Our semester so far

This might be a good moment to talk about our semester so far.

What we've done this fall, or should I say, what I remember about what we did this fall:

Typically we get schoolwork done 5 days a week. Mondays are dicey. We are busy at RES with writing class, junior great books, geography, and music appreciation and art history adventure for Frances. When classes are over, it is customary now for us to split up children with the Sharpes. It has worked out well, but it doesn't make for accomplished schoolwork. Many Mondays we have gotten the basics covered while Frances is in ballet and flamenco class. There is enough time and there are enough brain cells left to do a bit of math, reading comprehension, finding some keywords for outlining, grammar, and cursive writing.

Here's a breakdown by subject of what we are currently using:

Math: We had been using Saxon Math for all 3. Then Frances decided that she needed a break from it. Walter and Ollie got stressed by the format and length of assignments, so we have recently moved back to Singapore 3B for Ollie (lots of conversion of meters to kilometers and centimeters and graphing) and Key to Algebra: Integers for Walter. Consistency in doing a bit each day has been the key to our successs this year. Neither is completely overwhelmed, and yet they are moving forward and are well on track for both testing and just being ready for new material. We had great success with Times Tales this summer in helping learn the upper multiplication facts. Mrs. Week and the 1st grade class will probably be our friends forever.

Reading: They are reading to their own interests, still primarily graphic novels and short stories. As far as our schoolwork goes, I have been having them work through a number of reading comprehension materials because I had noted some weaknesses in being able to think like a test-maker. Walter also had some attention issues with answering questions about what he has read, especially details or inferences. I am taking advantage of our built-in two person group to have them cooperate in working through "Reading Connections," which breaks down comprehension into different skill sets and provides practice with each one. I have been using the CARS test booklets to help myself better pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses in comprehension. The kids aren't crazy about it, but it's a nice diagnostic tool for me. We also are all satisfied with the McCall-Crabbe 3 minute timed readings and questions. I finally broke down and let them write directly in the books, which is making things easier for everyone. They're cheap enough that we can get some more copies when we need to. Each book has 77 very short comprehension passages on all sorts of topics. And finally, I have had them doing some assignments from Evan-Moor's Non-Fiction REading Practice, 4th grade.

Writing: We have done two writing class sessions this fall. One was with Hilary and Kristi and all of the kids. This was a bit challenging to me because assignments were more open-ended than the boys are capable of handling on their own. The second was at RES, and again, some assignments were longer or more open-ended and not part of our own home prep scheme, but overall, they had a really good time, and I saw some very creative responses and thoughtful sentence structure, as long as I was transcribing and they didn't have to physically write or type on their own. The difference between the products of dictation and of writing are staggering. It is a discrepancy that I will need to keep my finger on. I have been incorporating some elements of IEW into our own home writing work. I have some misgivings aobut this as a complete program, and I disagree with some of what Andrew Pudewa agrees, but as far as exercises and practice, there are some sound suggestions. I just hate to put a lot of limitations and rules on writing when they are just beginning to see the possibilities of how they can communicate, and I think that Pudewa doesn't put enough emphasis on the real purpose of writing, which is to communicate and share information or ideas with other people. To me, that's the whole purpose of learning to write and enjoying writing. Things are an enjoyable challenge when you have a purpose and feeling about what you are doing. I would like to see continued progress and greater comfort with writing as the year goes on, but we simply must confront the fine motor issues that are holding them back.

Spelling: We're doing poorly with this. I was using the 2nd grade Evan-Moor book, but it really doesn't work very well for us. The boys can do the exercises, but still mispell the words if tested. Neither is a natural speller, alas, though Walter has made enormous strides in the past few months in really hearing the sounds in words and being able to determine a more normal spelling. Oliver is a much greater challenge in this area!

