Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Daily Diary 6/26

2:00 p.m.

So far today:

woke early, put on laundry, unloaded dishwasher, said my rosary. Made bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then I snuck into the shower. Made lunch for the boys (Josh helped). and off we went to Music camp. On the way home got a starbucks latte!



Got home @ 10; cheated a bit and wrote e-mail to someone while Will and Becky were playing hide and seek. He'd been watching her while I was gone.



Then Becky and I cleaned through her draws and put her outgrown clothes in 'give away.' We cleaned through hers and Will's closet as well. Very satisifying! After that, Becky wanted to put on a show for me downstairs in the basement. Very cute and sweet. Looonnngggg though! Will played his new computer game he's obssessed with then finally went out and mowed the lawn. He got everything done except inside the fence of the backyard. Becky and I cleaned up the backyard and played out on the fort but then I realized I was late to pick up the boys. We raced there and were the very last folks to pick up their kids. Yikes! Came home. Everybody's in front of some screen or other. It is 95 % out. I told Will to finish mowing tomorrow morning.



I forgot I was having omelets for dinnner tonight. But I made eggs this morning and I can't stomach the idea of having eggs twice in one day. I haven't even cleaned up from breakfast yet.



The kids are hooting and hollering downstairs over something. Gotta go see what it is! Oh they are watching America's Funniest Home Videos.



I didn't realize it but Will read the latest Bunnicula book this a.m. I thought he was playing on the computer the whole time. I am limiting everyone to 3 hours daily for the summer. He's done two already. Now he's walking around bored.



I am going to go read and then take a little nap maybe. We are heading off to Target this afternoon for sundry items. That's our big outing for the day!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Daily diary 6/23

7:58 p.m.

Just finished nice dinner on screen porch. Steak, mashed yukon potatoes, fruit salad and bread from the bakery.



Good day today. Got up and got bagels as usual. Spent a good bit on the morning on yahoolists and blogs. After J.'s piano lesson took J, S and B to get pools passes finally! Been meaning to do that for at least 2 weeks. Came home. Planned meals. Went grocery shopping. Took kids to pool for a couple hours. Came home, made dinner.



Becky helped me make the mashed potatoes and fruit salad but then refused to eat anything.



Rick and Will went to Baltimore to help Grandma and Bubbie move furniture. They came home pretty tired.



Hannah's been in and out. She finished up her testing today. She's at the Workcamp mass and pizza dinner. She's got to be back at the at 5;30 a.m. tomorrow. Then she'll be gone for a week!



Right now J and B are playing out doors. W is pacing around outside too. Rick is reading to Sean. They're trying to get through all the Harry Potters by end of July.



Gotta finish cleaning up the kitchen and then read to Becky.

Weekly menu 6/23 - 6/30

Saturday - Grilled steak, mashed potatoes, mozzerella/tomato salad, fruit



Sunday - grilled teriyaki chicken cutlets, rice, salad



Monday - spaghetti, salad, garlic bread



Tuesday - omelets, rolls, fruit salad



Wednesday - pot roast, boiled potatoes, steamed veggies, apple sauce



Thursday - baked chix drumsticks, cous cous, steamed veggies, applesauce



Friday - pizza

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Daily Diary 6/21

I am a day behind. I thought yesterday was 6/19 but it wasn't!





Anyway, did get testing started yesterday.





H and W did two sections





Josh did 3





Sean did 2 1 LA and 1 math. He is so hard to test. He gets himself worked up incredibly and will NOT listen. Ugh. it is painful. All my other kids have no trouble with testing but Sean can not handle it at all.





Did manage to keep screen time down quite a bit.





It's already 10:21. Rick's flight was delayed 5 hours so he didn't get in until this a.m. at 6 or so. Poor guy is sleeping in. He has a conference call at 1 or something he needs to be up for. H and W went to mass. I'm letting the little ones watch tv downstairs just to keep them quiet. Couldn't stand cereal another morning and didn't feel like dirtying any pans so I drove to bakery and got scones and muffins.





After H and W get home I want to launch into testing. Get lots of that done this a.m. and early afternoon. 3:00 or so I'd like to go to Farmer's Market and library. Becky wants to get Mrs. Piggle Wiggle out on tape so she can listen to that again.



8:03 p.m.

Didn't get started on testing stuff until after 11:00 a.m. W and H did two sections. S struggled through part of one but was so panicked. He couldn't remember how to read simple words like 'with' Arghh, very excrutiating.



