Posts
~What We Are Reading~
Me: Divergent (I restarted it for the THIRD time)
Bear: Red Badge of Courage and King Alfred's English
Noodle: James and the Giant Peach and Busy Times (still)
~Memory Work (ongoing)~
Bible: Books of the Law- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
and the Ten Commandments
Science: Planets in order from the sun,
Grammar: Pronouns and Prepositions
History: Presidents in order and Timeline from 1823 Monroe Doctrine to Modern Day 2013
Geography: Continents, Oceans, States and Capitals
Some things I am noticing are that it isn't the subjects that make the days drag, it is the behavior. I guess I knew this already. I don't know about you, but when I read blogs and it seems everything gets done seamlessly, I get depressed. I am truly sorry if sometimes it seems like our "great" weeks are seamless - let me just say it is often painstaking to get as much done as we do. Noodle has obedience issues that sometimes make our days really hard. For a while things were going really good, but since we started back after our break, it has been more painful than usual it seems. Some days do go nearly perfect, but other days it is as if he is making up for lost time from those nearly perfect days.
Would it kill him to get through an assignment without getting out of his chair, attaching eraser tips to the end of his tongue, making a bathroom trip that lasts way too long, without getting/needing a snack, without saying, "Hey mom.." and telling me a story that is totally irrelevant to the task at hand? Would it? Why must he interrupt me constantly? Really, some days I just feel like I am going to lose my mind. I try really hard not to be the psycho mom - Lord knows I have been plenty of times over the years, but I am trying to break that. It is as if he is TRYING to make me explode. To keep from exploding I will send a venting text to my friend, another homeschooling mom who can relate to my issues. I will not give in, but holy smokes, I am going to get an ulcer. Maybe I should try walking away, locking myself in my room and punch a pillow or scream in to it?? I don't know. I am just hoping this "back from break drive my mom crazy" mission he has been on passes soon. The beginning of the week was worse than the end, so maybe there is hope.
Bible
We started the week with the first review page of the last several units and we read Psalm 105. We listened to some worship music, but somehow the tape has become warped. I guess it could be because it is an old cassette and it has been getting a lot of play. I need to find a CD, but I also need a new CD player. The one I bought two years ago ($50 RCA from Walmart) is dead already. Why can't things be made of quality any more?
Math
Besides the regular lesson from Teaching Textbooks, we have been practicing math facts with flash cards and drill sheets. Not the most fun, but it is necessary. Noodle doesn't rattle off the answers fast enough, in my opinion. He only has 46 assignments left in Math 3, so before moving on to Teaching Textbooks 4 I want to make sure he is really solid on the basic facts. His math grades are all between 90-100 so I know he knows his facts, but I really want the answers to come more quickly. Maybe I am worrying too much, but so far he doesn't have any conceptual struggles with math and I don't want him to be hindered by silly mistakes in the future.
We just started focusing on multiplication more regularly - he has 0, 1, 2, 3 and 5's down - but the rest he really has to think about. It took him nine minutes to do half a drill sheet of multiplication. This was his first time doing the drill sheet. Yes, that is a Saxon drill sheet, no we don't use Saxon curriculum.
Grammar
I know, we are supposed to have this on the back burner right now, but surprisingly, on Tuesday Noodle BEGGED me to do grammar. I tried to put him off but he insisted by saying, "I like grammar." Really? This was news to me since usually when we do it he is a big pain in the rear end. He again gets all 90-100's on his grammar assignments, so I know he knows it so far, but he is so unpleasant I didn't realize he liked doing grammar. Anyway, the few assignments he did all centered around Adjectives.
Spelling
We did our usual spelling, starting with a pre-test on Monday. This weeks words focused on the double consonant rule when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel - like -ing, -ed, -en.
Literature
We started a new unit this week for James and the Giant Peach. Since, I usually do separate posts on our lit units, I won't go in to too much detail.
Writing
Noodle did some dictation from Writing With Ease.
Geography
We are finally making headway with Geography. We started the Road Trip USA curriculum in September and didn't get very far at all. Now that we are doing Geography every day, I feel better about it. I don't follow it strictly, I take what I like, leave the rest, and add in other stuff. My bottom line goal with U.S. geography is that Noodle be able to name states by shape recognition, know where they are located, and have the names and capitals memorized. My general geography goals are that he know all the continents by name, shape and location, know all the oceans by name and location, as well as understanding hemisphere, equator, directions and physical geography terms like peninsula, valley, etc. We have been working on general geography since Kindergarten so he has several things down pat, but other things require regular review so that it sticks.
History
Like with geography, we are making great progress. Already, we are close to where I expected us to be by this time in the school year. Yay!! Noodle continues to do one Veritas Press Online History lesson per day, we are reading, doing History Pockets and in general having fun learning about our history!
Science
I may have been a little ambitious hoping to get through two Apologia chapters in one week. Oh well, it's okay. We started this book last February - I thought it was before then - but since it was February I won't stress about taking another week to finish, as we will still have it done in under a year.
We just started focusing on multiplication more regularly - he has 0, 1, 2, 3 and 5's down - but the rest he really has to think about. It took him nine minutes to do half a drill sheet of multiplication. This was his first time doing the drill sheet. Yes, that is a Saxon drill sheet, no we don't use Saxon curriculum.
