10/14/09

Why Sick Homeschool Moms Need Subs

(I posted this for my Yahoo Group friends, but thought my few blogging friends would enjoy it too.)

So I'm on day two of being sick. Worse today than yesterday. Never made it out
of pjs. After my first nap, awoke to find Princess L in this year's Christmas dress. (Yes - we're in that stage.) After second nap on the couch, I discover Princess E had given her sisters ice cream for lunch. After Princess L fell asleep on the couch and Princess M was in her crib, I head to my bedroom for nap number three. Princess S wakes me to ask if she can use the tube of sugar cookie dough. Nope - that's for cookie dough maps next week. When I wake and stumble through the kitchen to the couch, I discover Princess S with her younger sisters making my mom's sour cream sugar cookie recipe - the kind that requires rolling out and using cookie cutters. Not happy because she didn't have permission, but not able to stand on my feet much longer I head to the couch. In and out of my feverish consciousness I hear the following comments:

- No, I couldn't find the baking powder. Well, just double the baking soda,
they're practically the same thing anyway. (Princess S)

- Why can't I mix this? The butter won't mix in. (Me - did you soften it
first?) Nope - just took it out of the fridge. (Princess S)

- We cannot do this with these spoons. We'll have to get out the mixer. No, I
don't know how it works. (Princess E)

- We aren't going to get more than eight cookies out of these. (Princess E)

- Why do these cookies look like biscuits? No - they look more like dinner
rolls. (Princess S)

- They kinda taste gross. Maybe we could melt some chocolate chips on them.
(Princess E)

- Now they look like poop. (Princess L - remember she's four - everything looks like that)

- Mom - I was supposed to put this mixer into the dishwater to soak, right?

So, readers, I rest my case. Homeschool moms really need to hire a substitute
when they are sick.

10/12/09

TOG Year 2 Week 10

Well, we started this week with snow. In October. So much for that global warming argument. Last week, we finished up Unit One. We are now enjoying a one week break doing a unit study on astronomy. I'll post on what we used next week. (Because I'm still not sure what all we will use myself.) Checked out a bunch of stuff so we'll see what we have time for.

Princess E
Latin - Lesson 4.1 to 4.3 and Exercises 4.1 to 4.3
Math U See – Delta Lesson 3
Literature - continue The Door in the Wall
TOG - vocabulary, geography study, important people
Reading - The Story of the Middle Ages (excerpts), The Story of the Crusades, Fine Print
Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 2 (excerpts), Famous Men of the Middle Ages (excerpts)
This week we focused on the three Johns - Wycliffe, Hus and Guttenberg. (The latter more commonly seen as Jan and Johannes.) We learned about how the development of the printing press helped to usher in the Renaissance and Reformation movements.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar - Lessons 1.12-1.14
Math U See - Gamma Lesson 8
Literature - Marguerite Makes a Book
TOG and Read Alounds - same as above
Reading - Usborne Internet Linked Middle Ages (excerpts), John Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press, The Middle Ages (excerpts)

Princess L
MFW Kindy - begin Lesson 4 - /a/ is for apple
This was a great week to be in this lesson. Because Dad had Friday off, we all went to an apple orchard to pick apples. We went to the same spot we've gone for three years. Good thing we went when we did, as the snow would have probably damaged them if we'd tried to go this week. Hopefully, at the end of this week we will get to make some homemade applesauce, apple crisp, and apple pie.
Math U See - Primer - continue on lesson 9 with place value. It seemed like last week in the middle she was starting to get it a little. Then this weekend she asked me how to write 27 and I asked her how many units and "t's" it had and she couldn't tell me.

Princess M
Trying to stay healthy, as two of her sissies were sick this past week and weekend. Trying to keep her away from them, and them away from her, is always difficult. She has observed her sisters move chairs, or the kitchen stool, around to reach items that we keep out of her reach. She discovered this week that she, too, can move said chairs and stool. So now she can be found grabbing items left high up on the counters or even in the kitchen cupboards. The others didn't do that at this early of an age - but then again, they had fewer other kids to watch do this trick. My life just got harder!

10/3/09

TOG Year 2 Week 9

We have one more week until we take a week's break from our regular school to do a science study. Not sure yet what we're going to do, since we only have a week. I'm thinking of a unit study, but picking between several possibilities. We went to a Medieval Fair at a park near us. It was free! Cannot beat that. The girls had fun seeing some of the things they had read about - or rather realistic replications of them. We saw a sundial and Princess E told me that it was a mosaic. I hadn't even noticed, but I was impressed that she did. Pictures are below.

Princess E
Latin - Word Power B4 & 5, Exercises 3.2 and 3.3.
Math U See – Delta Lesson 2
Literature - continue The Door in the Wall
TOG - vocabulary, geography study, important people
Reading - The Story of the Middle Ages (excerpts), The Story of the Crusades, The Story of Joan of Arc
Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 2 (excerpts), Famous Men of the Middle Ages (excerpts)
This week we focused on learning about life in the High Middle Ages. We learned about craftsmen's guilds, the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War and Joan of Arc.

Princess S
Growing With Grammar - Lessons 1.9-1.11
Math U See - finish Gamma Lesson 7
Literature - the book didn't come in from library in time, so we skipped it this week
TOG and Read Alounds - same as above
Reading - Usborne Internet Linked Middle Ages (excerpts)

Princess L
Finish Lesson Three - /l/ is for leaf - we had a drastic change in the weather this week so we really weren't able to do any of the leaf activities as leaves are now browning an falling anyway.
Math U See - Lesson 9 - Place Value - we will be camped out here a while. We've been building with blocks and using place cards. We've played a few games with them. I'm starting to move into asking her some verbal questions instead of just relying on the cards. It's a fine line, with the Primer book, between understanding and overkill.

Here are some of our photos from the medieval fair: