...is officially over.
that is all.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
ugh.
you know how when things go wrong, they really go wrong?
this week, doing school has been like pulling teeth.
wait, that's not a good analogy, since xander lost his first tooth this week without much ado.
doing school has been like...forcing a five-year-old -- who really doesn't want to do flash cards -- to do flash cards.
it's friday. usually we are on day four or day five of our planned lessons. 2/3 of us are on day three and 1/3 is on day two (xander took a sick day earlier this week).
it's just...been difficult this week. i knew i should have been wary when everything last week went so smoothly, despite having to take a day off because i was babysitting for my sister and there was no way we were going to get to do school that day. we still got everything done, with smiles on our faces and even *gasp!* time to spare.
but THINGS have happened this week. we've been somewhere every single day this week. we've had company. we've had a library outing. we had a visit from the tooth fairy. everything that could have interfered with school, did. tempers have flared (mostly mine). worksheets have laid undone. parts of lessons have been scrapped just because a kid didn't feel like doing them that day, and by golly, at this point, i am all for sprinting for the end of this week like there's no tomorrow.
i am NOT a big fan of early american history, and not because it isn't awesome and important and full of these great stories, but mostly because i'm not a big fan of history, and early american has always been my least favorite. no explanation. it just is. maybe it was the clothes they wore. i can't take you seriously when you're wearing a white wig, mr. president. (note: i'm kidding. kind of.)
and in science, we're learning about big cats. which is interesting and all, but i'm just bouncing in my seat until we get to planets.
i hate when we get bogged down in weeks when the subject matter isn't that exciting. when this starts to happen, we generally start to skim. and that's what i've been doing with john adams this week. skimming the surface. if beau cares about it enough, he'll ask for more, but for now, knowing john adams existed and that he did some pretty cool stuff for america is enough. it isn't important how many children he had and what their names were.
in other news, sight words are WIN. i've been working with both bella and xander with a few flash cards, and thanks to their cute little brain-sponges, it's really sinking in. it's crazy. i never taught beau sight words. i never worked with him on phonics. so all of this is new to me. it's fun seeing bella remember that this card says, "away" and that one says, "and." and even though xander is fighting me tooth and nail, he can't help but remember them, too, because his brain is conspiring against him (and is totally on my side, MUAHAHAHAHAHA) and he's remembering them anyway.
we are coming across a bit of a road block with letters. ugh, letters. the bane of my existence. xander should know his letters by now. if you want to be all boring and technical. as it stands, he knows about six of the capital letters. i don't know whether i should feel crappy as a parent or crappy as a teacher or just plain crappy. he's getting them, though. we're working on that. he HATES it, but we're doing it.
there is a part of me that really really hates making him do things he doesn't want to do. it's a pretty big part. because i started this thing with an unschooling mindset. but the question is, do i stop doing it because it upsets him, or do i keep plugging away because...just because? because i'm the mom and i should "make" him do school? the same way i hate doing a gradebook but i do it because it's the "right" thing to do and it makes my husband feel better? because i'm sure if i didn't at least attempt to teach xander his letters then hubby would be pretty upset.
ahh. enough with the heavy. things are looking up. i hereby give us permission to skim the rest of the week's lessons and/or condense the final two/three days into one day tomorrow with no pressure or worries that we're missing something. if it isn't interesting, it isn't interesting. the end.
this week, doing school has been like pulling teeth.
wait, that's not a good analogy, since xander lost his first tooth this week without much ado.
it's friday. usually we are on day four or day five of our planned lessons. 2/3 of us are on day three and 1/3 is on day two (xander took a sick day earlier this week).
it's just...been difficult this week. i knew i should have been wary when everything last week went so smoothly, despite having to take a day off because i was babysitting for my sister and there was no way we were going to get to do school that day. we still got everything done, with smiles on our faces and even *gasp!* time to spare.
but THINGS have happened this week. we've been somewhere every single day this week. we've had company. we've had a library outing. we had a visit from the tooth fairy. everything that could have interfered with school, did. tempers have flared (mostly mine). worksheets have laid undone. parts of lessons have been scrapped just because a kid didn't feel like doing them that day, and by golly, at this point, i am all for sprinting for the end of this week like there's no tomorrow.
i am NOT a big fan of early american history, and not because it isn't awesome and important and full of these great stories, but mostly because i'm not a big fan of history, and early american has always been my least favorite. no explanation. it just is. maybe it was the clothes they wore. i can't take you seriously when you're wearing a white wig, mr. president. (note: i'm kidding. kind of.) and in science, we're learning about big cats. which is interesting and all, but i'm just bouncing in my seat until we get to planets.
