Susie-Q&A

• Feb. 14, 2007 - Day In Review

We didn't homeschool, except for math and reading aloud Tom Sawyer and Misty of Chincoteague. And discussing an example of alliteration in passing.

However, I did manage some baking. And I did tie Pudge into a backpack carry with my wrap during breakfast. It's been a while, so it was somewhat inelegantly tied, but it served the purpose. He screamed and squirmed and banged his head on my back while I stood still mixing our granola bars, but when I started moving around, he got quiet and enjoyed the view.

Later in the day, I dragged the little tot-car from the garage to the main floor and vroomed him around the living room. My mother had sent me an e-mail recalling my crankiness as a toddler during the confinement of winter, and the great relief a certain ride-upon horsey brought to my irritability.   So, I thought I'd give it a try. Boy, did he love that. He's a serious little dude, but you could tell from his focused expression he was into the whole car thing. He got frustrated when I stopped because he doesn't yet know how to push with his feet. It's only a matter of time, though. I noticed how he zeroed in on Mopsy when she rode it around the kitchen. He was observing her pretty closely, picking up on the "how-to's."

Scrub's tooth fell out. I'm the world's worst tooth fairy, so I've written the initials "T.F." on my hand in indelible marker, so I will remember to bring up the goodies after he is sound asleep. Tomorrow, I'll get a picture of my snaggle-toothed boys. Buster's missing his two front teeth now.

I baked the aforementioned granola bars (yum!), cheese biscuits to go with our tomato soup at lunchtime, and crackers. The crackers were a dismal failure, but it's not a total loss. Judging by their hardness, I reckon can use the remaining dough to build our volcano. The kids tried to eat them with tonight's soup, but they are more like hard-tack than saltines.

Speaking of the soup, I found my chicken carcass in the garbage this morning. DH had nibbled the last remaining bits for a midnight snack and tossed it. So, no homemade chicken stock.   I made the soup with chicken bouillion, but it just didn't turn out well. Only one of the kids ate it. Believe it or not, that kid was Pudge. He LOVED it! I had cooked the beans and rice really soft and he scarfed it right down. Hope it doesn't give him a belly ache.

Oh, and his afternoon nap was 1 1/2 hours! Whoopeee! He slept about 45 minutes in the morning.

We didn't go outside to play in the icy snow today because it was half sleet/half snow and our footwear is woefully insufficient. I wanted to stay in and be cozy anyway. Chicken was disappointed, but there it is. DH agreed with me. Our front steps are barely navigable. That sleet solidified the snow. He did go in to the office for a few minutes, if only to affirm the school's wisdom in calling a snow day (we're one neighborhood away from the college). The garbage trucks were not able to come through today, so our pickup is tomorrow instead. I hope to go to the grocery store tomorrow; I expect all will be clear by then.

I paid the bills today. I love online bill pay. What a breeze!

On a more exciting note: I THINK I FOUND NEXT YEAR'S CURRICULUM!!

I'm not entirely certain yet, but I do like the looks of Learning Adventures. I need to pray about it, but DH said it sounds good. It's a unit study approach, it is literature-based, and all the planning is already done. It sounds very easy to use, and it covers all subjects except for math (I really like Math-U-See anyway and want to stick with it next year). It starts with Ancient history! I had planned to cycle through the ancients again next year, but was at a loss regarding my littles. I wanted to include Scrub and Buster too. I think they would find the hands-on activities fun and memorable. Something inside me just said, "Yes!" as I was reading the site.

For the longest time, I've felt we were simply checking off a list and not really enjoying learning. I like all the materials I've chosen, but they don't cohere very well. We do math, then we jump to copywork, then we jump to grammar, then spelling, etc. and nothing relates to anything else. They are all fine materials (Easy Grammar, Spelling Power, Story of the World, etc.) but my kids just aren't enjoying doing the work. Chicken especially dreads grammar. She does the rest of it dutifully, but not with any relish at all.

I think Math-U-See is working well, however, and it's so cool that this curriculum would weave all our other subjects together, including language arts and science and fine arts. I already own three of the books out of the first year's selection, and the rest I could probably get through the public library system.

I want it now, of course, but can't afford it yet, and it's wiser to wait and pray about it anyway. The curriculum is actually pretty cost-effective, considering I could teach all my young'uns with it. I just need to wait until a couple of things are paid off and we have room in the budget.

On a final note, I received a link via an e-mail from TOS to this article by JenIg...and it's a great one: The Hag, the Ogre, and the Chocolate Cake. Enjoy!