At lunch read some of The Lamb's Supper and then some more Sun Slower, Sun Faster. Wonderful book!



After lunch J did two sections.



Tomorrow is the surprise party for Katie at lunch. The whole morning will be spent cleaning and preparing, soooooo we'll just finish up the testing on Sat. a.m.



Around 4 or so we finally went to the library. Farmer's market was closed but got a good haul of books. J found another Bunnicula book. He's reading it right now.



Came home, was irritated with teens because I'd asked them to clean the kitchen. Made salmon cakes (I thought they were delicious but no one else ate them) plus fish sticks for the kids who I knew were going to reject the salmon, bought delicious cheddar cornbread at bakery. Plus steamed green beans and tomato slices. I thought it a very nice supper but no one else ate much.

Rick and I watched the first episode of Have His Carcase. Very entertaining.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Daily Diary 6/19

I keep starting daily diaries and then not finishing them. They sit in the draft file here. Let me see if I can recap M and T:



Window guys showed up unexpectantly M morning. They worked noisily all Mon and Tues. But now we have nice new windows in our house. They look great! No more bugs crawling through cracks or heating/air conditioning the outdoors. And we have windows that actually open! Yippee!!



But that put all on CAT testing plans on hold. So today I plan to:



1) Administer tests to all the kids (except) Becky. While H and W are at morning mass, I'll plop Becky in the tub (she's in dire need of a bath) to play while I test Sean and Josh. When H and W get home the three youngers can play while I test W and H.



Then in the afternoon we'll do some more. H and W can occupy Becky while I test J and S. Then they'll all have quiet time and I'll test H and W. Hopefully we'll repeat this pattern tomorrow as well and get all the testing done in two days. It's still more leisurely than when they do it at school all in one day.



Phone calls to make:



Make appt w/ vet for cats

Make dentists appts.

Make dr. appt for Sean, J and B

Order Artes Latinae if its out yet (DVD form)

Order Schola Latina II

Order Thomas Aquinas course from Catholic International U.

Order Jason Project



Vow: keep screen time to 3 hours! One for tv and two for internet/games



Friday we're having a birthday bash for Hannah's friend Katie (surprise party!) and Will as well (early b-day party; they both have same birthdate 6/29).



Rick is home from CA late tonight.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Daily Diary 6/17

8:11a.m.

Plans for the day - Will is starting his self-imposed summer schedule. He got himself up at 7:30 and lifted weights for a few minutes. Came down and ate breakfast, is now reading the Bible. he and Hannah are going to Mass at 9:15 He'll tidy his room this afternoon and start his CAT. Also he really needs summer shorts and shirts. he's outgrown all but a couple of them, so he's wearing the same clothes day after day. So I think I hit Target this p.m.



My plans are:

For Sean - shower (he's doing that now) tidy room, put laundry away, begin CAT. Lunch School (to finish up what we didn't on Friday) then he goes to his last Blue Knights meeting at 1:00 p.m.



For Josh - shower when he wakes (he stayed up late reading Dragon Chronologies); tidy his portion of room, last Saxon Math test, plus lots of reading in history by me to finish those subjects up. He can hang out in the afternoon. He can come with me target shopping today if he wants to. Practice piano.



Hannah - Mass at 9:15 then come home and start on her CAT. She needs to also work on her geometry and we need to watch what I think is the last lecture in the Popes and Papacy. She needs to finish the Thomas Aquinas book. She also needs to work on cleaning her room. It's terrible!



Wish I had something planned for Becky. Need to occupy her while testing the older kids and finishing up school work. Hmmm. That might throw a monkey wrench into neatly made plans.



Dinner is French Toast and sausage and fruit. Nice and simple!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Daily Diary 6/13

Happy St. Anthony of Padua Feast Day!



2:19 p.m.

Extremely lazy today! Woke at 4 a.m. couldn't go back to sleep. Finally got up at 6. Been dragging all day. Wrote long e-mail to Heather re: ToB for Teens. Puttered around, showered.



H and W went to 9:15 mass.



S, B and J got up and spent lots of time down in basement watching tv and whatnot, while I wasted time surfing the net.



H and W got home. Read 3 chapters of Seabird and several pages of The Lamb's Supper. Reviewed State Capitals. Mysteriously missing 5 of the flashcards!



