Sep. 22, 2006 - Art Co-op ~ Michelangelo!
Sep. 21, 2006 - We have been doing school... really! (+Book & movies reviews)
I just can not seem to find the time to post!
We're down to one computer, and with five kids doing a subject or two each on the computer, and my ebay stuff, I don't get very much time on it myself!
Anyway ~ we're studying Determination, now working a little on Bridge building. I got a book at the library called "Building Bridges with Toothpicks." That has the cooledt activities in it. We watched the "Modern Marvels" on the Golden Gate Bridge and it was SO fascinating! (I love Netflix!!) All of the Modern Marvel dvd's that we've watched have been fantastic. The kids usually watch them again later because they love them so much!:)
It also made us curious about some other aspects of American History, such as The Great Depression. We're going to kind of segway into that next... well actually, we're going to start with Ellis Island.
I happened upon a book about Ellis Island once our last read aloud was done, so we started reading that. I have some relatives who came through there, so we're finding that interesting to read this person's experience.
Speaking of which, we read a book called Red Midnight by Ben Mikaelsen. It was AMAZING. The kids absolutely LOVED it beyond belief. It is the story of a 12 year old boy and his 4 year old sister living in Guatemala. The book starts in Guatemala during the times of unrest between the soldiers and the guerillas. One or the others burns down their village, killing their entire family, but they manage to escape. The story follows their escape out of Guatemala, and across the Gulf of Mexico on a cayuco to Florida. It was an absolute thrill ride, the author did a wonderful job of making you feel that you were listening to this boy walk you through his adventure ever day.
Now I'm looking ahead for our next read aloud. We may do Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, but I'm not sure yet. I also need to find Kainan a reading book that will really catch him, and stretch him a little to improve his reading skills. Both of the boys have taken a breather from their "harder" books to read An Ecological Mystery (There are several titles, they're each reading a different one) by Jean Craighead George. They are really interesting mystery stories that help teach science and ecological facts through the fictional story. Jaedin loves them, Kainan, not so much, but then, he really doesn't seem to want to read much of anything other than Encyclopedia Brown!
Aug. 29, 2006 - Documentaries ~ Iceland, Greenland, Antartica & Candy Reviews
We have been watching a lot of Documentaries lately (thanks to the Discovery Channel sale and Netflix!)~ its helped us all get a better understanding of the Arctic, Antatics, Iceland, The Ocean and even candy. Here are some of our favorites thus far:
Globetrekker: Iceland & Greenland ***This wasn't what we were expecting at all, it was a trip/tour through the modern cities in Iceland and Greenland (I didn't read the description too thoroughly) Its worth watching solely for the reindeer butchering incident:) Really, it did help us to better understand how people live in the freezing climates now ~ as oopsed to the way things were before...
The description:
Offering arctic weather and a lot more besides, Iceland and Greenland are two of the most spectacular places in the world to visit. Breathtaking scenery runs throughout both countries, including much snowbound terrain, most of which houses some weird and wonderful creatures. This guide begins in the relatively normal surroundings of Reykjavik, then ventures out into the wilds to discover dog sledding, Eskimo's, and the local dish of fermented shark!
Modern Marvels: Candy *****This was fascinating, interesting and informative, just for "fun" learning. If you like touring candy making factories, learning a little bit of history along with it, this is perfect. The kids watched it twice, Dh and I each watched it as well... and Abyni asked to watch it during her "rest time" ~ of course, they were all craving chocolate by the time all was said and done!
The Description: Romanticized in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the stuff that dreams are made of, candy has charmed its way into the stomachs of Americans, who gobble 7 billion tons it every year. Making stops at real-life candy factories such as See's Candy, Schimpff's Confectionary and Hershey Chocolate World, this installment of "Modern Marvels" reveals how some of your favorite products are made and sheds light on candy's sugary history.
IMAX: Antartica *****This was FANTASTIC! The part with the penguins had my kids ROLLING on the floor with laughter. The whole thing was engrossing even for me, the distractible one! Awesome filming... well worth watching! We wathced this one more than once too.
