Day 3 - Guy Land

He wanted to go to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, or at least the Dinosaur Park up by Dallas, but Kaden settled for Bass Pro Shop 10 minutes from home!  I was relieved it wasn't the zoo, not a fave of mine.  Everyone had  a good time at Bass.  I took a lot of pictures for Kaden to have.  Here are a few that I liked:

I love Chloe's pose, so NOT pioneering!  

She may love Laura Ingalls, but she's modern all the way!

There's the birthday boy himself, 

posing handsomely by the African Big Game display.

Oh, no!  Sam's been snagged by the giant green fishy!

That boy sees a humorous opportunity in everything!

Kaden is Eight!

Wow!  Kaden is eight today!  Why do the birthdays of my children always amaze me? Perhaps because these are moments that prove definitively that my babies are growing up and that my time is limited. How could eight years have passed so quickly?  But I digress...

Kaden, at eight:

• You talk about dinosaurs all the time!
  
• You want to be a paleontologist when you grow up.
  
• You love getting presents.
  
• You work hard to have a good attitude.
  
• You love your family deeply.
  
• When you grow up, you want to get married and have five kids, just like our family.
  
• You don't like making your bed, but you do a good job anyway.
  
• You like puzzles and now you are up to 300 pieces, easy-peasy.
  
• You build amazing dinosaurs out of your imagination.
  
• You draw really well.
  
• You like to help cook, especially breakfast with Dad.
  
• Your best friends are Joshua and Caleb Gonzales.
  
• You listen to Jonathan Park shows and absorb every detail.
  
• You still write letters to Olivia Riddle (who Mom hopes you will marry someday).
  
• You like to talk to your grandparents on the phone.  You can talk for a long time!
  
• You'd like to go to Africa.
  
• You want to learn Spanish and how to play the piano, violin and guitar.
  
• You love to watch science shows on TV, especially Magic School Bus, Prehistoric Planet, Dinosapien, Man vs. Wild, Survivor Man and Mythbusters.
• Tuna fish sandwiches are your favorite!  Candy is right up there, too!

It is a privilege to be your Mom, everyday. These have been the best eight years of my life.  I love you.  I always will.

this year...

This year...

• I will enjoy my children.  They are, after all, only young once.
• I will remember to encourage effort, to require effort and to reward effort.  Natural ability, or inability, is only the starting point and not the deciding factor.
• I will embrace imperfection and see room for improvement and valuable lessons learned.  I will not avoid the untried, the difficult, or the messy.
• I will love my husband and be his helper.  I am so grateful for him.
• I will train my children.  I will train my children.  I will train my children.
• I will have high ideals and low expectations.  
• I will delight in the Lord and I will pray.  I am His very own.
• I will do it with a smile, whatever it is.  This one is not for wimps.
• I will count my blessings.  I will rejoice.

Day 2 - Ride

They love to ride their bikes.  I wish our street was safer, but maybe our next home will be on a quieter road or a cul-de-sac.  I got some good video of Sam spinning his bike, he is such a show-off!  It took so long for Sam to actually ride a bike.  He pushed that baby push-bike around until this last fall!  Finally, we bought him this Radio Flyer big wheel and it was just too cool to resist!  Abby, on the other hand, has loved her RF since moment one.  When Jack finally started walking, he took over the baby push-bike and she would sit and pout on the driveway while EVERYONE else had fun with bikes.  She still finds a way to get a hold of that baby bike whenever Jack's not paying attention!

An Opportunity Arises from Disappointment, or That's Life

I was so looking forward to buying Becky Higgin's Project 365 to chronicle our year with ease. It was not to be!  It sold out in under two hours (happy Becky, sad me)!  I was bummed!  But, lemonade from lemons, right?  Why throw out the concept just because I can't have BH's incredible kit?  I can scrapbook without a kit.  I can keep it simple.  I can take 365 photos and jot a note.  I can do it myself... words oft spoken by Miss Abby, who knows a thing or two about life, even at three!  I brushed off my disappointment and ran to capture some photos. Happy New Year!  Happy new attitude!  Here we are, off to a good start:

Short road trip up to Bandera, TX, to buy candy from the General Store.  Had ourselves a little shoot out just for kicks.  Pop quiz:  Which kid is more dangerous?

