Jul. 23, 2008
Where can I find 9 year olds?
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It has become increasingly obvious that Bookworm wants to meet more kids her age. She does Girl Scouts and swim team/swim lessons. But apparently she hasn't found what she is looking for. So I am pondering where to find nine or so year olds... I looked into 4H, but in our area it looks like the adults are interested in livestock and little else. Not only would our homeowner's association not approve of a cow, she isn't interested either. I am still looking for homeschool co-ops, real ones with classes, but I haven't found any. I know that there must be kids out there. Where are they hiding??? |
Jul. 22, 2008
And plans change...
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All that wonderful talk about Calvert and how great it would be.... It won't. We are doing something else. Why? Because my kids don't fit neat levels, not even with different math and english. And because I am terrified that the level will be correct for three weeks and then be wrong. And I will be looking at spending more money after already spending too much on the Calvert. So what are we going to do? So glad you asked. We are going to start the year with Math and English. With Art and History on the edges ready to go. And then if all is going well we will add in Science later (maybe in January). Spanish is going to be a word or phrase of the day idea. It may be an early addition too. And if I got the levels wrong we can adjust. And if I got the levels correct we go for it. Flexiblity is the name of this game. |
Jul. 21, 2008
Now what? Take two.
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Calvert results are in.... And I am confused again. MIsterman placed in Calvert 3 with Math 5. And that is fine. I think he would probably be fine with that. Calvert 3 would help him learn to write and he would learn a bunch of science and history things. Math 5 is more problematic, it is fine now. But she suggested that we would need to go quickly through the parts he already knows and get to the parts he doesn't. But that would mean that I am playing huge sums of money for only using select parts of the curriculum. YUCK! Bookworm placed in Calvert 5 with Math 6. And that is more confusing. It is another case of the level is okay. Today. They said her writing didn't have enough details or complex enough sentences to put her higher. She didn't use complex sentences because she was writing a silly essay about our up coming trip The trip hasn't happened yet, there are no details! And the Math... yikes, she forgot everything she knew about percents. But she will have it all down in a few days of practice. And then I will be staring down an entire curriculum worth of math at a level that is easy. And that is the problem. Calvert would give these kids instruction where they are right now. And I need something that is more adjustable. And maybe is easier to differentiate. I really want these guys to learn some study skills and I fear that Calvert would not do that. So what now? I just don't know. I need to figure out the highest priority for the year. Is it really teaching them study skills? Is it getting Misterman to write a paragraph? Is it getting Bookworm ready to deal with Algebra? Or is it having Mommy not need to do lesson plans? And is Mommy not needing to do lesson plans and using Calvert really going to give the needed break or will the levels being wrong cause more stress than writing the lesson plans would? Things a homeschool Mommy worries about... |
Jul. 20, 2008
Being Big (with a capital B)
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I know I don't usually blog twice in one day but.... for this I'll make an exception. You see, Bunny is in a difficult spot. He wants very much to be Big (capital B) like Misterman. But he isn't. Misterman is older and more coordinated and has more opportunities. So Bunny often feels left out of the fun. And he doesn't like this very much. Tonight Misterman walked past our library box and picked up two books to head to his room to read. And Bunny went to the library box picked up two of the easy reader beginner books I had gotten for him to read to me this week announced that he was taking two books to read and headed to go read them in his room with Misterman. Tonight my little boy is being Big. Tonight he is sitting on his bed reading his books. And left on the floor of the living room where I am sitting are his bunny and blankie, forgotten in the race to be Big. I think I am going to go collect the left behind bunny and blankie and give them a hug. I think I need it. |
Jul. 20, 2008
A tour of our house part 1
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Some of the ladies on one of the boards I frequent were talking about their houses recently. About how they didn't like their kitchen or how much closet space they had. I got to thinking about our house and how much I really do like it. I would replace the carpet and the linoleum in the kitchen. I would paint the walls. But other that those things, this house is really pretty nice. So I decided to take a blogging tour of the house. We will start with the view from the street. Our house looks like every other house in our subdivision and like most houses in metro Phoenix. It is a light brown. I think it must be the official color of the state. I suppose someone could claim that it is beige or tan or taupe or ecru or ivory or... but honestly it is light brown. (Actually the color is because of the extreme heat and sun. A light color is necessary to keep the sun out as much as possible and the tan is so that the fading is less noticeable. It makes sense it is just very very boring.) We have what is politely termed desert landscaping. For those not in the area, that means rocks. Our front yard is made of a couple of tons (REALLY!) of crushed gravel. And an occasional plant or two thrown in for variety. We have three sage brushes, a pokey plant, a bottle brush, a tree with brown-red leaves and two palm trees. And some weeds. And our house looks very normal here. As a matter of fact it looks like every other house here. This is definitely one of those cases where you need to read the house numbers because you will never figure it out any other way. So here is the picture...  Actually this is a picture of the house right before we bought it. Not much has changed. A few of those plants have died and are gone. The ones that are left have grown bigger. The palms are to the far left of this picture. The sages are to the far right. That handsome man in the picture is my husband. Bookworm is newly two. Misterman is 2 months old (and screaming). Bunny isn't going to be around for another 3 plus years. Man, that was a long time ago! |
Jul. 17, 2008
Yahoo!
