Sunday, January 27, 2008
The GRP
I didn't end up getting that gratuitous photo in Friday's post, so here it is:
Did you bathe your babies in the kitchen sink?
Do you remember taking baths in the sink when you were little? I do. I loved it.
Did you bathe your babies in the kitchen sink?
Do you remember taking baths in the sink when you were little? I do. I loved it.
Labels: The GRP
Friday, January 25, 2008
Week in Review: So Many Boxes, So Little Time
It's been a good week here, except for the fact that Romy has eczema. Fairly severe. I've never dealt with this, nor has anyone in our extended family, so we're entering new territory with the whole allergy thing. Fortunately, Romy doesn't seem to be bothered by it, so that's a huge blessing!
We ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon's Subscribe and Save. Paper towels, tp, detergent, etc. They arrived in big boxes. And this is what happened:
However, in keeping with our medieval studies, the roof is a stained glass we made by coloring it then spraying it with vegetable oil. I can't go in the thing because I'm claustrophobic, but Luke and Peyton say it is luminous. They go in there with their friends - three and four at a time. It makes me gasp for air just thinking about it.
So, as for school, we got 'er done.
Bible - we continue to read through Luke
Latin - finished lesson 13 in Latina Christiana, where adjectives are introduced
History - learned about Augustine going to Britain, and about monks, monasteries and scriptoriums; made a fancy page of 1 Corinthians 13, which is our memory work. It's probably not as nice as the monks would have done it, but it's still pretty good. I downloaded clipart from here for the ornate lettering.
Science - we made a neat map of the brain, showing which locations are responsible for which body functions. That was pretty fun.
Literature - We finished From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler today. Luke and Peyton were sad it ended, which makes me very happy!
Music - we listened to a lot of Mozart this week, but nothing formal.
Peyton is making quick work of the last few chapters of her math book, and learning the list of prepositions. She finished The Magic Finger and started "B" is for Betsy.
Luke has been introduced to fractions in his math program, and he is covering verbs in grammar, as well as focusing on them in his writing assignment in Writing Tales. He just finished The BFG.
No gratuitous Romy photo right now. She's napping and I don't have a new one for you. I'll edit one in later!
Have a great weekend!
We ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon's Subscribe and Save. Paper towels, tp, detergent, etc. They arrived in big boxes. And this is what happened:
However, in keeping with our medieval studies, the roof is a stained glass we made by coloring it then spraying it with vegetable oil. I can't go in the thing because I'm claustrophobic, but Luke and Peyton say it is luminous. They go in there with their friends - three and four at a time. It makes me gasp for air just thinking about it.
So, as for school, we got 'er done.
Bible - we continue to read through Luke
Latin - finished lesson 13 in Latina Christiana, where adjectives are introduced
History - learned about Augustine going to Britain, and about monks, monasteries and scriptoriums; made a fancy page of 1 Corinthians 13, which is our memory work. It's probably not as nice as the monks would have done it, but it's still pretty good. I downloaded clipart from here for the ornate lettering.
Science - we made a neat map of the brain, showing which locations are responsible for which body functions. That was pretty fun.
Literature - We finished From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler today. Luke and Peyton were sad it ended, which makes me very happy!
Music - we listened to a lot of Mozart this week, but nothing formal.
Peyton is making quick work of the last few chapters of her math book, and learning the list of prepositions. She finished The Magic Finger and started "B" is for Betsy.
Luke has been introduced to fractions in his math program, and he is covering verbs in grammar, as well as focusing on them in his writing assignment in Writing Tales. He just finished The BFG.
No gratuitous Romy photo right now. She's napping and I don't have a new one for you. I'll edit one in later!
Have a great weekend!
Labels: Homeschooling
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Wowza!
I finally fired our housekeeper. Luke gave me a guilt trip over it. "Mom, Sonia's our friend, she's been coming here forever. How could you fire her?" Well, the truth is, Sonia was a terrible housekeeper. But I love her, and hey, I'm flexible, so she kept coming. But what was workable with two school-aged kids, became miserable with a new baby. So I did it. I fired her. I'm a big chicken about confrontation, so it was very hard. On Luke.
