60

Today E narrated parts of "Felicia and the Pot of Pinks" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book. Then I read Atlas of the Earth to T, and Volcanoes by Franklyn M. Branley and Volcanoes by Seymour Simon to both of them. E did her math, T watched Peep, and after recess and lunch I read Destination: Jupiter by Seymour Simon and a bit more from Marissa Moss' Galen. E is currently finishing her Draw Write Now page, and then we're done.

53

Today we had a tiny bit more of Ancient Greece, because I got a great book from the library about Eratosthenes: The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky. I read "Rumplestiltskin" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and E narrated part of it. Then we read Who Were the Romans? by Phil Roxbee Cox, taking a break midway through (it's a thin book, but packed) for E to do math and T to watch Peep. Then we read about Venus in the book by Larry Dane Brimner, and to kick off our study of the composition of the earth, we read The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World by Faith McNulty. Then we set up experiment 18 "Grow a Stalactite" from Neil Ardley's 101 Great Science Experiments (and the fact that the book plainly states that it will take several days for the stalactites to grow has not stopped any of us--me included--from checking it several times an hour). E made a thank you card for our neighbors who gave us all the great Let's Read and Find Out Science books, and did a TINY bit of weaving on her round mat, now destined to be a Christmas present for Grandma and Grandpa.

40

I was all freaked out about the Greek thing--how are we going to get it all done and so forth. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're not on a strict schedule or anything, and I have some extra padding built in to what schedule we do have, but I want to get to Rome before the Pompeii exhibit comes to town and there are just SO MANY Greeks with SO MANY achievements. Then it hit me this morning, like a stack of bricks. She's in first grade. She really doesn't have to know Empedocles from Erastothenes ('cuz you know I do, uh huh...)--she's going to be studying Greece in more depth later anyway. I mean really, she doesn't have to learn anything about Greece at all--though we're having fun doing it. DUH!! So I stopped flipping out and relaxed this morning. We're learning the Greek Myths--that's important since so much of Western Culture is built on them. We're getting an introduction to their way of life and an understanding that they more or less invented or improved on important stuff like democracy and scientific reasoning and mathematics. And we're hearing some of the great stories from the Trojan, Peloponesian, and Persian wars. And that's more than plenty.

So we had narration today on the first of Heracles' tasks--defeating the lion (from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children) and we read about Hermes and (again) Demeter and Persephone in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I read An Octopus is Amazing by Patricia Lauber, and we read around in Technology in the Time of Ancient Greece by Judith Crosher. She did math (division!) while T watched Peep and they both watched Peep together while I made lunch. While they were eating I read the story of "Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and then we read The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole. We went online and looked at National Geographic's virtual solar system, and watched an animation that demonstrates the immense distance between the planets. We made a model of the solar system on the wall in our hallway: Last night I took this coloring page, and blew up (or reduced, as necessary) the planets to be in a rough scale with one another, using this site to figure out how big each should be. Then today I made a part of a big sun with some large paper Alan brought home from work, and T and I colored the sun (it has some very unusual sunspots) while E colored the planets. She cut them out while T and I put the sun up on my bedroom door, and then we used the measurements from the "Planetary Distance Activity" in the back of The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley to place the planets along the wall. So they are in rough scale with each other, and in rough scale for distance, but the distance and the size are not correspondent. I would either have to have had Mercury smaller than a pinhead (hard to color!) or a hallway bigger than a football field (I wish). Then E made labels for the planets and put them up too, using the True Books planets series from the library for spelling (she used the pictures on the covers as models for her coloring, too). Unfortunately for her, I didn't get an earth book and I refused to tell her how to spell it. Oh my, what a tantrum we had! For someone who's so bright, she certainly does have her stupid moments. Finally I had to point out to her that we had read TWO books on the solar system today, and they were at my feet, and I was sure that the word EARTH had to be in there SOMEWHERE. I wish she weren't so obsessed with spelling. I've told her again and again that I couldn't care less if she spells things right or not, as long as she writes, to no avail.

They're really pleased with the model, and E wants to add all the moons and asteroids and comets, and...oh my. Well, I told her we could add moons as we study each individual planet, but we're done with school for today so shoo! I have cleaning to do--and then some.

