What We're Reading

Here's a glimpse of what we're currently reading:

The picture book basket is always full, and the contents are somewhat different each week...

but these are a couple of Scarlett's favorites. I love introducing the Beatrix Potter book to each child, and I get a thrill every time I read about the "soporific effect" of lettuces on young rabbits. 

Aimee's stack on the left, although after I took this picture, she announced that she had no patience for the book on the top (I liked it, but that's okay!), and that she wouldn't recommend the second. The stack on the right are books we have both read, and which we both highly recomend -  with a disclaimer for some. Cinder, and the rest of the Lunar Chronicles books, we recommend without hesitaton. Drew is currently reading the series, earning him cool points from his older sister. As for the others...Aimee's review of Red Rising sums it up quite well. The Unwind series (the last book of which is on the top of the stack) is interesting and has led to some great discussions, but it does have some language, as well as some unsettling concepts. We don't enjoy books with gratuitous violence or language, but we don't forbid books simply because of those elements, either. Context and maturity levels of the reader matter to us, and so we probably allow some books that some friends would prefer to avoid, and that's fine! 

These, though, are pretty fun, and I thought they were interesting. The kids haven't even gotten to them yet!

As for books for school....those are found everywhere. Yesterday, there were some serious art projects going on, along with some research on World Wars. I think Drew got most of the way through this WWII book yesterday alone...

And here are some more of our library books for school. The notecards are Drew's - he asked me yesterday if it was okay to use them to take notes while he was reading the WWII books. Um..yes, that's fine!

I don't mind having books and papers all over, but here's a shameless plea...all I want for Christmas...and my birthday, and Valentine's, and Mother's Day, and any other day ....are desks and shelves (and maybe some more shelves) for my school room. I don't need anything else. The end. 

Getting Nothing Done

We hardly got anything at all done yesterday.

Everyone did some math I had planned, but other than that, we accomplished nothing. Well, they studied, and in some cases, quoted from memory, entire chapters of a great classical book known as the Bible, but that was just for quizzing, the extra-curricular activity that's not really "school." And I think Drew spent some time on his Rosestta Stone French. He also played on his violin. But the boys and Scarlett - since we spent a large chunk of their day at the gym where they take gymnastics and dance, all they really did was run and stretch and tumble and interact with other kids. They were entirely too happy for that to be a school day. And does it really count when Chase learned about consonant blends on the go, as I snuck papers in front of him now and then and asked him a few questions before he had time to object? Probably not.

For heaven's sake, I barely saw anything Aimee was doing. I mean, I think I saw some grammar pages, and she told me about a bunch of reading and some studying of vocabularly from classical languages. I know she spent lots of time writing, writing, writing. Why do I have such a hard time tearing her away from all that writing? Ugh. Fail. Much later, after dinner, we talked at length about current events like the Ebola crisis, and then about pleasanter things like literature. We probably should have busied ourselves with looking over her Algebra work. 

Or, I could have used some of that evening time to catch the boys up on some of their missed school work, but instead, I just sat by and watched as they put together Lego stop-motion videos, baked cookies from a new recipe, listened to books on CD, and then carved up pumpkins. By that time, they had to go to their respective baseball practices, and then it was dinner, and then they played happily together before bed. 

Yesterday's wasted day means we're now further behind on things like on spelling books. And I think I'll have to tack on other week or so of study of our History, because I meant to be finished with this particular time period by the end of October, and now because I didn't sit them down to do their mapwork, I'll have to rework my mental schedule. If we hadn't spent so much time previously on reading and talking about World War I, we wouldn't be in a rush now, anyway. We'll probably have the same problem with the next World War war - there's no way I'll be able to get them to wrap it up in just a couple days. They'll keep wanting to read about it, and I'll never get finished with modern history so I can start back up with the Ancients! 

And then TODAY...co-op! An entire morning of nothing but spending time with other kids, learning about nature, dissecting fish, doing art - argh! 

Obviously...I jest to some degree. But I would be lying if I said that this doesn't represent my actual thought process sometimes. Much of the time. I try to not say it out loud, or to convey non-verbally my feelings of frustration and doubt, but it must come across sometimes, because occasionally one of the older kids will ask me "how far behind" they are, or what they need to do to "catch up." And I have to remind myself as well as them that there's nothing about all the reading, writing, conversing, interacting, stretching, playing, discovering, LEARNING they do...that's anything like "falling behind." 

We'll catch up on the spelling books - if that's even necessary - when the snow comes. 

Maybe.

And Another....

Also...high school work makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes. But in the midst of figuring out how to balance all of that wisely...here's my 9th grade daughter blogging about her novel writing.

Novel writing.




P.S. I feel I should add that I am not at all trying to exalt my children unrealistically - I'm just reminding myself that there are great things happening even when I feel like I'm failing. I really can't stand when moms post on homeschooling forums about the "trouble" they're having with their children who are just "so far ahead in math," or "reading way above their grade level." "Is this normal? Should I be worried? Whatever shall I do?" those moms innocently inquire. Perhaps they really are unaware of how obnoxious this sounds, or perhaps it's a roundabout way of boasting about their "advanced" children. (I want to suggest that they wait a couple of years before "lamenting" about how far ahead their children are, but I usually refrain. The last time I chimed in on one of these conversations, I got reamed for being "negative" about homeschooling.) In any case, I am really NOT trying to imply that here. We have our share of struggles, folks. We definitely have those days on which I can be heard saying, "We've been doing Saxon math for a hundred years! How can you not remember that concept?" or "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A VERB IS?" Except I never raise my voice. Ever.

Case in Point

I mentioned in my last post that, as usual, I am struggling a bit with how to balance scheduling and free learning. A perfect example came from Drew's studies last week. He's in 7th grade this year, so I'm trying to make his schedule a little more demanding. I actually don't know if this is a good idea or not, as he seems to do pretty well on his own, but still...responsibility and all that.

Anyway, on Wednesday evening of last week, he needed something to listen to at bedtime, and he found an audio copy of The Screwtape Letters in the library's ecollection. He really enjoyed it, and the next day all he wanted to do was listen to it. So annoying, because I was trying to get him to get his schoolwork done!

Sometimes I'm an idiot.

He ended up finishing it that day, and we discussed it that afternoon. Most of the day's assigned work didn't get done at all, and I really had to fight the feelings of stress that comes from having checklist that doesn't get addressed at all. In one feel swoop, we were behind on grammar, and spelling, and writing, and Latin - I had to readjust his whole schedule for the rest of the week and next...and pant, pant, pant...

Meanwhile, C.S Lewis.