The Description: Custom dictates that IMAX films erupt with breathtaking cinematography, and Antarctica is no exception. Beginning with an undersea ballet courtesy of some resident penguins, the film then takes viewers through a submerged, crystalline grotto and examines climate changes to the frozen frontier. This 1991 documentary captures Antarctica's grandeur, from the continent's glorious glaciers to the meteorological treasures locked in its ice sheets.
Galapagos Island: *This one was kind of boring for me... I wasn't interested and left it to Dh to watch it with the kids. Definitely with the evolutionist slant.
A marine biologist from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History leads this astonishing expedition to the Galapagos Islands, a world that is still relatively new and evolving. Descending to depths of 3,000 feet, the scientists find a window into the past and a frontier for exploration.
Microcosmos **** Interesting, really cool camera work, up close in the world of bugs and critters. Jaedin was mesmerized. This was a documentary with very little narration, so it was very much like actually observing nature on your own. You could see things happening and playing out without someone telling you what was happening... and even I could figure it out:) REALLY cool.
Critters of the small kind are featured in this interesting look at the seldom-explored world of insects, snails and other undersized creatures as they go about their daily lives. By using unique microscopic cameras and powerful specialized microphones, this highly praised French documentary gives new meaning to "a bug's life."
Those are the Netflix DVDs ~ I'll have to review the Discovery Channel ones that we bought later... its SCHOOL TIME:)
Aug. 16, 2006 - McD's and Krispy Kreme
Today we did our regular school morning, then we went to McD's to use the kids coupons that they received from doing the library reading program. Then we went to Krispy Kreme (big treat!!) and used those coupons too. Usually I get so caught up with schoo starting, that we never remember to use the coupons!
We found out at Krispy Kreme they do field trips for any type/size of group and each child who goes through the tour gets to make their own doughnut at the end. I'm hoping to set one up with our little co-op.
We came home, did some more reading and that was it!
BTW ~ We are at the point in 20,000 leagues under the sea where they have found the monster. The kids were all begging me not to stop reading:) Its actually a cool book. I'd never read it before, and honestly, I was expecting to find it somewhat boring... not my style. I'm pleasantly surprised!
Aug. 8, 2006 - Scattered Day...
The boys used their afternoon school for clenaing out thier fish tank. It was getting pretty gross... and daddy has been really busy and getting home late ~ since its been so hot, the working outside is really wearing him down, and taking him longer than normal!
Everyone else had a pretty normal day ~ and watched another one of the Disc channel documentaries that we have. Those are really REALLY awesome. I am really glad I found that sale and had the ability to buy some of them. I actually have really learning things for them to watch:)
Aug. 7, 2006 - Starting the second week of school... tired!!
We had friends over yesterday and since the husband was helping Dh install our new flooring, they ended up being here really late. It was a FANTASTIC visit, but the kids and everyone got to bed much later than normal.
This morning we were all dragging around and ended up starting school late (besides the fact that I had to bring the desk back in and set up the computer for computer subjects as well!)
Anyway, it was a good day, we started reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ~ I want to get a book on CD, but then I know I wouldn't be able to listen to it either, and I'm sure its a good story. Its just hard reading it aloud... it makes me tired. Abyni drew a picture of what she thinks the monster is:)
We watched a documentary on sharks and venomous animals in the ocean ~ and I did fall asleep:) The music was sooooooo soothing! The kids loved it ~ one of the good buys I got from the Discovery Channel sale the other day.
Anyway... nothing too exciting. Jaedin typed his own entry in his journal today ~ he did really well for a 9 year old boy's first attempt at typing! He even remembered to capitalize almost every sentence!
Its Abyni's turn on the computer ~~ her new cdroms came. Might Math ROCKS!! We first got it when Sprite was 6... and it is THE most awesome math cdrom we have ever had!
Aug. 3, 2006 - Need craft ideas... and the last day of school this week!