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Today started off great and only got better! Calvert has received the placement tests and will have answers for me in 7 days. That would be right before we left for vacation, so even that will be a problem solved. This vacation is really going to be a VACATION! And then my Mom came down to visit and took all three of the kids and me to LUNCH! This is beyond hugely amazingly wonderful. We installed the spare booster seat in the back middle of her car and the three kids climbed in. I got in the front and we were off to Carl's Jr. With a play place. And it was fantastic. The kids screamed and ran around like crazy people. And occasionally ate some lunch. And I talked to my Mom. WOW!!!!! |
Jul. 14, 2008
Placement Tests in the mail!
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The Calvert placement tests went in the mail this morning. I am so incredibly excited. The tests will be graded by someone other than me and then I will get a best guess placement level. I am beyond happy that I am not going to need to decide that this book is the right one. I am not sure how to describe the thrill of not being the person who needs to decide which level of writing is best or which level of math. Or which book to read or how many problems to do. I am not sure if Calvert will grade the tests and get back to me before we leave for vacation or if I will come home to needing to call them. Either way, I can vacation without worrying about curriculum choosing. And Mommy is ready for a vacation. San Diego, here we come.... in a couple weeks.... |
Jul. 13, 2008
Iphone
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On Friday morning Kaz went out in hunt of a new Iphone. He left at about 7:30. He was supposed to be home around 9:15. It didn't happen. We were going to take advantage of the relatively cool (under 100 degrees!) day and go to the park. It didn't happen either. By the time Kaz got home it was 11:15 and we still needed to take him to work. So instead of a trip to the park, we had a trip to his workplace instead. And since they feed the employees lunch everyday, we got lunch too. There was pizza and italian sandwiches and canollis and strawberries and an entire cooler full of drink choices. We got to see the coolness that is his office. Complete with four square court and ball, nerf guns, several video game systems, a pool table, a ping pong table, bean bag chairs and skads of brightly colored walls. Can you even imagine having all those cool toys just around the corner and still trying to get work done? No wonder he likes his new job better than the old one, I would too. And amazingly enough he actually does get work done even with all the cool toys just around the corner. I think this job is some form of geek nirvana. I wish they had an opening for a homeschool mom. Unfortunately, that isn't quite geeky enough. |
Jul. 12, 2008
The perils of being a smart four year old.
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Here we go again.... When Bookworm turned four and really really started reading, she discovered very quickly that the kids that she hung out with could not do the same things. She felt very lonely and extremely unhappy. It is hard to deal with a four year old that is deal with a major case of not fitting in, but somehow we did it. Fast forward to Misterman turning four. It happened again, but this time I recognized it and got him into music classes and karate. He felt like there were people like him and while he wanted more time with those people he wasn't nearly as upset as Bookworm was. And now it appears that it is Bunny's turn. He wants desperately for someone to be like him. He wants someone to play with him. He wants someone to be as interested in Legos as he is. He wants Bookworm to play all the time. She wants to do other things. He wants Misterman to play Legos too. He wants to do other things too. He doesn't understand that the older kids don't love the same things he does. And he is sad. Really really sad. Like sobbing on my shoulder "Why can't there be someone who will play with me?" And so I am trying to play with him, but he only wants to play Legos and I just can't play Legos for as many hours a day as he wants. He will happily play Legos for 8-12 hours a DAY. Every day. He would rather play Legos than eat. He would rather play Legos than have someone read to him. He would rather play Legos than anything. Call him the Lego Maniac. And he just turned four. And before someone reads something more into this, he isn't autistic level obsessive. He is a Lego dude. |
Jul. 9, 2008
Lego Indiana Jones
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File this in the comments you never thought you would hear, "Bunny, get closer or I am going to blow you up!" The boys are playing Lego Indiana Jones on our Wii and from the parts of the conversation I am hearing Bunny is not doing what Misterman wants him to. I love our Wii. It is so much fun and it has games that are interesting for everyone. It even has Wii Fit, so exercise isn't quite as much of a tedious job. The boys favorite game is Lego Indiana Jones. They could (and do) spend hours playing it. I think Wii Fit or Wii Sports would come in second if you asked them. They like playing baseball and tennis and the running part of Wii Fit. Bookworm isn't so interested in the Wii. I think we just haven't found the right game for her. And the fact that if the boys are playing with the Wii they aren't bothering her is a huge bonus for her. So she tends to find other things to do and leave the Wii alone. I like Word Coach and I like the idea of Wii Fit. I am not on speaking terms with the Wii Fit at the moment. It says my Wii Fit age is 58 and I am not taking it well. I will get over it and get back to work, but right now I am sulking. Kaz enjoys the Wii Fit and Lego Indiana Jones and just about every other game we have. Well, not the Word Coach one, he isn't interested in that one. He would probably do well with it, he just doesn't want to . Not too much going on, I vacuumed today. I did laundry. I even cleaned the toilets. Doesn't that sound exciting? I didn't think so either, but it needed to get done. And now it is and I am catching up on my neopet and reading my message boards and updating this blog. And this is good. PS. Bunny did move closer to Misterman and didn't get blown up. |
