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!

First order is in!

I guess technically first *2* orders. :)

I was talking to dh and he was telling me how great the new math program is. I had already been planning on using it for dd, but he gave me even more info. He'll be teaching gr. 7 math next year and will have all kinds of teacher resources available that I can use. Plus, he said I should get the workbook. I didn't even know there was a workbook because Learning Resources Centre doesn't have it. Went to Chenelière and found the workbook; also added in a gr. 4 workbook of the same program for ds AND found grammar workbooks for each of them. My orders for both places have gone in. Woo hoo! I'm so excited already to start the next school year. lol

I still need to decide what to do about science and social studies. I may head over to Montessori Research and Development for at least a starting idea. The same topics can be presented to ds and dd, but just have dd go further. I've looked at some middle school Montessori sites but nothing has really clicked for me.

Almost done!

The school year is almost officially done! It's nice, yet at the same time, kind of funny, since I'm restarting working with my 2 on Monday and am planning on doing more Montessori with my nieces and having educational/fun activities (maybe science-based) at least a few times a week for my nephew and ds! I have decided to do some inner preparation and have taken out 2 Montessori books I saw at the library tonight: Montessori in the Classroom and Montessori in the Home: the Preschool Years. Of course, I have something like 10-15 other books out to read, not including recipe books...

--

Bob's schooling for next year is somewhat falling into place. He seems at peace with what he's decided and the plan for him to take 4 or 5 years to finish what is normally 3 years of high school. He's also kind of "getting it" that he chose not to work to his ability this year and his report card will show that. So, for next year, correspondence through a homeschool school (yes, that's right; Albertans most likely know what I mean ;) ), with him taking 26 credits instead of the typical mandatory 40 credits for in-school students. Frankly, *I* find it a relief that he will only be doing part-time essentially. He's doing math (one course each semester), science (one course each semester), ELA (will probably take all year with me supplementing for his basic skills work and to prep him to be able to move up to a higher ELA level) and a course that deals with photography and other types of media (all year course, although only 1 credit, so very light!). I am confident that a rule can be easily instituted and followed, without him feeling overwhelmed, that he do his science, math and English every morning and can have the afternoons free for us to do more project-type stuff (like his media course), more "homeschooling" stuff rather than just coursework. The correspondence is just part of his education; he needs more than that!

--

Dd has chosen to NOT do the APS science 7. She thought she *had* to for some reason. I said no. So now I have to figure out what to do with her for science. I have picked out her German resources for next year and have an order form ready for that and her math. Still need to make a more specific plan for ELA, French, and social, and now science.

---

Ds is a little reading machine. I can't believe this is the same kid who, in September, really wasn't reading at all. He read aloud more than half a book on spiders to me tonight. Almost no errors, great fluency. One of the pages he read to me (p. 16 from "Spiders" by Nic Bishop):

A spider does not have a nose or ears, at least not like you do. Even so, it has extraordinary senses all over its body. Take a close look. You will see this spider is covered with hairs. Many of these sense touch, vibrations, and sounds. Hairs on a spider's legs can sense the sound of a flying insect. Other organs on the feet can smell and taste things just by walking on them. A spider can even recognize the taste of its own silk by touching it.

What I want to know is this: HOW THE HECK DOES HE KNOW ALL THOSE WORDS??? Like extraordinary and recognize? I had spent the previous months only reading to him in French, so it's not like he was seeing words like that as I read them. Which begs the question: how does he know ANY of those English words? The only two words out of all the pages that he asked me how to read were enough and chitin (which even I didn't know--it's pronounced ki-tin (kind of like kite-in)).

--

With summer approaching and me being woefully bad about recording stuff that the kids did this past year, I decided I would use Homeschool Tracker and train myself over the summer to use it, at least for my 2. I discovered, however, that it's not compatible with a Mac unless you install some program that allows you to access Windows (which you install separately). Seems like kind of a pain. I might just try to get used to using the laptop for it all. Although, I think I need a journal that I keep out and write in, and then plug everything into the computer in the evening. At some point, start switching over the responsibility of recording to them--like in many Montessori schools and like the 3 oldest used to do!

Next year thinking

Don't I do this every year? Start planning out next year before this year is even done? :) I actually started a few weeks back. Decided to take it up again this evening and am looking specifically at dd's gr. 7 year. (OMG! Did I just write that?? GRADE **7**!)

Math/Science

She wants her papa to be somewhat in charge of her math and French, which will basically just mean that he says, "Do this," and then she shows him. Because he no longer teaches grade 7, he might not be able to set up quizzes and tests for her (yes, she WANTS to do that!), but I can always put things together and he assigns them to her. ;) Although I think we do have a test bank for the science program from when he was teaching gr. 7 science. We're hoping he'll be able to borrow some textbooks from the school, but if not, it turns out these 2 texts aren't too expensive. She will be doing the new grade 7 math program using the French text and the French science text used in schools here.

German

I've looked at authorized resources for our public schools here and think I've picked on a program that actually looks good and that isn't too difficult for me! ;) She wants some structure and doing more stuff and this particular program comes with a text, a workbook and 2 audio cd's--which means she won't have to rely on my pronunciation. My pronunciation isn't bad, but it's certainly not the "real thing".

English

She's doing so well in terms of the amount she reads and her writing... I don't know that I would want to encourage her to do much more other than perhaps spelling and grammar. And show her how to do an essay. I could also give her the link to the recommended jr. high/sr. high books for schools here and she could find some books to read.

French

Now that's a toughy. I want to do more formal spelling and grammar with her but not sure what approach to take yet. 

For reading, I thought about finding out what texts they use in schools here, but that was hard to determine and I decided probably not worth it. My idea is that we can find 2 copies of French books from the library and choose a title to study together. We can do it as kind of a reading group format. We could also keep a vocabulary journal for the words we don't know. I'm discovering that children's French literature has a whole ton of words I don't know, especially the translated-from-English books. It's truly atrocious how difficult the translators seem to want to make the books. A gr. 2/3 English book can end up being a gr. 5 French book after translation! 

For writing, I'm thinking of reinstating Writing Workshop with her and including ds and my niece into it. I think it would be a good collective, relaxed approach, with no pressure, which is what both my kids need right now in terms of making progress in writing in French.