J practiced piano. Then B, J and S played, making forts in room and living room. H and I watched lecture on Vatican structure. Very interesting. What has W been doing all day? don't know. B, J and S got in screaming match. Made B go to her room.



Read some Gaudy Night. Weather is nice, shame to be in doors. Put on load of Rick's laundry.



Need to defrost chicken, help J with math and Latin and read him some history. Cook dinner.

Want to watch next in A History of Britain. And maybe Lord Peter Wimsey tonight with Rick. Poor Rick's back really hurts still. He wants to come home early from work and take call at 5:30 lying down.



Hannah is going to High School Homeschool party way out. Need to leave right about now. Will is going to CLC tonight.

7:25 a.m. next day. Forgot to post this! Did wind up making the dinner and finishing the laundry. Read lots of Princess stories to Becky. Had terrific thunderstorms with incredible hail. It was wild to watch. Rained lots yesterday and still very wet today and this evening we are supposed to have a picnic and watch Riverdance with the church choir. Poor Rick's back is still hurting him. So between the weather and his back I'm not sure if Riverdance is going to happen.

Finished reading The Boxcar Children to Becky. Watched the next episode of Strong Poison with Rick last night.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Daily Diary 6/12

12:50 p.m


Woke about 6:00 slept pretty well. Becky crawled into bed at some point.





Got up; made tea; surfed the net. Sean woke up pretty early. We decided to go to Starbucks and get treats. However, the traffic was horrible due to rush hour and lots of construction plus a broken telephone pole. So we wound up going to Dunkin' Donuts instead. Then I had to take a very roundabout way home. By the time we got home Rick had already left for work. I never know what time in the morning he's going to leave; could be 8 could be 10.





Took shower. Everyone eventually woke up. Said rosary @ 10 or so.





Then did some work with Josh and Sean. Hannah went to Mass at 9:15 and didn't get back until later.





Josh: Lesson 87 in Saxon, translation in Schola Latina; I read to him last chapter in Code of Life (yippee) and next chapter in Augustus Caesar's World (on India). Then he did one exercise in Test Prep book on LA.





Sean: did several pages on fractions in MCP and then did one painful page in Test Prep on reading comprehension.





Will entertained BEcky for a while then gave up and she's spent an unhealthly amount of time in front of the tube; Sean joined her when he was done.





Hannah's been reading St. Thomas book





It's lunchtime now. Manuel is coming over to play soon.





More later!



Read the next chapter of Seabird. Hannah and I watched next lecture in Popes and Papacy on Paul VI. I love prof. Noble.



Went grocery shopping. Here are our meals for rest of week:

Tonight: Sphaghetti Carbonara, garlic bread and green salad

Wednesday: Chicken Piccata, rice, veggies

Thursday: Picnic sandwiches, fruit and Riverdance!

Friday: Pizza night



We are being very Italian this week!



Becky and Sean are both intrigued by the whirlpool tub since Rick used it for his sore back over the weekend. We hardly ever use it. But both Becky and Sean tooks baths today in it.



Got Dorothy L. Sayers dvd set by BBC. If Rick gets home early enough maybe he'll watch it with me.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Daily Diary 6/11

Very busy weekend. Didn't journal it at all. Probably healthy for me! LOL!



Anyway, was supposed to get up early this a.m. and take minivan in to body shop but slept in and couldn't get moving. So I was an hour late. Nobody seemed to mind though. Now for the next 2 weeks I'll be driving a Dodge Caravan. Stopped at Starbucks and got a skim latte. Hmmm. Delicious.



Must. Lose. Weight!



Today: cleaners are coming at noon. Everbody is sleeping in late except Will who is doing his last math homework of the year for his math tutor who comes around 10. I'm going to get everybody up and we'll spend this a.m. tidying and weeding. (I HATE WEEDS!).



After lunch we'll have quiet time because I need to nap. Then we'll do a couple hours of studies. And maybe even finish up by finally getting our pools passes. But maybe not. We'll see how smoothly things go.



So that's the plan.

7:36 p.m.
Well, I don't know where the morning went. I didn't get much done. Will completed Saxon Algebra I. He got a 97 on his last test. Yippee! So he's officially completed grade 9. Hannah is on her own now for Geometry. She did a bit on it.

Josh was really, really cranky. He has been reading nonstop to the point where he stays up way late, gets up too early and snaps at everyone who interrupts his reading. So I told him it had to stop. Can't believe that. This is the kid who didn't start blending words until after he was 9 years old. And now I am telling him he has to stop reading! He is reading all the Artemis Fowl books plus rereading the Spiderwick series.

