Kung Fu!

I completely forgot to do a proper recap of my week last week:

Monday: Met the 18yo at the school to finalize her registration and get resources. That took much longer than I had anticipated. After that, we went to a store for me to check out a popular religious education program around here, decided I really didn't like it, then we got Frosters from Mac's (it was HOT Monday) and just took it easy. I also ate too much sugar and dairy.

Tuesday: Had the 18yo and Bob come in the morning. Unfortunately, I think what I ate Monday got to me and I felt ill all morning. Didn't go through the resources at all like I had planned. We went out in the afternoon to go to the library and pick up food for Wed.

Wednesday: We kind of got to work in the morning and then went to the yearly Not-Back-to-School Picnic. Always lots of fun! It was soooo hot, though. I don't think it's ever been that hot. I met a couple of French-speaking moms while I was there, and ds went off--for the first time in a long time--with a bunch of kids to play. He usually just sticks with our little group and friends. It was good to see him off with others. (Of course, it helped that the multi-age group of boys had sticks and were playing some sort of game with swords. lol)

Thursday: Worked in the morning and then went back to the school in the afternoon to meet some of the teachers. In the evening, my kids tried out a Wing Chun Kung Fu class. :D They loved it. I watched the adult class and have decided to join, too. I've said for years that I'd love to do Wing Chun and managed to find this over the summer; it's also very inexpensive compared to other places and types of martial arts that I've looked at.

Friday: Worked very sluggishly and slowly in the morning--the weather changed and instead of being hot and sunny, it was cold, windy, dreary and rainy. Afternoon, went to West Edmonton Mall to just hang out and find a 60th birthday gift for my mom.

I didn't do anything specifically Montessori with the 4yo at all during the week. :( Gotta get myself off this computer and get some things down around here, like planning!

Happy Labour Day!

So, it is Labour Day. Supposed to be a holiday, but I know I'll be taking care of a bunch of things around here and not really relaxing! I'm slowly trying to simplify some things, even things like cutting back on the emails in my inbox and removing subscriptions from my Blogger thingy. I don't need notifications when people update their things!

Other than that, first week of school is done. It wasn't too bad. I've restarted journalling in the evenings and it helps so much to just take the time to reflect on the day, on what went well and I need to do again, what didn't go as well as I would have liked and what needs to be changed.

Changes for this week:

*Bob needs a set list of work to finish this week; I have to be aware of how much I may be trying to control his actions during the day, too--it's HIS job and his choice, really, if he's going to work consistently, but I also know that there's a place in Choice Theory (and Montessori at this age, for that matter) for deadlines.

*dd needs a list of work ideas and a chart to kind of check off which subject areas she's working in; it can help to see that lots of time is being spent in math or science, for example, but other stuff hasn't been touched; also, a general list of what she needs to do during the week to keep a certain pace in her texts

*I have to figure out a plan for ds and 4yo niece; they're just disappearing and playing each day!

Other things:

*I need to work out my own routines/schedule. And make it big and post it or something. I keep writing out stuff, thinking it sounds good, but then don't follow through, in part because what I wrote out was in a notebook or on a scrap of paper and isn't in my face to remind me. Things I want to make sure to include in my day that I haven't been doing: time for personal reading, read-aloud to the kids, personal study (guitar, piano, German...), writing and exercise. I've been doing some basic yoga routines in the morning for a couple of weeks now, but that doesn't address cardio at all, and not really strength (although I did hurt the first couple of days!).

So, other than trying to establish routines and good habits around here, there's not much else going on! We are getting together with some friends Thursday and I want to figure out a French club get-together, hopefully for the week after that. We spent a lot of time last year just doing things on our own. I'd like to do go out less this year, but try to do more with a variety of people! We used to do things with all kinds of people, other than just park days, and I'm not sure what happened. Used to invite people on field trips we were planning, used to have a party or get-together almost every month...

Of course, if the kids simply decide one day they want to do go somewhere, I need to remember to pull a Montessori card on them and say, "Well, it's during school hours. Figure out how it is tied with what you are learning or want to learn, write it out and let me know." :D

Happy Birthday, Maria Montessori!

