We’ve been taking a hiatus from our studies lately. We did complete 175 out of 180 scheduled school days. But, I’ve really needed a break. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be planning & purchasing for the next year. Stay tuned…
We have had school every day this week, though at a reduced pace. I really need a break, but don’t think we can really afford to take a long one. T has been doing most of his work solo, concentrating on math, italics, Latin and his readings. D has been doing math and a little Latin.
It amused T and D yesterday, as I lie in bed with a dehydration-induced migraine (don’t ask), that they were able to get ahead of me in Latin by watching their next class on DVD without me. They also drilled R in the Gloria Patri and the Sanctus . R likes to make a pun on the words, et terra, pretending to tear a piece of paper and giggling! Smart boy!
Finally, it’s so hot here that I want nothing to do but crank down the air conditioning and sit in a cold tub. Alas, due to the recent bill from the utility, that is not to be. I’ll just have to move slower.
I’m a bit tired today. The Full Strawberry Moon is coming tomorrow evening. It’s also called the Rose Moon. I guess I’m already feeling its effects. I went to the gym on Saturday and again on Monday. Of course, I skipped Sunday, my exercise-free day. This morning, after staying up with R until midnight, I felt tired when the alarm rang at 5:30. I allowed myself to take my time waking up, and finally getting up. I ate a good breakfast and did a full yoga routine. So, though I didn’t sweat as much, I did exercise.
The days here have been extremely hot for the last month. Already this year, we’ve had 12 days of 100+ heat. I glanced at the thermostat at the gym as I passed it on the track and it was set to a blissful 71 degrees. At home, I try to keep it at 78, no lower than 76. I am so thankful that I can go to the gym to exercise in near polar conditions. If this is June, I am fearful of July and August.
We plan to visit the library today, as we will have workmen at the house retiling our tub surround and replacing the siding on the outside of the house for the remainder of the week. As for school, we’ll just work that in this afternoon. Tonight is family Nova night.
I am proud to report that D finished his first grade math book 40 days before the end of our school year. His new math book arrived today, so he can get started on second grade math. Way to go!
I am proud to report that D finished his first grade math book 40 days before the end of our school year. His new math book arrived today, so he can get started on second grade math. Way to go!
Remember this post at the beginning of the year? Well, as you can see from the lack of posts, I’ve fallen quite short of my 2008 goal # 2. As for #1, well, the yoga didn’t make it. Nice idea…love yoga…but it was a flop. Here we are at the beginning of June. I’m proud to say that, with my husband’s gentle prodding and selfless offer to watch the boys and help them with their bedtime routines, I have been going to the YMCA to work out for the last three weeks. OK, so I’ve only been able to make it barely 2 or 3 times a week, but it’s a start. Ideally, I’d go in the morning, before DH goes to work at 8, but so far, I’ve only gone once at that time.
My new goal is to consistently go to the gym 3 times per week for one hour. This is a sub-goal to my larger goal of walking at least an hour, 5-6 days per week. During this hour, I plan to walk and ride the bike. I have already suffered from shin splints, so am taking it slowly to minimize further injury. My primary focus will be getting there at all - i.e. forming the habit. My secondary focus will be distance and getting my heart rate at 126 or above for at least 20 minutes.
I plan to add in yoga (for stretching and strength training) and hand weights at home at least 3 times per week. I’d also like to lose 30 lbs over the next year, though I’m not focusing on this yet. I hope this is not too all-encompassing of a plan. We’ll see.
Lest you think I’ve gone into hiding, never to return, well, I’m back. School has been rambling along. Some days are good. Some days are, well,not good. I’ve had a lot of things going on besides school, so have not had much time to post. In a nutshell,since my last post:
I’m sure there’s more. There’s always more.
"Where does reading for pleasure stop and reading to learn begin?"