37

for narration we had the story of Arachne from Amery's _Greek Myths for Young Children_, then I read some more chapters out of the D'Aulaire's Greek Myths book--Poseidon and the births of Artemis and Apollo. Then we read Shooting Stars and The Moon Seems to Change both by Franklyn M. Branley. We went online and watched an animation of the moon phases changing as the moon orbits the earth, an animation of a lunar eclipse, and an animation demonstrating the impact theory of the moon's formation. I gave her a page of pictures of the moon's phases (from this site) and we looked up what the moon looked like on her birthday and on T's. Then I let them watch Peep and wonder of wonders, it was about how the moon seems to change in the sky! My homeschooling luck is so good this week! I wish it would work on the lottery...Anyway, after lunch E did her math review--she does well but doesn't pay enough attention to which operation the problem is presenting--if the first one in a series is addition, she adds them all, even the subtraction problems. And I'm not sure but what she might need some more regrouping practice--we'll see if the book presents any more of that or not. We finished making the paper models of the Platonic bodies (well, I put together the dodecahedron and the icosahedron--but she did the pyramid, cube, and octahedron all by herself). Now she is finishing her homework from the Habitat class at the zoo, and then I think I might have her work on her first Gee Art lesson.

36

Today went a lot better than it should have, given that I stayed up till 2 with a book (Emma Bull's Territory) and then had allergy issues the rest of the night. And I did wake up cranky and tired. However, chocolate pancakes with fruit syrup cheered everyone up, myself included. And the kids were so enthusiastic about their new chore rotations (hey, I don't get it either...) that it was hard to stay grumpy. E, in her new guise as "Laundry Helper" gathered all the sheets and towels for me and put the new towels out. T, as "Dog Feeder" was so proud to show me how he could go up and down the stairs carrying Sheila's dish. I'm enjoying the bliss now, because of course by Wednesday these chores will have lost their glow, I'm sure. We started about a half hour late, but we pretty much made up for lost time. We started out reading Maisy's Morning on the Farm by Lucy Cousins at T's request. Then I read Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin because it was one of the free science books we got yesterday and Quack the Duck is T's favorite character on Peep. Narration was the story of Demeter and Persephone from Amery's _Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children, which was really neat because we just recently read Gail Gibbons' _The Reasons for Seasons_ (I didn't plan it, I swear--just dumb luck). Then I read some more chapters from _D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths for Children_, about Aphrodite, and Ares, and Athena (including the story of Arachne, which tied in nicely with the spiders we've been observing and reading about--luck luck luck). Then we talked about how the Ancient Greeks were some of the first people to really scientifically study the world around them, and I read How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricia Lauber, and then some pertinent sections from Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids. We looked at the Greek alphabet, and triangular numbers, and magic squares (which she's already encountered in Singapore math) and then we tried the Sieve of Eratosthenes (all this is from _Classical Kids_) and then we took a break, during which they got out the play doh and (I am not making this up) rolled it out and started inscribing the Greek alphabet on it as though it were a clay tablet (which I guess actually it is). This was so great for me--at last, my kids did one of those brainy things homeschooled kids do! I'm in the club! I'm in the club! All right, just kidding, though I was really pleased. After break we started making paper models of the 5 Platonic bodies from patterns in Carlson's book (and T just cut and pasted his little heart out). She got through the pyramid and the cube. We'll do more tomorrow, because then it was time for lunch. She worked on her math review after lunch until it was time for Dance and Tumbling, and then finished the math when we got home. A busy but satisfying day, especially since I thought when I woke up it was going to be a total wash.

