Taking it in Stride

Today was NOT a productive day.  We got next to nothing done and I have not and will not have time to correct what they did today.  Jane corrected her Algebra lesson and got two wrong (I'm okay with that).  Yesterday, she had a practice problem that she couldn't get and I stepped in and couldn't get it either.  Don't panic; these are the real gems of homeschooling.  When we learn together it is like an adventure and it somehow is retained better.  We walked away from it because I decided it was probably a "brain hiccup" (the heat is really melting our brains, right?) and we would come back to it today and triumph.  Except we didn't come back to it.  I spent my day running unexpected errands and being a taxi service. I am also busy with doing things for my second oldest son, Leo, to get him back to college in a couple of weeks and some days it's just hard to get it all in.

Ruth did manage to get some math and reading comprehension done, although I haven't looked to see how well she did.  I love her comprehension book because she learns about all kinds of things while improving her reading comprehension.  Today, she told me we should get a mongoose. 

Me:  "Oh, really.  Why?"

Ruth: "Because it says they are the best and catching and eating rats and mice. We could put it in the basement and then we wouldn't have to worry about the mice."

Here is where I smiled nicely and assured that we no longer have a rodent problem (yes, we did but now we don't).  I think she was disappointed because she was hoping for a new pet!

So, I'd like to panic about today because I know we also will not have a very productive day tomorrow.  I promised to take the girls swimming.  I take care of a friend's daughter 3 days a week.  Emma is 1 year younger than Ruth and they get along wonderfully.  Emma's family has a pool in the backyard so we are going over there to swim tomorrow.  Of'course, I plan to have the girls do school work after lunch, but we will see if that actually happens.  I am trying to balance school with still allowing summer fun for the girls.  It's a bit tricky sometimes but I think it is working so far.  They are generally on target with their goals so I just need to relax and take these bad days in stride.

Sunday Evening; All's calm

Sunday evening.  It's calm and quiet in the house.  I'm making my BIG batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I've reviewed where we are on our goals for this 6-week school session and it's looking good.  This in itself is interesting. 

A week ago, I was a little discouraged that we were not getting more done.  I was, quite honestly, starting to panic and ready to tell Jane she had to go to a traditional high school.  Then, the very next day, after she read twice what she was supposed to for history, I quizzed her.  Each section comes with on-line quizzes, but I like to do the section questions in the book to get a feel for how well she's understanding the material.  She got all the questions correct!  In a matter of one day, I went from panic and despair to awesome and confident.  Funny.  I try to remember that at all times; a day makes a difference.

We are looking good for our goals except Jane's Algebra.  I thought that in 6 weeks she'd be able to do 40 lessons, which is more than 5 lessons a week.  It was a bit challenging and I've since revised it and aim for her to have 30 lessons done in the six weeks; more reasonable.  Ruth is certainly going to start her 4th grade materials, probably after Christmas.  I can't hold her back...she just keeps working and I'm going to let her. 

Jane has started her new blog - needtodance.blogspot.com - and I think we are both happier.  It feels much better this way.  This week I hope to have time to upload some more pics and play around with that!

I did it!

I did it!  I finally imported a picture.  Okay, it has no relevance, but it's there.  Here it is, July, heatwave, and I have a picture of my youngest in snow; think cool.  It took several tries because it kept being really BIG.  It is still bigger than I would like but we will leave it for now.

So far, this is working great.  Jane has started her own blog and we are both happier.  I'm free to experiment and she's happy to blog about dance.  I find her spelling is improving (something I heard from another homeschooler: get them emailing or pen-paling and they start to care that it is spelled correctly).  Also, she is learning the value of proofreading and catching grammatical mistakes and sentence structure, etc. 

We are struggling to come up with a way to keep track of the books she reads.  She reads a lot, sometimes multiple books at the same time, and we don't get the title and author written down.  I am thinking we will go back to our simple book report forms that she can fill out and when she has five or so, then list them on the blog.

I need to upload from our camera more pictures so we have some to choose from.  Also, we have some from her recital that I know she'd like to post, but they have other girls in them.  Isn't there some rule that you have to get permission before you put someone's pic on the web?  I need to look into that.

Long time, No write

Sorry for the hiatis!  Trying to figure out what was wrong with what we were/weren't doing.  First of all, I would spend time exploring this blog and seeing what I can do but then not wanting to do it without Jane.  After all, the whole idea was to make this a "learn by doing" class.  But, then, not wanting to do certain things with her without checking it out myself first.  Secondly, I was getting resistance from Jane about her posts.  Hmmmm.  

New idea; my blog - her blog. Perfect!  Then I can experiment on my blog and if it works and seems safe, she can follow the lead.  She created her own blog today and will blog about a topic she is passionate about - dancing.  I think this will work beautifully, but time will tell.  Keep checking in and have patience with me.  I'm going to try to get a picture uploaded today!