Teach A Fish

Sleep Training

2009-12-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Lil' Georgie's sleep was getting worse and worse. She was miserable (and yeah, I was miserable). Things snowballed: I tried nursing to sleep out of desperation, and it worked for a few days. Then she started getting frustrated because it wasn't working so well. And then she started waking every 30mins at night in order to nurse back to sleep. Anyhow, long story short, I decided that our sleep struggles that began on Day 1 of her day home from the hospital needed to end. It wasn't healthy for her. And I was becoming unhealthy, as well, from lack of sleep. I've been a pretty relaxed, loving, "answer every cry" attachment mom with my kids, so the decision to sleep train wasn't easy. It's still not easy, and we're not 100% where we need to be, but it's getting much better. I've seen big improvements and a happier baby. In my journey for answers, I read a lot of different sleep training tactics. Here is a good assortment of methods:

No Cry Sleep Solution (Elizabeth Pantley): keeping a sleep log and trying gradual changes - if baby cries, give in but try again. Should notice small changes within 10 days on the sleep log. It is a series of small steps, small changes that get re-evaluated every 10 days after reviewing sleep log. (A lot of different sleep issues are detailed, with different techniques to solve the problems).

Baby Whisperer (Tracey Hogg): shush-pat until age 4mos, put down/pick up at age 4mos or older (parent never leaves baby to cry, toughs it out with them). More on this at http://www.babywhisperer.com/ (the forums have a ton of info from her books). There is crying, but baby is never "abandoned".

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby: wide range of method extremes, from co-sleep, baby-wearing to being left to cry in the crib for 1.5 hours. Takes a "whatever works" approach, but feels quality sleep is very important to a baby's health.

Ferber: controlled crying with gradual distance. Start right there with baby, gradually increasing distance & length of time away from baby.

Super Nanny: do not do until 6mos or older - controlled crying, starting out by checking on baby every 5mins. After 15mins total, keep reassuring baby briefly every 15mins. More details on the Super Nanny web site, article called Settle Your Baby with Controlled Crying.

BabyWise: church version called Growing Kids God's Way. Lots of controversy here because of the feeding schedules. Do an Internet search for "Ezzo" or "BabyWise" to read about the controversy (I won't write about it here). His book really didn't detail a whole lot about how to sleep train, except that crying is involved. Method seems to state that baby is placed in crib at naptime and left to cry, but didn't give much step by step instruction (no time limits given). It seems to be more of a book on parenting philosophy than method. I found this mom's blog much more instructional than the BabyWise book itself. Despite the controversy, I've known several very loving, BabyWise moms that had well-nourished, well-taken-care-of babies. I think they used their own good common sense in addition to any of the BabyWise principles that they found helpful;)

Please stand by...

2009-12-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Please stand by

*beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

Blogging has been on my mind, but not on my crazy schedule. But I do owe a few words to friends & family that have faithfully watched this "channel". So here it is...

Last week:

we tore up our carpet in the living room & put down hardwood floors
in the midst of that project, a new one arrived: our home business had a 94-pg web site to create.
and yet another project: another web site for a homeschool family starting a new business
Thanksgiving dinner with family on Thursday, and Black Friday shopping the next day (although I stayed home and worked)
A baby that never sleeps.

I'm totally and completely exhausted. But I'm also quite excited about the web site projects. When it rains, it pours! This week, I have:

to finish up on the 94-page web site (it's almost done)
create the small business family web site
a cookie exchange & Christmas party for homeschool moms that I'm organizing for Thurs.
a baby that never sleeps.

As for the baby...
She's 7 mos old today. She has entered a new era: she makes a strong assertion for things she likes and does not like. She now knows "what's coming" and anticipates it. Things strike her as funny and she giggles at it. She just seems like an older baby now, and it's amazing to see.

6mo check up

2009-11-17T10:58:00.000-08:00

Above is Georgyana just 9 days after she was born, weighing 2 1/2 lbs. And here she is 6 mos later...

Georgyana after her 6mo checkup.

She weighed 15lbs 14oz and is in the 50% for weight (compared to other 6mth olds)

She was 24+ inches long and is in the 10% for height (compared to other 6mth olds)

She is sitting up with assistance, grasping and playing with toys, starting to rollover (sometimes, or at least attempts it) when on her tummy, babbles or complains conversationally, and makes really loud screeching noises.