Social studies

I haven't a clue. I keep saying I want her to learn world geography, but never follow through. I should maybe find some sort of program/curriculum, even if it's just for ME to be able to say to her, "Go do a project on this." I'd like her to have a sound knowledge of world geography. I'd like her to know a good deal about Canadian history. Other than that, a general knowledge of history, big events and people... I think I need to find some sort of a sequence somewhere I can follow instead of trying to think up in my head who knows what.

Other than that, I guess there's art (she might take art classes; we also have some good art instruction books; could also do art appreciation; I've got various resources on seasonal and holiday crafts), music (she doesn't want to be told to do anything in this area; however, I could still plan a sort of music appreciation and I know she always plays more instruments when *I* start playing again), phys. ed. (she might do gymnastics again, but she wants to try karate or other martial art), health (do I really need to do anything? actually, I've got an A Beka health book I could encourage her to look through)... 

What else does someone do in jr. high? Home ec.; she already does sewing on her own and has been doing more cooking with me. I'd really like to encourage her to do typing, but I think that will only happen if she sees me doing a typing program, too. There's also other computer learning, but she already usesFor the Montessori aspect of it, I'd really like to find a way to have her volunteer or otherwise be involved in the community. I'll need to look at some Erdkinder ideas. I actually had some great ideas a month or so back when I was reading something and now the ideas are totally gone. *sigh*

Diplomas

From http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/webinars/webinars.html

At a time when only seven in 10 American students are leaving high school with a diploma, President Barack Obama is demanding that the nation lift its educational sights by asking all Americans to commit to at least one year of education after high school. 

My initial reaction is: So what?! 

Followed by: Why is there such a focus on a diploma instead of on an education?

Frankly, I've reached a point where I couldn't care less if my kids get a high school diploma. That may come across as shocking, but a diploma, at least here, means covering some very specific things that the government has decided upon. It's not so much a high school diploma as a provincial diploma for high schoolers.

There is a mistaken notion that a diploma *means* something more than it actually does; that by having a diploma, you are somehow better educated than someone who doesn't have a diploma.

Nonsense.

Thomas Edison never had a diploma. He was probably better educated by the age of 12 than any of our students today graduating with diplomas.

Having a high school diploma provides an indication of having done certain coursework required in your area. It speaks nothing of the actual level of your education.

Not to mention the fact that you can barely pass the courses (which is 50% here) and still get your credits and your diploma. How does that mean you are educated? And what about the fact that so much of the school work is cram, cram, cram for the exam, and forgotten about shortly after? Somebody did a very small study here a few years back taking students who had done very well on their diploma exams. I think it was 4 months (it wasn't more than 6 months) after they did the exams, they were asked to redo the same exams they had done. They had no prior notification and were therefore not able to study. Needless to say, they did not do as well. Most of the exams were barely passed or were failed. What had those students actually learned? Their transcripts said they'd learned the stuff well; the follow-up exams disagreed.

And then, the actual content of the courses can be somewhat pitiful. It's so focused on cramming as many diverse topics as possible within a course that often it doesn't go into deeper detail to provide true understanding. I can't count the number of times the 18yo has asked me some deeper question about her biology. She's got to try to remember a ton of different things, yet would she not actually be better educated if she had the opportunity to really go in-depth on fewer things?

It feels somewhat like the diplomas of today are reflective of our materialistic culture: more, more, more.  It doesn't matter these days if things are true quality (remember how TVs and toasters and toys were QUALITY and lasted for years and years and years?); the focus is that a ton of stuff be covered so that surface-wise, it can appear that our students know oh-so-much, what the government of Alberta calls on their website "high quality curriculum".

Yeah, whatever. Especially since to be grammatically correct, it should be "high-quality curriculum".

Not much to say!

Things have been slow going. I did pull out the sandpaper letters for my niece and she wants to do them ALL. I showed her some--and then ds went and showed her others that she wanted to do. :) Since she had already started writing in print, I have been showing her the print, while still offering the cursive. Sometimes she asks for the cursive after seeing it in print. If she asks for the cursive, she will then attempt to write letters in cursive on paper afterwards. Fun stuff!

With a 4-day Easter weekend and then "Bob" gone these past 2 days for a dive trip, it just hasn't felt like we've been able to get into any routine. I've realized, though, that I haven't exactly worked out specifics for a routine to follow. So I've started writing out some stuff and will treat Monday like a new beginning. Bob, I think, is really craving structure and dependable routines right now. He appears to be going through some stuff right now and being more specific and explicit and structured with him feels like the right way to go. It's always hard figuring out that balance: when does direction become too much?

Other than that, we've been to the museum today, checking out (yet again!) the penguin exhibit. The 18yo hadn't seen it yet. It's great! Gotta love those year passes that allow you to go as often as you wish. ;)

He's done it again!

My only-recently-decided-to-read 8yo son has done it yet again!

Out of the blue this morning, during a time when he's usually playing, he said to me he wanted a "big" book that he could read. Now, understand that he's not really read ANY books, just little things here and there. I asked him how big. I offered him a couple of gr. 2-3 French books and even offered the first Harry Potter in English. I went about trying to find some other books in our shelves during which time he settled upon Harry Potter.

Well, the darn kid sat down on the sofa for probably the next 45 minutes or so and READ. I asked him at one point how it was going and at what part he was at. He told me what was going on. He's not reading super quickly, but he's definitely reading it. I told him he amazes me. He asked why. I said, "Well, has anybody ever sat and taught you to read in English?" He smiled. "No." "Well, that's why you amaze me. Everything is just clicking on its own."

Gotta love being able to let him dictate his pace!!!!

Spring break is done

Our spring break is officially done. I have today to get everything ready. But I have to be careful: I've been catching myself this week at trying to add too much in for next week. Let me think "out loud" here a bit:

*It's Holy Week--must have some Easter things prepared. (Like what? my brain is asking me.) Well, um... Crafts for sure. Maybe the Stations of the Cross or daily Bible readings. Or both. lol.

*The 18yo--she needs to know what to get done this week, and I need to have things ready for that (math and bio, plus I need to read in Pride and Prejudice so we can discuss and I'm prepared for questions that she asks).

*"Bob" needs to have a list of what work to do this week.

*I managed to show my niece one Montessori thing this past week. That seems like a reasonable goal at the moment! lol. So, this week, I will show her some sandpaper letters. :)

*I feel like I need a checklist for myself, a checklist of all the things I should at the very least think about doing on a given day for school stuff.

Other things I wanted to add in: Choice Theory info, read to them from Success Principles for Teens, daily or almost-daily spelling, math facts and pre-algebra "quizzing" together, daily meetings to deal with routines and issues... I think I need to decide what feels most important and just do one of these this week.

