Weekly Report 10/26-10/30

• Since this has been a slow recuperation week from the flu I decided to just do a weekly report a la WTM.
• Read alouds: Read about Ruth in Bible History, decided to can Ancient Tales from Egypt for now. We'd gotten half way through and they just weren't holding our interest anymore. We can always come back to them in time. Instead we started reading Archimedes, And the Door of Science by Jeane Bendick. This covers both Ancient history and science as well. We ditched our science read aloud when we got to roundworms which grossed everyone out! Read a lot of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch this week. This also touches on science and math as well as American history. We are almost done with that book.
• Didn't do much math this week at all. Everybody's heads are still too congested to think clearly enough to do math! S did work on his 100 subtraction facts sheet on Thursday. B did mental math on W and a fun rounding exercise in her workbook on Thursday. J did only two lessons in Algebra. L. 17 and 18.
• Languages: W and I took Latin test on Tuesday. J was still sick. He's been studying for it to take next week. On Thursday did some Latin for Children with S. Also worked in Greek workbooks a little with B and S.
• B and S have been doing a lot of writing/spelling on their own, writing little notes or cartoon captions or sending e-mails. They did cursive practice every day.
  
• J and W both read 4 chapters in history.
• W took his Music Theory midterm. Thinks he did well.
• Made it to music lessons on Monday, kids practiced music every day.
• Made it to drawing class, both S and B (especially B!) have been drawing up a storm all week.
• Socratic Discussion Group on Friday
• Read Book VI of the Iliad with teens.
  

Sick week

Well, it feels like a lost week due to illness. S was the first to go down, then B, then J and finally W. B and W are pretty mild though, nothing more than an annoying cold that saps the energy. J got it the worst with the highest fevers.

In spite of this we've read a lot of our regular stuff (at least to the younger two): Bible History, Carry On, Mr Bowditch, Little House by Boston Bay, The BFG, Sea of Monsters and Rebecca (American Girls). S listened to the whole of Bud Not Buddy on audio. Now B's listening to it.

Today W and S decided they were going to start their own music appreciation study. They've been listening to Erik Satie and Philip Glass and S has been picking out melodies on the piano.

B found an old Montessori movable alphabet and she's been spelling out messages to me and others. J is spending most of the day watching Animal Planet.

I had a bad migraine this morning but it got better fast. It is funny how the more violent migraines are shorter than the slightly milder variety. What I don't like is looking in the mirror and seeing one eye so much more dilated than the other. Creepy.

It has been hard feeding folks because even though they are hungry nothing tastes good and they wind up taking a bite and then pushing the rest away.

Okay now it's Friday. Poor J still had a high fever last night. Socractic Discussion has been cancelled and I don't think we'll get to tennis either. Bummer. W thinks he's well enough to go on his CLC retreat this weekend.

So today, I hope to clean the house a bit, that is declutter and sweep floors, wipe down gritty table surfaces which are everywhere! Also, I need to get more laundry done. I need to buy Anthony a confirmation gift and make sure I have nice clothes to wear tomorrow morning, since I'll have to get up at the crack of dawn to make it to Winchester in time for his Confirmation. I also hope to read aloud a lot today. And I hope B and S get outside to play a bit today as well.

Sick day 11/19/09

• Sean's friend has Swine Flu and Sean was running a fever all night
• Sean had no fever when he got up at 9 a.m. but has developed a cough
• W went to Music Theory
• B had been looking at the Powers of Ten flip book. She started drawing on our sliding glass doors with her window markers different sizes of the world. She went from small to very large and then she drew close ups of a house, shed, bike etc. Very cute.
  
• B did cursive and some rounding to nearest ten in her workbook. I think it clicked for her.
• Read next Bible History story to B and S about Gideon and Samson. Both kids started telling me the Veggie Tale version. Love those Veggie Tales!
• Read next chapter in F&L to B (Ch. 7)
• J is doing Lesson 15 in Saxon Alg II
• B read a page from the McGuffey reader
• Watched the movie Babe and then The Princess Bride
• W came home and had bought S Bud, Not Buddy on audio.
• S's fever came back 100.2
  
• J and I studied for Latin test; W said he did too but he didn't study with us.
• Taught RE, I think the girls liked the candy rosary.
• Got home and J was really studying hard for his Latin test. I've studied some but not enough because I know I can't take it due to S's illness.
  
