I was the first out of bed this morning.  Yesterday, the kids beat me by 5 minutes! The kids must not have gone to sleep after I put them in bed at 9 p.m. last night because they were difficult to rouse. Of course, Zilla my 3 year old  noticed when I left the bed to shower.  Since my husband is going to school in the evening now, I am concerned that working on waking earlier will make it difficult for him to get the rest he needs.  However, class ends no later than 10 p.m., so after the hour drive, he could be in bed by 11:00 to 11:30 each night or take a nap before he goes off to school. I've found its very important to start our day early.  There is so much more to do with 4 kids in homeschool and a very disruptive, but very loved toddler in the mix.

In the shower, I started feeling very overwhelmed with how the children are progressing.   If I could do it over again, I would make sure that math was worked on diligently every day.   Also, Tootsie and Sugar Plum both read very well, but would be benefited in developing stronger composition skills.  I hadn’t been concerned about their writing skills in the past as they LOVE to write.  However, I received a list of the key skills from their charter school and for their age group it says that they should be able to write a 5 paragraph essay.  I'd like to help them to learn this skill by the end of the school year.  

I’m going to try the following:

1.  Have all the children together for Saxon math meeting time.  In that process, everything that I teach my little schoolers will also be reinforced for the older children.  My 4^th and 5^th graders  do not know their math facts by heart and I think that when that time comes for the little schoolers, it will help to have the older students master them as well.  The older kids can also "tutor" the younger kids and learn at the same time!  We'll continue with Quartermie math, but use it for both multipication and addition/subtraction facts & whatever drills are needed.

2.  Practice writing by using topics from the scripture lesson.  I'll need divine inspiration for this , but I think that this method will help the kids to practice writing skills in a useful way.  More on this to follow as I work out the details.  For right now, they are LOVING the workbook “Draw then Write”.

We're off to a slower start than I had hoped this morning.  The kids still haven't gotten dressed and there is a lot of bickering going on with the youngest three. I'm going to put on some upbeat music.

Today, we'll start the day with math and then phonics.

Breakfast: Cereal (COCO Puffs &Lucky Charms)

Lunch: Stuffed Sole, Chicken Cordon Bleu (Omaha Farms food passed on from my mom), Rice, & Fruit

Dinner: Sandwiches

Snack: 

Dinner for my husband to take to school: Turkey and Pepper Jack SW, tangerine, cookies, funyuns, cold water

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