2009-11-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

Georgyana, photo taken this morning
(wearing a small prefold with Bummis Super Brite wrap in small, for those diaper enthusiasts, LOL)

Family Photo

2009-11-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

Taken on Sunday, Nov 8th, before church.

Weekly Review Nov 9-13

2009-11-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

My 6yo turned 7 on Wednesday! We surprised her with string cheese (every shopping trip, she asks for string cheese, and we always say "too expensive, we'll NEVER buy you string cheese, LOL). We have another gift for her that we'll give on Saturday with cake & ice cream.

My 6-turned-7yo also was sick on Sunday & Monday. Fever of 103.5, cough, stuffy nose, headache, chills, loss of appetite, nausea/vomiting. All around fun. Now she just has the cough/stuffy nose/sneezing, but otherwise is fine.

My 9yo and 7yo have really gotten into writing this week! My 9yo caught on to the concept of "shooting the breeze", which is something I've tried to teach in it's written form for years. It doesn't matter if it doesn't matter, write it anyway! LOL. Her letters to people have grown conversational. The girls started writing fake newspapers and delivering them this week. It's been fun to see my "I hate writing" daughter write 1/2 a page of stuff. They also continue writing for NanoWriMo, although the amount of writing has dropped significantly once the initial excitement wore off.

3rd grade: We skipped ahead to the Geometry - Lines/Angles section of the Math book, since multiplication/division is bogging us down. She did great on Spelling, learning words like "breakfast" and "heaven", and learned the rule for using -dge vs -ge at the end of words. She's reached the section on Chaucer from Familiar Quotations. She read a story on spiders in Reading.

2nd grade: Finished the chapter on numbers in Math and started money. She did well on Spelling, writing words with long o, long u sounds (mule, June, pole). We read a play together for Reading, and we're falling several pages behind in the workbook (we always get ahead in the stories). She learned tow trucking of cursive l, k, t, b, h in Handwriting.

Georgyana: Age 6 mths 1 week, adjusted age 4mos. Rolled over once this week, from tummy to back. We weren't watching her when she did it; we just noticed that she was no longer on her tummy. She seemed pretty happy and excited after rolling over:) We tried to get her to roll over again, but no such luck! Her cries have turned into more of a talkative complaint (ma-ma-maaaa, mmmbaaaa). She also giggles quite a bit now - very cute!

Weekly Review 11/2 - 11/6

2009-11-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

3rd grade:
Division of 6 and 7 in Math, also played 1 Go Fish game that I made up with multiplication of 2s, 3s, & 5s. Completed 4 quotes in Familiar Quotations. Learning how to read a map and read a story about Peru in Reading. Practiced use of quotation marks in English, and is also participating in NanoWriMo. Spelling words were words ending in -y with the change to -ier, and -iest (tiny, tinier, tiniest).

2nd grade:
Number order and rounding to nearest ten, hundred in Math. Learned cursive b and v in Handwriting. Read an Aesop fable and a story from the Laplands in Reading. Spelling words were -ck & -nk words (chick, skunk). Dictionary useage and libraries in English, and also working on NanoWriMo.

Baby: this week I studied her sleep cycles. I'm not sure if we can change them, we may just be stuck. She starts with several short naps in the a.m. (30min naps if we're lucky, & it takes a long time to settle her down to get her there). And then she takes a much longer nap in the late afternoon, as long as I am holding her. This makes it really difficult to get school done, and difficult to get much else done. But since she is my last child, I'm determined to do what I can for her health (healthy sleep if we can) and enjoy her. That first year doesn't last very long, and their sleep problems are always in a state of flux, anyway. It won't be long before I'll be wondering how to wean a toddler and get her out of my bed, lol!

Me: I have been trying to do NanoWriMo this year, but due to the challenge of constantly holding a baby and loosing sleep (and teaching school, and maybe cooking an occasional dinner or washing a load of laundry, etc.) I've decided to just write for fun without a word goal.

Friday is co-op. Should be fun! (as usual)

Weekly Review Oct 26-30

2009-10-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

A few workbooks were done Mon-Wed, and then we worked on Halloween costumes. Wed night was Trunk or Treating. Thurs-Fri were regular school days.