• Will stayed up very late to study
• S was feverish in the night.
  

Weekend journal 10/17-18/09

• Saturday - slow, lazy morning
• Took B and S to great little toy store we have in town, independently owned, lots of cool toys. Went to buy gift cert for neighbor whose b-day party is today.
• S and B loved the puppets, S loved the knights and horses and loved the Ancient warriors as well. B loved the doll houses. They were ecstatic! Lots of idea for Christmas!
• Rick took them to the party which was a laser tag one a good half hour drive away.
• Went shopping for my candy rosary supplies. Still working on actually putting something together.
• W, J and read Most of Book 5 of Iliad
• Watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - fun movie
• B did lots of gymnastics
• Rick went over Algebra test with J - he got an 82.5%. Better than before. Again he gets the concepts just doesn't want to take the time to read the question thoroughly and check his math. He needs to show his work to be more accurate.
• I read a little of Boston Bay to B
• R read but I don't know which Rebecca and HP or Sea of Monsters?
• J and I studied a bit for Latin test on Monday
• W said he studied but I don't think he did much
• Sunday - breakfast and Mass with S and B
• W and J went to Youth Rally all day 11 to 9 p.m.
• Sean came down with fever in the evening.
  

Cool educational blog

http://beauty-in-education.blogspot.com/

Journal 10/16/09

• W and J went to 6:15 a.m. Mass
• I went to 8:00 Mass - saw old college friend's mother there!
• Did lots of dejunking, vacuuming and tidying in prep for Socratic Discussion Group arrival
• While doing this W gave B another voice lesson
• Socratic Discussion group - The camel and the jackal story. teen group discussed essay from Francis Bacon
• B and S played with Miguel afterward, putting on a play downstairs.
• J retired to computer; W to videogame
• Tennis canceled because of cold, rainy weather.
  
• After lunch, tried to read The Book of Thoth from Tales of Egypt aloud to S and B but got too sleepy
• Read some Jesus of Nazareth and took a nap
• W is playing music
• We've been trying to download Seven Brides for Seven Brothers from itunes but it is taking an excruciatingly long time.
  
• B asked me to look up colors for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize ribbons. She's making ribbons now out of colored index cards. Apparently for an art contest.
• S got very bored; so he called his friend and I'm taking him over now.
  
• B put on an art contest with me and W as contestants. We were ordered to draw a cat. W's won because it was so silly. She had stand on chairs like at the Olympics wearing our ribbons that she made.
• J was very busy playing Brutal Legend all afternoon.
• B choreographed a little floor exercise (inspired by watching Nadia Comenichi (sp) on youtube this a.m. She drew it out in stick figures and taped it up by her mat. Then she showed me. She did a walkdown bridge, then a cartwheel then some jumps and then she landed in the splits and jumped up again.
• We went to dinner at Olive Garden. Picked up S and his friend on the way. Met Rick there. I ate lots of salad and had a glass of wine.
  

Journal 10/15/09

• Slow, sleepy, rainy morning
• S and B did cursive; S's was a Latin sentence. S did a tiny bit of spelling too.
• S read more of The Search for Delicious
• B practiced violin, then we got into watching Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn and Natalie MacMaster on youtube
• J read Earth Science - said it wasn't anything he didn't know already. It's a middle school text so I guess he needs something a bit older to hold his interest.
  
• W read history - said SWB was a great writer.
  
• Met with J and W and finished Book 4 of Iliad
• Discussed HAW; Sargon, Gutian invasion, Abram and Sarai, 1st environmental disaster.
• B and S watched more Fetch.
• Dreary afternoon; made hot cocoa; watched/prayed the divine mercy
• W went to teach guitar to his student
  
• S did next lesson in Saxon
• B played at pbskids and got really into the Cailloiu game where you decorate your own dollhouse
• S wrote a long e-mail to his friend Joseph. Asked help on spelling words.
• B wrote me a note again; so sweet.
  
