Journaling the Day 5/12/10

Got up around 7, fed pets, did ½ hr on internet, cleaned kitchen and family room (1 hr)

8 yo woke up – first thing told me all about St. Barbara – the whole story narrated to me very nicely. I think she must have been listening to Once Upon a Saint last night before she fell asleep.

11 yo woke up – came down and wanted to tell me all about Stephen Pastis (sp?) the creator of Pearls Before Swine. Before bed last night he was reading the author’s introduction to a collection of his comics. My 11 yo loves Stephen Pastis!

@ 9 I made turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. Asked 11 yo to rouse 15 yo who got up, showered and came down to eat. Read last chapter of King of the Golden City by Mother Mary Loyola. Wow, what a great book. We talked about it a lot and decided it was the kind of book we should reread every year.

8 yo started watching a new Arthur on the Apple computer. Don’t know what others were doing. I decided to take quick shower.

Came downstairs from shower; 8 and 11 yo were working on making their own videogame on 11 yo’s dsi. Something they had started yesterday. It is very cute, they took lots of photos and made up different characters and voices to go with characters and different powers etc.. So not wanting to disturb them while they were playing happily I asked 15 yo if he wanted to get started. We have a checklist on our kitchen wall of stuff he ought to do each day. We decided to watch the next science lecture from the Teaching Co on Earth Science. It was fascinating about interglacial periods and climate change. Got into discussion about global warming with 15 yo.

11 and 8 yo came downstairs wondering what they were doing for lessons. I got out books that they worked in yesterday for seatwork which they do while me and their older brothers are in Latin class. I checked 8 yo phonics page and math page. Both done well! She said she just wanted to work on her timzit for math today, so that’s what she did. S did a page of his CHC spelling book. He usually does a page or two during the Latin class but he didn’t feel like it, so we decide to do it now. He wanted me to help him. He has trouble with fill in the blanks and that’s what this was. So we did that which involved learning what latitude and longitude was. So geography lesson was bonus! Then S did his Writing with Ease. I read a passage from Pippi Longstocking out loud then he had to orally narrate it back via guiding questions to help him remember the main points. Then I ask him questions to help him get an idea of how to summarize the passage. Then he writes out his summary. 8 yo listens better than 11 yo so she’s often jumping in with the answers which annoys 11 yo immensely. To forestall this we made 8 yo promise not to jump in but instead I’d read her her own passage. So I got out her WWE. She had been doing writing from it same as her older brother, but she started to balk so we are on hiatus. However, I said we could just do the oral portions which she happily agreed to.
It is now after 11 a.m. My 15 yo was supposed to be reading the Aeneid during al l this time. However, instead he was on the internet at the Escapist site and also looking at youtube series Let’s Play. Then he went upstairs to his room and didn’t Aeneid! Instead he read the same Pearls before Swine comic book. Having a slow motivation day, I guess!

My 17 yo is still asleep down in his basement room. I go down and ask him if he needs to get up for any reason. He says NO!

Conversation with 8 yo and 11 yo turns to caterpillars that have built chrysalises in our little butterfly garden that we have sitting on our family room coffee table. That reminds me that I got one of those eyewitness dvds from the library. We watch it. The kids love it and ask if we can go to the library and get more. I remember I got another on volcanoes. They watch that one too. Then they decide to go outside and bike/roller blade. 11 yo is into biking right now. They play outside for a good 45 minutes. I spend the time weeding our garden.

17 yo wakes up finally and take 11 yo and 8 yo out to lunch and then to Vision Therapy. Unfortunately he is running very and late and misses the VT appt. So it gets moved to 5 o’clock.

15 yo sits down and gives himself an Saxon Algebra II test. He can not remember certain algorithm. For some reason while trying to remember he lays down on two chairs in the dining room, groaning. After doing this a few minutes, he straightens up and begins to work. Hey, you couldn’t do that in a classroom!

11 yo and 17 go out together. They like to drive around and listen to the same music!

8 yo does a tiny bit of reading for me from a reading comp book I got at B&N. I’m trying to prime her for the CAT test coming up.

8 yo watches several episodes of Avatar, her latest obsession.

I dictate passage about mental prayer from Intro to Devout Life to 15 yo.

I got a new book on teaching beginning Latin, Getting Started in Latin by William Linney. Excellent, gentle intro. 8 yo and I do first 3 lessons. Super cinchy.

