-21 more hours down
765 hours to go
Sunday Alani practiced her violin, which takes like 7 whole minutes. . .but 7 minutes is 7 minutes, MAN!
Today it poured rain, I asked Alani if she wanted to start a weather journal. . .she was more interested in hiding under a blanket with her sister during the storm. . .I'm okay with that. Any time they can play happily together, is a good time for me.
During naptime we did reading today, even though Monday is a day I allow more TV watching and less thinking :)
Monday:
Math-30 minutes computer games
Alani reading to me "Dream Big Pig" -20 minutes (half of the book)
Little House in the Big Woods-I read to Alani 15 minutes
She started violin practice, but was so hungry that she was totally breaking down on her FIRST of five "show-me" bow and violin placement. That's all that's required this week. I don't know if she's discouraged because it's just awkward at this moment for the hand placement, or if she's frustrated because she wants to already know how to PLAY, but has to do this ground work first. . .she said she was JUST hungry and that's why she was upset. We'll try again before bedtime.
1.25 hours of school on our day off. . .fantastic :)
Tuesday:
ABCs & Alliteration-30 mins leapfrog show
35 mins yoga-PE/healthy living
1.75 hours Wheeler Farm-notebooking and making observations about animals (will translate to copywork and handwriting later) Science
More leapfrog-30 minutes
Discussion on respecting Authority (with GS troop)-20 mins
1 hour-Fire Dept.
45m round trip walk from fire dept
2 hours monopoly with daddy on wii-makes math and reasoning and decision making, fun
30 more minutes leap frog
Today was a big day of educational opportunities
about 7.5 hours
Last night I asked for a poll on whether I should teach Alani from BrightStarts or Singapore. . . mixed reviews and even some additional suggestions. I was slightly appalled to hear from a parent of one of her peers that math hasn't even been introduced to the kids yet and they are three weeks in to school. It's all been reading. At least if I do a different subject every day or every few days, I'm still offering more well-rounding than the public schools who are focusing almost solely on one subject at the moment.
Since Sunday I kind of put my foot down about at least watching educational cartoons for the two allowable shows in the morning. I also prefer at least just cartoons for the evening, maybe an occasional Disney teenage focused show, will be okay. Alani has taken an interest in responsibly choosing ONLY leapfrog today and is excited to help her sister learn. . .it's very sweet and wonderful, making my job a little easier.
The girls wandered all of Wheeler Farm holding hands today, pretty much the sweetest thing. Airi also wanted to hold Alani's hand throughout the fire station and on the walk all the way to Sofi's house. Preciousness. . .when they are in wide open spaces, they get along SO well. It just goes to show that being cooped up in the house IS part of the reason for their quarreling most days. Airi helped me with the dishes tonight "Mom, I need my spongeBOB toe I tan wash dishes." Washing dishes with a toddler isn't always easy or convenient, but it sure is much more pleasant :)
Wednesday
Co-op meeting 10-11:30
I worked on pruning tomatoes while girls watched leap frog 12-1
No nap!!! GRRR!!!
Renee and girls showed up about 3
Ice skating 4:30-5:30
small group 7-8
4.5
In talking with friends lately, about which math program to go with, I've learned that math curriculum in particular, assumes that kids are taking a whole summer off from school, therefore a lot of the start of a new "year" of math ends up being review. I don't currently have intention to have a huge break from school. . .heck, we're barely even STARTING school. I assume that a day here and there, or even a week here and there, will be devoted to travel, to errands, to someone being sick, or whatever comes along. I also assume, since our belief and focus is on learning in life, the learning CAN'T actually ever stop.
I'm not overly prepared or organized. I kind of feel out Alani. If Alani is begging to do school work, we do something, if Alani seems a little low or whiny or overly tired, we're just NOT going to get as much done. I really don't want to fight with my kid every day about school. Generally speaking she's pretty interested and excited each day to learn something new. She request math and handwriting. We got "Writing with Ease" this afternoon and she happily requested to do copywork for a pretty long section at TEN at night! And she did it, she was even correcting and reminding me that I'd forgotten to dot an "i" here and there!
On Thursday morning she got up and said she WANTED to finish her copywork and do her violin practice! She finished the copywork, though there was also a show on, so it took a while, but she did a fantastic job. I was doing the "test" to see if I should start her at 1st or 2nd year. As far as copywork, she's totally capable, but I'm not sure she's ready yet for the oral reading comprehension of such a large section of reading. I also think there might be some building blocks in the "year 1" section that are important. So I'm going to start there.
Each day is challenging, either there is a toddler to deal with or someone else's schedule. Errands that need running, etc. I'm not prepared to spend the whole day doing school-type stuff. I'm not even prepared to schedule it out. I did sit down the other night and jot down some ideas for the week, before we leave town, of things I'd like to see us do each day. It's not hard and fast. If something comes up, it does. . . but at least when we ARE home and available, I know what things we could do with a toddler around and what things we should strive to do during naptime. That's been helpful.
Thursday
Leap Frog and Bo On The Go
Copywork for 30 minutes (during show)
Yoga 35 minutes
We got ready and ran an errand with two stops
1:30-4 art class!!!
4-4:20 Alani read
4:20-4:45 Writing with Ease "Day 2"
Violin 45
6 hours
(19.75)
I honestly don't know how we'd get in everything I want to get in on a daily basis. . .writing practice, reading, math, spelling, vocab, history, art, craft, yoga. . .sometimes it just happens and it's easy. . .one change I've made this week is that I'd like yoga to be t/th, so I put out the mats the night before and put the DVD in the player. . .at least that way, it nags at me and I can't avoid it or forget. I know the rhythm is coming . . . I want to be sure not to compare our experience to that of other people's. . .the lovely and beautiful thing about homeschooling is that it's about OUR family and what works for us. . .I think I'm more unschooling than I realized I would be comfortable with, I just have to be sure that I let myself be okay with that!
And Friday my girls were sick. . . little learning goes on when littles are sick and the mama just HAS to get ready for a trip. That doesn't mean that there weren't some computer math games or some leapfrog on television, but in all honesty, I don't remember what we did. . . I just remember that Airi threw up all over me in the night, many times, and Alani complained of her belly most of the day, and that I was busy getting clothes washed, last minute items purchased and things packed up for 10 days of traveling ahead of us.
Friday will get an hour, because I'm feeling generous and forgetful.
Since I try to take these weeks through Saturday, on Saturday Alani did spent at least an hour working on the Singapore Math 1A workbook and I drew our traveling route in pencil on the back of a Southwest napkin, where they have a great little map of the US.
So Saturday gets
1.5 hours!
I also don't know how many times I read Little House this week, for bedtime stories, but I count that, because it's our "classic" book or "good literature" right now :) And it is BELOVED!
So that puts us at 22.25
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