Feel the love.... mmmmm....

Week 14

Well, we have been busy!  I haven't really had much time to post.  The weeks have just been flying by!  School is pretty streamlined by now.  We still have Bible and Catechism and Latin at breakfast.  Then, after they dress and all that, we tackle math and writing.  I felt like we were getting through math too quickly, usually in less than 10 minutes, and that was causing problems when we had lessons with a more difficult concept or just more work was needed on longer addition and subtraction problems.  I think Kaden had gotten used to math only taking a few minutes and he was really becoming frustrated when it took longer.  Math does take time and the further on he gets, the more time it will take.  So I decided that we would do math for 30-40 minutes every day.  That gives us plenty of time to do both Saxon and BJU and Flashmaster and use manipulatives for story problems.  It's been about three weeks since we went to this schedule and math is much improved, as are our attitudes to math time!

Spending so much of our table time on math necessarily limits what else we can cover in that hour, so we are tackling copywork (for penmanship and grammar) and learning cursive.  They still work on Click-n-Read for phonics and spelling, but I am hoping to move that to our afternoons and listen to one read aloud to me while the other works on the computer.  

We have been pretty regular about our after lunch read aloud time.  That is going well.  After quiet time, we read history or science or seasonal picture books and have art time.  This is going very well!  

Two areas for improvement are tracking the books they read and keeping the house tidy.  They are getting really lazy about cleaning up after themselves and it makes me feel like the whole house is chaotic and I can't do my housework with all their clutter everywhere.  They will finish their 100 books poster from Scholastic by the end of the month.  They have enjoyed it so much, I want to find a simple way for them to continue tracking their progress.

We are having a lot of fun with fall crafts and our artpak projects.  Soccer is going really well, even if it is time consuming.  I'm looking forward to getting together with a friend to sew each week.  Best of all, we are making it to the gym a lot and it is such a treat, not to mention that I am in the best shape of my life!

Weekly Report - 5

What happened to week 4?  It was a truly awful week.  Kaden and Chloe really struggled with their attitudes and each day was so distressing.  I thought we would probably be better off finding them a school.  That led to lots of stress, seeing as school would begin in just a week.  So, what to do?  I read Boundaries with Kids for the third time.  I took a real good look at the ways I enable my kids.  I determined to put some boundaries in place.  This was a much better week, but I have a ways to go.  They are all such good kids and they respond well to boundaries.  They don't respond well to Mom-the over-indulgent, self-sacrificing, emotional mess!

This week was better.  We didn't get as much school work done.  I had to spend more time staying on top of their work habits and being in charge.  This week was exhausting, but I am making progress and I see it in their attitudes and in their work.  They even play better together.  I'm glad I didn't bail for the nearest school!

ART

I feel like a dunce, but I just don't get Drawing with Children.  It's just not my thing.  Maybe next year we can find some drawing classes.  I think I'm going to try to buy Atelier level one. The lessons are on DVD, so hopefully it will get done even when I am clueless!

MATH

Kaden finished chapter 5 of BJU2 and Chloe finished chapter 4 of BJU1.  They are moving along nicely.  We finished early this week and have enjoyed some word problem pages and fact sheets instead of Flashmaster.  BJU really stresses number families and I think Kaden is finally seeing how they are helpful for subtraction.  He is improving quickly and doesn't give me any attitude about it.

SCIENCE

We read a few more books about digestion and the nervous system.  I ordered the rest of our science books for the fall semester, so next week we will study seasons and then weather.  They are looking forward to that!

HISTORY

We read through SOTW2 chapter 3 about Christianity coming to Britain and the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon pagans, monks and monasteries, and illumination.  We also read:

Caedmon's Song by Ashby

Marguerite Makes a Book by Robertson

Illuminations by Hunt

We finished The Willoughby's and started The Stray by Dick King-Smith.  It is a wonderful story as well.  Chloe read Mercy Watson and the Princess Disguise and fell in love with that series.  I don't know how to keep on top of Kaden's reading list!  He finishes a book or more everyday!  We read a lot of picture books but my favorites this last week were:  Brave Margaret by San Souci and O'Sullivan Stew by Talbott.

