OK--can I just say that Emma is smart? When Matt came home from the Boston meeting, he brought with him one of those nail puzzles--where two giant nails are twisted together and it seems impossible to separate them? Of course Matt can do it (would you expect any less?) and he showed me the trick to it, although I still can't do it every time because I get impatient and give up.
Well, Emma sat there today playing with them, and suddenly said, "Look, Dad--I did it!" She had indeed. She didn't know how to put them back together, so Matt did it for her. About a minute later, she had it undone again.
I am very impressed.
--Jen
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Daily Quote
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
--Ray Bradbury
--Ray Bradbury
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Lesson Plans
Today in the afternoon I went out to Border's, my favorite place for lesson planning. Sometimes it seems such a bother to pack everything up and drag it there, but it is so worth it to have quiet--of course, it isn't absolutely quiet there, but none of the noise is directed at me, so I find it no problem at all to tune it out. Plus I can order delicious coffee drinks, which are a luxury I seldom have....
Today I focused on Julia. I got her planned from next week until the end of February. The first plan is usually the hardest, because I have to go through the calendar and figure out all the holidays and half days involved (we have half days when there are certain clubs or field trips going on, for birthdays and occasionally just for fun). Plus I gave us Leap Day off--because after all, that day is only once every 4 years, so why not? Also, there are some things the girls have in common, such as French, gym, art, and projects for History and Science clubs that is more work to plan for the first girl--I just copy those assignments into the other girl's planner.
The biggest surprise? As March begins, Julia will only have 18 pages left in her math book for the year! So I guess the remainder of the time will be spent on doing those test prep workbooks--she has her first standardized test next year, so it's time to practice with the little circles. That will be a good math review as well. I was also pleased to note that the next section of her book deals with graphs, beginner fractions (shaded shapes and figuring out that 2/3 is greater than 1/2 by looking at the shading), time and money, geometric shapes, measurement and conversions such as inches to feet to yards, cups to pints to quarts to gallons, etc. The reason I am pleased is because I have always found these topics to be very easy to cover and get done--as opposed to this first half of the year, which was multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division--very boring and labor intensive, designed to cause the maximum number of arguments every time the book is opened.
Also, I admitted defeat on the science CD I thought both girls could handle (it claims to be appropriate for K-12, where you just assign harder material and projects the older the student is). Unfortunately, it bored Julia senseless and she never wanted to do it. It is full of Internet links, and she just never wanted to click on anything and read what was there. So I took the far less inspired route and assigned topics from a 3rd grade complete curriculum that I had from the days of Rachel but hadn't cracked open for Julia. While I was there I also decided to use the social studies curriculum--we had been using the American Girls books and then making little unit studies around the time period--but frankly it was a lot of work! Since I was already using the science, I decided to switch and let Julia read the American Girls for fun. She does enjoy the books a lot.
So tomorrow afternoon I will head out to plan for Rachel. I will bring Ben's books along, too (which I did today also, but after 3 hours was headachy and decided I was finished) and possibly get to him. But even if I don't, his plans are by far the simplest and I can plan the week while he does assignments if I have to. Or, I could go out on New Year's Eve or Day, or the following weekend if need be.
It's really much harder to plan three sets of lessons than two!
--Jen
Today I focused on Julia. I got her planned from next week until the end of February. The first plan is usually the hardest, because I have to go through the calendar and figure out all the holidays and half days involved (we have half days when there are certain clubs or field trips going on, for birthdays and occasionally just for fun). Plus I gave us Leap Day off--because after all, that day is only once every 4 years, so why not? Also, there are some things the girls have in common, such as French, gym, art, and projects for History and Science clubs that is more work to plan for the first girl--I just copy those assignments into the other girl's planner.
The biggest surprise? As March begins, Julia will only have 18 pages left in her math book for the year! So I guess the remainder of the time will be spent on doing those test prep workbooks--she has her first standardized test next year, so it's time to practice with the little circles. That will be a good math review as well. I was also pleased to note that the next section of her book deals with graphs, beginner fractions (shaded shapes and figuring out that 2/3 is greater than 1/2 by looking at the shading), time and money, geometric shapes, measurement and conversions such as inches to feet to yards, cups to pints to quarts to gallons, etc. The reason I am pleased is because I have always found these topics to be very easy to cover and get done--as opposed to this first half of the year, which was multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division--very boring and labor intensive, designed to cause the maximum number of arguments every time the book is opened.