Maria is 139 years old today. :D Many people don't really know anything about her, but she brought a huge amount of change into the world. The whole idea of child-sized furniture, and environment scaled down to the size of a preschooler--she started it! The idea of manipulatives, hands-on things for math and language... started with her!

So, happy birthday, Maria Montessori!

I just feel like complaining a bit

There's this article http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090828/odds/odd_us_dutch_sailor about a 13yo girl who wants to sail around the world by herself (another article says she would make regular stops into port). Now, personally, I don't think I'd be prepared to let my 13yo spend two years by herself sailing the world. But I think it's kind of crazy to have anybody by themselves on a boat that long!

However, that's not my big issue. My issue is that because of her plans, the Dutch court was close to removing her from her parents' custody over this. Right now, the father is sharing custody with the state.

What's their issue?

Caroline Vink, a senior adviser at the Youth Institute in the Netherlands which advises the Dutch government, said the biggest questions was whether a 13yo could understand the consequences of her decision.

and

"Two years out of school will have an impact on her normal development [I can't help but gagging here]," she said.

EXCUSE ME??? It wasn't that long ago that 13-14yo girls were marrying, taking care of entire households on their own, going off in covered wagons to their new homestead with their husbands, who'd be working out in the fields or forests all day--possibly gone for days at a time--with their babies in tow. And, oh my gosh, heaven forbid she's not in SCHOOL for 2 years. (Homeschooling is not recognized by the Dutch government, just in case you were wondering.) Somebody with the nickname powderhound wrote in the comments section for the article link shared below:

It's pretty pathetic that these "child protection" authorities think that she would suffer more from the maturity, life experience, and wisdom gained from two years of self-sufficiency - as opposed to two years in a peer-pressure cooker of a high school, obsessing about makeup and boys while playing computer games and going to the mall.

I could not agree more!!

Teens are so underestimated. Granted, I wouldn't let my daughter go, but you know what? I didn't spend the first 4 years of her life raising her at sea, like this Dutch girl was. I haven't spent her life teaching her about boats. I didn't train her to be able to do some solo sailing at age 6, as this article indicates http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/08/28/dutch-dekker-world-sail-voyage-court482.html . I'm not this Dutch girls' parents, and this girl seems to have been raised to be very mature, very aware, very *real*. Caroline Vink goes on to say:

"It is wonderful to have dreams, but they have to be realistic."

It seems to me this Dutch girl is probably more rooted in reality and in what's possibility than most of us. It's not a dream for her: it's planned out in full and possible.

From a government point of view, I can understand the need to intervene. I mean, can you imagine just allowing anybody to let their 13yo sail off on their own? It'd be insane. But the attitude behind it, that a 13yo can't be capable of "understanding" it all properly, and the whole school aspect... Ugh.

You know what? When I was 14 and living in Yellowknife, I spent 4 days taking care of 3 kids who were 6, 8 and 9. Where were the parents? They had gone down to Edmonton for a wedding. I had been babysitting for them regularly from the time I was 11--started with just the youngest at that point, who was then 3. I could have taken care of those kids for ages. I knew how to cook, take care of the house, keep routines, do laundry... I was a fantastic typer and could have worked as a secretary or done all kinds of jobs. I was responsible and knew how to take care of pretty much everything. It's how I was raised. Just because most kids get caught up in the "teen culture" of today, doesn't mean that teens are inherently irresponsible or incapable of making big decisions for their lives.

The Countdown Has Begun

7 days until school starts. Well, for my 2, anyhow. I don't have my year plans figured out. I don't have next week's plans finalized. Still trying to spend time on Choice Theory stuff.

I did get started with dd on her German today (her decision). Poor girl is way too much like I was at that age: she expects to know and understand right away and feels horrible if she doesn't. :( I told her that the books weren't designed for her to do on her own, but, in her tiredness (I woke her up at 7:30 this morning, mean Mom that I am ;) ), she then saw that as an indication of her not being able to learn German this year because I'll "never have the time to do it" with her. She really wants to learn German and really wants to feel like she's learned a lot in general by the end of the school year and, admittedly, there are a lot of other forces (aka kids, and sometimes dh ;) ) around that interrupt time we take together. Making sure she gets time from me during the day, as well as possibly after supper for something like German, where it's far easier with less activity going on around, is going to have to be a focus. She's not the type to demand my attention and I think she's kind of ended up in the shadows the past couple years during our school time.

