The first thing I want to say about our first day of school is--I am completely exhausted! Remember, please, that legally I am homeschooling "only" three children. Well, Miss Emma has other plans! Not only did she insist that she needed "real" schoolwork--she was not going to be put off with coloring books like last year, thank you very much!--but she worked for two and a half hours!! She was an animal! I kept telling her that it was okay, she'd done a fantastic job for her first day and now she should go and play...well, that just wasn't cutting it. She kept demanding more and more and more.
We were all up early--I got up at 8:15 (which for me is akin to dawn!) and Rachel was up around 8:30. I had stressed the importance of this to her, since she has more work this year. Towards the end of last year we were letting lessons slide till 11 am or sometimes later, and it really made the whole day a mess. So as usual, I am starting the year with the best intentions of working all morning and being done by lunchtime or so. I made coffee and some breakfast, but didn't bother with getting dressed or making beds at all. The kids were ready to start!
I mentioned already that I've planned by the week this year, rather than daily. This will allow the girls to decide how they want to complete their schoolwork--whether it be concentrating on one or two subjects each day and doing a week's worth of work, or spreading everything equally across the week. It will also be handy when we have activities--such as tomorrow, when our homeschool group is going miniature golfing, and Wednesday when we have a picnic at the zoo with friends. We can work a bit less on days when we're busy, and more when we're home all day. The problem I didn't see is how nervous it would make me! I had Ben work for quite some time, because he was fresh and ready and raring to go--but we didn't complete much of anything, which makes me start thinking, what if I planned too much? What if we get to Friday and can't complete it all? Logically, I know that what will happen is that by Friday we'll be checking things off all over the place, finishing up subject by subject. Still, it's in my nature to worry that I'm not doing enough!
Ben did phonics, reading comprehension, an experiment for health class about sweating, art work, math, and two crossword puzzles in a language arts book. Emma did mazes, puzzles about animal babies and reality vs. fantasy, made a book about the farm, practiced writing lowercase "f" and finding words that begin with the letter, and did some writing of numbers. Julia and Rachel did their own thing, but I checked spelling, grammar, math, health, reading comprehension, and heard about witchcraft on Long Island in the 17th century and burial practices in Ancient China. Rachel also was reading "The Call of the Wild" for quite some time, and she is working with Matt on algebra right now. So I think it was a full day for everyone!
The most exhausting thing is trying to juggle everyone! My friend Kelly put it quite nicely when she said it's like keeping plates spinning in the air...I am trying to explain a concept to Ben, but then Julia has a math question, and Rachel wants to tell me about a woman they found in China who was so well preserved that she still had fruit seeds in her stomach, and Emma wants to know when I am going to help her with the next page....and then the cycle starts all over with different questions, desires and demands! It is very tiring, so much so that by the time we finished lunch and everyone was done for the day, I just wanted to go back to bed! But I had to hang laundry on the line, make the beds, do the dishes, oversee chores for the kids, fold laundry from the dryer, go to the pet store for crickets, Staples for a pencil sharpener that works, slog through my email, open the snail mail, put a turkey in the oven for dinner, and ride bikes with Ben like I promised....well, I did all that, and I also got to chat with a friend on the phone, post this to the blog, and make three loaves of banana bread.
But I am tired!!! Did I mention I'm tired???
--Jen
A blog about a busy mom who homeschools her four children, juggles activities and housework, and still manages to find quality time to be a family.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Daily Quote
So you eat, you sleep, and then this wonderful child comes out, but you don't feel like you have any control over that process, over her, over her character and who she is.
--Suzanne Vega
--Suzanne Vega
Friday, September 5, 2008
Peach Pies
On Wednesday we went peach picking....we enjoyed the peaches fresh from the trees, we made a fruit salad yesterday to take to the beach for our traditional Not Back to School party--we always do something fun the first day the schools are in session. We also ate a few here and there other than that. However, I knew we had so many that peach pies were in order.
I began with my buttery tart crust recipe--it's delicious and so much easier than regular pastry that must be rolled. I mix it in the food processor and then just pat it into place in the pans. Then I peeled and sliced peach after peach, filling my biggest bowl. I used some lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, a half cup of flour and about 2 cups of sugar, then tossed it all together. I topped them with streusel, made with brown sugar, flour, butter, oatmeal, cinnamon and cloves. Popped them in the oven for 40 minutes, and now we have four gorgeous pies...well, actually we ate almost a whole one for dessert. But at least two will go into the freezer, to be savored when there are no peaches to be found. A bright spot in the dreary winter....