Does anyone have any ideas for using the 3 qt and the gallon and a half sized bleach containers?? We have a ton with the pool getting so much use!
Today went much better. The kids actually got themselves grounded from friends for a couple of days since they were all bickering all the time. Today being the end of the grounding, the kids were actually playing together SO well. I think we need to start enforcing the no neighbor kids over a few days a week again. Not that they're brats or bad at all (we are actually blessed with the best neighbor kids we've ever had:), I think that the kids just get too dependant on outside friends and it no longer becomes a priority to get along with each other.
Anyway, school today went well. I had dug up our old decrepit laptop and gave it to Sprite to use in her room. It has no net access, so its just Word Perfect and she can actually do her ACEmath CDroms on it as well. That made notetaking a lot easier for her, and took the main stress out of Biology. I think it helped her to be able to do math today too, and get started on that as well.
I'm going to assign her a book to read for August probably, so she doesn't get too far ahead. That is assuming that Stephanie isn't doing the writing program with Kerra until Sept. I need to remember to ask her.
The other kids did well today. Paris is starting on her second chapter of Matilda by Roald Dahl, along with vocabulary words to help improve her reading. Jaedin is reading Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl (sp?) and Kainan is still looking for his reading book. He's been choosing to read the library books on the arctic at this point, rather than a "reading" book. With our floor STILL undfinished, our bookshelves are still scattered around and I can't find anything!
Abyni is doing great with cursive ~ the easier letters, and its helping her with her reading and spelling as well, since she can figure out which words she can spell with the letters she knows how to write.
Jaedin started a LJ account and posted his first post yesterday about what he read in biology. I think it will take a bit for him to get in the habit of writing (and it will help a lot when we have more than one 'net-computer available as well!) but I think it will be good for him to develop his typing skills and "reporting" skills and whatnot, as well as giving him a chance to post photos of his plants and other experiments he does.
Kainan gets to start up his LJ next week, after Sprite has finished helping Jaedin set up his new snazzy backgrounds and template and everything. Then, Paris will get her turn. I think I'm going to let her set up a journal to be a thankful journal... and have her practice typing out three things she is thankful for each day.
That's all folks!
Aug. 2, 2006 - The Iceberg Hermit
We finished our most recent favorite book. I'll post the kids book reports later on..
I set up a livejournal for Jaedin to put his Biology notes and gardening notes on. He does so much with science, I thought it would be nice for him to have a space to keep track of all his experiments and whatnot.
Sprite got through a day of Starting Points with minimal hassle, but Biology is still a pain. She can't seem to find anyway that helps her remember any of the stuff she reads. Any ideas??? Anyone?? Note taking isn't helping at this point...
Everyone else did all their scheduled subjects, Abyni is learning cursive, Paris is practicing the cursive she learned last year... and they are both doing wonderfully, and their handwriting is beautiful!!
That's about all the excitement here. I must say, watching that documentary last night really peaked the kids' interest. They've been into all the polar/arctic books I borrowed from the library. Now that they've seen a bit of the "real" picture, they are finding the books far more stimulating!
Aug. 2, 2006 - High School Stress... IMAX rocks!
Well, day 2 of high school was extremely stressful. Although I strongly suspect hormones are playing a big role, the girl's desire to do things perfectly tend to make things harder than they need to be. I know this so well... because I'm the same way!
Biology and notetaking were stressful, Sprite wanted to use the computer for notetaking and it wasn't possible. At the moment we're down to one working computer, since the new one had a bad hard-drive and had to be returned. With five kids and one computer ~ there isn't extra time available on it. THAT caused stress because she was taking so much time to take down notes that she wasn't getting very far in the reading. I won't go into the whole trauma, but it was STRESS.
Starting Points has been a little bit of a struggle as well. The first batch of questions was so confusing that I could barely understand them myself!
