The Week That was Short {Week 10}

This week was a short week.  We did CC on Monday like usual and homeschool Tuesday through Thursday like usual.  But Friday we took off to go camping... even if it was just for the night.

Monday  CC.  Long day.  Again.  Ugh.

Tuesday  Tuesday was my Mom's birthday.  She turned 71!!!  So I rushed to Target at 8am for some essentials plus some pretty flowers for my mom.  Which means that we got started late with school.  Oh well.  Seems like a troubling theme in our school.

Here is Cade pretending to be deep in thought about something in math.  Notice the Nerf gun sitting nearby?  It was questionable whether actual school was happening here.

Wednesday  I woke up grumpy on Wednesday morning.  But we managed to get school done anyway.  AND we got rain on Wednesday, which is completely not homeschool related. 

Also not homeschool related are the chores that the kids are doing now.  Here is Claire happily vacuuming (this was Jack's job, by the way; she commandeered it from him)

Thursday  We started on time Thursday (hallelujah!) and managed to get quite a bit done in the morning.  And that was a good thing because I had a LOT to do Thursday afternoon to get ready for our camping trip on Friday.

How do you stay organized?  Because I know you're dying to know, here are some organizational tools I use to keep us (somewhat) on-track and organized.

I use Homeschool Tracker Online to keep up with what assignments the kids have done and still need to do this year.  Here is an example of what a detailed listing of weekly assignments a kid (in this case, Cade) needs to complete. 

I got tired of hearing, "How much school do I have left today?"  So I typed up these simple lists for each kid. I then put them in page protectors so the kids could mark out with a dry erase marker once they had completed that subject for the day.

And here is our daily schedule each week.  We follow this pretty much to the letter to keep us on track.  If a kid hasn't completed a subject in the allotted time (usually because they were playing around and not concentrating), then it'll be finished as "homework"  later after everyone else is done with school.

General Thoughts  Regarding trying to fit all of our schooling in to normal, doable hours... Well, I think I've managed to find a few minutes during the day that was not being used in a productive way.  So at least this week, we managed to get Essentials done too.  Which is a miracle. 

I spoke with Cade's Essentials tutor about some of the problems we have been having.  And she was very helpful in a couple of different ways.  She reminded me that I can scale the work to what we can handle.  The more advanced students, who have been in the class multiple years, can handle more work.  But since we are first year students, it's OK if we're not doing the same level of work.  Also, she gave some practical tips on working with Cade.  One of the problems was that I felt like I was doing some of the work myself (in regards to proofing and editing Cade's writing).  She offered that it might feel like that for a while.  I'm MODELING how to edit and proofread for Cade.  So it's OK that I am doing some of the work alongside Cade.  At some point in the future, Cade will understand what is necessary when editing his writing and will be able to do all of it himself.  He's just not to that point yet.

And Scott reminded me of this first semester's goals:

1. to get out of the semester alive
2. to want to do homeschooling again next semester

And the goal of this entire school year is to want to do it again next school year.  So pushing ourselves too hard and making ourselves miserable just to finish assignments the way I think they should be done is NOT in our best interests.  The kids will get there.  They'll eventually be writing, thinking, problem-solving, etc how I want them to.  They're just not there yet, and it's not our goal to make sure they're at that place by the end of this semester.  Or the end of the year. 

Grace: it's what's especially for homeschooling moms.

That week that I had another spiffy name for the week {week 9}

Monday  CC was a long day (as usual).  But I was able to sit in Jack's class.  And his tutor is phenomenal.  I have told her over and over again how wonderful she is.  I was able to retain most of the information that was presented in class and never got bored once.

Tuesday  Tuesday was kind of rough. Bad attitudes abounded, and there was some defiant behavior as well. 

Wednesday  Wednesday was a lot better.  Attitudes were better, and as a treat, Scott stayed home and worked from home.  This is probably why attitudes were better!  Scott was able to see some of what I deal with on a daily basis and was able to address the kids in the moment.  He was also able to offer some suggestions on how to do a few things differently -- Scott IS the idea man.

Wednesday started out a little cool (temperature-wise) upstairs in the morning, so the boys were snuggled under a blanket. 

Of course Claire couldn't stand to not be a part of the action... (check out the boys' faces in response to Claire joining them)

Thursday Thursday was a little wild and wooly to start out with.  But we managed to "simmer down now" and get to work.  Here's Claire and I working on her math:

Jack was in rare form on Thursday, cutting up and being crazy.  He apologized at the end of the school day (unprompted by me).  So I take it that *his apology is a sign that he cares somewhat about his behavior.   :)

Friday  Bad attitude.  Kid apologized for said bad attitude (without prompting from me!!!)  But this episode with this kid put me in a bad mood (I know... I shouldn't allow my kid that much control over my emotions).  I was just done.  D-O-N-E.  But Cade and I still had Essentials (grammar and writing) to do.  Sigh.  And a good smack to the forehead for good measure.

And because we needed one more picture...

