except now I want him focused on work rather than on time. His work the one day last week was amazing.
For the rest of the year, I'm really not taking a Montessori approach. I may use Montessori materials here and there, but I've finally worked through where *I'm* at and I just can not be that 'free' with them for the next month and a half or so. I have yet to work out specifically what I'll do with ds and dd, but it will be a little more structured. I need to have this year finish on what I feel is a good note!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Always So Interesting...
It happens so often that I'll pour out--here or in a hand-written journal--my frustrations and the rest of the day is better than all the previous days!
What did I say earlier? The 12yo doesn't want to work? He tells me at 7:50 this morning that he wants to work. He'd also read a few articles in the newspaper this morning and read stuff I was typing on the computer.
Dd and I got started together this morning and she's much happier.
Funny. But nice. (Thanks go to the Man Upstairs. :D)
What did I say earlier? The 12yo doesn't want to work? He tells me at 7:50 this morning that he wants to work. He'd also read a few articles in the newspaper this morning and read stuff I was typing on the computer.
Dd and I got started together this morning and she's much happier.
Funny. But nice. (Thanks go to the Man Upstairs. :D)
It's been a while
Too much stuff going on lately: van troubles, kids sick (had only about 4 hours sleep the other night due to ds vomiting in the middle of the night), me sick, kids' resistant or just generally difficult about school work and more. It's one of those homeschooling lows. I know it'll bounce back up, but I wish it would happen soon.
The 12yo doesn't try. And I'm so inconsistent with him, it's hard for him to make decent progress. Why is he here? Is he truly better off with me? The first couple years, sure. But now... He's finishing up gr. 7 and what does he have to show for this year???? Almost nothing. I try this and that and I just can't seem to find something that will really, really work to engage him and get him going. I keep thinking how he's only got 2 years left of jr. high. I could always keep him for a second year of gr. 9. I refuse to do high school with him, but haven't told him that. He NEEDS to have that transition, even if it is forced on him. He seems to live in a little fantasy worl half the time and resists what adults say to him. He needs to have a different part of life open his eyes a bit. But back to my point: he's got two, maybe three, years left of jr. high. I know he can get caught up in that time, at least to an acceptable level (even if it's just 50%-60% average). I've just got to figure out how to do this all.
Dd fusses at everything. Has meltdowns for everything. Says she can't do this, can't do that, complains that she needs help (which she doesn't) and that I can never work with her because I'm working with someone else. We go through this regularly. I tell her I can almost always work with one child at a time. She fusses at reading in French, at writing in French, at most math... I have been wondering for a bit if home is really the best place academically. But I so hate the thought of what will happen socially in a classroom. Not to mention that she is so much of a follower and doesn't question others' ideas (especially if it's someone she wants to keep as a friend and somehow feels inferior to--age or size) and she's never been good at retelling what's happened during the day. (I still remember her brief stint at preschool, an attempt to make French-speaking friends since we knew we'd be homeschooling: every day, she'd be bullied by this one boy in her class, to the point of him having punched her in the stomach, but every day, it was the girl in my dayhome--in the same class--who would have to tell me about it.)
Ds... complains every morning that it's a school morning. Why? Because he wants to play XBox. lol. But school-wise, I feel I neglect him. :(
Things are actually going great with the 16yo. Maybe I'll keep her and send the others off to school. lol.
I know my real issue at the moment is my sleep issues. And there are just so many little stressors right now that I'm just feeling overwhelmed. I've stopped even trying to be Montessori-like. I'm too sleep-deprived to be creative and enthusiastic enough for that. But even trying to work with the kids with our meetings has fallen a bit flat. I have found they so often mirror my energy and other levels that it's probably that. *sigh*
Well, time for me to go get ready for the day.
The 12yo doesn't try. And I'm so inconsistent with him, it's hard for him to make decent progress. Why is he here? Is he truly better off with me? The first couple years, sure. But now... He's finishing up gr. 7 and what does he have to show for this year???? Almost nothing. I try this and that and I just can't seem to find something that will really, really work to engage him and get him going. I keep thinking how he's only got 2 years left of jr. high. I could always keep him for a second year of gr. 9. I refuse to do high school with him, but haven't told him that. He NEEDS to have that transition, even if it is forced on him. He seems to live in a little fantasy worl half the time and resists what adults say to him. He needs to have a different part of life open his eyes a bit. But back to my point: he's got two, maybe three, years left of jr. high. I know he can get caught up in that time, at least to an acceptable level (even if it's just 50%-60% average). I've just got to figure out how to do this all.
Dd fusses at everything. Has meltdowns for everything. Says she can't do this, can't do that, complains that she needs help (which she doesn't) and that I can never work with her because I'm working with someone else. We go through this regularly. I tell her I can almost always work with one child at a time. She fusses at reading in French, at writing in French, at most math... I have been wondering for a bit if home is really the best place academically. But I so hate the thought of what will happen socially in a classroom. Not to mention that she is so much of a follower and doesn't question others' ideas (especially if it's someone she wants to keep as a friend and somehow feels inferior to--age or size) and she's never been good at retelling what's happened during the day. (I still remember her brief stint at preschool, an attempt to make French-speaking friends since we knew we'd be homeschooling: every day, she'd be bullied by this one boy in her class, to the point of him having punched her in the stomach, but every day, it was the girl in my dayhome--in the same class--who would have to tell me about it.)
Ds... complains every morning that it's a school morning. Why? Because he wants to play XBox. lol. But school-wise, I feel I neglect him. :(
Things are actually going great with the 16yo. Maybe I'll keep her and send the others off to school. lol.
I know my real issue at the moment is my sleep issues. And there are just so many little stressors right now that I'm just feeling overwhelmed. I've stopped even trying to be Montessori-like. I'm too sleep-deprived to be creative and enthusiastic enough for that. But even trying to work with the kids with our meetings has fallen a bit flat. I have found they so often mirror my energy and other levels that it's probably that. *sigh*
Well, time for me to go get ready for the day.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
My children are possessed!
I stopped regularly playing piano and dd ended up following suit. We talked a bit about it a couple of weeks ago--after I'd pulled out a recorder and was playing songs for my niece--and she said she's just not interested in piano right now. Somehow it came out that she'd like to learn recorder. I told her we'd get her her own recorder so that I can model with mine and she can do the same with hers. She's had a bit of recorder experience, but not much.
We finally went and got the recorder yesterday--and ds, naturally, wanted one, too. They were so excited about them. Dd got the same type of recorder I have--a Dolmetsch--and it looks almost identical, but hers isn't so used that the bottom piece falls off ;). Ds picked this see-through yellow recorder. They started trying things in the car.
We get home and they're BEGGING for lessons. So we start off simply and ds did fantastically. He's a kid who leans more towards auditory things and I think this must be part of it. He did better than most gr. 4 kids I've seen who are just beginning recorder. He got frustrated, naturally, and as all beginning musicians do, blamed the recorder for some squeaks, but once he got it and wasn't too tired, he did really well.
I ended up ending the lesson and they continued playing. This morning, the first thing they do is ask for another lesson as soon as their papa is up. lol.
I suppose there are worse things to be possessed by...
We finally went and got the recorder yesterday--and ds, naturally, wanted one, too. They were so excited about them. Dd got the same type of recorder I have--a Dolmetsch--and it looks almost identical, but hers isn't so used that the bottom piece falls off ;). Ds picked this see-through yellow recorder. They started trying things in the car.
We get home and they're BEGGING for lessons. So we start off simply and ds did fantastically. He's a kid who leans more towards auditory things and I think this must be part of it. He did better than most gr. 4 kids I've seen who are just beginning recorder. He got frustrated, naturally, and as all beginning musicians do, blamed the recorder for some squeaks, but once he got it and wasn't too tired, he did really well.
I ended up ending the lesson and they continued playing. This morning, the first thing they do is ask for another lesson as soon as their papa is up. lol.
I suppose there are worse things to be possessed by...
Friday, April 13, 2007
What's Up?
It's been a crazy past week. Kids were super tired again last week, weather was crummy, school was a struggle. Four-day long weekend which really threw off my sense of what day it is this week. Tuesday and Wednesday were okay for school; yesterday was great! It was spring-like outside and the oldest had slept well the night before and everybody was full of energy.
I don't have that energy today. I've had a cold all week which hasn't really bothered me much, except that I woke up with a hacking fit at 2am. Was still awake at 3. :( Then I had the most bizarre dreams before waking up this morning. And several of them. When I dream like that, I just feel so tired when I get up. Let's just say my brain is not fully functioning yet this morning and I wish I liked coffee!
In any case, it's Friday. The oldest has a ton of work to do. The 12yo's schedule isn't quite working out as I had planned: it's just impossible to stick to 20-minute blocks in this house. What it's gradually moved into on its own, however, is he gets started on something, finishes that, then asks what's next. This works much better than having him have the rest of the 20 minutes (if there are any) to go off and do whatever--getting him back can be a struggle! He had a really good work day yesterday, assigning himself more copywork than I had assigned him, even! Just need to work more!! But I'm too tired right now to have a look at what we've been doing and what needs to be added.
Back to the schedule... I think I'm still going to keep it but not have it so time-based. Although he did like the very general schedule we had before of 8:30 LA, 9:00 math and so on, it didn't cover enough stuff. I'll have to tweak things on the weekend.
I'm really feeling like I could go have a mini-nap. It's 6:52 in the morning and I'm ready for a nap! omg.
I don't have that energy today. I've had a cold all week which hasn't really bothered me much, except that I woke up with a hacking fit at 2am. Was still awake at 3. :( Then I had the most bizarre dreams before waking up this morning. And several of them. When I dream like that, I just feel so tired when I get up. Let's just say my brain is not fully functioning yet this morning and I wish I liked coffee!
In any case, it's Friday. The oldest has a ton of work to do. The 12yo's schedule isn't quite working out as I had planned: it's just impossible to stick to 20-minute blocks in this house. What it's gradually moved into on its own, however, is he gets started on something, finishes that, then asks what's next. This works much better than having him have the rest of the 20 minutes (if there are any) to go off and do whatever--getting him back can be a struggle! He had a really good work day yesterday, assigning himself more copywork than I had assigned him, even! Just need to work more!! But I'm too tired right now to have a look at what we've been doing and what needs to be added.
Back to the schedule... I think I'm still going to keep it but not have it so time-based. Although he did like the very general schedule we had before of 8:30 LA, 9:00 math and so on, it didn't cover enough stuff. I'll have to tweak things on the weekend.
I'm really feeling like I could go have a mini-nap. It's 6:52 in the morning and I'm ready for a nap! omg.
Friday, April 06, 2007
"I'm so proud of you"
Those of you on FlyLady are probably aware of her frequent "I'm so proud of you!"
Well, I don't like it.
I didn't like it as a child and adolescent and as an adult, I found others who felt the same way. I could never verbalize quite what it was until I read Alfie Kohn. I don't recall his exact words on it, but he helped me realize that this type of praise is actually detrimental: it takes a part of the accomplishment away and places it on the person giving the praise. Adults who accept this form of praise are seeking to have others tell them they're doing a good job instead of being able to see it for themselves, feeling the pride on their own. Children are the same way, except that children who seek this type of praise are also typically just seeking adult approval. They live to be approved of.
Isn't that sad? That the sense of worth is coming from somebody else's approval?
I know Maria Montessori wrote about lavishing the children with praise, but the type of praise she seemed to give was one that was focused on what the child had accomplished and not how pleased she was with whatever the child had done. And that's exactly where the child's focus should be: on what he has accomplished, not how others feel about it.
Writing that last sentence has me thinking about the other end of things: the parents who do give the "I'm so proud of you" praise, but then counteract it with disapproval of not reaching certain standards. Again, the focus for the child becomes parental approval and not self-approval. How is a child to decide if he's proud of his work, if he's truly done what he's capable of doing if really he's more concerned with what others will say? It'll paralyze some children, make them afraid of trying because if they don't try, at least they won't have any criticism placed on their work because there's nothing to criticize, right?
Just some thoughts on this Good Friday afternoon.
Well, I don't like it.
I didn't like it as a child and adolescent and as an adult, I found others who felt the same way. I could never verbalize quite what it was until I read Alfie Kohn. I don't recall his exact words on it, but he helped me realize that this type of praise is actually detrimental: it takes a part of the accomplishment away and places it on the person giving the praise. Adults who accept this form of praise are seeking to have others tell them they're doing a good job instead of being able to see it for themselves, feeling the pride on their own. Children are the same way, except that children who seek this type of praise are also typically just seeking adult approval. They live to be approved of.
Isn't that sad? That the sense of worth is coming from somebody else's approval?
I know Maria Montessori wrote about lavishing the children with praise, but the type of praise she seemed to give was one that was focused on what the child had accomplished and not how pleased she was with whatever the child had done. And that's exactly where the child's focus should be: on what he has accomplished, not how others feel about it.
Writing that last sentence has me thinking about the other end of things: the parents who do give the "I'm so proud of you" praise, but then counteract it with disapproval of not reaching certain standards. Again, the focus for the child becomes parental approval and not self-approval. How is a child to decide if he's proud of his work, if he's truly done what he's capable of doing if really he's more concerned with what others will say? It'll paralyze some children, make them afraid of trying because if they don't try, at least they won't have any criticism placed on their work because there's nothing to criticize, right?
Just some thoughts on this Good Friday afternoon.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Tuesday update
So far, two days of trying out the new schedule. How are we doing? Depends on how you look at it. lol. He was very tired yesterday and actually ended up napping--twice. So he got some auditory work and phonics done first thing, then curled up, then did some history reading later on and that's probably it. For today, I wasn't ready at 8 so that threw the schedule off a bit, but I still put in the auditory work and he got some math done, a sentence from a science book and composed a "list poem". Oh, and learned where Nova Scotia and Halifax are as part of the history book he chose (historical fiction on the Halifax explosion). So, improvement, but not nearly where it ought to be. But I was so unprepared today--hadn't picked out stuff ahead of time and my mind was just generally scattered. I wish I could regularly sleep the almost 8 hours I had Saturday night--everything was so clear on Sunday!
The 16yo hasn't been well and has been very tired. She got food poisoning on Friday I believe plus spent 3 days in a row sitting outside in the cold. Her body was weakened and is trying to fight off the flus and colds going around here. She reluctantly worked after a nap--I asked her what she wanted to do and she smiled and said nothing. I said something else and she kept saying she didn't want to do anything even though she knew she should. So then I said, "So, you want a high school diploma?" That was enough to get her started. But it was reluctant. It's hard to feel motivated when your body is shutting down, but I told her it was good practice for when she was in university working her last year of her science degree in preparation for getting into med school. lol.
