That Week We Went to the Art Museum {week 19}

Monday  We went to CC on Monday (our normal campus).  And for whatever reason, it didn't seem to be a long, exhausting day like it usually is.  Possibly because I tried to make more of an effort to like it.

Tuesday  I got started on time Tuesday, but one of my kids didn't.  So he lost game privileges for Saturday.  The kids need to be dressed and ready to go in their seats by 8am or they lose tv or video game time.  And since said kid wasn't dressed and had not brushed his teeth, he lost out.  Which also means he was in a terrible mood to start school.  And had a terrible attitude.  So we battled that for most of the morning.  Bah humbug.

Remarkably, we ended up getting quite a bit done in the morning, despite the above difficulty.

I also spent some time on Tuesday thinking about how workboxes could work in our homeschool.  I don't want it to be a burden to me (as traditional workboxes can be) but be a blessing and help streamline how assignments are given.  Kind of a step between what we are doing now and just giving the kids a list at the beginning of the week.

I bought the drawer cart below to try and figure this workbox stuff out with just Cade at first.  Once we find a good rhythm, then I can roll it out (no pun intended) to the other kids.

Wednesday  We got started on time (!) Wednesday morning with decent attitudes. 

Here is Cade working on spelling.

And Jack working on math. (never mind the stuffed elephant in the forefront)

I am amazed at the amount of hand-holding that my kids need.  With Claire, I expect it.   She's 6.5 years old.  But with my boys, (10.5 and 8.5), I expect a little bit more.  It's disheartening to realize that they can't work independently.

I ended up exploding late in the night, spewing lots of angst and frustration all over Scott regarding homeschool.  Which led to...

Thursday  Scott had a Come to Jesus meeting with the kids to start out Thursday morning. There are multiple problems we are facing in our homeschool, and they are causing me quite a bit of stress apparently.  I try and keep calm every day while I'm working with the kids, but the cumulative stress built to an exploding point Wednesday evening.  Evidently I'm not dealing well with the stress.  Which isn't good for me (or anybody else in my household).

After Scott talked with the kids, attitudes were (magically) better and the day was not rough or frustrating at all.  Wish every day could be like that.  It was actually ... enjoyable.

Cade drew the picture below to help me deal with any frustrating days that come along.  :)

And then I randomly found this on someecards website.  This is me.

Friday  We went to the Dallas Museum of Art on Friday with a group of friends from CC.  I had a blast!  The kids?  Not so much.  But who cares!  I got to see real live art!  And what was cool was that we had a live tour guide walking us to see pieces and artists that we've studied in the last several weeks at CC.

One of the painters and styles we've studied is Monet and impressionism. 

This one isn't a Monet (it's Camille Pissarro) but another fabulous example of impressionism.  Specifically pointillism.

We also got to see paintings that are done in the same style as Rembrandt. Unfortunately, the DMA doesn't have any Rembrandts.  But these were still stunning.

I won't bore you with any more pictures of paintings.  By 11, the kids were tired and hungry, so we left the museum (did you know the DMA is free now?!?) and went across the street to Klyde Warren Park.   It had a NYC kind of feel to the park and was pretty neat.  The weather was phenomenal!  We ate lunch there and chatted with some other CC friends.  The kids chased pigeons around the park.

There were numerous food trucks lined up so we looked at all that they offered.  The kids decided to get some cookies and ice cream.

 

We had a blast!

General Thoughts We had fantastic days Thursday and Friday.  It renewed my desire to homeschool.  I know all days won't be that great.  But if I can have those great days mixed in more frequently with the so-so and bad days, that would be great.  God, are you listening?

That Week That Was 5 Days Long {week 18}

Monday  Even though it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, we still went to CC.  But that was a good thing because I got to talk in the morning with a mentor there who is a veteran homeschooler and veteran CCer.  Lori encouraged me and made suggestions and was extraordinarily helpful.  While I was emotionally exhausted after spilling my heart and tears out to her, the time spent with her was worth the exhaustion I felt the rest of the day.

Here is a terrible picture I took during Essentials (Cade's and my afternoon class).  We were all standing up to take a break and were listening to some riddles/stories and trying to solve them.  I think I caught Cade eating a mint.  And the boy in the back on the left (Josh) totally photobombed the picture.

