Monthly Archives: September 2008

09.07.08
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When it rains, it pours

The kids and I returned, soaking wet, from our grocery shopping yesterday to discover a flooded basement. Since the bulk of the mess was under the boys’ bedroom window, my guess is that the window well filled with water and leaked through.

Bill is TDY. In Europe. I’m sure he’s miserable.

Well, the boys’ room needed cleaning anyway. Somehow, none of the dozens of books scattered on their floor got wet, but they did lose some of their artwork. Oh well.

I’ve been reading a Charlotte Mason book and last night’s reading covered tidiness. Just add that to the long list of good habits my children seem to be lacking. I’ve got less than 8 years before I set Fritz loose on the world. Guess I’d better get started, especially given this morning’s scenario where he dressed for mass wearing jeans with holes in them. After he said his church pants were AWOL, I up-ended every hamper in the house to no avail. He finally found them on the floor of his closet.

{sigh}

The Emergency Flood Service guys arrived at 9 am while I was still in my bathrobe. In about 5 minutes, they’ll have to move their van so I can leave. I’m not comfortable having strange men in my house when Bill is gone, and even less having them in the house when I’m gone too. I guess I’ll mention the vicious attack dog upstairs, so they’ll stay in the basement. As much as I do not like my dog’s aggressive nature, times like these I’m thankful for the loud barking which evaporates any potential “easy victim” thoughts.

Happy Sunday.

09.06.08
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Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere

Yesterday afternoon, we used team effort to clean the downstairs family room/toy room/school room and bathroom. Katie was strutting around with Mary on her left hip and a feather duster in her right hand.

“This is easy, Mom,” she said with a tone that implied she didn’t know why I was always complaining about such a thing. Yeah, you go girl.

Did anybody else have to vacuum 2 cups off rice of the school room floor?

09.05.08
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School in session

Oh, how I wish that my students applied themselves to the subjects I teach- like spelling – as much as they do to their extracurricular drawing.

Fritz and I are reading George Washington’s World, and loving it. Billy is listening in and began copying the drawings found inside it, and then Fritz started doing it too. Had I actually assigned either one of them the task of drawing these historical people, they would have balked, of that you can be sure.

My kids hate crayons, and markers are too messy. For years I’ve been having them use colored pencils, and they’ve liked that okay. Recently, I bought a bunch of colored gel pens, and they really enjoy this medium. Colored pencils are cheaper, but the pens get better results.

Last year, we read a book on Daniel Boone. The boys pulled from that two important pieces of knowledge about Daniel: he got his own gun when he was twelve (they are counting the days), and he never really learned to read or write. I’ve tried to explain that there isn’t much of a living to be made in hunting and trapping nowadays, but that seems less important than the idea that you can be illiterate and famous.

You’ll notice Billy draws for his father and Fritz draws for me. I don’t know why that is. I do know that our first week of school, I had very seriously considered sending Fritz to our church’s school. Then I saw the $4000 price tag and came to my senses. Actually, I realized that sending him off to another teacher would only shift the homework struggles to the afternoon and evening hours; it wouldn’t actually make him a better student. Perhaps these “love notes” are his way of apologizing for all the wrinkles he’s causing his momma.

Despite the 4 day week, we should be getting all our work done today. I staggered my students’ school year starts. Katie and Jenny are finishing week 1; Billy is finishing week 2; and Fritz began his school year three weeks ago.
I do not recommend this.
The one who is supposed to be working is resentful that the others are not. The ones who are not working are upset that they don’t “get” to do school. My friend, Rachel, had a better idea of staggering subjects: first, Latin; then, math; etc. Next year, perhaps, I’ll try this.
Another great idea from Rachel was having blocks of time (yes, others recommend this too, but Rachel was right there with the suggestion when I needed it). I had put together a progression schedule, which was the order I wanted my students to tackle their subjects. If everybody progressed at a reasonable pace, I would be able to work with my kindergartener while my older students did independent work. Well, my older students don’t like to work at a reasonable pace, especially when it comes to math. I would send Fritz off to do math, and, an hour later, he would be a quarter way through.

Week 1 with Fritz was a difficult week.

Week 2, we began using half hour blocks of time. Although I may go over by a few minutes if they are almost done with an assignment, I try to move on at the end of the half hour to other things. I have 3 half hour segments for math for Fritz, including one segment which is about 15-20 minutes of speed drill, mental work, and lesson (Saxon math). He is much improved and mostly getting his work done within that time frame.
I also start Fritz early – no later than 8 am and by 730 if I can. This is hard on the other kids (Jenny and Katie) who want to begin too. But the girls are improving in their patience, and I think may grow to enjoy the 10 – 15 minute blocks of free time they get because their lessons only take a fraction of the time of their brothers.

Last week, I used a hand-made chart to assign subjects for each student to the different blocks of time. It was a work in progress. After I added in the girls this week and saw how things meshed, my biggest problem was trying to see, at a glance, what we were supposed to be doing at a given time. Thrifty mom that I am (and lazy, too, not wanting to drag 6 kids to the store), I took some old pocket folders and cut them up into an index card size.

Notice the drawing on the front of the card? These cards will change as we work everything out, so using pristine cards or paper didn’t really make sense.

