Journal 1/9/09

• Got up early and went with Will to the 6:15 a.m. teen Mass. I hadn't gone in over a year. It was a very small turn out. Hannah didn't want to go because she's been fighting insomnia so she's trying to get back to regular sleeping hours. It was nice. Stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and brought home a dozen.


• Sean really likes his new piano piece Bye, Bye Blackbird. He's got everybody humming the tune. He practiced it some this morning.


• Rick had a make up Econ class for Hannah, Will, Josh and David.


• During the class Becky and Sean did a Friday Freewrite. I am feeling so free from not having to go to co-op on Friday mornings anymore! Yippee! Becky insisted on making a study carrell out of a cardboard box and then decorating it like little schoolroom. It's cute! Sean's freewrite involved writing out the words to Bye, Bye Blackbird!


• Sean read aloud lot from the 4th grade Faith and Freedom reader, This Is Our Land. He read the first story which is taken from Henry Huggins and Ribsy. He was so proud of himself for reading so much so well! He kept stopping and saying to me, "Aren't I reading well?" He announced he loves to read and he wants to be like Rick and read out loud well. I could tell he was trying to read with expression just the way Rick reads to them at night.


• Becky did a little worksheet on alphabetizing words from the Little Angels Teacher's Guide. She got a couple wrong and there is no rhyme or reason for how that happened. I didn't bother to correct her though but I felt it would simply put her nose of out joint.


• Did a tiny bit of Shiller math with Becky and a bit more with Sean.


• Sean did a little bit of review in Latin for Children. We seem to be stuck on 2nd decl Neuter. And I feel we need to go back and review everything prior as well.


• We've taken a break and some kids have been playing Maple Story while Becky watched cartoons on Boomerang.


• Read Sunday's mass readings aloud at lunch. Read a couple of stories from the CHC's Devotional Stories. Led to a discussion about the differing attitudes towards such books as Harry Potter. I take a different point of view from the writers of the story. I also read the 3rd chapter in Rosemary Sutcliffe's The Wanderings of Odysseus. The kids protested against me reading it to them, but I said please just humor Mommy on this one! So they've listened begrudgingly though I do think they are beginning to become intrigued.


• Becky has made up a game using the electronic key finder Grandad gave me for Chanukah. She hides the key and then I have to use the little remote thing to find it!


• Hannah hopefully is reading Little Women. She is going to write her Am. Lit paper on it and its role in reflecting and developing the American Identity.


• Will got his Steely Dan album and is listening to that.


• Josh finished all the Redwall books we have in the house. Now needs to get to library to see if he can get out Marlfox and Lord Brocktree. He's been reading Tom Sawyer for Kolbe and has started in on the Moomintroll series.


• Took a nap


• Practiced Menuet in G Major. I haven't practiced in a few days because I was getting so frustrated by my very clumsy fingers. But today I played the first half very slowly and haltingly but mostly(!) without error. So now I feel a bit more confident about continuing my efforts. I get so envious of Will and Sean who can play both hands together so quickly in learning a piece. That, to me, is so hard. I can feel my brain groaning with effort. Their fingers just fly over the piano and once they learn a piece they don't make many errors.


• Josh did some Kolbe vocab and some math homework.