Weekly Report~ October 31, 2008

Somehow we manage to get things accomplished each week, although I feel like we are spending way too much time just trying to get through the core subjects with little time or energy left over for the "fun" stuff (science, history, music, art, etc.). Most of this is due to D's inability to stay focused for very long, his need to move around ALL the time, and my need to continually redirect him to the task at hand. Once he focuses, he actually does the work rather quickly and easily. Whenever I find myself becoming frustrated with him I remind myself that these behaviors are a big reason why we're homeschooling him in the first place, and that I need to be extra patient with him at moments like this. Ohhh, so much easier said than done!!

Wordless Wednesday

A Few Changes

We are on Week 11 of our school year and it's time to fix a few things that just aren't working. I originally planned our days rather loosely, fitting in all of our core subjects early on and leaving the afternoons open for history, science, art, and play. I still intend to do this, but instead of switching the subjects around every day (i.e. math first on Monday, phonics first on Tuesday) I am going to try to stick with a repetitive schedule for the cores. Math first, then phonics, writing, and reading. We will continue to do history (social studies) twice a week and science twice a week. A huge difference is my decision to only do religion twice a week during the school week, with D attending Sunday School on a weekly basis. More on this to come.

This morning D attended his first art class at a gallery nearby. It is a one-hour class for homeschooled children ages 5-10, and with D's love for everything artsy and crafty, I know this class will be able to give him so much more than I can offer. After speaking with his teacher, I am going to try him in the younger class that meets later in the day. Today's class had four kids a bit older than D, probably between 7 and 9, and they all sat quietly at the table, intent on aborbing themselves in their artwork. Apparently D has a lot more "energy" (no, really?? Tell me more....) and he may feel more at home with kids closer to his own age. Either way, I'm thrilled that he is (slowly) becoming socially appropriate enough where I can now leave him (somewhat) comfortably to participate in a group setting like this. He's going to love it; he already does.

Weekly Report~ October 24th, 2008

The week started off on a sour note with D refusing any sort of instruction or direction from me, arguing with B to the point of tears, and wiggling and squirming so much he was unable to concentrate (or even hold a pencil for that matter). It made me evaluate how I've been presenting D's lessons to him and I took some time to rethink my approach as well as my expectations. One thing that seems to be helping is making sure he only does one or two pages of math and phonics per day, and one lesson from OPG (learning to read). I have to keep in mind that even though some of the lessons may seem easy to him, or that he grasps a concept more quickly than expected, he does tire easily and has a low tolerance for repetition (read: VERY low tolerance for anything repetitive). The rest of the week improved, to the point that D completed all his lessons yesterday with almost NO complaints whatsoever.

Today is a light workload day, with grandma coming to visit and a trip to the playground planned. Hubby and I are going on a DATE tonight.... ahhhh, how long has it been??? He got tickets to a UNH Wildcats hockey game from a friend at work, and I'm getting excited to go. It's been decades since I've been to a hockey game, and I love the sport. Go Wildcats!

Leaves, Leaves and More Leaves

We don't have to travel far to find fall. We just have to put our shoes on and step outside of our house. The leaves are continuing to fall every day, and until DH

does the yardwork next weekend we'll have a driveway filled with crunchy, crisp leaves. D is so excited for Halloween, and has been for the past 2-3 weeks. He spends his time cutting, pasting, and creating spooky decorations to hang all around the house. And talking about trick-or-treating. And wearing his costume. And making me Halloween cards that say "Boo!". If it wasn't for his contagious excitement, I'd be the same old scrooge I usually am and not think anything of the upcoming holiday, with the exception of making sure we have enough candy to hand out on the big night. Thank you D, for bringing a little BOO back into my life.

Weekly Report~ October 17, 2008

The beautiful fall weather kept us outside and away from our books more than it should have this week. The way I see it, we'll have plenty of days stuck inside this coming winter to make up any work we miss out on this month. The month of October in New England is a gift to behold, not one to miss out on. We enjoyed a week of pumpkin picking, hayrides, corn mazes, picnics at the park and getting together with friends, both old and new. While D's favorite activity seemed to be playing with other kids everywhere we went, B was content to befriend some farm animals at Emery farm and to hang out painting his pumpkin at a homeschool group's park day/birthday celebration.


We did manage to get some lessons accomplished in between all the fall fun. For science, we finished our unit on the human body by outlining D's body on butcher paper, and he proceeded to fill in and color his entire anatomy, including his brain, lungs, espophagus, veins, bones and muscles. We're traveling through India this week and next for social studies. After mapping out India on the globe, we read a handful of stories and folktales including The Magic Cooking Pot. Both boys enjoyed this story so much that I decided to pull out the clay and have them create a magic cooking pot of their own. Here is D's so far~ he plans to paint it to make it look "more like a real pot". Although B also played with the clay, he ended up with a wet, messy heap as opposed to anything paintable. It's fun to watch his creativity developin as he takes my instructions and interprets them however he feels fit.

Guess Who's Turning ONE???

Happy Birthday to my sweetie niece who turns ONE today! ~We love you~

A Fall Tradition

Today was apple picking day, a family tradition since D was born. Although we go home with bags overflowing with apples, the day is really about being outside amidst the foliage-filled trees, letting the kids run around burning off their boy-energy in a safe, fun environment. I was happy to see that there was one row of raspberry bushes still producing deep red, juicy berries. My favorite berry, if not my favorite fruit. Just look at how delicious that looks!! D found it (pictured above) and decided he HAD to eat it, right then and there. It was too perfect to save for later. I think I need to adopt that attitude about many things in life. I find there's always so much being "saved for later". Why wait for the future when you can savor the moment at hand?? Go ahead, eat the raspberry :).

A Nature Hike Around Tidal Lands

Last Thursday we took advantage of a gorgeously warm fall-ish day to get out and enjoy the weather before it took a turn for the worse. The weatherman predicted rain was headed our way, so we decided to get outside while we had the chance. I'm so glad we did.... it's been raining since Thursday night and today is Wednesday! We hiked the Cove and Border trails of the Bellamy River Audubon Wildlife Santuary, which took us almost two hours to complete. Keep in mind that we stopped a lot along the way to take pictures, observe tree bark and caterpillars, and to take an emergency bathroom break (one of the benefits of being a boy out in nature). Plus, B's little legs had to keep up with D's more strident pace. The trail was tricky because of all the large, shallow roots of the white pines. We all managed to make it back without any twisted ankles, but B tripped over a "mean root" (as he called it) and scratched up his hands a bit. He got over it quickly enough. Probably because we came to a footbridge, which was the HIGHLIGHT of the hike for both kiddos. There were a few along the way, and D was always on the lookout for more. At the end of the hike, the boys signed the register at the trailhead, which is kept in a mailbox for safe-keeping.