Wow. 2013. I went back in my blog to read other first day of school posts, starting in 2007-2008! That's a long time! I love reading how quickly we got through our school day when I was actively teaching only one or two kids. We were often finished by the time the school bus went by. In other years, I have struggled with time management and "doing it all." This year, instead of only looking at myself, I tried to look at each individual kid and make specific goals. Now it takes us much longer to get through our day, but I still try to make time for fun learning with my younger set. This morning, Evie and I finished her mammal unit with
a book about cows and milk. We learned about other products that were made of milk. And then I remembered that I had a half gallon of whipping cream that I didn't use at Christmas. And lots of baby food jars. And marbles.
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| Shaking the butter jars! |
I'm sure you can figure out that we made butter! Right about the time the Kitchen Aid was going full speed, the roof-fixers knocked on the door and made the dogs crazy. The sound of the marbles on glass, the mixer going full speed, and the barking dogs caused both Daniel and Shane to completely lose their minds. Shane is sensitive to noise distraction and can't focus. Daniel just threw a massive temper tantrum. It was hard to recover from that interruption! These interruptions are why I have a very very loose schedule for the day. For example, we have four hours dedicated to just math and grammar.
The second half of the day was just takin' care of business while Daniel napped. The boys took a unit test on invertebrates. I told them that although the packet of papers said Unit 3 Test on the top, it wasn't actually a test-just a review of what they remember. That was Magic Stress Begone for them. They complained that I said this year would be easier than other years and it wasn't. I argued that it was, we just got lazy over Christmas.
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| Looking confused. |
Fiona complained that I never give her schoolwork. There she was, flipping through the
Encyclopedia of Nature, asking questions about the different insects, and she thought she wasn't doing school. Well, she makes "doing school" a little difficult since her older siblings are always teaching her things when my back is turned! I needed scripted phonics and math lessons when the boys started school. But now the kids join the school table knowing it all. In fact, they don't even know when they join the table.
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| Looking confused. |
We (Fiona included) also started reading Greek myths this afternoon. Poor IJ has practically nothing new but math to learn this year. He knows everything about the Ancient Greeks and knows more about Greek myths than I do. I told him he could choose one myth each week and write a summary after he kept interrupting the read aloud to add interesting details about the gods that had nothing to do with the story. He really wants to learn computer programming so he can create his own two dimensional video game. Unfortunately, computer programming isn't part of his SLP this year and he still needs to spend time doing his planned work. This is when I wish we didn't have to follow the school rules. We do have many library books out on the subject at the moment so he can use his free time to follow his interests. Just like the regular kids in school.
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| Looking confused |
Once school was "over" we played with our favorite dogs and baby. I've decided that Mina is now Lula's dog and
she can get up with her in the middle of the night.
Mina doesn't disagree. She likes the attention and can be found hangin' out by the fire with her new owner.
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| Awwww... holding paws! |
It was Mark's first day back to work after his vacation and he had the best first day back he's had in a long time!
I'm sure having a big fan club waiting for him when he took his coffee breaks helped.
*Now go back and look at all the Lula pictures. You can see she is back in my cute homemade flannel diapers and wool pants. And the "Looking confused" caption was just for L&S ;) Our camera flashes a few times to help get rid of red eye, so by the time I take a picture of Lula, the smile is gone and the confused look is there.
