Day three and four of homeschool....the Wrestlin' Rhino's

Robin has decided our school name is the Wrestlin' Rhino's.

We will now be referred to as such....until next week when we're the ducks, or the cows, or chickens, or giant panda's....or whatever else we read about.

Day three was a little chaotic.

Friends were here for most of the day.  They are also homeschooled...so I had one first grader, two kindergardner's and one pre-pre-schooler....whew...that's a mouthful.

Anyway, we did bible together, Katie held her hand over her mouth for most of it since she couldn't seem to stop yapping.

We attempted some math and handwriting....and trying to keep everyone occupied was hurting my brain so I gave up and we resorted to art time.

They each got a magazine, scissors, glue stick and blank paper and they could cut and paste away to their little hearts content....and they did.

They spent two hours giggling, cutting, and sticking crazy pictures together....it was great and I laughed hysterically.  I don't know what we learned, but since they cut up ESPN magazine they are now very familiar with the Gatorade logo.

Then we played ukulele, guitar, the drums and had a dance party with Aretha Franklin...

And that concludes Wednesday.

Thursday was Thursday...

Multiple interruptions, meetings, phone calls and no one listening.

At one point in the afternoon I'd told Robin to quit throwing his pencil and Katie to pick up her paper scraps so many times I started keeping track on the abacus....and neither one was listening.

So, Robin had to stand with his nose on the wall and his hands behind his back until Katie finished picking up her stuff...it was a joint discipline...my favorite kind.  Who doesn't love a good double-whammy?

The afternoon was spent finishing up math problems and reading....and featured Robin eventually performing Dr. Seuss in a French accent...

We learned it takes Robin about 14 tries before he can properly announce the word "bureau".

and...

Katie REALLY likes cutting up paper.

That concludes Thursday and the Wrestlin' Rhino's school of misfits....Katie's working on the school cheer.

Later tater...H :)

Day two of our homeschool adventure...

Overslept again....that's going to be a nasty habit for me to break....but I woke well rested and ready to go today.

Read 1 Corinthians 13 again, we'll probably do that every morning this week over breakfast and chocolate milk. 

Today he wrote in his journal about patience, since love is patient.  His picture was of himself waiting patiently for his turn to talk to me while Katie finished what she was saying.  He understands how that is showing love to his sister and to me.

He wrote a letter to his daddy.  This was the entire letter: "Dear dad, tell the pilot to be in Alcatraz or Transylvania.  Love, Robin"  I'm thinking that's code for something.....like, the dog barks at midnight....

The roads were icky and we were running low on time, so we looked at art around the house instead of a trip to the library.  We chose a picture of sunflowers and roses my grandmother had painted several years ago. 

We talked about color and light and shadows and then he drew his own picture, complete with shadows.

We spent time in my old anatomy book from college. 

We used Katie as our model to understand where the clavicle, humerus and scapula were located. 

We also checked out her spine and looked at cool pictures of cadavers. 

He ate that up. 

We talked about x-rays and muscles and the joints of the hand and ankle and how his body is put together.  And then he drew a picture of the muscular system. 

Math kicked my butt...

Katie and I played dominoes... and then I watched her neatly set up and then destroy piles of blocks. 

I watched how Robin tapped his pencils to count and drum out solutions to his math problems. 

Sean took the kids sledding, P.E. points there.

I called my grandmother and told her about her painting we had used for our "art class"....she loved it.

We had lunch.

We danced.

I untangled fairy wings from a skill saw...

We put meatballs in the crockpot for dinner.  We worked on handwriting.

And the day flew by.....can't wait until tomorrow.

H :)

First day of homeschool...

I woke up a little late so I hustled upstairs and freaked out Robin.  I said, "Robin, hurry, you are gonna be late for school!"  It took him a few seconds to catch on.

We had breakfast together and did a bible study on 1Cor. 13, we talked about what love is, and what love isn't. 

He drew pictures and and wrote sentences. 

He did a spelling list.

We had recess....and it involved Star Wars battles and poptarts...

We worked on his handwriting....he perfected his letter "e" (which we'd been struggling with for a while at school) and I realized half the problem was that he held his pencil the wrong way.

Threatened to tape his fingers to the pencil in the correct place.

Robin taught Katie the Ten Commandments....and he learned how to spell commandments.

I'm waiting for my curriculum so we worked on some math worksheets, he did problems on the whiteboard, we played with flashcards, and made patterns with blocks.

We had a Lego fight....Robin won.

We ate lunch...hot dogs, cheezits and chocolate milk.

We played PIG with the nerf basketball and hoop...I won....neener-neener.

