I feel the need, the need for speed!

Ok, readers, I could use some input. I just can't get the Elder Child moving. Not in the morning for chores, not during school for math speed drills, and not at dinner (even when there's something fun afterward). He. Just. Won't. Go. Faster.

A big portion of the problem seems to be his inability to focus. Morning chores get distracted by "helping" Younger Brother cut something out. Math speed drills lose the attention span to whatever else is (or isn't) going on in the school room. Dinner... well, everything distracts dinner. Skinny boy doesn't like to eat on schedule. I thought we had a breakthrough on Monday, when he lost the chance to go to his beloved soccer practice over a particularly difficult (& lengthy) dinner.

To help with the focus issue, we're considering enrolling the boys in a martial arts program. Anything else we could try?

Morning chores

This week's focus was trying to get our morning chores to run more smoothly. We finally got it right this morning. Apparently, we need Daddy home in the mornings to crack the proverbial whip. Sigh.

So while we keep working on the chores, school is going rather well. Jimmy is getting much more comfortable writing his journal assignments. He has written some funny stories from his writing prompts. Quite the sense of humor from that kid! Caleb seems to relish all of his assignments, except the parts where he has to sit still & listen (like for Bible - we're reading Proverbs - & History). One of Caleb's journal assignment was to complete this sentence: "My favorite school subject is..." He said math. Jimmy seems to enjoy reading the most. We just finished reading his first reading comprehension book, where he & I read at the same pace so I can ask questions to make sure he's understood what he read. This book was a Hardy Boys mystery. I was really impressed at how much he retained, especially considering that a mystery has lots of important details that the reader must keep track of.

Gettin' into a groove

We had a great week of school. I took Wednesday off (headache) but I decided not to try to make up the work on Thursday & today. We've got a good groove on & I don't want to mess with it. We can make up these "lost" days during Thanksgiving week.

Math is going exceptionally well for both boys. Jimmy still has issues doing his work quickly, but he is showing definite improvements. Caleb loves doing his worksheets. When Jimmy did this curriculum (Saxon grade 1), we did side A of the worksheets; doing both sides was too much for him. Caleb, however, does both willingly.

Writing is going very smoothly for Caleb, which surprised me. He didn't seem that eager to do school & has some issues sitting still. But give him an assignment, & he's golden! Jimmy struggles with creative writing. He much prefers to write when he "knows" the answer.

Reading is very much the opposite. Caleb doesn't like being made to read. Jimmy is reading chapter books with me (a chapter a day; I read first, then he reads, then I ask reading comprehension questions). Once he figured out that I was asking for the details in chapter one, he began reading very carefully. Today, he even answered my questions before I got a chance to ask! I guess I'm getting a little predictable. lol

Back to school!

We started our school year on Tuesday, after returning from our "field trip" weekend to Boston. More on that later.

We had an interesting start to school. I learned that my kids retained a LOT from last year. Jimmy dove right in, and Caleb's counting actually improved! Since this was our first summer with virtually no school, I was a little anxious about how it would go. On the other hand, Jimmy definitely proved that he is out of practice sitting still through aaaaalllllllllll of school time. Caleb is somewhat squirmy as well, but he's great as long as he had work to do. I think Jimmy is just going to have to get used to it - I already have the workload down to bare bones.

I designed my own lesson planner based on a few great ideas I got from June's homeschool conference plus several googled websites. I highly recommend every homeschooler to design one themselves, since we are all so individual & unique. (That's one of the best things about homeschooling, after all!) Even those of us who aren't very technological can do it; I found a bunch of websites with forms ready to customize & print.

Anyhoo, my planner has a section for our family schedule, our "together" school work (Bible & our main curriculum - varies from Five in a Row, Story of the World history, and Physics), Jimmy's work (math, spelling, journal, reading, & memory work), Caleb's work (math, handwriting, journal, reading, & Catechism), my to-do list, and dinner menu planning. Best part - when that no longer works for us, I can create & print new forms!