We cleaned up the sitting room downstairs. It was postively gross. Then I made the boys put their laundry away which had been sitting in a laundry basket for about 4 days.

Cleaners came and the house looks good now. Hannah went to noon Mass by herself.

Hannah and I watched the next lecture in Popes and Papacy on Vatican II. I got my order from Live Ed so I spent the rest of the afternoon ignoring my children and reading through that. Then I made up lessons plans for Sept. to Dec. for both Oak Meadow for Becky and Live Ed for Sean. Put that on Dumb Ox. Becky played next door. Sean watched too much tv and was very very bored. Josh stayed up in his room and read. Hannah and Will went to the mall.

Now they're home. Will spent money on a new Nintendo DS game but now can't find his Nintende DS. He is walking around the house despairing. Hannah just left again to go to babysit for someone her friend usually babsits for but couldn't for some reason tonight.

Josh did a lesson in math. But that's it.

Josh, Sean and Becky are playing out in the backyard. The weather has been lovely today.

I would like to take a walk with Rick later this evening. He's on his way home.

Had broiled cod fillet with butter and lemon, cous cous, cherry tomatoes and baby carrots for dinner. Ate on the porch. So nice out. A/C is very weak. Repairman is coming on Friday. Hopefully, the weather will be nice until then so we are sweltering.

Becky knew where Will's Nintendo was! Isn't that funny. Now he's happy.

Okay, I do hope tonight I sleep well. I want to get up and have breakfast school and all the usual school stuff. Gotta get this year wrapped up. Slowly but surely we are getting there but it is like pulling teeth.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Daily Diary 6/7

8:01 a.m.

I slept all night from about 11:00 to 7 a.m. Yippee! Not gonna spend a lot of time at the pc this a.m.


Goals: try to get as much done as possible without losing my temper! Try to get pictures taken for pool. Still haven't done that! Try to getting reading done in my own various pursuits. Try to go shopping for clothes for me. Desperately need them.



5:19 p.m.


Math tutor came for H and W. H is starting to finish up her geometry credit using Teaching Textbooks. Will only has 2 lessons and a test left before he's finished with Algebra I.



Josh practiced piano and took a math test. Sean just did a little bit of LA test prep.



Had early lunch (H went to Burger King, alas, junk food but somehow we don't seem to have lunch food in the house.)



After lunch kids played on computer, I surfed the net a bit. Then H announced that Ph. wanted to go to Lake Fairfax since the day was so nice. H volunteered to take the kids. So she took J. S and B. W stayed here and hung around annoying me greatly with his pacing! I wrote a long. long e-mail that took ages to write about the Brit. lit/hist. class. Then I watched the next episode in A Hist. of Br. on Victoria and her sisters. Very interesting.



Now I think I'll go to Jerry's and gets subs. Junk food again! No wonder I'm overweight!



H. went to chiro and is now running errands at Target.



This p.m. want J to do his Latin work and read to his science and history. Also want to read Chesterton to Hannah.

9:28 p.m.

Josh did his Latin. Rick is reading to Sean, Josh is reading. Hannah ran to the post office to mail Shakespeare tests. Then she is going to Adoration for an 1 hour.

I am still planning on: reading History to Josh and putting on a load of laundry. Then I am going to read The Heart of Learning followed by Gaudy Night.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Daily Diary 6/6

Terrible night. Didn't sleep until 4:30 a.m. or so. Miserable shooting pains. I think I should rename this hypocondriac's diary because it seems like I do an awful lot of complaining here. Though I am not a hypocondriac. I swear it is all true. Woke up after 7. Will was up making lots of noise.



Rick is going to stay home and help me with the party. He is such a sweetie. It is a good thing I decided to take the day off from formal schooling, tho Josh says he wants to take his math test today. If I get some kind of nap, perhaps I can read aloud to him and H this evening.

8:38 p.m.

Cleaned all morning to get ready for party. Party was success: took group portrait of the kids in their best dress/communions dresses. Then made ice cream sundaes.

After everyone left watched Therese on little dvd player. Exquisitely poetic movie. Loved it. Hannah made dinner: bacon and cheese omelets w/strawberries on the side.

I don't know if H did any Shakespeare. Josh didn't take his math test. Will did a little math.

