2005-4-28 Thursday

Normally on Thursdays I go to bible study and least the older girls at home to do their chores and schoolwork. This morning I received a call informing me that there was no baby-sitter for bible study. After considering my options, I had a talk with Elizabeth and we decided that she could at least be the baby-sitter for Patrick and Abigail and if the other moms felt comfortable, she could watch the others as well. Anna was to be her assistant. They ended up watching a total of 5 children and even got paid for it. I think it was a good lesson in responsibility for them both.

Although the girls thought that they were going to get out of their work for the day, I did make tem do their chores and schoolwork after lunch.
Elizabeth continued in her workbook doing a page in each subject. She was having trouble with her subtraction and I made her use the Math-u-See manipulitives to work out her problems.
Anna finished her 100 Words book today.
Patrick played with the Math-U-See manipulitives

After a few extra chores, I allowed the girls to have some free time to play in their room while Abi and Patrick nap.

Anna will go to art lessons tonight - her second week into her collage semester.

2005-4-27

Plan for the day:
After breakfast and chores we need to run some errands (Wal_Mart, bank, PO, Oneils Glass, meet Barry at Brueggeman's to look at the windows for the house)
I will pack lunches after breakfast while the girls are finishing their chores.
Then we will do our running and eat lunch on the way home in car. We will also bring along the Holy Moses CD to practice in the car.
When we return, the little ones will nap and the girls will do their schoolwork while I work on deskwork: finances, e-mail Photos of Faith stuff to the newpaper, and decluttering.

What actually happened:
After breakfast, I packed luches and did some cleaning while the girls finished their chores and did some of their schoolwork. We left the house at 11am and met Barry at Brueggeman's to look at windows and doors for the new house. Then the children and I ran a bunch of errands: Wal-Mart, Waterworks, Oneil's Glass, Library, Post office, bank. We ate lunch in the car as planned as well as practiced the songs and line for Holy Moses. We returned home and after unloading the van, the little ones laid down for naps and the big girls finished their schoolwork. Then they got some free time before eating dinner and going to their Holy Moses dress rehearsal.

2005-4-26 Tuesday

Pretty standard morning. Everyone did chores and the girls did their usual schoolwork. For Elizabeth's math, she completed her frustrating work from the previous page and I did not make her go on.

Had lunch out with Grammy and Gramps and everyone (all 5 of us) got haircuts which was an exercise in patience and good behavior for everyone since they were busy and we had quite a wait to get us all in.

In the afternoon, Anna did some cleaning in her room while Elizabeth got some fresh air and exercise outside climbing the tree.

Planning

Right now we are in a season of workbooks. I used to always poopoo workbooks because they are boring and I never liked them when I was in school, but I am seeing that they do have a purpose and a role for our family. I am a big advocate of learning through reading great books and doing real life stuff, but we have been missing the consistent practice of the basic school skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. We do these things but not consistently and in enough quantity for the children to master them well enough. The workbooks really fill this need and make sure that these skills are practiced daily no matter what is going on in our home. The girls are required to do a certain number of pages every week day.

Other things I am thinking about for our little school:

Studying home building: This is obviously because we are about to begin building a new house right outside our back door. We can even watch much of it from our window or porch. What I am debating is whether or not to "school" this up or not. We can merely observe and discuss what is going on or I am considering having the girls and maybe even Patrick to some extent, create notebooks/scrapbooks about the process. We are planning to take photos from the same locations every day. They could document in their notebooks what has happened each day. We could get books and read about the various types of equipment used to build and systems within a home. I could even make them write reports. I am not sure how far I should take this. I don't want to make it such a burden that all the joy is sucked out of it.

4-H projects: Elizabeth is planning to do Foods, Cake Decorating, Photography, Crafts, and possibly collections (stamps) and sewing. Anna is still a mini and therefore is still very limited. Other things I am considering for them is Forestry and Wildlife because there are projects at both of their levels so these could really be used as learning tools for both of them.

The arts: Anna will be finishing up her art lessons soon and I do not want her to stop practicing her art. Elizabeth, as well, really enjoys artistic endeavors so I want to make sure I allow them the time to create and give them direction. I have a book called "How Great Thou Art" that I may use for ideas.
Photography: Both the girls, but Elizabeth especially love photography, as well. They love taking pictures and want to learn more about using PhotoShop to improve them and create scrapbook pages. Since this is an area I love also, I find that I am selfish about giving up the computer to them, but I really should allow them a certain amount of time for this.
Music: This is an area that I feel we have neglected. I have a passion and calling here, but have ignored it. I have a desire to pick up the guitar again just so we can have family sing-along. I will be committing this to prayer. If God wants it to happen, I will find the time.
Storytelling: This is another area I feel like our family has been called to, but I have neglected. Will commit this one to prayer as well.

