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Greenleaf School update

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

We are almost through with the first nine weeks of our school year. For lack of time and laziness in creativity, I’m listing their accomplishments as yet.

Math~
Ty: Adds and subtracts, with regrouping, four-digit numbers, including money.
Kyle: writes numbers to 150, adds and subtracts using a number line, adds and subtracts without a number line (mental math) to sums of 12.

English~
Ty: Reads “The Magic Treehouse” books, spells second grade high frequency words
Kyle: reads “Frog and Toad,” spells Dolch words

History~
Both children read and listen to stories about Norse gods, English and Irish legends, and the Old Testament.

Life Science~
Ty: Notes the differences between invertebrates and chordates, the differences between the five chordate orders, hypothesizes on special features’ functions (whiskers, beaks, shells)
Kyle: Differentiates between living and non-living things, plants and animals, names parts of a tree and knows their functions

German~
Both children count, recite the alphabet, name body parts, months, days of the week, family members by relationship, and rooms in the house
Ty: writes
Kyle: listens and recites

Art~
Both children work on line compositions and projects on positive and negative shapes.

Handwork~
Ty: knits rows of 12 stitches.

Penmanship~
Ty: practices lower case letters, Dolch words, proper nouns in history
Kyle: practices capital letters, Dolch words

Piano~
Ty: plays harmonies, triads, staccato, and dotted quarter notes in C, F, and G Majors
Kyle: plays Middle C position melodies

Everyday, we journal, study mathematics, English, and German. The boys alternate days to practice piano or do their penmanship assignments. Each fortnight, we study a new Block subject (Art, Science, Handwork, Legends).

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Let’s Go for a Walk

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

I have been exercising four times a week for the past month or so. The boys ride their bikes, and I pull the three girls in a Radio Flyer. I also carry a telescopic tactical baton in its deployed position in case of stray dogs or creepy people. We don’t have a lot of either of the two in this neighborhood, but you never know until you know. And by that time, it’s too late.

We go around the lake, which isn’t really visible from the street where we walk because it’s a private lake. The circumference is suitable for a morning walk (just under a mile), and the scenery is pleasant. To get to the lake, we take the long route. To the lake, around the lake, and back, we travel between two and a half and three miles.

Most mornings, I’m really working hard at a quick pace. I sing the running cadences that we sang in the Army: “A Yellow Bird” and “Hail O Ordnance Corps” are my favorites and the ones that I remember. It’s been 10 years since I sang cadences in formation. But some mornings, I do low-intensity exercise, so I don’t huff and puff so much.

As we come within a quarter mile of our finish line, I pick up the pace to where I’m almost at a jog (but I can’t jog because the wheels on the wagon aren’t built for that speed – and because I hate jogging). Our last tenth of a mile is our cool down period. When we get home, we drink lots and lots of water!

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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Why am I posting so frequently without a title? Because I have been putting my immediate thoughts on my facebook status and then realizing that I’m using fb as our family archives when THIS blog should be our archives!

That mentioned, I found Isis’ empty food bowl in her crate. Isis was standing over it. Taylor had given the dog her dinner. I looked more closely and found what looked like herbs in her bowl. It seems that Taylor, in her want to do things right, had sprinkled parsley on Isis’ food. (We put garlic on her food to ward of ticks). Taylor confused parsley with garlic. I thought that was really cute and sweet.

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Home Schooling Update

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

At the beginning of the year, I started a new home schooling routine: Before we start the week of schooling, I plan lessons, incorporating all the core subject books (handwriting, journal, mathematics) and add a sprinkle of formal learning of science and social studies from E.D. Hirsch’s What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. The chart is working better than the previous, which had only the subjects that we were doing that day but no defined lesson.

My mom gave the boys Brain Quest Workbooks. Kyle hasn’t started on his Kindergarten book yet. He is still four, and I’m waiting for his birthday to begin requiring his participation in home schooling. Although, he has been practicing his handwriting on a laminated board with a dry-erase marker. Ty is halfway through the Grade One book, completing six to eight pages a day. He flies right through it. Sometimes, he needs my help, especially if we’re introducing a new concept, i.e. parts of speech. But when he understands it, he’s flying. On those easy Brain Quest days, I can plan tougher, more involved lessons in piano or geography.

Everyday, we work in our composition books. Lately, I’ve given Ty a topic for his journal entry because he was getting bored of writing what happened the day before or his plans for the weekend. This week, we are having a Valentine’s unit study, so his topics are on love and friendship. We read the history of Valentine’s Day together, and eight of those words were for handwriting (cupid, birds, Lupercalia, saints). Handwriting is copying the same word three times, making it look better than the previous time. He does this for days of the week, months, parts of plants, continents, planets… whatever we are studying or have studied. Last week, he copied nursery rhymes.