Dd wasn't well at all this morning. Woke up with a fever causing a headache (she just laid there and cried until I heard her and came :( )and has been complaining of a sore throat on and off. She's also a little congested, as is ds, who's been the Crabby King the past two days.
So, let's say that this week isn't working out as I had perhaps envisioned it, but I'm okay with it. I don't know if it's been my recent prayer focus which has been to be a little more trusting or what, but I'm okay with it. It's nice to feel that way instead of guilty and stressed!
The 16yo hasn't been well and has been very tired. She got food poisoning on Friday I believe plus spent 3 days in a row sitting outside in the cold. Her body was weakened and is trying to fight off the flus and colds going around here. She reluctantly worked after a nap--I asked her what she wanted to do and she smiled and said nothing. I said something else and she kept saying she didn't want to do anything even though she knew she should. So then I said, "So, you want a high school diploma?" That was enough to get her started. But it was reluctant. It's hard to feel motivated when your body is shutting down, but I told her it was good practice for when she was in university working her last year of her science degree in preparation for getting into med school. lol.
Dd wasn't well at all this morning. Woke up with a fever causing a headache (she just laid there and cried until I heard her and came :( )and has been complaining of a sore throat on and off. She's also a little congested, as is ds, who's been the Crabby King the past two days.
So, let's say that this week isn't working out as I had perhaps envisioned it, but I'm okay with it. I don't know if it's been my recent prayer focus which has been to be a little more trusting or what, but I'm okay with it. It's nice to feel that way instead of guilty and stressed!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
More thoughts for today
Just have some more thoughts in my head before I get to work here on my plans for the day.
About the 12yo's schedule: I organized it the way it is for a few reasons:
*CM recommends short lessons. For the really early grades, 10 minutes, even. Well, the 12yo is capable of more than that, but usually not sustained attention for more than 15-20 minutes right now. This is actually something that has improved the past year, now that I think of it, even if he hasn't work a whole lot. Hm. Anyhow, I scheduled the slots for 20 minutes each--easy to track plus gives him 20 minutes of time to finish work. There are times where the work he needs to do will only be 15 minutes long. That'll give him 5 minutes to leave the table, roll on the ground, be upside down in the stairs (okay, I probably should get him to STOP doing that), whatever he wants.
*CM also recommends alternating subjects. I can't remember the specific words she used, but it was basically alternate between work that requires thinking and work that requires less thinking. So, the kind of daily drill/practice stuff would be the latter. I started each day off with the phonics (that's already one of our habits--figured I might as well keep going with it!) and then put something a little more thinking after it. Except Thursday, I now realize--the CALM. In any case, she also had a recommendation of having something the child will find interesting after something mundane or that required a lot of thought.
*CM also recommends that the schedule not be identical every day. I've seen a number of people make identical CM schedules for the whole week--or almost identical--including a company selling daily CM lesson plans! CM felt it should not be identical as it would lead to 'dullness'.
I tried to organize the schedule along those lines. I have to admit to being a little nervous about something so structured, but I'm determined to give it a fair shot. The 12yo did well when we had a schedule according to times, but it was still fairly loose: 8am Language Arts, 9am math... I think it gave too much open time for him. When you've got a looming deadline, it can often be easier to get your butt in gear.
Which reminds me that I had thought about that this weekend and am wondering if the 16yo shouldn't set up her schedule on half-hour blocks. It might get her moving more! It just seems as though when she sets up an hour-long block, she's slow to get started in part because she knows she has an hour. I'll have to suggest it to her tomorrow. The thing with it, though, is that it'd mean doing the same subjects twice in a day. Not sure how that'll work or how motivating THAT will be. I don't think I'd want to do it that way. However, when I think about it, maybe it would work. She hasn't been getting started until 9am lately and we break for lunch at 11. So:
9:00 science
9:30 LA
10:00 math
10:30 French
Then in the afternoon she could schedule according to what she didn't get done in the morning. Okay, I will suggest it to her tomorrow.
I have to say that since having broken down the 16yo's work into what would need to be done each day to be done by June 1st (in preparation for her exams), it's been going better. Less focus on what she sees as me telling her to do and more of a realization on her part of what she is or isn't doing. She's realizing more and more about her own choices and living with the consequences of them. Of course, that means she's now more than a week behind in science and a day or two behind in math, but it's a good learning experience for her. High school homeschooling definitely requires the student to develop some good motivation and time management skills!
Other plans:
I'm going to set up my own calendar-schedule with specifics of things I want to present/do with my kids. Remember the globe work I had done and said I needed to make sure I followed-up on it? Never followed up on it. While I started beating myself up about it, I realized that it's just a matter of realizing that what I was doing wasn't helping me accomplish what I wanted to accomplish and needing to make a specific plan on how to get it done. After having created the work breakdown for the 16yo (it's on calendar pages), I realized that it's the kind of thing that would be helpful for me, too. I want to plot in two days of Teens Board with ds and two days geography with dd and ds (globe work again; tied in with maps). A nice gentle start.
Well, I really ought to get moving! It's almost 10 and I haven't started my work yet!
About the 12yo's schedule: I organized it the way it is for a few reasons:
*CM recommends short lessons. For the really early grades, 10 minutes, even. Well, the 12yo is capable of more than that, but usually not sustained attention for more than 15-20 minutes right now. This is actually something that has improved the past year, now that I think of it, even if he hasn't work a whole lot. Hm. Anyhow, I scheduled the slots for 20 minutes each--easy to track plus gives him 20 minutes of time to finish work. There are times where the work he needs to do will only be 15 minutes long. That'll give him 5 minutes to leave the table, roll on the ground, be upside down in the stairs (okay, I probably should get him to STOP doing that), whatever he wants.
*CM also recommends alternating subjects. I can't remember the specific words she used, but it was basically alternate between work that requires thinking and work that requires less thinking. So, the kind of daily drill/practice stuff would be the latter. I started each day off with the phonics (that's already one of our habits--figured I might as well keep going with it!) and then put something a little more thinking after it. Except Thursday, I now realize--the CALM. In any case, she also had a recommendation of having something the child will find interesting after something mundane or that required a lot of thought.
*CM also recommends that the schedule not be identical every day. I've seen a number of people make identical CM schedules for the whole week--or almost identical--including a company selling daily CM lesson plans! CM felt it should not be identical as it would lead to 'dullness'.
I tried to organize the schedule along those lines. I have to admit to being a little nervous about something so structured, but I'm determined to give it a fair shot. The 12yo did well when we had a schedule according to times, but it was still fairly loose: 8am Language Arts, 9am math... I think it gave too much open time for him. When you've got a looming deadline, it can often be easier to get your butt in gear.
Which reminds me that I had thought about that this weekend and am wondering if the 16yo shouldn't set up her schedule on half-hour blocks. It might get her moving more! It just seems as though when she sets up an hour-long block, she's slow to get started in part because she knows she has an hour. I'll have to suggest it to her tomorrow. The thing with it, though, is that it'd mean doing the same subjects twice in a day. Not sure how that'll work or how motivating THAT will be. I don't think I'd want to do it that way. However, when I think about it, maybe it would work. She hasn't been getting started until 9am lately and we break for lunch at 11. So:
9:00 science
9:30 LA
10:00 math
10:30 French
Then in the afternoon she could schedule according to what she didn't get done in the morning. Okay, I will suggest it to her tomorrow.
I have to say that since having broken down the 16yo's work into what would need to be done each day to be done by June 1st (in preparation for her exams), it's been going better. Less focus on what she sees as me telling her to do and more of a realization on her part of what she is or isn't doing. She's realizing more and more about her own choices and living with the consequences of them. Of course, that means she's now more than a week behind in science and a day or two behind in math, but it's a good learning experience for her. High school homeschooling definitely requires the student to develop some good motivation and time management skills!
Other plans:
I'm going to set up my own calendar-schedule with specifics of things I want to present/do with my kids. Remember the globe work I had done and said I needed to make sure I followed-up on it? Never followed up on it. While I started beating myself up about it, I realized that it's just a matter of realizing that what I was doing wasn't helping me accomplish what I wanted to accomplish and needing to make a specific plan on how to get it done. After having created the work breakdown for the 16yo (it's on calendar pages), I realized that it's the kind of thing that would be helpful for me, too. I want to plot in two days of Teens Board with ds and two days geography with dd and ds (globe work again; tied in with maps). A nice gentle start.
Well, I really ought to get moving! It's almost 10 and I haven't started my work yet!
Miscellaneous
I read some stuff about CM and it seems that people (who have read more than I have, I will add) are saying that CM did not think you shouldn't read to your children but that it should not be part of lessons for a child who can read. Ah! That makes sense.
It's Sunday. I had the previous two Sundays free from household chores (other than the required daily stuff) and school planning. Unfortunately, we were out of town yesterday and I couldn't get all my stuff done yesterday, which means I'll need to work today. Although, since I barely did anything yesterday, I guess that counts as my day off!
What are my plans for this week? The 12yo's CM schedule is coming along nicely. At the moment, it looks like this (I wish I could figure out how to make a table work here, but it's not accepting my html coding :( ):
Monday
8:00 Auditory/phonics/spelling (probably The Writing Road to Reading)
8:20 Math
8:40 Science (this is reading and narration, not experiments)
9:00 Literature (books not part of other subjects; narration)
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 History (for this week, historical fiction or Anne Frank's diary; narration)
10:40 French
11:00 lunch
12:00 SQUIRT (Sustained QUIet Reading Time--I might actually change this and have it be right after eating)
12:20 park day OR outside time, art, music, science experiment, handwork, etc.
2:00 (if we're home) read-aloud
Tuesday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (prob. Phonics Pathways/Pyramid)
8:20 Literature
8:40 Geography (this will be tied to his history reading)
9:00 Math
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Science
10:20 haven't filled this in yet--composition? It'd only be once a week for right now.
11:00 French
12:00 SQUIRT
12:20 outside time, art, music, science experiment, handwork, etc.
2:00 library (probably not every week; read-aloud when not at the library)
Wednesday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (TWTR)
8:20 Math
8:40 History
9:00 Literature
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 French
10:40 Typing
11:00 lunch
12:00 usual afternoon stuff
Thursday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (probably Rosner's word recognition program)
8:20 "CALM"/health (careers for April)
8:40 Science
9:00 Math
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geography
10:20 History
10:40 French
11:00 Lunch
afternoon: usually driving 16yo to diving and then errands, then home for free time
Friday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (TRWR or CM-style word reading)
8:20 Math
8:40 Science
9:00 Literature
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 French
10:40 Typing
11:00 lunch and rest of afternoon off
This is just a tentative schedule right now. I've put a lot of science reading in because science interests him, but I think he needs another geometry slot since I'm essentially doubling up on his math work so he can finish the gr. 7 text this year. A good chunk is geometry and doesn't depend on the arithmetic part of the book. I'm also thinking it's just a temporary schedule for April. There are certain things I want to add in, like grammar, religion and more composition time. I know CM usually has them doing composition AFTER they've had a lot of copywork and narration, but I would be doing him a disservice waiting any longer. So what to do? (Babbling about to begin!) Okay, if I leave it at one composition time per week, that'll give him only 4 times by the end of the month. I could say one this week and two next week and three the week after that, but that means trying to figure out the schedule each week. I don't want that. Maybe I need to rearrange things to have 2 composition times per week, then he'll have had 8 by the end of the month and there's no monkeying around with the schedule until then.
Okay, enough for now.
It's Sunday. I had the previous two Sundays free from household chores (other than the required daily stuff) and school planning. Unfortunately, we were out of town yesterday and I couldn't get all my stuff done yesterday, which means I'll need to work today. Although, since I barely did anything yesterday, I guess that counts as my day off!
What are my plans for this week? The 12yo's CM schedule is coming along nicely. At the moment, it looks like this (I wish I could figure out how to make a table work here, but it's not accepting my html coding :( ):
Monday
8:00 Auditory/phonics/spelling (probably The Writing Road to Reading)
8:20 Math
8:40 Science (this is reading and narration, not experiments)
9:00 Literature (books not part of other subjects; narration)
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 History (for this week, historical fiction or Anne Frank's diary; narration)
10:40 French
11:00 lunch
12:00 SQUIRT (Sustained QUIet Reading Time--I might actually change this and have it be right after eating)
12:20 park day OR outside time, art, music, science experiment, handwork, etc.
2:00 (if we're home) read-aloud
Tuesday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (prob. Phonics Pathways/Pyramid)
8:20 Literature
8:40 Geography (this will be tied to his history reading)
9:00 Math
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Science
10:20 haven't filled this in yet--composition? It'd only be once a week for right now.
11:00 French
12:00 SQUIRT
12:20 outside time, art, music, science experiment, handwork, etc.
2:00 library (probably not every week; read-aloud when not at the library)
Wednesday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (TWTR)
8:20 Math
8:40 History
9:00 Literature
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 French
10:40 Typing
11:00 lunch
12:00 usual afternoon stuff
Thursday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (probably Rosner's word recognition program)
8:20 "CALM"/health (careers for April)
8:40 Science
9:00 Math
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geography
10:20 History
10:40 French
11:00 Lunch
afternoon: usually driving 16yo to diving and then errands, then home for free time
Friday
8:00 auditory/phonics/spelling (TRWR or CM-style word reading)
8:20 Math
8:40 Science
9:00 Literature
9:20 break
9:40 Copywork/dictation
10:00 Geometry
10:20 French
10:40 Typing
11:00 lunch and rest of afternoon off
This is just a tentative schedule right now. I've put a lot of science reading in because science interests him, but I think he needs another geometry slot since I'm essentially doubling up on his math work so he can finish the gr. 7 text this year. A good chunk is geometry and doesn't depend on the arithmetic part of the book. I'm also thinking it's just a temporary schedule for April. There are certain things I want to add in, like grammar, religion and more composition time. I know CM usually has them doing composition AFTER they've had a lot of copywork and narration, but I would be doing him a disservice waiting any longer. So what to do? (Babbling about to begin!) Okay, if I leave it at one composition time per week, that'll give him only 4 times by the end of the month. I could say one this week and two next week and three the week after that, but that means trying to figure out the schedule each week. I don't want that. Maybe I need to rearrange things to have 2 composition times per week, then he'll have had 8 by the end of the month and there's no monkeying around with the schedule until then.
