Thursday 1/17

R left for CA business trip at 6:30 a.m.




I got up and putzed around on internet. Tidied up family room and kitchen somewhat. Took a shower, got everyone up at 8:30. Made bacon and eggs and said rosary which kids joined in for the last 3 decades. J however had breakfast in the dining room trying to finish up his homework. W took worked on his math. I don't think either of them had quite finished by the time the tutor came.

Sean is very into learning how to shuffle cards and making card houses.

Started snowing really hard. H went to library, says she can't focus at home, but I called her after an hour because the snow looked so heavy.




B and S watched Electric Co. dvd while I registered J and B for summer camp. J and W met with math tutor. After math, J practiced guitar some and then read the Guinness Book of World Records that we got for Christmas.




Went downstairs with B and S. S copied over a little poem; we reviewed new spelling words, also reviewed a bit of punctuation. B read a little out of Ordinary Parent's Guide to reading. Then she wrote something down in her notebook she'd seen on Electric co. and drew a picture too. S reviewed his 3x and 4x tables.




Lunch - B asked what metal was made of so I googled and we found out! Then S asked how to tie a lasso knot, so I looked that up and we learned how!

9:30 p.m. It really started snowing big time before lunch. Wound up cancelling Little Flowers/Blue Knights. Major snowstorm. B played outside for a long time and even made a little snowman. S went out for about 15 minutes but then a big old splotch of snow fell off a tree and down the back collar of his coat and he came in screaming. W rescued him. But after that he was feeling too Charlie Brownish and decided to lie on the couch and watch Arthur and such. H went out and shovelled the walk. W walked out to see if the main road was backed up and brought the mail in. J didn't go out at all.

J was on the computer a lot and playing on his gameboy. But we did a session in Classical Writing. Review spelling orally, practiced cursive a tiny bit, diagrammed sentences together and then he wrote a rough draft of the 1st 2 scenes from To the Sea Xenophon. He'll have to finish drafting it tomorrow.

At 4:00 we lost power and didn't get it back until just before 7. It got very dark quickly. H busied herself lighting lots of candles. Just before we lost power I ordered pizza so we got that. We ate and then the kids played charades while I feel asleep on the couch. H and W entertained us with the acoustic guitar and piano.

It was lovely when the lights came back on! I let B watch some TV while I putzed on the internet. W read Hitchhikers to S and J and they were laughing and laughing. Not sure what H was up to.

8:30 Made everyone come and clean up. Read a lot of The Little White Horse aloud. S and B got really into drawing cartoons while I read. We said prayers and then went upstairs with their cartooning book, lots of paper and pencils. They are very quiet up there but occasionally I hear them talking to each other. I should go up and make them go to bed.

J said he couldn't get into Over Sea, Under Stone. Since I've been intrigued by those Susan Cooper books since I heard Susan Wise Bauer mention them. I think I might see if he'll let me read some of the first chapters aloud to him.

Wednesday 1/16

Woke late; didn't get people up until 9 ish.


Read Sophie's World to W and H on Hellenism.


W did lesson in Alg. II

H showered then tried to read Ivanhoe. She took S to VT and also took J to chess club. Then she took W to CLC. She did a lot of driving.


B and S played while I did Religion and Classical Writing with J. B took a bath and washed hair.

J had guitar lesson. W had his guitar.

J played Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga; went to chess club; after dinner did some math; read some Dave Barry before bed but I took away because it is too adult!

S -went to VT with H. Then to gymnastics to the end of the semester show. After dinner, listened to The Little White Horse.

B - went with me to drop off Little Flowers material then to gymnastics show. After dinner listened to The Little White Horse.

We watched the video of the gymnastics show which was fun.

R read more of Half Magic to S and B at bedtime.

W did 30 minutes of Latin and read some of Ivanhoe. Went to CLC and came home swearing off his ipod.

Tuesday 1/15

Woke up at 7 to R's alarm. Felt so much better than I did yesterday! Got up puttered around, moved laundry. Ran to grocery store and bought donuts and trashbags. I really have to do a real weekly grocery run this pm.


S got up early and was watching Between the Lions. At 8:30 got everyone up. Made J and S put clean clothes away.


W got up early and was playing guitar and working on his timeline. H slept in but then got up and worked on timeline.