Grammar
I know, we are supposed to have this on the back burner right now, but surprisingly, on Tuesday Noodle BEGGED me to do grammar. I tried to put him off but he insisted by saying, "I like grammar." Really? This was news to me since usually when we do it he is a big pain in the rear end. He again gets all 90-100's on his grammar assignments, so I know he knows it so far, but he is so unpleasant I didn't realize he liked doing grammar. Anyway, the few assignments he did all centered around Adjectives.
Spelling
We did our usual spelling, starting with a pre-test on Monday. This weeks words focused on the double consonant rule when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel - like -ing, -ed, -en.
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| Pre-test |
 |
| Post Test |
Literature
We started a new unit this week for James and the Giant Peach. Since, I usually do separate posts on our lit units, I won't go in to too much detail.
Writing
Noodle did some dictation from Writing With Ease.
Geography
We are finally making headway with Geography. We started the Road Trip USA curriculum in September and didn't get very far at all. Now that we are doing Geography every day, I feel better about it. I don't follow it strictly, I take what I like, leave the rest, and add in other stuff. My bottom line goal with U.S. geography is that Noodle be able to name states by shape recognition, know where they are located, and have the names and capitals memorized. My general geography goals are that he know all the continents by name, shape and location, know all the oceans by name and location, as well as understanding hemisphere, equator, directions and physical geography terms like peninsula, valley, etc. We have been working on general geography since Kindergarten so he has several things down pat, but other things require regular review so that it sticks.
History
Like with geography, we are making great progress. Already, we are close to where I expected us to be by this time in the school year. Yay!! Noodle continues to do one Veritas Press Online History lesson per day, we are reading, doing History Pockets and in general having fun learning about our history!
Science
I may have been a little ambitious hoping to get through two Apologia chapters in one week. Oh well, it's okay. We started this book last February - I thought it was before then - but since it was February I won't stress about taking another week to finish, as we will still have it done in under a year.
Linking up this week with Homegrown Learners and Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
7 comments:
It is great that Noodle enjoys Grammar! I heart his handwriting.
My discipline issues with the children come right after school is over. They definitely strive from structure. Don't get upset because you read other blogs and things look so perfect.
As long as kids are around there sure to be some discipline issues. Otherwise that is not a kid we are talking about.LOL. Different seasons, different issues. What helps me to get through different seasons is knowing it will pass just like you said.
Thank you for sharing and keep on texting(venting is great therapy) from one Mom to another:)
Eli is a very distracted student. He tells me lots of irrelevant stories and facts throughout the day when I feel like he should be focusing. I have to say, "Eli, that's cool, but let's focus," or "We're not talking about that right now." And we go through that all day. Some days it wears me out, but we just keep plugging along.
One thing that does help us is frequent breaks. We always start with Bible, then do two subjects. Then we take a 15 minute break. Then we do two more subjects, then we take about an hour lunch break. Then we finish our afternoon studies, and it takes us about two hours. We read right before lunch and again at the end of the day, and it gives him incentive to get his reading done so he can take a break.
We also do our heavy subjects in the morning and our unit study in the afternoon, cause it's a little more laid-back and hands on.
Try not to knock him in the head. Just juggle your schedule around and try to keep him focused as best as possible.
You are a great mom.
Mary,
Wondering if you could schedule breaks for Noodle to talk with you about whatever is on his mind, sharpen pencils etc. How long are your lessons? He may benefit from 15 min lessons max. Whatever he accomplishes in 15 min that's it move on to the next thing and then come back to it the next day. Kudos to you with memory work. I scheduled memory work but its just not something I can fit in my day. It drives me crazy but I
just cant do it all. (sigh)
Is there a way you could find your praise songs on itunes and play through your phone or computer?
Just wanted to leave you an encouraging comment...I think all homeschooling moms have the same discipline issues. The ones who don't blog about it are either choosing to not show the bad side of things or are lying. :-) Hang in there; you are doing a great job teaching your kiddos and they will get it, eventually.
And we love Writing With Ease too!
Mary, I think our sons were separated at birth! Just this very moment his is "practicing his piano", I say this in quotes because it turns into strange random notes and patterns that stem from something he was supposed to be playing! Thanks for keeping it real and sharing with us over at NOBH!
You had a busy week this week and a great one! Our homeschool has changed recently. We are doing a swop with one of the moms at our co op. She needed a day for doing things and suggested I school all four girls one day and she takes them the next day. It has worked out except my kids are seriously distracted!! I had to get on to them all day Wednesday to focus. So I realized its because we've made this recent change to add friends. I believe as time goes, the will calm down and this will be a normal expectation to have friends do school with us.
Hello, fellow Texaan! I just found your blog. I have the 8-y-o female version of Noodle. OMG,I feel you pain. Most days I do lock myself in my room so I don't take my anger out on her. Others I want to enroll her in public school; but then I tell myself, no! We're going to get thru this because it's the best thing for her, and I really enjoy homeschooling. She is really a great, great, good, smart girl; it's just all the distractions that get in the way that bother me so much. And boy, if there is a distraction, she will find it! And to make matters worse, for me, no matter how much trouble she gets in or how long it takes to do school, it's like it doesn't even bother her; she'll do it again day after day. So, sister, let's talk and support each other. I'm here for you! I look forward to reading your blog more. From Austin, Dollie*
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