Okay, enough for now.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Gotta disagree!
From Charlotte Mason:
While I think some kids may try to depend on the adult to read, I know that my reading aloud to the kids did not in any way hamper my dd's reading (she is a voracious reader) and it helped the 12yo see books as actually interesting things, rather than just work imposed upon him. Not to mention there are a ton of benefits of reading aloud to kids. Read Jim Trelease's book The Read Aloud Handbook and you'll certainly be convinced! I also tend to read books to the kids that they wouldn't necessarily be able to read on their own.
Reading to Children––It is a delight to older people to read aloud to children,
but this should be only an occasional treat and indulgence, allowed before
bedtime, for example. We must remember the natural inertness of a child's mind;
give him the habit of being read to, and he will steadily shirk the labour of
reading for himself; indeed, we all like to be spoon-fed with our intellectual
meat, or we should read and think more for ourselves and be less eager to run
after lectures.
While I think some kids may try to depend on the adult to read, I know that my reading aloud to the kids did not in any way hamper my dd's reading (she is a voracious reader) and it helped the 12yo see books as actually interesting things, rather than just work imposed upon him. Not to mention there are a ton of benefits of reading aloud to kids. Read Jim Trelease's book The Read Aloud Handbook and you'll certainly be convinced! I also tend to read books to the kids that they wouldn't necessarily be able to read on their own.
Where the heck do people get their ideas from???
I was on a web board today where some people had written some negative things about homeschooling. Comments were things such as it was better to have your first experience being bullied when you were a child instead of when you're an adult or it was better to learn to deal with people pressuring you when you're a kid instead of when you're an adult.
Who says?
What sort of psychological mumbo jumbo is that?
Kids don't have the reasoning powers adults do. How are they better prepared to deal with this all as children? They are far more likely to be negatively affected by it all. If you've never been bullied before and you've grown up to be a fairly self-confident adult, the first time somebody tries to say some nasty comment to you, you'll look at them like they're nuts, not take it personally the way kids would.
Having undergone some form of abuse as a child actually makes you LESS likely to stand up to abuse as an adult. Where they heck do people get their crazy ideas from?!
Who says?
What sort of psychological mumbo jumbo is that?
Kids don't have the reasoning powers adults do. How are they better prepared to deal with this all as children? They are far more likely to be negatively affected by it all. If you've never been bullied before and you've grown up to be a fairly self-confident adult, the first time somebody tries to say some nasty comment to you, you'll look at them like they're nuts, not take it personally the way kids would.
Having undergone some form of abuse as a child actually makes you LESS likely to stand up to abuse as an adult. Where they heck do people get their crazy ideas from?!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Kids haven't changed
I've been reading more CM stuff--some of it is wonderful, some of it I'd never do with my kids, I don't think, but think it's just the thing for the 12yo!
I laughed as I read this today and thought, "Kids are kids, no matter what era!"
Oh, now, does THAT ever sound familiar!!!! lol. Granted, I don't have the kids here working until ten o'clock at night, but taking an hour to do something that should only take 5 minutes is very common place!
I laughed as I read this today and thought, "Kids are kids, no matter what era!"
The Schoolboy's Home Work.––In the matter of home work, the parents may
still be of great use to their boys and girls after they begin to go to
day-school; not in helping them, that should not be necessary; but let us
suppose a case: 'Poor Annie does not her finish her lessons till half past nine,
she really has so much to do'; 'Poor Tom is at his books till ten o'clock; we
never see anything of the children in the evening,' say the distressed parents;
and they let their children go on in a course which is absolutely ruinous both
to bodily health and brain power.
Wholesome Home Treatment for Mooning.––Now,
the fault is very seldom in the lessons, but in the children; they moon over
their books,....
Oh, now, does THAT ever sound familiar!!!! lol. Granted, I don't have the kids here working until ten o'clock at night, but taking an hour to do something that should only take 5 minutes is very common place!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
*Ding!*
I had a *ding!* moment (like a lightbulb moment) this morning about part of my dissatisfaction with this year: dd is really an upper elementary student and the two oldest are, of course, older than that. I don't know a whole lot about upper elementary approach! I don't know what's different, what's the same. I do know they move more away from materials. But that's about it. Ds, although I've registered him in grade 1, would be one of those kids who would still be in Casa. I realize part of me has been trying to treat him as a lower elementary.
So, *ding!*.
So, *ding!*.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Friday night musings
I'm sitting here in front of the tv (barely watching it--nothing really on; NUMB3RS isn't on for the 2nd week in a row :( ), laptop on my lap (go figure!), reading the Charlotte Mason series.
I've only started the Preface of the first book, which brought on certain connections to some stuff I've read recently about the method, which then connected with some things I know about the Montessori method. One of these things was the with CM, they do a lot of copywork. This is actually part of Maria Montessori's devisings for a number of the language activities at the elementary level and it had never clicked before. Some of the grammar activities even used sentences from famous Italian literature. The difference is instead of being given a specific passage to copy each day, the students will be copying from whatever materials they have and have chosen.
But there's an issue with this at home--there are sooooooooo many materials and so few students that I've found a lot of my materials go unused. It's rather discouraging. Dd does so much better seeing somebody else do something first before she gives it a shot--but who is there to be sitting down using those materials?
But this is beside the point; I've gone off on something that was not what I actually decided to blog about. What I wanted to say was this: I wish Maria Montessori had written more about her early development of the elementary program with families who had been using her methods at home or whose children had outgrown the Casas and wanted to continue at home. I KNOW it could not have been a ton of cards and materials everywhere in the house. So what did they do exactly? What has been developed and is used today in classrooms was designed for the classroom of multi-age groupings with lots of kids. This is not what she would have encouraged for parents approaching elementary at home.
Shoot, distracted and the thoughts are gone. Guess that's it for now.
I've only started the Preface of the first book, which brought on certain connections to some stuff I've read recently about the method, which then connected with some things I know about the Montessori method. One of these things was the with CM, they do a lot of copywork. This is actually part of Maria Montessori's devisings for a number of the language activities at the elementary level and it had never clicked before. Some of the grammar activities even used sentences from famous Italian literature. The difference is instead of being given a specific passage to copy each day, the students will be copying from whatever materials they have and have chosen.
But there's an issue with this at home--there are sooooooooo many materials and so few students that I've found a lot of my materials go unused. It's rather discouraging. Dd does so much better seeing somebody else do something first before she gives it a shot--but who is there to be sitting down using those materials?
But this is beside the point; I've gone off on something that was not what I actually decided to blog about. What I wanted to say was this: I wish Maria Montessori had written more about her early development of the elementary program with families who had been using her methods at home or whose children had outgrown the Casas and wanted to continue at home. I KNOW it could not have been a ton of cards and materials everywhere in the house. So what did they do exactly? What has been developed and is used today in classrooms was designed for the classroom of multi-age groupings with lots of kids. This is not what she would have encouraged for parents approaching elementary at home.
Shoot, distracted and the thoughts are gone. Guess that's it for now.
Spring Break is Here!
My school day is over. A week off. Sort of. I'll have my nephew and niece M-F next week, but it'll probably end up being mainly play. I think I'd still like to keep in mind some activities we could do, especially when the boys get too rowdy! Science stuff is always good. I know dd and ds wanted to make this gloop stuff (cornstarch and water). I'll also focus on reading Dragon Rider with dd, make sure to get some reading time with ds each day and hopefully work on this French book I started reading to dd. Part of me wants to put it away and she can read it when she's older--we thought it was a dragon book when we purchased it and it turned out not to be, so there's a sense of disappointment with it--but something in me is telling me that if I drop the book now, it'll never be read. Because we've already started and there's this little inkling of prejudice against it (for not being a dragon book). So, I think I'll make myself read it to her this week.
Other plans for the week: work on my taxes, work on putting my school receipts together, finish the 16yo's (almost typed 15yo there!) work breakdown for the last 3 months (well, two months, really), read CM books and get some planning done for when school resumes. Oh, and work on resume and letter to send to a school board. Wow. Lots I want to get done! This is the first year that I won't have specific house goals in mind. I want this other stuff to get done. I also had an idea pass through my head the other day and not sure what I hadn't thought of it before. Right now, all my receipts are a disorganized mess. And I haven't been using the Quicken program I purchased last summer. I also realized that I would really like to have some sort of yearly binder or something for the dayhome and a separate one for dealings with the school board. It hit me that I can get some cheap accordion files to keep the stuff in. I saw it so clearly in my head--the dayhome file would have sections for the different receipt categories I need to track and the school board file would have correspondence stuff, ed. plan, receipts, etc.
So, those are my plans and ideas for now. But right now, this instant, I need to go pick up our pizza!
Other plans for the week: work on my taxes, work on putting my school receipts together, finish the 16yo's (almost typed 15yo there!) work breakdown for the last 3 months (well, two months, really), read CM books and get some planning done for when school resumes. Oh, and work on resume and letter to send to a school board. Wow. Lots I want to get done! This is the first year that I won't have specific house goals in mind. I want this other stuff to get done. I also had an idea pass through my head the other day and not sure what I hadn't thought of it before. Right now, all my receipts are a disorganized mess. And I haven't been using the Quicken program I purchased last summer. I also realized that I would really like to have some sort of yearly binder or something for the dayhome and a separate one for dealings with the school board. It hit me that I can get some cheap accordion files to keep the stuff in. I saw it so clearly in my head--the dayhome file would have sections for the different receipt categories I need to track and the school board file would have correspondence stuff, ed. plan, receipts, etc.
So, those are my plans and ideas for now. But right now, this instant, I need to go pick up our pizza!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
New Workbooks
New workbooks are always exciting! lol. At least when the kids pick them or I've picked right. We went to an A Beka display a few weeks back, specifically to look at cursive workbooks and to see whatever else they might have that might be useful. They are the ONLY company I know that have cursive workbooks suitable for K/1 students. Everybody else seems to start in grade 3 or 4. So we had a look and picked the K5 book for ds and dd decided on the grade 4 Penmanship Mastery. I let ds watch a movie this afternoon and handed him his workbook after it arrived. He started working on it during the movie! lol. Dd has already said that she wants to work on it "with me" later. She just likes the comfort of having me there to make sure she starts off correctly.
I'm really impressed with the K5 workbook. I think it'll be great for ds. But I really want to be with him most of the time he does it so we can review the phonics involved--especially since the workbook's phonics will be English and he's learning French! And the grade 4 workbook seems to have just the right amount of practice per day.
I'm really impressed with the K5 workbook. I think it'll be great for ds. But I really want to be with him most of the time he does it so we can review the phonics involved--especially since the workbook's phonics will be English and he's learning French! And the grade 4 workbook seems to have just the right amount of practice per day.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Thinking about Charlotte Mason
I've toyed with the idea of using a CM-approach with the 12yo in the past and I'm thinking more and more about incorporating yet again some of the ideas into his daily work. This thought came back to me after I was thinking about what to do about the 15yo's (sorry, 16yo!--birthday is today) and dd's fear of writing in French, especially spelling. The thought had come to me that they should copy stuff. Then I read something which encouraged that idea. Then something else stumbled my way which encouraged the idea again. In the same thing was stuff about the general benefits of copywork. Which then had my brain thinking about the 12yo. And then it popped over to CM. (Yes, my brain is constantly searching for other connections!)
So I'm looking yet again into CM with him a bit more. Specifically, narration and copywork, but possibly also the scheduling, although I think he prefers to have just a large block of a particular subject (like LA) rather than messing around with doing 15 minutes of, say, copywork, then switching to math, then back to phonics, then to science, then to reading, then to social, then to grammar, then to math facts practice... It'd look like a long list of stuff to him. I was going to say--Plus it would require strictly adhering to a schedule and that won't work--but maybe it's not such a bad idea to make sure to institute a time limit. Where are my timers??? We've only got one. I had 3 at one point. He doesn't like timers, but I suspect it's because of the accountability. I mean, if you know the timer was set for 15 minutes and you've got nothing done, it's not such an easy thing to face when you've been trying to convince yourself you do a lot of work!
In any case, this would start after spring break. It'll give me the full week to read, read, read and see if there's more that I would like to incorporate. I suspect that I really ought to have a set amount of phonics work to cover each day. Our routine right now is working fairly well, but he's still not doing quite enough, especially for writing or the thinking behind writing (we've started oral composing). It was like pulling teeth the other day to get him to tell me about his aunt. I was going to write everything down for the paragraph, but he still just gets so stuck in trying to find the 'right' thing to say and is convinced that most of what he has to say is wrong. So this idea of narration, that he reads a little something then has to tell me orally about it and I'll write it down sounds like something useful. I know I'd thought about this before but it somehow never took place. I don't think I had a clear enough image in my mind of how it could work. But since finding a wider variety of things for him to read to me or me to read with him, it seems so do-able now.
This is not an approach I'm at all interested in taking with ds and dd, except for perhaps the French copywork for dd as a way to study written French. I still like too much the exploratory, research and interest-based approach of Montessori.
So I'm looking yet again into CM with him a bit more. Specifically, narration and copywork, but possibly also the scheduling, although I think he prefers to have just a large block of a particular subject (like LA) rather than messing around with doing 15 minutes of, say, copywork, then switching to math, then back to phonics, then to science, then to reading, then to social, then to grammar, then to math facts practice... It'd look like a long list of stuff to him. I was going to say--Plus it would require strictly adhering to a schedule and that won't work--but maybe it's not such a bad idea to make sure to institute a time limit. Where are my timers??? We've only got one. I had 3 at one point. He doesn't like timers, but I suspect it's because of the accountability. I mean, if you know the timer was set for 15 minutes and you've got nothing done, it's not such an easy thing to face when you've been trying to convince yourself you do a lot of work!
In any case, this would start after spring break. It'll give me the full week to read, read, read and see if there's more that I would like to incorporate. I suspect that I really ought to have a set amount of phonics work to cover each day. Our routine right now is working fairly well, but he's still not doing quite enough, especially for writing or the thinking behind writing (we've started oral composing). It was like pulling teeth the other day to get him to tell me about his aunt. I was going to write everything down for the paragraph, but he still just gets so stuck in trying to find the 'right' thing to say and is convinced that most of what he has to say is wrong. So this idea of narration, that he reads a little something then has to tell me orally about it and I'll write it down sounds like something useful. I know I'd thought about this before but it somehow never took place. I don't think I had a clear enough image in my mind of how it could work. But since finding a wider variety of things for him to read to me or me to read with him, it seems so do-able now.