General Thoughts  I'm still having a hard time cramming everything in.  We've already dropped Latin for the boys.  I've also temporarily (or maybe not temporarily) dropped a formal writing program with Jack (and Claire had been tagging along).  All the other subjects seem to be non-negotiable (Bible, math, grammar, spelling, etc).  We are doing as much as we can together (science, history, Bible, CC Foundations memory work). 

But Cade and I are still continually working past 3pm most days, which is exhausting for both of us.  Cade has the most work to do of all three kids, and while most of it is fairly independent work, the subjects we are supposed to be doing together, but which have been getting dropped, are grammar and writing.  Which we are paying for at CC.  In the eloquent words of Charlie Brown:  ARRRGGGG!  Something has to give. 

Cade is adamant about not doing any school work on the weekends.  And I'm a pretty big fan of that idea.  BUT.  We may have to move Essentials (the grammar and writing portions of Cade's work) to the weekend.  Because right now, it's hardly being given attention.  And that is a travesty of a mockery of a sham.

And because I like to sometimes always waste time on the internet, go here to view high-speed shots (still & video) of dogs shaking water off of themselves.  Really.  Go watch.  And enjoy.

{week 8}

We thoroughly enjoyed our week off last week.  We got the kids' pictures taken (see previous post) on Monday.  On Thursday, the kids, my mom, and my mother-in-law who was visiting for the week, went to a local farm and pumpkin patch.  It was great!  We got to feed some sheep and goats as well as a longhorn and its baby.

We also went on a hay ride around the farm:

We got to each pick out a pumpkin to take home:

It took the kids FOREVER to pick out their pumpkins.  

Then we ate lunch:

Lastly, I made everyone take some pictures:

Well.  After taking a week off for a fall break, it was mighty difficult to get back in the groove of school.  On to this past week:

Monday  Classical Conversations made for a long, grueling day. I'm sometimes appalled and most often annoyed by other people's kids.  I do realize that my kids are not angels.  They are not perfect and they annoy me frequently, too.  But GEEZ.  Some of the kids at CC are wild.  And don't listen or respect to authority.  It's really frustrating and annoying to be around some of these kids for hours.  BUT.  The information we are learning and the style in which we are learning it are worth the annoyance.  Barely.

Tuesday  Tuesday started off kind of rough.  We started the day pretty much on time.  But one kid had a terrible attitude.  And it started to affect us all.  Somehow things got better and we got on with our day. We cut school after lunch time.  Between the rainy day outside and our attitudes, we just needed to be done.

Wednesday Oh Wednesday.  Wednesday started out with such promise. And then bad attitudes and frustration crept into our house.  And oh boy.  Explosions happened.  It got ugly. There was crying and gnashing of teeth.  And that was just me.  We were done by lunch again.

Thursday  Thursday was so much better.  Frustration started to creep in, but we took some measures to head it off (think deep breathing, praying, and taking a 5 minute break).  One of the frustrating exercises included looking possibly misspelled words up in the dictionary.

Here is Jack looking up said words in MY DICTIONARY from when I was a kid.  Man.  I got sooo tired of hearing my Dad tell me, "Go look it up in the dictionary," when I would ask him how to spell a word.  But.  It's definitely a useful skill to know.

To review our CC memory work, I've come up with a review/bribery game that has served us well.  I've laminated cards based on the memory work and dumped them in a basket.  The kids pick out a card; if they answer it correctly, they get a Mike & Ike.  The kids are always excited to review their memory work, which makes this Mom happy.

Friday  Friday was good.  We got started a little late (a trend I don't like) but managed to catch up pretty quickly. 

Here is Claire  making up her own math problems in some downtime.:

Here Jack is working with manipulatives during a math lesson.

Did you catch the facial expressions in the last two pics?  I think my kids are getting sick of me taking pictures of them.  :)

"School" pictures

Since the kids are not in public school this year, they won't automatically be getting school pictures taken. So I scheduled a session at the local photo studio so we could create our own school pictures!

Cade:

Jack:

Claire:

And all three clowns:

{week 7}

♫ Everybody's working for the weekend. ♫  (Remember the Saturday Night Live skit with Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley set to Loverboy's song?  Here's a little reminder if you need one:

So hysterical.  Here is a link to the skit if you've never seen it.  Do me a favor and go watch it if you've never seen it.  Heck.  Even if you've seen it before, go watch it.  It's classic.)

Anyway, what I'm about to say has absolutely nothing to do with that skit.  Nothing.  Get your mind back on this blog.  Hello?  Hello?!?

OK.  You're back.  Whew.  Thought I lost you to Chris Farley's sweet moves.  So why are we working for the weekend?  Because there's NO SCHOOL NEXT WEEK! Yep, I made the schedule, and we ain't doin' school next week. Yippee for fall break!


MONDAY  CC this week was a little different.  One of the kids' tutors felt very sick after she got to CC, and so I stepped in for her at the last minute.  Of course this meant that I was completely unfamiliar with the material I was presenting to the kids.  But we muddled through (the tutor was still in the room with the class and was able to show me hand motions from the back of the room).  Leading a class is much harder than it looks.  It's easy to be an armchair tutor and think of how you would teach the class if you were leading it.  But man, oh man. When you're up there, it's a whole different ball of wax.  Plus, the class I tutored this week consists of 5, 6 and 7 year olds (mostly boys).  They don't exactly sit still for you.

