Learning a Foreign Language

 

One of the subjects that always gets pushed to the side in our school is learning a foreign language.  Every year I say this will be the year we get serious with it and every year I put it off.

We joined a new library that offers a free online foreign language course… so I decided this would be the year we got serious.  Then we started school and I got tired.

Yesterday began our seventh week of school so in an effort to finally get serious I logged on to the library website and pulled up the list of languages available.

There are probably 20 different languages to pick from and my kids picked….

Are you ready????

PIRATE

Yes, Pirate! Out of that whole list Pirate is what they zoomed in on.

So when you see my boys ask them how to say, “Oh my stars, the ship is sinking!” in Pirate.

Good to see we’re finally getting serious with our foreign language study!

Monday

 

Whew… it’s been one of those days when I think I must be crazy for doing this and, by golly, these boys better appreciate all I’ve done when they grow up!!!  A week off school is nice, until the first day back!

We got a late start this morning… usual Monday morning stuff, then Brian was letting Travis use the cutting torch to cut up his scrap metal to sell… can’t interrupt that for a silly thing like school! ;-p

I had the bright idea that Cade and I would go ahead and start and then we would do our bible and prayer when the other two joined us.  BAD IDEA.  I don’t know why I think that will ever work, it’s always a bad idea. 

Things just went downhill.

Bad attitudes, defiance, picking, arguing, cutting up, stalling, you name it. 

But, by the grace of God, I didn’t lose it!  Jacob asked me once “Mama, why are you just sitting and not talking?”  “Because, baby, I’m praying so that I won’t say something I shouldn’t!”

Lot’s of redirection, lot’s of heart to heart talks, a little sentence writing, a little spanking… and a little voice raising.  Honestly though, I think Jesus probably raised his voice when He threw the money changers out of the temple… sometimes people need a little volume to get it through their skulls!

We finally finished school at 5:00, then there’s animals to feed (real ones, not the kids), supper to fix (kids this time!), kitchen to clean, and baths to take.

The point of all this is you can turn that bad day around… after baths we read a chapter from Anne of Green Gables and then watched the Cowboys. 

Everyone calmed down.

I spent some extra cuddle time with the one who gave me the most grief today… he snuggled up for the longest time, I could feel him soaking up the extra attention.  By bedtime he was a changed boy, much more mellow and fun to be around.

“Thank you Lord for getting us through this day… and, please Lord, let tomorrow go better!”  Amen.

Perspective

 

The boys and I took a trip this week to Austin to see my aunt and sightsee.  Depending on how I choose to look at life there are two ways I could describe this trip.

On the one hand…

The boys picked and argued and whined constantly while we were driving in Austin and San Antonio.  We were always running just a little behind so weren’t able to do some of the things they were most looking forward to.  They have no concept of sticking close in the city and watching out for other people.  My car broke down on the freeway in rush hour traffic in San Antonio.

But on the other hand I remember…. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

So on the other hand…

On the drive to and from Austin, where they had room to spread out and not be right on top of each other, the boys were great.  In downtown Austin they were super excited to use their own money to feed expired parking meters for strangers… and probably some that weren’t expired!  Even though we couldn’t do everything they had planned they took in fairly well in stride and started making plans for our next trip.  The car broke down right at an off ramp, we were able to crawl off the freeway and right into a parking lot before it totally died.  The parking lot was to an electronics store so there were comfy chairs and big tvs to entertain the boys while we got the car taken care of. My aunt was with us when it happened so I wasn’t stranded alone with the kids. They were so good in the store that one of the employees complimented me on their behavior.  They got to ride in their very first taxi.  And the car was fixed in a day and is driving great.

It’s all in your perspective…  I could look back and focus on all the negative and think it was a horrible trip.  But instead all I can see is how God blessed us and the fun we had. 

Simplicity

I wrote this whole long post on the simplicity of Jesus... and then decided that was kind of silly!!

So instead... just listen...




Ok... I have to say this...

I tell Travis all the time during math “There is an easier way!”. He will use the longest, most drawn-out way to find the answer. If I try to interrupt he has a fit, so I sit patiently and watch him do it his way and then I’m able to show him a simpler way.