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Twins In the Night

Monday, August 25th, 2008

After six weeks of trying to get it together, I still haven’t gotten it together. I don’t know how often the babies wake up during the night. I don’t know which one is eating more, sleeping more, or having more diaper changes during the night. It’s dark. I just grab whichever baby is crying (I can’t even tell their cries apart, by the way!), change Baby’s diaper, and latch Baby onto whichever side feels the fullest.

Dear Husband did have the idea of putting the couches together to make one great co-sleeper. Before going to bed, I join the loveseat and the sofa, tuck a blanket into the cushions so that the babies won’t fall through the cracks, and prepare a diaper changing station. I fall asleep in my proper room and about three hours later, I pick up a crying baby and move her to the couch. She falls asleep while latched on to nurse, and so do I. I don’t know when the second baby wakes up, but the first baby wakes up when I unlatch her. So I have two babies to latch. Throughout the rest of the night, the three of us sleep together. Sometimes we are joined by a third girl who is *way* to big to fit with us, but we manage. I wake up to the gurgling sounds of the coffee maker or to the older children’s laughter. Refreshed!

Posted in Kendall, Routines, Talon | No Comments »

First Day of School

Monday, August 20th, 2007

This weekend, we did a little bit of preparation for school. For Herbology, we planted cucumbers, watermelon, squash, bush beans, and other summer produce – “summer” actually means autumn down here. We’ll plant, from seed, spinach and lettuce later in the fall.

Ty found a greenthumb:

Today is the first day of the public school year. We woke up to the squealing brakes and roaring engines of school buses. Dad got out of bed early (we went to sleep early, which helps) and began an Herbology class with Ty. This is what the Greenleaf School is all about. They were observing the cucumber that sprouted yesterday morning. Ty was still in his pajamas during class.

Dad is out purchasing kitchen herbs to be transplanted. The boys are reading a book together: It sounds that Ty is reveiwing colors and shapes with Kyle. Taylor and I are about to cut circles of screen for the transplant herbs’ pots.

I always liked the first day of school. We don’t have pictures of brand new lunch boxes, backpacks, nor school clothes because we don’t have those things. What for? So here’s a picture of the boys on the computer, putting a house together for The Read Family.

And this is to explain why there are so few pictures of Kyle:

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The Simple, Green Life is Tough

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

It finally rained again. There are pros and cons to rain. The summertime is the rainy season around here. Well, it’s more thunderstorm than rain. We had a few rainless weeks, and it was pretty nice having the sun to dry diapers and clothes quickly. I could wash up to six loads and get them dry by the time I got back home from work without the threat of rain or lightning.

But it finally rained again. We needed it, too. The grass is turning brown again, and our poor lantanas and pentas in from of the house were being baked right outside! That’s my fault, though. We have rainwater that we’ve been collecting since the first rains of spring. It doesn’t occur to me to water the plants except when it rains.

*head desk*

Now that it’s raining again, the clothes takes hours to dry. It’s so muggy and humid out, that even in full sun, the clothes is wetter than when it came out of the wash.

I’m totally exaggerating, but you get the point.

It feels hotter because of the humidity, so we don’t go outside anymore. We used to spend late mornings in the “fort,” reading books, watching bugs, and relaxing on the swing. But the threat of mosquitoes’ carrying off one of my kids is too much to bear.

I feel like a heel using the dryer on perfectly sunny days. We’re running the air conditioner now, so using the dryer just uses up more energy… Energy that is *free* when it comes from the sun! I’m at a loss. We could put up some clothes line in our basement and build a fire, but we don’t have a basement, and I’m afraid of fire.

Yesterday, I washed three loads, including diapers, and dried them in the sun. It threatened to rain, as it does on most summer afternoons, so I brought the half-dried clothes and diapers inside and used the drier on them for a few minutes. That may seem a little silly and takes more energy on my own part, but the clothes dried, right? Yes. I suppose that’s the point: to do little, silly things that make you tired of doing them, like washing diapers.

Posted in Green Living, Routines | No Comments »

Many Hands Make Light Work

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

We have been walking to the laundromat lately because I thought that it would be good for the kids to walk places and not ride in the car so much. Now that we’re moving, we won’t need a laundromat as our new place will have a washing machine.