32

A pretty great day today! For narration I read the myth of Prometheus from Usborne's Greek Myths for Young Children. She seems to be having some trouble with these longer pieces, so I asked her how she was listening. She was trying to memorize them! So I suggested she try to picture the events in her head while she listens, and then play the movie back as she narrates. We'll see if that helps tomorrow. Anyway, then I read Growing Up in Ancient Greece by Chris Chelepi, and a few pages of DAulaires' Book of Greek Myths, and we had a break. When we came back, I read Richard Harris' I Can Read About the Sun and Other Stars, and had her do a little worksheet they gave us at the planetarium-- the configuration of the stars of Casseopeia (a big W) repeated four times and the child was to make different pictures out of it and label them (basically making their own constellations). She made a W, a robin, a moth, and my personal favorite, a flying pig. I downloaded this cool free planetarium program, Stellarium, last night and we used it to look at the constellations. You can look at them just as stars, as stars with connecting lines, or as artistic pictures laid over the stars. We looked up a lot of the constellations we saw at the planetarium yesterday. Then I went here and let her mouse through a thoroughly cool introduction to finding Orion, Betelgeuse, Jupiter, Casseopeia, the Big Dipper, and Polaris. She did so well at finding the constellations! Sometimes even I couldn't find them till she pointed them out. And then I let her and T go in the closet with a flashlight and The Glow-In-The-Dark Night Sky Book by Clint Hatchett. Then after lunch she did her math while T watched Peep, and she watched Peep when she was done. Grandma and Grandpa came over and helped us decorate the front of the house for Halloween, which made her very happy, and then after they left she did four pages of nouns. I found these cool Constellation Detective worksheets which I forgot to give her--I'll probably just give them to her to do on her own when she feels like it.

30

started with narration: Damon and Pythias from _50 Famous Stories Retold_. Then we did some more lessons from the USGS Map Adventures packet and E drew a map of our house. Then I read The Sun by Allison Lassieur and looked at the sun in various wavelengths, then watched some animations of 3 kinds of solar eclipse. We had lunch and E worked on her homework from her Habitats class at the zoo (which included some drawing and handwriting), then she watched Peep with T and did her math.

28

Today was so much better than yesterday! E really has had a good attitude since our little talk yesterday. Once or twice I've actually seen her visibly restrain herself from a sigh or "Awww!" when I ask her to do something. What a great kid! We started out with a narration of "The Sword of Damocles" from James Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories Retold (available free online) then I read Gail Gibbons' Stargazers to kick off astronomy. E did several pages on nouns from a grammar book Jennifer got me at a yard sale for 50 cents (and about an hour of erasing!) The book is pretty much your typical worksheet crap, but I wanted to make sure she has a solid understanding of nouns, verbs and adjectives, and she speeds right through the pages (and gets to practice her handwriting). We sat down on the couch again and did the first few lessons from Map Adventures, a free Teachers' Packet about using maps from the US Geological Survey. Then I read Me On the Map by Joan Sweeney and had E draw a map of her room like the girl in the book. After recess (Yes! We got all that done before recess!) we had lunch and then E did her math while T watched Peep (he is seriously addicted, but it is a really great show). Then since Sunday is Grandma's birthday, I gave E a choice between two craft kits I got at the thrift store for 99 cents each and she chose to make some foam flowers.

17

This morning E was busily reading Osbourne's _Mummies and Pyramids_ before school even started! She also read I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting. So we started with a narration of "The Knee-High Man" from the Hirsch book--I broke the reading into two parts and had her narrate each part. Then I read Tut's Mummy: Lost...And Found by Judy Donnelly, and we did her music note flashcards (with much bellyaching). Then I read Aliki's Mummies Made in Egypt, informative but a touch on the long side, and had her label a map of Antarctica (with only 3 things--not much in Antarctica, really). Then recess, which ended with her and G in great disgrace and grounded from recess this week. After we got through all that, she did her math (more bellyaching, but she seems to be getting the concept) and then lunch, during which I read a chapter from Lacey's _What's the Difference?_ about the pinnepeds: seals, sea lions, and walrus'. She was still eating so I read several chapters from Antarctic Journal by Jennifer Owings Dewey and then we all settled on the couch for more of Platt's _Egyptian Diary_ which is so excellent, in its coverage of various aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture and its interesting storyline and its gorgeous illustrations--really a great book. Now she is (hopefully) finishing the Draw Write Now page from Friday, and then we'll go to Dance/Tumbling. After which she must finish her math. What a day. Tomorrow should be more fun--maybe we'll start on our sarcophagus.

11

Today E woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at her usual time of 7:30! Imagine how much difference it makes when you don't spend all night reading...