Somehow I never got my rosary said this a.m. Instead I researched Ivanhoe study guides.


After breakfast S asked me about Martin Luther King so we had a nice talk about him and I pulled out the last volume of History of US to show him and B a picture of MLK.


@ 9 or so B and S and I went downstairs. S told a long, long story that his friend Joseph told him yesterday. While he talked I tidied the downstairs, B helped a little. The we sang Father Abraham, did a little bit of mental math, went over 3x and 4x tables with S. Becky copied out Goo Gone from a label and then wanted to know what it spelled. I gave S spelling test on 5 words that had the -ea- = long e sound. He got 100%. Then he asked me to write out a sentence and he would punctuate it, so I did.



During this W and H went off to Chem class and J was reading The High King which he started last night and finished this a.m.


B found an old U.S. State Quarters map and wanted to know what it was for, so we wound up collecting all the quarters we could find and going through and putting in as many state quarters we could find. I think we're missing 15. This led to them counting out quarters and sorting the change into pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. So it was a geo and math lesson all at the same time.


I decided to take a shower and did, then came down and got the kids to help me take down more Christmas decorations. At some point J read a chapter in F&L. The kids really helped clean up. S was very happy unloading the dishwasher for me and we had a very nice chat. J and B helped put things away and then started a very boisterious game downstairs. Not sure what it is. After S was done his chores he ran down to join them. They are laughing up a storm tho. Something is very funny!


H and W came home. I sent H out to get lunch. Forgot to read Scripture readings during lunch!


Had Brit. Lit and Hist. It seems hard to get the class going again. Momentum is off. But we watched the next in the DVD series which was interesting about how the Hanoverian house was established and how Scotland fared during the Jacobite uprisings (badly!) and how commerce became the glue that began to hold England and Scotland together.



J did a bit of research on his science fair project. He wants to do something on acids and bases. he is very intrigued by chemistry.



B and S played a lot downstairs. I don't really know what they did.



Now I need to go grocery shopping.

9:38, went shopping, came home and made quesidillas for dinner. Earlier W had shown B how to burn her own disc from itunes. So she played it for us. The song everybody really liked was a famous Benny Goodman dance number; can't remember name. Anyway, B and S practiced their swing dance moves. W and J disappeared. I think J was playing some games downstairs illicitedly as I had said no more screen. Then B and S got into an idea of teaching dancing and then having auditions for a play. I interrupted to call everyone for reading aloud. H had gone to Theology of the Body class at church.

Read Horton Hears a Who and some more of The Little White Horse. R came home in time for prayers. Now he's just finishing dinner and he's going to read Half Magic to the littles.

Monday 1/14

Woke with migraine. I wasn't sick to my stomach though. It stayed in head, which was something to be grateful for.



Got people stirring around 8:30. J took a shower then worked on his math homework. W got up and worked on his math too. H slept until 10! Everyone got their breakfasts. S and B played very nicely downstairs. B especially; made a train out of toys downstairs. I had to go ride her train. She used a basket and blocks to be the 'coal' which she shoveled in with a serving spoon she borrowed from the kitchen.



J and W did math with the tutor. H was supposed to start her Spanish class at comm. college but realized in a panic that she had registered at the wrong campus and she couldn't switch because the class she wanted was full. So I called the dean and found out that there is another class starting in 2 weeks that fits H's schedule. So she's got a 2 week hiatus.



After that tho my headache came back terribly. B made me a bed on the couch. I was sorely tempted to let the kids do screen but I had just issued a rule that screen time was between 3 and 6 p.m. Instead B, S and J (he was finished with math) and I all played Jr. Pictionary which S got for Christmas. H ran to the bookstore to get a copy of Ivanhoe for Will and also did a quick grocery shop for me. Pictionary was fun. Only had tears once! We called it a draw (ha ha) because everyone got hungry for lunch.



At lunch H read from her Magnificat, the readings for the day. This made B and S start playing "Mass" which was cute. My headache was still throbbing. I took a shower. B and S were playing some permutation of hide and seek; J was listening to Jim Weiss' Uncle Wiggly cd. H was planning her RE class. W was playing his electric guitar.



B reviewed her reading words from her reader. S read 3 pages from his reader. J and I sat down and did Day 1 of Classical Writing. He also did a little cursive penmanship.