Jul. 8, 2008
Blueberries and the Ocean
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What's new here? Not much. Bunny's book of the week is Blueberries for Sal. It is a story about picking blueberries and a mix up with a little girl and her mom and a little bear and his mom. It is very funny and has a happy ending. Yesterday we talked about Maine, where the book took place, and found Maine on our big map. Bunny thought that was neat. Today we put raisins in a bowl and pretended they were blueberries in a pail. We counted blueberries in and ate the blueberries on the way out. Math is a lot of fun when it involves food! Misterman and Bookworm are still working on the unit about Oceans. Today they learned about Clown Fish and Ferdinand Magellan. They drew cute pictures of Nemo fish and Bookworm drew a picture of Magellan's boat falling off the edge of the earth with a big slash through it. Magellan did not sail off the edge of the ocean even though some people of the day thought he might. I am still working on figuring out what to say on the Calvert placement forms. I think I have decided where I would like them to be placed. Misterman in Calvert 3 and Bookworm in Calvert 6. And the math, Misterman in Math 5 or 6 and Bookworm in 7 or 8. I think I will need the help in figuring out the level for the math. Oh and the big news today... Yellow and red still make orange. And yellow and blue make green. It only took three times putting yellow and blue together to convince him. Tomorrow we will try red and blue.... and then the big test. Hopefully on Thursday we will try the same thing but with play doh and see if he can figure out that yellow and red play doh make orange just like yellow and red paint do. |
Jul. 7, 2008
Red + Yellow
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One of the truly odd things about my kids is the asynchrony of the way they learn. Bunny, the youngest, is four. He can read most level one readers and some level two. He can count to twenty without help. He can count higher with help. He can find Paris, France on a map. He can build amazing things with legos. But until today he couldn't tell you what color you get when you mixed red and yellow. So today I got out the red and yellow paints and let him mix them together and get orange. He made orange and was amazed. So I asked him if he thought that we would get orange if we mixed red and yellow again. And he said no. My little boy did not believe in the repeatability of mixing colors. So we repeated the process. He was amazed that we got orange again. But still did not believe that it would work a third time... so we repeated again. And only on the fourth time we mixed red and yellow could he predict that it would be orange when we were done. I wonder if I am raising a young scientist... "I won't believe the results until I have done the experiment multiple times and gotten the same thing" with a bonus of "I need to do it myself or I won't believe". Or maybe he is just weird. |
Jul. 4, 2008
Wii FIt
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We don't see my MIL very often. She lives in Oregon and has a dog that she loves so much she can't leave. And we live in Arizona, where it is very very hot and I am allergic to dogs. (including her dog.) Anyway we don't see her very often, but that doesn't mean she isn't checking up on us or that she doesn't care about us. It does mean that many of her ideas for keeping in touch come through the mail or phone. Yesterday the UPS man rang the doorbell and I went to the door. And there waiting for me were two boxes, one was a book Kaz ordered from amazon for his birthday. The other was a huge box from Oregon. We were excited. We didn't expect a box from Oregon. We didn't expect a box from anybody. So we opened the box... and inside was a Wii Fit. A Wii Fit!!!! WOW! We are having a great time with it. I have a Wii age of 57. This is really bad, but that only means I have lots of room for improvement. And maybe this time I will get the balance part.... Maybe. Anyway, thank you MIL. We are having a great time with the Wii Fit. And thank you for remembering us when we are so far away. |
Jul. 3, 2008
Calvert