We made it to the gym twice this week, but I think it will be easier to go next week, local schools will be back in session!

Weekly Report - 3

This week was not as challenging as last week, but it wasn't nearly as exhilarating as that first week either!  I know now why I always seem to peter out after three weeks.  The brain load just gets to be too much.  I have so much stuff to think about, so much to plan, so much to implement, and too much to keep on top of that I just mentally shut down.  The fourth week always seems to fall apart as my mind takes a vacation.  Blogging has been helpful in showing me my weaknesses and patterns, as I had hoped, and I am slowly developing some useful skills that are keeping us moving.

I wrote up my topical year-at-a-glance list for history and science.  Now, I can easily see what's coming up soon and order books from the library or amazon.  I think that next year I will try to buy almost all of the books we will use to save myself this stress.  It is a weekly irritation that could be alleviated by better planning and budgeting.  If we weren't moving next summer, I would start buying books now for October's topics.  Alas...

The other list that is working tremendously well is a weekly subject checklist.  Now I can see what we still have to accomplish and know that nothing was missed.  I can also see that I am consistently missing Art.  Maybe I need to move that to an earlier spot in our day?  I am waiting for Drawing with Children from the library, but I may just have to buy it in September. I hope that Kaden is old enough for it now and maybe Chloe as well.  We can begin working through Artpak 1 next week though, if I can get the supplies put together this weekend.  I need to get some colored paper for Sam's ABC activities anyway.  Saturday might end up being a shopping day.  Maybe after I paint the boys' room and Chloe's room... 

The final helpful thing I started this week was putting each day's stack of readers on my desk under my checklist.  Each book planned for science, history, literature and storytime are all nicely stacked and ready for those moments when their play seems to be getting out of hand and they require a change in plans.  This has helped immensely towards getting our reading done!  An easy fix, especially with the space I now enjoy on my new desk.

So, that's the progress I've made this week.  Here's what the kids accomplished:

MATH

Kaden finished chapter 4 of BJU 2.  I think he understood the subtraction strategies better this go around.  It was an easy week for him.  He improved with Flashmaster as well and moved on to level 4.  Chloe finished chapter 3 of BJU 1.  It was all review, so she was able to focus more on her facts.  She is working on level 3 of Flashmaster addition.  I didn't use the TM's at all this week.  

WRITING

Writing with Ease is wonderful!  I took the workbook to Kinko's and had the binding removed, the teaching pages bound together, made another copy of the student pages and had both student books bound.  It is so easy to use and the kids liked it as well.  Happy all around!  I'm going to get the audio versions of the books she takes her selections from and listen to those in the car.  I always forget to reserve audio books, so this will be helpful!

SCIENCE

We were supposed to continue on with earth science (earthquakes, volcanoes, caves) but ALL of the library books that I had preselected this summer were checked out until mid-August! So, we checked out 10 books about the human body.  This week we learned about our senses from My Five Senses, by Aliki and You Can't Taste a Pickle With Your Ear, by Harriet Ziefert.

I had planned to do more hands-on learning with this topic, but it just didn't happen.  Most likely because I didn't plan anything out on paper.  Plans that exist only in my head never seem to amount to anything tangible.  Go figure!

HISTORY - KING ARTHUR

We wrapped up our King Arthur unit this week with some great stories.

Bearskin - Pyle

Knights of the Round Table - Talbott

Merlin and the Dragons - Yolen

The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup - Sutcliff

Talbott's book about Lancelot still has not come in from the library, so we'll have to add it in next week somewhere... 

POETRY

Kaden learned Long Gone, by Jack Prelutsky.

Chloe learned Singing Time, by Rose Fyleman.