3:00 B played on her new MP3 (got from in laws, ugh!!!!!!) Barbie World girl website. Yikes I hope this passes soon. R says those kids MP3 players break easily. I might step on it by accident one day. Actually almost did this last night, truly accidentally. S watched Arthur. J got on Wii. Then Joseph came over to play so J, S and B are all downstairs on the Wii carrying on. Lots of laughing and screaming and joking around. Joseph is a big joker of a kid, loud and friendly. Always cutting up. Lots of fun.



W is reading lots of Ivanhoe and also took a walk outside. It is cold and gray out.



H went to visit Katie at Starbucks and planned more for RE. I hope she's reading Ivanhoe as well plus they have to work on their timelines for history tomorrow.



I've been planning my class and also for Blue Knights and Little Flowers clubs. My headache is mostly gone. It's 4:37. I think I'll do some laundry and clean the kitchen a bit. I think we'll have omelettes, rolls, baked acorn squash and applesauce for dinner. Have to teach RE tonight. I'm glad the headache is finally going away. But it has still been a good day.

Thursday 1/10

Late start. Construction very loud this a.m.


J - woke late, hadn't done most of his math homework. Tutor was very kind and got him in a better mood. Now I think he's closed himself off in the study.


S - woke, showered, ate scrambled eggs for breakfast. Been playing w/ B much of the morning; fooling around the harmonica, read Calvin and Hobbes. We did a tiny bit of school. He said his 2x, 5x and 3x tables. Did a little bit of cursive. He's eating lunch and then he's going to read to me from his reader.

B- woke really late, had scrambled eggs and eng. muffins. Played a lot this a.m. pretending she's a royal princess. We did a little bit of math where I kept using the term 'minus' she can't remember it means the same thing as take away. Then she did really well in reading. She read the first story in First Steps reader.


W - finished up Alg. II homework and is now working with tutor.


H - slept in. Her school year doesn't really start up until Monday with Spanish and Chem on Tues. She should be reading Ivanhoe though. As should W.


Later today. I want to play SET, go shopping for gifts, tidy up some and read The Little White Horse.



1:09 W has been playing lots of guitar. I'll hear Leila by Clapton and then a Little Richard riff. S and B are downstairs watching Tv. H went to Panera to get lunch. J is off in his room. But I'm going to call him down in 20min to work on Classical Writing some.



I'm sleepy. Hoping we'll also watch the last segment of T3 this afternoon too.

9:02 p.m. J worked on Class. Writ. Took B and S shopping for Theo and Andrea's gifts. Came home and chilled for a while. Then tidied up house a bit, did some laundry. H got pizza, etc from Jerry's. After dinner, B took bath, S played his skateboard game and we watched 2nd to last segment on Luke in T3. Love it!

After that read Little White Horse to B, S and J. R came home @ 8:30, ate quickly and is now reading Half Magic to B and S.

H spent most of day watching Arrested Dev. W playing his guitar.

It's been a good day.

Wednesday 1/9

Went to bed so late because R was up watching Primary returns.


Woke up 8 ish.

Said rosary, S joined me. W was up early but wanted to read Bible and Jason Evert book instead.


J and S have been really getting into The Worst Case Scenario book and the new Guiness Book of World records.


Been eating lemon cake R bought at store last night. Bad breakfast.


B is very grumpy this morning.


Circle time - sang Father Abraham, then did mental math. S wanted to review squares. B counted by 2's with her collection of sea shells then we did some subtraction problems with the shells.


J was supposed to be doing math at this time but he wasn't focusing.


did 2 mad libs at kids request but B started to get mad.


B and I went over some words from her reader written on flashcards but she started to get mad again.


S got new spelling words: beach, treat, clean, leave, peace. He filled in the blanks in his wkbk. We also went over the conjunction 'and'.


B keeps losing her temper. J got stuck on something in math. H is helping him now.


need to distract B so I can read Sophie's World to H and W.


B wound up playing on a website, bananaboo for a little while, while I read some of Sophie's World to H and W. Still working through Aristotle.


Then S and B played on the Wii making Mii's while J, H and W and I watched the second to the last lecture in the T3 Bible study. Wow, what a good program that is.


Now we are eating lunch. We've got VT, guitar lessons, gymnastics, chess club and CLC.