But anyway, I called one of those housekeeping companies where the employees drive cute little yellow cars around and they have a very methodical way of cleaning your house. They gave me a quote. Four hundred dollars for the first clean and $159 a week after that. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't pay that much if our house was Chernobyl. I can have a lotta massages and chocolate for that kind of cash. Do people really pay that much? I'm trying to imagine what their check register looks like. I can't. And I know there are a whole lot of folks out there who can't imagine spending money on a housekeeper AT ALL. There's a point in there somewhere but I can't seem to find it. You know what I mean.
So anyway, the new housekeepers are here. They came highly recommended by neighbors, they are reliable, they are doing an amazingly good and detailed job, and they are a team so they will be here for only two hours each visit instead of the SIX Sonia took. Oh, and I can afford these guys.
I'm so happy. So very happy.
In other news, a gratuitous Romy photo:
But anyway, I called one of those housekeeping companies where the employees drive cute little yellow cars around and they have a very methodical way of cleaning your house. They gave me a quote. Four hundred dollars for the first clean and $159 a week after that. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't pay that much if our house was Chernobyl. I can have a lotta massages and chocolate for that kind of cash. Do people really pay that much? I'm trying to imagine what their check register looks like. I can't. And I know there are a whole lot of folks out there who can't imagine spending money on a housekeeper AT ALL. There's a point in there somewhere but I can't seem to find it. You know what I mean.
So anyway, the new housekeepers are here. They came highly recommended by neighbors, they are reliable, they are doing an amazingly good and detailed job, and they are a team so they will be here for only two hours each visit instead of the SIX Sonia took. Oh, and I can afford these guys.
I'm so happy. So very happy.
In other news, a gratuitous Romy photo:
Labels: Just for Fun, The GRP
Friday, January 18, 2008
Week in Review
First, I apologize for the gargantuan photos. Photobucket says they are reduced, but they still show up here full size. Not sure how to fix it, so...big pictures.
I did this once before! Then I forgot all about the week in review thing, and now I remember. So here's another random week in review for you.
It all begins with a good book.
Romy is following in the footsteps of her older brother and sister. She will let you read to her for hours. Okay, maybe minutes. But she likes it. She also takes p.e. - in case you can't tell, the third leg on this contraption has no wheel. So she travels in circles. She does laps while we decline nouns.
Romy's grade in sleep, however, is a C-. And that is being generous.
As for the big kids, in the mornings we're reading through the Gospel of Luke. The kids are learning a lot of couse, but so am I. It's funny when you read to your children you see things from a different perspective. And that is always good. We're also memorizing 1 Corinthians 13. A classic.
For math, we are at a nice spot right now. Luke is finishing up MUS Delta. He's at the point in the book where they throw in some random topics, and past the point of doing long division ad infinitum. It's a nice way to end a level, because the last few topics are generally easy, fun and different. Peyton is finishing up Beta. I was braced for the subtraction with borrowing lesson. She got it in about 5 minutes. Exhale. Now she gets to move into the last few fun lessons in her book.
Latin is still the favorite here. I've revamped a bit and we're spending more time on Latin each day. We'll continue with grammar until our summer break, and then I'll decide if I feel like our Latin is sufficient grammar for us. I want to take the leap, but I'm not quite there yet. We've finished up lesson 12 in Latina Christiana 1. We're on track to finish LC1 before the summer break.
So for grammar, Peyton is on the home stretch with First Language Lessons, learning prepositions, and Luke is in Growing with Grammar 4. They are both good and solid programs that get the job done. Luke also does Writing Tales 1, and I've coordinated the schedule with GWG, so that the corresponding grammar topics are covered at the same time. It's working out well. Right now Luke is learning verbs in both programs.