• B and S watched Tom Thumb again
• J played new video game with blood/bad language turned off
• B is playing with Hannah's old dollhouse now; she hasn't done that in a couple of years!
• S is back to writing another e-mail to his friend.
• Steam cleaned the living room rug. Thumbelina is outta here. We were keeping her out of the house but then started to let her back in again and she's up to her old trick. Sorry, sweetie but you are officially an outdoor cat now!
• W got into teaching voice to B who we've discovered has a rather operatic voice. We listened to a little Fredricka von Strade on youtube.
• W taught S how to improvise jazz style to Dear Prudence. W on guitar, S on piano. B was sitting in plucking her little 1/2 violin.
• Then W started giving more voice lessons to B and S got his nose out of joint about it so I sent him upstairs to take the shower he was supposed to take this a.m.
• J and I watched the next lecture in How the Earth Works. It was all about the Big Bang. Absolutely fascinating. Did you know we are 13.7 billion years old? Our atoms are at any rate.
• W is teaching B how to sing Amazing Grace. So sweet!
• Read next chapter in Little House by Boston Bay to B
• J played lots of Brutal Legend today
• S is playing Tetras
• Rick read Rebecca to B
• Rick read Harry Potter 3 to S
• H and I talked by fbchat. She's having trouble writing a paper due tomorrow on justice and whether ares and aphrodite got it when they were caught in adultery. She's despairing. I hope she gets inspiration.
• Need to go prepare for the Socratic discussion tomorrow. Also I got Gilbert today! Gotta curl up and read.
  

Journal 10/14/09

• W got up and went to Music theory class early. He said he had work he wanted to do there. He also brought history to read after the class.
• J took Test 3 of Saxon Algebra II
• B and S did cursive
• S looked up two words in the dictionary from his spelling list: shirk and perch
• S read next story in reader using his flippers (VT) and he worked on memorizing his poem.
• B did circles for VT and arrows chart
• S practice piano
• Read Carry On, Mr Bowditch and talked about latitude and longitude. Looked at globe and saw distance from Salem to Bourbon (Reunion) and located Cape of Good Hope.
• B read from McGuffey 1st reader. Also practiced reading cursive from that book.
• B found a little hangman electronic game we got from somewhere and she played on that for quite a while, spelling animal names, like bear and loon.
  
• Rewatched Ch. 5 for Latin vocabulary and then quizzed on words
• B and S played Shut the Box for math today (about 15 minutes)
• J and I watched next lecture in How the Earth Works, an intro to Plate Tectonics. Did you know that the Atlas Mtns are the counterpart to the Appalachian Mtns? They were once two sides of a rift between the North American plate and the African plate.
• J read Popular Science mag that just arrived yesterday.
• B and S made animations on Pivot.
• S has been grumpy today and bickering if not coming to blows with J!
  
• J is tired because he stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading Lord of the Flies. His opinion: Best. book. ever.
• W came home; he's read up to ch. 16 of HAW. Two chapters to go and then we can talk history.
  
• Went to VT
• While B and S were there I went to St. Mark and turned in forms for Youth Rally
• Sent my RE students an e-mail.
• Read aloud some of book 4 of Iliad. I started falling asleep while reading and misread Chieron as Chesterton, I snapped out of it when I heard W and J laughing loudly!!!!! So we gave up then.
• Took S and B to cartooning class. They love it. The teacher is so nice. This nice elderly retired woman who has been cartooning all her life and loves children. S was being very perfectionistic though and getting all tense towards the end and B was catching his negativity!
• J spent a good deal on the computer; he likes to get on these games message boards to learn about new games, etc.
  
• B and S are watching Fetch which is such a great show. Learning about sound and music right now and figuring out how to stop a runaway train.
• B wrote me a nice note. She's really started writing a lot on her own lately. I love her spelling. I'll actually be sad when she can spell everything correctly because it means she's growing up.
• B and S both con't drawing a lot after the cartooning class. I'm finding scraps of paper with drawings on them all over the house.
  
• Rick read Rebecca to B; Harry Potter to S
  
• W and J went to CLC and stopped to get a late dinner on the way home.
• S is working his way steadily through the Search for Delicious. He's so proud that he's actually sticking with a chapter book with very few illustrations. He's really enjoying the book. It has captivated his imagination.
  