Midway through the second grade, we switched to Ambleside Online, a Charlotte Mason based curriculum. It is just as thorough as other classical curricula, but presented in a more relaxed way. This curriculum is literature heavy, and each level (1-12) is about 2 years ahead of the reading levels used in most public schools. That means that if a child is using Year 1 of Ambleside, the books are really on a 3rd grade level. The way you get around this is by reading aloud. In Ambleside, the teacher is expected to read the material aloud to students until about the 4th Year. Now don’t panic. I hear those of you who have multiple children groan. While I only have 3, it is possible to schedule the readings so that you can read aloud to all of them. There is lots of info on the website and in other, Ambleside Yahoo groups about just that subject. Personally, I rarely read aloud more than 2 hours per day, including bedtime stories.
My kids all began to read at age 4 (I’m just lucky). My eldest started late in Ambleside and so was already able to read some of the books on his own. Now, at 10, he reads all but the hardest books on his own (Level 3). I still read Shakespeare and selected others to him. We have also tweaked the reading list to fit our family. We left out books that weren’t a good fit. We skipped a couple so that we’d have time to focus more on the ones I felt he needed most, like history. My 7 year old is currently in Year 1. He started Ambleside in Year 1 at the recommended age of 6. He reads the poetry and Aesop’s Fables, some history, and some natural science on his own. Some books we read in tag fashion, one of us reading a paragraph, then the other reading the next. Still others are better if Mama reads them. Remember that kids are widely different in how they best receive information. Some are visual learners, some are kinesthetic, some are auditory, etc.
I believe reading to learn starts when kids first sit on Mama’s lap and listed to a story. Is my 4 year old not learning about doodle bugs from the book we read just because he can’t read it himself? I’ve heard that many boys do not naturally pick up non-fiction books. Does this mean that they are not reading for pleasure? I think there can be a distinction between assigned reading and non-assigned reading, but that does not mean that a child doesn’t take pleasure from reading "school" books or that he does not learn from reading for pleasure.
I can’t believe that I’ve been missing in action for more than a month! Life does get in the way. This will be a short post, as we haven’t started school for the day. Hopefully, I’ll whack my schedule into gear once more and make time for writing.
For now, here’s what’s been going on…
We weren’t left without a television for long. Less than a week later, my Dearest came in the front door with a brand new flat screen, high definition TV with a built in DVD player. I have to admit, it does look good. In keeping with our ultra frugal needs, Dearest bought it on Craigslist for 1/4 what it had cost new. However, upon plugging it in, we discovered that it had never even been plugged in. Our guess is that the person who we bought it from probably opened the box, decided it was too small (it’s one of the smaller ones), and then sold it. Gold for us!
Our TV died today at exactly 4:30 PM today. Yes, just minutes into the 2 hour Super Bowl pre-game show. My husband had informed us all that he might want to watch, so we could adjust our activities accordingly.
It was a slow death, starting several months ago. As we were watching one day, the screen suddenly went blank. No picture, no sound, no power. We finally figured out that it was probably short-circuiting and overheating, then turning itself off. A good thing, as that may have prevented its going up into flames. We soon discovered that with a sound smack on one side, the picture and sound would return. After smacking the TV, the menu of settings would appear on the screen. A push of the correct button cleared this from the screen. Even R, who was only 3 1/2 at the time, mastered the smack and button push technique. This continued for months, occurring more and more frequently until it happened several times an hour, interrupting countless movies and shows. The family all took it in stride. T, especially took the initiative of jumping up to quickly fix the TV before we lost the plot of whatever we were watching. Tonight, It refused to be revived.
I’m not a real football fan. I didn’t even know which teams were playing. Personally, I was looking forward to the commercials. Nevertheless, there was some mourning. My sweetie offered to run out quickly to a pawn shop and pick one up. I convinced him that, as much as I’ll miss it (I’ll have to teach Latin myself) we can wait until the next TV moves in, whenever that will be.
So instead of vegging out, here’s what we did:
I just heard a sound coming from the purple bathroom. (Yes, we actually have a purple bathroom.) It was the sound of the toilet flushing. What’s so notable about that, you say? Well, my just turned 4 year old has a hard time remembering to do this. All day long, he screams "I have to go potty". I reply that the bathroom is down the hall. Minutes later, he returns and I say "P