This is not an approach I'm at all interested in taking with ds and dd, except for perhaps the French copywork for dd as a way to study written French. I still like too much the exploratory, research and interest-based approach of Montessori.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Morning Work with ds
Two mornings in a row, I've got ds after he got up and done some work with him. This is working so well! I read with him yesterday and had him practise writing "a", then he did a math page on < > and =. Today, we did a Lapin Malin (Reader Rabbit) early reading cd-rom, then he did math stuff at www.funbrain.com. He spent an hour doing that!
But this week seems to be starting slowly for everybody--weather, tiredness and looming illness. But ds is doing well! lol. Except for the fact that he's extra tired for some reason and super crabby and sensitive.
But this week seems to be starting slowly for everybody--weather, tiredness and looming illness. But ds is doing well! lol. Except for the fact that he's extra tired for some reason and super crabby and sensitive.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Last Week Before Spring Break!
I've been meaning to write all week, about different things, but I didn't and the thoughts are gone, forever. (lol)
My Pi Day plans didn't work out after all. The 12yo didn't come that day due to illness (he's been sick all week--a cold again, plus tonsillitis and an ear infection--but Wed. was the only day he didn't come), and dd worked on a project and goofed around on the laptop (I set her up with Windows Live Messenger and the 15yo had her laptop on, too, and they kept sending messages to each other, lol--you'd think it was school or something ;) ).
What have we done exactly? (Thinking, thinking, thinking.) I took ds, dd and my niece to a French Club get-together Wednesday afternoon. Oh, yes. Dd had the stomach flu on Thursday. She'd been complaining for a couple of days of feeling achey and had a reduced appetite. Finally had its way with her, but then was done with, on Thursday. Friday we were supposed to have a St. Patrick's Day party but nobody ended up being able to make it. lol. Or the one person who in the end we were expecting forgot or I don't know yet. Haven't heard. (Which actually kind of worries me...)
It was a good Friday anyhow, perhaps better for us than if we'd had a bunch of people. Very relaxing. Had my nephew that day, too, and he, ds, dd and the 12yo went out for a long walk together--ds in control of the walkie talkie. :) And before the "party", the 15yo even got a bit of work done.
Speaking of the 15yo and work... Ever since I drew up a 'schedule' of things broken down per day/week, she's really been doing quite well. I think having everything laid out like that, seeing clearly if you're getting further behind or catching up, is just the sort of thing she needed. She was also at a point of having to choose: does she go a little slower with the material and finish later, or go through a little quicker than is desirable to catch up to the 'schedule'--she chose catching up. We didn't do that first semester, although she was so exhausted first semester, I'm not sure it would have helped necessarily.
Oh, we've discovered something that does help her: coffee. She had coffee two or three mornings this week and WOW! What a difference in her ability to think!! Whether it's just her natural sleep cycles or whether it's because she usually doesn't get home until 9-9:30 so isn't ready to go to sleep yet, she doesn't usually get to sleep until sometime between 11pm and midnight. Then her alarm gets her up at 6:30. Not enough sleep for most teens! (When she has nothing going on, she sleeps from about 11:30 until 9-9:30!) But that coffee... Man... You should've seen it. This girl, who had been struggling with simple math stuff a week earlier, totally understood the new stuff, flew through the sheets, never had her brain shut off... She says her dad won't let her have coffee but her mom will (her mom drove her all week). Where does that put me in allowing her to have coffee here or not??? I know her dad would say okay if I told him it really does help her work. He's cool that way. (And the 15yo and I have been discussing the possibility of me sending a "prescription" (her word) home. lol.) Dh says he'll make some extra in the morning and she can have some if it really does help. It's been an interesting learning experience: I wouldn't normally have said, "Oh yeah, go have coffee! You're almost 16!" Dh even questioned me: "Would you let dd drink coffee at 16?" I hesitated. Then I said, "If it helped her the way it helps the oldest, yes." It's not like she's having coffee all day. One cup and she's set to go for the morning at least. And it really DOES make a difference in the quality and quantity of work. It's like dealing with a student who can only get a maximum of 50-60% to a student who can get 70-80%. Which can not be said for Ritalin with "ADD/ADHD" kids. But I digress.
As for the actual topic of this post, this is my last week before spring break. We really only have 3 work days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. I'm hoping to get some done on Friday, too. Wednesday is when the 15yo will become the 16yo. :D. We always have the day off on birthdays. And I planned for that when I broke down all her work. And Friday is the last day. I think the 15yo will need to work on her stuff for sure, plus I've taken out the movie To Kill a Mockingbird to watch--although I need to preview it to make sure I can actually let the others watch it. I'm guessing we should probably watch it before lunch and then let them have something a little more fun in the afternoon. Or maybe we should go somewhere. If I don't take the kids for lunch for the 15yo's birthday, I'll take them out for lunch that day.
As for work... Dd's got this penguin project she wants to finish. I'm going to make a more concerted effort at working with ds from 7-8 each morning. And then some reading together in the evenings. (Which reminds me: I want to order some books for him. We discovered this series in French at the library, but they don't have many of them. He LOVES them and is learning to read so many words with them. But I'll have to buy some. And heck, I've got funding to use up! lol. Ok, back to work plans. The 12yo is going to be doing more reading and I have to figure out a way to make sure he ABSOLUTELY does writing. We're actually going to do writing in two ways: he's going to dictate some stuff to me (which I may or may not have him copy out) and he'll do his own writing in a daily journal. It went well when we were doing the daily journal--it could be anything from what's going on in his life or the start of a story. I took some ideas from the grade 8 LA K&E (the easiest LA available--Knowledge and Employability) but I know he's not emotionally ready to tackle writing a couple of paragraphs on his own. I'm willing to take dictation, though, but he has to get into a habit of writing. Even if it is only 3 or 4 days this week.
I guess that's it. It's Sunday and I've managed to work things out so that I have today off. Yay! So I'm going to go play Sims 2 now. :) Then have a nap later in the morning before taking the kids to Science Sunday at the university. It's so nice to not have school planning (no, above doesn't count because it's more or less a rehashing of what I worked through yesterday; I'm just sharing :) ) and the laundry's done, the house got fairly cleaned on Friday for the party we didn't have... I used to do this, have Sundays off, and the feeling I have now at not having to do any work today makes me want to make sure to ALWAYS have Sundays off.
Ok, off to play!
My Pi Day plans didn't work out after all. The 12yo didn't come that day due to illness (he's been sick all week--a cold again, plus tonsillitis and an ear infection--but Wed. was the only day he didn't come), and dd worked on a project and goofed around on the laptop (I set her up with Windows Live Messenger and the 15yo had her laptop on, too, and they kept sending messages to each other, lol--you'd think it was school or something ;) ).
What have we done exactly? (Thinking, thinking, thinking.) I took ds, dd and my niece to a French Club get-together Wednesday afternoon. Oh, yes. Dd had the stomach flu on Thursday. She'd been complaining for a couple of days of feeling achey and had a reduced appetite. Finally had its way with her, but then was done with, on Thursday. Friday we were supposed to have a St. Patrick's Day party but nobody ended up being able to make it. lol. Or the one person who in the end we were expecting forgot or I don't know yet. Haven't heard. (Which actually kind of worries me...)
It was a good Friday anyhow, perhaps better for us than if we'd had a bunch of people. Very relaxing. Had my nephew that day, too, and he, ds, dd and the 12yo went out for a long walk together--ds in control of the walkie talkie. :) And before the "party", the 15yo even got a bit of work done.
Speaking of the 15yo and work... Ever since I drew up a 'schedule' of things broken down per day/week, she's really been doing quite well. I think having everything laid out like that, seeing clearly if you're getting further behind or catching up, is just the sort of thing she needed. She was also at a point of having to choose: does she go a little slower with the material and finish later, or go through a little quicker than is desirable to catch up to the 'schedule'--she chose catching up. We didn't do that first semester, although she was so exhausted first semester, I'm not sure it would have helped necessarily.
Oh, we've discovered something that does help her: coffee. She had coffee two or three mornings this week and WOW! What a difference in her ability to think!! Whether it's just her natural sleep cycles or whether it's because she usually doesn't get home until 9-9:30 so isn't ready to go to sleep yet, she doesn't usually get to sleep until sometime between 11pm and midnight. Then her alarm gets her up at 6:30. Not enough sleep for most teens! (When she has nothing going on, she sleeps from about 11:30 until 9-9:30!) But that coffee... Man... You should've seen it. This girl, who had been struggling with simple math stuff a week earlier, totally understood the new stuff, flew through the sheets, never had her brain shut off... She says her dad won't let her have coffee but her mom will (her mom drove her all week). Where does that put me in allowing her to have coffee here or not??? I know her dad would say okay if I told him it really does help her work. He's cool that way. (And the 15yo and I have been discussing the possibility of me sending a "prescription" (her word) home. lol.) Dh says he'll make some extra in the morning and she can have some if it really does help. It's been an interesting learning experience: I wouldn't normally have said, "Oh yeah, go have coffee! You're almost 16!" Dh even questioned me: "Would you let dd drink coffee at 16?" I hesitated. Then I said, "If it helped her the way it helps the oldest, yes." It's not like she's having coffee all day. One cup and she's set to go for the morning at least. And it really DOES make a difference in the quality and quantity of work. It's like dealing with a student who can only get a maximum of 50-60% to a student who can get 70-80%. Which can not be said for Ritalin with "ADD/ADHD" kids. But I digress.
As for the actual topic of this post, this is my last week before spring break. We really only have 3 work days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. I'm hoping to get some done on Friday, too. Wednesday is when the 15yo will become the 16yo. :D. We always have the day off on birthdays. And I planned for that when I broke down all her work. And Friday is the last day. I think the 15yo will need to work on her stuff for sure, plus I've taken out the movie To Kill a Mockingbird to watch--although I need to preview it to make sure I can actually let the others watch it. I'm guessing we should probably watch it before lunch and then let them have something a little more fun in the afternoon. Or maybe we should go somewhere. If I don't take the kids for lunch for the 15yo's birthday, I'll take them out for lunch that day.
As for work... Dd's got this penguin project she wants to finish. I'm going to make a more concerted effort at working with ds from 7-8 each morning. And then some reading together in the evenings. (Which reminds me: I want to order some books for him. We discovered this series in French at the library, but they don't have many of them. He LOVES them and is learning to read so many words with them. But I'll have to buy some. And heck, I've got funding to use up! lol. Ok, back to work plans. The 12yo is going to be doing more reading and I have to figure out a way to make sure he ABSOLUTELY does writing. We're actually going to do writing in two ways: he's going to dictate some stuff to me (which I may or may not have him copy out) and he'll do his own writing in a daily journal. It went well when we were doing the daily journal--it could be anything from what's going on in his life or the start of a story. I took some ideas from the grade 8 LA K&E (the easiest LA available--Knowledge and Employability) but I know he's not emotionally ready to tackle writing a couple of paragraphs on his own. I'm willing to take dictation, though, but he has to get into a habit of writing. Even if it is only 3 or 4 days this week.
I guess that's it. It's Sunday and I've managed to work things out so that I have today off. Yay! So I'm going to go play Sims 2 now. :) Then have a nap later in the morning before taking the kids to Science Sunday at the university. It's so nice to not have school planning (no, above doesn't count because it's more or less a rehashing of what I worked through yesterday; I'm just sharing :) ) and the laundry's done, the house got fairly cleaned on Friday for the party we didn't have... I used to do this, have Sundays off, and the feeling I have now at not having to do any work today makes me want to make sure to ALWAYS have Sundays off.
Ok, off to play!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
It's Einstein's Birthday!
Dh saw a little poster I put about about Pi Day and he chuckled and said, "That's right." (He's a math teacher; has been for 9 years.) Then he added, "It's also Albert Einstein's birthday."
He's right! Well, lots of themes going on today! I've now got to see what I can find out about Albert Einstein that I can share with the kids or make available for them to do.
He's right! Well, lots of themes going on today! I've now got to see what I can find out about Albert Einstein that I can share with the kids or make available for them to do.
Happy Pi Day!!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070312/ap_on_fe_st/the_church_of_pi
I've printed off some worksheets on circle circumference and area. What I'm really hoping to do, though, is have them draw some circles and work out the circumference and area of actual circles. And possibly have them measure something round then see if the math works to determine the circumference.
I've printed off some worksheets on circle circumference and area. What I'm really hoping to do, though, is have them draw some circles and work out the circumference and area of actual circles. And possibly have them measure something round then see if the math works to determine the circumference.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Why do Monday plans rarely work out?
What IS it about Mondays????
My plans totally fell through. Couldn't do the morning meeting--only dd to meet with. The two oldest didn't get home until about 11pm last night and slept in this morning, showing up just before lunch. That also means that the 15yo, who did manage to do a chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird with me and start some science, but she found herself falling asleep! She's now napping. Her brother is tired and has a new cold AND ear infections (can barely hear me when I ask him things)... Dd is tired and grumpy about school stuff and ds is a crab. I expected these last two, but my plans totally fell through! I wasn't prepared to have just dd and ds this morning.
But now I wonder what the 15yo is going to do about all her work. She's aware that she's got a LOT to do. But she's so tired and worn down. I should know better than to fret about all of this--past experience has told me that when I focus on prayer and letting go, everything falls into place just wonderfully. Time for me to do that. (Well, not RIGHT this instant. lol)
My plans totally fell through. Couldn't do the morning meeting--only dd to meet with. The two oldest didn't get home until about 11pm last night and slept in this morning, showing up just before lunch. That also means that the 15yo, who did manage to do a chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird with me and start some science, but she found herself falling asleep! She's now napping. Her brother is tired and has a new cold AND ear infections (can barely hear me when I ask him things)... Dd is tired and grumpy about school stuff and ds is a crab. I expected these last two, but my plans totally fell through! I wasn't prepared to have just dd and ds this morning.
But now I wonder what the 15yo is going to do about all her work. She's aware that she's got a LOT to do. But she's so tired and worn down. I should know better than to fret about all of this--past experience has told me that when I focus on prayer and letting go, everything falls into place just wonderfully. Time for me to do that. (Well, not RIGHT this instant. lol)
Sunday, March 11, 2007
I want to be done!