I wonder how often God has to sit patiently watching until we wear ourselves out so that we will hear Him when He says “Come unto me.”

A Day In The Life

I’ve written a lot about our homeschooling lately… that’s what’s consuming most of my time lately! But if your sick of hearing about it better stop reading now…

My friend Jennifer issued a “Day in the Life” challenge and I took the bait… so here goes!! (ETA: I should really read BEFORE I write! Heart of the Matter is hosting the blog hop... but I read it on Jen's blog so there you go!!)

I aim for getting out of bed between 7 and 7:30… I’m a night owl forced into an early bird routine and it doesn’t always work out but that’s my goal… get dressed, start breakfast for the kids, get them up if they’re not already. Some time in there I do my morning bible reading… I’m doing a chronological reading plan this year so I’m reading in Jeremiah right now.

After breakfast I usually start a load of laundry, maybe tidy up a bit and then it’s time for school. You’d think all that would go really fast but we never get started before 9…. time flies when there’s a million things to do!

We always start with prayer and Bible… we’re reading through Mark together, I read about half a chapter and then we talk about it. Then we do scripture memory… right now we’re just reviewing passage they’ve learned the last couple of years.

That finished we go to the school room… Mind Benders puzzles and handwriting they usually do together. I help Jacob with phonics while the other two work independently…. of course independently is all relative, we’re usually interrupted about every 30 seconds.

Things begin to go crazy after that… I try to get Jacob’s phonics and math finished and then he’s free until after lunch.

Cade likes to do spelling, science, reading and either math or english before lunch. Spelling he does alone and most of the time math, he reads silently but then we do the comprehension questions aloud, science he reads silently and does the questions himself but we also have oral reviews and experiments at least every other day, english we read and go over together and then he has some work to do on his own.

Travis does spelling, math, science, and english before lunch. Most of his he does alone, except for some oral review in english and discussion and experiments in science.

When they finish their morning work they can fix their own lunch and play for a while. I look over the work they did that morning, setting aside anything we need to go back over, do more laundry, and find myself something to eat. Then I SIT in PEACE AND QUIET…. sometimes I have to hide to do this but it is very important or I will not be a very nice mommy!! This is my time to check e-mails, facebook and all that good stuff.

Around 1:30 I have my sanity back enough for another go-round. We start with history… read aloud, review, narration, timelines… all that good stuff. Travis has some extra non-fiction reading, while he does that I help Cade with whatever he has left. Then Travis writes summaries of what he read. We review whatever they had trouble with that morning. Cade’s usually finished with school by now and Travis just has 30-45 minutes of reading to do. I help Jacob with his reading, check their afternoon work, and… we’re done! Hopefully by 3:00!!

More laundry, tidying up, supper to start… twice a week we have ball practice, Wed night church, library visits, grocery shopping. Boys bedtime is 8 and 8:30 if we’re home then, we hardly ever are, so if not it’s as soon as we get home. And then I crash…. read, computer, TV, whatever… until Brian gets home at 11. Catch up with him for a while, try to get in bed by 1 and start all over the next day!!

***I wish it always went that smoothly!! The phone rings, someone knocks at the door, daddy needs me to help with something, unexpected errands to run, the dog pukes in the floor, the toilet stops up, and any and everything else you can think of knocks us off schedule… but that’s life (and also why I need to SIT in PEACE AND QUIET!!!)***

An Update… and Thoughts on Patience

 

This was our school room the day before we started school….

            

And here it is after two weeks of school…

            

And this is after cleaning three times in the last two weeks… yeah, things don’t stay tidy around here for long!

Overall it’s been a good two weeks.  We had a to reassess Jacob’s phonics program.  I’ve shelved our Rod and Staff for now and we’re using Explode the Code… and loving it.  Phonics time is suddenly much less of a headache!!  And he had break through in math…. WooHoo!!  We’ve been working on +8’s, everyday I would explain how to do it and everyday he would count to find the answer.  Finally Wednesday I explained again and gave him a problem and he says “Oh, ok… 8+6… so 8 wants to be 10 so he takes 2 away, so 6 becomes 4… so 14”  YES!!! I love when everything clicks and they finally get it!!