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Calvert We are looking very very seriously at doing Calvert in August. And I am scared. I am scared to spend that kind of money. Yikes! It is expensive! I am scared that it won't be right. I am scared that giving in to school in a box is going to somehow hurt my kids. But reality is that I am desperately in need of a break. I need to not have to write lesson plans. I need to have all the books for the week waiting for me. I need to let someone else do the brain-draining exhausting part of homeschooling and, for me, that is figuring out what to do next. My oldest is done with the Calvert placement tests. I don't know how well she did. I am hoping that they will grade them and give me a best guess as to level. And that it will work. She will be ten in October. She could be anywhere from fifth grade up in ability. The up part is the most likely, but how far up? I just don't know and I don't have the mental stamina to figure it out. So I am handing the placement off to someone else. Why do I feel so bad about this? My middle is almost done with his placement tests. I don't know how well he will do either. He could be anywhere from third grade and up, maybe lower on the writing. He did extremely well on the math test. At least he got several pages into the placement test that is supposed to be for grades 4 and up. He did alright, I think, on the punctuation and grammar section. The part he is going to have issues with is the writing. And that is tomorrow. Actually that writing assignment is the only thing he needs to do all day tomorrow. I just hope he does the best he can. My little guy isn't doing Calvert. His job is to listen to stories, learn to read and learn to count. And cuddle up with his Mommy. And be cute. But I am in need of some reassurance that it is possible that Calvert is the right thing for our family right now. So I am typing this here, so that next year when Calver has been a wonderful success I can see how silly I was to worry... Or maybe how right I was to worry.... |
Jun. 30, 2008
Wall*e
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Yesterday we went to see a movie, just Kaz and me. It was an anniversary present from my parents. They gave us tickets to the movie theater, money for lunch and volunteered to watch the kids while we were out. Now that's what I call an amazing present! Anyway, lunch was good. We had Mongolian Barbeque, I had pork and broccoli and cabbage and mushrooms and bamboo shoots and lots and lots of sauce. It was wonderful. Kaz had a similar mix, only with the things he likes and I don't (celery, bell peppers...) He enjoyed his lunch too. Then we looked at the game store across the parking lot and bought three dice. Then off to the movies. Wall*e was okay... I saw it once and I don't know that I will need to see it again. And the big news of the day.... it is Kaz's birthday. Happy Birthday Kaz! I hope he has had a good birthday. He went to work this morning and then we all went to dinner tonight. It was yummy. |
Jun. 27, 2008
End of the year music
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Tonight was Misterman's end of the year music recital and skill survey results. He did really really well. His skill survey was great. He got almost perfect on everything. He is still working on reading notes on a page, but he can hear notes just fine and figure out the chords too. At the recital tonight he played the songs he was supposed to, songs from his Yamaha book, and The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. He cleared the extra song with his teacher last week so she knew what was coming. He sounded amazing. Everyone (but the teacher and me) was surprised that he played his bonus song. And the best part was that he played it really well too. It is so nice to see him be successful and work so hard at something. My next job is to get him the music for Harry Potter and Star Wars. He wants to work on them over the summer. I think the music store is on my list of things to do for tomorrow. |
Jun. 25, 2008
Mystery solved
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The big mystery at our house recently has been why it takes Misterman so long to do his schoolwork. And I really do mean a very very long time. Today I think I figured it out. First off, the important clues... Number one, Misterman was not complaining about the volume of school work. This is even though he was spending from 12:30 to 6:30 working on it! Number two, he was spending his non-school work time reading books. Number three, he was producing a very nice school work. The answer to the mystery? He doesn't want to play with his little brother. He would rather read Freddy Pig or read about Leif Eriksson or read about manta rays or even write about something. He isn't complaining because he likes having something to do. He is enjoying learning about oceans or reading his book. He is hunting information. He is hunting something that stimulates his brain. That something doesn't involve sharing legos with Bunny, or playing video games with Bunny watching or doing just about anything *with Bunny* because Bunny isn't at his level. Bunny just can't keep up and Misterman is not feeling like slowing down to accomodate him. So now what do I do? Bunny is annoyed because he wants someone to play with him. And that just makes him more clingy and demanding of other people's attention. So today, I pulled out my Five in a Row and a copy of Madeline and Bunny and I talked about France. And being a good person. And found France on a map. And looked at the French flag. And he was happy. So tomorrow we will read Madeline again, and talk about appendixes. And discuss some more of the details of the book. And hopefully Bunny will be happier. I am really trying not to run a full curriculum for Bunny. He just turned four! But it doesn't look like that is going to be possible. So in addition to the reading and math and handwriting and memorization that we were doing before... we are going to be doing FIAR unit studies. And maybe once Bunny's needs for information are met and he is less intense... maybe just maybe, Misterman will play with him more. Then again, that assumes that I can meet Bunny's needs for information. EEK! As a side note, I put up a huge periodic table in the kids bathroom tonight. Bookworm is after more information too. I am hoping to satisfy her needs with the table and some chemistry information on the wall. Misterman is happily reading the periodic table too. Sometimes I wonder just how weird this family really is. Today I *know*. We are super-duper- crazy weird.... And I think I like it that way. |