I'm hitting a point of not being able to work anymore. I mean work today. I've done... actually, I'm not sure how much. I'd say close to 2 hours this morning, another 2+ hours this afternoon... Plus did some laundry, vacuumed and ran out downtown to get a copy of a dvd before they didn't have any left (I got the last one).
I'm just feeling done. It's 5:40 (internal clock says 4:40) and I've had enough! But I'm not actually done. I have one last math sheet to finish for this week, science to look through (that I don't mind doing in front of the tv tonight or something), To Kill a Mockingbird (read through a few chapters quickly) and I've decided to leave the final part of the French planning for tomorrow morning. I still have to work out a rather detailed school plan, but that's something I can do sitting down with paper and pen. I guess I'm just really sick of being at this computer.
I'm getting off!!!!!
I'm just feeling done. It's 5:40 (internal clock says 4:40) and I've had enough! But I'm not actually done. I have one last math sheet to finish for this week, science to look through (that I don't mind doing in front of the tv tonight or something), To Kill a Mockingbird (read through a few chapters quickly) and I've decided to leave the final part of the French planning for tomorrow morning. I still have to work out a rather detailed school plan, but that's something I can do sitting down with paper and pen. I guess I'm just really sick of being at this computer.
I'm getting off!!!!!
omg I'm tired
If it had been any other day, I would have let myself sleep longer. But looking at the clock, the "new" time was 6:30. I knew my mind would never let me sleep longer. Besides, even if I sleep past 5:30 tomorrow, dh's alarm will be going off at 6. I don't have the ability to fall asleep for 7 or 9 minutes at a time (snooze button). lol. So I figured I might as well start training myself.
The kids' alarm is set for 7am. I'm cruel, aren't I? lol. But it'll help with tomorrow. I realized, too, that my original thinking to work first thing with my kids might not work out for a little bit as I suspect even my ds will be tired this week. Dd's going to have a rough go of it: she has been sleeping until 7 and often past lately. As I finish up my planning for this week, I really have to keep in mind that the kids are probably going to be tired and slow. And resistant. I wonder how kids at Montessori elemenatries and plus or at Sudbury Valley are after a time change?
Just some rambling to get out of my head these random thoughts that keep popping up:
Tuesday: library--the 12yo can find some books on chemistry and science experiments for us to use for the next little while (I should probably check today in the online catalogue to see if I can find some French stuff and have it sent over to a nearer library).
Wednesday: French club get-together
Thursday afternoon: lady from Sears to look at blinds
Friday: St. Patrick's Day party and I have my nephew that day
General thoughts: keep going through Edison book with 12yo.
Okay, those thoughts didn't go far. lol.
For today:
15yo
-finish up the 15yo's math worksheets, plus do answer sheets
-read through the sections she'll be doing in her science text
-read through the next few chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird
-finish French phonics/spelling prep
12yo
-really plan everything out (some things have become routine, like his phonics/spelling; I love that he's so used to it, there's no fuss)
-I need to remember to include something for social studies
dd
-focus: French--read the French book to her we bought, have her read to/with me (we've got some simple novels from the library), write together in French. I'm also going to invite her to participate in the phonics/spelling that the oldest is doing.
ds
-focus on letters/phonics
Okay, enough thinking for now. I think my brain momentarily shut off completely. lol. That's what I get going to bed late the night of the clocks moving forward.
The kids' alarm is set for 7am. I'm cruel, aren't I? lol. But it'll help with tomorrow. I realized, too, that my original thinking to work first thing with my kids might not work out for a little bit as I suspect even my ds will be tired this week. Dd's going to have a rough go of it: she has been sleeping until 7 and often past lately. As I finish up my planning for this week, I really have to keep in mind that the kids are probably going to be tired and slow. And resistant. I wonder how kids at Montessori elemenatries and plus or at Sudbury Valley are after a time change?
Just some rambling to get out of my head these random thoughts that keep popping up:
Tuesday: library--the 12yo can find some books on chemistry and science experiments for us to use for the next little while (I should probably check today in the online catalogue to see if I can find some French stuff and have it sent over to a nearer library).
Wednesday: French club get-together
Thursday afternoon: lady from Sears to look at blinds
Friday: St. Patrick's Day party and I have my nephew that day
General thoughts: keep going through Edison book with 12yo.
Okay, those thoughts didn't go far. lol.
For today:
15yo
-finish up the 15yo's math worksheets, plus do answer sheets
-read through the sections she'll be doing in her science text
-read through the next few chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird
-finish French phonics/spelling prep
12yo
-really plan everything out (some things have become routine, like his phonics/spelling; I love that he's so used to it, there's no fuss)
-I need to remember to include something for social studies
dd
-focus: French--read the French book to her we bought, have her read to/with me (we've got some simple novels from the library), write together in French. I'm also going to invite her to participate in the phonics/spelling that the oldest is doing.
ds
-focus on letters/phonics
Okay, enough thinking for now. I think my brain momentarily shut off completely. lol. That's what I get going to bed late the night of the clocks moving forward.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Great quote!
"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event - it is a habit."
--Aristotle 384-322 BC. Philosopher and Scientist
I've discovered that the best time to do school stuff with my kids really is first thing in the morning!
I was ready and they were up. Not sure what time--7? 7:15? I decided to print off a worksheet for ds--+3--and I grabbed our bead frame (which he'd used the other day to count on) and set up the questions with 3 all ready. He loved doing the sheet and was so proud of himself when there were some questions he got really easily. I'm so amazed at his little math brain--so many wonderful strategies in there that are just there, nothing he's needed to be taught. [I'm just thinking: am I respecting the two oldest's differences? If at one point they did have good strategies, they've gone bye-bye, although the 12yo seems to be redeveloping some on his own. I think the 15yo did have good strategies for grades 7 and 8 math--but her desire was to learn and understand. Her mind has shifted to just doing the math, getting the right answer and moving on.] When he did 3+7 he really impressed me. The 3 was already in place and he looked at the beads left and it only took him a second to see that they were 7 (I think he can identify a group of 5 on sight). And he knew that one full row was 10. He said out loud, "3 plus... all of this. It's 10!" Very cool. He's also writing some very nice numbers.
I told dd I was going to show her something in math and that I wasn't going to ask her to do any of it, but she could ask me questions. I put something on the board like 4312 x 3. She said, "I can do that!" and wouldn't let me do it. lol. I've mentioned in the past and on different lists how this can be a valuable technique with kids who feel pressured by us asking them things. She made a small error and I showed her another way to look at the question to see why we add the 1 that we carry after we've done the multiplication. Then I showed her another question and she started coming up with all kinds of crazy questions: times, divide, questions with times, divide and subtract... She grabbed the calculator to see if I was right. But I verbalized EVERYTHING that I did. She's the kind of kid who will learn from the verbalization rather easily. Maybe not this time, but we do some large multiplication a few times like that and she'll be ready to try some on her own. I think the best part of it all was there was no frustration on her part, no feeling bad (not even about her small mistake), it was a very positive math time.
When we finished that, she just HAD to go get the book I took out from the library that I thought she'd be interested in: Arthur and the Invisibles. She says it's really, really good. She's been reading about 1.5 hours now.
My niece is now looking through books, as is ds. It's very quiet here. Except for the water pouring down from the water filter in the fish tank. I'm working on the 15yo's math sheets. I've pulled out the two texts we have and am going to take the best of each and put together some sheets. Each sheet will have a little simple review part at the top (max. 10 questions) and then move onto the lesson stuff, with an example followed immediately by practice questions (maybe 5 each, depending on how many different examples; there are 4 examples in the section I'm doing up today), followed by Extra Practice questions. She will decide for herself if she's going to do extra practice questions and which ones. If she keeps all the sheets, then the extra practice sections can serve as review/practice for just before units tests or her final exam.
Oh, distractions getting in the way. It seems it is now snack time and then we are going to go out.
I was ready and they were up. Not sure what time--7? 7:15? I decided to print off a worksheet for ds--+3--and I grabbed our bead frame (which he'd used the other day to count on) and set up the questions with 3 all ready. He loved doing the sheet and was so proud of himself when there were some questions he got really easily. I'm so amazed at his little math brain--so many wonderful strategies in there that are just there, nothing he's needed to be taught. [I'm just thinking: am I respecting the two oldest's differences? If at one point they did have good strategies, they've gone bye-bye, although the 12yo seems to be redeveloping some on his own. I think the 15yo did have good strategies for grades 7 and 8 math--but her desire was to learn and understand. Her mind has shifted to just doing the math, getting the right answer and moving on.] When he did 3+7 he really impressed me. The 3 was already in place and he looked at the beads left and it only took him a second to see that they were 7 (I think he can identify a group of 5 on sight). And he knew that one full row was 10. He said out loud, "3 plus... all of this. It's 10!" Very cool. He's also writing some very nice numbers.
I told dd I was going to show her something in math and that I wasn't going to ask her to do any of it, but she could ask me questions. I put something on the board like 4312 x 3. She said, "I can do that!" and wouldn't let me do it. lol. I've mentioned in the past and on different lists how this can be a valuable technique with kids who feel pressured by us asking them things. She made a small error and I showed her another way to look at the question to see why we add the 1 that we carry after we've done the multiplication. Then I showed her another question and she started coming up with all kinds of crazy questions: times, divide, questions with times, divide and subtract... She grabbed the calculator to see if I was right. But I verbalized EVERYTHING that I did. She's the kind of kid who will learn from the verbalization rather easily. Maybe not this time, but we do some large multiplication a few times like that and she'll be ready to try some on her own. I think the best part of it all was there was no frustration on her part, no feeling bad (not even about her small mistake), it was a very positive math time.
When we finished that, she just HAD to go get the book I took out from the library that I thought she'd be interested in: Arthur and the Invisibles. She says it's really, really good. She's been reading about 1.5 hours now.
My niece is now looking through books, as is ds. It's very quiet here. Except for the water pouring down from the water filter in the fish tank. I'm working on the 15yo's math sheets. I've pulled out the two texts we have and am going to take the best of each and put together some sheets. Each sheet will have a little simple review part at the top (max. 10 questions) and then move onto the lesson stuff, with an example followed immediately by practice questions (maybe 5 each, depending on how many different examples; there are 4 examples in the section I'm doing up today), followed by Extra Practice questions. She will decide for herself if she's going to do extra practice questions and which ones. If she keeps all the sheets, then the extra practice sections can serve as review/practice for just before units tests or her final exam.
Oh, distractions getting in the way. It seems it is now snack time and then we are going to go out.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
50 People I Know
Read about this on Jane's blog. You don't mention names and the people reading should NEVER assume that it's about them! Heck, for all you know, none of this is about anybody who actually reads my blog! Many are people from my past.
1. I really don't get why you contacted me after so many years, thinking that things would just pick up from where they left off! And you did it in such a strange way, as though we'd been keeping in touch all those years and just hadn't talked to each other recently. Things just don't work that way.
2. You were the one teacher I felt really believed in me rather than simply acting as my teacher. Your words encouraged me and gave me strength when I was so insecure. I still remember your surprise at me saying I wanted to go into teaching instead of the sciences since my science marks were so high. I still carry that idea of doing something in the sciences some day. And of actually completing the writing of a novel and trying to get it published.
3. You've been a great friend for so long! I'm so glad you came into my life. :) I do wish you would move closer though, even though I know that's not likely to happen. I can still dream, right?
4. I miss you. :( It still hurts that I couldn't make it to your funeral and I miss the smell of your Old Spice.
5. I miss you, too. :( I still wish I'd managed to get your recipe for peanut butter chocolate balls. :) I love wearing your sweaters.
6. I don't know why you stopped writing so unexpectedly nor why you didn't write back when I managed to contact you years later. I do wish you hadn't left my life like that.
7. Yes, I had the biggest crush on you. Everybody was right!
8. I'm still mad on some level at how you treated me. Dropped me without any hint you were going to do it then acted as though we should still be buddy buddy a year or so later when we saw each other again. I mean, really, the first thing you said to me was, "Hey, I remember you!" I could have slugged you. Oh, and I would have let you kiss me if you'd ever tried. :D
[INTERMISSION: I'm sitting here typing and my kids are talking about something and all of a sudden I hear "f**k" from my ds's mouth. It clicked that they were talking about what they wanted to see at WEM and ds wants to see the seals (les phoques--pronounced just like the English f-word).]
9. I don't get why you had to have that attitude when we saw each other that one summer. Totally pushed me aside. It ruined our friendship--or maybe had me see that it was never a real friendship in the first place. And yet, you wondered what had happened between us?! I'd be willing to try again, though.
10. I wish I knew where you were right now. It's been so long! Last I heard you were sick and I don't know about anything after that.
11. I dream about you sometimes and am always so confused in my dream because part of me knows you've passed on and yet there you are, still alive, as though somebody's made a mistake or it was all a strange dream. We weren't super close but I still saw you as my friend.
12. Thinking of you makes me smile. I hope we'll be able to more together when you get back.
13. I wish you didn't live so far away. It's always fun being together! Hopefully we'll figure out a way to get our families together more often.
14. I wish you would somehow get the help you need. It's sad to see your fluctuating happiness be so dependent on how you think others view you. And learning to accept yourself would help you accept that the people around you are different because they are different people, not because they don't care about you!
15. I totally understand what you're going through. I lived it for a number of years. I really don't know what to suggest to make things better, though. No, you're not being unreasonable!
16. I can't believe you would use a child that way to get me involved! I'm so disappointed. It may have been a few years back and you never actually brought it up as you having done it, but I'm not stupid; I know what was really going on behind that letter. I do forgive you, though, as you've probably been lied to about what all has really happened.
17. Have you ever seen a therapist who suggested you might be bi-polar instead of just depressed? You had a lot of bipolar symptoms by the time we were in high school. Last I heard you were refusing to take your med for depression. That was quite a while ago, though. I hope things are better now.
18. I know things are tough. It may even feel to you like you've failed. You haven't. You've just learned another way to not do all that. :) Remember that he's just a kid and isn't going to see things the same way and may not be ready for what you expect of him.
19. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you've realized by now that you're gay and stopped contact when you did realize it. L. and I are fine with that. You were a good friend and we had the hardest time imagining you with a girlfriend (big clue for us!). You were always 'one of the girls', even in elementary. You don't need to shut the people from your past out. Will we all approve of you being in a relationship with another guy? Some might, some might not, but that doesn't change that you're our friend.