Tuesday  Tuesday started well.  We got quite a bit done in the morning.  Here are the kids working on individual subjects (Claire - math, Jack - logic, Cade, writing (Essentials)

After lunch, though, things spiraled downhill.  By 3:15 PM, all three kids were in separate bedrooms until Daddy came home.  I was tired of the bickering, the picking on each other, the fighting, and ultimately, the crying.  I managed to keep my cool the whole time (yea me!)

Wednesday  Wednesday we had an impromptu day of NO SCHOOL.  I spent Wednesday at a neighboring CC campus to check things out.  My friend Lori suggested I do this to make sure I didn't want to change where the kids and I do CC.  The other campus that I visited is MUCH MUCH smaller than our current campus (which is HUGE).  The smaller campus has its pros and cons.  So now I'm torn about where to do CC.  The women at the other campus were SO warm, welcoming, and friendly; I felt like I belonged.  And the kids seemed to be friendly kids.  But I do have some concerns about the other campus that I won't go into here.

When I told the kids that I was going to visit another campus because we might possibly go there instead, they were dismayed.  The kids didn't want to go to another campus.  They argued that they do have friends at our current campus and are very happy there.  Very interesting. 

Thursday Thursday was a c-c-c-c-cold day.  So nice that I didn't have to send my kids out in the wee hours of the morning to catch the bus in the (what felt like) sub-zero weather!

We started on time and had quite a bit to do since we were playing a little catch up from missing Wednesday.

So

By lunch time, my patience was at a precariously low level. And by 1PM, I had made a child cry (they were very frustrated).  So there's that.

Friday Ahhh.  Friday.  Finally.  We got off to a slightly late start (I met with a friend at 7AM for an hour at Starbucks), but that was OK.  We got a lot done in the morning.  Kids were pretty wired during lunch.  And then it was back to work.  Cade and I got hard-core focused on Essentials.  Which was like pulling teeth.  I have to hold his hand so much, and I hate it.  I want him to be more self-directed and willing to do the assignments on his own.  GAH.  So frustrating!

General Thoughts  I really need to change how I give my kids their assignments.  I still need to look more into the workbox system.

I wish I was more disciplined.  I wish I didn't want to slough off and skip things (like reviewing CC material).  There is so much we could be doing that would be fantastic!  The options are almost limitless.  But my family is limited by my lameness. *sigh*

Every now and then, I need a laugh.  Maybe it's been a tough day.  Maybe the kids have been outrageous.  Maybe I'm being incredibly lame with regards to everything in my life and I just need a pick me up.  It is then that I stroll over to my pinterest board Ha! to browse some of the pins there.  Go ahead and head on over there.  There's some pretty funny stuff.

That Week That We Got Back on Track {week 17}

Here we go again.

Monday  We of course went to CC on Monday.  I really want to like CC.  The kids (and I) learn great stuff in a great method.  But it's just a beating for me to be there.  I don't feel like I belong, the kids haven't made friends with really anyone, and I've found that I just don't like other people's kids.  I hate to admit that.  But when you're around a bunch of kids in one day for hours at a time, you really realize how different everyone parents and how expectations are different in each house.

Don't get me wrong.  CC is an excellent program.  And the campus we are at is friendly and welcoming.  I just haven't clicked with anyone and neither have my kids.  And I'm sure the kids at our campus aren't any better or worse (behavior-wise) than kids at other campuses.

Here is claire (with her back to the camera) in her class doing a science experiment with her classmates.

Tuesday  Tuesday started off with a bang.  Well not really.  But it makes Tuesday sound more interesting than it actually was.

We started on time (!) and I felt just about back to normal mood-wise.  I didn't immediately feel like a failure and that I can't do this one more day.  So SUCCESS!  When I dip down mood-wise, it seems to only last 2-4 days and then I'm back to feeling normal.  I'm thankful for my bad days.  Because without them, I wouldn't realize how good I feel the rest of the time!

Jack, reading:

This is how Claire feels about completing her math pages:

Cade and I actually started our Essentials work (instead of skipping it like we normally do).  And that felt good to get started.

Wednesday  We started a little late but got caught up quickly.  After being confined to her bedroom the previous afternoon and evening, Claire was giddily excited to be out and about among people again.  The kids had a few skirmishes, but things smoothed out and we got our work done.

And this qualifies as engineering and math time, right?

Thursday  Thursday started off well.  We got started on time (!) and pushed through our work.  Everyone was pretty focused and on task, which was just shy of a miracle.