We did manage to read three chapters of The Princess and the Goblin.  It continues to be a favorite read-aloud.  We are also enjoying The Willoughby's by Lois Lowry.  It is quite funny and terribly ridiculous.  I think it will make a great yearly read-aloud as the kids are still a bit young to grasp much of the subtle humor.  Chloe read Going West, a picture book adaptation from Little House in the Big Woods and Kaden is enjoying The Nine Lives of Aristotle, by Dick King-Smith, in addition to another half-dozen A to Z Mysteries and Ready Freddy short chapter books.

We only made it to the gym once this week.  I hope we can improve our record next week!  And on a final note, our puppy has gone to live with an older couple, big sighs of relief but also a tad bit of sadness and regret... I actually miss the little yapper.

Weekly Report - 2

Our first week was so ideal, I should have seen the fall coming!  Apparently, all the amazement at our new school year settled into an air of drudgery.  Maybe this will always happen.  We plowed through, but it was a struggle everyday.  Some of the issue was that I didn't feel my best, so maybe I lacked that extra enthusiasm that they needed to ignite their own excitement.  Maybe the newness of the uniforms and new books and daily schedule had worn off and it all felt just a little too snug and imposed.  We still got a lot done, but we didn't make it to the gym and we didn't manage to do any fun projects or art or poetry.  Our school lacked life this week!  It's good to know what makes for a good week.  I can resolve to make those things more of a priority.  Next week is a clean slate...

MATH

I decided to buy BJU 1 for Chloe, but just the worktext and reviews.  It should be here Monday.  Level 2 was going to move too fast for her and too slow for Kaden if I continued to keep them together.  She can work more independently with Level 1 and I can play addition games with her instead of spending that time teaching new concepts.  Level 2 will be there waiting for her as soon as she needs it.  It was tough to abandon my dream of combining them for math, but I think it was the right decision for them.  

Kaden starts subtraction review next week and he "hates" subtraction.  I think he needs more practice to really feel comfortable with it so I will find ways to include games and stories with manipulatives and take the strain out of the lesson.  He might be better off doing those pages alone so there isn't any "parent pressure".  I have to keep in mind that it is good for him to struggle and overcome his limitations.  My natural inclination is to lighten up and help him to coast through a difficult situation.  Subtraction isn't going to go away and eventually he'll have to master it but in his own time and not according to my timetables of "what is appropriate".

It came up so infrequently in Saxon 2 last year and I always let him skip those fact sheets.  I think that was appropriate then, but he is able to master it now, he just doesn't think he can.  I'm glad that BJU approaches it as a chapter concept, we won't need to move on until he has knows it and has confidence to do it.  He is so good at addition and multiplication, so of course he would rather only do what he's good at.  Just like me...

READING

Chloe read The Josephina Story Quilt this week and Kaden completed another week of Explorer's Bible Study.  He also read four or five short chapter books!  He's quite pleased with how fast he can read now!

WRITING

Our copy of Writing With Ease workbook 1 is supposed to be here Monday.  I am so excited to start that.  It's just what I've been trying to pull together myself.  Doing a little happy dance!!!

HISTORY - KING ARTHUR

Our Island Story: chapters 10 & 11

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Pyle), pages 1-12 (The sword in the stone.)  I'm enjoying this book but I think the Talbott and San Souci books are more appropriate for their ages and the illustrations are so beautiful!

King Arthur triology by Hudson Talbott:  The Sword in the Stone, Excalibur, Knights of the Round Table (These are excellent, I plan to purchase them.)

(No notebook pages completed this week as our afternoons were just too frustrating!  I have some great books planned for next week and hopefully we can get our afternoons back in order!)

SCIENCE

Earth:  Plate tectonics and pangea theories from CKE.  Puzzle experiment from Barbara Taylor's The Earth.

MPH:  Classification of living things into four groups, similarities and differences.

GEOGRAPHY

Countries of North America and Central America.  I finally learned them myself!  Kaden was excited because one of his books has a character from Costa Rica and now he knows where that is!

POETRY

We chose poems but we didn't have time to learn them, so we'll save them for next week.  We did manage to learn some new knock-knock jokes!

We continue to read The Princess and the Goblin.  It is very good, but we are having trouble getting to it everyday.  I'm thinking of just reading this one like Ambleside suggests, one chapter a week.  That would be quite doable AND we could enjoy it for a longer period.  The kids never forget what has happened, even if it's been a few days.