20. I heard about what you said about me. Thanks. :) You were probably the most decent one of the bunch.
21. I read you've got a daughter but you're not with the mom anymore. Make sure to always take care of that girl! And don't give her the grief you gave us girls growing up! lol.
22. You were a pretty neat guy. It's a shame your focus was so much on partying. I still think about what you said to me in class that one day--about me being an 'old soul' and having learned already all the stuff I needed to and you were a young soul and had to go through all the stupid stuff.
23. I've always wondered if you knew why I backed off--others around could see where we were heading and I'm sure you did, too. It was because you got your name on the honkers list. It was a smack in the face, realizing that your idea of socializing on the weekends was never going to match up with mine. Otherwise, you were such a great guy. But why'd you end up with her right away? And stay with her? On the rebound? Are you still with her? She's a controlling, crazy girl!! You deserve better!
24. You are wonderful. Always so supportive, even if you don't actually agree with decisions we've made. I really, really appreciate that.
25. You were not supportive. I don't think you really understood that I did know what I was doing.
26. You don't need me to homeschool your boy. You will do such a great job! You and your dh should just take turns. I'll still help if I can with the French. ;)
27. Take the time to accept him for who he is, that his interests are different and that he's not rejecting you or the kids by following through on them. Give him a break, too! He's been working hard for a long time on those house projects and maybe he hasn't said it, but he's felt burnt out. Maybe you could learn to do the work for those projects instead. ;)
28. Consider the differences between you and him and how the two of you grew up. Consider that he might prefer to stay put in a single house for a long time instead of changing houses because things aren't quite right. Consider your kids' attachments and the stress it adds, too! There's no perfect situation. Accept where you are or make it work!
29. Why the heck did you ask me to go out with you if you didn't even really want to be with me? What a waste of time!!
30. I know it might not have made a difference and I'm not even related, but I feel bad for not having been in your life more growing up. The issues with your mom, you having a baby at 18, the breast enlargement... I wish I could have helped you be stronger. You had nobody reasonable to look up to.
31. I love you to pieces.
32. You can do whatever you set your mind to! You really can! The dreams you have are attainable if you believe in yourself!
33. I sometimes get so frustrated with you because I don't understand why you do the things you do or see things the way you do and you won't explain, but I am glad you're in my life.
34. You really consider that a marriage? What sort of model is that for your girls? Are you sure it's not just a way to avoid the whole dating scene? Are you sure he's not cheating on you or living with some other woman? Have you ever made a surprise visit???
35. I hope you've managed to work things in your life out better. It may have been horrible for me to drop you as a friend, but you just wanted so much more from me than I could give. I still don't know if I did the right thing, but you were already so convinced that not calling you twice a week meant that I wasn't your friend.
36. I think it's neat we've be given a chance to become friends now. In the past, things just weren't structured in a way that would have allowed us to become friends really. Interesting how things can change when school doesn't force you into grade-level friendships!
37. You are such a spark! So much passion, so much life. I hope I can do right by you.
38. I'm still mad at you, still have a chip on my shoulder about the exam you gave and the mark you gave me. More to the point, I've got this fear of university-level math now, like I can't do it (although the rational part of me says I can). I do blame you. How could you give an exam like that??? It didn't even have to do with what we did in class for the most part. What, 2 people passed the exam??? The kid who spent his free time learning calculus and beyond and one other (who still only managed to get, what, a 6 in the course)?
39. You were the coolest. I still think it's hilarious you ended up on SCTV way back when. Not what I was expecting of a German prof.
40. I think it's a shame you never had kids. You would have made a great dad!
41. I wonder what you would have grown up to be like if you'd lived that long. Would things have been easier with you around? Or would they have been even more difficult?
42. I wasn't a snob, just really shy. Overhearing you call me a snob just made it worse! I became even more fearful of talking to people I didn't know.
43. I really wish you the best in life. I hope that you will find true happiness and will do something you are proud of. I know things at home and at school weren't great for you growing up. You were kind of the outcast of the class. But I think you just had a lot of pain inside.
44. You were such a witch to me and I, being years younger than you, couldn't really see it. I suppose it couldn't be helped with that mother of yours...
45. I've never actually met you or talked to you or had any contact with you, but I've heard ALL about you. You've got to grow up sometime and take a good look in the mirror. You are so desperate for friendship and hound people but you destroy the people you are supposedly friends with. Treat others the way you want to be treated!!! Do you know that looking at a list of characteristics of an abusive relationship, how you treated your supposed friend matched up with 80% of the characteristics? You are an abuser!!!
46. I've heard a lot about you, too. Is that the kind of life you really want to lead? You're going to end up pregnant, addicted to drugs and suffering from an STD... all before you graduate high school.
47. You've got so much potential, so many strong qualities. I wish I could remove from you whatever is inside that has you convinced you're no good. You could climb to great heights--if you let yourself!
48. I still feel what you did was wrong. It hurt so many people and I'm not sure you really gave things a fair chance, really did all you could. I do hope things will all work out for the best. Oh, and you might want to consider how much influence your significant other is having on you and what that is doing to your relationship with your kids. Especially with your oldest.
49. I still remember how respectfully you treated all of us and your comment about swearing-about how it just helped us be more negative and if we wanted to see things in a better light, not swearing was a first step. I still have no clue how that all came about since it had nothing to do with the subject matter, but I do still remember it. And I never developed a swearing habit. :)
50. I wish we could have spent more time together, gotten to know each other better. You've probably moved by now and we won't see each other again. You probably had no idea that I was so interested in you. I'm not sure we actually have a lot in common and could ever have been friends, but I was fascinated.
1. I really don't get why you contacted me after so many years, thinking that things would just pick up from where they left off! And you did it in such a strange way, as though we'd been keeping in touch all those years and just hadn't talked to each other recently. Things just don't work that way.
2. You were the one teacher I felt really believed in me rather than simply acting as my teacher. Your words encouraged me and gave me strength when I was so insecure. I still remember your surprise at me saying I wanted to go into teaching instead of the sciences since my science marks were so high. I still carry that idea of doing something in the sciences some day. And of actually completing the writing of a novel and trying to get it published.
3. You've been a great friend for so long! I'm so glad you came into my life. :) I do wish you would move closer though, even though I know that's not likely to happen. I can still dream, right?
4. I miss you. :( It still hurts that I couldn't make it to your funeral and I miss the smell of your Old Spice.
5. I miss you, too. :( I still wish I'd managed to get your recipe for peanut butter chocolate balls. :) I love wearing your sweaters.
6. I don't know why you stopped writing so unexpectedly nor why you didn't write back when I managed to contact you years later. I do wish you hadn't left my life like that.
7. Yes, I had the biggest crush on you. Everybody was right!
8. I'm still mad on some level at how you treated me. Dropped me without any hint you were going to do it then acted as though we should still be buddy buddy a year or so later when we saw each other again. I mean, really, the first thing you said to me was, "Hey, I remember you!" I could have slugged you. Oh, and I would have let you kiss me if you'd ever tried. :D
[INTERMISSION: I'm sitting here typing and my kids are talking about something and all of a sudden I hear "f**k" from my ds's mouth. It clicked that they were talking about what they wanted to see at WEM and ds wants to see the seals (les phoques--pronounced just like the English f-word).]
9. I don't get why you had to have that attitude when we saw each other that one summer. Totally pushed me aside. It ruined our friendship--or maybe had me see that it was never a real friendship in the first place. And yet, you wondered what had happened between us?! I'd be willing to try again, though.
10. I wish I knew where you were right now. It's been so long! Last I heard you were sick and I don't know about anything after that.
11. I dream about you sometimes and am always so confused in my dream because part of me knows you've passed on and yet there you are, still alive, as though somebody's made a mistake or it was all a strange dream. We weren't super close but I still saw you as my friend.
12. Thinking of you makes me smile. I hope we'll be able to more together when you get back.
13. I wish you didn't live so far away. It's always fun being together! Hopefully we'll figure out a way to get our families together more often.
14. I wish you would somehow get the help you need. It's sad to see your fluctuating happiness be so dependent on how you think others view you. And learning to accept yourself would help you accept that the people around you are different because they are different people, not because they don't care about you!
15. I totally understand what you're going through. I lived it for a number of years. I really don't know what to suggest to make things better, though. No, you're not being unreasonable!
16. I can't believe you would use a child that way to get me involved! I'm so disappointed. It may have been a few years back and you never actually brought it up as you having done it, but I'm not stupid; I know what was really going on behind that letter. I do forgive you, though, as you've probably been lied to about what all has really happened.
17. Have you ever seen a therapist who suggested you might be bi-polar instead of just depressed? You had a lot of bipolar symptoms by the time we were in high school. Last I heard you were refusing to take your med for depression. That was quite a while ago, though. I hope things are better now.
18. I know things are tough. It may even feel to you like you've failed. You haven't. You've just learned another way to not do all that. :) Remember that he's just a kid and isn't going to see things the same way and may not be ready for what you expect of him.
19. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you've realized by now that you're gay and stopped contact when you did realize it. L. and I are fine with that. You were a good friend and we had the hardest time imagining you with a girlfriend (big clue for us!). You were always 'one of the girls', even in elementary. You don't need to shut the people from your past out. Will we all approve of you being in a relationship with another guy? Some might, some might not, but that doesn't change that you're our friend.
20. I heard about what you said about me. Thanks. :) You were probably the most decent one of the bunch.
21. I read you've got a daughter but you're not with the mom anymore. Make sure to always take care of that girl! And don't give her the grief you gave us girls growing up! lol.
22. You were a pretty neat guy. It's a shame your focus was so much on partying. I still think about what you said to me in class that one day--about me being an 'old soul' and having learned already all the stuff I needed to and you were a young soul and had to go through all the stupid stuff.
23. I've always wondered if you knew why I backed off--others around could see where we were heading and I'm sure you did, too. It was because you got your name on the honkers list. It was a smack in the face, realizing that your idea of socializing on the weekends was never going to match up with mine. Otherwise, you were such a great guy. But why'd you end up with her right away? And stay with her? On the rebound? Are you still with her? She's a controlling, crazy girl!! You deserve better!
24. You are wonderful. Always so supportive, even if you don't actually agree with decisions we've made. I really, really appreciate that.
25. You were not supportive. I don't think you really understood that I did know what I was doing.
26. You don't need me to homeschool your boy. You will do such a great job! You and your dh should just take turns. I'll still help if I can with the French. ;)
27. Take the time to accept him for who he is, that his interests are different and that he's not rejecting you or the kids by following through on them. Give him a break, too! He's been working hard for a long time on those house projects and maybe he hasn't said it, but he's felt burnt out. Maybe you could learn to do the work for those projects instead. ;)
28. Consider the differences between you and him and how the two of you grew up. Consider that he might prefer to stay put in a single house for a long time instead of changing houses because things aren't quite right. Consider your kids' attachments and the stress it adds, too! There's no perfect situation. Accept where you are or make it work!
29. Why the heck did you ask me to go out with you if you didn't even really want to be with me? What a waste of time!!
30. I know it might not have made a difference and I'm not even related, but I feel bad for not having been in your life more growing up. The issues with your mom, you having a baby at 18, the breast enlargement... I wish I could have helped you be stronger. You had nobody reasonable to look up to.
31. I love you to pieces.
32. You can do whatever you set your mind to! You really can! The dreams you have are attainable if you believe in yourself!
33. I sometimes get so frustrated with you because I don't understand why you do the things you do or see things the way you do and you won't explain, but I am glad you're in my life.
34. You really consider that a marriage? What sort of model is that for your girls? Are you sure it's not just a way to avoid the whole dating scene? Are you sure he's not cheating on you or living with some other woman? Have you ever made a surprise visit???
35. I hope you've managed to work things in your life out better. It may have been horrible for me to drop you as a friend, but you just wanted so much more from me than I could give. I still don't know if I did the right thing, but you were already so convinced that not calling you twice a week meant that I wasn't your friend.
36. I think it's neat we've be given a chance to become friends now. In the past, things just weren't structured in a way that would have allowed us to become friends really. Interesting how things can change when school doesn't force you into grade-level friendships!
37. You are such a spark! So much passion, so much life. I hope I can do right by you.
38. I'm still mad at you, still have a chip on my shoulder about the exam you gave and the mark you gave me. More to the point, I've got this fear of university-level math now, like I can't do it (although the rational part of me says I can). I do blame you. How could you give an exam like that??? It didn't even have to do with what we did in class for the most part. What, 2 people passed the exam??? The kid who spent his free time learning calculus and beyond and one other (who still only managed to get, what, a 6 in the course)?
39. You were the coolest. I still think it's hilarious you ended up on SCTV way back when. Not what I was expecting of a German prof.
40. I think it's a shame you never had kids. You would have made a great dad!
41. I wonder what you would have grown up to be like if you'd lived that long. Would things have been easier with you around? Or would they have been even more difficult?
42. I wasn't a snob, just really shy. Overhearing you call me a snob just made it worse! I became even more fearful of talking to people I didn't know.
43. I really wish you the best in life. I hope that you will find true happiness and will do something you are proud of. I know things at home and at school weren't great for you growing up. You were kind of the outcast of the class. But I think you just had a lot of pain inside.
44. You were such a witch to me and I, being years younger than you, couldn't really see it. I suppose it couldn't be helped with that mother of yours...
45. I've never actually met you or talked to you or had any contact with you, but I've heard ALL about you. You've got to grow up sometime and take a good look in the mirror. You are so desperate for friendship and hound people but you destroy the people you are supposedly friends with. Treat others the way you want to be treated!!! Do you know that looking at a list of characteristics of an abusive relationship, how you treated your supposed friend matched up with 80% of the characteristics? You are an abuser!!!
46. I've heard a lot about you, too. Is that the kind of life you really want to lead? You're going to end up pregnant, addicted to drugs and suffering from an STD... all before you graduate high school.
47. You've got so much potential, so many strong qualities. I wish I could remove from you whatever is inside that has you convinced you're no good. You could climb to great heights--if you let yourself!
48. I still feel what you did was wrong. It hurt so many people and I'm not sure you really gave things a fair chance, really did all you could. I do hope things will all work out for the best. Oh, and you might want to consider how much influence your significant other is having on you and what that is doing to your relationship with your kids. Especially with your oldest.
