Posted in School

After Wednesday, things got a bit crazy around here, and my energy level plummetted.  Thankfully the kids have been really good about doing their schoolwork.  My 7-year-old finished her second unit (of 10) of Language Arts yesterday, and is holding an A average on those lessons.  Today she surprised me by pulling out her Cursive Handwriting book and completing 2 pages with absolutely no prompting at all, though my husband and I praised her every effort - it had been over a month since she expressed any interest in handwriting or since I even asked her to practice her writing, so I was delighted that she took the initiative today.  I have done a horrible job of seeing that she gets her Bible Study lessons finished - my husband came to the rescue last night, reading her "day 1" passage and helping guide her through the two questions in her lesson for that day.   She has balked at the diagnostic/placement tests for math, so we've settled into the 2nd Shiller Math activity book, and it seems to be a good fit for her.  Yesterday we did a couple activities, but she was more interested in counting money, so we spent some time practicing the best way to count coins.  She also made up her own game, trying to roll half-dollars across the activity mat.  I am grateful for books like the American Girls series that give her exposure to American History without me having to do lots of extra teaching on the topic.  She enjoys those books so much and is learning history effortlessly.  I'm still contemplating a science curriculum purchase for her - either Switched-on-Schoolhouse or Real Science 4 Kids. 

My 5 1/2-year-old son has a habit of giving silly answers (I know he knows the right ones!) when we do math, so yesterday we put aside the materials and he went upstairs early for quiet time while I worked with his older sister.  Then in the evening, he wanted to work on math problems, so I wrote some on his magna-doodle at first, and then we did addition flashcards as well - he can add even the 9's quite well!  Earlier this week while my older daughter was at swimming lessons and my toddler had gone to bed already, I started reading through What Your First Gradet Needs to Know along with him, discovering that he really enjoys tongue twisters and riddles.  We also touched on a little bit in the history section of the book, where we read about the Ice Age.  We've settled into Modern Curriculum Press Plaid Phonics B, progressing at one side of a page per day, reviewing long vowels.  I am now requiring him to do the majority of the writing, using lower-case letters, and supplementing with the Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book when his phonics page has no writing.  This is all very easy for him.  He's reading books to both of his sisters now, in addition to reading for fun.  Last I checked, he was almost at the very end of Little Pilgrim's Progress, though I'm sure his understanding of the book is very limited, and I know he's made up alternate names for some of the characters (Obstinate and Pliable, for example) since they're so hard for him to pronounce.   Last night he was curious about cursive handwriting and asked me to show him some cursive letters, including his name in cursive.  Then I introduced him to the game "Hangman", which he played with me, while my daughter played with my husband, all of us using the kids' Magnadoodles. 

My toddler is now almost 18-months old, and she is so much fun!  My husband was remarking yesterday about how intentionally she's learning to speak our language.  She points to objects she wants to know the name of, we tell her, and she repeats the word.  I'm sure the fact that there are so many of us around who are constantly talking only encourages her efforts and communicating.  In addition, the big kids are constantly encouraging her to say things, usually out of the blue, and my husband and I are also encouraging her to name objects.  She did have a wonderful breakthrough this week in naming the contents of her diaper (though poopoo can mean either #1 or #2).  When I started to buckle her into her highchair yesterday, she made a fuss, refused to be buckled, and said "poopoo".  Sure enough, she had left a "deposit" in her diaper, and she was more than happy to sit in her highchair once the mess was cleaned up.  I am delighted at her understanding not just of the world around her, but also her awareness of how her body functions.  While I dream of her being potty-trained before the twins arrive in about 3 months, I am not going to push it, but continue to follow her cues and hope that big sister will be a big help in that department if she's not ready until we have a couple extra babies in the house.  I suppose that's something I'll have to discuss with my older daughter in the coming months. 

Today has been a relaxing day for me - I needed the rest, as my energy level has been very low lately.  Carrying twins is a challenge - I have some great days when I'm full of energy and experience little pain.  Other days I'm low on energy and have pain - lower back, groin, belly, feet...  I'm grateful for the easy days, though they seem to be few and far between.  In the meantime, we have a relaxed atmosphere in which the kids do a lot of "unschooling" - something they thoroughly enjoy.