I also placed an order for Joy Hakim's "The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way", "The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia" (thank you for the recommendation, Lisia! :) ), "Language of Choice Theory" and, for myself, "How It All Vegan" from which a delicious hummus recipe was passed along to me. I've had the book out from the library before and decided that it's high time I bought myself a good vegan cookbook to help me along my want-to-be-vegan path. The order was placed this morning, I think, or maybe last night, and I've already received notice that it's been sent! Gotta love when everything is in stock. :)

I joined a fan page for Maria Montessori in Facebook today. There was a link in there to an article written by John Snyder from Austin Montessori. John is on one of my Montessori lists and of all the people there, except perhaps Lakshmi Kripalani, who studied under Maria Montessori herself, there's no one else on the list who seems to embody Montessori as much as he does. In any case (sorry, I feel very disjointed to night and am sure my writing is, too), that reminded me of his school and I ended up at the website, looking over the early adolescent program they have. It reminded me that the environment at this age (or almost this age--she's not yet 12, so I always wonder, do I consider her in the 9-12 group still? or are her needs those of the 12-15? hm...) is still important. Checking in with the school's website also reminded me that it was Donna Bryant Goertz who got the school going, another amazing Montessorian. I think I'd like to reread her book "Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful". It's such an amazing book, really gives a sense of the Montessori philosophy, even though its focus is on how Montessori can be used with those who are not the "peaceful" Montessori student. A definite recommended read!

Good thing for advanced planning

I got dd's German texts last Thurs. or Fri. and decided to start going through them today to do a bit of planning. Ds's texts are easy enough for me to work with without a teacher's guide. I just discovered that dd's texts will be a little harder. *sigh* I've ordered the teacher's guide, but they don't expect it until the middle of September. That's okay, I guess. We'll do what we can without them.

OooOOh! A great science book list

http://www.pennygardner.com/sciencebks.html

At some point, I'm going to have to stop finding resources and actually figure out what I'm doing!

Science!

I may have found a main resource for our science studies this year: Joy Hakim's Story of Science series. I think it'll give a starting point for science exploration. I need to have experiment and research components, too. I have some TOPS science somewhere that we've never used.

I feel the need for a PLAN, though. Hm, gotta still work on that.

Tired Monday

We were at the lake all weekend with dh's family--parents, both brothers, sil's and all nieces and nephews. We had a fabulous time, but of course it was a late night each and every night and the kids were non-stop go, go, go. Today is recovery day, I guess. I'm more than ready for a nap, ds is not his usual energetic self and for once, adrenaline hasn't kicked in to make up for it, his cousin is tired--and injured himself scootering (although it was the big hole in the cement's fault, of course)--and just sitting around nursing his owie, my 4yo niece is pretty much just laying around with toys and although the 21mo is tired, she's been very manageable. At the moment, the boys are playing their version of Scrabble and the girls are playing with dominoes.

As for me, I've got most of our camping stuff put away and read a little. Well, and took care of umpteen messages in my inbox from various lists! I only have 2 weeks until school starts and really need to finalize some plans and figure out my vision for the year. We got dd's German resources in, so in terms of everything I've ordered for this year, that's all taken care of. Except I do need to have a look at it and see what kind of pacing there should be and how I might need to supplement since the resources are really only a resource, and not everything kids in grade 7 beginning German would learn here. Of course, all kinds of stuff has to be planned out and I need to get moving on it. I really need to get my time management skills back into use since I've pretty much just floated through most of this summer. Problem is, at the moment, I'm so tired I don't even remember how to go about managing my time. ;) It's a definite nap time for me when the 21mo falls asleep today!

New Moon

So, I finally mustered up the courage to read "New Moon" from the Twilight series. All-in-all, I think it's better written and a better story than the first one and I can't say there was anything really objectionable in it that I'm uncomfortable with my daughter reading. Except...