Here are some of our favorite library picture books we read this week as well:

Heart of a Tiger by Marsha Diane Arnold

There Was a Old Woman Who Lived in a Boot by Linda Smith

The Well at the End of the World by Robert D. San Souci

I wish I could buy some new picture books to add to our library.  It seems that since we started schooling, all my book money goes to curriculum... 

PUPPY UPDATE

Bruno is a biter and a terribly mean little puppy.  We aren't sure whether to get him another dog to socialize him or just to find him a new family without babies and little children.  It is so heartbreaking.  This was a major disturbance in our week and a cause of too much lost sleep.  I hope we can come to a solution soon!

Weekly Report - 1

We finished our first week of school and it was super!

We had planned to start earlier but we kept hitting roadblocks. Last week the kids did VBS at church and I was able to plan. All our curriculum finally arrived as well. I'm still not 100% pleased with all my curriculum choices, but overall, everything went very well! So, here's the scoop:

LATIN
Everyone really likes Song School Latin. We sing along as we clean up breakfast, after a Bible story from Vos and catechism. Today K and C filled out the worksheets and they liked that as well. It's a very entertaining and gentle approach to Latin for the younger set!

READING
Kaden enjoyed the first week of lessons in Explorer's Bible Study, New Beginnings. He's using it for reading comprehension. Chloe is reading the Young Reader's Bible aloud to me. It is amazing to me that last summer I was teaching her the sounds of the letters and now she is reading fluently!

SPELLING
Kaden is taking a break from Apples and Pears Spelling and doing Spellwell on his own while we work out the logistics of teaching three kids at the same time. I think he likes it well enough, this morning he got it out and finished the weekly lesson before school even started! Chloe is working through the Explode the Code phonics books for spelling this year. She can probably start A&P in the Spring while Kaden finishes it. Sam is doing crafts from Jumbo Fun with the Alphabet and PuzzleBuzz from Highlights. He starts his day by coloring me a picture from an online coloring book collection. Sometimes he plays a kindergarten game on the computer while K and C have math.

MATH
Math is my big dilemma right now. I switched to BJU from Saxon because the grade progression put them at three years of calculus in high school (and who wants that)! I thought they could both work together through BJU Math 2, a repeat for Kaden and new for Chloe. It is perfect for Chloe, but Kaden is bored. Thursday, I printed out some of the enrichment pages on the teacher's CD and gave those to Kaden along with the daily worksheets and he had fun working on those in another room. I'm bummed that we might not be able to work together. I don't want to teach math twice, it just takes too much time, so I am thinking of getting him MUS to work on independently. Thinking...

GEOGRAPHY
Globe: Oceans, continents, equator, northern and southern hemispheres
States: TX, NM, AZ, CA, OR, WA, ID, MT

POETRY
K: There Once was a Puffin
C: Whole Duty of Children
S: Come to the Window, first stanza
(This went really well! They picked their poems and today I filmed them reciting.)

SCIENCE
Earth: Revolving, rotating, axis, the rising and setting of the sun, and the structure of the earth
MPH: Diversity, living and non-living things

HISTORY - CELTS
SOTW2: chapter 2
Celts by Martell
Favorite Medieval Tales: Finn MacCoul
Celtic Tales by Weiss
Our Island Story: chapters 1-9
Beowulf by Szobody
Celtic Animal Stained Glass
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland
(Their notebook pages turned out quite well. It's a stretch for Chloe so she might drop it until next year, but we'll see how it goes for a couple more weeks.)

We are reading The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald this week and we all like it immensely. Kaden read Fantastic Mr. Fox and three more A to Z Mysteries this week. He is reading so much faster now and loving it. Chloe is working through her first chapter book after struggling through the Princess Academy. She is reading The Runaway Racehorse and making steady progress.

We also managed to make it to the gym twice and to the pool twice. This was quite an accomplishment. Jack and Abby did great playing in their room during school as well! Now if we could just get the puppy to calm down and stop biting us, it should really be smooth sailing!