Two Thirds Unschooling

Weekly Report 11/16-11/20

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:14:00 +0000

This week has been a slumpy week.

First off, no one was sleeping well for some reason. Actually I know why. W in some crazy lapse of judgment let B and S watch some old Twilight Zones with him. B has been completely freaked out ever since. Every night she cries that she doesn't want to go to bed. S puts on a strong front that he is not scared, however, he doesn't seem to shut his eyes until midnight. B keeps waking up in the night and crawling into bed with me and Rick. B kicks terribly in her sleep. Once she wakes me up, I am unable to go back to sleep. So I've been going to bed at midnight, waking up at 4 a.m. and trying to get by on that. This means that every time I try to sit down to read aloud or watch a video I drift right off to sleep. Both J and W being teenagers think staying up late is great, except the next morning they don't want to get up! I've also been fighting headaches all week.

With everyone being sleep deprived, we've been a family of grumpies. B had a total meltdown at our Socratic Discussion and we had to leave early. She has a terrible temper and once she gets wound up it seems like she can't not regain control over herself until she has screamed it all out. I was so angry at her. I know I didn't handle it great being so very tired. Sigh. All week I felt like I was trudging through sand to get anything done. Everything seems to take me 4 times longer than it ought to.

Secondly, we had two doctors appoints for J who has been diagnosed with scoliosis. One on Tuesday afternoon and one on Friday (to fit his brace). In addition to that Thursday morning was spent signing W up for community college classes for next semester. And W and J are going away on a retreat this weekend and both decided they needed new jeans so they took themselves off shopping.

Unschoolish: Kids started watching a new PBS show about business/economics called Bizkids. They learned all about currency. B and S played a lot on the computer: like making animations on sketchstar, listening to a lot of music, playing on Noggin (making videos). S read a lot of the Game Informer magazine (not sure I approve). S also exchanged e-mails with two friends. They watched a lot of Fetch, Wordgirl and Phineas and Ferb. S tried out a lot of new game websites, freeonlinegames, onemore level. B went to Ninjakiwi (she likes the puzzle games). B made up a lot of science experiments inspired by our reading of Archimedes and doing a couple of little demonstrations on density and buoyancy. J was, as usual, on the computer a lot. He developed an interest in sharks though and did a lot of reading about them. He and Rick stayed up late one night (sigh!) watching a program on sharks and whales or something. He announced he wants to be a marine biologist. This from the kid who hates swimming! We'll see about that! He also started rereading the Bunnicula series of all things! I have no idea what W has been doing except going to Music Theory class and some Latin/Latin class at the beginning of the week.

Schoolish: B and S did cursive M-Th. Did a bit of Greek on Monday. Math - B learned about greater than and lesser than, putting larger numbers in sequence, figuring out sequences and problem-solving. S did lessons 16 and 17 in Saxon (mostly multiplication). J did up to L 27 in Alg II and took test 5 (but I haven't gotten around to grading it yet). We did a bit of Vision Therapy homework. Did Latin homework on Monday and then Latin class on Tuesday a.m. We need to study for Latin quiz next T. S read some in his Seton reader. B did some work in her reading workbook and read a lesson from the McGuffey reader. Neither B or S did very much music practice this week. We didn't do any high school history. We did get to the next book in the Iliad and I made the boys organize their notebooks (they had papers scattered all over the house!). S did a bit of Latin - some grammar and some vocabulary review.

For read alouds - we started a new book Freedom Train about Harriet Tubman. I'm going to try and sandwich that in before we get to the book on St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.

I am ready for a Thanksgiving break. I figure Monday and Tuesday of next week will be regular days. Wednesday a.m. I'm going to try to play catch up with the teens in re lit and history. Then Wed. afternoon break officially begins. H is coming home for the first time in 2.5 months! She'll be in Wed. night!