Math: We need to enter a season of more focus on math skills. I have not placed a high priority on this and I fear I have allowed my girls (especially Elizabeth) to fall behind. This is an area that comes easily for me, but not to her. Although I have stepped up the math workbook pages, I am feeling unsure in a definite direction for us here. This is perhaps an area I should talk Barry into becoming more involved because he really feels this is one of the most important things right now.

This has just been a bunch of random thought that I wanted to get our of my head and chew on for a while.

2005-4-24 Sunday

As we usually do on Sunday, we went to church at 8:30 for 1st service which was all about Jesus being our shepherd and calling us by name and we, His sheep, know His voice.

All of us attended SS (except for Abi).

Sunday is a day spent with extended family. We ate, visited and played games.

Elizabeth and Anna had Holy Moses practice at church in the evening. They are both feeling fairly comfortable with their lines and the songs. Only one more practice before the big show!

Elizabeth stayed up late with daddy. They took some photos of the moon and then got on a discussion about math: fractions and decimals along with money and starting a savings account. According to both of them it was a great lesson time and Elizabeth learned lots.

2005-4-22 Friday

Yes, I realize that I am posting these days out of order. Ü I am trying to be more diligent about posting what goes on daily, but don't always have the time to do so on the day.

Friday was a crazy day for Mom with things that she had to get done for church. The children did their chores and schoolwork independently. Some schoolwork was even done in the car on the way and at church. Not the ideal, but necessary. Both Elizabeth and Anna continued in their workbooks. Anna completed 3 pages and Elizabeth 5.

The girls assisted me in creating a silly fashion outfit for a church presentation.

That evening, Elizabeth had Share the Fun drama practice at Broadway Christian Church and the whole family attended afterward for a potluck and special performance. Elizabeth is really learning a lot about acting and enjoying the social aspects of 4-H through this. I know Anna is really looking forward to being old enough to join the fun next year, too.

2005-4-23 Saturday

Elizabeth participated in the 4-H Share the Fun Talent competition with her group. The weeks of practices paid off and the group placed first and will go on to the area competition.

The rest of the day was a lazy movie day while Mom finished the church powerpoint.

2005-4-25 Monday

Another Monday....
Since Sunday was a no nap day and Daddy let Elizabeth stay up too late because they were taking photos of the moon and having spontaneous math lessons, I decided to let everyone sleep in.

The girls completed their regular chores and schoolwork and we discussed doing our chores with more diligence instead of just to get them done.

Anna completed workbook pages on number words and we had to have a discussion about following directions (something she has been rebelling against).

Elizabeth completed work in Reading comprehension, Grammar, Writing and then got stuck on her math work. She was working on addition of large numbers (into the millions) and I told her to use a calculator to check her work. She ended up getting quite frustrated because when caught some mistakes and the fact that she kept hitting the numbers wrong on the calculator. She informed me that she NEVER wanted to see a calculator EVER again! (gotta love those preteen emotions) I told her she could set it aside for the day.

Elizabeth, Anna and Patrick got the art bug and on their own got out the tempera paints and painted rocks on the back porch in the afternoon. They created bugs, animals, angels and more out of rocks found on the driveway and in the yard.

Then I sat down with the girls in the afternoon to finish their BSF lessons before bible study that evening. They are working in 1 Peter 1-2 discussing what it means to be holy and born again.

2005-4-21 Thursday

Today, I had bible study at church. The girls stay home and complete their chores and schoolwork in my absence. Although I never thought I would go this direction, we are in workbook mode at this point. This is something that they can do somewhat independently.

Anna completed one page practicing the words "one" & "two." I am disappointed to discover that she skimped on her work in my absence. She will have to bring her book in the car to complete the rest of her work and lose her computer priviledges. She has informed that she did some back pages that she had skipped. Since skipping is a no no I think I had be checking her work more thoroughly every day.

Elizabeth completed her pages on reading, english, reading comprehension, math and writing.

Elizabeth has 4-H drama practice this afternoon and Anna has art lessons tonight.

To Begin Again!

Well, I am feeling a need to restart this blog with more diligence. Sometimes my life just feels like one long "To Do" list and for every item crossed off, 3 more are added. I have such good intentions of catching up, but I am permanently behind. Lately I have not been recording what my children have been doing each day at all, so I want to get back at this.