Journal 10/13/09

• Got up and studied for Latin quiz
• J and W got up and studied too.
• Went to Latin class - took quiz I got 99% (forgot macrons on quis), J got 93%, W got 85%. I am sure because he was sleep deprived! Latin was hard though. I am having trouble with relative pronouns and I really need to review conjugations of all 4 conjugations. I really need them memorized. I get all confused.
• B did 1 page of reading workbook (compound words); 1 page of cursive and 12 problems in rounding to nearest ten. She played out in the yard on the trampoline a lot.
• S did 1oo subtraction facts, 1 short cursive practice, 1 page of grammar (commas and appositives) and 1 page of spelling (words that rhyme with 'her' er, ur, ir, or, ear) He played outside some too.
  
• Lunch at Chick fil a
• At home W played with his new video game. J got on computer too.
• B practiced violin pretty thoroughly. S practiced piano some.
• Went to Meadows Farms and bought Halloween decorations for front yard. B has been longing for them. Got a spooky ghost for the tree, a scarecrow, a sign with a jack-o-lantern that says trick or treat and some little ghosts and pumpkins to stick alongside the driveway.
  
• Went to gymnastics. B and S loved it!
• Went for a 45 minutes walk w/ L. Very pleasant! Good conversation, weather was great.
  
• J did Lesson 14 in Alg II while I was gone.
• W has been playing his new game for hours!
• Made dinner, chicken, rice, baby carrots and cucumber slices.
• Read three stories from Bible History to S and B. Moses died and Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.
• Talked to H earlier. She's still sick and has mid-terms. Poor thing. She has to give a talk in her Understanding the Bible class on Passover. She started telling me all this stuff I never, ever knew about Christ drinking the 4th cup on the cross and how they gave the wine to him on a hyssop branch, etc. Wow, I never got that connection before!!!!
  
• B and I did some drawing. Over her picture of a house she wrote 'hwos' Made me think if Winnie ther Pooh.
• R is reading Sea of Monsters to B and S.
• J and I are up to chapter 18 in History of the Ancient World. W isn't! Grrr.
  

Columbus Day 2009

• Today was nice, Rick stayed home and we didn't have any music lessons to drive to and I didn't have to teach RE. It was relaxing!
• In the very early a.m. B and S watched a cute little movie called Tom Thumb. It must have been made around the same time as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Darling! B and S loved the songs and the dancing.
  
• B and S then spent the better part of the day sewing up holes in various stuffed animals and then designing and making their own stuffed monkey. They got some felt and B loves playing with needle and thread. This occupied them for hours.
• Later I took S and B to mail a big package to Hannah and then we went with S's friend Joseph to a pumpkin patch to buy pumpkins and mums to decorate the front of the house.
• S and B took out their gymnastics mat and showed Joseph all their tricks and choreographed moves.
• Rick repaired not one but two toilets! J went with him to home depot and they got the parts. J helped a lot early on but then he got injured (deep scratch in hand) and so retired to the computer to heal!
• W slept late, cleaned the basement up on my request and played lots and lots of music.
• The cleaners came today. I cleaned through B's room and organized everything. I meant to do the boys' room and my own, but ran out of time and energy. I did do a decluttering of the hall bathroom upstairs.
• Did several loads of laundry
• Ran to Whole Foods and bought lots of stuff to ship to Hannah plus her sweaters. It's gotten cold there in TX.
• Read next chapter in Little House by Boston Bay
• Rick read Rebecca to B
  
• Rick read Prisoner of A. to S
• S is still reading and enjoying The Search for Delicious
• J is still reading Lord of the Flies - he's not going through that so quickly
• W stayed up late to go buy some game that went on sale at midnight. I made him promise to go to bed and wait until after Latin on Tues before playing it.
• Uh oh, found W at 2:45 a.m. still playing. I think I'm taking that nice laptop his father gave him away for a week. I can't tolerate this staying up all night and not being able to function during the day routine. Why are teens like this??????

