day 2

Z's first birthday today! I can't believe that a whole year has passed already, what a blessing he has been to all of us.
Today R did spelling and what a difference a year makes. Last year he felt like a failure at spelling, he had a super-hard time with it. This has never made much sense to me because he adores reading. Over the past year he has continually challenged himself with more and more difficult reading material. And I think that may have affected his spelling abilities. We did a pretest for his lesson and he only had 2 wrong out of 20. I can tell you that he felt terrific, like he could just maybe be a good speller if not a great one!
Both boys did their Writing Strands and science, we finished Daniel 7 and the littles had their first swimming lessons. J was completely in his element, and both kids loved their lessons and felt very competent.
After lunch we went for a nature walk. I use the term 'nature' very loosely, there is a man-made lake nearby surrounded by trees and home to many waterfowl, muskrat and birds. B needed to collect pond water for a biology experiment and the kids love to watch the animals and explore. Turned out that the city had sprayed herbicide?!? in the area the day before, so we didn't do leaf rubbings or sit on the grass and sketch like we would have liked to. (Am I the only one who thinks it is inane to spray herbicide by a wetland? Or really anywhere in the city?)
We ended our day with breakfast supper, carrot muffins for birthday cake and lots of Z cuddles. At both 9:09 am and 9:09 pm on 09/09/09 I was nursing and cuddling my newly 1 year old baby Z, what a perfect way to bookend his special day.

First Day

I told the kids that this year we were going to enforce an reasonable start time so that we have time to accomplish our goals and still have some fun. Today was the first early morning. The children are to be ready to work at 8:30 am. This means that I want them fed, dressed, teeth brushed and sitting at a clean table with their books. I have a feeling that this is going to take a while to become habit. B was up, mostly because we made him get up before I took my Dad to the airport at 6:30 this morning. I wanted him to keep an ear out for A and J who were still sleeping.
Even with a warning call before I arrived home, B was not ready to go by 8:30 and R was not ready to work until 10:30am. He would not get out of bed and then he would not get moving. So tonight he has to be in bed by 8pm. I thought that would be a natural consequence of sleeping in... and I have a feeling that his father will awaken him before he leaves for work at 6:30am. Poor kid.
As for me, I am going to try and go to bed earlier and get up early to exercise and do devotions each morning before we get started.

***
I am going to try and keep a written record of each child's assignments and daily work here this year. Doesn't make for exciting reading, but I need to keep track.
B, R and I watched a short video on Stephen Covey's site about goal setting, we will watch the whole series and then set our own goals for the year. We went on to do the first of our Writing Strands' lessons, B in book 5, and R in book 4. I started reading the Evaluating Writing book. Wow. I realized that I have been hyper-critical of their writing, rather than encouraging it. Changing that immediately.
R did a spelling lesson to round off English for the day.

We read the first half of Daniel 7 together, it was a bit dry for the kids after the exciting stories they had enjoyed over the previous chapters. A and J went over their Sunday School memory verse and then we started to memorize Psalm 1 (in song) together. B is going to memorize Ps 136 and R chose Ps 43. (I probably need to check, I have a feeling that Ps 43 is super short.)

B reviewed his first science chapter, as I am going to retest/review the chapters he has done as he finishes the lab work he couldn't do previously due to missing supplies/microscope.

We finished off the day with Art. B and R started the Draw Today program, B loved it, but R is finding it difficult so far. I think as he relaxes and progresses that he will enjoy it more. He is very self-critical and a perfectionist like his mother and that can definitely hinder creativity.

Right now the boys are off on a walk, E is sleeping, or I would have taken all the kids. I am going to discipline us all to get at least an hour of activity a day, especially before we get on our electronics. The boys were asking for computer time, so I sent them on a walk. And R has homework (his writing strands) before he has any chance of computer time. I think he will not have any at all, as a result of a poor attitude for most of the day. ugh.

Tomorrow is a new day and I look forward to continuing our adventure then. Hopefully we will all be renewed in spirit and mind.

Fresh New Year

I am really excited to start a new year of home educating. There have been many days in our journey that I wished we could just quit, but there is nothing like a fresh September and a big pile of books to awaken my joy.
We are starting out a bit slow this year. Science, Drawing, Writing and maybe a little Latin and/or French. Those are the resources I have on hand. Oh and economics and we will probably continue watching our Canada: A People's History videos. I am just hoping and praying that we can order our math and our Sonlight soon.
Nothing like opening that box of Sonlight, full of new books and *rubs hands gleefully* schedules! We don't always follow schedules that well, but I am hoping that my big boys will be working very independantly this year and it will be so helpful for their work to be already scheduled. Talk about a time saver!
For math I am making the change from Saxon to Teaching Textbooks this year, hoping to save my R from another year of torturous (to him) repetition. He just doesn't need the repetition of Saxon and the fighting with him to 'do math' has made us both hate math by now. I love Saxon, I think it teaches thoroughly, but it is just not a fit here. I will be starting him off with the Life of Fred books only though, I haven't seen them yet, but I have high hopes for the funny stories/curriculum wrapped into one.
We are still enjoying the last vestiges of summer around here, one last steamy weekend by the pool, hanging with friends. Next week we shall get back to schedules, and I am happy for it. I am counting the days until I can order the rest of my books!

ps if you are intersted in Sonlight, please use my button on the left to check out the site and sign up for a free account. You will recieve $5 off your first order and I will benefit as well!
God bless you as you start out this new year with your kids.

Charlotte Mason

I am just beginning my journey into Charlotte Mason's books, ideas and beliefs and it is changing my life. I am terribly excited about our future as a family.

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Life lessons.

So we took a month off of school, not a week. I needed the break and so did the kids. They read tons of books and played outside, so not a waste.
This morning, I have been trying to get them going on their book work while I read about a new-to-me math program called Jump Math. The book work is not happening, but what is may be more beneficial. The big kids are taking time to teach the little ones about chess and now go-fish. How can I make them stop to do yet another math lesson!?

My own spring break

I think we are taking the week off of bookwork. I am way too tired of fighting with R and I need a break. The kids played outside and are watching movies while I hide in my room with a home-made latte and my computer. The bliss is almost overwhelming!
It has been a rather lovely day, the big kids have played with the little kids and kept them amused, they even played with the baby for an hour. I love that they are all so close and that B spent enough time out of the house this weekend that he is not nearly so testy as he has been of late.
I am giving the kids a completely free day, I even did R's dishes. B did go out and shovel though, poor baby. hee hee.
I am going to get caught up on my marking this week and get re-organized I hope. We are almost done with our curriculum for the year and I can't wait to change some stuff up for next year. I am going to go all computer based for Ry next year with the addition of a bunch of good books to read. All computer taught, all self-marking and give us both a break! I am going to use curriculum with the others too, I need the safety net of knowing it is all being covered for a while. I am so tired of stressing about it and trying to piece things together and going against my own grain. I think sonlight will be the best way to go, one-stop shopping. Best thing is, B can be responsible for all his own stuff, he is way more than capable. We will most likely add in some of our school board's online courses for fun and interaction. Now I just have to pray for the resources to afford curriculum, as I haven't been able to for the last few years.

Hmm.. think it is time to get out of my jammies and go out into the sunshine for a while.