Will went to CLC tonight.

Books: reading The Boxcar Children to Becky; Rick is reading Harry Potter #5 to Sean; Josh finished reading his 6 series books on Star Wars and is now reading a prose retelling of Beowulf. Will has been reading 2 books: Dave Barry's Money Interest and Douglas Adams' The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Hannah is plugging away at St. Thomas Aquinas.


Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Daily Diary 6/5

I actually slept last night! I couldn't fall asleep until midnight, but I actually had unbroken sleep from midnight until 7:00 a.m. That hasn't happened in at least two weeks! I feel human!


I did a bad thing and let Becky watch cartoons while I have been checking e-mail, reading blogs and yahoo lists and now typing this. But I am going to stop after this cartoon is over, tidy up kitchen and then get kids up for rosary.


We are definitely doing Breakfast school. Seabird and mapwork; States and Capitals; The Lamb's Supper.



At lunch we'll do Rex Barks.


Same old, same old: Josh does math, Latin, Piano, history and science this a.m.



Hannah and I will do Church history and Chesterton.


Sean - LA test prep and some math.


Will ???? he should work on math.



3:50

Well, breakfast school didn't go well. I lost my temper badly. The kids were squabbling in such an ugly fashion and I seem to have no patience with rudeness or disobedience. It really upset me because I was all set to have an enjoyable day. And most of the morning I spent sulking.



We did say our rosary, everyone but Hannah made it down. I read The Lamb's Supper a bit. It was ironic because I had just finished reading something about how we need to root out those 7 deadly sins. Then we started on the State Capitals and that is when everything went south.



Josh did math and piano. Sean took forever to answer 6 questions on reading comprehension. He has really been out of control so far this week. Didn't get to math with him.



Becky was cute. She put on a little show for me down on the basement stage. Hannah read a little bit of Thomas Aquinas but mostly she showered and then IM'ed her friends. Grrrrr.



Will mowed the lawn with some nagging from me.



Lunch - read 3 chapters of Seabird and we did some mapwork. Didn't get anything else done. I just feel so defeated by bad attitudes.



I read the next chapter of The Code of Life to Josh. Think there is just one more.



Hannah and I watched Pius X on Popes and Papacy. Hannah is finally warming up to the subject. She had a vague interest before but she is really interested in Popes during WWI and WWII. So that was good. William spent a lot of time looking for his Shakespeare test and not doing his math.



I just bellowed at William to stop playing on the computer and get some work done. He's looking for Hannah's test so he can photocopy it.



Josh still needs to do his bit of Latin. Then I am thinking I'll focus on cleaning up for the party tomorrow. Tonight we''ll have movie night, I think. The kids want to watch either Batman Begins or The Music Man. I want to watch the 1986 French Therese. I can't remember if it is good for kids.

10:42 p.m.
Josh did his Latin after dinner. I don't think Hannah has really been reading Thomas Aquinas at all. Will did his Shakespeare test. Started his math at 10:00 about and is working on it with Rick right now.

Movie night didn't work out so well. We couldn't find either of the movies we wanted to watch for a long time. So we started late. Youngers watched The Music Man downstairs but that is the long movie so they didn't get to see all of it. Hannah started watching An Affair to Remember then Will found Batman Begins which he wanted to watch, but Hannah wouldn't let him. Then about an hour into the movie she got a phonecall from a friend and very graciously told William he could watch his movie; she'd lost interest in hers. Of course it was too late to start a movie! She was gabbing quite a long time with her friend. Probably about boys. Something's up it seems.

Rick ordered pizza since our dinner food didn't look too appetizing being about two hours old. So while everyone snacked on pizza I read the next chapter of Aug. Caesar's World about the Silk Road.

I didn't watch Therese, I was too caught up in reading Mark Shea's blog!

Housekeeping: Put on a load of laundry and earlier in the evening, we did tidy up the family room a bit. Also cleaned up the sitting room downstairs which was quite gross.

Tomorrow there is still a good bit of cleaning to be done. I think we are taking a day off of formal school to prepare for the party and then have the party and then go to the park to play. It'll be a fun day. I feel very burned out right now.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Daily diary 6/4

Another headache morning. Though I am feeling better now. Bad night of sleep too. Let's see what my energy level is today!