We started with a narration of "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs" from the Hirsch book, probably the last of our Aesop narrations--on Monday I'll see how she does with a short tale. Then I read the Egypt pages from Millard's _First Civilizations_. We noticed the sun was shining, so we ran outside to the driveway to draw our shadows and label them W (an activity from Branley's _North, South, East and West_ that we couldn't do yesterday because it was overcast. We went out again at noon and labeled the new outlines N and we'll repeat in the afternoon and then check them against compass readings. Over the weekend I will put together some fun "treasure" and a "treasure map" and do a little compass/orienteering activity on Monday. Then I think we'll be done with the cardinal directions for the time being.

When we came back in, I read I Wonder Why Pyramids Were Built by Philip Steele. The text is a bit sketchy, but the illustrations are great and very realistic-seeming; they give you a real feel for what Ancient Egypt might have looked like. Then we went out back and made a model of the Nile, an activity I got from Avery Hart's Pyramids! We made some sculpey pyramids to go on the west bank, and planted grass seed along the fertile border of the "Nile" which will hopefully sprout as the river "floods".

As they were dawdling a bit at lunch, I sat down and read the next chapter of _What's the Difference?_ about camels. Then Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller, more than you wanted to know about adjectives. Now E is doing her math, and then she must do a Draw Write Now page before she can see if Georgia can play.

9,10

Well, yesterday was a bit weird. We went to E's piano lesson, then to the VH library and the HW library, and when we got home there wasn't enough time to do much, so I let her read her new Magic Treehouse book until lunch. After lunch we drove out to Trussville for the Escape School presentation, which was excellent. Then home again, and she finished both the MTH book she'd just started and the next one by dinner. Last night we discovered the reasons behind her recent requests for a night light (after sleeping without one for months) and her being so tired in the mornings: when I went in about 9:30 to check on her, she was reading _Pippi Longstocking_ by the (very dim) light of her nightlight! What an uproar! I explained to her that no one could understand how much she loves to read like I can, but she still needs to take care of her body as well as her mind and that means getting enough sleep! So, no more books in the bedroom! (She got back to reading Pippi this morning before school, by the way!)

Last night I sang "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" with T, after which he asked, "Mommy, who took her body away?"

This morning we started with narration of "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" from the Hirsch. She was fantastic on the story part, completely couldn't remember the morals--my girl loves narrative, that's all. Then I read The Antarctic Ocean by Ylvisaker, and wrote a few things she remembered in her notebook--not sure that's much use, but we did it for the others, so I guess we'll finish out. Then I read the next chapter of _What's the Difference_ by Lacey, about the difference between bison and buffaloes. The book mentioned how a strong buffalo could fight off a lion, so we went to the computer and watched this video about the buffalo calf being rescued by its herd after being pulled in a tug-of-war between a pride of lions and a crocodile. I mentioned that the croc and the lions weren't bad guys, just carnivores who have to eat meat to live, but it was pretty obvious where the sympathies lay around here. Back to the couch, where I read North, South, East, and West by Franklyn M. Branley, and we messed around a bit with compasses--unfortunately it was too overcast to go outside and draw our shadows, but maybe we can do that tomorrow. Then E read to T: North, South, East and West this time by Allan Fowler. I had E do a simple map worksheet I got here. Then she cut out and labeled the African animals and we taped them into her notebook. Then we all went to Georgia's for recess--Tuck was thrilled that he could go too, but I had to go along because Jennifer was nervous about having 4 kids.

After we got back we had lunch, then E did her math--working on the tens column and the ones column. And then I got out the Perler beads and she made a present for Daddy's birthday while T annoyed her intensely by just messing around with the beads. Now she's making a new bead thing and he's doing play-doh, which he's been asking for all day.

8

First I should say that last Friday we still had some time so we sorted out the animal classification cards, first into Backbone/No Backbone, then the Backbones into Mammal, Reptile, Amphibian, Fish and Bird. The kids both seemed to enjoy the activity, and we may do the Invertebrates sometime this week if they want to. I want to finish up with Taxonomy this week and start the human body next week.

Today we started with narration: Aesop's fable of The Maid and the Milk Jug, from the Hirsch book. I didn't know this was the source of "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched"! I think I'm learning more than she is some days. It's been 3 days since she did a narration and you could tell: she was pretty rusty. But not too bad.