About our field trip - we met Daddy in Boston (in between two of his business trips) to spend the weekend with generous friends - the Stanleys - who bravely faced a long day of walking with two potentially cranky boys. Turns out the boys were too busy flirting with Mrs. Stanley & trying to impress Mr. Stanley to be very cranky. lol We limited the sights to see based on what the boys already learned & what we thought they could appreciate. So we saw the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed, part of the road Paul Revere (and the British) traveled, the U.S.S. Constitution, Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and the Boston Public Gardens. We read Paul Revere's ride over the summer, which covered Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and the minuteman trail. The Public Garden is the setting for Make Way for Ducklings (we re-read the book next to the statues of the duck family from the story). We had stayed in the town where Johnny Appleseed was born, so it was a great opportunity to introduce the story to the boys as well as give Randy & I an opportunity to learn the true story behind the legend. And the U.S.S. Constitution... well, old boats like that are just plain cool! Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from the trip because my camera had a full memory card & an empty battery. Sigh.

I think we're off to a fabulous start. Here's to a great school year!

First day of school!

Happy math-ers! (We'll see how long those smiles last, lol!)

Ready to start next week

Just about wrapped up school prep. I finally decided that I didn't like any lesson planners out there so I made my own. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed doing it & it didn't take much time! (The longest time was probably spent on "decorating" it with clipart. lol) I found a binder with a fabric spine that allows you to fold it over like a spiral notebook. Score! I was expecting to have Staples bind it for me, but now I can add, subtract, & change things to my heart's content.

In all of the planner design stuff going on, I nearly forgot to print out stuff for the boys' notebooks. I designed a calendar for them to fill in, made a monthly weather chart for Caleb's math lessons, and printed out maps for Jimmy's geography memory work.

All that's left now is to put together the boys' binders & finish filling out the last two sections of the memory work cards. I'd also like to better organize the school cart (where I'll store all of my teacher supplies in the school room), but I think that may have to wait until we actually get into it. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll need to have on hand on a daily basis for this year.

We're almost there!!

Prepping for the new school year

We've moved, we've unpacked... some... lol As I expected, the closing & the move didn't happen quite as planned. Let's just say the hubs & I learned a LOT about waiting on God's timing. I also learned to take a much closer look at the inside of kitchen cabinets before buying any other houses. Gross!!

This year's school planning went a lot easier than I had expected. The school year will be set, as always, by the longest math curriculum. That's Jimmy's grade 3 ABEKA math - 170 lessons.

Jimmy's lessons: math, spelling (daily with weekly quizzes), journal writing, and reading assignments. He'll also have memory work: grammar (parts of speech, punctuation, etc), history (Veritas Press cards for the Middle Ages, Renaissance, & Reformation), science (Classical Conversations cards for Ecology, Astronomy, & Physics), Bible (catechism Q&A for the Lord's Prayer and/or 10 Commandments), geography (South America), & US presidents (a repeat from last year). I might throw in some German as well, since it doesn't look like we'll be going to a German language class this year.

Caleb's lessons: math, handwriting (copywork), journal "writing" (mostly making pictures), and reading aloud (various books at his reading level from the library or our own collection). Caleb's memory work will have some catechism Q&A & possibly some German as well. Depending on his attention span, I might add him to some of Jimmy's memory work.

"Together" lessons: These are the lessons we all do together. We'll do Bible all year; I'm planning on finishing Psalms from last year & going through Proverbs. I'm going to wing it instead of making a formal plan, because a plan tends to make me rush through this most critical subject. We'll split the rest of the year between Five in a Row volume 3 (we didn't get through much this summer, and I decided to let the boys have a summer off), science (Physics level Pre-I), and history (Story of the World part 2). The boys will also both update their calendars every day.

So this reminds me... I need a map of South America!!

DONE!!! (sort of...)

School's out! Well... Caleb still has 6 phonics lessons, but other than that, we are ALL DONE!! Jimmy finished all of his math lessons with ease. Caleb had a little trouble on his last math lesson (which was a test), but we'll continue working on those things - days of the week & naming coins - as part of normal life.

I am so glad that I decided to cram it all in at the end of the year. It was hard at times, to the point where I was seriously wondering if I had made a huge mistake. But now that all but a few dribs & drabs are done, I can focus on this impending move.

Speaking of, after some tense moments, it looks like the move is actually going to happen! We nearly lost both sides of the deal at a few points, but it seems to have all gotten resolved. The closing for the new house is around noon on Friday. We'll see if that actually happens. After this whole experience, I know better than to assume it will all work out the way we expect! Lesson learned - when you pray that God helps you overcome your control freak habit, He'll make sure you feel like you're not in control! Lord, I hope I have learned this lesson thoroughly, 'cause I'm not ready to go through that again!