3rd gr: practiced multiplying 6-10 in Math. She learned about Reference books in English. Did 2-3 lessons in Reading. Did 2 Familiar Quotations copywork. Excelled in Spelling this week with words ending in -y and -y + word endings (ex: try, tries, tried). Read The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson book 5) - her 1st long novel!

2nd gr: Number Order in Math (this was a BIG issue in the past but she seems to have outgrown it and did a great job!). Parts of a book in English. Story about an ugly girl in Reading (I tease the kids about this story because they both hated it). Did awesome in Spelling (silent e words). Learned tow truckletters O & W in cursive Handwriting.

Me: Reading Homeschooling and Loving It (about goal setting), also reading every infant self-help sleep book I can find! Saw Todd Wilson talk about being a winning homeschooling husband + wife team: very good speech, and both my husband & I enjoyed it.

Georgyana: eating, sleeping, pooping - although I'm trying to diagnose her fussiness problems. I've ruled out Eating as the source & have settled on Sleeping as the source of our crankiness (lack of regular sleep). I'm seeing that her overtiredness is causing the screaming fits, her frequent startling out of a sleep, and the short 30-40min sleep cycles during the day (sometimes only 2-10 mins for a nap). As a "sling-wearing, breastfeeding, co-sleeping" mom, I can honestly say that Attachment Parenting practices will NOT solve our problems. I hesitate to ask anyone for advice because then I will get a slew of unhelpful thoughts, LOL (not to sound ungrateful, but...) But if you have successfully Been There, Done That and it doesn't involve "feed on demand, mother's diet, or sleep with your baby", then maybe, just maybe, I'll want to hear it, LOL. I feel like the Walking Encyclopedia of Infant Sleep Books:)

What does Athena, Rubik's Cube, & Pink Bunnies have in common?

2009-10-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

We attended our church's Trunk or Treat. Leading up to it was 3 days of intense costume making. Only a few school workbooks were done this week, but learning happened nonetheless.

Zoiya was a Rubik's Cube. We learned the colors of a Rubik's Cube (blue, green, red, white, yellow, and orange). There is also a cool Rubik's Cube Solver online: http://www.wrongway.org/cube/solve.html But I must note that Z wore her costume all of 5 minutes and then took it off: it was too uncomfy. So if we have more trick or treating to do, we'll need to make it easier to wear!

Alaithia was Athena, Greek goddess of war & wisdom. We learned that her temple was the Parthenon and her shield is called "Aegis" (eegis). Aegis bears the head of Medusa because she helped Perseus slay Medusa, and as thanks, Perseus gave the head of Medusa to Athena. Athena was born when Zeus had a "splitting headache". Another god cleaved Zeus's head with an ax, and out popped Athena full-grown and in battle armor. We also learned that ancient Greeks wore a garment called a "chiton" (kite-un).

And this was Georgie-bunny who handled the noise and excitement very well, but was quite tuckered at the end.

Weekly Review Oct 19-23

2009-10-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling like a pretty crummy homeschool mom lately (and housewife, cook, etc.) But just when I'm thinking public school could do a better job, my kids do something brilliant to save themselves from the yellow school bus. So here are some of our successes this week:

My newly turned 9 year old decided to pick up and read *my* book: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson book 5) and she's almost caught up to me.

My almost 7yo asked what 36 + 36 was, and then said, "wait, I can do it" and she figured out that it was 72 by thinking it out in her head - no paper! (notice that 36+36 takes carrying/regrouping).

We did 2 days of bookwork: math, grammar, reading, and handwriting. Then we did 2 days of Math & a Lapbook on Butterflies. I printed off all the mini books & the 9yo was able to do most of the book by herself with very little instruction. The 7yo, though, needed lots of handholding and encouragement, and we had a very bad day of fit throwing (but this seems to be the norm lately). Her 2nd day with the lapbook went better, but still required a lot of mom attention. We're almost finished with the lapbook and then I'll share photos.

We had co-op on Friday. The 7yo listened to Squirrel Nutkin in Peter Rabbit class; she also made an owl puppet, tried honeycomb, and took home some beeswax. She learned about muscle in All About Me class, seeing and touching (with gloves) raw meat, fat, and bones (ewww). She made a cool project in Lego Robotics (can't remember what though - Mom looses points for forgetting, lol). I think she learned about the first airplane and the Wright bros in Heros class. The 9yo built a newspaper bridge in Odyssey of the Mind, built something for Lego Robotics class (again, can't remember, ugh!), worked on a dance routine for Drama/Dance, and continues to work on Christmas songs and singing skills in Choir.