The flagrant disrespect Bella has for her father in her quest to do dangerous things is really glossed over, and, for me, the way it was written makes it seem totally natural and okay for her to have chosen the things she did. I'm sorry, but no, it's not okay! I'm glad to have read the book first so I could bring up that element with dd, about how they don't really address it. Even at the very end (I found the end of Twilight not bad; I HATED the ending of this book), she's mad at JACOB and says she wants to kill HIM for him having betrayed HER. WHAT ABOUT HER FATHER?????? Had she not betrayed HIM all the times she was danger seeking? Keeping the whole bike a secret? Oh, yes, Jacob is sorry that he told once he finds out what was really going on, but that just makes it seem like the whole thing SHOULD have been kept a secret!

When you get down to it, the whole book makes Bella come across as desperate, crazy and with no true moral sense. Maybe that's what Stephenie Meyer intended. But I doubt very much that 11yo's to even possibly 14yo's, or maybe even older, will "get it". So much emphasis on the "I need you" and "I can't live without you" and "I can't function properly without you". But I suppose that's how romances are. I don't know. I've never read a modern romance before! I did find a review online where somebody was saying that the pain Bella is in was really well written. HOW? Sure, lots of explanation and description of her pain, but she shouldn't be in that much pain!

Another thing that bothered me about the book, other than her continued use of "chuckled" (I mean, really, do people "chuckle" that much?) was that it would go along so smoothly and I'd even be enjoying the story and then there'd be something someone would say that would just ruin it because what was said was so lame or immature, or just feeling out of character. I actually threw the book down and said, "Oh good grief!" loudly when Bella said she was only 18 in response to Edward's proposal. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is the girl who is so obsessed with him and who wants to be with him for eternity, to the point that she's willing to become a vampire, or die if she can't be with him, but she's not ready to marry him???? It makes no sense! The rest of the scene just continues the nonsense. Just one of numerous things that pop up that show Bella's immaturity.

The relationship between Bella and Charlie is totally out of whack, too. She knows she's legal age, she could move out, even throws it in Charlie's face, but afterwards, she stays and gets GROUNDED??? Excuse me? It doesn't make any sense! And all the melodrama at the end when she's preparing to face him. I'm sorry, if she's the same person she was mere pages before, feeling adult-like and ready to move out and live by her own rules, none of it makes sense.

I turned the last page and went, "What? That's it? THAT'S the end?" I was so frustrated. I've read lots and lots and lots of books in my time. Some were not very interesting. Some were kind of stupid. Many were wonderful. I've never read a book whose characters were so out of whack with the age and maturity they are supposed to be nor have I read a book whose plot I found as frustrating as these two books. I don't recall having the same type of frustration with Twilight, just annoyance at the jr. high feel to the book due to how everybody was behaving and Bella's whole obsession. (Mind you, Edward isn't really any better. He's got the same deep-down obsession, we just don't get to be privy to his thoughts.) I just feel like shaking them and saying, "Grow up, will you?"

Okay, enough of my book bashing. I know many people love the series--more power to them! I seem to be an odd-ball for this series, but that's okay. ;)

I've read some previews of Eclipse and although parts sound intriguing, the whole "I love both of them" is just so wrong, wrong, wrong and so soap opera-ish, I don't know if I'll be able to make myself read it. Which means dd will probably have to wait to read it!

What Should a 4-Year Old Know?

A reminder to us all not to be so focused on what our children should know based on their ages:

http://www.magicalchildhood.com/articles/4yo.htm

3 weeks to go

Only 3 weeks left until school starts up again. Why does that give me such a feeling of panic? Of almost breathlessness? The thought stressed me for some reason. Maybe it's because I don't really have my plans in place. Maybe it's because things are definitely going to be different this year--the 18yo coming part-time, my cousin's wife coming with her kids part-time, "Bob" starting high school and trying to really tackle the issues blocking him, dd starting junior high, ds starting grade 4 and I'm feeling panicky over the fact that I know he's not grade 4 level in anything except his English reading. Well, and maybe his knowledge of bugs. ;)

I think it's also that it means I have 3 weeks left to recover the house completely from renovations, accomplish some progress with my two for their math and with ds, for his handwriting and French reading. I guess I feel like I'm running out of time. I only had about 5 hours of sleep last night, which means it's probably not the best time to be thinking about school plans, as I won't see clearly and will be more panicky. But I need to brainstorm a bit what I do want to get done these next 3 weeks and some more planning for the school year.