I have to say, these peaches are lovely! I was looking at the deep rosy color in the bowl, marveling at them because supermarket peaches are nothing like this color. Nor do they taste as good. But since they are also about half the price--I guess that orchard peaches are a once a summer treat!
--Jen
I began with my buttery tart crust recipe--it's delicious and so much easier than regular pastry that must be rolled. I mix it in the food processor and then just pat it into place in the pans. Then I peeled and sliced peach after peach, filling my biggest bowl. I used some lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, a half cup of flour and about 2 cups of sugar, then tossed it all together. I topped them with streusel, made with brown sugar, flour, butter, oatmeal, cinnamon and cloves. Popped them in the oven for 40 minutes, and now we have four gorgeous pies...well, actually we ate almost a whole one for dessert. But at least two will go into the freezer, to be savored when there are no peaches to be found. A bright spot in the dreary winter....
I have to say, these peaches are lovely! I was looking at the deep rosy color in the bowl, marveling at them because supermarket peaches are nothing like this color. Nor do they taste as good. But since they are also about half the price--I guess that orchard peaches are a once a summer treat!
--Jen
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Want to See a Good Movie?
Matt and I joined Netflix a few months ago, and are enjoying it immensely. I finally got tired of saying, "No, I haven't seen that...or that..or that," because we may see two movies a year in the theater, and they could both be kids' movies. We love it because there's no hassle whatsoever. For $8.99 a month on a credit card, we just get movies in the mail. I have our queue lined up (the only part that takes a tiny bit of work--but it's fun too! And they will also give you recommendations of movies they think you'll like based on your ratings of watched movies and a quick questionnaire you can take) and they mail the top selection. We keep it as long as we like, then put it in its return envelope and put it in our mail box. Two days later we have another movie. So much easier than the whole video rental store thing!
Anyway, the point of this is that the other night Matt and I saw "The Orphanage," which is actually in Spanish with English subtitles. Normally I don't like subtitled movies because I always feel I'll miss something so I keep my eyes mostly glued to where the subtitles come up--and then I feel like I miss the actors' expressions, body language, etc. However, I'd heard about this movie and I really wanted to see it, so I was prepared to swallow my dislike of subtitles.
The movie is a suspense/horror movie. However, it is very well done. It isn't horror in the sense of gore or gratuitous violence--rather, it is a ghost story with very creepy music, set in a gorgeous but frightening castle-like house by the rocky coast of Spain and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It has a very clever plot which I can't really talk about or it will spoil the movie if you ever see it--but suffice it to say, you won't guess the mystery. It centers around a woman, Laura, who spent her first years in this orphanage but was adopted (I'm guessing she was 7 or 8...) and left. Years later, she and her husband come to live with their son, Simon, in the same orphanage in order to run a home for disabled children....there are a few mysterious things about Simon, and then things start to happen....
See it! I really think I may buy the DVD at some point; I liked it that much.
And on a tangent about Netflix---I was browsing the documentary section yesterday because I am feverishly planning schoolwork for the kids. After just 15 of the 71 pages of documentaries Netflix carries, I added 65 titles to my queue! They really have a stunning variety!
--Jen
Anyway, the point of this is that the other night Matt and I saw "The Orphanage," which is actually in Spanish with English subtitles. Normally I don't like subtitled movies because I always feel I'll miss something so I keep my eyes mostly glued to where the subtitles come up--and then I feel like I miss the actors' expressions, body language, etc. However, I'd heard about this movie and I really wanted to see it, so I was prepared to swallow my dislike of subtitles.
The movie is a suspense/horror movie. However, it is very well done. It isn't horror in the sense of gore or gratuitous violence--rather, it is a ghost story with very creepy music, set in a gorgeous but frightening castle-like house by the rocky coast of Spain and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It has a very clever plot which I can't really talk about or it will spoil the movie if you ever see it--but suffice it to say, you won't guess the mystery. It centers around a woman, Laura, who spent her first years in this orphanage but was adopted (I'm guessing she was 7 or 8...) and left. Years later, she and her husband come to live with their son, Simon, in the same orphanage in order to run a home for disabled children....there are a few mysterious things about Simon, and then things start to happen....
See it! I really think I may buy the DVD at some point; I liked it that much.
And on a tangent about Netflix---I was browsing the documentary section yesterday because I am feverishly planning schoolwork for the kids. After just 15 of the 71 pages of documentaries Netflix carries, I added 65 titles to my queue! They really have a stunning variety!
--Jen
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Beautiful Ocean, A Poem by Julia
Another inspired bit of poetry by my girl....
The Beautiful Ocean
The aqua waves, the fishes' scales
That shine like diamonds and little fan tails.