So, after the second day of struggling through, I realized that I could not wait until our co-op starts on August 25th, and I set up an e-group for our little co-op. Hopefully, that will facilitate the ability for a sort of co-op discussion area for moms and the teens.
We are almost finished with The Iceberg Hermit and are just loving that book. Last night we watched an IMAX documentary on Antartica and it was AWESOME. I realize its not the same place that Allan (the character in the book) was, but it was definitely the same type of terrain. All the kids sat and watched the entire thing, it was really fascinating. I highly recommend that as well!
May. 19, 2006 - Planning out High School
I have spent the past hour online trying to find the best deals on (or find at all!) the curriculum that Sprite is going to be using next year for High School (I can NOT believe I will have a high school aged child!!!).
She'll be doing a biology co-op with some other friends next year (yay!) so that was set ~ Apologia Biology.
She's also (most likely) doing Starting Points World View Primer for literature, history and Bible, and the girls in her little co-op are doing that one as well, so they'll have a book discussion each week after biology.
Then she'll add the high school Institute for Excellence in Writing with Kerra (a continuation of the writing course they started this year)... and viola' we're done... excpet for Math.
I would LOVE to be able to afford THIS as she loves the few pre-algebra videos from this company that our library has. It would make things SO much easier on all of us ~ if we are able to sell the bus, I think this may become a priority for me!
I would also love to be able to afford Rosetta Stone for the foreign language (Spanish makes the most sense, although I would prefer to learn French or something more) but I'm not sure if that will fit into our budget. It would be something that all the kids can use, and although its expensive, it has the best "real life" reviews of anything I've talked with others about.
I'm babysitting today for a couple of kids (Ozzy and Sholanda) that got out of PS yesterday, so I'm using this as an organizational day...
May. 16, 2006 - Eric Carle style...
For art class last week, we all marbled paper.
This week, the 4 younger girls (ages 5 & 8) each did two backgrounds pictures with fingerpaints and different utensils to make textures of different types. Then they made a pattern for their animals.
We're cutting the animals out of the marbled paper ~ Paris is going a snail on one page, and an alligator on the other. Abyni is doing a seahorse and a fish; Laura is doing a turtle and a tree frog; Mattie is doing a leopard and a snake.
Opposite each colorful animal page will be a white page with a fact about the animal ~ "I am a turtle, I live in the pond and I love to swim!" or something of that nature. We'll have copies made onto heavy paper and give each of the girls a copy of their book!
They are looking AWESOME! I'll post photos next week if the camera get remembered!:)
May. 16, 2006 - School Stuff... summer time callin'
I found that I'm allergic to the old book I got from the library for our read aloud. I get a HORRIFIC headache whenever I read it. Its awful, a major sinus headache that wraps around to my ears. Ugh. We shan't be reading "The Reb and the Redcoats" anymore! I guess I'll be looking for a new read aloud for tomorrow. Since we have art & writing co-op today, we won't be doing read aloud today anyway.
We're all in that mode of "its so nice outside" that we are having issues getting school done. That, and since its finally so nice, I'm getting house stuff done (the hall AND the sitting room are wall papered!) and that takes time. The house is even mostly clean at the moment! Whoa... cool beans!:)
However, although the structured Konos type "group" stuff isn't getting done at the moment, the kids all have their interests that they are all reading about ~ often on their own time as well as school time. That, and they's all doing math religiously (Thank the LORD for the "ACE" teaching videos on algebra from the library!!!!)
May. 12, 2006 - Normal Day!!!
I'm so excited! ... the day has been dull, boring and NORMAL!
Okay, maybe not normal, but it was nice and uneventful. We had plenty of giggling times and didnt' get a whole lot of school "officially" done, the kids have all been sitting around for the last HOUR reading books I got for them at the library!! (Craft books for Paris, Outdoor projects for Jaedin who wants to build a greenhouse; and books on the stock market for Kainan)
We almost left Jaedin at the library because he immediately took his next Redwall book in the corner and was reading, didn't even notice we'd left!:)
It feels good to have had such a plain ole' day for once!