Weekly Review Oct 12-16

2009-10-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

3rd gr:
The turning-9-yr old learned adding/subtracting like fractions (same denominator), comparing fractions, and mixed number fractions (ex: 3 1/2). In Reading, she has read some early American history themes. In English she is practicing the use of dictionaries, glossaries, and reference books, also parts of a book. She aced her Spelling test with words ending in -y (cry, my, crazy, lady, pony). She continued Familiar Quotations copywork.

2nd gr:
She learned subtraction with renaming (regrouping, borrowing), and how to check her answers by turning it into an addition problem. Spelling was review. In Reading, she always reads several stories ahead of her workbook, so we did several pages orally to catch up to the latest story. She learned cursive k and r in Handwriting. English: verb tenses (past & now), irregular verb tenses.

Both:
We toured the local Fire Station and learned about fire safety. At home,the kids wrote about fire safety and made up an escape plan. Grandma brought birthday presents early, which was a bookbag they can color and a Make & Believe Storybook Kit. The kids spent the next 2 days writing stories:)

Georgyana:
Now stays awake longer,plays with her hands, munches on her thumb, smiles, coos, and giggles. She fights sleep so she can stay up and socialize.

Baby Needs - updated

2009-10-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Georgyana is now size 3/6 mos, but I put her in some big sizes too (6/9 mos).

Needs (used items are preferred, if possible - but not used diapers, LOL):

Size 3 diapers: prefer Drybabies (Meijer) and Pampers Baby Dry
Baby Monitor
vibrating bouncy seat
attachable car seat toy
sling (mine is getting holes & has outdated rings)
Size 6/9 mos baby swaddling - or blankets large enough for swaddling (swaddling blankets are way too small for swaddling)
thick blankets that can be put on the floor for playing, diaper changing
Hats! 3/6 mos size or 6/9 mos size

Handmade, hand-knit/crocheted, or sewn items are especially awesome and loved:)

2009-2010 School Year

2009-10-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

**Work in Progress** Will update as year progresses

School Books:
Alaithia: BJU Math 3, BJU English 3, BJU Reading 3, BJU Spelling 3, Writing With Ease with Aesop's Fables, Familiar Quotations, AWANA T&T Book 2

Zoiya: BJU Math 2, BJU English 2, BJU Reading 2, BJU Spelling 2, Writing With Ease with Aesop's Fables, AWANA Sparks Book 3

Field Trips:
Van Hoosen Farm Museum - how children lived, worked, & played in olden days
Seven Ponds Nature Center - Zoiya took a class about Beavers, Alaithia took a class about Native Americans and how they used nature for their daily living needs.
Porter's Apple Orchard
Fire Station - fire safety

Co-op Classes / Extra Curricular:
Soccer Camp - 5 days
2 VBS programs

Alaithia's co-op classes: Odyssey of the Mind, Lego Robotics, Dance/Drama, Choir
Zoiya's co-op classes: Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter), All About Me (human body), Hero Classics (famous people in history), Lego Robotics

Writing

2009-10-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Z had to write a story for her reading assignment a few days ago, about a lost lamb. Here is her story:

I lost my baby lamb one day. I shirley couldn't find it but to my surprise it was in a pokey bush!

And she drew a picture of a lake, field, and pokey bush. I thought it was a cute story.

A note was passed in class yesterday and it caused quite a disruption. It was written by A. and this is what it said:

afterschool howabout we ask mama if we can watch Lord of the Rings. it is the only movie we can watch. mama won't let us watch Harry Potter the 3rd. Wright yes or no in the box

She only writes when secretly concocting devious plans, LOL. And notice, she capitalizes movie names correctly.

Weekly Review 9/28-10/2

2009-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm a week late and a dollar short:) Here's our weekly review:

3rd grader: She finished the chapter on Measurement in Math, started Fractions. She aced her Spelling list in 3 days. In English, she learned about verbs, linking verbs, & present/past/future tense verbs. She completed 4 days of Familiar Quotations copywork, including "The great god Pan is dead!" by Plutarch, which has me intrigued because it rings familiar with the Percy Jackson series...She put much effort into skimping out on her Writing assignment and then I didn't push the issue (yeah, we need to work on that!) She wrote a birthday card to Daddy for one of her assignments. She read a play about Paul Revere in Reading.