We sat and he read me two books, it took him 45 minutes and that's the longest he's EVER sat and read to me....it was amazing!

We played guitar....or at least I did, they listened.

Currently working on what we'll do tomorrow.  I still didn't get everything done I had planned on accomplishing today, but I've heard such is the life of the homeschool mom....you can pretty much say that everyday. 

Tomorrow we'll do more handwriting and math and reading and maybe we'll look at how bones are constructed or check out rhinoceros' (maybe I'll learn how to spell rhinoceros')  And check out an art book. 

I managed to still finish up two loads of laundry, make dinner, put away clothes, get beds made, a few good talks with Sean and play in the Olivia House with Katie. 

There's a peace in the house today....it's that peace that comes when you finally just buck up and do what God has asked you to do....even if it's hard and requires more than you thought you had in you, more than you thought even He had in you.....and it's totally worth it.

H :)

This is going to be more challenging than I thought...

Robin walked up to me in the kitchen and asked me, "Mom, can an 'I' make an 'E' sound?"

I said, "Not really Robin.....I guess there's some words that don't always follow the rules, but usually an 'I' will make a sound that's appropriate for a long 'I' or a short 'I' sound..."  And then I proceeded to think of words that followed the rule and that didn't follow the rule....to make it short, I spent about 5 minutes on a simple explanation of the basic rules of the English language....Robin listening fairly intently the whole time.

Then he walked away and showed me the word he was trying to figure out.

The word he was referring to was a Japanese word....so my whole explanation went out the window.....

This is going to be more challenging that I thought....

H :)

And this pic is taken first thing in the morning....no makeup and hoods up to disguise crazy hair...on both accounts.....love that boy.

I'll take a compliment when I get one...

So a friend stopped by the other day and was looking at pics on the fridge.

I was doing stuff in the kitchen and wasn't really paying attention to which picture she was referring to when she said, "Wow, you've changed a lot since this picture...I mean, you've really lost a lot of weight, you look great now."

Still not paying attention to which picture she's talking about I think to myself, "wow, I wasn't even trying to lose weight, but I tend not to put terribly unattractive pics of myself out displayed for all to see....(most pics are just head shots with the rest of me covered up behind a child, a guitar, or some other large object, like a couch or something) so maybe I don't look as bad as I thought I did....maybe I have lost some weight without even trying!  Wow, that would be nice...."  (and yes, all of these things actually run through my head...)

So I turn away from the kitchen counter, and use my most modest voice..."well, I haven't really been trying, but maybe I've lost a little weight....my clothes were fitting a little looser the past couple of days...." and then I stop mid-sentence. 

I finally notice which picture she's looking at.

Then I exhale a sigh and say to her, "Well, I hope I've lost some weight since then....I gave birth to Katie two weeks after that picture was taken...."  Dang it!!

H :)

Post Christmas Poem...

     My Pop keeps a journal, he has for about twenty years now.  My sister, her husband, and 7 month old baby girl head home to Boise today, and the 2010 family Christmas is finally over (it takes us a while to celebrate these things) and now it's time to get back to life.  So, in memoriam of this past Christmas season Pop wrote this down in his journal and said I could share it with y'all....consider yourselves lucky....I've never had a peek in those books...EVER! :)

‘Tis Monday post Christmas and all through the house,

My daughters are camping with respective spouse.

Stringed instruments litter the top of the table

Finding space for used dishes, we’re no longer able.

The DVD player has seen too much use

And furniture suffers from grandchild abuse.

With chocolate and alcohol the main stay of diet

I watch as the chaos replaces the quiet.

The tree Christmas Day was wisely dismantled

For fear of a fire had it been candled.

And what are my thoughts at the sunrise this day?

To celebrate Christmas… there’s no better way.

 H :)

Homeschool 101: The Rules

Katie is 4, Robin is 6.  Just putting that right out there now.

Robin wanted a glass of milk.  Then he wanted to know how to spell milk.

I said, "Sound it out, buddy."

"M...e....i.....l.....l."

"No, Robin,"  so I said it slower..."mmmiiiilllllkkkkk"

He tries again, "M....i.....l....l."

I look at him and sound it out again, putting an extra emphasis on the "K" sound at the end of the word.

Again, he says, "M....i.....l.....l"

One more time, I think...."mmmmiiiiiillllllkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk."

Robin looks at me and starts again, "M....i....l......"

Then, very frustrated Katie pipes up with "K!  Robin, there's a K at the end!!"

So, Homeschool 101: Rule #1: Keep the yappy little sister's trap shut while older brother is figuring stuff out.

H :)