Suggestions for History Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

For some reason I'm in planning mode right now for future readings. Here's what I'm thinking of for the rest of this academic year with S and B:

After Archimedes, we'll read the new book on Herodutus by Bendick
Since we've done so much reading in the Greeks: Tanglewood Tales, Black Ships Before Troy, The Wanderings of Odysseus, Percy Jackson books, currently Archimedes, next Herodotus, I feel the need to move on to the Romans
Aeneid for Boys and Girls
Famous Men of Rome
Detectives in Togas
Roman Ransom

By next fall I think we'll be up to Middle Ages. Here's what I'm thinking:

The Early Christians by Hunt (transitional book plus the kids will learn about the early Church)
Brendan the Navigator by Jean Fritz
Fingal's Quest by ???? I've heard of this book so much but have never read it.
Beorn the Proud - loved this book the first time around!
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston - I read this to myself a couple years ago - wonderful book!
Francis and Clare; Saints of Assisi by Homan
Cathedral by McCauley
Castle by McCaulay
The Trumpeter of Krakow - one of my all time favorite books!

For J who'll be 15 and in 10th grade:

Confessions of St. Augustine
Augustine Came to Kent - about the other St. Augustine!
Ballad of the White Horse - by GKC - I've never read this but really want to! - poem
William the Conquerer - Hilaire Belloc - haven't read this either
Murder in the Cathedral - T.S. Eliot - play
St. Francis of Assisi by GKC
St. Thomas Aquinas by GKC
Henry V - Shakespeare - play
Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

Spine for J - Didache Church History text or maybe the Catholic Textbook Projects latest book on Church History.

Supplements - Popes and Papacy Teach. Co lectures; watch movies Becket, movie on St. Francis, Henry V with Branaugh, old Joan of Arc movie. Watch Teach Co. lectures on Natural Law if we never get to it this year.

S & B: For our Modern Studies next year, I'm thinking of getting the Beautiful Feet Western Expansion unit study. I don't know how much we'll do of the actual unit study. We can pick and choose and read all the wonderful books.

Cool Philosophy Site

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:55:00 +0000

http://www.philosophyclass.net/

Weekly Report 11/7/09-11/13/09

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Unschoolish: S and B - Lots of cartooning and drawing; playing with sculpey; playing with pipe cleaners (Mom went to Michaels!); S and B designed games for a 'fair' in B's room. They had the cutest ideas for different games - one was they took an old science fair 3 sided poster board, cut out strips to make a jail cell window with bars and then offered to take pictures of you behind the bars!!! (They got that idea from our trip to Salem, MA); ball tosses, knocking stacks of plastic cups down. They made a fun house mirror by taping smaller mirrors and magnifying glasses to B's full length mirror. Lots of gymnastics and music playing/practice; S played games on One More Level having to do with music and geography; S and B wrote e-mails to friends/family. Watched lots of Wordgirl and Fetch. J read the book The Wormword Files; watched c-span with Rick during Health Care debate; played lots of computer game The Way which involves puzzles. He kept drawing examples of the puzzles and trying to explain them to S and Rick. W - lots of music practice, he was under the weather with a sore throat most of the week. W and J went to CLC Wed night and then got up to go to the 6:15 a.m Mass on Friday.

Schoolish: M-Th: S and B did cursive, math, and reading every day. S too math test and only got one wrong. S did Latin and spelling too. Read alouds - Finished Carry On, Mr Bowditch; great book! Cont with Archimedes and the Door of Science - learned about Simple Machines, parts of a lever, etc. Bible History - Saul and David. W, J and I went to Latin class on Tuesday. J did L. 22 in Alg and took a test which he got an 82.5 on. He needs to do another lesson today. He's moving at a snail's pace. He is totally wrapped up in The Way. Watched 2 Archeology lectures with W and J. J and I watched lecture on minerals in Earth Science. W and J also listened to the Iliad Book 9 and wrote out answers to study guide questions. W and J read through ch. 24 of History of the Ancient World. Socratic discussion on Friday a.m. Hopefully today (Fri p.m.) we'll read another book of The Iliad and J will do another Alg lesson.

Noteworthy stuff: J had drs appt Tues afternoon for mri for his spine. Need to go back to orthopedic doc next Tues to find out what to do for scoliosis. S and I had a date Thursday night. We ate at Silver Diner and then went to see his piano teacher give a concert. She played Pictures at An Exhibition by Mussorgsky. It was incredible! S was totally blown away! And most noteworthy of all! H turned 19 on Tuesday. Her first birthday away from home. She spent it writing a paper and studying for a test and then breaking up with her boyfriend. Birthdays just aren't the same when you are at college!

