Tuesday blahs?

I woke up with a weird feeling today. Not a bad one or anything, just weird... does anyone else do that? Sometimes I get the feeling I've forgotten something important, and it eats away at me until I remember what it is. Sometimes I get a funny feeling and it lasts and lasts until I go to bed, and then somehow it's magically gone. I know it's all in my head, but still.

So this is shaping up to be a busy week for us. Yesterday the girls and I went outside and put the canteloupes, watermelon, and corn in the ground. They were all 3 inches tall or taller, so it was time. Today I have to go out in the heat and put the tomatoes in the ground - I HAVE to, or they'll die. They're running out of room for their roots in the containers they're in right now. My garden is starting to take over my back yard... right now there's: rosemary, greek oregano, common sage, sweet basil, mint, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, canteloupes, watermelons, corn, and cucumbers. Now I have to make room for the lettuce, onions, lavender, thyme, chives, parsley, and carrots. Sigh. I have a feeling I'm going to be giving some seedlings away - anyone interested? ;)

Tomorrow I take Lulu in the morning to take the NNAT to see if she gets into the gifted program at a local school. If she doesn't (which I am sure is unlikely, I have the utmost faith in her), then the girls will continue to be homeschooled next year. If she does, then she and Bud will probably go to the school, which is a little ways away from us. We should know something by the end of this week, supposedly.

On Friday, all three girls have dentist appointments in the morning for their 6 month checkup. Then in the afternoon, I have to take Bud for her yearly checkup at the pediatrician - which actually works out really well, considering that she has a plantar's wart on the bottom of her foot that needs to be burnt/frozen off, and she's started to have tiny bumps all over her face. I don't know if it's the beginnings of acne, or if it's heat rash.

Tonight we're going to the library. It's time to sign the girls up for the summer reading program, like we do every year. And my husband (God bless him) volunteered to cook dinner tonight for me - BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and baked beans... his favorite meal, lol.

But for right now... we're all camped out on my bed, watching a rerun marathon of America's Next Top Model... lol!



parsley



lettuce



lavender




L-R: rosemary, sweet basil, greek oregano, common sage



L-R: common sage, mint, pumpkins, squash



L-R: pumpkins, squash, zucchini, cucumbers



L-R: cucumbers, canteloupes, watermelons, corn.



Chives.



Chinese Lantern flowers.



Carrots.

Got the ball rolling

I finally have the ball rolling on this whole school thing, though I'm not sure I like it. My husband heard from his sister (who works in our county's school system) that the school she works at has a gifted and talented program for advanced kids. Well, when my middle baby was in first grade during the 08-09 school year, her testing showed she was off the charts for a first grader - she read at a fifth grade level (actually the teacher said she probably read even higher than that, she just didn't have time to keep testing her). The class shared a "reading box" - a box of books that they were supposed to read when they had completed work and had free time. My child had her own box, since the other box of books was too easy for her. The teacher said she was worried about my daughter getting bored, since she completed all her work (correctly) way before the other kids got done. She's been homeschooled this last year, and her appetite for learning has just been voracious. I had the girls reading The Secret Garden, which is 5th grade level reading. We did tests and everything for that, and she was still passing her older sister in the work we did. she has done leaps and bounds more in math, as well, and I am still teaching them both French & Spanish. My husband thinks the G & T program would be good for her... I am undecided and want to keep them home, but at the same time I don't want to deny her such a wonderful opportunity... so I have been calling the admin building for a week. Finally got in touch with the woman in charge of the program today, and so a week from today at 9 a.m., she will take the Naglieri test to see if she gets into the program. She wants to go, but at the same time she says she doesn't want to leave me. For every reason she finds to go, she finds one to stay home. I told her not to worry about it until we find out whether or not she makes it in. She wailed, "I'm gonna fail!" I assured her you can't "pass" or "fail" this kind of test.