Today was a fun laundry day. Our way to the laundromat was typical: Ty pulled the wagon that carried the load while I carried Taylor and kept sheperding Kyle to follow us at the right speed – he tends to lag. At the laundromat, we did some homeschooling (read fairy tales, flipped through Nature Flash cards, and signed the alphabet and some words and phrases). On the way back, though, Taylor was getting really tired – she was walking – so I put on my sling to carry her. But Kyle saw that I was wearing the sling, and he asked to be carried. I put Kyle in and sat Taylor on the bundle of clean and folded clothes, held on to her as I helped Ty with the wagon. I pushed; he pulled and steered.

With the two of us being the only ones walking, we made it back home in record time. It’s tiring, carrying Kyle, but the sling made it easier for him to ride on my back (horse-y like), and Taylor was falling asleep on her own lap while riding on the clothes. Over the speed bumps, she chuckled, and, well, I had a good time. Ty got a little lazy, noticing that I was pushing the wagon, but I told him to really pull and walk faster. He did. It made him laugh that he was almost running while pulling the wagon. It just made it easier to have everyone working and doing the part that they could do.

Posted in Everyday, Routines | No Comments »

Kyle Walks on Water

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

He’s always ready to go to work. And he’s always asking to go to work… when he’s not pretending to be a Mater, screaming about the Ghostlight. But he doesn’t like diaper changes (He ought to learn to go in the toilet), and he won’t keep his hair in a ponytail.

Yesterday, while at the bank, he points to the floor. “Hi, Mommy!” He waves like mad. “Hi, Mommy, I see you.”
I laugh, “Hi, Kyle! I see you, too. Can you see my reflection? Do you see the lights from the ceiling being reflected?”
“Yea!” he giggles. “It’s like water.”
“Yes, water reflects light, too.”

Then he crouches, purses his lips toward the floor and begins to blow. “Look, it’s like this.” And he makes a waving motion with his wrists and and fingers.
“Are you imagining the ripples in the water?”

The folks at the bank think the kids are so cute and well-behaved. (o_O) But the boys didn’t get a lollipop yesterday because they started running in circles (although one of the bank people said that it was okay, that no one was around), helping themselves to the muffins, and especially because they didn’t sit and be quiet when I had asked them about 17 times. Kyle kept laughing even though I was on the verge of spanking people. Still, they behaved well for the first half-hour of standing in line. So I can’t possibly be THAT angry with them.

We walked to the post office, which didn’t take us too long since I made them both run (while I carried Taylor in the sling). I just walked fast. It reminds me of Harry Potter, when he has to run to stay beside Dumbledore, who, being tall, takes one step for every three of Harry’s steps. Ty likes holding the door for people, but people don’t seem to want to accept that. They hold the door open, and say, “You can go ahead.” But that bothers Ty, and I don’t know how to tell a gentleman that Ty is learning to be a gentleman. And walking away, Ty gets hot and bothered and forgets to say “thank you.”

We picked up our mail, and Ty wanted to run some more. He’s capable of long-distance. I think we ought to put him in cross country or marathons when he’s older. (One time, we we at the zoo and had to get to the car ASAP, so I carried Taylor, pushed Kyle in the stroller and let Ty run beside me. For almost a mile, he kept the pace, without whining or complaining, just concentrating on running.) Kyle, on the other hand, is like me: explosive energy will save my life, not that cardio/endurance crap. He was tired when we got to the post office. Didn’t want to run back to the car. So I carried him some of the way. After he got in a better mood and my arms were tired, he ran some more. I think his diaper may be hindering him. Next step: Go in the toilet. Ya can’t be a professional hockey player if yer wearin’ diapers.

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Good Morning, Arthur

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

Last night the boys fell asleep after 11pm (the usual is 9pm), so I was sure that they’d either be cranky upon waking or they’d be waking later than usual. But no.
“Good morning, Mommy. Good morning, Daddy,” happily, cheerfully, even laughing, at the crack of dawn.

“Arthur” is supposed to come on Channel 17 at seven o’clock. Since Monday, the station switched that annoying “Maya & Miguel” show to 7am and “Arthur” to 7:30am. “Little Einsteins” comes on at 8am… so when’s breakfast? It used to be at 7:30, between both shows… ARRGH. Serves us right for not having TiVo. =P

Still, I hate that the public television station just switches the shows around. It’s not like I’m happy letting my kids watch just any shows. And the shows need to come on at certain times in order for them to fit in the routine. But the stupid public television station doesn’t give a hoot about what *I* want. They just ask for money every six months and scramble the shows up. Worse still, they air those dumb public school board meeting once a month, for SEVEN HOURS!!

*****

NASA must have known that we were not going to be able to catch the shuttle launch today, so they postponed it for tomorrow. At least NASA knows who their fans are… unlike the public television station.