Weekly Report 11/1/09-11/6/09

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:48:00 +0000

School-y stuff:

Read alouds: Read more Bible History (story of Samuel), Carry On, Mr Bowditch and Archimedes and the Door To Science. I love how Mr. Bowditch and Archimedes are overlapping when it comes to mentioning navigation and astronomy! Learned about the Achimedean screw.
Did catechism on Monday
B and S did cursive every day
S did a week's worth of spelling in his spelling workbook
B did read a story from her reader and a page in her workbook. A couple times during the week she copied over some words she'd been reading onto the whiteboard
S did Lessons 11, 12, 13, and 14 in Saxon 6/5
B learned rounding to 10's, hundreds, reading large numbers, place value
J did lessons 17-21 in Saxon Algebra II. He took a test on Monday. Scored 75%. Argh! Rick says there was one question he just didn't understand but that the rest was just carelessness in arithmetic and trying to do too much figuring in his head. So the new rule is that if he scores less than 85%, he has to retake the test. I think J knows his dad will just go over the test with him so he doesn't need to work hard for accuracy. Daddy is too nice!
J and I watched two lectures on Earth Science - how the planet was formed and the rock cycle. Earth science is cool!
J, W and I watched first lecture on Classical Archaeology. This also seems very cool, combining history and science.
J, W and I read/listened to Book 7 of the Iliad
W went to Music Theory class
Latin - S did Latin 3x times this week. B sat in when we watched the dvd lesson for ch. 16.
Latin again - did Latin homework and went to class on Tuesday. W and J studied to make up test and took it on Thursday afternoon. I have no idea how they did.
Did a crossword puzzle in our Greek workbooks
Violin and piano lessons. S practiced every day, B not so much!
S read in his Seton reader using his flippers (VT exercise)

Unschool-y stuff:

W and S continue to have a music appreciation study together. They've been into Steve Reich this week big time. They've been trying to jam on the piano together.
We watched a lot of Bill Nye clips on youtube this week - science!
We watched The Wizard of Oz and the first Willie Wonka movie with Gene Wilder this week.
S played a neat geography game at One More Level
J was been really into the game The Way this week. He and Rick had to figure out a big computer glitch.
W and S helped pack kits and write cards for the troops at a youth service project at church
J and W went to their CLC meeting on Wed night - Bible study, discussion, etc
B and S love their cartooning class. S worked really hard drawing a cartoon mouse. His perfectionism works against him mightily! B is constantly drawing.
B is also constantly writing. She writes on the whiteboards, on paper, making posters, etc. Both she and S are constantly asking me how to spell stuff.
B and S played at drawing school. B set up a classroom in her room with 4 stuffed animals. It is the cutest thing ever! I should take a photo!
B and S loved gymnastics and have been practicing lots this week in the front yard.
B and S also got into being mimes this week using the leftover face paint from Halloween. They made up all kinds of acts! Very cute.
Rick is reading The BFG to both B and S, HP to S and Samantha to B
S finished reading the latest Wimpy Kid book. Now he's into F- minus cartoon.
J seems to just be reading stuff he finds lying around. Not into any particular book this week. He did read a couple of chapters of History
S and B went to Music Theory dot com a couple times this week to each themselves MT.
B starting getting back into Starfall site again.
I've started reading S Grimm's Fairy Tales at his request. I've been reading Little House in the Highlands to B which makes me want to travel to Scotland so badly!

Projected:

Today - Friday - Socratic discussion group this a.m.
J has appointment with spine doctor at 1 p.m.
Afternoon: cleaning the house would be good; also reading another book in the Iliad
Getting everyone out to do some exercise.
Over the weekend - J needs to do another lesson in Algebra II; W, J and I need to do some Latin homework.