Okay, gotta get to work!

Haha

My 4yo niece was in search of something to do so I pulled out the insets and showed her how to trace around the inside shape and then fill in the shape. Of course, that means the 3 oldest are also now doing insets...

4 days left!

We are sooooo already into Spring Break mode. I was going to try to get, or rather encourage, Bob to do a lot this week to catch up more, but we are all so very ready for a break and the weather is finally improving and we're seeing sun and some melting... He must, must, must get a math test done this week. How to tie Choice Theory into it so that he motivates himself to study? Gotta think about that one. Maybe I'll just brainstorm here:

*So, you have this math test to do this week. How well would you like to do on it? What do you think a student would have to do to make sure that they get that mark?

I need to put together a sampler of the types of questions he will have to do on the test. Maybe see, too, if there are some online games or activities that he can do. He hates writing, doesn't pay super attention when I'm showing him or explaining to him (because he doesn't really want to be doing it...), so it'd be helpful to find some other venue.

The 18yo is probably in Poland right now. I think she is heading to Auschwitz tomorrow. What an experience! To get back to schooling, I do need to start working on her plan for the end of the year--she's got a lot of work to cover given our Feb. and March were so slow and she's been gone. I also want to look at Choice Theory and how I can incorporate it to help her motivate herself. I think she is a "house divided": she does want to go into nursing, but she wants to wait a year; on the flip side, she doesn't want to disappoint her parents or cause further problems so she feels she "has to" go to university next year. I think the struggle between the two is creating some motivation issues. Not doing well enough to get into the nursing program may hurt, but it also means that she would not be able to go to university next year... I don't think she's consciously choosing it, just that there's this internal struggle.

I've also been seeing a lot of control issues with all of the kids the past while. I was aware of it before reading about Choice Theory and really seeing it now. I need to present Choice Theory to them if I'm to see some significant changes around here. I just don't know how! (Charlotte, help! lol) I also think that perhaps the two oldests' perceived control by their parents is affecting them in their school work. The 18yo said to me at one point this semester that she wants it all laid out, what she has to do each day, etc. She doesn't want to be the one to lay it out--I think she's so used to having things decided for her, she's maybe not as ready as she once used to be to take charge. Of course, I also need to do some self-examination and see how much I may be using controlling language myself.

One week until spring break

I have one week of school left with my dd, ds, "Bob" and my 2 nieces. Bob's got a math test to do this week and some catching up. Dd and ds... I haven't really thought about their week yet. Dd is at a sleepover at a friend's (the 3rd night! I'm missing her!) and I won't be getting her until tomorrow afternoon so I don't really need to think about work for her for in the morning. Ds tends to work after supper. The (now!) 18yo is in the Czech Republic at the moment, although I do want to get moving on intense coursework for when she comes back.

In any case, that leaves me a week until spring break. I don't have the two oldest during spring break (not unless the 18yo really wants to do some work that week and needs help), but I do have both my nieces as well as their 8yo brother. I don't want it to just be a free-for-all--I know what can happen. Besides, there are so many great things I could invite them to do! But I'm having trouble of thinking of them. ;)

So, I invite people to share some interesting educational/explorational things I could do with the kids during spring break. At the moment, I do know that I want one day to be a Cupcake Day--I have a fantastic book called "Hello, Cupcake!" and we can try out some fancy cupcakes. We may also have one of dd's friends over one day and another one over another day. Hm... I might have more kids around here than I had realized. :) It's all good! I seem to have a need for lots of kids. lol.

Back to what I was saying: Share some ideas!! What would you do with an 11yo, 2 8yo's, a 4yo, a 16mo and possibly a 10yo or a 12yo during spring break?

There IS more to say!

Okay, I completely forgot to share about my son's reading progress.

Something clicked in me that his way of doing things is to observe, then do. So, instead of having him read to me each day, we've been trying to do more of me reading to him and I'll keep my finger under the words. Somehow, everything is clicking more, even for English even though I've only been reading to him in French. He's reading all kinds of crazy English words and doing very well in French. He's now started trying to write more things. Of course, he HAD to be "backwards" in terms of Montessori and prefer to do the reading before the writing... He's actually initiated copywork. How can I complain about that? :D

What to say?

It's been a while. Crazy. Since my last posting, I've had shingles, we've had uncooperative weather, illness, tiredness and not a whole lot of work getting done.

I'm still reading about Choice Theory and loving it. It's still not all really clicking just yet, but it's getting there.

I really want to figure out how to set up my day differently so that I can start doing lessons with my 4yo niece. She has been super keen on writing letters and even decided, on her own, to copy "Harry Potter" off of my dd's book. She did an amazing job. It's time to get serious about letter knowledge with her!

Gatorade

While I have  Montessori from the Start out from the library, I have not yet been able to sit down and read through it to get some ideas for my 14mo niece. Today, she was into EVERYTHING--pulling down CDs and books and trying to get at the laptop and snooping through the 17yo's bag and stealing her metal water bottle. She (my niece) took the bottle over to the kitchen sink, held up the bottle and made some noises for our attention. She wanted to drink water! It was so wonderful to see--the kids were so impressed that such a little creature with so few words can still clearly let us know what she wants.

This idea of a bottle clicked in my head and I grabbed clean Gatorade bottle and the top off the counter and gave it to her. She must have spent the next 30 minutes putting the top on, twisting slightly, taking it off, "drinking" from it, putting the top back on... At one point, she took her own bottle--one of those little Rubbermaid containers with straws--and put it at the top as though she were pouring water from her bottle into the Gatorade bottle. She'd then "drink" again from the Gatorade bottle and continued putting the top on and off. At one point, she got the top on too well and couldn't get it back off, which caused a bit of fussing on her part. It was so much fun to watch!

Montessori from the Start

I've had to put a request in to the library for Montessori from the Start: my younger niece has become TROUBLE! She's 14 months, doing her own form of scooting, but pulling herself up anywhere and everywhere and touching all kinds of things she shouldn't, like the laptop. Yes, yes, I know Montessori is all about the environment, but the environment is our home and school and there are certain things that can't be moved (like the electric piano covered with a homemade wood top) and are a horrible inconvenience if moved (like the laptop). If I can provide more suitable activities to attract her attention, perhaps I can have her avoid things like grabbing onto the piano lid that can come crashing down on her...