From a homeschooling perspective, my summer plans are to attend the NJ homeschooling conference in June (ENOCH), to do the pushed-aside-to-prepare-for-the-move Five in a Row work, and to generally take a well-deserved break for the summer. I'll start actively planning next year's stuff after the dust settles post-move. So... October. lol

Have a great summer!

Almost there!

One more week to go! (Of official 2010-2011 school year, that is.) After next week, we'll be all done. Well, Caleb has one extra week of phonics to finish up. But the main stuff will be done.

This week's lessons went very smoothly. Caleb is a lot less combative with only one phonics lesson. Jimmy & I reached an agreement that he doesn't have to do all of the questions on his math worksheets. Even if he gets to skip only one question, it feels like a lot less work. The mind is an interesting thing!

We're supposed to be closing in two weeks. But we still haven't finalized either deal. This is so frustrating! I wish we knew what was happening. This is a classic example of God forcing us to trust Him as we step out in faith. He isn't allowing us to do anything else! He is very wise - He knows we would be trying to control the situation. I am praying for Randy, since most of these last minute details fall squarely on his shoulders. It is his job to make the phone calls & ensure that everyone is appraised & up-to-date. God is in control of the outcome, but He has given Randy quite a lot of work in the meantime. No more can I brag about my work getting the house ready for sale; Randy has had just as much work!

With all that is going on, we could certainly use your prayers. Specifically: patience, trust, and faith in God's master plan. I wouldn't mind if you threw in some prayers that the contracts would all be finalized quickly, either. ;)

Preparing for the Move

So it looks like we'll be moving at the end of the month. The closing dates are both June 3rd. It's been crazy trying to get ready. The biggest craziness is trying to finish the school year before the movers are scheduled to arrive. I hope, in light of this, that you can forgive the missing posts for the past few weeks!

I have cut the boys' lessons to the bare bones. Jimmy's focus is math. Caleb's focus is phonics, although he also has to finish this year's math program.

Caleb's math is the easiest to complete, since he was scheduled to finish in time anyway. Phonics, on the other hand, has been a bear. We were doing 2 phonics lessons a school day to try to catch up, but it was getting to be such a fight! Caleb didn't even want to do 1 lesson, let alone 2. Yesterday, I had a moment to sit down with my lesson planner. If Caleb does only 1 lesson a school day, we will go over my hoped-for end date by 5 school days. I've decided that this is worth it. Caleb will, from yesterday on, do only 1 phonics lessons a school day. We'll try to sneak some lessons in on the weekends to try to knock those extra 5 days down.

Meanwhile, Caleb FINALLY passed his counting test in math. He really doesn't like counting. He loses focus, which then makes him lose his place. I've told him that he doesn't have to count for school anymore, but we'll practice in the car.

Jimmy still gets 1-3 math lessons per school day. Lessons with tests will be the only lessons that day (unless we need to do some catching up). We'll triple up at the end of the school year, which shouldn't be a problem since those last lessons are merely reviews of what we've already done. Jimmy was miffed that Caleb gets a lighter load, so we agreed that he won't have to do every question on the worksheets. I will go through the worksheets before I give them to him, circling the questions he is required to do & x'ing the questions he doesn't need to do. If the x'ed questions look fun, he is allowed to do them. ;) I thought that was a silly rule, but lo & behold, he did one of the x'ed questions on his worksheet today! I have also cut out the speed drills for the rest of the year. Jimmy was thrilled when I told him that, but the joy quickly faded when I told him that we might use those drills during the summer to keep his math skills fresh.

The boys are continuing their memory work & we'll keep reading through the Psalms.

Here's hoping we make it through this!

Halfway through phonics!

Last week (Thursday, to be exact) marked the halfway point of Caleb's phonics program. I am very impressed with how well he is doing. I had struggled a little deciding if he was ready. He likes being the baby. But he is very diligent & he has great memory retention. We're both having trouble with doubling up the phonics lessons, but I'm finding ways to keep him motivated through both lessons. I am allowing him to take a shortcut - each lesson contains a story that is supposed to be read through twice. I'm letting him skip the first reading & go right into the Q&A style second reading. He is doing a fabulous job!