Geography: We love the Evan-Moor geography daily practice book. The challenges are fun, manageable in length, but thorough. Geography class as RES has also been a big hit, especially for Ollie. His passion is helping other people and working in a group to share what he knows and help guide other people. One thing you can say about Ollie is that he lives to serve. He just wants to be useful. We supplement with National Geographic GeoBee questions. Oliver particularly likes to choose books from the library about various countries, especially those in Eastern Europe or the Middle East.

History: We are making our way through Story of the World Volume 2, the Middle Ages with our co-op and at RES earlier this fall. Since my stereo in my car has been broken, we have not been able to listen as well as I would have liked, but the greater emphasis on written tests and actually being consistent with doing the mapwork and activities has, I think, cemented some of the material in this book that is at time more dry and contains more to remember than the previous book in the series. We are also working through Volume 2 of Joy Hakim's History of Us. I would kind of like to see us moving a little more quickly than we are, especially since we're not yet at the American Revoluation, but I'm pleased with how thorough this book as been in giving them a sense of the variety of lifestyles in the colonies and what led up to the separation from England. Through the summer and early fall we also did a lot of reading, field trips, and activiities about the American Revolution, so much so that Ollie now claims there is nothing else for him to learn about this, thank you very much.

Science: I have a textbook that we have been using to some extent this year, but primarily as a jumping off point. We did a unit on space and a unit on water and are in the midst of a unit on volcanoes. These texts feel so random, but I'm not viewing this as our only science. Science remains one of our most interest-driven subjects, and we've explored topics from the water cycle to earthquakes and the U.S. Geologica Survey information on seismography to animal classification.

Handwriting: Both of them are doing fairly well with cursive, especially Walter. Even Ollie, though, is finding that he prefers to make some letters more fluidly ("g" is his favorite). We are using Handwriting Without Tears, and I'm generally pleased.

Grammar: I'm overdosing them on this, I think. We continue to use Growing with Grammar, which I have mixed feelings about. It does introduce many topics that were not familiar to them, and I appreciate this, but then other parts will seem like purely busy work. Slow and steady, though, slow and steady. Some days are very helpful days, some less so, but it all evens out, and progress keeps us on track. I am also having them do a page each day from Easy Grammar Systems. There isn't a lot of concentrated practice, but there is plenty of exposure to a variety of topics each day, and it is not frightening to anyone because there are only four or five matters to take care of each day.

We have had fewer field trips than in earlier years, but there are moments when I wonder whether we haven't gone on practically every field trip known to man. Poor Rutledge and Frances, who are suffering from a parental Been There, Done That syndrome.

Walter is learning by leaps and bounds in trumpet. He is amazing at reading music--sight reading comes so very naturally to him. I could not be more pleased with his progress over the past three months. His first performance with the band will be this coming month at a concert before Christmas. Frances is sitll learning piano from me. Oliver should be learning guitar, but Kerry keeps forgetting to set aside time to teach him. Ollie also needs more prodding to get him to build up calluses on his fingers so that practicing won't hurt so much.

Frances remains largely unschooled, which just feels right for her personality and learning needs right now. She initiates so much on her own. today it was writing a short paragraph about cats that she copied from my writing. Yesterday it was drawing a picture for and writing text for a holiday card for her babysitter. She is an incredibly proflific artist these days, using all sorts of media. For a week it was imitations of Miro. Now it is portraits of her whole family, castles and princesses, and landscapes.

Rutledge, bless his heart, does his very best to distract the rest of us from whatever else we might be doing. It's the job of a toddler, I suppose.

As usual, we've been busy. Thus no writing. Some of what we're doing:

* A new thursday co-op with two other families, where I'm teaching writing and the kids are doing Five in a Row, a special "theme week," Story of the World, and P.E.

* Lots and lots of birthday parties. An unprecedented number of birthday parties (3 this week!).

* A "Fall Festival" with our homeschool group tomorrow afternoon.

* A trip to Norfolk to see "Pirates of Penzance" at the opera house.

* A trip to Chesapeake for a LLL enrichment workshop.