Montessori Today

I have Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood out from the library. I've actually had it out for a couple of weeks. In any case, I sat down last night and started reading it. It feels so good. :) I had been reading a Sudbury book and while part of me is very pulled towards that model, at the same time, I see clearly how that model works best when you have a LARGE multi-aged group of kids. I also really feel that adults can definitely be more involved in guiding kids than simply waiting for them to ask. I didn't learn to skate because I asked my mom; she simply said one day, "Let's go skating!" (Admittedly, I fussed and moaned and said I couldn't do it while she was present on the ice. She took off to the bathroom, during which point I learned to skate. :) ) I think Montessori provides that balance of, "Hey, here's something I'd like to show you," but then you back off and let the child decide how far to go with it.

My Montessori plans for today? To read more. It's Friday, I may very well have my nephew again today (he's been not feeling super great the past couple of days), and that throws off the general routine of the house. We were supposed to be out this afternoon for snowboarding lessons, but with a high of -26 predicted, we are NOT going. Let's see, I can be more creative than that. Okay, I'll invite my niece and ds to plant cleaning (you use a little bowl of water, a Q-tip and a small square of paper towel). Ds (8yo) already knows how to clean plants, but he loves it and would enjoy showing dn (dear niece :) ). She's also got into cutting, so if I could find those pages that one mom/Montessori teacher sent me, I could put those out for her, too.

:)

Um, well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

I did start doing some Montessori with my niece, but I have to admit to it not lasting long. We ended up having sick kids in the house and just lots of busy-ness. For a long time!

The oldest's exams are almost entirely done for this semester and we are now on a bit of a downtime. It's a perfect time for me to really figure out some things in terms of Montessori and homeschooling.

I have NOT been reading Montessori as I had been and know that if I want to implement it more, I need to read more. The reading helps create the vision in my head of how things can be and I need that vision to be able to really do something.

The multi-aged group I have, with the different (non-Montessori) programs, makes Montessori difficult. At the same time, if I spent more time reading Montessori, perhaps a vision of how to fit it all together would work!

So, there we go, my plan for this next week is to read, read, read in search of a vision to how things can be smoother around here.

It is time

It is time for me to get moving on the Montessori with my 3.5yo niece. The honeymoon period is over and she hit on Friday the "I want something new and fun to do." Seriously, I'm not joking. She asked me if I'd take her into the basement so she could find things that were "more interesting"--her words! Toys often only take a child so far. Here are some things I can show her/have ready for her this week:

*pouring beans
*pouring water
*spooning
*sorting a mixture (maybe popcorn and cheerios to start with)
*buttoning--I have a home-made frame somewhere, but not sure if the frame itself is intact; I also don't know where the fabric is, so I need to locate that
*I could show her zipping by putting her coat on a chair...
*geometrics solids presentation
*sensitizing the fingers
*pull out a different cylinder block
*give her a folder with scrap paper she can cut up
*I need to think of other crafty stuff: she loves crafty stuff

My big issue is where to have the materials. With a 1yo (this coming Wed.!) in the house, it makes things a little more complicated! I live in an open 4-level split where the lower level is practically connected to the main level and I used to be able to make my way back and forth from lower to main and there wouldn't be big problems. It seems like whenever I leave the main level now, things fall apart. I guess instead of living in "fear", I ought to just do what I think will work for my niece--have the materials available for her in the lower level, which the baby gate prevents her sister from getting to--while encouraging my son to do things downstairs near her, and let the upstairs have problems so that we can tackle the underlying problems. That sounds good, actually!

I must get myself off to the store if I'm going to have enough trays and replace the dressing frame (aka wood embroidery hoop ;) ), not to mention have crafty stuff available for all of us.

Remember, remember...

the 5th of November....

And I didn't. lol. I knew Guy Fawkes Day was coming up, but on the 5th, I didn't know it was the 5th, and so I forgot and we did nothing for Guy Fawkes Day as part of our school day.

How could this happen?

ILLNESS.

I've been rather successfully fighting stuff off for a couple of weeks, but it's still lightly there, just enough to be annoying. I've seen it in my kids, too, as well as with Bob.

The 17yo was sick, sick, sick. Started over a week ago, was not at all well on Monday, was even worse on Tuesday and then moreso on Wed. Caught her dad's stomach flu on top of her nasty cold.

School is still sort of going. I did an hour one-on-one in the evening this Thursday with ds and it went sooo well. Then we just hung out. He asked if we could do that every night. lol. I think we definitely have to do it more often. Bob is plodding along ever so slowly but it's still going reasonably well. The 17yo was hoping to be completely caught up this past Friday, but being as sick as she was, that didn't happen. Dd is still needing me to give her work. She's hit the looming adolescent insecurity, I think. That, or I'm just not inspiring enough! I think insecurity is playing a big part. She used to write stories constantly; now she's not as interested because she has hit a point that she wants to actually finish them (she has always just written and written and written and then stopped because a new story idea has come up) but she just doesn't know how. I probably need to sit with her one-on-one here and there to work things out together.

That reminds me: I was reading "From Childhood to Adolescence" which inspired me to get some books out dealing with water life--coral reefs, interesting animals, etc. I put them out on the table and 3 out of the 4 school kids could not but help pick a book that interested them and flip through. :)

Things are going well having 6 kids in the house again. It's been good to have a baby again--she needs to take naps which forces the house to be calmer, quieter, a couple of times a day.

Bob, the little turkey (actually, he's not so little--he'll be taller than me any day now), is reading better in English, but still struggles quite a bit and with words that make you wonder, "Why? He can read that word, but not this easier one?" But that's not what makes him a turkey. I was looking at a French Scholastic flyer the other day with dd and the 17yo (in pdf) and he was standing behind them. All of a sudden, he reads out, "Nouveau! Nouveau! Nouveau!" !?!?!?!?!?!?!? He has not really had any French reading instruction and what little he's had has not been in the past year, and it's not like French phonetics in the word 'nouveau' matches with English at all. THAT is what makes him a turkey. ;)

The 17yo is covering WWII at the moment. We watched Schindler's List as part of it. What an amazing story. I know things didn't quite play out the way they showed in the movie, but still. I'm saddened by the fact that after the war, he never did manage to get his life together. :( Seems like such a shame.