*Keep reading Choice Theory and get my plans for the first few days finalized. I found a great site that has recommendations on starting the school year, how to get them thinking about the things they need from others to be able to learn well, and some other Choice Theory stuff.

*Keep reading Montessori. I want a plan in place for my niece, but also want to see what I can use from Montessori for my two.

*Dd: master multiplication tables and improve division skills

*Ds: keep working through his grade 3 math workbook, cursive, and do some French reading

*Get the house in order: there are cd's and books still to put away, stuff to bring to Goodwill, the front entrance closet to get the shelf stuff put back (maybe get some containers to organize things a bit better), clean up the den, figure out what to do with the electronic piano (it's full-size)...

*School plans for dd's grade 7 and ds's grade 4. I have to get out of my mind these "grades", though. It's not helpful at all. My goal with them for language arts and math is to just keep them going. If dd makes it through her grade 7 text, great. If she doesn't, then so be it. Although then she'll feel even worse about her math ability. She has no clue how easy math is for her, it's just that she hasn't really been interested and doing any for a while. If I have to start the grade 4 text late with ds, that's okay, too.

For dd's language arts (both French and English), some general plans at the moment: grammar, writing a variety of sentences, how to do a proper paragraph, beginning essay writing (intro, middle, conclusion), lots of reading. I want us to cover at least one English novel and one French novel together. Actually, she's already shown interested in doing Les trois mousquetaires. It's a very challenging book, and I can't find my copy either. *sigh*. But if we do it together, I think it would be good.

No more thinking for now. Too tired!

A different kind of day

I don't know if it's the weather or what, but today has had a very different feel to it! Okay, admittedly, I've been consciously doing some things differently, but that doesn't explain everything.

The Lego had been pulled out yesterday and one of the bins left in the family room. Before my nieces and nephew arrived today, ds was already into the Lego, focused and calm. Everybody got here, he had to go get dressed, clean his room up and eat breakfast. The boys went out on their skateboards afterward, but they came back in after a while and ds ended up back downstairs with his Lego. His cousin came down and made some small attempts at engaging

him in the usual goofy play, but since ds didn't really get into it, BOTH boys have spent a good 1.5-2 hours just working quietly and in a focused manner on the Lego, with the occasional conversations here and there. The whole feel from them is soooo different after having that time of "flow".

My 20mo niece had a vaccination last night and so was clingy and a bit feverish this morning. She had a very early nap but has been otherwise fine. I decided to make her a smaller version of what she's been playing with yesterday, although now that I think of it, I could have waited. Oh well. In any case, so you can see what I've made, here is a picture:

No, I didn't think about lining up the holes with the print on the lids. ;) Actually, I would like to figure out a way to cover them up so none of the words are seen at all. First task, though, is to figure out what to do to the lids or the containers so that the lids are easier to get off and she can do the activity all by herself.

While the boys were busy downstairs with their Lego, my 4yo niece started behaving in a way the boys found annoying. I think reading Choice Theory things recently helped me to switch my thinking to "Why is she doing this?". The answer: her need for belonging. Getting attention with her behaviour connected her with the boys, even if it was in a bad way. So, I had her come upstairs with me and she was all sad but came anyhow. I then showed her a brownie mix box I had bought yesterday and asked her if she wanted to make the brownies with me. Well oh my gosh, her mood changed in a flash and she has been delightful ever since. So, remember: if your kids/students are behaving in ways that are annoying you, figure out what their motivation is!

I planted a seed!