Next I read Africa by Petersen, since we're starting Egypt today, and we wrote some things about Africa in her notebook. Then I read the Introduction and first chapter of What's the Difference: a Guide to Some Familiar Animal Look-Alikes by Elizabeth A. Lacey. The first chapter deals with the crocodilians, and we listed some of the differences between crocodiles, alligators, and gharials in her notebook. Then we called Georgia and she came over for recess.

A terrible thing happened during recess. The kids were playing up at the top of the yard with (I thought) the play hoe. Turns out they had Alan's big rusty shovel, which he had left up there when he built the cave. I should have checked. But I was hanging up the laundry and I didn't. Georgia hit her foot really hard with the shovel, and now her parents have taken her to the doctor because she's losing the toenail. I don't know if they'll ever forgive us. And what will this do to her swimming and soccer? I feel so miserable. What a stupid thing to let happen. If things were reversed I would be livid at the irresponsibility of the other parent. Anyway, still waiting to hear from them after the doctor trip. Had it been an accident with the play tools, I would feel bad about it, but these things happen. But that Alan left the shovel out, and that I didn't check to see what they were doing, was unconscionable.

Well, after that we did go back to school, after a prayer for Georgia's health. Emma did a math lesson, and I read Rotten Ralph Helps Out by Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel, which is a silly little story that kind of introduces some of the things the Ancient Egyptians invented, like pancakes (!)
Then after lunch I read Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole. There's alot in the illustrations to this book that I passed over but I expect E will be going over it again with her fine toothed comb this afternoon. Now she is labeling a blank outline map of Africa I printed up from this site, and then she can play play doh with her brother.

He sat through all the readings today, though he was playing with the loop loom when we started and I half hoped he might just do that for a while. But he was a good boy and listened well. Last night we were talking about school and he said "E has school tomorrow?" and I said "Yes and you do too" and you should just have seen his little face light up like a million Christmas trees: " I have school TOO?" It was so precious.

7

First she had to practice her piano because she's having a sleepover at R's tonight. Then narration: The Dog in the Manger from the Hirsch book. Then I read Prehistory to Egypt by Maria Ruis, and The First Civilizations (up to Egypt) by Anne Millard. And we went here to see what our monograms would look like in cuneiform. Then The Pacific Ocean by Ylvisaker, with much bellyaching about having to remember things for me to jot down in her notebook, and a math lesson. I was thinking of doing the animal classification cards, but all she wants to do is play and she can't think of anything but the sleepover--I think she was so excited last night that she didn't sleep well. So I'll let her have a recess with Georgia and then lunch and Grandma and Grandpa's house this afternoon. Or maybe I'll read Slither Swoop Swing by Alex Ayliffe and Kites Sail High by Ruth Heller. We'll see.

post script: Georgia wasn't home so I did read the verb books and then she did a fun little activity about animal classification here.

6

Narration: The Boy Who Cried Wolf from What Your First Grader Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch.
Read The First Dog by Jan Brett and First Painter by Kathryn Lasky. We took the virtual tours of the cave at Lascaux and the Cosquer cave. Then I stripped them down to their underwear and sent them out to the cave with a lantern and some paints. When they came back, it took two tubfuls of water to wash them clean! I think they had a blast. Then a math lesson, lunch, and the library. Emma told a mother she was homeschooled and the mother still talked to me! Then at home again, we read The Everyday Life of an Ice Age Hunter by Giovanni Caselli. And we are done with the Ice Age! On to Egypt, starting Monday.

I came across a short little play in the Hirsch book, based on The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and I told Jen we should do it together with the kids. She thought it was a great idea, and I got all excited about it and planned out costumes and blocking and everything, but then she backed out. She says they're too busy and I guess they are, but I think maybe she also had an attack of stage fright. Maybe she'll come round later--I think it would be great fun and a great experience for the kids.

Also heard about a site on one of my email lists that gives away free ebooks: www.wowio.com

5

Narration (her choice): The Fox and the Grapes. At T's request, I read Wild and Woolly Mammoths_. Then I reread parts of _Europe_, and wrote down what she remembered from it in her notebook. She labeled about 13 places in Europe on the free sample map I got here. This took about forever, but she finally got it done, and then she ran over to Georgia's house for recess. After that she went downstairs to cut out and label the European animal cards and put them in her notebook. Lunch. After lunch a very short math lesson, then I read You Wouldn't Want to Be a Mammoth Hunter by John Malam. Then we watched the Animal Classification video, which was a bust. After that I gave her Draw Write Now and told her to pick a page and do it, which she happily did once she discovered she could copy the words from the book instead of coming up with her own. I don't know what went on in her kindergarten class to make her so leery of creative writing, but I'm just going to stay away from it for a while.