1:44 p.m. S had a meltdown about having to work on the uneven bars in gymnastics. He's been talking about it for days on and off. He's really working himself up. Tried to give him a pep talk but he dissolved into tears. My goodness, I do wish my children were not so prickly. Have had tears from J, B and S today and I'm trying to be nice to them! No wonder I want to hide my head in the sand of the blogosphere.


Gotta get ready for VT.

Made it to VT. Got feeder fish for the lionfish. Came home. J and W had guitar lessons. H and W went to Great Falls with friends. Left J here to play on computer games while I took S and B to gymnastics.

Ate MacDonald's for dinner. Came home. H took J to chess club.

Didn't read aloud at all tonight. Kids played Starfall on the Wii. H took W to CLC.

Poor J remembered he had lots of math homework still to do. He's working on it but he stayed up so late reading last night he's really tired and doesn't want to do it. W is also working on homework.

R had dinner with client and is coming home now. He's tired too but I think he's going to be doing math for while! 9:51 p.m.

Tuesday 1/8

Woke up at 6:30a.m. Supposed to get new washer today. Very sleepy. Researched about Johnathan Swift and read more Gulliver's Travels. Got every one up at 8:30. Kids are all excited about new computer.


Washing machine men called, they'll be here in 20 minutes!


10:46 a.m. Washer is here. Had to run a trial cycle to see if it worked.


H took B and S with her to run errands and then for a walk at meadow lark gardens while she reads the rest of Gulliver's Travels.


W wandered around a bit looking for his copy of the book, finally just decided to read online.


J did copywork - he's writing out Angelus in cursive. Then we reviewed ch. 8 of F&L; then we did Classical Writing - grammar: we reviewed subject complements and transitive and intransitive verbs, digrammed 4 sentences. Orally reviewed spelling words. Also did a fun exercise where we replaced words with synonyms. Now J is working on rewriting story from outline we did yesterday.



B - snacked on cheese and watched Arthur. Took her new big Barbie coloring book outside with us while the teens and I discussed Gulliver's Travels and read about the Hanover dynasty. The weather was lovely but got really windy. B started acting up and being disruptive so after a couple of tries we sent inside. She wound up watching Paper Mario that J and S were playing. Now she's upset because her glitter got messed up on her picture.

Follow up from next day:
H went to Theology of the Body in the evening.

S taught himself the squares of number 1 to 10 on the computer calculator.
B played at National Geographic for Kids site. They also watched PBS show Fletch.

J read more of The Lighthouse Land
R started to read Half Magic to B and S.
Lots of talk about New Hampshire Primary.

Monday 1/7

11:50 a.m.


Woke up just before 8 a.m. I wanted to get up earlier than that, but it would help if I actually set the alarm!


W was already up. Came down had tea, did a little e-mail stuff. Said the Rosary by myself, W wanted to finish reading the Gospel of Mark instead of joining me. Everyone else still asleep. It was a good rosary, though.


Got everyone up and got J and S to take showers. Put some laundry away. W ate breakfast, then I nagged him to clean his room. That woke B up. Got H up too but it took until 10 for everybody to be up. We really got to start getting to bed earlier. J ate a little breakfast and then did Mario brain teasers on his new favorite website. B and S had toaster waffles.


Math tutor came and worked with J and W.


School time with B and S - sang Father Abraham. B was in foul mood though for some strange reason. We did a tiny bit of mental math but it wasn't going well. I got very cross with her. Darn! Mental math went so so with S. He wanted to do things his way in his head and kept getting the wrong answers and then got mad at me for trying to show him the correct way. I had to be very, very diplomatic. Very short session, with everyone being so grumpy.


B copied over some more spelling words from her reader: is, I, Andrew, big, brown. She kept getting mad at me because I was grading things wrong. S worked very well at the LLATL. He got an A on his spelling test, did one little exercise and then some cursive practice.


B read one page from her reader, but that was all we could tackle with her mood. She then painted the little pot she made over the weekend. She liked that.


S did a little bit of VT and then read two pages from his reader. He's been fairly good this a.m. Now he's eating his tuna for lunch. I need to find J and get him lunch or cleaning his room. The cleaners are coming any second and our bedrooms are not fit for vacuuming.


H supposedly has been reading Gulliver's Travels and cleaning her room.


B just brought me a pretty picture she made with stencils and a love note to me. Very sweet. I think our bad mood is over.