Jimmy is having no problems with doubling his math lessons. He balks a little about doing the worksheets, but I think that is more because he would rather listen in on Caleb's phonics lessons. Jimmy picks up new math concepts like he'd already been doing them for years. I have to be careful to make sure he's using correct format (like in how he carries numbers in a horizontal addition problem, so he'll borrow correctly in a subtraction problem) because he tends to be able to do stuff in his head. I am having flashbacks to my own math teachers growing up. "You have to do the easy problems this way so you'll be able to the harder problems later."

For his birthday, Jimmy got an NIrV Bible - New International Reader's Version. It's the NIV made easier-to-ready for the 6-10 year old range. Jimmy isn't the best reader, I thought, but it would be a great place to do copywork for now. Well, Mr. Prove Me Wrong struck again! After his first stint with his new Bible during quiet time/nap time/reading time (whatever you want to call it), he came up to announce that he had read Matthew, Luke, Proverbs, and something else Old Testament that I can't remember. We thought he was lying or exaggerating... but then he gave us examples that were in those books! Now he reads along in his NIrV while I read their Psalms reading for school from the NLT. This whole thing got me rethinking where his reading level truly is, so we checked out some chapter books from the library. He read them all in one nap time & told me all about what happened in each one. Guess we're moving up to the next age group shelves in the library!

First week of the Cram

As I said in my last post, I've decided to speed things up so we can finish this year's lessons by the end of May. This week was the first week of what I'm calling "The Cram." I cut out all but the bare bones of finishing up this year. That meant FIAR is on hold; I'm hoping to make that a light summer program.

The bare bones elements are as follows: allowance (1X per week), Psalms (1 or part of 1 per day), math (more on that later), Caleb's phonics program (more on that later), Jimmy's memory work, & Caleb's catechism work.

The joint work should be pretty obvious - on Monday's, I hand out their allowance & we review what it is to be part of a family. ("I am part of the family & I share in the work & the rewards.") Then we read a Psalm or, for the longer Psalms, a reasonable chunk of one. Tuesday through Friday just has the Psalms.

Jimmy's work: He reviews his memory work. The memory cards are in sets of 12. We'll go through all 12 in 4 sets each (weeks 1-4, 5-8, & 9-12) twice, then 6 sets each (1-6 & 7-12) for the final 2 weeks. On math test days, we'll review either the US Presidents (using flashcards) or the US States (using flashcards & a US map). Math gets more complicated. Generally, we will have 2 math lessons. However, when a math test comes up, we will only have the math test lesson. Math test lessons have 2 worksheets (the independent work and the test sheet), but there is no lesson. That frees up time to work on the presidents or states. See?

Caleb's work: Each day, he gets 2 phonics lessons. On Monday through Thursday, we'll have a math lesson. He gets a reprieve on Fridays. Caleb's memory work is still his catechism memorization. We are continuing to add 1 catechism Q&A each week, reviewing all questions to date each day (we're currently up to question 26).

This has resulted in quite the juggling act. It's too much, for instance, for Caleb to go through both phonics lessons back-to-back. It's also a lot of time spent with 1 kid while the other gets bored (read: gets into trouble). Here's a sample of what our lesson schedule evolved into over this past week. I'll use a typical Jimmy-has-2-math-lessons-and-Caleb-has-math day:

• Math lesson with Caleb while Jimmy works on first math lesson's independent work.
• First math lesson with Jimmy while Caleb plays with math toys.
• First phonics lesson with Caleb while Jimmy finishes first math lesson's worksheet & works on second math lesson's independent work (Jimmy plays with math toys if he finishes early).
• Second math lesson with Jimmy while Caleb practices handwriting for first & second phonics lessons (Caleb plays with math toys if he finishes early).
• Catechism memory work with Caleb while Jimmy finished second math lesson's worksheet.
• Memory cards with Jimmy while Caleb wanders off somewhere, bored with the math toys (this is still a work in progress).
• Call Caleb back so everyone can sit (mostly) still for the Psalms reading.
• Heave a big sigh of relief that no one burnt down the house while I was busy with the other child. Make & serve lunch.
  