Learning Log 11/3/09

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Monday:

A good day! B did cursive, math (rounding to 100's), read the story of The Little Red Hen, copied over some words from the story on the whiteboard, listened to the story of Samuel from Bible History, I read her the next chapter from F&L, violin lesson
S did cursive, math (story problems), read Wimpy Kid book, Bible History, F&L, Latin vocab and grammar, piano practice and lesson
Rick is reading them The BFG by Roald Dahl.
J took Algebra test which Rick corrected.
J and I watched next lecture in Earth Science about how planet was formed. I need to watch it again. It was pretty technical and I didn't quite get it all.
W went to Music Theory in a.m.
W practiced music with band member in afternoon
Evening J, W and I did Latin homework

Tuesday

Got up and finished Latin homework
Went to Latin class
B did cursive, reading workbook, math, coloring
S did cursive, reading in Seton reader, did math lesson on lines, page of spelling book
Took kids to vote with me
J did next lesson in Algebra
Discussed History reading with J and W
B and S went to gymnastics which they loved
Watched first lecture on Classical Archeology with W and J
B and S watched Bill Nye videos on youtube
W went to Soundry for open mike night
B and S played at Music Theory.com
R is reading so many read alouds: BFG, Sea of Monsters, Samantha (American Girls), Prisoner of Azkaban.

Random Thoughts in a Desperate Attempt to Feel on Top of Things!

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Why do I like this bullet function so much? Is it because my brain is so scattered I can't write in actual paragraph anymore?
I have signed J up with Clonlara and have yet to do anything with them. I haven't even talked to our advisor even though I've gotten two e-mails from them asking me to.
After two weeks of flu J is right back to living in a hole where the only thing he wants to interact with is his computer. This is the whole reason I signed up with Clonlara, to get some structure into his life. Hey, there! There's a whole life going on out here that you might want to participate in! LOL. So this week J and I really need to sit down and go through the Clonlara manual (which we've only done partially) and then communicate with his adviser.
J really needs to keep track of his time. I don't think he has a clue that he spends hours in front youtube and very little time doing other things. Keeping track of his time will make him aware of that. So I'm going to ask him to do that little exercise; jotting down what he's done all day.
I need to get W registered for the CC next semester. I can not figure out how to do it online to save my life. I think also maybe you can't if you are a high schooler still. I think we need to go in and talk to a counselor. But last semester we waited too long and the class he wanted filled up. So this week I really want to take care of that. Maybe we'll do this tomorrow.
I'm hoping that we can finish reading the Iliad and Odyssey by the next semester. Then I think I'll give W a credit for Greek Lit. He'll be so busy with CC courses that I don't think we'll be able to do the whole year of Ancient Lit that I had planned. It is very hard to get all three of us together for long enough blocks of time to move forward at the pace we need to. So I am letting W go. J and I can hunker down and get some learnin' done and I won't have to worry about W. He's got so many outside things going on that it really interferes with scheduling something we can do together.
I'm thinking of having an audio-visual hour after dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are the nights when we don't have to be out. We have so many Teaching Co. courses, documentaries etc that I'd like to watch, but again it is too hard to schedule it in on the fly. I think we need to have set times!
Just now I realized that we missed a meeting on Thursday night to sign up for High School Workcamp. Grrr.
I'm assessing what's working for the younger children. Read alouds have been going well. S is really into the new Archimedes book. I'm planning to read about St. John Vianney after Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Modern Studies). I'd like to read the new Jean Bendick on Herodotus next for Ancient Studies. Bible History continues to chug along. B wants to participate in the Science Fair which is in February (27th I think?). Both children are doing very well when it comes to reading and learning cursive. I think I need to be a little more consistent with math and Latin (which ironically is supposed to be the core of our planned stuff but somehow gets shoved aside frequently!). Doing the Greek once or twice a week seems to be working fine. I'm in no rush with Greek!
After Christmas I think we'll switch to Writing With Ease. I'm looking forward to that.
Okay, it is the Feast of All Saints! I need to get costumes ready for our party. We aren't going to Mass until 6:00 p.m. tonight. It is the youth group Mass (1st Sunday of the month).

Weekly Report 10/26-10/30

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:16:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:53:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:40:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:08:00 +0000

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

Journal 10/16/09

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:14:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:20:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:27:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:37:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:54:00 +0000

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

Journal 10/7/09

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:21:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:36:00 +0000

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.