Math tutor can't come today; her son has a stomach flu. So I have decided to use the morning to run errands. I also have to be at the auto body shop at 1:00 to get an estimate. At the same time Lulu's mom is coming over so she is going to stay and watch Becky and Lulu and she's bringing her older son who likes to hang out with Will and Josh. After she leaves though about 3:00 or so, I want to hunker down and do a little school work, just so we keep on track for finishing up in a couple weeks. Sean has Blue Knights. Hannah has chiro.



Will has math and his final take home Shakespeare test.



Hannah has Shakespeare as well as Church History with me.


Josh - math and Latin, plus Caesar Aug. World and Code of Life.

Sean - maybe some kind of a math facts game played with an older sibling. Maybe a modified version of War. He needs math facts practice. Also some reading/LA test practice.


List of errands: dry cleaners, get rest of pool pass pictures taken, visit payless shoe store. Kids all need sandals. Will needs to mow the lawn but alas it is another rainy day. I hope he can do it before Wed. as that is our First Holy Communicants sundae party for the homeschool group!



4:11 p.m.
Managed only to get a the book A Latin-Centered Curriculum (is that the right name) to another homeschooling mom who is on partial bedrest during pregnancy. She wanted to borrow it. I got lost getting to her house. Then we got our passport photos taken. WooHoo! Another step closer to Alaska. Then we rushed home, kids ate lunch. I went to auto body shop for estimate. Thank goodness for ins.! I had to wait 1/2 hour for the estimate so I ran to the dry cleaners, then to the party store to get decorations for the First Holy communion party, then to Tara Thai because I was starving by then and craving Pad Thai! Took that carry out. Went back and finished up with the auto shop, went home and ate. Carol was here with her kids. Chatted with her. I love her, she is stitch and she has a masters in Russian lit. Talked about living in the Soviet Union, The Master and Margarita, etc. She is fun!


After she left, Hannah and I watched next lecture in Popes and Papacy all about Pius IX and the first Vatican Council.


Yuck! Just found a deer tick on my stomach! Will tried to get it off with a credit card but when that wasn't working I called Rick like a baby. he told me to put oil on it and then pull it out with tweezers. It worked but then somehow I lost it while trying to flush it down the toilet. Yikes. A deer tick loose in our house. I am so scared of Lyme's Disease!


Anyway, right now I am going to put Josh to work on his math and Latin, and Sean to work on his math and LA test prep. Becky is taking a bath. Don't know what Will and Hannah are doing.


6:05 p.m.


Josh has done math and is about to practice piano, then we'll do Latin while I prepare dinner. Sean and I played math facts war and he also did two sections in his language arts test prep. One on phonics and the other on rhyming words. Hannah is starting dinner.

Josh did get his Latin done. Hannah went to evening Mass. I wound up cooking whole different dinner because I couldn't find the bacon. I bought bacon yesterday but its gone missing! Isn't that weird. so we had ham steaks, boiled potatoes, left over fruit salad and applesauce.

I wasted lots of time surfing the net. The house is a mess. I am tired. I really, really want to sleep well tonight. I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep. I am going to take a little walk right now. Maybe that will help. I'll take the heartburn medicine before I walk and then advil before I sleep. That should cover all my aches and pains!

I want to be in bed by 10:30 reading Gaudy Night!




Sunday, June 3, 2007

weekend diary 6/4

It has been a busy weekend. Hannah had her Irish Step Dance recital last night and it was quite complicated getting all the way to Manassas and back. The air conditioning didn't work at the recital hall so it was very hot. But her friends Katie, Lizzy and Phil came so that was nice. She danced very well. Then we went out to dinner. Didn't get in until very late.



Got up early and off to 8:15 mass. Then breakfast. At 1:00 I had to volunteer for the Junior Olympic track meet. J and S weren't in it. It was really raining and the temperature has really dropped from 90 degrees yesterday to 65 today. I got to help out in the press box making ribbons up and sorting them out for the different teams. There was a nice sense of comraderie among all the women. Track is fun! I think the two coaches that run it do a spectacular job. It is a very involved thing to run, yet they do it simply out of generousity.



Need to plan meals and go shopping now.



Sunday - spaghetti carbonera (at Sean's request), garlic bread, salad

Monday - ham steaks, potatoes, veggies, apple sauce

Tuesday - beef-za, rolls, salad, apple sauce

Wednesday - bbq chicken, rice, veggies

Thursday - broiled fish, cous cous, veggies, cantaloupe

Friday - new pizza night!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Daily Diary 6/1

12:50 p.m.