* An etiquette class and dinner this afternoon.

* Testing for Frances at gymnastics.

* Me feeling sick much more often than I would like. It's making me a bit crazy, actually.

* Kerry starting a new job--or more accurately, his old job again.

Ewww. I was feeling so sick so very unexpectedly tonight. Driving home from gymnastics with Frances, I was suddenly overwhelmed with nausea and tingliness in my hands and feet. I was sure I was going to toss my dinner in the car, but being the freak that I am, I was thinking along the lines of just throwing up as I drove, with my blinkers on. Normal people would have pulled over and gotten out of their car, but not me. I waited until my stomach ws flipping over and bad tastes were rising up into my throat. But I breathed like a Lamaze mother in transition, and I was able to hold it back and get home and take some medicaiton. I'm still feeling funky--having those moments where I didn't breathe or swallow right. I hope this is not a new normal.

Frances got her strength and flexibility testing report today at gymnastics, and it was rather disappointing. I guess it shouldn't be--she scored 72.5, which is short of the 79 benchmark for Level 1, but I have to remind myself that this is the goal for the end of the season, not right now. Yes, some did much better, and I think Frances can do better, but she was not alone in having disappointed and disbelieving parents. Would it help if we didn't leave the girls there and go run errands or go home? Can we put the fear of God in them to make them behave and listen?

This must be nanoblomo month, so here's my first entry. i'll try to post pictures tomorrow of our great co-op today.

Yeah, here again

Bouncing back and forth like some kind of rubbery little ball. Homeschooljournal.net. Blogger. Xanga. Thinking about .mac. You know the drill.

Today was our first new co-op. I felt so out of the loop. And I am the loop. That's what's scary. I felt very unprepared. I was supposed to bring a story starter from a book I returned to the library, and suddenly the book isn't on the shelf this morning--it's in the "hold" section, but it's not really there like the online catalog said it was. I planned a little too much with our "theme day" class and we didn't get to it all. The frosting for the cake we were going to make didn't make it out of our cart last night when we were shopping, so we had to put it together at the co-op, which was something we didn't need to take the time to do. And then I had to rush off with Ollie, then rush back to get Frances, then rush over to gymnastics again, only to get there 10 minutes late, where Frances had to warm up on her own with what I call "punishment pushups."

Still, I'm feeling very optimistic about what we have coming up with this. It feels so comfortable to be back with Adena and Hilary and to have a small group of kids who really know each other well and want to be together.

Well, this is a crazy long time without an entry. I did start another blog over at Xanga.com, but I haven't done anything there, either. I'm in blogging limbo. I haven't found my blog niche yet, and I haven't exactly applied myself to the problem. I have also been gone for quite a long time. Here's a brief rundown:

Labor Day 3 day weekend: Camp Bethel in Fincastle, Virginia, which is about midway between Roanoke and Lexington. It was such a peaceful, incredible time apart that we seriously considered trying to land jobs there are a camp cook and office worker. In the end, this wasn't going to work out anyway between the fact that a nepotism clause will not allow us both to hold jobs there at the same time and the fact that the cook position was just filled and the office manager position is not opening until 2008. But what a wake-up call!

The following weekend: Whirlwind trip to Philadelphia to see the king Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute and visit the Mutter Museum full of medical curiosities and see the Liberty Bell. Staying in the historic art deco Loew's Hotel was the biggest draw for Ollie. Our room was on the 17th floor and afforded unbelievable views of the city and surrounding rivers.

Three days later, we packed up yet again to head to Isle of Palms, South Carolina for a family reunion. It was an interesting prospect because other than my Dad, I wasn't sure who in my family might be there, seeing as I haven't seen anyone in my family for many, many years. There were some great surprises--two cousins and my ex-aunt, who I hadn't seen since I was probably four. Their children gave my children the gift of being second cousins. The weather was Camelot-esque--it didnt' rain until after sundown, the days were warm, the water was tub-like. We visited Charleston twice during our stay, touring the aquarium and seeing Fort Sumter and walking around the Market and the Battery.