Friday  We got bizzzzay (busy) Friday morning and got quite a bit done.  Unfortunately, math dragged on and on (and on and on) because kids were playing around.  Thankfully I didn't have to stick around for all of that... it was up to the kids to complete their work so that they could get to play games and play outside.

We have decided to institute a no-video games/no-TV/no-electronics rule during the week (monday through friday afternoon).  This was the first week, and I do have to say, it was AWESOME. 

General Thoughts  We are still working on good attitudes.  And what it means to be courteous of others (ie: not making extraneous noises while others are concentrating on work).

It's the time of year that we need to start thinking about plans for next year.  Registration for CC is coming up around the corner and we need to decide 1) if we are going to homeschool next year, and if we are, 2) is we are going to do CC next year. 

Homeschooling is difficult and exhausting for me (and just about everyone else).  That in and of itself doesn't mean I should stop doing it.  But if I would be a much better mom to my kids if I didn't homeschool, then I probably should stop.  And therein lies the key: would I be a much better mom if I didn't homeschool?  Am I so wasted by the end of the day/week that I'm hurting rather than nurturing my children?

I need to pray and reflect on those questions.  My gut tells me that, no, I am not so wasted at the end of the day or week that I am hurting rather than nurturing my kids.  Yes, I have my bad days where I have to apologize to my kids for my behavior.  But doesn't every mom, whether or not they homeschool?

If we do continue to homeschool, we need to make a few changes.  I'm thinking of going to workboxes to give my kids a little more autonomy over their days.   Right now, I'm juggling what 3 kids are doing, directing them to which subject (and what pages/books etc) to do at that moment.  And it's kind of hectic, and the kids have no ownership of the day.  I've tried giving them a list of daily subjects along with page numbers, etc, but they had no clue what to do with that and didn't like it.  Then I just tried giving them a simple list of subjects for each day, but then they still needed me to tell them what pages to work on.  Workboxes could simplify and solve this problem.  Or they could just be a lot of extra work for me.  Who knows.

That Week We Got Back To It {week 16}

So we're back at it.  Back to the grind.  Back to work.  Back in the trenches. 

Monday  We were back at Classical Conversations this past Monday.  And again, it was a long day.  But it was kind of nice to be back learning stuff hard core. 

Tuesday  We got started on time (!) Tuesday morning which was miracle.  We were a little rusty with school (see pics below)

And we kind of didn't get a lot done.

First, there was the crock pot dinner that I forgot to start.  So we had to break to do that.  Then it was so close to snack time that we breaked longer so I could start the crock pot.  Then the boys had to go to the bathroom.  So that took more time.  And then I had to meet someone to sell them something I had listed on Craigslist.  So all of a sudden it was 11am.  OH!  Now it's time for lunch!

Like I said... we kind of didn't get a lot done.

Ugh.  I hate when life gets in the way of what you're supposed to be doing.

Since the day was kind of shot, we decided to finally decorate our gingerbread house.  Yes, I realize that Christmas was two weeks ago.  I never claimed that we are a punctual family.

 I think more candy was consumed than was actually put on the house.
  

And why should the gingerbread house get all the icing?

The final product.  Not too shabby!

Wednesday   HUMP DAY!  We got started on time again (!). But Cade wasn't feeling well, and then mid-morning, I started not feeling well.

We kind of didn't get a lot done.  Notice the trend?

Thursday  We started AGAIN on time (!) Thursday morning.  Things moved along nicely.  Until we got to snack time.  Then it was like pulling teeth to get started again.  And that was to just get me started again.

Friday  We got started on time again!!!  Can you believe this?  I surely can not.  Friday actually went well.  We got quite a bit done in the morning.

General Thoughts  Between you and me, I'm really not wanting to homeschool anymore.  And I can't tell if that's just normal burnout.  Or if it's just the first year and things will get better.  Or if I shouldn't really homeschool anymore.  Or if I'm just experiencing a temporary dip into mild depression (which happens from time to time).

I'm a selfish person.  I want to take naps, read books, go to lunch with friends, think about working out, run errands, and generally do what I want rather than being with my kids all day stuck in the house. And the way I was feeling this week, I just didn't want to do anything.  I hardly read (which is surprising since it's one of my favorite things to do). 

I'm hoping this feeling passes.  Because homeschooling is a very worthwhile endeavor.  There are a lot of benefits, both academically and for our family is a whole.  But if things don't change, I don't see how homeschooling will be an option.