Nana did such a fantastic job with the kids and their schoolwork while we were in California for a few days, recently! I was torn between giving them the week off, and giving them work. In the end, I decided to have them keep up with just their daily Handwriting and Math lessons, and spend the rest of the time on Nana-cation. It worked out really well! Proud of you, Mom! And proud of the kids... who thought that since WE had a break, THEY should have a break :) Pretty sure it was still quite a break!
*Hoping to have a Napa/Sonoma blogpost done soon!*
"Better than usual", turned out to mean that there was a lot of laughing and playing together, as well as helping each other with schoolwork; everyone's attitudes stayed intact, for the most part. And Gressa announced that she would be playing Flag Football next Fall, after learning the rules with Soren that afternoon.
When I got home from work, I knew that I was going to have my work cut out for me with some Math with Ava. Ava.... oh Ava...
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When I got home from work, I knew that I was going to have my work cut out for me with some Math with Ava. Ava.... oh Ava...
This is where we are at with Ava right now...
Sigh. An inch closer to teeanage-dom, every second, it seems...
Anyway. Math. So, we needed to cover some corrections and some new material, on angles. I have no idea, really, what prompted it, but after going through her previous corrections, I guess both of us needed to 'up' the fun factor in this subject that neither one of us care much for. Introducing: The English-born, Mrs. Schmitzelberger. With the help of the 1 glass of Napa-born Cabarnet that I had with dinner, suddenly the room was filled with this new faculty's knowledge of obtuse and acute angles (and how to label them), as well as her proficiency with pah-pen-dic-ulah lines. Muah haha... :) We finished in record time - and with comprehension. When the student would become disengaged for a moment, Mrs. S. would rap her pencil on the table, while saying, -"Attention, please! This is im-POH-tant!" Winning. It could be noted that I dreamt with an English accent that night.
On Tuesday, I decided that we would head to the library to do our book work. Even though we aren't really trying to simulate "school at home" in our homeschool (meaning school just looks different at home - less sitting work/transitions, etc.), I have thought of packing us up for a change of scenery for awhile now, for a few reasons. The main reason being that, since all of the kids take frequent breaks, they would naturally be in a book or being stimulated by some type of literature, etc. during that break time - no other real distractions. It worked out pretty well. We will definitely mix it up again, soon. It just requires me to be super organized in making sure I remember to bring all assignment-related items, etc., along with us.
Highlight: Ava aced all questions related to angles, on her Math homework! Ha. It seems Mrs. S may be sticking around.
Backing up for a moment, to Monday's great vibes and its associated, anticipated ramifications for Tuesday... not tooo bad, after all! Soren was a grump for a big part of the day, tho, and of course that type of thing is a bit contagious. He had a Soren Fixation going on; he finds something to fixate on and it rules his day. This day? He was sad that Tony now returns from work when it is already dark outside. He can't get enough football with Dad, and so this is wrecking his program. Sigh. On that note, this mom's done her fair share of quarterbacking in this week's daylight hours, on account of the fixation. At one point (I believe on a 3rd down), I said something to the effect that he sure is lucky to have a mom who would play football with him out in the backyard, in the middle of all the un-picked-up dog poo. He didn't even hesitate (though, he smirked), saying, "YOU sure are lucky to be getting these private lessons I give, 'cuz you need 'em!" Stinker. Love him.
Soren also made the entire Toyota Sienna erupt in giggles during a convo on the way home from the library:
Me: What do you guys want to do when you grow up, lately?
Ava: I still want to be a Vet... but I dunno... it makes me so sad, too!
Gressa: I want to be a librarian. :)
Soren: Wellll... you know... I want to be a person who looks for a way to stop people from being sick.
Me: Sick... like cancer? You do like research.
Soren: Yeah... I want to research to fix cancer.
HEART MELTS...! And THEN, he says... wait for it... "Either that, or I want to work at Dollar Tree. That looks really fun." Ohhh yeah.
Well, I did get some insight into those remarks, when sharing them with Tony that night. Apparently, there was an Undercover Boss episode at Dollar Tree and the guy LOVED his job. I love this kid. Passionate. Love. Of course - the disclaimer is that this (both the cancer researcher and Dollar Tree associate) are all a back up plan if he doesn't make it in the NFL or the NBA. Fo' real y'all. Oh, the can-do-anything attitude of a kid!!!
On Wednesday, after Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic, we headed out on the Valley Home Schoolers field trip to Petco to learn find out what it takes to run a pet store with a multitude of different types of animals, and learn more about them.
California Crested Gecko
Guinea Pigs are definitely still all the rage, at our house.
Ava really wants one.
On Wednesday we also went swimming at the YMCA with some friends :) I wish I'd have thought to get out the camera when they were there!
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The kids were soo excited to use the flippers, masks and snorkels. 1 1/2 hours + of good phy. ed.
Thursday was a great day of gettin' stuff done! Love days like this!
We also took a trip to the Fire this week - a paint-your-own-pottery store. Can't wait to pick up our finished products this week!
Ava and her friend, Leyna!
I also was also blessed with some really warm fuzzies this week, in terms of progress. It can be hard to gauge progress at home, in the midst of the creative challenges & struggles, and yet so easy sometimes, as in this week :) In addition (no pun intended) to Ava's improved math skillz, Gressa is also ramping up her reading and flying through her library books :)
Improving Soren's printing is something I really wanted to work on with him. He has always had a hard time with fine motor skills (as many boys do, early on), such as in holding the pencil correctly, and his printing was almost illegible. Below, is an example of some printed words from the first week or two of the school year, this year. Pretty messy. In fact, Gressa's printing is MUCH neater than his.
I decided to seek out some D'Nealian help! I KNEW he was more capable. We moved on to cursive, as most do, in 3rd grade. And it seemed so forced! He was simply trying to imitate all of the "loops", without focus on the whole word, or what he was writing. It was a mess. So now, after some D'Nealian practice, we will soon move on to D'Nealan Manuscript (cursive). It's much less loopy. This is so much easier for him to do a neater job with! I think he will pick up neat, D'Nealian cursive in no time :)
Ava had a seamless transition from printing to cursive. You go, girl. Soren will be a fine cursive writer, too, I'm sure :) But we will get there via a different route. I figure, for high school and college, the requirement is neat writing. It's not strictly, Zan Bloser Cursive. If he can print neatly and clearly, and link letters together legibly, he's home free :)
Of course... we had to end the week, as usual, at Dunkin' Donuts :) We met The Hirschfields there this week :) My son ran into a parked truck. It was Jack Ass - style. He's actually grimacing in this photo, due to his knee and elbow injuries. Before or after the sugary donuts?? You decide. ;D
The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting
ReplyDeleteLoved this book, still have it
THank you, Amy! I will check it out! :)
Delete(That's me, Amy Ording)
ReplyDelete