In the midst of all of this, our regular school year has proceeded on full force. I'm a bit overwhelmed. Some things have to go, and I'm not sure what they are. I'm working on that. But overall, we have a very full life and "school" is going on more consistently than usual.

Oh Geez--there's a blog called Nan's World that isn't mine. I don't even know the name of my own blog. They say that you lose brain cells with each pregnancy, but really.... It's amazing I remember my own name most day. Oh, yeah--it's "Mommy!"

Today I paid $440 for a repair on a car that, predictably, by the time I reached the Mazda dealership, was no longer acting broken. And because I have followed all that advice in books about how to become a millionaire without leaving my armchair, I up and lost my credit card a few months ago and never bothered to report or replace it. This meant that we will be eating a lot more 10 for $10 Hamburger Helper for the rest of the month because our checking account was feeling rather sorry.

I was naughty today--yes, this is motherly martyrdom talking here--and did not intervene when the toddler took a 2 hour nap from 5:15 to 7:15. After nine years of motherhood, I know not to mess with a good thing. I also know the value of an hour of time with a friend without severe interruption. And I know, how exactly did it become my fault that he chose not to nap earlier in the day when it would have been more chronologically convenient? At any rate, this story has a happy ending, since he was asleep by ten o'clock, nothing far from usual.

My life is currently being sucked away by an unhealthy voyeuristic obsession with an email list I've recently joined for parents homeschooling supposedly right-brained children. Between the reading and then the dialogue with myself in my head that goes on for an hour afterwards while I slowly make myself and anyone else who will listen crazy, I'm finding little time for finishing the books that don't seem to be engaging my interest very well. Or for eating. Or for making sure my children eat.

I had the unpleasant experience of taking a child to the pediatrician this week for a "well" checkup and discovering that I had neglected to force him to eat. And it was 3 p.m. There's this part of me that wants to quietly say, "But maybe he wasn't hungry?" So now I'm way into shoving food at him numerous times a day and recording that fact. Is he eating this food? Well, he's making a little show of eating the sandwich that has only two bites out of it. Or the scrambled eggs that I call in the dogs to clear from the floor. But the truth is clear: I AM A BAD PARENT BECAUSE MY CHILD ISN'T HUNGRY!

More from the bad parent files: I did a great deal of steam cleaning of carpets today because of two unfortunate incidents involving poop on the stairs. Meanwhile, my half-naked pooper was walking around in traffic outside, supervised by none but a couple of pre-tweens. Yesterday, while friend was over, a nakey butt that was...unclean...went scooting down a few steps and left its mark. Then today, the olders felt that it was prudent to encourage Rutledge to sit on his potty in the hallway. So they undressed him, took off his diaper, and the poop hanging from his bottom left little presents all down the hallway, which he and they stepped in. It was memorable. Special, even. Believe it or not, we don't have this kind of stuff happening every day, so two for two is rather spectacular. I'm wondering what it means that I'm doing that I shouldn't be, or what I shouldn't be doing but I am, or....well, nevermind.

I feel like were barrelling toward the zone of the busy weekends. Saturday is my final tennis match for the regular season with our combo league, but not perhaps the end of our team if we progress to the championships in October. We'll probably squeeze in one more trip to Busch Gardens or to Yorktown after that (maybe both?). Next weekend is our camping trip at Camp Bethel in Fincastle. The next weekend after that we go to Philadelphia to see the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute, and the weekend after that one is the family reunion in Isle of Palms, SC. Amazingly, we seem to have a weekend off in there, and the month rounds out with another weekend camping trip with our homeschool group. What I'm reading here: if you want to do anything, you have the next three days. Otherwise, ain't gonna happen.

Frightening moment of the day: overheard the amount this family with seven children may be paying to the gymnastics studio every month this fall.