Oh ~ and Sprite reserved the Charlie's Angels Full Throttle CD for me... and it had the MC Hammer song "you Can't Touch This"... such a happy little song:)
Happy days........
May. 10, 2006 - The Bird
The sparrow that Jaedin rescued from the cats' mouth yesterday wasn't very injured as it turns out. He wasn't able to fly well last night, but he could a bit. He was sitting on the kids' fingers ~ boy, were they thrilled beyond belief! Until it flew and jumped on me! ACK! I screamed and jumped... and ended up knocking it off ~ BAD homeschool mommy!!!
Anyway, today the bird was much better. It has a small spot at the base of one wing that is feather-less, but other than that it seems to be fairing well. Jaedin has it living upstairs in a cage we got at a garage sale. I told him that he could keep it one more day (as long as he makes sure to feed it, etc) so it can have time for its wing to heal and hten tomorrow it can be set free. He was in tears earlier because he didn't want to let it go ~ but he felt bad keeping it inside as well. Poor boy. I don't know how to help him, other than to keep pointing out that at least he saved the bird in the first place!
It is a very cute little bird. It perched on his head today while he was reading:) He sat in his room today for his reading subjects... so he could hold his bird. With cats in the house, (and a non-animal friendly mom) it isn't good to just let it fly. With the big paper mache tree in the boys room, the bird probaby feels at home!
Anyway ~ we started reading The Reb and the Redcoats today. Its set during the Revolutionary war as well... but is set in Britain with four children whose father is fighting on the British side of the war. They end up living in the same house with a "rebel" prisoner in England. It gives a different perspective.
After that we're looking into reading some books on the French Revolution ~ to see what was going on elsewhere int he world!
I thinks that's the gist of any changes for the moment.
I have an audition tonight for a local play... fingers crossed;)
May. 9, 2006 - Art and Writing... and Jaedin found a bird
As Stephanie and I and our younger kids were eating, Jaedin was outside rescuing a bird from our cat's clutches. He brought in this little sparrow and put it in a box. Ever since writing class got over, he's been on the net searching for care tips... its not actually injured that badly. It took off flying after Jaedin took it back out of the box. I don't know if it was really flying, or if it was more "falling with style" ala Toy Story, but it was moving.
Right now he has it upstairs in a cage and has taken it a branch to perch on and built a base for a nest.
The kids and I all did paper marbling today for "art" class. Not terribly artsy, maybe I should call it arts and crafts. My PLAN was to have them do marbled paper and then make mother's day cards, but the paint isn't dry at all yet. I guess that will kind of be homework.
The IEW writing course is almost over ~ what'll we do??? I want to still keep getting together. At least every other week. The kids would go nuts! I hope we can figure something out!
May. 5, 2006 - The Week In Review
Yep, I got really lazy this week. Nothing "new and exciting" seemed to happen in our school life, and since I use LJ for the more personal/family stuff... I just didn't even come here much this week.
Monday was a big ole' stressy day. Lots of bickering and fussiness all around. Yay.
We did a normal school day, nothing exciting... just the same ole' with no extra fun stuff... I have just not been up to it. Its been enough just getting the basics done (ie; reading, history, read aloud, math and writing)
Tuesday was exhaustion ~ all the stress from Monday seemed to hit us all on Tuesday and although we did a school day, everyone was just dragging and tired all day. I cancelled co-op because the kids had just been behaving badly and I didn't think they deserved a day with friends, besides which, after Monday I was just not up to teaching art to a dozen kids anyway.
Wednesday I was kind of excited on Wednesday. I was planning to go and audition for a part in "The Drunkard" that plays in a local theater here. My Dh has been in the play for about 7 months or so already and I would dearly LOVE to get to go do it with him.
I was kind of excited and kind of nervous as well... but still got through yet another typical old school day.