2nd grader: She finished the chapter on measurement in Math. She had a temper tantrum over her Spelling list, and I gave up on it for this week. I think she is frustrated by having her spelling mistakes set in stone in writing. So next week, we'll do the same list but use letter tiles (which aren't permanent like writing is!) She read a story about a boy with allergies in Reading. She also seems to do Writing assignments in her Reading & English book without a hitch (yay!). She also wrote a birthday card to Daddy for his birthday. In English, she learned about commas in a series, and finished the unit on nouns. In Handwriting, she learned the letters u, y, and i (she loves learning cursive, so far...)

Science & History: not so much, LOL.

Field trips: Apple Orchard. Very nice place. It was a rainy, muddy day. Before this trip, I had been depressed all week because motherhood seems quite difficult right now. But after lugging a baby and 2 adventuresome girls through an apple orchard made of mud and animals, and various challenges, I felt very Empowered! LOL. If I can climb in and out of a haywagon with a baby attached, then nothing can stop me!
We also went to a Clothing Swap: we picked up oodles of clothes and I found a donor for my oodles of breastmilk, yay! It's a beautiful story of a foster mom that saved a preemie's life through breastmilk donations - incredible! I'm so blessed to have been able to pump breastmilk for 2 mos and succeed in getting my baby to the breast; how even more awesome that I could contribute the milk to a baby in need:)

Weekly Review 9/14-18

2009-09-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

We took a field trip to Van Hoosen Farm Museum on Thursday. The kids were able to experience what life was like for children living on a farm in the olden days. Photos above - I also have friends' photos in the mix. It was easier to do it that way than to clean and sort the photos:) My kids are the ones with the matching haircuts, LOL.

Monday was a school day plus a Writing Workshop for homeschool parents that evening. Tuesday was Georgyana's last eye dr appt for a long time - her premature eyes are now fully developed, and she won't need to see an eye dr for 6 months! Wednesday was our dog's grooming appt (so 2 full trips - back and forth - phew!!), Georgyana's 4mth checkup, and AWANA night. It was a full day in the car. Thursday was the field trip. Friday was the vet appt and a quick trip to the library, and then school. We had 2 days of book work and 1 field trip = 3 days of school this week.

3rd grade:
In Math, the 8yo finished the chapter on telling time, and started measurement (ounces/pounds). In English, she practiced past-tense verbs. She did 2 reading assignments and Familiar Quotation copywork assignments this week. For Writing, she wrote her own narration of the Aesop story, the Fox and the Grapes.

2nd grade:
In Math, she worked on measurements (cups/pints/quarts/gallons), and inches. In Reading, she read about Billy Sunday and practiced comprehension and the aw sound in her workbook. She is continuing cursive handwriting with a review section in the book. In English, she is learning about nouns, and plural nouns.

The Week Ahead

2009-09-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine does a weekly preview on her blog and I thought it was a great idea! So here is mine:

On Sunday: I worked from 1pm - 12am and finally finished that 90+ page web site rough draft. Oh, I'm achey and tired!!

Monday: Homeschool Writing Workshop for parents
Tuesday: Georgyana's last - yes, LAST - eye dr appt with the preemie specialist. Now she should graduate to a regular pediatric optomologist. I'm hoping to find one close to home.
Wednesday: Take 3 kids + 1 dog to L.O., drop the dog off at the groomers, take Georgyana to the pediatrician for the 4mth checkup. Go home. Go back to L.O. to pick the dog up and then rush home to get kids to AWANA. Fun day.
Thursday: field trip to an old farm / museum. Kids will learn what it was like living in the olden days.
Friday: dog goes to the vet
Saturday: visit my husband's aunt & grandma, see their new house.

I also need to do: school, make changes & get the final web site done, catch up on laundry (have not done any laundry for 1.5 weeks since I started the web project), and try to catch up on sleep. I'm also getting a cold, yuck. So add - swallow large quantities of vitamin C to my list.