49. I still remember how respectfully you treated all of us and your comment about swearing-about how it just helped us be more negative and if we wanted to see things in a better light, not swearing was a first step. I still have no clue how that all came about since it had nothing to do with the subject matter, but I do still remember it. And I never developed a swearing habit. :)
50. I wish we could have spent more time together, gotten to know each other better. You've probably moved by now and we won't see each other again. You probably had no idea that I was so interested in you. I'm not sure we actually have a lot in common and could ever have been friends, but I was fascinated.
Thursday Morning Musings
It's 9:13 as I type this. I'm at the kitchen table with my kids. They're busy working on $1.50-building kits I bought from Michaels the other day. They've been at them almost 2 hours now. I'm at a loss as to what to do. lol. I tried seeing about science labs from the 15yo's text, but I need some information from the science teacher and she's out until Monday. The two oldest have left for their dive meet. My niece is keeping busy with all kinds of stuff. I have books that I could read, but I'm not in the mood for reading. Oh, and our one cat is trying to escape to the outdoors through the kitchen door. His nose is now pressed into the crack between the jamb and the door. He smells that air coming in (our weather stripping needs to be replaced) and he's certain that a little work will pry that door open. He's actually an indoor cat but because the door doesn't shut well for the kids, he has managed to open the door like that before and thinks he can do it again.
Back to my musings... Was I doing any musings? lol. I don't think I'll be doing anything more structured with my two today. I think we'll head to WEM, hang around and have lunch before going to an A Beka display. I need to be back by 2 because we're having digital phone installed.
hehe--my niece is having a little temper tantrum because dd put away her Groovy Girl pony and shut her bedroom door. My niece, being a toddler, thinks everything is hers, including dd's room. ;)
In any case, I haven't yet looked at some Montessori language albums I have to pick some possible activities to do with ds. I haven't entered anything into HST+ in a week. woops!
I've been thinking more about our homeschooling and what I liked from before and what's missing. I really feel the need to work with the kids more on planning. I'm reinstating our morning meeting on Monday and we'll discuss various topics:
-daily routine (including clean-up times, lunch routine--putting on placemats and all that)
-scheduling (different kids want my almost undivided attention for cetain activities; but also read-aloud time)
Hm, that's only two, but I guess there are lots of sub-topics. lol.
I really want us to get back into daily plans, goal setting. I thought about the 15yo yesterday and her self-created schedule and her view of herself not being able to apply herself more than she already is. Yet in her hour of time set aside for math, she'll do maybe 5 questions after we spend about 10 minutes doing examples together. I think as she starts each subject, or perhaps at the very beginning of the day, I'm going to ask her to set some goals for herself. For example, her science section next week has 5 sub-sections--works perfectly for one section a day. But I want her to plan ahead of time what she'll do if she doesn't complete her one section for that day. I can completely see her looking at me and going, "What do you mean?" What I mean is this: if she finishes her 1.5 hours of science and hasn't finished her sub-section, is she going to adjust her schedule to finish it, is she going to have a 'homework time' later on to finish up, is she going to take it home to finish, is she going to le herself get behind, or some other possibility that can be thought up. Same thing applies to her math--if she's decided she needs to do at least 20 questions and she hasn't finished her 20 questions, what will she do?
I need her to decide ahead of time what her plan is because I know it's far too tempting to just let things go if we haven't set a 'rule' for ourselves first. It will also be a good for her to see for herself what she is choosing and to deal with the feelings that will come up as she becomes aware of opposing desires: the desire to be done with work or the desire to succeed the way she wants to. If she goes with the desire to be done with work, then she'll be choosing to not work on success, will be choosing to be even further behind, and she'll know it. One other thing: I've decided to have her do a daily math review related to the textbook work. And I think I'll give it all to her on worksheets that I've prepared. She really does do better that way--it somehow motivates her more to not have to copy questions and bounce back and forth and to have just the questions she needs to do in front of her.
For the 12yo, we've actually got a growing good thing going. Regular phonics and spelling, math is so-so (but he does want to work from Ray's, which I can plan out better for next week), now Edison and wanting to work on chemistry experiments... I think with math I will also ask him what he would like to work on (from limited choices)--I mean, if he'd rather work on algebra instead of integers right now, what different does it make? I was very non-commital in his ed. plan about what he would do for science and social, so I really don't mind changing this to go with his interests. One thing we NEED to change is how much he reads each day. He's got to read with me each day and has got to have silent reading time. Oh, and writing. The silent reading will be brought up in our routine plans. But it's actually moving forward.
For dd, we've been improving a bit, too. She's been doing a little more in cursive, we've been reading more in French. We somehow have to fit in daily French writing. Or at least more French writing than has been going on. I think I'll just keep going through Ray's with her and doing some extra stuff on the side, like geometry or other stuff that isn't in Ray's. I'm almost thinking I'll start algebra with algebra tiles. She'd totally understand it.
For ds, we just need to have a time set aside for us to work together, I think. Or I need a list of little things I can pop in here and there. He was going strong for a while but doesn't want to so much now. Maybe it's just a matter of finding different things. He was totally fascinated with this science book we have--maybe I can come up with some activities for that.
Well, I'd best be going. Many distractions and it's now 9:44. Some cleaning to do before we leave.
Back to my musings... Was I doing any musings? lol. I don't think I'll be doing anything more structured with my two today. I think we'll head to WEM, hang around and have lunch before going to an A Beka display. I need to be back by 2 because we're having digital phone installed.
hehe--my niece is having a little temper tantrum because dd put away her Groovy Girl pony and shut her bedroom door. My niece, being a toddler, thinks everything is hers, including dd's room. ;)
In any case, I haven't yet looked at some Montessori language albums I have to pick some possible activities to do with ds. I haven't entered anything into HST+ in a week. woops!
I've been thinking more about our homeschooling and what I liked from before and what's missing. I really feel the need to work with the kids more on planning. I'm reinstating our morning meeting on Monday and we'll discuss various topics:
-daily routine (including clean-up times, lunch routine--putting on placemats and all that)
-scheduling (different kids want my almost undivided attention for cetain activities; but also read-aloud time)
Hm, that's only two, but I guess there are lots of sub-topics. lol.
I really want us to get back into daily plans, goal setting. I thought about the 15yo yesterday and her self-created schedule and her view of herself not being able to apply herself more than she already is. Yet in her hour of time set aside for math, she'll do maybe 5 questions after we spend about 10 minutes doing examples together. I think as she starts each subject, or perhaps at the very beginning of the day, I'm going to ask her to set some goals for herself. For example, her science section next week has 5 sub-sections--works perfectly for one section a day. But I want her to plan ahead of time what she'll do if she doesn't complete her one section for that day. I can completely see her looking at me and going, "What do you mean?" What I mean is this: if she finishes her 1.5 hours of science and hasn't finished her sub-section, is she going to adjust her schedule to finish it, is she going to have a 'homework time' later on to finish up, is she going to take it home to finish, is she going to le herself get behind, or some other possibility that can be thought up. Same thing applies to her math--if she's decided she needs to do at least 20 questions and she hasn't finished her 20 questions, what will she do?
I need her to decide ahead of time what her plan is because I know it's far too tempting to just let things go if we haven't set a 'rule' for ourselves first. It will also be a good for her to see for herself what she is choosing and to deal with the feelings that will come up as she becomes aware of opposing desires: the desire to be done with work or the desire to succeed the way she wants to. If she goes with the desire to be done with work, then she'll be choosing to not work on success, will be choosing to be even further behind, and she'll know it. One other thing: I've decided to have her do a daily math review related to the textbook work. And I think I'll give it all to her on worksheets that I've prepared. She really does do better that way--it somehow motivates her more to not have to copy questions and bounce back and forth and to have just the questions she needs to do in front of her.
For the 12yo, we've actually got a growing good thing going. Regular phonics and spelling, math is so-so (but he does want to work from Ray's, which I can plan out better for next week), now Edison and wanting to work on chemistry experiments... I think with math I will also ask him what he would like to work on (from limited choices)--I mean, if he'd rather work on algebra instead of integers right now, what different does it make? I was very non-commital in his ed. plan about what he would do for science and social, so I really don't mind changing this to go with his interests. One thing we NEED to change is how much he reads each day. He's got to read with me each day and has got to have silent reading time. Oh, and writing. The silent reading will be brought up in our routine plans. But it's actually moving forward.
For dd, we've been improving a bit, too. She's been doing a little more in cursive, we've been reading more in French. We somehow have to fit in daily French writing. Or at least more French writing than has been going on. I think I'll just keep going through Ray's with her and doing some extra stuff on the side, like geometry or other stuff that isn't in Ray's. I'm almost thinking I'll start algebra with algebra tiles. She'd totally understand it.
For ds, we just need to have a time set aside for us to work together, I think. Or I need a list of little things I can pop in here and there. He was going strong for a while but doesn't want to so much now. Maybe it's just a matter of finding different things. He was totally fascinated with this science book we have--maybe I can come up with some activities for that.
Well, I'd best be going. Many distractions and it's now 9:44. Some cleaning to do before we leave.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Progress?
The oldest and I ended up having a brief discussion this morning. I don't think I brought it up well--my mind was so focused on it that it came out. But it was about math. I got a shock, though: "I don't know how to apply myself more than I already am." I almost wonder if we need to really track the amount of time she actually works. But it did lead to discussing more and it has been resolved that math will be in the afternoons--her brain works better then. She got some science done this morning, then ended up napping. We went out and when we came back, we did two chapters from To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm going to take a step back and have her do some easy algebra work--build that confidence and attention to detail up and then move back to the algebra work in her textbook. Half of it is review anyhow!
I was reading from the Thomas Edison book I have out and the 12yo said that he'd like to be able to get the chemicals needed to do chemistry--inspiration! He's REALLY enjoying the book. Can totally relate to Tom in so many ways--difficulties with school, doesn't always think through what will happen, interested in moving and in science... So, I'm going to have to see what kind of resources I can dig up for chemistry stuff we can do at home and order the necessary stuff. It'd be a great way to help him see reading and writing and all that as part of daily stuff since he'll have to read the steps and keep track of things.
Both will be gone for the next two days, so I'll be able to put some stuff together. Of course, ds has done almost nothing this whole week which means I should come up with some fun stuff for us to do tomorrow and Friday that will keep him working and progressing with his language arts and math skills.
I was reading from the Thomas Edison book I have out and the 12yo said that he'd like to be able to get the chemicals needed to do chemistry--inspiration! He's REALLY enjoying the book. Can totally relate to Tom in so many ways--difficulties with school, doesn't always think through what will happen, interested in moving and in science... So, I'm going to have to see what kind of resources I can dig up for chemistry stuff we can do at home and order the necessary stuff. It'd be a great way to help him see reading and writing and all that as part of daily stuff since he'll have to read the steps and keep track of things.
Both will be gone for the next two days, so I'll be able to put some stuff together. Of course, ds has done almost nothing this whole week which means I should come up with some fun stuff for us to do tomorrow and Friday that will keep him working and progressing with his language arts and math skills.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Some epiphanies
1) I realized that I really don't like having to meet APS high school requirements! Actually, it wouldn't be so bad if the 15yo actually wanted to do this stuff, but she doesn't. She wants to get her diploma but would really rather not have to do all this stuff, some of it questionably educational. She's very disappointed with the science so far--it's just so much stuff crammed together, some of it not seeming to have any rhyme or reason for being there other than somebody deciding it should be. I miss what we had before, miss her being able to go her pace, follow her interests more.
2) The 15yo does NOT have to finish Math 10 this year. I believe she can do her high school math on her terms, to a certain extent. She has the option, I'm fairly sure, of just doing the work at her pace and then challenging the grade 12 course and exam. This means she will not get a mark for grade 10 and 11, although she will get the back-credits. It also means maybe skipping lightly over some stuff for now to more-or-less just get through the course, even if it's shaky, but with time to review stuff and go deeper next year if she's got more motivation. I just think if things continue on this way, taking a math exam in few months will not go so well. It's something to keep and mind, something I can bring up with her. Somewhere, somehow, she's going to have to find the drive to actually learn this stuff or there's no point to her doing the Pure Math sequence. There's also the option of her not doing the exam now, but doing it in the fall.
Just had to get that out!
2) The 15yo does NOT have to finish Math 10 this year. I believe she can do her high school math on her terms, to a certain extent. She has the option, I'm fairly sure, of just doing the work at her pace and then challenging the grade 12 course and exam. This means she will not get a mark for grade 10 and 11, although she will get the back-credits. It also means maybe skipping lightly over some stuff for now to more-or-less just get through the course, even if it's shaky, but with time to review stuff and go deeper next year if she's got more motivation. I just think if things continue on this way, taking a math exam in few months will not go so well. It's something to keep and mind, something I can bring up with her. Somewhere, somehow, she's going to have to find the drive to actually learn this stuff or there's no point to her doing the Pure Math sequence. There's also the option of her not doing the exam now, but doing it in the fall.
Just had to get that out!
*sigh*
It's been one of those days. I'm tired, dd's tired, ds is tired, the 12yo was tired, the 15yo was tired. I wasn't in the mood to fight with the 12yo, fight trying to get him to work, that is, so I just let him go off and do whatever it was he was doing. He did come to the table eventually and we got phonics and spelling work done. But his attention was nowhere near his work today. It was on drawing, and playing tic-tac-toe by himself and playing with geomags...
The 15yo was so unfocused on her math. I've barely given her any questions, but she just could not process today. I don't know how she's going to pass this course. She's behind and not even working at a pace she would need to do to be on track, much less catch up. She totally admitted today to being unmotivated. How do I motivate her? Is it my job? And I don't know if she's going to be here Thurs. and Fri. (I found out the two will only be gone two days) because that was going to be dependent upon doctor's recommendations (her physiotherapist recommended that she not go on the dive meet). If I talk with her tomorrow and she's gone Thurs-Sun., our talk may not carry over until Monday.
What will we talk about? I'll tell her that if she had started the three courses (English, Math and Science) at the beginning of this semester, she's already behind. She actually started English and Math at the end of September. I'll tell her that for math, she's looking at possibly not finishing by the end of June. Do I tell her that if I were her school counsellor and she'd come to me for guidance I'd tell her to drop Math 10 and go for Math 10 Prep and do Math 10 during the summer? There's no way she'd do Math 10 during the summer. "I can't. I've got diving and I'm away and..." But maybe suggesting it would help her realize where she's at? Or would it just discourage her further?