My oldest daughter keeps asking me to take her shopping for a training bra. She is 9, will be 10 in a few months. I don't know why she's in such a hurry to develop and grow up - I suspect that since her almost-15-year-old sister will be here in 27 days, she wants to be like her and wear a bra. She went to the bookshelf this morning and got the "Care & Keeping of You" American Girl book that I bought when she started needing deodorant. She's reading the section on developing chests... I don't want to discourage her from learning about it, but I know it's making her Daddy VERY uncomfortable! She keeps wanting to ask me stuff, but he's in the room so she says she'll ask me later.

So. On to subjects that I know how I feel about, lol. Gardening, yay! ;) I now have three green something-or-others in the lettuce pot, 6 lavender shoots, and the two thyme shoots are still the only ones in the pot. One of Lulu's Sweet William flowers began to sprout this morning, so of course she's out of her mind with excitement. She also has 13 greenish things in her pot of Chinese Lantern flowers. :) I need to go out today and get some things in the ground, too.

I've been doing laundry like crazy the last few days. I discovered that I actually find it soothing to sit and fold baskets of laundry... except for fitted sheets, which make me want to pull my hair out. I (literally) have done 15 loads of laundry in the past four days. Every time someone dirties something, I grab more stuff to be washed and take it downstairs to the machine. I am starting to think I may be addicted to doing laundry, as I can no longer stand seeing dirty clothes ANYWHERE. Or maybe I'm addicted to the smell of the clean laundry - I guess that makes more sense, lol. I just know I feel calmed when I sit and fold the clean clothes. Speaking of which, I need to go get some out of the dryer, and take down this basket of dirty stuff that just popped out of nowhere this morning... heehee....

Super Saturday... it's so not.

My girls have given names to certain days of the week (usually to do with our homeschooling):

Math-y Monday
Terrible Tuesday
Wacky Wednesday
(Thursday has no name)
French-y Friday
Super Saturday
Spectacular Sunday

So can you tell that Sunday is their favorite day of the week? LOL. It's because we spend all day Sunday at Grandma & Papaw's house (my husband's parents). Today is not such a Super Saturday for me. I am cranky, achey, irritable... can you tell what time it is for me? :P

I have done probably 10 loads of laundry between yesterday afternoon and right now, and I still have a ton to do. It piles up with 5 people dirtying clothes, I'm telling ya!

I don't really feel like doing much else today. I may go and make myself a root beer float and sit on the porch - NOT. It's way too friggin' hot to sit outside right now. I barely lasted the 5 minutes it took this morning to check on my plants! (I have 4 chives, Lexi now has THREE chinese lantern flowers, lettuce, lots of thyme sprouted, and now 6 pumpkins are in the pot. I really, REALLY need to start getting my plants transplanted from pots to the ground!

playing hookey

We played hookey today. I started to make them do work, and they begged me not to, so I let them put on their new swim suits (thanks, Grandma & Papaw!!!), and we went outside. I dumped buckets of cold water on them repeatedly! So much fun! the best moment was when I asked Grace to do something for me, ran outside and grabbed a bucketful, and hid. When she came out, I soaked her, shorts and all! (she had put shorts on over her suit to eat lunch, since we had the a/c on in the house.) We had a blast, but decided they need squirt guns to shoot each other with. A future trip to the Dollar Tree is in the works. ;)

They're not gonna love me so much tomorrow, though... lol. Lots of work to catch up on!

I feel like I got a lot done today. I called in refills on the girls' allergy meds (all 5 scripts), made an appointment for Lexi's 8 year checkup, called the school admin building (long story, I'll go into it later on another post), and STARTED to try and mow the grass. I got one strip done before the mower started smoking and STOPPED WORKING. apparently I blew it up!!! It needed oil and I didn't know... so it's ruined. :( (Sorry, Father-In-Law who let me borrow it!) :(

We also tried a new thing today that we heard about from a friend... a fluffernutter! It's a peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich. Sounds gross, but it was so good! The kids are addicted!