Dd is doing a second session of gymnastics this fall. She took gymnastics when she was 6, made it through 3 or 4 levels (couldn't remember and couldn't find her sheets), had a long hiatus, so went back into level 3/4 for Sept./Oct. The coach for that one decided she was in level 3 and only assessed her for level 3, so she went back to 3/4. After 2 weeks there with a different coach, the coach spoke to me yesterday and told me to get her into a level 5 class because the 3/4 is too easy for her. :D Dd was VERY happy. So now she goes Wed. evenings from 6-8 and I get my Saturday mornings back! This is good because ds has a soccer game pretty much every Saturday afternoon, overlapping with dh's soccer, so I'm the one to bring him.

All right, enough of this Sunday morning babble. Besides, ds is complaining he needs food. :)

Mix of stuff

Our visit to the downtown library yesterday was interesting, as was to be expected. We saw some "interesting" things take place (like a few kids, maybe gr.8 -gr. 10, removing a garbage bag outside, placing their own bag in the bottom, then sitting around for a bit...) and some "interesting" people. Some of the interesting people made us rather nervous as they kept watching us in the library, including a couple sketchy characters we had earlier seen outside. But then I noticed the one librarian and custodian kept looking at us as they went by, too. We're not a freak show! At least, I don't think we are... ;)

Today, I had all 6 kids all day for the first time. It went sooooo well. My almost 1yo niece is such a happy-go-lucky baby and there were no issues. It's the first time she's ever been away from her mom that long and we had no problems whatsoever. Very nice. :) (Actually, there were some issues between a tired ds and a tired 3yo niece, but that's other stuff.) I love having 6 kids again!

I managed to start reading "From Childhood to Adolescence" tonight! I finished one of my library books earlier today, sent another one back I decided I wouldn't finish and just as I was heading out to ds's soccer practice, I decided to grab a book to read and saw FCTA. It's very nice to be reading Montessori again. I always feel, "This is the way I want to go with my kids." But taking theory and applying it can be two entirely different things. :\

A stop-in

Has it really been 12 days since I last posted? Man.

Life has been crazy. My calendar, as the 17yo has described it, looks like a Christmas tree due to the various things written all over in different coloured pens: field trips, days here and there with my nieces, soccer meeting, soccer practice, soccer game, gymnastics every Saturday, dh has school meetings, I had a hs group meeting, birthday party, Thanksgiving out at the lake and then at my mom's, an upcoming social evening with a hs group, Halloween, ds's Reconciliation preparation meeting and classes... That's just October. And that doesn't count all the stuff that's had to be done on the side, like emails and dealing with this and that. It's been crazy. I'm sooooo looking forward to November! Yes, there will still be soccer Tues. and Sat. for ds, and gymnastics on Sat. for dd, dd will be continuing her Wed. sewing lessons (but her grand-maman tends to take her and bring her back, which is very nice and appreciated), and ds will have some more Reconcilation classes and I'll have a hs group meeting. Oh, and I want to attend this thing called XLT that is going to happen on the 13th. But it feels so much calmer. lol. We'll have a birthday party at the end of the month and I'll be having my nieces full-time, but it's still calmer in terms of the weekday and weekend things going on.

School ended up with a bit of a hiatus a couple of weeks ago, but the 17yo worked hard last week and is just about caught up, her brother had his first math test since grade 3 (he's in grade 9) and it took him 6 hours to complete because he'd just get too frustrated and would take very, very long breaks ;) (he didn't have a time limit and the teacher said they could take breaks if needed). Dd is still inspirationless so I've been creating different quick assignments for her to do in geography and French. She had her initial resistance, but it seems to be going well. I have not managed to read more Montessori, however it's still in my mind. I do have one book out right now, "From Childhood to Adolescence", and will work on reading that these next couple of weeks. Get *myself* inspired a bit. :) Ds is still doing his thing! lol. He very much enjoys us reading together at night and has started trying to read a little bit on his own. He's been working a bit more on copying and writing and then in his new math workbook. I want to work on the seasons with him because he seems to think there is spring, summer and winter. Or that as soon as there's frost in the morning, it means it's winter.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the morning working at the library. I'm going to have the kids write out a plan of what they're going to do there and to plan what we'll do about distractions and all that. I don't have my nieces and this is about our last chance before we have a 1yo in tow all the time!

I've been chastised

Wow, I didn't realize it had almost been a month since I last wrote! I've been chastised for it ;) and have decided to give a mini-update and hopefully will make more frequent entries.



School-wise: I still haven't done the Great Lessons. Things are slowly moving forward, finding the routine, but the rest of life has been nuts and I haven't had the desire to spend the mental energy on bringing in the Great Lessons. I would still like to. But it does require preparation on my part to make them go smoothly and that requires time.



Life-wise:


-----------------------

Well, that's what I had started writing on Oct. 7, around 4:30 or so. Then I lost my internet connection and pretty much didn't have one for over 24 hours!!! I will continue with the above now. :)

-----------------------

Life-wise:

*September was insanely busy. Every weekend was packed with stuff, which meant I hardly had any time to do the usual things on the weekend, like clean, do laundry and groceries.

*I've become VP of one of my homeschool support groups and there's been a bunch of stuff to have to deal with there due to the switch in executive and some other things, although that does look like it's finally starting to all settle down.

I'm not sure what else I was going to say about life-wise. Hm...

Back to school, though:

We've pretty much done NO work this week at all.

*Monday morning, the two oldest went to a chem lab and I went home with my 2 just feeling awful. We went out for lunch, came back, we three girls watched Stardust while the boys played outside, I fell asleep for a bit during the movie, just relaxed and was feeling a lot better by supper time. But here it is, Thursday, and it's still lingering. I'd like it to just be done with!

*Tuesday morning, I had my almost 1yo niece come with her 3yo sister for about 1.5 hours. We're working on transitioning her to full-time and that was her first time here (the 1yo, not the 3yo). It went very well, but of course, all eyes were on baby. :D (She's sooooooo cute and it went very, very well.) The oldest was showing serious signs of being sick and didn't manage to get much done. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the teachers from the school (for "Bob") and that was that.

*Wednesday morning, the 17yo was still visibly not well and ended up falling asleep while reading her social studies. Bob wasn't looking too well either and fell asleep on the sofa. I ended up taking the dog for a walk in insane wind. What did we do yesterday afternoon? Gosh, can't even remember. Oh, we put on a movie right after supper (Spiderwick Chronicles), dd went to her sewing lesson, and after the movie, the 17yo worked on some posters we'll be using tomorrow at a ringette tournament.