I'm beginning to realize the older I get that I am an introvert.  This doesn't mean that I'm a wallflower and incredibly shy.  It means that I need downtime (away from people) to recharge my battery.  (Scott, on the other hand, is a total extrovert.  He gets charged up by being with lots of people.)

After leading the morning class (from approx 9:30-12:00), having lunch in a loud-ish lunch room with my kids and the rest of CC for an hour, and then sitting in a two-hour let's-cram-your-brain-with-all-things-grammar class, I was exhausted by 3pm on Monday.  If I didn't like CC and the things we (my kids and I) are learning so much, I'd be very tempted to quit and save the money.

TUESDAY Not much to say about this day.  We started a little late (my fault -- I was sleepy in the morning) but managed to get caught up later in the morning.  It was a very average day.  Things weren't great, but they weren't horrible either.

WEDNESDAY  We actually started on time Tuesday!  And it felt GOOD.  Unfortunately, it was also the day that the biweekly cleaning lady comes to clean the upstairs.  So we were a little disrupted by her (which is fine, because I'm just thankful the upstairs gets cleaned!). We are working on finding someone who can clean on Mondays since the kids and I are gone almost the entire day at CC.

By lunchtime, though, many mildly irritating kid things happened to make for a hugely irritated mommy.  :(  No way was I going to treat my kids kindly when I was in that kind of mood.  So school was pretty much done at that point.

A high point of Wednesday was Jack reading (and finishing!) a book.  He is a very reluctant reader.  Did I mention that he is reluctant?  It seems that, if a book is too thick or has too many words on a page, Jack will refuse to read it.   While the book Jack read on Wednesday was by no means a large book, it was a chapter book that was fairly lengthy.  And what's more, he enjoyed it.  Yea Jack!

A kind of scary moment also happened on Wednesday.  I was sitting out side my friend's house while the boys had their piano lessons.  I received a call from my mom, and she asked when I thought I'd be home.  Come to find out, my mom wasn't feeling well and needed to go to the ER.  But, my mom being extremely stubborn, she insisted I take her to the nearby fire station for them to do an EKG and monitor her heart (which was palpitating).  Against my better judgement, I took her to the fire station.  The picture below is of the kids while we were waiting for her to be checked out at the fire station. I was very proud of them; they behaved extremely well.  I had to leave them when we first got to the station so that I could walk my mom back to the ambulance. When I came back to the car, after the paramedics took my mom into the ambulance, the kids were reading library books out of the book bag (one of the errands I was going to run was to the library) quietly.  I was floored.  I half expected them to be pulling each others' hair and having Smackdown 2013 in the back of the van. 

Mom is fine; nothing showed up on the EKG at the fire station.  Later that day, she went to the doctor to have blood work done, and she already had an echo-cardiogram scheduled for Friday (she's under the care of a cardiologist already).   She's following up with her doctors to see if her medicine needs to be adjusted or if there's something else going on.

THURSDAY  Thursday was swell: great attitudes, everyone quietly working on their stuff, and minimal squabbling.  Makes a mom so happy! (Claire is "hiding" behind the white privacy folder so she didn't have to look at Jack)

FRIDAY   Last day of the week.  Woot woot!  Good attitudes abounded.  And we were even ahead of schedule, working diligently and getting things done (with excellence) quickly.


Scott asked me some State-of-the-Homeschool type questions this week, and it made me reflect on the bigger picture.  How have attitudes changed in the 7 weeks that we've been homeschooling?  Are we in a routine?  Would I still do this (homeschooling), knowing what I know now, again?

Attitudes, for the most part, have improved.  There are days, and there are moments, where that's not true.  But we are all allowed to have those moments, right?  Even as adults, we have bad days.  Days where we don't wanna do what we need to do.  As long as those moments don't last too long and affect other people, I'm ok with that.  The kiddo that was having the hardest time controlling their attitude has improved quite a bit.  So success!

We have established a routine.  I've had to change the schedule up several times ("Mom, I don't want to do math first thing in the morning anymore."), but we still aim to start school at the same time every day, have snack and lunch times about the same time every day, etc.  We always start out with Bible study time to get the day started off the right way and to reflect our priorities as a family.  The kids know not to ask about playing video games or TV until after everyone has finished school.  The kids also know what to expect from each day and what is expected from them.

Yes, I would still do this thing (homeschooling), knowing what I know now.  Let me tell you:  it's tough.  Homeschooling is tough.  It's humbling, it's a sacrifice, it's exhausting.  But what in life that is of great value is not a struggle?  Nothing!  If it's valuable, chances are 99.9% that there will be some struggle and effort involved.  While I try not to act like a martyr, I recognize the struggles, and (sometimes) embrace them.  This is my life now.  This is part of who I am.  I don't have the "leisure time" I did last year when the kids were in public school.  I no longer have the luxury of meeting friends for lunch, reading a book, or running errands during the day.  Homeschooling is much like a paid job (without the pay, unfortunately).