My plan to introduce some countries that would be represented at a festival here in town didn't really get followed through on very much, although I did present to ds the African countries I had chosen. For some reason, Zimbabwe caught him and he even coloured the flag and posted it on his bedroom door. When we did manage to make it to the festival, one of the first things he asked was, "Where's Zimbabwe [the tent]? I want to go to Zimbabwe." The kids are always allowed to choose one small thing that I buy for them. Well, when we got to the Zimbabwe tent, he was very happy and loved these wire animals they had and chose himself a lizard. You just never know what planted seed will grow in a child! :)

Other than that, I've been busy with other things and just not getting my mind organized and focused enough to do more. My 11yo is always away at summer camp for the first time, this last weekend was a long weekend... So much going on. I did decide yesterday that I had to find some more things for my 20mo niece as she is just go-go-go and getting into everything, following the cats or dog constantly, disappearing upstairs or downstairs (the baby gates haven't been up since we started the renos)... Always so busy making messes or potentially getting into trouble!

I remembered an activity that her big sister loved at that age: a large plastic yogourt container with a big enough hole cut in it to put some round game pieces (I took them from a game called Bottle Tops). I prepared one for her today with a margarine container. I forgot that she is more dextrous than her sister was at the same age--the hole could have been made smaller so it was more difficult for her to get the pieces through the hole. But she loved it and did it over and over. Of course, the 4yo saw something "new" and wanted to do it, too and was impatient about waiting. I thought it a perfect time to show her something else new and showed her the last of the cylinder blocks I have--the cylinders are all the same diameter, but they are different heights. She only did that once, but then used them like the knobless cylinders and did some building and discovery.

The two girls exchanged at one point (I know, I know, not Montessori--materials should go back and you only take from the shelf) but the toddler grew tired of the cylinder block rather quickly. I put her on the floor with a bucket of soft geometric solids (geometric softs? ;) ), which, of course, the 4yo saw and came over and tried to "play with her sister". Um, yeah, not really--it's more like the 4yo takes what she wants and plays next to her sister. ;) In any case, I nipped that in the bud and said that this was her activity and when she was done, the 4yo could play with it then. She hung around and touched the materials again, so I took her hand and led her elsewhere for something else. There have been other activities on the go: alphabet cards, Lego table for big Lego (preschool Lego), a bus tent pulled out with a pillow and blanket, little counting bears, a recorder, chalk, a mouse got into the garage... And the toddler keeps pulling out movies asking to watch them. lol. All this, and they've only been here 1.5 hours! Despite all that the 4yo STILL complained a few minutes ago that she had "nothing to do". lol

The boys are now playing with K'Nex and starting to focus and calm down, but it's tough to change "modes". They have been mostly out on bikes and scooters and skateboards all summer, and when inside, it tends to be boisterous imaginary play, which is not only getting on my nerves, but it seems to me that energy could be used in pursuits that will build them up in other ways. When my nephew isn't here, ds spends a lot of time doing Lego, KNex, drawing, reading... He does none of that with his cousin here as my nephew seems to be the source of most of the loudness and crazy play. It's constant motion and play and my Montessori inner voice is saying that I need to help them find some other pursuits that will bring some real-life focus!

KNex didn't seem to be satisfying enough; they've switched to Lego. Hopefully they'll come back down to Earth. ;)

Well, a little bit is better than nothing!

I haven't managed to do much from my list for this week. Yesterday just seemed to be one thing after another and this morning, I was so loopy, I totally forgot.

However, Monday, I did play I-Spy with my niece. She really enjoyed it, although her attention didn't last long: she wanted to play with the objects I had chosen. lol. I think she's ready for me to play a small area of a room (like a single shelf or a window or on the table, etc.). I tried presenting the button frame, but she had no interest. She did end up playing with a Discovery Toys thing--a mosaic-making thing. Today, my dd must have played different board games with her for over an hour. She (niece) loved the interaction and the attention, but didn't like losing one of the games. ;)

I sat down with ds yesterday and really showed him the Africa things I had put together. He was very interested. He then asked if he could colour the flags I'd printed off--of course! I haven't put another set together, but think I ought to try to do some more for other countries.

Almost August!

August is almost here. That means the summer is almost half done. It's been a crazy July here: start of renovations (just painting to start with, but not all completed), out-of-town visitors for a few days (ah, but what fun!), then back to renos. Two weeks of reno chaos that are finally done and the house is starting to take shape again. If it needs to be that summer is half done for the chaos to be done, I'm all for summer being half done!

