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| Growing toward outgrowing |
Maybe breakfast would help. Let's try that.
Struggle of Fatigue
Oh, am I ever tired today. Exhausted, more like. And of all days, today is an "activity" packed one - painting, using the balance, possibly transplanting our seedlings before they REALLY outgrow their little cups. And I'm just so tired.
But we've been doing it and now the kids are started on apples and plums so I can take a much-needed breather. And the contest. The results are in, nothing else is happening, I've switched over my blog, now I wait. Yet another reason to feel tired, depressed, just out of the excited energy I had before this weekend. No more looking forward. Just the same old things. Can I go back to bed?
Maybe breakfast would help. Let's try that.
Maybe breakfast would help. Let's try that.
Three Weeks Down, Twenty or so Years to Go
I'm looking at baby pictures of Mud Pie - she is so beautiful. And crazy St. Nick. Can I freeze these kids now? Can I hold on to them at this moment in time and never forget the little details - the terror of the first thunderstorm, the awe of swimming goggles, the fun of a wading pool and a hose?
This is what I wanted. It really is. I didn't want what we had last year: harried race to school to drop off St. Nick, frenzied hours at home batting Little Fish away so I could quick get some things done, race back, hurry through lunch, off to naps, up to get Dr. D from work, back for dinner, errands, bed. I lost precious time with St. Nick - with all of them, really. Mud Pie's first year is lost to me. A blur of car rides, papers to sign, field trips, obligations.
Our home is family now. Do I have more work to do? Less down time? (No down time.) A harder task of juggling home, husband, kids, writing? Yes. But I also know more. I know what crafts St. Nick enjoys most and what books get his imagination going. I get to see it. I don't have to wait for a Progress Report - a stranger's assessment of my child - who is, to her, a stranger as well. I know him, and after three weeks of homeschooling, I know him better than I did three weeks ago.
Am I in this for the long haul? You better believe it.
This is what I wanted. It really is. I didn't want what we had last year: harried race to school to drop off St. Nick, frenzied hours at home batting Little Fish away so I could quick get some things done, race back, hurry through lunch, off to naps, up to get Dr. D from work, back for dinner, errands, bed. I lost precious time with St. Nick - with all of them, really. Mud Pie's first year is lost to me. A blur of car rides, papers to sign, field trips, obligations.
Our home is family now. Do I have more work to do? Less down time? (No down time.) A harder task of juggling home, husband, kids, writing? Yes. But I also know more. I know what crafts St. Nick enjoys most and what books get his imagination going. I get to see it. I don't have to wait for a Progress Report - a stranger's assessment of my child - who is, to her, a stranger as well. I know him, and after three weeks of homeschooling, I know him better than I did three weeks ago.
Second Fencing Class
I just can't stand it - he is trying so, so hard but this week his awkwardness and my lack of competence shows. And I can't stand it. I watch him get into the on guard stance with the wrong foot forward, his left hand ready for a foil. But he's RIGHT handed! I wanted to go over that more this past week, but I didn't. I didn't do it and he felt bad. He spent so much time trying to get his feet in the right place and to fence with the foil in the wrong hand - oh, it about killed me to watch it.
How can I sit by and watch my child struggle? Or do it wrong? He felt beaten down and I felt descouraged. And the coach told the parents to put their kids in sweats, NOT jeans. Of course, the sweats made it in the wash this morning but not into the dryer. And he needed shoes instead of sandals and ... I'm failing.
We didn't get our reading done today. I'm failing. On all fronts, failing. And all I'm thinking of is me. Didn't I just have a birthday? Isn't it time I grew up?
He didn't have as much fun as he should have, and it's because of the things I forgot or didn't do or just wasn't on top of enough to review. How can I do this to him?
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| Fencing class, take 2 |
We didn't get our reading done today. I'm failing. On all fronts, failing. And all I'm thinking of is me. Didn't I just have a birthday? Isn't it time I grew up?
He didn't have as much fun as he should have, and it's because of the things I forgot or didn't do or just wasn't on top of enough to review. How can I do this to him?