I bought the Book of Artrageous Projects for Cade and Jacob.  It is the coolest thing!!  It teaches about different kinds of art and has everything you need to do the projects included.  So far they have mixed and painted with watercolors and woven a medieval tapestry!

Another cool thing is Start Exploring Masterpieces, a coloring book of paintings by great artists.  The boys really enjoy coloring their pictures to look like the original painting.

I’ve been thinking about patience lately… or maybe the lack of it.  One thing I think all homeschoolers hear over and over from non-homeschoolers is “I would never have the patience for that”…  well guess what…. I don’t either!!! 

When my 1st grader takes 15 minutes to get his blankets and pillows situated just right so he can do his reading and then suddenly has to use the bathroom or get a drink… I don’t have patience.

When my 3rd and 5th graders take advantage of the time I’m out of the room… trying to listen to the 1st grader read… to race around the room, throw supplies everywhere and then run and hide…. I don’t have patience.

When my 3rd grader “Can’t doooo iiiiittttt” because he doesn’t know where his pencil is, because he threw it across the room…. I don’t have patience.

When my 5th grader can’t remember how to do any of his math unless I’m sitting right beside him… and the other two take advantage of this to start dragging out toys…. I don’t have patience.

When any of them have a 45 minute melt down over 10 minutes of work…. I don’t have patience.

And when all of this happens in one day… I Really Don’t Have Patience.

But I do have a choice… I can choose to yield to my flesh and lose it with them, or I can choose to allow God to work in me and through me and show grace.  I don’t have patience, but He does.  I am not very merciful but He is.

I wish I could say I always choose the right way… unfortunately I’m not there yet!  Thankfully it’s not always that crazy.  Most days are fairly calm and easy.  And, thankfully, the rest of the time… on Those Days… I’m not alone and God gives to me from His patience when I have none.

School Days

 

I’ve spent the last week cleaning out our school room, rearranging and planning for this year.

              

I love planning school… in my plans everyone gets along, no one argues or complains about doing school, and we have the best year ever… it’s nice to have dreams, isn’t it!!

Travis wanted a place to himself this year so his desk is in my sewing/storage room.

              

The past few years I have loosely followed the Well Trained Mind plan.  By loosely I mean I own the book and use a few of the curriculum recommendations.

This year I decided to follow it a little closer with Travis.  He’s going into 5th grade and I’d warned him the work was going to get a little harder… but, yikes!, even I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now!!

Math won’t change… we’ve used Math-U-See for years and I’m still happy with it.  Jake is learning his addition and subtraction facts.  Cade’s working on his multiplication facts and then will start multiple digit multiplication and probable move on to division before the end of the year.  Travis is finishing up fractions and starting decimals and percents… next up for him… pre-algebra!  Double Yikes!!

We use Rod and Staff for phonics/spelling/english/science.  I love this program…. except for 2nd grade phonics.  2nd grade phonics is HARD when you speak with a Texas drawl!!  Thankfully, I don’t have a 2nd grader this year!

Jacob and Cade will also use Rod and Staff for reading.  Travis will be reading novels and non-fiction books that go along with our history studies for reading this year. 

I’m really excited about Travis’ science… we’re dissecting this year!!!  I’ve been waiting to dissect something since he was in kindergarten… and no, killing chickens to put in the freezer does not count as dissecting!!

For history we’re using The Story of the World.  Jacob and Cade will listen as I read from the book and then do activities and crafts that go along with each lesson. 

Travis will also read the corresponding section from our history encyclopedia and write an outline on that, read and summarize original source books from the time periods we study, and write reports on non-fiction books covering whatever we’re studying.

                                                                                                                                               All this will go in his history notebook.

For the last two years we’ve had a history timeline on the school room wall.  You can see it in the top picture on the far wall.  Starting this year, I’m also going to have Travis keep a notebook timeline so he can add more detail. 

                

We start tomorrow…. pray for us!!!!