Jun. 24, 2008
Frustrated Mommy
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I am a frustrated Mommy. I am pulled in sixteen million different directions all at the same time. But there are some things that I would like to do. Unfortunately I keep getting interrupted. So I am going to make a list today and see if I can make any progress on achieving these goals: Daily 1. Track food on Spark People 2. Track weight on Hacker diet (even if it goes up!) 3. Go on my walk 4. Play Word Coach 5. Earn at least 15,000 points on Neopets 6. Work on Bunny's name towel 7. Write in the blog and the bonus item 8. Do the motivated moms chores for the day and the kid related item 9. Get the kids through their work each day. and the husband related item 10. Have dinner at least in process before he gets home 11. Work on being a happier wife |
Jun. 23, 2008
Pacing
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Misterman drove me absolutely crazy today. He spent from 12:30 until 6:30 doing his unit study work. Before you think I am a cruel taskmaster, the work isn't supposed to take that long. It was only supposed to take about hour and a half. The work was: Copy one quote (about 10 words) (ideally 5 minutes) Define 5 words (ideally about 15 minutes) Read a picture book about Noah and the ark, summarize it (ideally about 20 minutes) Answer 3 questions about oceans, label five oceans on a map (another 20 minutes) Answer 3 questions about sharks and draw a hammerhead shark (another 20 minutes) Bookworm had a similar but slightly more involved list, she started at 12:30 and finished at about 2:00. He drove me crazy because he wasn't getting things done at the pace I wanted. And I really wanted to be doing something other than telling him to work on his shark page. But tonight I realized something. This morning while he was avoiding doing his unit study he read most of a Freddy Pig book. Then he spent all (really all) afternoon doing his school work. Then after dinner he did his piano practice. And then he read some more of his book and finally played legos with Bunny for a little while before bed. He didn't look at a video game or a computer screen. He didn't fight with any one. He didn't make any awful messes. He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to. He just moved very slowly through the things he needed to do. But he did get them all done. Just not on the schedule I would have chosen. I need to get over my idea of a schedule. I need to let him go through his day at his pace. I need to let the school work be his problem and not mine. I need to not worry about how long it takes him to do his work. This is hard. This is really really hard. Maybe this will be the lesson I need to learn this coming school year. Maybe I will learn how to let him manage his time. He has his music skill survey tomorrow at 2:00. So he is going to start working on his school work after breakfast. But I am going to try very hard not manage his time for him. If he isn't done by the time we need to go to the skill survey, then he can continue after we get back. And that will be alright. And I will not tell him to hurry up while he is doing his school work. I reserve permission to tell him to hurry up when pottying and putting on his shoes. Some things are necessary. |
Jun. 21, 2008
swim meet
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Today I went to a swim meet and watched my older kids swim their events. It is always interesting because some kids and some parents are very very concerned about winning. My kids are... not likely to win their events. They are often last and sometimes last by a a lot. Between two kids and several swim meets, combined they have *one* not last finish, and that she earned today. My daughter swam 50 yards of freestyle in 1:11:19. She came in last. But that time is almost 8 seconds better than her previous best of 1:19:15. She made her goal time for the next eight meets and then some. I was so happy for her. She skipped all the way back to wait for her next event. She swam backstroke today too, 50 yards in 1:17:81. She came in fourth of five which means she wasn't last and she improved her time by almost 11 seconds. Her previous best was 1:38:44. She met every goal time on her sheet. She is so happy! My daughter went to bed tonight grinning because she did better than she thought she could. She is having a great time swimming and is actually seeing progress. Now, if only her coach says the right things on Friday when she sees him again. He probably will, he has been coaching beginners for a long time. My son also improved his time in 25 Freestyle from 1:13:75 to 1:08:75. That is five seconds and he hasn't event made rookie team yet. He just passed his butterfly test on Friday. He needs to learn breast stroke and then back stroke before he can do rookie team. He doesn't like competing very much but her loves cheering for his big sister. I think I heard him cheering for her during backstroke from across the pool. (He was at the 25 yard turn around end and I was at the 50 yard finish end.) I am just so proud of them. The academic subjects come so easy but the athletic ones are just so hard. And some days it is nice to see that the hard work actually works! |