Weekly Review

2009-09-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

Co-op started Friday! Our classes were:

6yo: Peter Rabbit, All About Me (human body), Hero Classics (famous people in history), and Lego Robotics
8yo: Odyssey of the Mind, Lego Robotics, Dance / Drama, and Choir

Here's what we accomplished in our school:

3rd grade/8 yo:
5-min Math Facts: multiplying 0's, 1's, 2's
Math: telling time to the minute, before/after (minute), calendar, quarter to/quarter after.
Reading: some story about Ben Franklin I think?
English: Verbs, Verb Present-tense
Spelling: double consonant words (candy, plenty, thirty, etc.)
Copywork: Familiar Quotations

2nd grade/6yo:
5-min Math Facts: adding 0's, 1's, 2's, 3's
Math: Measurement (temperature, ounces, cups/pints/quarts/gallons)
Reading: Billy Sunday, consonant blends in workbook
English: Nouns
Spelling: words that end in ss, ff, ll, zz
Handwriting: learned cursive f and reviewed previously learned letters

Kids also worked on:
Writing: Wrote for our Time Capsule, wrote a letter to g'pa for G'parents Day, narration/dictation from WWE Year 2 Week 1.
English songs: noun, verb, pronoun, adjective
Began AWANA (Bible memorization program)
Science (reviewing past lessons on chemistry)
Watched Clash of the Gods: Medusa, and Clash of the Titans (movie from 1981) in continuing our Greek myth studies.

We schooled for 3 days, but it was a full 3 days:)

2009-09-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

"I'm having the kind of day that would make St. Francis of Assisi kick babies."
-Douglas Adams (I believe this was from one of the Dirk Gently books...)

A day in the life of...

7:45am Baby wakes me with smiles. We go downstairs, nurse, & I begin the 92-pg web site.
9:30am I rock! Got half of my work goal done for the day. Hollar for kids to make their breakfast, send dh out the door for work.
10am made important phone call (dental insurance), sent kids to mailbox
10:15am kids snuck off upstairs, drag them down for school.
11am 8yo finishes up 2 subjects and convinced me to give them a snack break
11:15am Snack break. 6yo is tossing chips into the air for 8yo to catch, but lands on the floor. 8yo is angry because she keeps trying to catch her snack, but isn't getting any. Chips are all over the floor. I yell & insist they pick them up. They can't, there's spiders!
11:45am The floor is still a mess, but got most of it cleaned up. Heading back to school. But wait! The 6yo has to use the bathroom. I nurse the baby for the 10th time today & assist the 8yo.
6yo yells - "The poop rag stuck to the wall! I need help!" I'm thinking, "What on earth? This can't be happening..."

I enter the bathroom, and there it is - high on the wall is a toilet paper wad, poop side stuck to the wall. You see, the 6yo is afraid of clogging toilets. If she puts the tp in the toilet, it might clog and she's not quite done with it yet. So...sitting on the toilet, she aims her tp wad for the garbage sitting on the sink, but misses. The tp wad sails up through the air and sticks to the side of the wall. I start to yell, but...seeing that wad on the wall sends me into hysterics. I die laughing. The 6yo is instructed to climb on the sink, remove said wad to the toilet, and clean the wall.

I continued to work with the 8yo, while the 6yo cleaned. The 6yo comes back down and so I bounce between them, baby now a permanent fixture on my chest. In fact, I keep trying to put the baby down in the crib, but within a very short time, she's up and screaming and only calmed by one thing...and it's NOT the pacifier.

1:30pm We're reading our science book, but the 6yo had snuck off and started reading her Reading Textbook, which she refuses to put down. Sigh. Well, it's still school, so instead of arguing, I allow her to read her textbook, while the 8yo and I read Science. The science book mentions that atoms are neither created nor destroyed. So I say, "I think this relates to nuclear power, let's find out!" and the 8yo says, "nooooo...." and heads off to the bathroom (sheesh).
2pm we are finished with school. We start to gather supplies for co-op tomorrow, but someone destroyed the package of colored pencils (and that is my #1 pet peeve...even more than poopy tp on my wall! The senseless destruction of office products).
2:30pm Supplies are mostly gathered. Baby nurses (of course), kids run off to play. The house is totally trashed. But at least it's quiet in here! I still need to run to the store for diapers (almost out!), make kids lunch, finish getting co-op stuff together, and complete my work goal for the day. My house is begging to be cleaned, so maybe we'll try to do a quick pick up in each room.

wORDLESS wEDNESDAY

2009-09-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY

SAD

Goals...