Tomorrow night my niece graduates from Kindergarten, so we're all pretty excited about that. I'd better charge my camera! ;)

Here's a photo that sums up our day :D

holy crap

Holy crap, it was friggin' hot today!! We always go to my in-laws' home on Sundays and spend the whole day there, and I forgot to water my plants before we went. when we got home, my tomato plants were all but wilted! I watered them and five minutes later they perked up a little and looked better, but I need to get a garden built for the veggies and get them in the ground!

Apparently there's a school in this area that has a gifted and talented program for elementary aged students. My husband is really pushing for me to let our 7 year old take the admission test to get in the program. I talked to her about it, and she vacillates between excitement and reticence. She wants to go because it sounds amazing, but she doesn't want to stop being homeschooled. She wants new friends, but doesn't want to leave me or her sisters. She wants to be involved in a music program if they have it, but she wants to be able to stay home and read what she's interested in. For every reason she finds to want to go, she also comes up with a reason to want to stay home. The test isn't until June, so I told her to wait and see how the test goes before she decides (my husband has declared that she WILL take the test).

Sigh.

My stepdaughter will be here in just over a month, and we can't wait!

I dyed my hair again. I went a little darker this time. I think it looks good on me. Unusual, since I've had lighter hair all my life, but decent enough.

I just hope tomorrow turns out cooler than today, since I want to mow the grass!

sooooo....

So the girls have decided that they want to spend all of our classroom time on Geography and Languages. I am battling this, but in the meantime they have all the states and capitals memorized, as well as postal code abbreviations for the states. Now I have to find a blank map and start working on locations of the states in the country... which I am terrible at! Gah!

Every morning feels like Christmas morning, waking up to go and see the progress of our seedlings outside! We planted squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, carrots, tomatoes, mint, basil, sage, oregano, rosemary, lavender, and chinese lantern flowers. I have seeds to try more stuff, but am running out of room to put everything! We can't wait to harvest our first fruits and veggies!!

Homeschooling blabber

Sooooo apparently my kids love their homeschooling, for the most part. Lexi enjoys everything, and always asks for more work to do, no matter how much we've done during the day. she catches on to things quickly and seldom needs anything explained more than once before she understands it. She loves it all - poetry, grammar, story comprehension, handwriting, math, French, Spanish, history, geography - especially math and geography. My oldest, however, detests everything EXCEPT language. She adores French and fights me on dang near everything else. She is having lots of trouble with math... which leads me to think that next year, Lexi will be in a higher math class than her older sister. Right now technically Lexi should be in second grade and Grace should be in third, but they are both doing the third grade curricula. Grace's ADHD doesn't help with not liking school, either... my baby is doing some preschool work here and there. I'll freely admit I haven't been very consistent about it because she's only been 4 for a few months, so she has plenty of time before we buckle down. We pretty much just do work whenever she feels like it. She has worked on opposites and number recognition from numbers 1-3.

On a positive note, one of my two cameras is finally repaired and I got it back today after a nearly three week hiatus. I am overjoyed to have it back - but I told my husband of all the things that went bad in the last two weeks: one down, about fifty to go, right? :/

December 8, 2009

Someone asked me to take them through a typical homeschooling day. Well, I don't think there IS such a thing as a typical homeschooling day in my house, but I'll take you through our lessons yesterday:

