Thursday, July 26, 2007

What we have been up to

The last two days have gone by in a blur. Tuesday was kind of a free-for-all day as I tried to catch up with some laundry and Mary caught up with all her friends. Our front door seemed like a revolving door at times.

Yesterday it was time to 'buckle' down. Well, kind of anyway. I've decided for the next week, since we head out to the mountains next Thursday, we will be doing Summer Lite Lite. I want the girls to vaguely maintain the schedule so we don't dissolve back into the chaos of earlier this summer. I'm focusing on keeping Mary moving through math, reading, latin and our astronomy unit.

She got up and did her math while I fed Robbie his breakfast. After that I had told the girls we needed to run errands. So, she packed up her reading book and we headed out. The children were so great at the errands. And, I have to mention that because so often I feel as though I am herding cats through stores. We went to the office store so I could 'trade' in empty ink cartridges for the blank CDs I needed. Then as a treat we stopped at the Pet Store for the kids to watch the animals. I also wanted Mary to see what a pet rat looked like, as I am trying to convince her that that is what she wants for her small pet we have told we would get for her this Fall.

I thought the weather was great for us to go check out the Educational Forest at Jordan Lake which is only 15 minute drive. Though we were not dressed for a hike, we did go down to the teaching pond and wander around for 45 minutes. They had pole nets out so the kids could see what they could scoop out. And we examined a beaver den. Talked about the catttails that were growing around the edge, and tried to decide what was making all the bubbles on top of the water. Mary, I believe, was the winner when she decided that something was making gas.
On the way out we stopped and looked at the helicopter and bulldozer they had out for viewing along with information about how they fight forest fires.

They want to go back tomorrow, better dressed and more prepared for a longer hike.

On the way home Mary read to me from her reading book. She is doing so well, and in a few short weeks has really seemed to pick up some confidence.

After a quick stop at the grocery store we came home for lunch. Mary wanted me to show her how to add pictures and draw in a Word document so she could make a card for a friend. Then we looked up the really cool lizard we had seen on our walk.

After all this - bliss. Mary and Katie went to play with friends while Emily and Robbie took naps. I begin printing off stories for our CM component. I was also able to burn a CD for the first few readings in "An Island Story" At this point I am almost done collecting our materials for the first six - eight weeks of school this fall.

In the evening my SIL brought over our nephews, who are visiting her this week, to babysit the children. DH and I went out for a little while. The girls were in heaven as they love their cousins, and since they (the boys) spend every spare moment playing baseball, football and basketball we almost never see them. My 12-yr-old nephew is now taller than I am and is wearing a size 11 mens shoe.

Today we got off to a little rougher start. I didn't sleep well last night si I have felt like I was running behind since we got up. Mary did her math, no problem, while eating breakfast. But, she did not want to move on to a new story in her reading book, though it was time. I spent a few minutes getting Katie settled writing her numbers and doing a 'color-by-number' sheet, and giving Emily some pictures of what we saw yesterday for her to color. And, by that time Mary had adjusted and was ready to read. Knocked out her reading and science work with no problem at that point. Katie was able to read me two stories from her "Dick and Jane' Pre-primer.

A little after 11 and all the work is done. Mary and Katie have already headed out to play at someone else's house for the day. I am half-heartedly doing some housework while Robbie naps and Emily is watching a Dora marathon. So, I thought I would come on here and catch up.

PS - only a month until public school starts and the neighborhood kids are gone during the day!!!!

Peace,

Amy

2 comments:

Melora said...

That educational forest sounds So cool! I wish we had one near us.

My brother had a rat when we were kids, and it really was a good pet. Much more satisfactory than all the hamsters, gerbils, and parakeets that I had. (Not as good as a horse or a dog, but also a whole lot less trouble!) I hope she finds a darling little rat and is happy with her new pet!

We have been doing Super-light school during the last two weeks of swim lessons. By the time we get home from the pool & have had lunch & cleaned up, it is practically impossible to get the kids to sit down and focus. The only thing I can say for us is that we have kept the Idea of school going, so I don't think it will be quite as hard to get back on some sort of schedule next week.

I love the idea of saving your readings onto a cd! I print things out and then lose them before we get to them (though I Hope this will change once I have a school room & become more organized). Does Mary read them on the computer, or do you print them out as needed? (T. might actually enjoy reading on the computer -- I may give that a go!)

Anonymous said...

Our summer teachings have been really lite too.

Emme reads a book every day, does a few phonics lessons, a page of math, and then either does history, science, or draws a picture of something related to her studies.

Sherry

A family of six living and learning. You might catch us outside in the mud or working on crafts. We always seem to be on the go, come on and join us.