That brings us to today. If the 17yo is feeling better, I think I'll have her go full force in her work. If she's not, I may just say, "Scrap the week!" We're busy tomorrow and won't be doing any school work at all then. And we're supposed to have a dessert for tomorrow, so maybe we'll make our dessert this afternoon. It means she'll be over a week behind, through no real fault of her own. I'll see what I can do to combine things to get her caught up. Bob was supposed to be doing a math test today, but he hasn't been feeling great and without our internet access yesterday, he couldn't do the online test prep that the teacher recommends, and he's supposed to do that before he does the test. Hm... I think he'd be fine doing the test today if he does a bit of a review first. We'll see how he is once he gets here.

Other school stuff: I purchased Jump Math workbooks for my kids through CHER. I feel like I'm constantly going through math programs, lol. I think this'll be the last one, though. The A Beka workbooks are nice, but they mix everything together for constant review and it proved to be a bit annoying. And unhelpful for my dd. I still LOVE the old Ray's Arithmetic and do incorporate their style here and there orally; the physical style and layout of the books doesn't appeal to either of my kids, but the work inside is fien. I'd like to use Ray's more for review and improving arithmetic skills because it's very good. Why am I using a program if I'm a Montessorian? Because I had to say, yep, okay, I can't do it all right now and it's better that they have something that will work for them than nothing at all. So far, the Jump Math looks really, really good. It's designed to get kids to be thinkers in their math which I love.

That's all for now!


[Well, isn't that interesting? I started this post on Tuesday and even though I've posted it Thursday morning, the blog still sees it as a Tuesday post!]

The Great Lessons

Correne asked me in one of the comments what the Great Lessons were. I thought I'd devote a single entry to them!

The Great Lessons are the start, if you will, of the social studies and science study at the elementary level. They are impressionistic stories which are aimed at giving an interesting, big picture presentation to the kids.

The first Great Lessons is God Who Has No Hands. It's basically the story of the creation of the universe and solar system (not a Biblical rendition--it's really designed to just be a story which gives an impression of how things happened). It is accompanied by some basic science demonstrations (like hole-punch circles on the surface of water on a bowl) and is the beginning of looking at science. From what I understand, some Key Lessons tied with this are in the areas of astronomy, physics and chemistry.

The second lesson is The Coming of Life. It gets into the development of life on Earth, from first life up until the appearance of man, exposes the children to eras and periods, etc. It is accompanied by a timeline chart and usually a black ribbon, proportional to the time since the beginning of Earth, with a tiny red line at one end to show when humans showed up. From this lesson, the children are encouraged to explore biology, zoology and other scientific areas.

The third lesson is The Coming of Humans. Discusses how we are different from other animals, gets into things like houses, clothing, how people started writing down history, etc. This is a starting point for a study in history, cultures, anthropology, archaeology... One Key Lesson tied to this is The Fundamental Needs of Humans: shelter, food, transportation, etc.

The fourth lesson is The Story of Writing--how human writing developed from pictures to alphabets.

The final lesson is The Story of Numerals--the development of writing down quantities from pictures to the numerals we use today.

All of this is available here http://web.archive.org/web/20050305042447/www.moteaco.com/albums.html except I can't seem to find the English version of The Fundamental Needs of Humans, but the French version is there. There are extra lessons in the History for 6-9 album. Two of the timelines are also available there.

hth!

School starts tomorrow!

And I don't feel ready! lol. I should check posts from other years and see if I felt the same way then, too. ;) Actually, maybe I shouldn't, because if I was really ready then I'll feel even more "behind" in my prep.

I do have some stuff ready--the two oldest have lots of stuff set up in Homeschool Tracker Plus, the 17yo has her starting schedule picked out, I have her math and social syllabi done, I've done one of the chapters in her chemistry, Bob's is all laid out since he's doing a "virtual" program, although I should still plan in some extra things like phonics, spelling and math facts. I have a vague idea of what I'm going to do with my dd and ds, as well as with my 3yo niece. But vague doesn't really tell me what I'm doing tomorrow morning!!!!

What do I need to do for tomorrow? Let me just brainstorm publicly here ;).

For the 17yo:

• Because we're going to be gone in the afternoon, she's only going to do three subjects tomorrow morning: math, French and social. For social, I just have to print off the worksheets and her syllabus. For math, get my teaching notes typed up or written in a notebook specifically for it. For French, I don't have a syllabus together because some of it has to be pieced together as we go along. I do know what I would like to have her do. Okay, well, that's not too bad. It's that on Wed., she'll be starting chem and THAT syllabus (with recommended timeframes) is not done, nor are the sheets that need to go with the work she'll be doing.

For Bob:

• Well, Bob doesn't have any of his texts yet. Some of the stuff he can still get started on, though. He'll probably spend most of the morning checking out the school's website and learning about what he's got to do to get the year going--things like writing letters to the teachers. He does need to have a phys. ed. log printed off.
• My main thing with Bob tomorrow will be to harness his energy and emotions. I had him here briefly on Fri. and the mix of whatever he's feeling came out in MAJOR ADD-type behaviours. He's going to be excited and anxious tomorrow and simply wanting to socialize!

For dd:

• I know that I want to start on place value presentations with her, but I haven't picked a specific lesson to show.
• I need to figure out what I would like to show her this year in terms of French and English grammar, spelling, phonics, word study; science, social studies, art and music. I had wanted to do the Great Lessons, but I haven't even read through them at all and really don't think I'll be ready for tomorrow (actually, tomorrow's probably a bad day to do the first one anyhow). But besides the Great Lessons (of which there are only 5), I'm not sure what else. I don't know all the Key Lessons that go with the Great Lessons and I'm certainly not going to have my house full of the materials that are typically in a Montessori classroom that are tied to all those lessons in one way or another. I need to figure out what to do.

For ds:

• I know I want to work on phonics with him daily, but haven't decided what, specifically, to start with.
• I know I want to start the year off in math with Golden Bead work: refresher presentation for the material itself, then progress to the layout, getting quantities based on cards chosen, etc.
• Science, social, art and music--I face the same problems with him as with dd. I'd like to combine the two. Hm, I just had a thought--what about combining *3* of them? I could use Bob's science studies as a starting point. I can't remember what he's doing, though. I'd really like to start zoology, at least with ds, though. I think I need to purchase a manual.

For my niece:

• Start with practical life. But what? And where will these items be? Hm...