A Look at Joshua's Week

This is inspired by a thread at the WTM board where one poster shared her 9th grader's schedule. She has her son working from 6 a.m. to 6 in the evening with one hour for chores and hygiene and one hour for lunch and walk. Wow! I thought homeschooling was supposed to be more effiecient than public schooling! I just couldn't imagine following that schedule at all, even for myself, let alone my hormonal and growing 14 yo son. But to each his own! However, it did make me wonder exactly how J's week flows. Because I do feel we are on the slow side of accomplishing things, only because he doesn't want to have to work all summer to earn credits for this high school year. So I thought I'd take a look at what he tends to do each day of the week and how it could be tweaked to make it a little more efficient without interfering with his free time.

Weekends:
Usually on Sunday, but not always, Rick has been working with J on Algebra. I usually check through the homework and any test and mark wrong answers. Since I don't know much math myself I use the solutions manual, Rick goes through and figures out where J might be stumbling and then teaches him those aspects. Sometimes but not always, J will then do a lesson or at least a partial lesson. Also on weekends, sometimes, we do a little Latin to get a jump start on our homework. We should be more consistent about this though. So that is one way I'd like to tweak things.

Monday:
Usually an Algebra II lesson
Reading in History
Lunch
Free time
Latin homework (about 2 hrs)
More free time/dinner
A bit more Latin at around 9:30 or so for maybe 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Tuesday:
Finish up Latin homework (45 min to 1 hr)
Attend Latin class from 10:30 to 12
Lunch
Short free time
Algebra II
History reading (in the evening)

Wednesday:
Algebra II (in a.m.)
Earth Science (usually right after lunch)
Literature - from 4 to 5 - I have to squeeze it in between VT and Drawing class for S and B
Catholic Life - Scripture study and discussion - 7:30 to 9:15

Thursday:
Algebra II
Earth Science
Literature - big focus on this
History discussion

Friday:
Mass
Socratic Discussion
Lunch
Tennis

One thing I see here is not enough hours devoted to science. J is in theory also reading in Earth Science but he hasn't really so he should probably pursue that.

Other than that, I like that he has so much free time. He does tend to spend it in front of a screen but he does learn some things from that so it isn't totally wasted time. He also takes walks frequently, often with the dog, and he does a lot of independent reading (though that has decreased in intensity since the school year started.). He also mows the lawn, does laundry, cleans the kitchen and helps tidy the house very cooperatively. And on weekends he participates with the church youth group activities. We are also going to be working on projects with the Pilgrims of the Holy Family if I ever get that off the ground, so I think it is basically a pretty good life!

Journal 10/9/09

• W and J got up and went to teen mass at 6:15
• I got to the 8 o'clock mass
• We had a good time at our Socratic discussion meeting
• Went to tennis; beautiful weather today; warm
• Vegged out at home; had a come and get it yourself kind of dinner
• Rick read some more of the Rebecca books to B
• J read Lord of the Flies
• S is reading The Search for Delicious. He seems to be really enjoying it. It is a slightly harder chapter book for him.
  
• W tried find some friends to go out with. He is a restless 17 yo who wants to be out on Friday and Sat. nights. He went out by himself to this new coffeehouse nearby but then came home early. He was really tired from not going to bed early all week and then getting up for such an early Mass. He fell asleep before we said night prayers! We had to wake him to join us.

Journal 10/8/09

• Read next story in Tales of Ancient Egypt about Teta the Magician
• S and B did cursive practice and worked a bit in their Greek workbooks
• Did some mental math with B
• S read from his reader about Stephen Foster using his flippers from VT
• He also read The Search for Delicious which he started last night.
  
• B started memorizing The Swing by R.L.Stevenson
• Watched Ch. 15 lesson with Sean in Latin
• Never got to Math with S
• S practiced piano, but B never got to her violin practice
• J did next lesson in Algebra
• W slept in; I forced him up around 10 a.m. At some point before 1:00 he read some history.
• W drove to his lesson where he taught guitar to M.S.
  