With things more in order around here, I'm going to resume tomorrow my morning mini-school time with ds and dd, but I also want to work with my 4yo niece a bit on some Montessori activities and try to have a general routine for the week or at least a different activity each day that sows some seeds of interest. :)

I've created a list of things I can do with my niece this week, but don't actually plan on doing ALL of them. If we do, wow, great! I just wanted to select what would be good to show her, trying to show her at least 2 things a day. Here's my list:

Practical Life

• button frame (I have a cheap, wood embroidery hoop with material I sewed so a child can practise buttoning)
• pouring water from a jug (I should maybe try to buy a smaller jug today)
• dusting (Montessori kids typically learn to dust by sweeping from left to right, from the top to the bottom of an area, like the way we would write)
• cleaning glass (I have a bottle with a mix of vinegar and water)

Sensorial

• sensitize the fingers (this is just dipping the fingers in warm water for a bit and then drying; it helps the fingers feel the sandpaper on the touch boards and sandpaper letters better)
• touch boards (have to find them! these are different grades of sandpaper that the child learns to distinguish)
• geometric solids (I'll just show her how to feel the different sides and then name them this week, assuming I do this activity)
• Mystery Bag (this is a small bag with different known items to the child; the child is blindfolded and figures out what the objects are just by touch)

Language

• I-Spy with beginning sounds
(The way this version of I-Spy works is that you start, with a young child anyhow, by having a single object in your hand, like a pencil, and say, "I spy with my little eye, something that starts with /p/." You only say the beginning sound, not the letter. Once they get the idea, then you use two objects, then maybe three, then branch out to a small area in a room, and so on.)
• cursive sandpaper letters (she's already been introduced to these but we haven't had a chance to work on them consistently)
• insets (see here http://homepage.mac.com/montessoriworld/mwei/Reading/insets/inset1.html for more info on that. The inset design they show, though, is by a rather skilled person, not one done by a child just starting out.)

Culture

• land and water presentations (globe and landforms)
• maybe, just maybe show her the continent map

For the older kids, since the Heritage Festival is coming up next weekend, I thought about making a theme week with different countries/cultures. However, I haven't gotten further than that at the moment in my thinking. So, let me think now. What could I make available or invite them to do?

• pick a different country each day, or a couple of countries each day, and have their maps and flags available to colour/label
• find recipes from the countries and pick a couple to make
• make paper dolls with traditional clothing for the culture (www.makingfriends.com has stuff for this, I think)
• find some books at the library
• for my kids, draw out a family tree and label somehow the cultural heritage of our various ancestors
• set up things so they could make a lapbook

All I can think of at the moment. My stomach is starting to grumble!

So I've finished Twilight

I have to admit I did like some of the suspense that finally came in, but there's just something that I find so hokey about so much of it. The last part of the book is definitely better than the beginning, but I'm still not ready to begin New Moon. ;) At the same time, I recognize that Twilight was the author's first book (if I've read correctly), and so maybe with experience under her belt, New Moon will be better. Except I didn't like the later Harry Potter books because I found she tried too hard to make it complicated. Okay, I have to admit, I didn't even read the last 2. I still have no plans to. When I first started reading Twilight, I was thinking I'd want to read the last 2 HP's before moving onto New Moon. But she kind of made up for it as the story went along and I think I would rather read New Moon before the other 2 HP's. lol.

I think I have 8 other books out from the library that I want to read, though, so they're going to get priority. ;) Not to mention a book dh gave me for Mother's Day that I still haven't finished reading and 3 other books loaned to me for reading... Apparently at the moment, however, a certain little someone has "left a present" in her diaper, so I must go attend to that!