Other than that, part of my prep today is getting the "school shelves" in the family room better organized, cleaning the laundry room (it's now the room for the kids' wire cubbies and where the little shelf unit with some of the art materials is; it's right beside the den and is actually supposed to be an ensuite or similar, in case it sounds weird that I'm storing school stuff in my laundry room!) and ideally, make it to the basement and clean up some of that, esp. since we'll need to use the one bookcase in the basement for school stuff. With dd claiming the bedroom upstairs, things, like the bookcase and art unit, have had to find new homes wherever we could place them!

Hormozgan

Hormozgan is one of the words my ds read to me yesterday. I don't think you'll find that on most beginning readers' lists. ;) That and Sistan and Fars from the Iran map. He saw the word "empire" and got very close: em-pur.

I shouldn't be surprised. I knew this would happen. It's just how he is and why a traditional school would be such a horrible fit for him. He did this with talking: used only 2 words at 15 months. 2! He had already said about 20, but only ever kept 2 in his active vocabulary. At that point, I started babysitting my 18mo nephew, who talked a lot, and a light bulb when off in ds's head. He started adding 3-5 new words to his vocabulary each day for the next month! He went from below normal (if you consider only the 2 words) to way above normal in less than a month! It was insane! Same thing with walking. Wasn't walking at 15 months (it was actually 15.5 months in both cases). He saw his cousin walk, "Oh, okay, I'll do that." Within a week, he was pretty much running.

What can I say but he gives his all to the things he wants to do?

All things in good time

Although I haven't "prepped" my son the way I would have liked to the past few years and have really unschooled him for the most part, despite a desire to really introduce him to things, what little I have done is starting to pay off in terms of reading.

For whatever reason today, he pulled out a map of Iran from somewhere (probably from a National Geographic magazine) and started trying to read all the names. It was dd who came down and said, "You ought to come see your son! He's reading!" Well, by golly, he was. It was slow, but he totally understands the whole sounding out in order... I'm in awe. :) And tickled pink. :D

It just goes to show

how something in a child's environment that can take up so little of their time can have quite the impact on them.

My dd was talking to ds about Aragorn's armour or something from Lord of the Rings. He wanted to see it. She was allowed to show him just a little bit of a scene with him in it. Well, a minute of watching the movie is all it took for the two of them to start playing Lord of the Rings! Dd found a ring that she put on a chain around her neck. They found one of those little red Bibles and it somehow became a part of their game. Ds found another ring, and that's the ring he wears. It's funny. At the same time, it certainly gets me thinking about how impressionable kids are--and we must be choosy in what things they will be exposed to!

What a way to hook dd!

We were watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie, The Lord is my Shepherd, and it was about the baby boy that Caroline had who died very young. I decided to check online to see what the actual story was behind it and was led to Wikipedia, which had a picture of Caroline and Charles. Dd wanted to see pictures of the others, and while on Laura's page, my eye picked up part of her genealogy involving the Delano line. Well, that so happens to be one of my family lines, as well as another of Laura's lines, from Richard Warren of the Mayflower. I said to dd, "Well, that's pretty cool. We're very distant relatives of Laura!" Omg, you'd have thought I'd said we were first cousins to the Royal family! lol.

Montessori in the Classroom

Are you a Montessorian? Have you ever read the book "Montessori in the Classroom" by Paula Polk Lillard? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. Especially if you work with little ones. I took it out from the library this week to re-read for the umpteenth time and it's always so fabulous. Giving me so many ideas and having me think, as well as guiding me a bit. Wonderful ideas on how to easily incorporate all kinds of things into the kids lives. That's what Montessori is really about--bringing the world to the kids and letting them explore and be fascinated by it.

The initial interest in some minimal school work has already waned. lol. We've been busy with stuff so I'm just taking it easy, maybe asking a few math questions, things like that. I suppose we already do so much--we went out with my mom and step-dad to a recreation area where we caught a large frog and there were a variety of plants that caught our eyes but we didn't know what they were. I took some pictures and when we got to my mom's, dd and I looked through a book on plants and were able to identify all of them. We now know what a snowberry is. :) And here we were calling it the "yogurt-covered berry" ;). They play outside and dd reads a lot and has gone through probably 2 years' worth of National Geographics in the past few days and I read to ds each night from "Little House in the Big Woods", which always brings questions, little explanations and even him predicting which word will be first when we turn the page. It's all good stuff! Reading Montessori has me being reminded that showing them things that may inspire them is far more important than having them practise this or that.

August!

I had decided last week that we would gently resume studies this week. Just one thing a day that only takes 5 minutes would be fine with me. But I wasn't feeling well for most of yesterday and then this morning, had no plan or anything prepared so I was contemplating what to do, how to just slip something in to get them going or what. After lunch at some point, I pulled out ds's school agenda that he got from the school we're registered with. I start trying to remember what we'd done the past few days so we could write it in. We looked at the little thought of the week it has--this one was to list 2 things he could do that would make someone else happy. I ended up writing a word in the spelling list area (we just use it for reading/reference), and that led to more words being added until we filled up the whole thing. That's all it took to get him going--he wanted his A Beka math book. I couldn't find it originally, so he ended up looking through some things I did find. And he did about a page's worth once I did find it.

Dd did a few questions from her math book, but it's clear her mind is totally out of arithmetic mode--and these weren't basic arithmetic. I think I might put away her book and just do some oral and game review of the tables for the next week with her. No point in getting frustrated over something that was created with the assumption that the tables are fresh in your mind!


--


On other matters, I'm slowly getting things together for fall. I've got a better vision, a better feel for how I want it--and how I can get it to be. I know I've said over the past couple of years that I've slipped from Montessori and I wanted to get back to it but it wasn't working or whatever. Some soul searching and deep thinking led me to certain realizations, but I also think I must just be in a different mental state for whatever reason. It's long and drawn out and I won't get into it much here. But I've got a sense of excitement and peace about having, not just decided that Montessori is the way I "should" go because it worked in the past, but committing to it and knowing it's the way I really want to go. I've been reading websites and started reading books and more. Refuelling my mind to be prepared for fall.

I kind of feel like I'm going too slowly though, too much in summer mode. If I don't watch it, school will be starting and I won't really have things ready! There's some reorganizing in the house that needs to be done, some materials to find and put out, plans to write out, lesson checklists to find or create and more.

I know the 17yo isn't looking forward to getting back into the work, but I am. lol. I honestly feel like her math this year is easier to learn than last year's, her chem probably, too, and she's doing social 33 instead of social 30--for which I am very grateful. The course, imho, is easier than social 10. Of course, I'm basing this on the website assignments and don't actually have the texts yet to look at! In addition to all of that first semester, she'll be working on French so that she can do a placement test to get into ADLC's online French 30 course 2nd semester.