Only One Solution
And that is to cut out morning TV. I could let St. Nick watch educational videos and do computer during his siblings' naps (after phonics, unless we can get phonics in after lunch), but no TV in the morning. I just cannot have the morning broken up with the talking box like it was today. It was only 20 minutes, but it sets us back, ruins the flow of what we're doing.
And it causes fussiness galore. I think he'll prefer educational video/computer time in the afternoon anyway.
I'm also considering doing Tapestry three days a week and Science one day, yet that doesn't seem like enough for Science. Hmmm. Math and Reading need to happen daily (well, the four days a week we do school).
I can see so much growth already, so why do I still feel like I'm not doing anything?
I'm also considering doing Tapestry three days a week and Science one day, yet that doesn't seem like enough for Science. Hmmm. Math and Reading need to happen daily (well, the four days a week we do school).
I can see so much growth already, so why do I still feel like I'm not doing anything?
Second Week Record
Despite starting the week with two sick kids...
Phonics/writing: Reading Reflex 'er' word list with associated lessons (reading of The Hurt Girl). Lots of writing practice with the Nature Journal and Word Bank Cards (about six cards added - nouns and one verb). Both handwriting and phonics are going slowly and are a struggle. Not for ability, but there's a block somewhere. We'll get it in time.
Math: Singapore Earlybird 2A continuing from last week through lesson five. Going smoothly. We might join friends for a lesson next week.
Tapestry: St. Nick can identify the Nile River and Egypt on a world map (which makes two places on a map he can identify - Egypt and our state). We talked about daily life in Egypt and completed the following readings:
Usborne Beginners The Egyptians
Egermeier's Bible Story Book: Creation plus Baby Moses and Jacob and the coat (noting setting of Egypt)
A Place in the Sun: chapters 1-3. I'm not quite sure how much he's getting. But he's tracking with major story elements, which is great.
Modern Rhymes about Ancient Times (Egypt): selections (about half)
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile (again)
Geography from A to Z
Activities: Lots and lots of online activities. We viewed Egyptian art, pyramids, images, heard Egyptian music all using the links in the previous post here.
We made a salt map and went over landforms using Geography from A to Z. I took pictures, below.
St. Nick, entirely on his own, made a sarcophagus from a paper bag mask and a cardboard box (he understood exactly what he was making and transferred a rather abstract idea into real household objects).
(More photos of this week can be found at: http://smartypants.shutterfly.com)
We also looked at pictures of the World Trade Center bombing and talked about terrorism and patriotism.
Watched a video (several times) on the construction of skyscrapers.
We attended members night at the John Ball Park Zoo - the event was very busy and overwhelming, but fun. St. Nick drew a jellyfish in his Nature Journal.
Science: Did the How do Plants drink activity from Green Thumbs (p. 5), and St. Nick sketched his observations in his Nature Journal.
We transplanted our seeds from last week and continued sketching our observations. We read about seeds and seed parts (shoot and root are firmly established in his vocabulary now) using the Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia.
Heart: We read Leading Little Ones to God, chapter 2, continued with our scripture memory verse and read much of God's Wisdom for Little Boys.
Etc.: We did just a few minutes of Chinese online. St. Nick washed the bathroom himself (!) and helped to dust/mop.
St. Nick attended his first fencing class on Tuesday which was a huge success!!!
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| Two Sick Kids |
Math: Singapore Earlybird 2A continuing from last week through lesson five. Going smoothly. We might join friends for a lesson next week.
Tapestry: St. Nick can identify the Nile River and Egypt on a world map (which makes two places on a map he can identify - Egypt and our state). We talked about daily life in Egypt and completed the following readings:
Usborne Beginners The Egyptians
Egermeier's Bible Story Book: Creation plus Baby Moses and Jacob and the coat (noting setting of Egypt)
A Place in the Sun: chapters 1-3. I'm not quite sure how much he's getting. But he's tracking with major story elements, which is great.
Modern Rhymes about Ancient Times (Egypt): selections (about half)
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile (again)
Geography from A to Z
Activities: Lots and lots of online activities. We viewed Egyptian art, pyramids, images, heard Egyptian music all using the links in the previous post here.