• Took B to her Little Flowers club where they learned about St. Margaret Clitherow (sp?) and made sunflowers and bookmarks with the Act of Faith on it.
• S played with Jack
• J and I checked out the new library in Fairfax City. Josh got out Lord of the Flies and is reading it.
• I got some audio books out for B and S
• Came home and everyone vegged. I got hooked on the computer and never made dinner.
• B took a bath and started listening to The Five Peppers and How They Grew on audio.
  
• Rick came home at 7:00 which is a bit on the early side for him. But he was disappointed because he'd wanted to get home before dark to do some work on the yard. the sun is setting earlier and earlier. When is the time change?
• Got carry out for dinner.
• Read Book III of the Iliad with W and J
• Rick read Sea of Monsters to B and S
• I read next chapter in Little House by Boston Bay.
• S is listening to The Great Brain on audio.
  

Hell burns

Cool blog by groovy sister! http://hellburns.blogspot.com/

Journal 10/7/09

• W went to Music Theory
• Read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch out loud to B and S. He finally went to sea!
  
• J read HAW to ch. 18
• B - cursive, math (making change - she wasn't getting it), reading workbook (that she hadn't done yesterday). She's really getting fast at reading. Much less painful sounding out of everything and totally loosing the train of the sentence.
  
• S - cursive, spelling, memorized poem for about 2 minutes, did first investigation in Saxon 6/5 on word problems.
• Did a little bit of Latin vocab and review of 2nd conjugation with S
• S practiced piano
• J did next Algebra lesson
• S and B spent lots of the day doing gymnastics out on the front lawn. They brought up their mat from the basement. The weather is glorious but windy.
• W came home and wandered around aimlessly. He wants friends and to be doing something. I told him he could read HAW but I don't think he ever did.
• J and I watched Lecture 4 of How the Earth Works - totally mind blowing!
  
• Went to VT
• Made dinner while B and S played gymnastics outside more.
• J played on the computer
• W???????
• Rick stayed home because he was feeling under the weather all last night but he's been working in his room and has never yet emerged today.
• Made dinner
• Took B and S to first drawing class (that we thought was canceled!) - class was great. Turned out to be a cartooning class which is exactly what S wanted!
• Hannah called! She's got midterms next week!
  
• W and J went to CLC
• Helped B practice violin a tiny bit. She's plucking out Mary Had a Little Lamb
  
• Read next chapter in Little House by Boston Bay to B
• Rick read Prince of A (HP) to S
• Rick read A Sea of Monsters to B and S
• I liked that today S and B were so into gymnastics and played so much outside. S was sooo resistant to gymnastics class for the first two classes and now he is back to his old self of loving it.
  

Journal 10/6/09

• Finished up Latin homework this a.m.
• Got everybody up to eat breakfast and ready to go out the door
• Latin class
• B and S didn't do so well with their seatwork; kept fighting; S was in bad mood.
• S did cursive and spelling; I forgot to bring math and he balked at grammar
• B did cursive and math sheet; she balked at reading workbook; she colored and then played outside
• At lunch at chick fil a - she got a funnel in her kids meal (they are giving away science stuff) Lady was doing an Usborne book presentation and then started showing the kids rocks. Turned out she works at the U. S Geological Survey.
• S did his math and Grammar at home
• J worked on next Algebra lesson and then looked over his Clonlara stuff
• W ran errand for me and got B's violin book and shoulder rest.
• S and B went to gymnastics - both are loving it! Yippee!
• Read Book II of Iliad with W and J
• Read Bible History to B and S (didn't get to it Monday)
• Rick read Sea of Monsters to B and S
• Rick went over Algebra test with J (after 10 p.m. I went to bed about this time)

Journal 10/5/09

• It's Rick's birthday!
• W went off to Music Theory class, driving on his own. Yippee!
• Had late breakfast; B and S gave cards to Rick
• J spent most of morning doing Algebra test
• S - math test, worked on memorizing poem, read Ch. 5 in F&L, cursive practice and did short workbook exercise on Latin vocab. The remote isn't working and we couldn't review dvd lesson. Arggh.
• B - math page on counting money, recited At the Seaside, I read her Ch in F&L, she read 6 sentences out of reader out loud, cursive practice.
• B and S played outside and are also designing controllers for some kind of game they are making up.
  