Teacher's Inservice

I had almost forgotten how sweet unscheduled days are. Wow, did I need that! We slept in... or at least tried to sleep in. The boys played all day... when they weren't trying to bug Grandpop. Elena-puppy slept in a cozy nook... as usual. I read a few books... more quickly than usual.

I also started a new diet. I thought it would be best to get through those first cranky days without forcing the children to deal with a cranky teacher. I'm not sure how everyone else thought I behaved, but I certainly didn't *feel* cranky. So I'm thankful that the diet kick-off went well.

Now that we've had a much-needed break, I've been able to reflect a little on our plans for the rest of the school year. I'd really like to give the boys a summer break this year. (Last year, our summer was taken up by preparing the house for sale & catching up on school work that didn't get finished because of the house stuff.) I'm still hoping to do light school work, but I'd like for them to finish this year's math & phonics before Memorial Day.

So now I'm off to figure out how to squeeze all of those lessons into 8 weeks...

The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar

This week's FIAR book was The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar by Natalie Kinsey-Wornoc. It's a sweet book about a girl whose family moves to an isolated island for a year. As the title suggests, there are wild horses on this island. The boys loved shouting out "FLORA" or "FAUNA" during our science discussion of the book. (My ears are still ringing! When will I learn not to encourage them to shout out answers? lol) My favorite part was that the girl, after she grew up, decided against visiting this favorite place of hers for fear that it isn't quite all that she remembered. Besides the flora & fauna discussion, we also talked about the pros & cons of living in isolation, first person narration, similes & metaphors, paint spattering for effect, & food preservation (canning & drying are both discussed during winter preparations on the island). We didn't get a chance to put together a lapbook for this book, so we will definitely revisit this for an afternoon of cutting & pasting.

I'm on the verge of Spring Fever Burnout (as evidenced by the many learning activities crossed out in my lesson plan book), so we're going to take a Teacher's Inservice next week. Haha! We'll visit Grandma & Grandpop, I'll read gobs of books, and we'll all take a much-needed break from school.

Finally - Multiplication!

Jimmy was really excited this week - we finally got to multiplication in his math lessons. My little nerd has been teaching himself multiplication for about 2 years now. =) He was so excited that he has started doing a better job in all aspects of his math lessons. Today's speed drill, for example, was his best time ever. He completed the 1 minute speed drill in 1 minute 9 seconds. The previous record was 1 minute 17 seconds. Go Jimmy!

This week's FIAR book was Andy & the Circus by Ellis Credle. It was a loooooong book. I ended up only reading it 3 days this week. Our lessons for the book were on social studies (helping others even when it puts our own desires at risk), art (the book's monochrome illustrations, using short lines to outline a cloud to give a fluffy impression, performance art at a circus & not at a circus), and science (there is a lot about balance in this book). The discussions about balance will come in handy this summer, since Randy hopes to get Jimmy off of training wheels.

On Thursday, my poor little bubs went to the dentist for fillings. It was the second of 2 visits. We learned that we have all been bad about taking care of their teeth. The boys learned better brushing techniques & Mommy learned that she needs to floss their teeth & brush Caleb's teeth at his evening brushing. I feel horrible that I let this happen. Thankfully, Jimmy did not need fillings in any of his adult teeth (Caleb doesn't have any adult teeth yet).

At the dentist appointment, I did some light school with Caleb while Jimmy got his teeth done (he was first). We did his phonics lesson, his catechism, and his German memory work. I had planned to do math, spelling, & memory work with Jimmy during Caleb's turn, but Jimmy wasn't feeling well after his fillings. He seems to have a more difficult time coming out from being under the gas than Caleb. Plus, the dentist had to numb a little of Jimmy's mouth for one filling. Poor guy just wanted to snuggle. So Jimmy skipped school on Thursday.

Speaking of skipping school, I had originally planned on taking the week after Easter as a school holiday while Randy & I were on vacation. Those plans changed; we are no longer going away. Easter is more than a month away... & I'm starting to think that we all need a school break. I have learned in the past that the boys - Jimmy especially - tend to have fabulous mental breakthroughs during our school breaks. I think I'm getting a little burnt out, too. As I joked with my MIL, it might be time for a teacher inservice! =)