3

Today went pretty well, I thought. First she did a narration on "The Vain Jackdaw", then I read The Atlantic Ocean by Anne Ylvisaker and wrote down in her notebook what she could remember after. Then I read the first half of the Asia book again, and gave her an outline map and a list of 13 things to label on it. She did all of them and even found the Gobi Desert on her own. She also drew in and labeled the Equator. As she worked, we talked about the importance of some of them, like that the Dead Sea was the lowest point and Mt. Everest the highest and so forth. I found I did need to be there with her to make her do it--she liked looking things up on the map and globe and would have done that for hours on her own, but she didn't like labeling things. But I think it helps make stuff stick when you have to write it down. She is very concerned with spelling, even though I tell her not to sweat it. I don't know if that is self-imposed or something she picked up in kindergarten.

After that I offered her a break and she played with T for about 20 minutes, then we did the next bit in the math book. Again with trying to get out of doing the last exercise. I told her she could do it after lunch, but the longer she puts things off, the less time she has for playing.

After lunch and math, we were all getting a bit worn. It really is like pushing water uphill sometimes to make her do work. She is interested (very!) in learning about things but hates any kind of paperwork. She doesn't (usually) outright rebel, but she has definitely mastered the "slow down strike". But we forged on, this time moving on to grammar. I reread some pertinent passages from _Merry-Go-Round_ by Ruth Heller and had her write matching Proper Nouns for common nouns I gave her and vice versa. Then she listed 3 concrete nouns, and 3 abstract nouns. At first she wanted to list air as an abstract since you can't see it, but I pointed out that you can feel it in the wind. (Later this year we'll do an experiment to prove it has weight).

Then she was really running out of steam, and she was sick these past few days, so I just read to her: In My Own Backyard by Judi Kurjian, and The Ice Age by Darlene R. Stille. Then I let her hang out for an hour until it was time for dance/tumbling classes.

T was great today--I had some things Jen gave me and some play-doh ready to deploy but didn't need them--he played very nicely all by himself. Both kids really enjoyed their dance/tumbling classes today, and Weird Homeschool Mom wasn't as weird as she seemed last week. All in all a good day.

2

This morning we got off to a slow start, looking for the _Blast Off to Earth_ book which we finally found under E's coat on the loveseat. First we did a narration on "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse". Then I had E label all the oceans on her world map, then pick one ocean and one continent to study today. She picked the Arctic ocean and Asia. So I read The Arctic Ocean by Anne Ylvisaker and had her tell me what she could remember from the book while I wrote down what she said in her notebook. Then I read Asia by David Petersen and did the same. Tomorrow I plan to read the first half of the Asia book again (the second half dealt more with history and culture than I really think we need to get into at this time) and have her color in and label a blank outline map of Asia that I got here (or maybe this one here). She cut out the animals of Asia cards I printed on Tuesday, and labeled them each "Asia" on the back, then put them into a small envelope which she taped across from her list of Asia facts in the notebook. This is my plan for each of the continents, to spend two days on each. Then as we do history, we can fill in pertinent areas on our maps as we learn about say, the Nile, or the Roman Empire, or what have you.

All this time T was pestering me to read him _Treats from a Tree_, so I finally did. I was hoping he would be content to listen in while I read books to E, but apparently not. Right now he is bothering E while she tries to write in her notebook. I definitely have to come up with some better plan for dealing with him--unfortunately, most of what I can think of is stuff that requires my attention, which I am needing sometimes to give to E. Not sure how to deal with this problem.

After Geography was done, I went over her math lesson with E and assigned workbook pages, which she worked on while I hung up the laundry. T was coloring at this time which worked well.
Once again she tried to beg off of the last exercise. She seems to have a problem finishing things. Then I gave them lunch and corrected her math work while we ate (she did really well). They were still eating, so I read them some stories from the "Fairy Tales and Fables" volume of the Junior Classics Library. I did this on the spur of the moment, and while I think the reading is a good idea, I need to pick out the stories beforehand, as some of them are a bit, well, hairy...