Lots and lots and lots of fish,
and colorful pebbles--all you wish.
Lots of conch shells, all you want,
slippery seaweed, cool and slimy from back to front.
Little hermit crabs, and little sea snails,
dive down deeper, then it's dolphins and whales.
Glistening tide pools, a soft sand bar
a coral reef and a big sea star.
Cool and slippery, baby seals
and hidden in rocks, shy moray eels.
Sunken ships and pirates' gold,
about this ship then tales were told.
The screaming gulls, the giant clams
that make huge pearls out of sand.
Mysterious squids that are simply gigantic,
ocean turtles you'll find in the ocean Atlantic.
A million grains of sparkling sand,
ocean birds singing across the land...
I love the ocean, I love the sea,
I love the ocean....
and the ocean loves me.
The Beautiful Ocean
The aqua waves, the fishes' scales
That shine like diamonds and little fan tails.
Lots and lots and lots of fish,
and colorful pebbles--all you wish.
Lots of conch shells, all you want,
slippery seaweed, cool and slimy from back to front.
Little hermit crabs, and little sea snails,
dive down deeper, then it's dolphins and whales.
Glistening tide pools, a soft sand bar
a coral reef and a big sea star.
Cool and slippery, baby seals
and hidden in rocks, shy moray eels.
Sunken ships and pirates' gold,
about this ship then tales were told.
The screaming gulls, the giant clams
that make huge pearls out of sand.
Mysterious squids that are simply gigantic,
ocean turtles you'll find in the ocean Atlantic.
A million grains of sparkling sand,
ocean birds singing across the land...
I love the ocean, I love the sea,
I love the ocean....
and the ocean loves me.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Lesson Planning
So I have been kind of steadily working on my lesson plans for the first six weeks of school. I am pretty much finished with Julia's and have just one more book to work through for Ben. Then it will be time to tackle Rachel's plan. Definitely the most difficult, because since she's in 8th grade there's much more work to be done. For instance, in addition to regular old history she is required to have NYS history and Constitution....call me forgetful, but I'm just about positive I NEVER studied New York history at all. I do remember a Constitutional Law class as an elective in 8th grade, but the Constitution itself was just part of American History. Anyway, so I got her some books about Long Island history to cover that requirement for now.
I also have to decide what to do with Shakespeare this year. I got some Barron's Shakespeare versions-- Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I loved these versions because it has the original text on the left and then a modern translation on the facing page, which is perfect when reading alone. I also got a small workbook with questions, quizzes and essays on Shakespearean works--but each play in it only has two or three pages of work. I'll have to decide what exactly I want to do with studying those.
Of course, Matt will plan math and science for her, so at least I don't have to worry about those. Algebra and biology--what fun! It's going to be a challenge to get him to sit down and plan those lessons.....we've spoken a lot about his procrastination skills. One week to get it done!
As for Emma, I have some workbooks I found that the other kids never got to or never finished. She is begging for work, so I figured these would be a great start. I indulged her desire to "do school" on Saturday morning, and sat down at the table with her, a pen and some crayons, and a reading readiness book that claimed to be geared for K-1st...she did 27 pages in one sitting! With NO trouble at all. If this is what passes in school for K-1st work, then that is just pathetic. Since then she keeps asking to do more school work, but since Matt and I painted this weekend (second coat of the exterior is about halfway done!) we never went back to it.
So, here comes the final week of summer vacation. I am so sad!!!
--Jen
I also have to decide what to do with Shakespeare this year. I got some Barron's Shakespeare versions-- Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I loved these versions because it has the original text on the left and then a modern translation on the facing page, which is perfect when reading alone. I also got a small workbook with questions, quizzes and essays on Shakespearean works--but each play in it only has two or three pages of work. I'll have to decide what exactly I want to do with studying those.
Of course, Matt will plan math and science for her, so at least I don't have to worry about those. Algebra and biology--what fun! It's going to be a challenge to get him to sit down and plan those lessons.....we've spoken a lot about his procrastination skills. One week to get it done!
As for Emma, I have some workbooks I found that the other kids never got to or never finished. She is begging for work, so I figured these would be a great start. I indulged her desire to "do school" on Saturday morning, and sat down at the table with her, a pen and some crayons, and a reading readiness book that claimed to be geared for K-1st...she did 27 pages in one sitting! With NO trouble at all. If this is what passes in school for K-1st work, then that is just pathetic. Since then she keeps asking to do more school work, but since Matt and I painted this weekend (second coat of the exterior is about halfway done!) we never went back to it.
So, here comes the final week of summer vacation. I am so sad!!!
--Jen
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