We made a salt map and went over landforms using Geography from A to Z. I took pictures, below.
St. Nick, entirely on his own, made a sarcophagus from a paper bag mask and a cardboard box (he understood exactly what he was making and transferred a rather abstract idea into real household objects).
(More photos of this week can be found at: http://smartypants.shutterfly.com)
We also looked at pictures of the World Trade Center bombing and talked about terrorism and patriotism.
Watched a video (several times) on the construction of skyscrapers.
We attended members night at the John Ball Park Zoo - the event was very busy and overwhelming, but fun. St. Nick drew a jellyfish in his Nature Journal.
Science: Did the How do Plants drink activity from Green Thumbs (p. 5), and St. Nick sketched his observations in his Nature Journal.
We transplanted our seeds from last week and continued sketching our observations. We read about seeds and seed parts (shoot and root are firmly established in his vocabulary now) using the Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia.
Heart: We read Leading Little Ones to God, chapter 2, continued with our scripture memory verse and read much of God's Wisdom for Little Boys.
Etc.: We did just a few minutes of Chinese online. St. Nick washed the bathroom himself (!) and helped to dust/mop.
St. Nick attended his first fencing class on Tuesday which was a huge success!!!
En Garde!
St. Nick's first fencing class was last night, and I would give him an A+ (if I were into grading [as if. My killer instinct came forward. Get 'im! I wanted my boy to WIN!]). Actually, the better assessment, the class and instructors would get an A+.
This is the first activity of the sort St. Nick has done, and I was nervous he'd be nervous. He gets that way - at Sunday School (we still have to hear about the dreaded Angel Costume from the Christmas play. "Mommy, I am NOT wearing an Angel Costume Ever Again!"), at preschool last year when he'd sing all the songs at home, but none of them with the class. But he surprised me. He marched right in and said to the crowd of kids and adults, "I'm ready for fencing because I had a good supper!" And then the kids took to the floor while the moms and dads sat along the walls. (I'm a mom! I love this!)
At first, when he practiced his stance with his left hand forward instead of his right, I thought we were doomed. He doesn't know about dominant hands yet. I haven't taught him left/right yet. They'll find out what an awful homeschooler I am and will ... but then he got the foil in his hand and held it like a natural.
His inborn lack of coordination played in his favor. While the little boy across from him swiped and jabbed, St. Nick hopped forward, his foil straight ahead. Again and again he hopped forward until his opponent was forced over his line. And so St. Nick won his very first fencing non-match!
(Update: St. Nick just got back from lunch at his friend's house, and they asked what sort of equipment he used - if he wore special clothes. His reply, "I wear my swimming pants and a monkey mask!" Oh, the joy of having a smartypants!)
This is the first activity of the sort St. Nick has done, and I was nervous he'd be nervous. He gets that way - at Sunday School (we still have to hear about the dreaded Angel Costume from the Christmas play. "Mommy, I am NOT wearing an Angel Costume Ever Again!"), at preschool last year when he'd sing all the songs at home, but none of them with the class. But he surprised me. He marched right in and said to the crowd of kids and adults, "I'm ready for fencing because I had a good supper!" And then the kids took to the floor while the moms and dads sat along the walls. (I'm a mom! I love this!)
At first, when he practiced his stance with his left hand forward instead of his right, I thought we were doomed. He doesn't know about dominant hands yet. I haven't taught him left/right yet. They'll find out what an awful homeschooler I am and will ... but then he got the foil in his hand and held it like a natural.
His inborn lack of coordination played in his favor. While the little boy across from him swiped and jabbed, St. Nick hopped forward, his foil straight ahead. Again and again he hopped forward until his opponent was forced over his line. And so St. Nick won his very first fencing non-match!
(Update: St. Nick just got back from lunch at his friend's house, and they asked what sort of equipment he used - if he wore special clothes. His reply, "I wear my swimming pants and a monkey mask!" Oh, the joy of having a smartypants!)
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