Also, I admitted defeat on the science CD I thought both girls could handle (it claims to be appropriate for K-12, where you just assign harder material and projects the older the student is). Unfortunately, it bored Julia senseless and she never wanted to do it. It is full of Internet links, and she just never wanted to click on anything and read what was there. So I took the far less inspired route and assigned topics from a 3rd grade complete curriculum that I had from the days of Rachel but hadn't cracked open for Julia. While I was there I also decided to use the social studies curriculum--we had been using the American Girls books and then making little unit studies around the time period--but frankly it was a lot of work! Since I was already using the science, I decided to switch and let Julia read the American Girls for fun. She does enjoy the books a lot.
So tomorrow afternoon I will head out to plan for Rachel. I will bring Ben's books along, too (which I did today also, but after 3 hours was headachy and decided I was finished) and possibly get to him. But even if I don't, his plans are by far the simplest and I can plan the week while he does assignments if I have to. Or, I could go out on New Year's Eve or Day, or the following weekend if need be.
It's really much harder to plan three sets of lessons than two!
--Jen
Holidays
After a wonderful holiday with Grandma and Poppy, aunts, uncles and cousins, we are happy to be back home. The kittens and cats missed us immensely--we were greeted with a chorus of purrs, meows and pleas for attention (okay, and food, which they'd greedily gobbled and needed more of!) and slept piled on top of us, as if they could make sure we wouldn't leave them again. We had a pile of mail, a pile of eggs in Lila's cat house (only one in the coop!), a pile of pine needles to vacuum up in the living room--and a VAST pile of things to unpack and put away. We spent all day yesterday getting things back in order, and were rewarded with a nice day today of homemade blueberry muffins and coffee, movies, and talking while the kids played with new toys and got reacquainted with old ones.
It's nice to get away, but even nicer to come home!
--Jen
It's nice to get away, but even nicer to come home!
--Jen
Daily Quote
Parents have become so convinced that educators know what is best for their children that they forget that they themselves are really the experts.
--Marian Wright Edelman
--Marian Wright Edelman
Sunday, December 23, 2007
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
It's early, I know. But tomorrow we are off after we open all the gifts under the tree and have our traditional homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast. We are spending the holiday with my parents as we do every year. It's nice for the kids because on Christmas Eve we open our gifts to them and to one another, gifts from Grandma B., plus gifts that were mailed to us from other family and friends and even from friends at Matt's office. Then on Christmas Day we do stockings, Santa gifts, and gifts to and from Grandma and Poppy. Finally, a day or two later we get together with my whole family at my sister's house, and we have a Secret Santa exchange. (With 3 siblings, spouses, 15 grandchildren and now 2 great grandchildren, this is by FAR the best way to deal with Christmas!)
So I probably won't post much in the coming week. From our family to yours, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a healthy and peaceful new year!
--Jen
So I probably won't post much in the coming week. From our family to yours, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a healthy and peaceful new year!
--Jen
Baby Jetpack
Baby Jetpack is the name of a game that Ben and Emma have been playing for a long time. When they play it, Ben carries Emma piggyback and they have a whole pretend world where they are exploring space. Emma is "Baby Jetpack" and Ben uses her to fly around and save the world or something. Sometimes they crash land on the rug, and sometimes Julia gets into the act too, and directs Ben, plays the villain, or uses her strong back to make Ben the jetpack. The thing that gets me about the game is how close they are when they play it--Emma grabs onto Ben like a spider monkey, and he carries her around the house like it is the only thing he cares about or ever will. It is so cute to see them like that. I truly believe that all the trouble of having three babies in four and a half years was worth it to see those three such good friends. They really do love each other, which is all I can ask for!
--Jen
--Jen
Daily Quote
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.
--John Lennon
--John Lennon
Friday, December 21, 2007
Remember Summer?
OK--this is kind of random, considering it's 4 days till Christmas and the winter solstice and all. But I just helped Emma into all her gear to go play in the back yard with Ben and Julia--not her snow pants at least, because it's fairly warm today, considering what the past two weeks have been like, but still her coat, boots, hat and mittens---and it just got me thinking of how beautiful summer days are. This photo of Ben was taken on Labor Day, when we went to the beach with our good friend Matt who was visiting from Seattle and wanted to get as much beach as he could while with us. Ben was having a wonderful time "surfing" and was occupied this way for a really long time. I can remember sitting in my chair watching and taking photos--it was hot, I was tan, I'd been in the water swimming, there was a nice breeze....really, there isn't much that's better than a day like that!
--Jen
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