in other news, sight words are WIN. i've been working with both bella and xander with a few flash cards, and thanks to their cute little brain-sponges, it's really sinking in. it's crazy. i never taught beau sight words. i never worked with him on phonics. so all of this is new to me. it's fun seeing bella remember that this card says, "away" and that one says, "and." and even though xander is fighting me tooth and nail, he can't help but remember them, too, because his brain is conspiring against him (and is totally on my side, MUAHAHAHAHAHA) and he's remembering them anyway.
we are coming across a bit of a road block with letters. ugh, letters. the bane of my existence. xander should know his letters by now. if you want to be all boring and technical. as it stands, he knows about six of the capital letters. i don't know whether i should feel crappy as a parent or crappy as a teacher or just plain crappy. he's getting them, though. we're working on that. he HATES it, but we're doing it.
there is a part of me that really really hates making him do things he doesn't want to do. it's a pretty big part. because i started this thing with an unschooling mindset. but the question is, do i stop doing it because it upsets him, or do i keep plugging away because...just because? because i'm the mom and i should "make" him do school? the same way i hate doing a gradebook but i do it because it's the "right" thing to do and it makes my husband feel better? because i'm sure if i didn't at least attempt to teach xander his letters then hubby would be pretty upset.ahh. enough with the heavy. things are looking up. i hereby give us permission to skim the rest of the week's lessons and/or condense the final two/three days into one day tomorrow with no pressure or worries that we're missing something. if it isn't interesting, it isn't interesting. the end.
Monday, June 6, 2011
oh, no. she's blogging again.
i promise not to blog every day for the duration of the summer. i don't really know what's gotten into me the past week that made me blog so much. i think i've just had a lot to get out, and by golly, i've got a designated place to sort through my thoughts with the assumption that people actually care what i'm saying. it's called a blog.
moving on. today was the first day of doing school with all three kids.
i should probably explain how we do things around here before i go into much more detail. we have two sections to our school day. the first is "computer school." the website-that-shall-not-be-named is responsible for this. it has tons of links to other websites, games, printables, online tests, videos, etc, all grouped together according to grade level and subject, which are then helpfully sorted into 36 lessons to be used over the course of the school year. i go through each week and choose what we'll do every day (and we never do everything they have for us, there's just so much they have listed).
up till this point, i've only been doing beau's grade level, and the other kids generally hang around and listen/watch videos/help with answering questions/etc. sometimes i'll rephrase things so the littlest one can understand something better.
"computer school" generally takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on what we're doing that day. sometimes we just read. sometimes we talk more than we read. sometimes there are games. sometimes there's a video. it varies.
then there's worksheets. everyone has been doing their own worksheets for almost a year now. that's nothing new. nothing much has changed except for the volume of worksheets. worksheets usually take two to three hours, and i'm not even kidding. this is including five-minute breaks every fifteen minutes.
the point of me saying all of that was to explain what i meant when i say xander and bella have their own history and science now. history and science fall under the category of "computer school." so all that really means for me is about 30-45 more minutes in front of the computer during school time, and about two more hours in front of it on my own during the week to lesson plan.
more work for me, is what i'm saying. but more work in the right place - lesson planning - and not in the wrong place - making our "school day" super-de-duper long.
so it went smoothly this morning. bella was upset we didn't do more school. she actually cried.
God help me.
moving on. today was the first day of doing school with all three kids.
i should probably explain how we do things around here before i go into much more detail. we have two sections to our school day. the first is "computer school." the website-that-shall-not-be-named is responsible for this. it has tons of links to other websites, games, printables, online tests, videos, etc, all grouped together according to grade level and subject, which are then helpfully sorted into 36 lessons to be used over the course of the school year. i go through each week and choose what we'll do every day (and we never do everything they have for us, there's just so much they have listed).
up till this point, i've only been doing beau's grade level, and the other kids generally hang around and listen/watch videos/help with answering questions/etc. sometimes i'll rephrase things so the littlest one can understand something better.
"computer school" generally takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on what we're doing that day. sometimes we just read. sometimes we talk more than we read. sometimes there are games. sometimes there's a video. it varies.
then there's worksheets. everyone has been doing their own worksheets for almost a year now. that's nothing new. nothing much has changed except for the volume of worksheets. worksheets usually take two to three hours, and i'm not even kidding. this is including five-minute breaks every fifteen minutes.
the point of me saying all of that was to explain what i meant when i say xander and bella have their own history and science now. history and science fall under the category of "computer school." so all that really means for me is about 30-45 more minutes in front of the computer during school time, and about two more hours in front of it on my own during the week to lesson plan.
more work for me, is what i'm saying. but more work in the right place - lesson planning - and not in the wrong place - making our "school day" super-de-duper long.
so it went smoothly this morning. bella was upset we didn't do more school. she actually cried.