3:56 a.m.

Everyone had lunch at different times. I really want to be able to read the Bible at lunch like I did last year, but I can't get everybody to the table at the same time. B made herself a fruit salad very independently. She sliced a banana, then added grapes and raisins and poured some apple cider over it all.



We spent before and after lunch rather drearily just trying to clean our rooms and tidy up for the cleaners. That took a while and didn't help our moods either!



After that: B played at pbskids and S played on is Draw to life game on his ds. J and I worked on Classical Writing. We did spelling, grammar, dictionary skills, outlining and dictation.



W and H reads lots of Gulliver's Travels. W is now playing a computer game. J is on that Mario website but I"m about to shoo him outside. B and S went over to play at the neighbors. It's beautiful outside. H is trying to get some friends to meet her a starbucks. She just wants to drive with the top down on her car! It's like spring outside.



I think I'll go for a little walk and then read Gulliver's travels.

Didn't go for a walk but did read Gulliver's. Made chix drumsticks for dinner. Prepared a bit for RE class. H never came home from her visit with friends. B was playing really cutely. She kept diapering her new doll. Then she put a chair and the footstool together and got a lunch plate (steering wheel) and pretending she was taking her doll to the grocery store. She bought fruit at the store (I had to be the cashier). Later, after dinner she wanted to help clean so she washed the sliding glass door onto the porch.

I read a little more of The Little White Horse at dinner.

J practiced piano and read chapter from Faith and Life.

Went to RE, got there late because of new credit card/no gas complications. Class went well but we didn't really talk about chastity much.

Came home, R was putting new apple computer together. Kids were all excited. R finally put S and B to bed and read the ending chapter of Henry and Ribsy which made everyone want to go salmon fishing. J is really into the paper Mario website. W read lots of Gulliver's travels.

H didn't get home until 11:20. We took car from her and made clear that she is to come home right after events unless she gets permission. This whole weekend she's been gallavanting around never telling us where she is and never asking us permission.

J started reading The Lighthouse Land.

1/4

Today was a rather down day.

Got up latish, after 8. Took a while to get everyone up and going. I started at 9:10 a.m. and I was still nagging and pushing at 10:20. We got out the door with gerbils in tow. We took them to the pet store and then went on to St. Mark where I had my unsuccessful meeting with the RE directors. I had a thumping headache as I left. It got worse as we visited McDonald's for lunch. The food was awful. We stopped again at the pet store to get the live feed fish for R's lionfish. Came home, I was feeling sick to my stomach. I shooed the kids off to various screen distractions while I took Advil and tried to not throw for the next couple hours. B went over to the neighbor's to play during this time. After I felt better, I took a shower. Then I had to talk to M. about the RE/spiritual adoption stuff. During all this H and W came home along with their friend J who hung out here for about an hour. I spent an inordinate amount of time just reading blogs and surfing the net. I meant to do some subjects with J but didn't.

He did finish The Cay yesterday which was good. He also practiced piano tonight. S has been talking obsessively about skateboarding his new passion. People got hungry around 5 and I realized that the dinner I was planning was not going to be welcomed by anybody. So I went to the Noodle company and got carry out. Came home, ate, cleaned the kitchen, read The Little White Horse to J, S and B. Then S put on Oliver (the movie musical). I vegged in front of my laptop in a most unproductive and lazy manner. I am really in a slump. R came home, very, very tired. He started to put together my Bible stand, read Henry and Ribsy to B and S.

W is writing a letter to some protestant youth retreat leader he met at the ski trip. They are arguing apologetics via the internet. Ooh, boy!

H went to a dance at Trinity. I want to go to bed early and finish Children of Men.

Thursday 1/3

A.M.



Woke before 8 even though I stayed up late reading and then had to deal with acid reflux during the night.



Got up, got tea and then started writing my book. J came down and asked if he could play on the wii until 9, a few minutes later S came down and followed suit. I wrote and wrote until I realized it was 9:20! Uh oh!



It took about 20 minutes to get B to stir. R was showering and getting ready for work. W and H and on their ski trip.



Had cereal and yogurt for breakfast.



Gathered kids and books and went downstairs to stage. Sang songs: Father Abraham and Rise and Shine. Fun songs but I have a feeling they'll get old quickly. B wanted to do All Around the Mulberry Bush as well.