When she was done with lunch, we went over her missed math problems and she corrected them. Then I read Merry-Go-Round by Ruth Heller which is all about nouns, and had her list in her notebook 5 nouns that are persons, 5 nouns that are places, and 5 nouns that are things. Tomorrow we will cover Proper nouns and compound nouns, and then I think that's enough nouns for now.

First Day

Okay, here goes. Today was the first day of school. After meeting the "weird homeschool mom" yesterday and with the surprise ant invasion this morning, I was seriously thinking "what the hell am I doing?! I don't want to do this!" but a little thought reminded me that there's really no going back at this point, after shelling out bucks for the cover school and the books and materials, not to mention that she's already missed more than a week of "real school". And I promised her last night that we would start today.

Of course it turns out that what she was most excited about was pretending to be cavemen. And so I had to gently prick that bubble with the fact that Daddy hasn't built the "cave" yet, and anyway it's TOO DAMN HOT to go outside and pretend it's the ice age. Hopefully in a couple of weeks things will cool down a bit, and maybe he can build it this weekend. Meantime, we can start reading about it and I promised we would in the next couple of days. But I wanted to do some geography first.

So here's what we did: I started off reading her the fable of the Lion and the Mouse, and had her narrate it back to me. (I explained narration first, so she'd know to pay attention) She did pretty okay, getting all the major plot points, though none of the nuances, and no moral. Not bad for a first try though. I think we'll do fables for at least the rest of this week and maybe next, then move up to a bit longer, maybe a few paragraphs of a book we're reading, or a short story. We'll see how she does.

Then we read Blast Off to Earth! by Loreen Leedy, (before I started, she asked nervously "Do I have to narrate this too?") and I got out the blank outline world map that Alan printed up for us and had her label the continents. She asked me where was Asia, and I had her look it up in the book. On her own, she got down the continents books and looked at the covers to see how to spell them correctly. We had a mini discussion about map distortion. (very mini). She was amazed by how big Asia is. I plan to have her pick a continent to study tomorrow. I printed up the "animals of various continents" pages I got here and I was going to cut them out and label them but then I thought she would familiarize herself with them if she cut them out and labeled them herself, so I stuck them in the folder to use later. It also occurred to me that nowish would be a good time to get out the animal cards I've been saving for so long. I might wait until she's had the habitats class at the zoo, and after I've introduced classification. I guess I better do that this semester, which means I'd better do it right away, since I'm doing earth/space science with the greeks and romans. Hmm. Maybe the radish seed experiment should wait till spring.

Then I was going to have her do math, but she was coughing and so I called the doctor's office. They were able to fit us in right away, so we took the math books with us. Of course in the lobby they had a movie on, "Happy Feet" which was predictably awful (why are the short penguins latino? They must be South American penguins, I guess...) but it did lead into a little discussion of predators (specifically the nasty demonic sea lion) and how they're really not demonic or vicious or full of malice, but just animals trying to survive like everyone else. We did the math pages in the examination room, which was the best use of that huge waste of time that I've come across yet. We did two lessons because they were so easy. She balked at her last page of workbook, more out of boredom, I think, but I insisted and it took her about 5 seconds to do it. I think she'll be more into it when it gets a little harder later on. Maybe I could have gotten 2A for her, but I didn't want her to miss out on the introduction to multiplication that's in 1B. So we'll just speed through until we get to something more challenging.

I don't feel like we got a full day's work done by any means, though I'm sure I could write it up to sound like we're geniuses, especially if I padded out those "mini-discussions". But I wasn't really planning to start until after Labor Day anyway, so I guess it's ok to start slowly and build our way up. But we do have a lot to cover this year, so I hope we can work out a good sort of rhythm soon. Also today she was very cooperative, but I fear what will happen when it gets a little old and she starts seriously balking.

Oh, I meant to mention what I did with Tuck. He sat and listened to the fable and the geography book, then while Emma did her labeling, I told him to get a puzzle. He brought his alphabet puzzle so I talked to him about A, B, C, and D, going over the sounds of B and D in particular, (since we had two Dogs and a Boy in the room at the time). Then I was going to help him do the puzzle while E did her math, but we ended up at the doctor's instead.