9:00 a.m. - breakfast (choice of cereal or 4 different kinds of Pop Tarts)
Free time after finishing breakfast
10:00 a.m. - Silent reading time (the girls can choose whatever book they like, and they have a log to write in the author's name, book title, start time, stop time, starting page, and ending page)
10:30 a.m. - Creative Writing (they have creative writing journals that they write in every day. I've slowly been trying to make the prompts more difficult. My ultimate goal is to have them be able to write an entry in French. Mwahaha!)
11:00 a.m. - Spelling/Grammar. (Yesterday I introduced 18 new vocab & spelling words, all having to do with winter. Some they rolled their eyes at [ice] and others they got upset over not spelling correctly right away [precipitation].)
11:30 a.m. - French. We've already learned numbers up to 10, the names of fruits and vegetables, colors, basic family words, and some location words (up, under, between, next to, etc). We've been working this week on words in the bathroom, and yesterday I introduced some basic Christmas-related words, plus a story about how people in France celebrate the holiday.
12:00 p.m. - lunch. Yesterday it was hot black angus roast beef sandwiches with provolone cheese, red and green apple slices (hey, gotta be festive!), and yogurt.
1:00 p.m. - Free time (the girls are encouraged to go outside and get fresh air and run around. Usually they play soccer or tag. They are also allowed to read, color, write, draw, or complete their daily chores during this time.
2:00 p.m. - History/Social Studies. Yesterday we skipped this because I didn't have anything planned out, however we did just complete a unit on Colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Next they want to look at Ancient Greece, focusing specifically on Greek Mythology. We used this extra time today to do some more French. (French is all the girls want to do most of the time.)
3:00 p.m. - Math.
4:00 p.m. - Dictation/Handwriting. We are using poetry for dictation and handwriting. So far we've used works by Christina Rossetti, William Blake, James Whitcomb Riley, Sara Teasdale, Hilda Conkling, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. We also use this time to discuss literary devices; we've already gone over personification, and yesterday we discussed simile and metaphor.
5:00 p.m. - Arts/Music/Crafts. Our art project yesterday was to use our dictation poem (The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) to create a picture of what they thought happened in the poem.
Free time until dinner at 6... then free time the rest of the day! Yay!

We also spent a little extra time yesterday (squeezed in earlier in the day, I don't remember exactly when) for the girls to work on poetry of their own. We'd already done Acrostic Poems, and today we started Haikus. The girls learned about them and then wrote their own. Pretty cool... and now you know what yesterday looked like! The schedule varies a lot, depending on how well they're paying attention and what they're feeling particularly passionate about, since they retain information better when they WANT to learn stuff. :0)

Little Lamb by William Blake

We were doing poetry tonight, and thought we'd share this with y'all since it is seasonally appropriate. My oldest knew immediately what it was referring to when she heard it.

LITTLE LAMB by William Blake

Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I'll tell thee;
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!

Tomorrow we're doing the poem (dictation - today we did Sara Teasdale's "There Will Come Soft Rains"), and they're making lambs out of cotton balls. I just thought it was cool and thought I would share - the girls really love this poem and made me read it twice (I probably would've had to read it more if it hadn't been past bedtime!).

Bust a gut

You know, I don't really think I ever realized what that phrase meant - "bust a gut" - before I had kids. Tonight, for instance, we were sitting around the dinner table, just the three girls and I. We had bbq chicken legs for dinner. I asked my oldest to go into the kitchen and put some more sodas in the fridge for her dad (since he's at work now, they'll be cold for him when he gets home). She got up and went into the kitchen, and the baby (3 yrs old) gets down from her chair and picks up the half-eaten chicken leg from my oldest child's plate. She takes a bite, and my middle child and I start cracking up laughing. My oldest calls out from the kitchen, "What are you doing?" And the baby answers, "I'm eating your chicken!" I just love laughing until you can hardly breathe, catching your breath, and starting all over again! All laughter should be belly-shaking and breath-stealing! Don't you think? :)

Another fun thing today... I decided to homeschool the girls this year, due to many things that happened last year in their public school. We started two days ago, and are working on a unit on Colonial America. We're using the Charlotte Mason method, which so far is completely awesome. Today we did several things: we made silhouettes, just like the girl in our Colonial America book; we made & played a stick toss game that the Native Americans played; and we MADE BUTTER. How totally awesome is that? We talked about churning and how the Colonists didn't always have places nearby to buy butter in neat little tubs or sticks like we do today, so they had to make their own. We made our own butter (and buttermilk as a neat byproduct - I cook with it a lot), and the girls got a lesson in hard work. They are so proud of their butter, it's not even funny - they even called their grandparents to ask if they wanted to come taste it!

I love my kids!!!