2009-09-09T00:59:00.000-07:00

One of the things that came out of the time capsule activity with the kids was a few defined goals. The 2nd grader wrote that she'd like to learn Cursive Handwriting this year. Yay, because we are already off to a great start on that goal! She also decided that she wants to be an artist (oops, I hadn't planned on teaching art this year!) The 3rd grader wrote that she enjoys singing (yay, co-op choir will fufill that), she wants to learn computer programming this year (hmmm....any suggestions on teaching that to a 9 yo?), and wants to be an explorer when she grows up. I think the explorer thing should be easy to do. Hey, there's the door - go explore something! lol.

First Day of School Review

2009-09-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

First Day of School

We've technically already started school, but have been slowly adding in subjects. We did some things different today, because it is the First Day of Public School in Michigan.

3rd grade
Math: telling time to the minute, time elapsed
Spelling: Week 22 words with double consonants in the middle (sixty, candy). Pretest on Spelling City.com and games.

2nd grade
Reading: consonant blends, write how you can help people, story comprehension (Samuel and God calling his name)
Spelling: words that end in ss, ff, ll, zz. Spelling City.com pretest and games
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears Cursive learned letter "f"

We watched President Obama's speech to school children, and reviewed what he spoke about. I took narrations of what they remembered from his speech. We talked about setting educational goals. Then, we wrote about this for our first day of school time capsule. I asked the kids to write one thing they like, one thing they hope to learn this year, one thing they would like to do in life, and then pick one favorite thing to write down (color, animal, whatever you want!). They wrote it themselves (I helped with spelling), and then we shared eachother's writing. Then I sealed it up in an envelope with the directions to Not Open Until June 2010.

We ended our school day with a quick 5 minute timed Math Fact Practice. Alaithia's (3rd gr) practice was multiplying 1s and 0s. Zoiya's (2nd gr) practice was adding 0s, 1s, & 2s. They completed 50 problems in less than 5 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

(Note: 4mos old birth age, 2mos old adjusted age)

Weekly Review Aug 24-28

2009-08-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here is our week in review...
3rd Grade
Below, my 8yo did the Problem Solving station, which involved filling in a multiplication/division puzzle. This was hard, but we worked on it together. She spent most of the week on mult/div, took the chapter test, and started the chapter on Telling Time.

She also did 2 weeks of spelling (scored 100% on week 19's pretest, so we moved on to week 20). We started Writing, using Writing With Ease as our guide. We did a little copywork & narration from Year 1, and Year 2 this week.

2nd grade:
In math, the 6yo worked on Addition with Renaming. She applied this to money (pennies, dimes), and also practiced estimation with adding (shown below). And yes, the kids write "help" on their pages when they want me to help them. I don't know why. It is a reoccuring theme, so you'll be seeing a lot of this throughout the year:)

She started 2nd grade spelling. Week 1 was a review of consonant and vowel sounds.

The 6yo also participated in Writing With Ease activities for Years 1 and 2. I'll probably start them both somewhere in Year 2. We also started a new subject: English songs. Every day we sang BJU's English songs for Nouns, Verbs, and Pronouns. I'm still trying to figure out the tune to Adjectives...

We've been studying ancient Greek myths. The 8yo has read 2 stories told from Hades' point of view - Have a Hot Time, Hades and Phone Home, Persephone. These stories are written by the same author as Dragon Slayer Academy. We've also been watching a series on TV called Clash of the Gods. So far, we've watched Zeus, Hercules, Hades, and The Minotaur. I've skipped through the occasional section because there is a lot of...um...adult themes in Greek mythology! I've been tying some of these myths into the world that the early Christian church lived in, and reoccuring themes such as the flood, heaven/hell, etc.

The baby is having some days of constant wakefulness/nursing, and alternate days of sleeping. Yesterday was a sleepy day. She actually slept in her crib for over an hour. This is a rare occurance. It was nice. I cleaned my house and did laundry. Then the girls had a friend over to play. The baby slept blissfully on and off through most of it.

Wordless Wednesday (wasp nest)

2009-08-19T09:41:00.001-07:00