Focus Locus

Yesterday and today, R has listened to music on headphones while doing his math. This has seemed to help him focus and he has completed his assignments in about 20 minutes as opposed to hours of sitting and doing nothing. Not sure if it is really the music or just a behavior anomoly, but I will continue to let him do this as long as it lasts.

A and J and I did writing and reading today already as well as cuddling up on the couch and reading the Magic School Bus and the Human Body. Tons of information in that book, a bit much for one setting with those two, but they sat through the whole thing and we even discussed it a bit.

I need to go through the microscopy kit today to make sure B has what he needs for his labs next week. Maybe while I have the microscope out, I will let A, J and R look at their cheek cells as explained the the Magic School bus book. And find on the internet how to take photos with my microscope!

Mid-January

We are easing back into a schedule this week.
For the preschooler/kindergartner
First we pu together our magnetic calendar for January.
A, J and I are sitting together at the table with slates and chalk. We took out the capitol letter cards and made some with our shapes and now they are playing. A also did the F page in HER exercise book. J practiced writing numbers while A and I read a number book.
Her and I also went over the short vowel sounds for a, e, i & o; she doesn't seem to have retained much so far, but repetition is the key. It is good for J to hear the sounds as well, even though he is reading quite well.
For some social studies we read O Canada, our National Anthem together. It has beautiful photos to go with the words and then short history/bio of the anthem and its writers.
For science we listened to Jonathon Park and I will go through the lesson with Ry later and they will listen.

R & B are doing math, writing strands, handwriting. B started his Biology program this week, it is his high school class. He is also doing Logic and Greek & Latin roots/vocab. R is doing spelling workout. B is done for the day and R is barely started. ugh. It's 3pm! He just put in some earphones and seems to be getting down to it finally.

It's 2009!

Today we should be getting back at it, but I am not feeling it. My brain is still on holiday. But it has tuned out to be a pretty fab day anyway.

The littles had J's new art kit out before I was up this morning and they were sculpting:) Other than that it was a lazy morning.
After lunch, I put on Mozart's Magic Fantasy, part of the Classical Kids stories. It is based on Mozart's Magical Flute Opera and I bought the study guides that are full of interesting tidbits for a comprehensive music study and cross curricular ideas. So we just listened to the first act and read a bit and discussed what we heard. The kids responded quite well. Then J and A played with a spelling puzzle they got for Christmas while R started his chores.
We were listening to a Jonathan Park Cd, which they also received for Christmas. I found it informative and entertaining, if not a bit preachy. Okay a lot preachy. The kids on the other hand, loved it! I also have the study guide that one of my dear children has already misplaced. I hope to find in and go over the information in there. edit: The study guides are all available on the website as pdf's, as are ideas for real life adventures for your family!
Now we are listening to G.A. Henty's With Wolfe in Canada on cd while the kids paint and draw. J is experimenting with colour mixing and A is having fun making shapes with her brush and stamping. The big boys are drawing and helping with the littles.
I think my off day has been rather productive. Maybe we will learn some kitchen skills in a bit.