Woke late again. Lots of insomnia. Could it be the small coffee I had at 4 p.m. yesterday? Read lots of Salvation is From the Jews. Light finally woke up Rick so I turned it off and tried to sleep.



Anyway, very slow moving. Didn't say rosary yet, but I am determined to right after this. Didn't have breakfast until 10:00 but did manage to read a little bit of Seabird, review 20 states and capitals and add in 5 more. We also reviewed transitive and intransitive and active and passive verbs. We also reviewed predicate nominative and predicate adjective from Rex Barks.



Becky has been darling all day. She has been playing with her stuff rabbit named Sally, her stuffed dog named Rex (where'd she get that name?) and various baby dolls. She has been busy making beds for them out of old easter baskets and amazon boxes and feeding them. In between these activities she and the boys played a lot with the baby gerbils. We did change the bedding in the cage which hadn't been changed in 2 weeks and was rather smelly, but we had read that is wasn't good to change the bedding until the gerbils were a little older. The kids love those gerbils like crazy. I am alway in fear for their lives, that Becky will squeeze one just a little too hard or Sean will drop one.



Will was very spacey this a.m. Since he was just sitting around playing computer games, I asked him if he couldn't sit with Sean for a bit while I played with Becky. So Will helped Sean learn some simple geometry from MCP. Then I sat and went over a reading test practice on identifying how to make nouns plural. I had never even taught him this. I do like those test prep books because they boil down the essence of what you need to know.



Josh practiced piano and did a section of his Latin lesson. We are on the second to last lesson in the book! Yippee! He needs to do his math now.



Hannah and Will just left for tennis and then Hannah has to go right to her Irish Step Recital practice in Manassas.



Things I am detemined to finish in the next two weeks:



The Holling C. Holling Geography Unit - we are about halfway through the final book, Seabird.

The Lamb's Supper - I read a big chunk of this at lunch. If I read consistently, we'll be done in a week. This was started as Lenten reading! Now Easter season is over and I am still reading it.

Saxon Algebra I - Will is just a couple of lessons short of finishing the entire book! He should be done in a week.

MCP Math - I am skipping around a lot in this book for Sean but I hope to finish covering all the concepts presented in it.

Schola Latina Book I - Josh can do one lesson this week and one lesson next and he'll be done!

The Code of Life - only a couple of chapters to go.



Things that will likely continue on through the summer:



Hannah's Church History lessons - we are still reading the Dumb Ox and watching the lectures, though we have picked up the pace a bit, it will still stretch out through the summer. I also need to order the lecture series from International Catholic U. on Thomas Aquinas.



Geometry - after Hannah takes this level II SAT math test tomorrow morning, she'll just have to make sure she knows enough geometry to warrant her credit. So she is going to test herself through Teaching Textbook Geometry and then teach herself when she gets to whatever she doesn't yet know.



Josh won't finish his math - I am just going to have him do as many lessons (5) each week and then stop on June 18th, but he had the idea that he would read through the concepts part of the remaining lessons just so the terms at least would be familiar to him when he starts 7/6 next September.



I think we will continue the States and Capitals til we finish, however long that might take. Also I think we might do a smattering of grammar from Rex Barks.



Will is still reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but not very quickly. He really is spending way too much time playing video/computer games and is so spacey lately, it is a bit frightening. I need to talk to him about sensible limits.



Hannah also has been reading very slowly the Vision book on St. Thomas. She needs to be more diligent about that.



Josh picked up one of the Great Brain books and is enjoying that.



Rick still reading Harry Potter to Sean. They are really moving through the whole series quite quickly. Rick spent 2 hours reading aloud to Sean last night.



I re-read Raggedy Ann stories to Becky. We are both a little sad because All of Kind Family is finished.



Oh, goody! A package just arrived with all the British Lit study guides I ordered. Have to go look through them. I feel the planning for this class is coming along well.

9:17 p.m.

Took the boys to tennis at 3:00. Sean wound up going swimming with Joseph. Went to IHOP for dinner. Rick met us there. Hannah got back safely from her long drive to the dress rehearsal but now she is out again buying tights for the performance tomorrow. She needs to get home and sleep because of her big test tomorrow at 8:00.

Just put Becky to bed. She's listening to Vivaldi's Ring of Magic. As soon as Rick stops reading to Sean, we are going to try to watch Stagecoach together. But I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake long!