I somehow need to bring into our conversation her recurring comments about how she "can't" do math very well or things like that. I need to bring up that there are different types of people: there are those who learn math very quickly with little practice. There are those who learn math fairly quickly with moderate practice. There are those who take longer to learn math and need extra practice. All of them can learn the same math. It's just that those who want to really learn it need to put more into it. The amount of work I'm having her do right now, and I'll tell her this, is only just enough to get 50-55%. (That's barely passing here.) Recommended mark to be able to handle Math 20 (grade 11 math) is 65%.
I wonder if she's already getting overloaded with things. She's got work (which currently means doing report cards on her own time), diving, physio appointments, doctor's appointment, dive meet, school... The only evening during the week she's home is Wednesday.
And yet, after saying all this, I look at it as: this is grade 10. I've known people for whom grade 10 was a flop, yet they ended up doing super well by the time they were grade 12. Something clicked somewhere, something that said to them that it was important enough to really work on. That hasn't clicked for her yet. It's still about interest levels and "can or can'ts".
*sigh*
The 15yo was so unfocused on her math. I've barely given her any questions, but she just could not process today. I don't know how she's going to pass this course. She's behind and not even working at a pace she would need to do to be on track, much less catch up. She totally admitted today to being unmotivated. How do I motivate her? Is it my job? And I don't know if she's going to be here Thurs. and Fri. (I found out the two will only be gone two days) because that was going to be dependent upon doctor's recommendations (her physiotherapist recommended that she not go on the dive meet). If I talk with her tomorrow and she's gone Thurs-Sun., our talk may not carry over until Monday.
What will we talk about? I'll tell her that if she had started the three courses (English, Math and Science) at the beginning of this semester, she's already behind. She actually started English and Math at the end of September. I'll tell her that for math, she's looking at possibly not finishing by the end of June. Do I tell her that if I were her school counsellor and she'd come to me for guidance I'd tell her to drop Math 10 and go for Math 10 Prep and do Math 10 during the summer? There's no way she'd do Math 10 during the summer. "I can't. I've got diving and I'm away and..." But maybe suggesting it would help her realize where she's at? Or would it just discourage her further?
I somehow need to bring into our conversation her recurring comments about how she "can't" do math very well or things like that. I need to bring up that there are different types of people: there are those who learn math very quickly with little practice. There are those who learn math fairly quickly with moderate practice. There are those who take longer to learn math and need extra practice. All of them can learn the same math. It's just that those who want to really learn it need to put more into it. The amount of work I'm having her do right now, and I'll tell her this, is only just enough to get 50-55%. (That's barely passing here.) Recommended mark to be able to handle Math 20 (grade 11 math) is 65%.
I wonder if she's already getting overloaded with things. She's got work (which currently means doing report cards on her own time), diving, physio appointments, doctor's appointment, dive meet, school... The only evening during the week she's home is Wednesday.
And yet, after saying all this, I look at it as: this is grade 10. I've known people for whom grade 10 was a flop, yet they ended up doing super well by the time they were grade 12. Something clicked somewhere, something that said to them that it was important enough to really work on. That hasn't clicked for her yet. It's still about interest levels and "can or can'ts".
*sigh*
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Sunday Planning
Just to get some thoughts down before I go do other stuff, plans for today and the week:
Today:
-laundry
-school planning
-reading
-bank, Michaels, groceries
For the week:
-need to finish the 15yo's LA plans--it looks like she is going to have to spend an hour+ a day reading to finish this book by spring break! She had brought it with her on her trip and only read about half a chapter. I had expected, as did she, that she'd get through more than that!
-need to finish 15yo's science stuff
-need to figure out her French stuff
-need to print off 12yo's French
-need to do chapter two from the Edison book
-need to plan for ds and dd (I think I'll look at Montessori Read and Write for some activities to do with ds in language arts this week; got to figure out what else)
Okay, time to do other stuff!
Today:
-laundry
-school planning
-reading
-bank, Michaels, groceries
For the week:
-need to finish the 15yo's LA plans--it looks like she is going to have to spend an hour+ a day reading to finish this book by spring break! She had brought it with her on her trip and only read about half a chapter. I had expected, as did she, that she'd get through more than that!
-need to finish 15yo's science stuff
-need to figure out her French stuff
-need to print off 12yo's French
-need to do chapter two from the Edison book
-need to plan for ds and dd (I think I'll look at Montessori Read and Write for some activities to do with ds in language arts this week; got to figure out what else)
Okay, time to do other stuff!
Saturday, March 03, 2007
The Panic is Over
Okay, I'm much calmer today. Actually had things sort of resolved in my head last night. So I spent my Friday night doing school prep. lol.
Here's the decision I came to: for the 15yo's math for this coming week, I've done up sheets with places for examples (some of it will be just photocopied out of the text) and then on the sheet are all the questions I had decided she needed to do. Lucky girl, the first section I had originally planned out for her to do does NOT have to be done, so she only has 3 sections to do this week instead of 4. I've got those three sections done up plus a short quiz. I'm basically telling her that that is the work she has to do for the week and she's got to figure out how and when she's going to get it done. I still have to go through her science to see what would be a reasonable amount for her to do in a week's time and lay that out. I also need to read in To Kill a Mockingbird and insist she get reading. She's taking so long she's not getting into it. The first part of the book is kind of a "Where's she going with this?" so it is slow but it doesn't have to be as slow as it is now! Haven't yet figured out what to do about her French. Probably some worksheets to work on phonics and spelling.
For her brother, I just had a look at the textbook and we'll cover operations with integers, plus his math facts practice PLUS the work from Ray's (got to pick something there). For language arts, I'm changing things a bit. I'm going to do the phonics review as usual and then we're going to preview a bunch of words from a book on Edison that I got from the library. It was written for 12-13yo's (a while ago, but still for 12-13yo's!) . The way we're going to preview them is to look at them in the eyes of phonics and syllabication, and then have them as spelling words. After that, we'll get to the reading. I'm going to either photocopy or type up the pages we'll be reading together so that we can easily take turns reading. (I got this idea of previewing words and using them for spelling before reading from Marva Collins.) For French, I think I'll just print of some labelling worksheets from Enchanted Learning. (Ooh, and print some off in German for dd.) Actually, ds could do some of those sheets, too. It would be a great activity for him.
Back to the language arts... Once we're done the reading, I'm going to have him write about Thomas Edison or write to a character in the book.
With him, I've got to be careful just how much I push because he will push back--by doing absolutely nothing. I should probably plan in some science and social studies work for him in case the other stuff doesn't take as long as I think it will. Oh, and he can start typing lessons, even if it's just two days.
Ok, back to math sheets prep for the 12yo!
Here's the decision I came to: for the 15yo's math for this coming week, I've done up sheets with places for examples (some of it will be just photocopied out of the text) and then on the sheet are all the questions I had decided she needed to do. Lucky girl, the first section I had originally planned out for her to do does NOT have to be done, so she only has 3 sections to do this week instead of 4. I've got those three sections done up plus a short quiz. I'm basically telling her that that is the work she has to do for the week and she's got to figure out how and when she's going to get it done. I still have to go through her science to see what would be a reasonable amount for her to do in a week's time and lay that out. I also need to read in To Kill a Mockingbird and insist she get reading. She's taking so long she's not getting into it. The first part of the book is kind of a "Where's she going with this?" so it is slow but it doesn't have to be as slow as it is now! Haven't yet figured out what to do about her French. Probably some worksheets to work on phonics and spelling.
For her brother, I just had a look at the textbook and we'll cover operations with integers, plus his math facts practice PLUS the work from Ray's (got to pick something there). For language arts, I'm changing things a bit. I'm going to do the phonics review as usual and then we're going to preview a bunch of words from a book on Edison that I got from the library. It was written for 12-13yo's (a while ago, but still for 12-13yo's!) . The way we're going to preview them is to look at them in the eyes of phonics and syllabication, and then have them as spelling words. After that, we'll get to the reading. I'm going to either photocopy or type up the pages we'll be reading together so that we can easily take turns reading. (I got this idea of previewing words and using them for spelling before reading from Marva Collins.) For French, I think I'll just print of some labelling worksheets from Enchanted Learning. (Ooh, and print some off in German for dd.) Actually, ds could do some of those sheets, too. It would be a great activity for him.
Back to the language arts... Once we're done the reading, I'm going to have him write about Thomas Edison or write to a character in the book.
With him, I've got to be careful just how much I push because he will push back--by doing absolutely nothing. I should probably plan in some science and social studies work for him in case the other stuff doesn't take as long as I think it will. Oh, and he can start typing lessons, even if it's just two days.
Ok, back to math sheets prep for the 12yo!
Friday, March 02, 2007
ARGH, what a week
This has not been the greatest week. I ended up not going to park day after telling people I'd be there. I completely forgot to take dd to a field trip she was supposed to go to on Tuesday (I had a headache all day and for some reason did not have this trip written down anywhere!). I had a super runny nose and some coughing on Wednesday. I've just felt generally unwell. I had to bring the van into the garage because it was making clunking noises--I originally booked it for Thursday and had to change it because I remembered two days later that I needed to drive the oldest Thursday. To boot, our stupid dishwasher has been leaving more gunk on our dishes. (It washes really well, but it's like food particles stay stuck in the rinse water and get deposited on the dishes.) Oh, and a string broke on our large blind in our dining room. Since the blinds are old and not the colour we really want to have anymore, that means replacing that one and the other in the kitchen. A cat had a hairball in the basement. The younger cat decided to drink blue-dyed water--with her paw.
I had the two oldest back yesterday and today and planned to take it fairly easy, knowing full well that we'd spend lots of time talking about their trip when they came back on Thursday and I just figured we've got a full week next week to really work hard. We did do some work this morning, but the oldest spent her work time trying to work out a second semester schedule for herself. After all that, her brother says, "We're not going to be here Wed." What???? They're going to a dive meet and will be gone Wed.-Fri.
I'm feeling so stressed with everything apparently falling apart around me. lol. The oldest is already so behind in her science, behind in her math (and had planned on doing about 6 hours a week in each) has got a fair amount to do in English and now she's only going to be here two days???????????????? (And she knows it's not the greatest timing--she had a somewhat guilty look on her face when she confirmed they'd be gone. I had finished going over what she had left to do and the scheduling not more than an hour before.) I think what stresses me is that I'm worried she's not going to do what she needs to in order to get on top of all of this. (I know on some level this isn't my problem--it's hers to deal with, but I am still somewhat responsible for her education.) 3 days missed of math and science is 3-4.5 hours of each not done. 6-9 hours of work in all. When she's already behind. And she won't do this stuff on her trip (especially not the math)--they usually keep the kids so busy they don't have time to do homework stuff anyhow. She *might* read her novel, but that's about it. She reads soooooo slowly, too. ARGH.
But it's not just about her. Here I was, getting ready to start something new with the 12yo to really increase his language arts and math time and I've got two days to try it out, but the two days will be modified so that his sister really gets more math and science time in. *sigh* He's basically done nothing for a month now because he's been sick and away on trips. What is he going to accomplish in two days? If I'd known ahead of time that they would be gone, I would have been more insistent and structured about yesterday and today. (Although, on a good note, he's quite interested in beginning the Ray's math series!)
And then, after having some great work days with just dd and ds and a nice flow without me deciding everything, dd goes back to her old ways this morning. Everything was frustrating, she didn't know what to work on. She was convinced I was working on other stuff and wouldn't work with her. There's something unconscious in her with the others here that changes how she sees work or the help she'll receive.
Heh, I just had the thought that I can discuss with the oldest the fact that she's going to have to figure out a way to catch up on all the work that she won't be getting done, especially since her birthday's coming up and we usually take the day off for their birthdays. (You get where I'm going with this, right?) I'm mean, aren't I? lol. It'll be her 16th birthday. Oh, which reminds me, I need to get her a gift. I know what I'm getting her, just got to find a place that has it.
Now that that is all vented, I feel better, am not so stressed and know it'll all work out in the end. I also know that I'm going to place the primary burden on the 15yo to figure out how she's going to get done what she needs to.
I had the two oldest back yesterday and today and planned to take it fairly easy, knowing full well that we'd spend lots of time talking about their trip when they came back on Thursday and I just figured we've got a full week next week to really work hard. We did do some work this morning, but the oldest spent her work time trying to work out a second semester schedule for herself. After all that, her brother says, "We're not going to be here Wed." What???? They're going to a dive meet and will be gone Wed.-Fri.
I'm feeling so stressed with everything apparently falling apart around me. lol. The oldest is already so behind in her science, behind in her math (and had planned on doing about 6 hours a week in each) has got a fair amount to do in English and now she's only going to be here two days???????????????? (And she knows it's not the greatest timing--she had a somewhat guilty look on her face when she confirmed they'd be gone. I had finished going over what she had left to do and the scheduling not more than an hour before.) I think what stresses me is that I'm worried she's not going to do what she needs to in order to get on top of all of this. (I know on some level this isn't my problem--it's hers to deal with, but I am still somewhat responsible for her education.) 3 days missed of math and science is 3-4.5 hours of each not done. 6-9 hours of work in all. When she's already behind. And she won't do this stuff on her trip (especially not the math)--they usually keep the kids so busy they don't have time to do homework stuff anyhow. She *might* read her novel, but that's about it. She reads soooooo slowly, too. ARGH.
But it's not just about her. Here I was, getting ready to start something new with the 12yo to really increase his language arts and math time and I've got two days to try it out, but the two days will be modified so that his sister really gets more math and science time in. *sigh* He's basically done nothing for a month now because he's been sick and away on trips. What is he going to accomplish in two days? If I'd known ahead of time that they would be gone, I would have been more insistent and structured about yesterday and today. (Although, on a good note, he's quite interested in beginning the Ray's math series!)
And then, after having some great work days with just dd and ds and a nice flow without me deciding everything, dd goes back to her old ways this morning. Everything was frustrating, she didn't know what to work on. She was convinced I was working on other stuff and wouldn't work with her. There's something unconscious in her with the others here that changes how she sees work or the help she'll receive.
Heh, I just had the thought that I can discuss with the oldest the fact that she's going to have to figure out a way to catch up on all the work that she won't be getting done, especially since her birthday's coming up and we usually take the day off for their birthdays. (You get where I'm going with this, right?) I'm mean, aren't I? lol. It'll be her 16th birthday. Oh, which reminds me, I need to get her a gift. I know what I'm getting her, just got to find a place that has it.
Now that that is all vented, I feel better, am not so stressed and know it'll all work out in the end. I also know that I'm going to place the primary burden on the 15yo to figure out how she's going to get done what she needs to.
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