Thursday As it turns out the auditions for Wed. night got cancelled... Ugh. I was sooo disappointed, but life goes on. Tonight was to be my "night out" ~ or rather, night in, while Dh took the kids out. That made the school day go a little more smoothly... until it became apparent that Daddy wasn't going to be able to make it home in time.
So, instead, we found a small home group to check out. THe church we've been visiting for a couple of weeks has lifegroups... so I found one nearby that had Thursday night meeting AND allowed kids... and we just made an impulsive decidion to head out.
It was actually extremely nice, all the kids had fun with the other kids, Sprite sat in with us adults and made friends with the 20 yo girl that was there. The people all seemed to be very nice and genuine and made us feel right at home. We'll be going back next Thursday!
Friday Today the kids are really excited about their night out ~ but school had a moment as well. We finished Johnny Tremain AnnnnnnnnD... the movie of Johnny Tremain was actually on the holdshelf for me when I went to pick up books! Yippee!!! Sprite and Kainan read books on investing as a break from algebra. They had a lot of questions, so its a good thing they'll be spending the evening with DAD!!:)
Daddy will be home in time for the date... and the kids are really looking forward to a family date.
Apr. 25, 2006 - The Opera!!!
We went to the Opera today... The Marriage of Figaro.
To be honest, I thought I would hate it. I almost didn't go... but I loooooved it! It was awesome ~~ The sets were amazing, and we got to see how they switched sets in between. They kept the curtains open between the scene changes for us, and someone explained parts of the backstage equipment. It was really interesting.
The costumes were great, and I loved the singing as well. I really didn't expect to like it, and we had even bought ear plugs since Sprite hated the opera music ont he video we wtached. Live, it was a much much different (and better sounding) experience. I would definitely go to another opera again.
They had the "captions" on a small screen above the stage. I hadn't expected that ~ but even though I had told the kids the gist of the story on the way there (and we had studied it for our school time last week) it certainly made it easier to understand!
The guy playing Figaro was great ~ very funny... I hadn't expected it to be so funny either. I really liked both the ladies playing the Countess and Susanna.
The kids did really well for the first hour and a half. Jaedin seemed quite mesmerized by the whole experience. Then hunger, tiredness and fidgety-ness took over for the boys. They still did well though. They were just impatient to go. It didn't help that Jaedin had forgotten to eat breakfast on the way out... and it didnt' help either that we all had to get up earlier than normal. Everyone was a bit "off" kilter.
Still, I think it was an enjoyable experience, a new thing to have done. I hope they have a child friendly opera next fall that I can take the little girls to. I think Abyni especially would love it ~ if it wasn't 2 and a half hours long!:)
We came home, the little girls had stayed at Stephanie's house while I took her oldest with mine to the opera. By the time we got home around 1:30, it was almost time for the little girls to go to gymnastics with her anyway... so we just kept each other's kids for the afternoon. I had all the kids do a short paper on their opinion of the opera and their experience... and that was it for school.
Oh, excpet for the girls having to make cookies for the game night tonight. We discovered how to substitute baking soda and cream of tartar and cornstarch for baking powder... and the cookies turned out great!
Apr. 24, 2006 - What we learned about weather today
Today we learned that when the sky turns dark and ominous, clouds blotting out the sun and takes on a green tinge... when the kids are running around outside in the blowing wind trying to determine which way the cllouds are blowing... when your husband calls from his truck to tell you that its raining so hard that he can't see to drive and it'll probably be raining at home soon... and even when the rain starts pouring...
ANY of those times is a better time to SHUT THE VAN WINDOWS than waiting for a full ten minutes to realize they are still wide open.
At any rate, we shall have plenty of towels piled under ourselves tonight when driving to ballet and scouts!
Other than that excitement, we had a normal school day. We're still cleaning up and putting things back together from the big bug spraying even of yesterday...
and making plans for going to the opera tomorrow morning. Since its two and a half hours long , the little girls are going to stay with Stephanie while I take her two oldest with us to see The Marriage of Figaro. None of the kids are thrilled at the idea, especially since they have to get up early... but it shall be a good experience... one way or another.