Mental math - B was just adding and subtracting in her head. S was learning the difference between A.M. and P.M. J had one which involved multiplying huge numbers, figuring out how many possibilities for letters and numbers on license plates. All our brains felt rusty from the break.



B went on to write up her own addition and subtraction problems on the little white board. J worked on Saxon worksheet for fraction-decimal-percentage conversions. He got 3/4's through and gave up, now he's working on a Lesson 109. He's having trouble focusing.



B wants to play school. I keep having to give her assignments. I assigned her 5 spelling words which she printed out in a new notebook. She wanted me to grade her. I gave her a B+ and told her she'd get an A if she remembered to keep the letters lower case.



S did very well in LLATL. We review spelling words: follow, swallow, pillow, etc. Then he read through a little assignment where he reads rows of words and picks out which doesn't fit. This is a really good exercise for him and he thinks it's fun. After that he practiced cursive U's and S's for about 2 minutes.



He was doing his music theory homework and writing up a little melody he's just come up with. B wants me to come down again to teach her reading, must go!



VT is at 12:30 today.

10:01 p.m.
Made chix nuggets for lunch and we ate them on the way to VT. J stayed home and played vg's. Came back, B and S watched Arthur while I showered then worked with J on Classical Writing. Long, slow afternoon. I had to do stuff for Spiritual Adoption so I worked on that. I don't even know what J and S were doing. B was playing on pbskids for a long time.

By the time I finished the Respect Life stuff it was too late to go to Curves and make the dinner I wanted to make.

Cooked dinner, roasted veggies, meatloaf and rolls.

Read a lot of The Little White Horse aloud. J practiced piano. B and S played with playdoh for a while, then we said prayers.

B is listening to Beatrix Potter stories in bed. S is up in his room now. J is reading some more of The Cay, the book I assigned him yesterday.

R is working late. I'm supposed to go to holy hour at 11:00 p.m. I hope he gets home soon. I don't like to go out with just J and the little ones here.

Back to journalling the days! 1/2/08

2:53 p.m.

Woke after 8 a.m. to the sound of construction. The builders took Christmas week which was very nice, but it looks like they are back on the job!

Said rosary; W joined me for the last decade. H got up early and was watching House on the pc. She's on a real House kick lately.

Got other kids up. J and S took showers. Made toaster waffles for everybody. J was cute and asked her permission to play videogames by standing at attention and saluting smartly. "Permission to play videogames, sir!" So I said yes, but he said he was going to tidy the sitting room area first since he made a new years resolution to do more good deeds.

Both teens packed and got ready for the ski trip. Their friend Joe came over around 11 a.m. He's going with them. They ate lunch and played with B. Then they left to caravan up to Seven Springs with another family who's also going. it's the annaul homeschool ski trip for high schoolers. I prayed H would drive safely and get them all there in one piece. It's a 4.5 hour drive.

Before they left they were watching Are you Smarter than a 5th grader on the pc. Tony Hawk was the contestant. That got S on a jag about skateboarding. He got 2 skateboard video games for Christmas. So he put on his helmet and went outside with the skateboard and tried to teach himself an 'ollie' for a while. I overheard a dicussion about prime numbers and factors and such. There's math for the day!

J played lots of wii boxing. I had to cancel VT because J wanted to start up guitar lessons and both teens were gone. I didn't want to leave J home alone with the guitar teacher. He's getting his first lesson right now.

B is watching Dora right now. She's been coloring off and on all day. She got lots of coloring books for Christmas. She loves to color.

I've been trying to type out my thoughts on Catholic Unschooling down for myself. Spent a while on that this a.m. Also showered and tidied kitchen. And feeding and interacting with kids over various things. S has been trying to make up card tricks and I'm the guinea pig.

Rest of day: need to tidy up stage area of basement so we can start our regular routine. meant to do that today but forgot that the teens going away would take up the morning. Also, S and B have their gymnastics class tonight.

Dinner with be frozen fish fillets/scallops, rice and steamed frozen veggies. Since H isn't here I don't have anyone to take J to chess club, though frankly I"m not sure if it is on today.

Tonight: at dinner, read The Little White Horse. R is reading Henry and Ribsy to B and S. J has been reading comic books for the past 3 weeks, I'm going to assign him a book to start on today.