Spelling Power is my new best friend. We had a pleasant surprise two weeks ago. At the end of our summer vacation, Luke tested into Level C. This was the same level he had finished up prior to summer vacation, so that was a big bummer. But we dutifully went back and repeated level C, finishing it right before Christmas. I could tell a huge improvement in his spelling during this time, but I was not prepared for him to test into level F after the Christmas break! I don't know if it was Spelling Power or just a developmental leap, but WOW! What a boost for Luke's ego that was. He's doing very well with the level F list, so it was a pretty accurate assessment. Peyton continues with level B, and does just fine, though spelling is not her strongest subject - of course she's only 7 and really doesn't need to be doing it yet, only wants to, so no biggie.
We've been reading From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler together at lunch. What a fun story. Daily I am amazed at how many really excellent books I was not exposed to as a child. We've used the Veritas Press guide for this one, and that's been nice, it has some fun logic puzzles, and has you look for similes and Claudia's grammar corrections during the reading. I though how dull that was, but Luke and Peyton compete to find these, and it keeps them listening very well. It also included some nice postcard size art prints that we've been playing some games with.
History this week was the Celts and the Barbarian invasion of Britain. Luke picked up on the similarities between this and the Islamic invasion of Spain, which I though was cool. A little Arthurian legend and some Beowulf. I read the short chapter of the Beowulf story from SOTW this week, and now we'll spend a few days reading this lengthier version.
Science is the human body, teeth this week, which I am surprisingly not enjoying at all. I'm not sure why because I generally like that - it's part of the reason I went to med school! We're also watching The Planet Earth series from the BBC. This was a gift from my brother for Christmas. It is by far the best use our media room has seen.
Both Luke and Peyton are reading Raoul Dahl right now. The Magic Finger for Peyton, The BFG for Luke. What fun!
Have a nice weekend!
I did this once before! Then I forgot all about the week in review thing, and now I remember. So here's another random week in review for you.
It all begins with a good book.
Romy is following in the footsteps of her older brother and sister. She will let you read to her for hours. Okay, maybe minutes. But she likes it. She also takes p.e. - in case you can't tell, the third leg on this contraption has no wheel. So she travels in circles. She does laps while we decline nouns.
Romy's grade in sleep, however, is a C-. And that is being generous.
As for the big kids, in the mornings we're reading through the Gospel of Luke. The kids are learning a lot of couse, but so am I. It's funny when you read to your children you see things from a different perspective. And that is always good. We're also memorizing 1 Corinthians 13. A classic.
For math, we are at a nice spot right now. Luke is finishing up MUS Delta. He's at the point in the book where they throw in some random topics, and past the point of doing long division ad infinitum. It's a nice way to end a level, because the last few topics are generally easy, fun and different. Peyton is finishing up Beta. I was braced for the subtraction with borrowing lesson. She got it in about 5 minutes. Exhale. Now she gets to move into the last few fun lessons in her book.
Latin is still the favorite here. I've revamped a bit and we're spending more time on Latin each day. We'll continue with grammar until our summer break, and then I'll decide if I feel like our Latin is sufficient grammar for us. I want to take the leap, but I'm not quite there yet. We've finished up lesson 12 in Latina Christiana 1. We're on track to finish LC1 before the summer break.
So for grammar, Peyton is on the home stretch with First Language Lessons, learning prepositions, and Luke is in Growing with Grammar 4. They are both good and solid programs that get the job done. Luke also does Writing Tales 1, and I've coordinated the schedule with GWG, so that the corresponding grammar topics are covered at the same time. It's working out well. Right now Luke is learning verbs in both programs.
Spelling Power is my new best friend. We had a pleasant surprise two weeks ago. At the end of our summer vacation, Luke tested into Level C. This was the same level he had finished up prior to summer vacation, so that was a big bummer. But we dutifully went back and repeated level C, finishing it right before Christmas. I could tell a huge improvement in his spelling during this time, but I was not prepared for him to test into level F after the Christmas break! I don't know if it was Spelling Power or just a developmental leap, but WOW! What a boost for Luke's ego that was. He's doing very well with the level F list, so it was a pretty accurate assessment. Peyton continues with level B, and does just fine, though spelling is not her strongest subject - of course she's only 7 and really doesn't need to be doing it yet, only wants to, so no biggie.