As I told them, this way they can know for sure if they'll hate opera now, and not have to wonder about it into adulthood:)
Apr. 21, 2006 - Library Day ~ baseball... etc.
Well, today was a library day. The kids had their breakfast, and then were all outside playing "baseball" together for about 45 minutes until we started school. We did a hosrt Bible time, packed up our "due" books and headed for the library.
Since we usually just run in, pick up our books from the hold shelf, the kids are always saying they miss the library... so I decided that today we'd stay for a bit. The younger four all sat around in the kids section reading magazines or books. Jaedin had the 4th Redwall book on the hold shelf, so he was reading that immediately. Sprite got a huge armfull of books, just from wandering down the aisles.
I picked up a few extras that I wanted for my own "free" brainless reading time... and we had a nice, no rush visit. I thinkw e need to do that more often. It was nice.
I had a couple of books on hold about writing a novel... I've been thinking about doing that ~ although I'd kind of like to try writing some shorter stuff for a magazine first, I couldn't find any books ont he how-to of that, so I got these. I tend to have a problem writing "short" bits anyway, so maybe it was meant to be!
We came home and the kids got to have "free library reading" time and could read anything from the library while I fixed lunched.
After lunch, the kids went and played baseball some more (don't know where THAT came from, but they've all been having a blast ~ even Sprite gets out there and plays with them!)
I read Johnny Tremain, we're probably about two thirds through the book. The kids just love it. I'm hoping for something with an English accent next. I'm tired of reading in an "normal" American one:) At least a southern accent or something.
We did math, Sprite and Kainan with their new math videos and Jaedin and Paris together. Abyni read part of "Love You Forever" to me. She's always loved that book, but we hadn't seen it for a loooong time. It got lost on the bookshelf!:)
That's all the excitement.
Apr. 19, 2006 - The day after...
This time, for once, I actually knew what the writing homework was from the IEW yesterday! Okay, so they didn't actually do the tapes yesterday, and it was more of a catching up kind of day. However, Dh was home to take the girls to gymnastics, so I got to go over the writing stuff with Stephanie more thoroughly than I have before.
So, today the kids all had two "periods" of writing on their reports. I figured we'd best get a chunk of it done today, in case I forget on Monday like I usually do!
We read Johnny Tremain, and the Sons of Liberty have just begun the Boton Tea Party. The kids were all ears... even Sprite, I believe is really getting into the story. They all were really upset with me for stopping in the middle of the chapter... but I had read for the 30 minutes. I think they'd be happy for me to just sit and read to them all day. I don't think I could handle that. I had a cough today that was bugging me.
Kainan and Sprite finished the Pre-Algebra video today, we'll do worksheets on that same topic for tomorrow and maybe Friday as well if they need the practice yet. THey are only on integers, adding and subtracting with negative and positive numbers, so I think they'll probably be ready for the next tape. Speaking of which, I need to make sure I reserve the next one!
I don't think anything else was out of the ordinary. The kids are all reading new reading books since I last listed their reading... I think. Now that she finished Pippi Longstocking, Paris is reading Felicity from the American Girl books. She pretty much flies through them. She read all but one chapter today! Sprite finished up Beauty, but then we had a time trying to find the next book she wanted to read. After a few stops and starts (with Emma and some others) she is reading The Covenant. Jaedin and Kainan are reading Henry Reed, Inc. Jaedin is reading the third Redwall book in his free time. I can not believe how he loves to read! I didn't expect it out of him... but I guess it makes sense, with his uncanny ability to get "lost" in his own world!
That's all for now... the thrill, the excitement! Oh, and btw ~ I believe we'll prbably watch the movie Twelfth Night tonight. We read the story last year ~ two different versions actually. I need to look up the movie and make sure it isn't inappropriate. I also have A Midsummer Night's Dream that I know has a couple of parts, but its dvd, so its easy enough to skip.
NOW! Seriously, that's all folks:)
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