I made one card for each half hour block from 8 am until noon. On one side it has the time, and on the other, it has the time and each student’s assigned subject for that block of time. I punched a hole in the corner (and reinforced it), and connected them all with a caribiner clip we happened to have. (Pictures are blurry because my good camera is in Bulgaria with Bill). I like flipping the card to the appropriate time block and seeing what subjects we need to be tackling. Each student has a weekly checklist with the actual assignments.

So as we conclude these first, second and third weeks of school, I’m optimistic that it will be a good year. Having four students, especially when the older ones are unwilling to work independently, is challenging. But Fritz is starting to see that having the bulk of his work done before lunchtime is possible, and having the bulk of the afternoon free is wonderful, so his motivation is improving. I’m going to try to do one more complete week (next week), and then Bill should have a week off. Taking breaks when we want to is such a lovely advantage to homeschooling.
09.04.08
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Music class

I don’t know why, but I’ve had the show tune New York New York running through my head. So, for several days, I’ve been dancing around, baby on hip, boldly belting out the lyrics.

Habits like these are one of the many reasons I’m glad I work at home.

It is a rather catchy song, and my kids have picked it up. One of them (Billy, the good memorizer) has the lyrics down pat. But he’s off on the melody.

Worse, Fritz listens more to him than to me, and he’s not as good with memorizing, so he’s hacking the lyrics and using Billy’s tune.

They’re driving me nuts. I spend half my time singing the song and the other half of my time trying to correct their singing of the song.

Peter has the melody down okay. It’s great to see him with his huge grin and big eyes, striking a pose, arms overhead, and singing at the tops of his lungs:

“New Yuck, New Yuck!”

I’m not correcting him.

09.02.08
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Opinions, please

Apparently, I have too much free time. And I have too much remnant fabric.

I’m working on a bunch of these to go to my sister’s husband and his troop in Iraq. No, I’m not taking orders for any others. I really don’t think I can do them this year, mainly because I offered to give any extras I make to my sister’s FRG to use as a fundraiser.

I want to use the remnant fabric to make some cute little stocking ornaments. Here is my prototype. I thought I would use a glitter gel pen to write “2008” on the cuff.

So, what do you think I should sell them for? Originally, I had thought $5. Now, looking at it, I think $3. If you saw them at a little kiosk and thought, “Hey, that’s cute. I’d love to hang that on my tree. I wonder how much it is,” what price would make you consider it, and at what point do you walk away?

And, you military wives out there, any suggestions for making it fancier? I could cut out tiny little velcro patches, but that would be tedious and nothing would fit on there anyway. A soldier could always pin his rank on there. Well, up to a one-star could. Two stars would be too big.
09.02.08
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New Month’s Resolution for September

Have I mentioned I’m running in the Army Ten Miler? Yeah, that’s in less than five weeks. It’s gonna hurt.

What’s my resolution this month? Run? Actually, I’m okay on that. What I need to do is stretch. I’m very very bad about that part, and it shows. Rather, it feels. I’m beginning to realize that I’m not a kid any more. Muscles, tendons, joints and all the rest do not improve with age. I have a foot injury from two years ago that I am occasionally reminded of, especially since I keep reinjuring it. If I get out of bed too quickly in the morning, I feel my plantar fasciitis. And in the last week, shin splints have decided to be the usual ailment du jour.

So, I must stretch, every day, run or not. Otherwise I’ll be doing the Ten Miler on the back of the rescue vehicle.

What is a New Month’s Resolution? Every month I look at where I need to focus my attention. Perhaps I’ve been procrastinating on certain chores. Perhaps I need to spend some extra time with one or more of the kids. Perhaps I’d like to try a new habit. New Month’s Resolutions are not grandiose plans to lose ten pounds or declutter the entire house or give up smoking (of course, I don’t smoke, but if I did, this would not be the venue in which I would give it up). New Month’s resolutions are short-term commitments; they are easily attained goals; they focus on what is needed right now, instead of what is best for a lifetime.

Do you have a new month’s resolution?

09.01.08
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Good grief Gustav

On Friday, from my husband, via email:

If Gustav hits Louisiana, I’ll have to go to Germany.

If that makes sense to you, you must be in the National Guard. It’s okay. It’s not like we had serious plans for his vacation. And I’ll take this change of plans over the scenario from three years ago when Katrina hit: Bill worked 36 days in a row, had one day off, then worked 24 more days in a row. Fun times.

Pray for the poor people in that area.

09.01.08
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My baby doll

There’s a new life-like, animated doll on the market. She crawls, she cruises. She smiles, she babbles. She eats, she fills her diaper.

Special features:

  • Paper shredder mode: sensitive documents can be safely thrown away after she gets her hands on them!
  • Room decorator: custom and creative interior design for your floors using common items found in your kitchen drawers or the toy bin or the recycle bucket!
  • Alarm clock: set for 4 AM, she will beat you on the head and shoulders while yelling “Dada!”
  • Personal trainer: give those shoulders and back a workout! She has her own special way to encourage you to lift weights by lifting her! Even entrenched couch potatoes will be inspired by her cries!
  • Spiritual director: from cries for mercy to pleading for her safety to gratitude for such a marvelous creation, she will keep you, mentally, on your knees!

Each doll is made-to-order with a 9 month lead time. Dolls require an average 9 to 12 month maturation to get full results. Results may vary, and each doll is unique. Recommended for ages 20 and up.