Unexpected Home Ec...

10-17-11
Mood:

Unexpected Home Ec, or It's apparently been that kind of month..

Sigh.....I keep hoping we'll get back to being on our right feet again, but Life has those other ideas, doesn't it?

Today's "Home Ec Lesson": why you really shouldn't open up one of those multi-color ink pens and then pull off or cut off the
pen tip and then hide it under the bed. Twirly-Whirly is bright, inquisitive, and has a penchant for playing with scissors. So this morning
is filled with some new activities like cleaning under the bed to find the ink cartridge (found it along with a number of "missing" Hot Wheels),
scrubbing her brother's mini-pillow pet Morsel (Lil bro to Chocolate Chip Cookie aka Chip, the full-sized one) and his brand new bedspread
(might not have been so bad had the one she cut been the blue one but it was magenta!) as well as the previously unstained pair of pants
he was dressed in for school before he sat in a puddle on the floor (yup the wood floor is stained now too).

If we get to the Library Storytime and Park Play today...well....I told her we would still have to do the whole Circle Time and Main Lesson before we went out,
but honestly I already feeling like just doing lessons later after lunch. I think we will both need the fresh air. We have had some good days and are on top of
our lesson plans so it's been pretty good so far. We still have to get started with yoga, but we've also registered to do Marathon Kids this year. And I need to
be firmer (with myself) about practicing violin (for her;cello for me) before I add the pennywhistle lessons. We are still fighting back the six-leggers on a many
times a day level so I guess we are not doing so badly considering. Still.....I look forward to smoother days to come (I do believe they exist!)

At least I have all the photos downloaded and uploaded! And now I have blogged as well! I'll take whatever victories I can claim! Ciao!

Not problems...challenges...

It's been that kind of week....but we have gotten some circle times and schoolwork done...of course by work i mean coloring and painting and copywork that the Twirly-whirly initiates herself like mailing letters to Captain James Hook and what-not.

Here's another bit of "work" she undertook herself:

 I hope to have better blogs up soon....i have had my share of challenges this past week or so....ants everywhere all the time it seems....sick kids on and off..not mention the parents...continued unexpected computer malfunctions (can't wait till the gamer kid is a full-fledged graduated geek and can retrieve photos we accidentally formatted over). sigh...that which does not kill us etc etc....but we did file our very first CA PSA this week...that was very exciting! 

And we are pretty much caught up, with the exception of most of today's lesson as "teacher" came down ill partway through the day. We have been busy with Gems and Awanas (have to get Hearth Keepers going again soon!). We have returned to library storytime/park playdays and to Friday Fun at the marsh. We have been doing violin lessons along with new friends we made through a local homeschool network. :) Life and learning have been rolling along despite the obstacles. :) That's it for now.

Spoon!!!!! (er) School!!!!!

Sorry...the Tick fan in me...lol.

I *thought* I would have had a better grip this Autumn than last year. Note to self: do not allow the chaos of August to run so far into September. ;)

Though in a way Twirly-Whirly got her start on First Grade back on September 4th when she began free violin lessons at a local park, we had out first day of instruction on the 19th. It was a lovely beginning sandwiched between some hecticity in our family. 

I drew her a welcome sign, we had  a nice nature walk around the block, did Circle Time, and then she did some copywork (as seen in photo). Since that first day, we have begun GEMS again (AWANA began the week before), and have been back to Friday Fun at the Marsh. We are also doing soccer (ballet will wait till next session), and found out that though our local library is under renovation, they are still holding storytimes so we have added that back to our schedule...which may mean I will need to let go of a Bible study I began in order to have the right amount of time throughout the week for school. (It sorta knocked me off track. I think I will just hope they do the one I signed up for on a Sunday morning someday. Mid-week stuff just doesn't jive for us.)

We also have been busy at some day park days with a homeschool group. Very fun! 

 We have had a few adventures this week too, but I am going to save those for tomorrow to recount...it's late, but I just had to get something posted!

On the Eve of First Grade

We open our school~house Thursday when the Boo-man goes back, We generally spend our first week of school getting the place in order after a month of the menfolk being home. ;)

We are keeping 1st grade fairly simple too somewhat along Waldorf-Charlotte Mason lines. 

ABCs with the Flower Fairies and Beatrix Potter. Lots of storytelling and read-alouds too, of course.

123s with Gnomes and Gnumbers. Also Living Math for math history.

Copywork from a Christian copybook program.

History with A Child's History of the World (used by Calvert Christian Schools).

Art with Little Lambs (Christ-centered)..this along with the art activities from Waldorf which includes wet-on-wet watercolor, block crayon drawing, and modeling clay fun.

Music is penny whistle, ocarina, and violin (we got hooked up with a free violin lesson program.)

Foreign Language is some easy-peasy Latin booklets plus a preschooler French program (we'll be using Memoria Press Latin books and Hey Andrew! Greek in 2nd grade next year.

Phys Ed is yoga and a kids gym kit during the week and soccer on Saturdays in the fall and ballet on Sats in the Spring. (Twirly-Whirly has aged out of her weekday classes.) and potentially ice skating on 3rd Tues of the month....there is a homeschool skate day. Oh, and we may also be joining a kids ballroom dance class in the near future (or spring whichever occurs first....lol.)

Nature study/science is Friday Fun at the Marsh on alternate Fridays.

Handwork is finger knitting, hand-sewing, and chopstick needle felting.

Domestic Arts is cleaning our house, cooking, gardening, and keeping chickens (potentially..still not a done deal.)

Bible study is a girl's devotional.

Clubs: GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) on Mon eves.
          Awanas on Wed eves
          Hearth Keepers at Home (1st Fri/3rd Thurs)...I may reduce this to once a month
          all of the above are Christ-centered.

          SpiralScouts...a non-exclusive alternative scouting program so she and her special 

           needs brother together can have a scouting experience. 
           We are making our own group so we can do it any
          time we want...no day commitments! :)

Meet-ups: 3rd Tuesdays at the  Botanical Gardens there is a homeschool meet-up.

That covers it pretty well. Sounds like a lot but it's actually less involved to do than to write out! Lol!

Oh and I plan to use our CC materials for memory work. Almost completely forgot to mention that!


"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."