God help me.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
again with the blogging!
we are finished with this week's lessons!!! yay!!
we started doing things a little differently this week, and it was a smidge of a rough transition for us, but we made it!
too bad next week is going to bring new things as well. like bella and xander having their own unique curriculum that i teach them SEPARATELY along with what i've already got planned for beau.
maybe i didn't think this homeschooling thing through properly.
sometimes, though, i look around at the work my kids have been doing, at the grades which i dutifully plug into the gradebook (that i still hate), at the fun we (sometimes) have when doing school, and i think to myself. i'm actually doing this. i'm one of those people.
i'm a homeschool mom.
i already know this in my head, of course, but my head is usually about to explode or something and today i had one of those oh-my-goodness-the-kids-are-quietly-doing-worksheets-i-can-sneak-in-a-bit-of-mommy-reading-time moments and it sort of hit me.
we homeschool.
and we're pretty good at it, thank you.
now. please send me good thoughts next week. i'm going to need it.
we started doing things a little differently this week, and it was a smidge of a rough transition for us, but we made it!
too bad next week is going to bring new things as well. like bella and xander having their own unique curriculum that i teach them SEPARATELY along with what i've already got planned for beau.
maybe i didn't think this homeschooling thing through properly.
sometimes, though, i look around at the work my kids have been doing, at the grades which i dutifully plug into the gradebook (that i still hate), at the fun we (sometimes) have when doing school, and i think to myself. i'm actually doing this. i'm one of those people.
i'm a homeschool mom.
i already know this in my head, of course, but my head is usually about to explode or something and today i had one of those oh-my-goodness-the-kids-are-quietly-doing-worksheets-i-can-sneak-in-a-bit-of-mommy-reading-time moments and it sort of hit me.
we homeschool.
and we're pretty good at it, thank you.
now. please send me good thoughts next week. i'm going to need it.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
this might be harder than i thought.
so this morning i wake up with big ideas.
i should always be wary when this happens.
i never learn.
i decided this morning that i was going to take a look at the first grade and kindergarten curriculum on the curriculum-website-that-shall-remain-nameless, just to see what we had waiting for us in the fall. this was a mistake.
of course i decided it might be fun to go ahead and start a little early with everything, to give it sort of a trial-run during the summer.
during the course of this, i added no less than FOUR subjects apiece for each of the children. FOUR. not only that, but each child has his or her own separate history and science curriculum, something i've never attempted before.
it turns out that lesson planning for three individual children takes a lot more work and time than i'm used to spending. probably because i'm used to being done in 1/3 of the time. duh. but i'm exhausted and i haven't even finished the lesson plans yet.
what will next week look like? why did i do this during the summer? why am i asking you all of these questions?
odds are that i burn out halfway through next week and do some serious pruning of curriculum.
also, i've all but decided to just buy the books sonlight recommends and continue using the curriculum-website-that-shall-not-be-named for history and language arts. something about it being what we're used to and actually pretty good and also free. but new books are always a plus. i'll just need to buy a new bookshelf.
i should always be wary when this happens.
i never learn.
i decided this morning that i was going to take a look at the first grade and kindergarten curriculum on the curriculum-website-that-shall-remain-nameless, just to see what we had waiting for us in the fall. this was a mistake.
of course i decided it might be fun to go ahead and start a little early with everything, to give it sort of a trial-run during the summer.
during the course of this, i added no less than FOUR subjects apiece for each of the children. FOUR. not only that, but each child has his or her own separate history and science curriculum, something i've never attempted before.
it turns out that lesson planning for three individual children takes a lot more work and time than i'm used to spending. probably because i'm used to being done in 1/3 of the time. duh. but i'm exhausted and i haven't even finished the lesson plans yet.
what will next week look like? why did i do this during the summer? why am i asking you all of these questions?
odds are that i burn out halfway through next week and do some serious pruning of curriculum.
also, i've all but decided to just buy the books sonlight recommends and continue using the curriculum-website-that-shall-not-be-named for history and language arts. something about it being what we're used to and actually pretty good and also free. but new books are always a plus. i'll just need to buy a new bookshelf.
Monday, May 30, 2011
yes, well.
if i could send a message back in time to myself at the end of november, i'd say a lot of things. the most prevalent being WHY IN HECKFIRE ARE YOU TAKING THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER OFF? THAT'S THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD.
because i just realized that if we had worked through the month instead of going ahead and taking a nice long break from schoolwork, WE WOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE SUMMER VACATION RIGHT NOW.
ugh.
there are no words for the amount of difficult it is to reign my seven-year-old into sitting at a table and doing simple worksheets. worksheets that a few short weeks ago, he happily sped through while i watched on, serenely sipping a cup of tea. okay, so maybe not happily, but with little to no complaint. i had no idea just how lucky i had it.
i know i'm being a bit overdramatic. shut up. it isn't as bad as i'm making it out to be, i'm sure. but right now, i'm about to lose my mind. i've already lost my temper. multiple times.