For her brother's program... I still don't know for sure if he's going to be allowed to do it. I thought it was a done deal, but I guess he needs approval from the teacher of the program and he has to talk to me first, which he hasn't because he's on holidays. If Bob doesn't officially do the program, I'm going to still have him do all the same work.

I'm sure some of you are wondering how this all fits into Montessori! lol. Well, I'm going to tie in as much as I can and as a general approach--focus on choices, work with the student, present lessons as needed, find hands-on ways to work with the topics, etc. And I'm going to do as much as I can with my 2 and my niece in terms of more typical Montessori.

I knew it'd influence her!

I have a set of Little House on the Prairie books that I've had since I was younger than my dd is now. I had tried a couple of years back to start reading the series to her, but she was not at all interested. Tried to encourage her to read them; nope.

Then I saw the DVDs of the series at the library. I LOVED the series as a kid and was 99% sure she'd like it, too, given how much she enjoys places like Ft. Edmonton. Managed to find the pilot movie and we watched it this morning. That's all it took. She's going to finish up the book she's reading now, Rufus the Sea-Faring Rat, and start reading the series. :)

Does more room make for crazier kids??

Yesterday, dd's furniture got moved from the room she shared with her brother to her own room. A lot of stuff got cleaned up--or stored temporarily in the closet. ;) There's no longer anything on the floor of either room that shouldn't be there. They look absolutely wonderful. And my son is going crazy! So much energy. Wow. I guess it's just the excitement of having a wonderful room to be in now--especially since there is nothing under his bed now and he can fit under it. ;)

Already almost the middle of July!

(Excuse the following--it's a random jumble of thoughts!)

It's July 11. In a few more days, we'll be halfway through July. Where does the time go??? I'm sooo glad I've got August off this year!

We had a great trip out to the lake. The weather was great one day then so-so the others, but we still had a great time. Ds spent lots and lots of time outside playing soccer and other games, as did dd, but not quite as much. Ds learned to play SkipBo and we played a few games together. I'll have to see if we have a deck so that we can play here.

Other than that, we've been working on dd's room. The paint was finished yesterday--she chose yellow--and if the smell is calmed down today, we will move in her basic furniture and she can sleep in it tonight. :) She's VERY excited. Ds wants her out and his room cleaned up so that we can start stamping some fish and shells onto his walls. lol. He's sooooo eager to decorate the walls since we refuse to repaint them (we did it just 2 years ago) but I told him that his sister's stuff has to be out first AND things have to be clean--we can't be messing around with paint when there's stuff all over. That will be our big project today.

Let's see, what else? Ds is making progress with his reading and writing. I'm just pointing out little things or asking him little things here and there like, "So, where's the a sound in that word? How do you know that word is such-and-such? How do you think that word would be spelled?" He's getting better and better at analzying things and coming up with the correct letters and sounds. And he enjoys it, which is great. I've got plans to prepare different games so that we can play more with letters, sounds and words. Bingo is the first I'd like to play. We have a set of letter bingo cards that came from a Sing, Spell, Read and Write kit a former student left us, but it doesn't have all the basic French sounds, like è or é. I'd like to make something that is better suited to French.

Oh, and ds got his cast off yesterday. We were going to keep it, but it stank so badly and the nurse just tossed it into the garbage without even asking us if we wanted to keep it. It's kind of sad--he had all kinds of signatures and stuff on it. But he's not sad about it at all, so I guess I'm just being a sentimental mom. lol.

Dd is almost done reading The Fellowship of the Ring. It's taken her quite a while--in part because she's read other books since first starting the novel--but she quite enjoys it. I don't know if she plans on reading the second book or not just yet. Haven't dared to ask.

Hm... It's 7:35 as I type this and my kids are still asleep. I guess that's good--they didn't get to sleep until close to 10 last night. I don't know if ds will manage to get his 10 hours in and sleep until 8, but it would be good if he did!!


I have a little project I'm going to get started on: comparing predicted temperatures/weather to actual temperatures and weather. I check the forecast often and it's CONSTANTLY changing. I'd like to see just how accurate their predictions are and how far in advance. Yetserday, they had no rain predicted for the coming week. Now they're predicting rain for Monday and Tuesday. Will it change again? Undoubtedly. I'm not sure how long I'll check the predictions, but if they're as unreliable as I believe they are, I'm not even going to bother looking at the week-to-come predictions again. What's the point? And why do the weather people bother? I can understand THEM working on predictions and trying to fine tune things and learn how to predict better, but why share it with the world? lol

Enjoying summer

The last 2 months of school, it was work, work, work for me and I'm finding it hard to stop filling my time with all kinds of work stuff!!! However, I am slowly learning to enjoy summer and time off and instead of my original thought to have a sit-down school time each day, just bringing things into our daily life.

One thing that will really help is that we will be at my in-laws' lake property until Tues. :) Leaving in a couple of hours--I hope. Dh still isn't up, I need to shower and pack yet, the kids need to shower... It's do-able. In any case, I'm going to bring a novel--completely unrelated to school ;)--to read and my cross-stitch and I'm not sure what else. I want to take a little vacation. I will bring a little notebook to write in because I always need paper and pen to write thoughts, brainstorm or to write out little ideas for stories/book chapters. Haven't done the latter in quite a while. I'd like to get a better routine going and so far, this summer vacation, I've just been keeping myself constantly busy, little relaxation time. That's not how I want summer to be!

Oh! I hear dh is up! Time to get ready!!

Music, music

I went out quickly this morning to get a few groceries we need for this weekend. My kids weren't even dressed yet, so they stayed home and I went just by myself. I got back and dd is sitting on the couch playing the recorder--something she hasn't done in ages. Ds, still in his pj's, is sitting in the stairs playing his little Power Tour guitar, something he hasn't seriously done in some time. He goes up to get dressed, dd shares with me a little song she's composed on the recorder then proceeds to play more songs from a beginning recorder book we have. Ds decides he wants to play my flute. Uh, okay. Right off the bat, gets his lips just right and gets a sound out of the mouthpiece. But then he can't maintain it and thinks there's something wrong with the flute. lol.

The other day, it was my guitar that got pulled out. I think the piano top needs to be cleared off so that some inspiration can move that way, too.