Summer is 1/4 done

I had the realization that today is the 15th, which means that July is half done, which means that summer is 1/4 done. WHAT?! I'm not ready for that! What can I do to make the most of the remaining weeks? :)

Right now, the house is in chaos: carpet ripped up in the living room, lino in the process of being removed in the kitchen, walls on that level almost all repainted, stuff stored everywhere else... And 5 kids to watch and do things with each day. Typically, there's somebody in the kitchen and a couple of people in the living room, then a couple downstairs. Now we have to stuff ourselves into a crowded downstairs family room (because, of course, some things from the living room have gotten moved there) or try to split ourselves up between bedrooms and the family room. The family room is so stuffed, though, there's hardly room to do anything. *sigh*

We did have some wonderful company stay with us last week, though, so that was a highlight of our summer so far. (Yes, before the carpet was ripped up. ;) ) Having our visitors meant I stopped doing our morning mini-schooling. With things everywhere, I have no desire to really begin again just yet. Or not this week anyhow. After late nights last week and then we went to the waterpark on Sunday, I feel like I'm still recovering. I'm babbling, aren't I? Anyhow, my thoughts just switched to I *would* like to resume some schooling tomorrow morning. Just a bit of math with each of them. Dd really needs to master her math facts and learn division/fractions this summer to start her grade 7 program in the fall. Ds was just neglected mathematically this year. So, there we go.

Of course, it would help my mornings more if I didn't sit at the computer in my pj's until 8am, like today, and then have to rush to get myself ready before nieces and nephew arrive...

Twilight

Since my 11yo dd has friends who have read Twilight and seen the movie, she's had some interest in reading the book, too. Given the many things I've heard from parents who have NOT allowed their children to read the book, I told her I had to read it first and give my approval. Putting it off for sometime as I'm not usually into romances nor vampire books, I finally gave into my parental duty and picked up both Twilight and New Moon while at the library today.

Let me say this: nothing in the book comes even close to being as complex as the sentences above. Heck, the book is even less sophisticated in style and language than the first Harry Potter. Yes, you got that right: Harry Potter requires a higher reading level ability than Twilight. As I was reading, I was thinking, "Good grief, my 8yo son would be able to read this." I even looked it up online: an estimated gr. 4 reading level book.

I could try and say, "Well, a lower level reading is good because older kids who are struggling will have success with this book." But I can't. I despise this book. It's corny and sappy and, imho, horribly written. Bella comes across as a typical *junior* high school girl (even though her mom apparently thinks she is "mature for her age", more like 35 than 17), complete with "love at first sight" syndrome, lack of self-confidence and obedient. Edward's a moody jerk who tells her what to do all the time. And he can't bloody stop smirking or "chuckling". Other characters also come off as jr. high-ish and totally unbelievable. And just the whole flow and their stupid conversations... Good grief! The whole thing is frustrating me! I don't get what people are liking so much.

I'm about halfway through and can't say that I've found anything, so far, inappropriate for my dd to read, but let me tell you, it's getting painful! I don't think there's any way I could force myself to read New Moon to check if it's okay. After my tirades on the ridiculousness of the book, perhaps my dd won't even want to read the series. One can always hope! ;)

Insets and letters and placement

It just goes to show how making sure that there are things in the environment to connect with, and helping the child see those things, can help inspire the child!

I was cleaning up the materials shelves the other day--they've been woefully neglected for sometime. The cleaning made the sandpaper letters very noticeable, especially since I was standing right there. My 4yo niece saw them and just *had* to go practise some right away. :)

A few days later, I was cleaning out a box I had just thrown a bunch of stuff into and there were the insets. I put them on the table and the same niece just *had* to do some. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to sneakily re-present them to her. She's an independent sort and if she's already been shown something, doesn't really like to have someone show it to her again. Sort of an attitude of, "You've already shown me this, you know!" So I started one inset while she worked on tracing others and asked her if she remembered how I'd done all the tiny lines before. Instead of doing all the lines close together, I told her how dd and ds used to do them, and did one with the lines all very far apart. I said it was okay if they started out like that and that they would get closer and closer together with practice. Ah, my indirectness paid off: she made her first real attempt at doing an inset with the lines in the middle. :)

My next step is to figure out what I would actually like to show her and try to help her connect with the materials more often and make sure the shelves have things well placed. I also still haven't figured out any sort of plan for with the older kids. However, I guess it's only been the first week, we've been ridiculously busy, and next week isn't any better. *sigh* I guess the week after!