not sure if it's the beautiful day, or the allure of better cartoons on TV all celebrating the completion of the school year, or the fact that our pool is sitting right there, beautiful and crystal clear and inviting. maybe it's a combination of all three. but we have been at it for THREE HOURS NOW, y'all. worksheets generally take an hour per kid. this is just beau we're dealing with here.
so you see my pain.
not to mention having to witness everyone's beautiful and fun memorial day updates on facebook while we're stuck here with nowhere to go and nothing to do while everyone else celebrates. oh wait, we have something to do. it's called school.
again, shut up. we celebrated memorial day yesterday with a family fun day in the pool and burgers and everything else you're supposed to celebrate with. it was awesome. i'm just jealous of everyone who's getting to do it again today.
i did do something fun today that we'll get to enjoy in a couple of weeks. i ordered some books from amazon. rachel will be so proud.
anyway. i'm letting beau have a little break now. he needs it, i need it. then, after we've both collected ourselves, we're gonna head back in there and slay the beast.
and then we might go swimming.
because i just realized that if we had worked through the month instead of going ahead and taking a nice long break from schoolwork, WE WOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE SUMMER VACATION RIGHT NOW.
ugh.
there are no words for the amount of difficult it is to reign my seven-year-old into sitting at a table and doing simple worksheets. worksheets that a few short weeks ago, he happily sped through while i watched on, serenely sipping a cup of tea. okay, so maybe not happily, but with little to no complaint. i had no idea just how lucky i had it.
i know i'm being a bit overdramatic. shut up. it isn't as bad as i'm making it out to be, i'm sure. but right now, i'm about to lose my mind. i've already lost my temper. multiple times.
not sure if it's the beautiful day, or the allure of better cartoons on TV all celebrating the completion of the school year, or the fact that our pool is sitting right there, beautiful and crystal clear and inviting. maybe it's a combination of all three. but we have been at it for THREE HOURS NOW, y'all. worksheets generally take an hour per kid. this is just beau we're dealing with here.
so you see my pain.
not to mention having to witness everyone's beautiful and fun memorial day updates on facebook while we're stuck here with nowhere to go and nothing to do while everyone else celebrates. oh wait, we have something to do. it's called school.
again, shut up. we celebrated memorial day yesterday with a family fun day in the pool and burgers and everything else you're supposed to celebrate with. it was awesome. i'm just jealous of everyone who's getting to do it again today.
i did do something fun today that we'll get to enjoy in a couple of weeks. i ordered some books from amazon. rachel will be so proud.
anyway. i'm letting beau have a little break now. he needs it, i need it. then, after we've both collected ourselves, we're gonna head back in there and slay the beast.
and then we might go swimming.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
stars!
i totally should be cooking dinner right now.
my kids are now totally obsessed with stars. no, not like the ones in the heavens. i'm talking about the kind that look like this
and are drawn at the top of a worksheet, usually in marker or something, signifying a job well done.
i'm not sure if i consider it a mistake or not, the first star i put on beau's worksheet yesterday afternoon. he was so excited i was sure i had stumbled upon something AMAZING - if he were willing to work harder, focus a bit more, and do his very best to get a star, then surely this had to be the BEST THING EVER.
the kids sure thought so.
so now i have xander demanding stars on his worksheets. okay, he deserved them today. he. was. a. SUPERSTAR with worksheets today. so i gave him stars on the ones he did the best on. good, right?
not so, says my little brown boy. he was unhappy that he didn't get stars on EVERY INCH OF HIS WORK; so unhappy that he slumped off, pouting, to go play the xbox, tears in his pretty eyes. he almost guilted me into going back and plastering his worksheets with the things. almost.
i decided he could do without bajillions of stars.
but seriously. i think it might be gold, this star thing. either that, or i have just opened pandora's box.
my kids are now totally obsessed with stars. no, not like the ones in the heavens. i'm talking about the kind that look like this
and are drawn at the top of a worksheet, usually in marker or something, signifying a job well done.
i'm not sure if i consider it a mistake or not, the first star i put on beau's worksheet yesterday afternoon. he was so excited i was sure i had stumbled upon something AMAZING - if he were willing to work harder, focus a bit more, and do his very best to get a star, then surely this had to be the BEST THING EVER.
the kids sure thought so.
so now i have xander demanding stars on his worksheets. okay, he deserved them today. he. was. a. SUPERSTAR with worksheets today. so i gave him stars on the ones he did the best on. good, right?
not so, says my little brown boy. he was unhappy that he didn't get stars on EVERY INCH OF HIS WORK; so unhappy that he slumped off, pouting, to go play the xbox, tears in his pretty eyes. he almost guilted me into going back and plastering his worksheets with the things. almost.
i decided he could do without bajillions of stars.
but seriously. i think it might be gold, this star thing. either that, or i have just opened pandora's box.
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