We've been reading From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler together at lunch. What a fun story. Daily I am amazed at how many really excellent books I was not exposed to as a child. We've used the Veritas Press guide for this one, and that's been nice, it has some fun logic puzzles, and has you look for similes and Claudia's grammar corrections during the reading. I though how dull that was, but Luke and Peyton compete to find these, and it keeps them listening very well. It also included some nice postcard size art prints that we've been playing some games with.
History this week was the Celts and the Barbarian invasion of Britain. Luke picked up on the similarities between this and the Islamic invasion of Spain, which I though was cool. A little Arthurian legend and some Beowulf. I read the short chapter of the Beowulf story from SOTW this week, and now we'll spend a few days reading this lengthier version.
Science is the human body, teeth this week, which I am surprisingly not enjoying at all. I'm not sure why because I generally like that - it's part of the reason I went to med school! We're also watching The Planet Earth series from the BBC. This was a gift from my brother for Christmas. It is by far the best use our media room has seen.
Both Luke and Peyton are reading Raoul Dahl right now. The Magic Finger for Peyton, The BFG for Luke. What fun!
Have a nice weekend!
Labels: Baby Talk, Homeschooling
Monday, January 14, 2008
Life and stuff
Some thoughts in a quiet house.
Revamping school is complete (for now). Love My Father's World, but half a school year to cover everything from the Fall of Rome through the Reformation is not nearly enough. So, I've rescheduled and reworked that whole deal, and we'll be finishing the Reformation before next Christmas. Lots more time to read some good stuff that way, but still only scratching the surface. And I don't know how I've missed The Baldwin Project all this time.
Bulking up our Latin studies. I was so skeptical and now we all love Latin. We're spending about 40 minutes, 4 days a week on it. I would feel hypocritical wearing a t-shirt with a clever Latin saying on it if I didn't have a bit of Latin knowledge, and it's on my Bucket List. So I *had* to bump it up.
Studying 1 John with our Sunday night Bible study. It's been a while since I read it. Forgot how really good it is. Sing with me now..."if we are walking in the light, as He is in the light..." Everyone denomination apparently sings a chorus of this verse, but to a different tune.
The guys are thinking of going on a mission trip to Honduras in April. A backpacking, sleeping under the stars kind of trip. Is it wrong to covet someone else's mission trip? Yes, I think it is.
We are getting a new library WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE of my house!!!! Even though I'm not sure how I will explain the late fees, I'm still very, very excited.
Romy loves avocado. That's my girl.
Guitar Hero is a lot of fun. I rule. Should I be embarrassed to say that publicly? I have a feeling I should.
Gratuitous Romy photos:
Revamping school is complete (for now). Love My Father's World, but half a school year to cover everything from the Fall of Rome through the Reformation is not nearly enough. So, I've rescheduled and reworked that whole deal, and we'll be finishing the Reformation before next Christmas. Lots more time to read some good stuff that way, but still only scratching the surface. And I don't know how I've missed The Baldwin Project all this time.
Bulking up our Latin studies. I was so skeptical and now we all love Latin. We're spending about 40 minutes, 4 days a week on it. I would feel hypocritical wearing a t-shirt with a clever Latin saying on it if I didn't have a bit of Latin knowledge, and it's on my Bucket List. So I *had* to bump it up.
Studying 1 John with our Sunday night Bible study. It's been a while since I read it. Forgot how really good it is. Sing with me now..."if we are walking in the light, as He is in the light..." Everyone denomination apparently sings a chorus of this verse, but to a different tune.
The guys are thinking of going on a mission trip to Honduras in April. A backpacking, sleeping under the stars kind of trip. Is it wrong to covet someone else's mission trip? Yes, I think it is.
We are getting a new library WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE of my house!!!! Even though I'm not sure how I will explain the late fees, I'm still very, very excited.
Romy loves avocado. That's my girl.
Guitar Hero is a lot of fun. I rule. Should I be embarrassed to say that publicly? I have a feeling I should.
Gratuitous Romy photos:
Labels: Baby Talk, Bible study, Homeschooling, mission work, The GRP, Wii