17 yo reads limericks out loud from an Edward Lear book I left out on the table. Today is Lear’s birthday!

While I take 8 yo to VT, 17 yo sits with 11 yo while he rewatches his new Latin lesson in Latin for Children.

15 yo reads Naruto (sp?) on line.

15 yo reads some more of Aeneid while I’m gone. When I get back, he and I go through study guide questions while I’m making dinner.

Before dinner, 8 yo plays outside in the rain on her scooter. She comes in all happy and volunteers to set the table! Wow, that was a first!

Dinner is meatball subs and baby carrots. I go to put away laundry. 8 yo is still in her helping mood so she helps me.

8 yo watches a new Fetch with Ruff, Ruffman show. The kids in the show have to build a bridge. Then they had border collies herding sheep. This is interesting because we just saw the 4H’ers last night run their agility dogs through their obstacle course. We are all excited to teach our Sheltie agility next year.

17 and 15 yo go to their Catholic Life Community meeting run by the Youth Apostles. There they hang out with other teen boys, study the scripture for next Sunday’s mass, learn about the faith from the lay Youth Apostle leaders and then socialize and talk.

11 and 8 yo watched Jeopardy together. Then I get out Saxon 6/5 out and we do lesson 53 and learn about double digit divisors in long division. 11 yo does 3 practice problems. I check his work from yesterday too. 11 yo has found a book we have; a dictionary of Adventure Heroes from every imaginable source: folklore, mythology, comic books, literature, radio. Movies, stage, etc. He looks up different heroes such as Ivanhoe. He thinks the book is really cool!

8 yo has been watching Arthur again while we are doing this. After Arthur I read next chapter in The Yellow House Mystery (Boxcar Children) to 8 yo while 11 yo reads next chapter in Island of the Blue Dolphins. 11 yo tells me about the chapter. He says it reminds him of when the main character in Hatchet realizes that no one is going to rescue him soon and he has to figure out how to survive. Then I read another chapter in Movie Shoes by Noel Streatfield to both kids. It was very long. But I got a kick out of it. The kids are being homeschooled in the story!

After that 8 yo brushes my hair while 11 yo practices his piano pieces for his jury next week and also practices sight reading. Then we say prayers. 8 yo wants to pray for all the people suffering from Volcanos (thinking about the eyewitness dvd we’d watched in a.m.) We also get into a meandering discussion that swings from lightly touching on the birds and the bees (8 yo can’t figure out why kids look like their dad if they come out of their mom’s womb. I tell her it is just like with animals, sperm must fertilize an egg. She’s seen lots of nature movies!). 8 yo seems satisfied with that, she hasn’t connect the physical part. 11 yo has embarrassed grin on his face as he has made the connection! Later 11 yo talks about how he might become a priest. He’s been saying this for a week or two. Several weeks ago there was a missionary priest at mass that made quite an impression on 11 yo. So now he daydreams about being a missionary priest. But then realizes he can’t be a dad if he’s a priest. So we talk about how it is really up to the Holy Spirit and we don’t have to worry about it but just be open to what unfolds in our lives. 8 yo talks about how she sometimes thinks she wants to be a nun. I tell her that I dreamed of being a nun when I was 10 and then I also thought about it right before I met daddy. She shrieks with laughter! You mean you thought you were going to be a nun right before you met your true love???? She says. She says that she really wants to be a saint and that we should say morning rosaries like we used to. I say great! Let’s try to do that again!

Teens come home. 17 yo starts playing a real ragtime piece he’s writing on the piano. 15 yo immediately disappears into the study to get on the computer. He brings back my kindle that he borrowed. He’s been reading H. P. Lovecraft stories he downloaded on it.

Rick comes home from work. It is now almost 10 o’clock at night and I am tired! It is rough living in a family of night owls when you are the only one who is ‘normal.’

Rick is reading the sequel to Detectives in Togas to the younger ones, Mystery of the Roman Ransom. They are loving it so far. After he’s finished a chapter, I shoo the kids off to bed.

17 yo runs to the store to pick up cat food among other things. It is wonderful having a teen who can drive!

Rick and I finish watching The Blind Side, a movie we started the day before yesterday. Good movie!

I go to bed, 17 yo, 15 yo and Rick stay up til about midnight. Don’t know what they did!