• Made Rick's cake
• Took B to violin lesson; planned RE class there
• Was late getting S to his piano lesson
• J did Latin homework on computer
• W was supposed to start Learn to Write the Novel Way (LWNW)
  
• Did some Latin homework; W and J wanted to work on their own. Did they actually do it??
• Made omelets for Rick's b-day dinner, had cake and sang happy birthday
• R read The Sea of Monster to B and S
• Went to RE class; went okay I guess
• Came home and finished Latin homework on computer; still need to finis vocab exercise tomorrow morning.
  

Journal weekend 10/2-10/4

• Poor W got up early with J to drive to the 6:15 a.m. teen Mass on Friday but got horribly lost and spent the next TWO HOURS driving around! Oh my goodness!
• So I was planning to go to the 9 a.m. Mass with B and S but when W finally came home he brought doughnuts and B burst into tears at the thought of not being able to eat one until after Mass. so I caved and we never went to Mass. I think maybe we'll do our daily Mass on Thursdays at noon and I'll try to make it to the 6:15 Mass on first Fridays with the teens.
• Spent most of the morning vacuuming, tidying, etc and getting read for Socratic Discussion group @ 10:30 a.m.
• Had our first discussion group. I think it went okay; younger group was a bit wild!
• Went to tennis
• on Sat. - W went to piano lesson; I drove him because he was afraid to get lost and he didn't want to be late!
• R read lots of Rebecca and The Sea of Monsters to B and S
• J watched lots of his anime series he's been watching for weeks on youtube.
• J mowed the lawn
• R and B went to guitar shop and Foxes to repair W's electric guitar
  
• S played at Joseph's - apparently wii sports complex and now S is hinting broadly that he'd like it for his b-day or Christmas! He especially liked the archery.
• S and his friend hiked from his house to ours which is a good 45 minutes. Then they had a picnic by the pond behind our house.
• B played a lot with our next door neighbors.
• Went out to dinner with R for early celebration of his birthday
• Sunday - J finally finished the last episode of his anime series. Yoohoo! I get my son back!
• J did about 3/4 of his Algebra lesson
• W was in youth Mass choir (playing acoustic guitar) - went to practice @ 4:30. We all went to Mass at 6. Afterward W, J and S stayed to make cookies for the prison ministry. W drove them all home afterward.
  
• R read more Rebecca to B
• J came home and finished Algebra lesson
• R read Harry Potter to S while I read By Boston Bay to B.
  

Journal 10/1/09

• woke with migraine. Arghhh. Always happens on the day I want to accomplish a lot!
• B, S and J made bacon, eggs and toast for themselves for breakfast
• W slept in!
• Got better about 11 a.m.
• Read a short Tale from Ancient Tales of Eygpt
• B and S practiced violin and piano
• J read HAW
• I woke up W and made him read HAW
• B and S did cursive
• B did 5 problems in MCP on money, counting and writing out $ and cents
• S finished up his spelling from yesterday
• B recited At the Seaside by R.L.Stevenson and decided she wanted to learn The Swing by him next.
• S recited Trees and picked a new poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, entitled Travel. He memorized the first verse
• S and B then started making up their own poems got very competitive about it and got into a big squabble! It was very creative and enjoyable for a while.
• Everyone lost concentration and wandered outside; I made lunch.
• W went to teach guitar to our Latin teacher's 10 yo dd. His first job!
• Watched Lecture 3 in How the Earth Works; finally found Earth Science text for J to read.
• B and S both finished listening to Charlotte's Web.
• J worked on Lesson 9 in Algebra; read lesson, watched dvd did practice problems in his head and then did mixed practice (odds)
• S created a new pivot animation
• B has been doing all kinds of paper/cardboard sculptures including a sky scraper
• S did 100 subtraction facts
• S - did a bit of Latin grammar, I orally reviewed 2nd declension and vocab and did page on grammar for Ch. 14.
• Finished Farmer Boy with B
• B, S and I worked for a few minutes in our Greek Alphabet workbook
• Finished reading Book 1 by Iliad with W and J
• Rick read Prisoner of Azkabahn (sp?) to S
• I started reading Little House by Boston Bay to B
  
• Prepared for Socratic discussion group tomorrow