Friday, April 29, 2011

A Lesson Learned and Jesus Might Live on My Street


Roo learned a lesson the hard way this week for why we should put away our toys. This is the result,


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It once was a magnetic princess that you put on her different magnetic outfits into her different backdrops. I cooked it. Not on purpose, but she had stuck it to a cookie tray while playing with it and never put it away properly. I'm not in the habit of checking the bottom of pans for toys before putting them in the oven so the result was a cooked, crackled princess whose head and hands fell off upon returning it to my daughter. I was trying not to laugh while she looked at me like I did it on purpose. Maybe she will start putting her stuff away.....probably not. Maybe I should cook more stuff. 

I missed last weeks weekly report because it was a long weekend and I honestly didn't feel like posting one. It has been a busy two weeks even though they were only 4 day weeks. Lets start back on Good Friday because it was bizarre. On Friday morning I heard weird music coming from outside and my husband was yelling from the other room, "Jesus is walking down the street" over and over. Sure enough Jesus was walking down the street while being whipped by Romans (photo below). A strange way to start the day.



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I am paying for the abundance of Easter chocolate we gave Roo this week. I should have known free access to a bucket of chocolate may lead to intense sugar highs at inconvenient times. I also almost got caught putting out the candies on Easter eve. Is it an eve like Christmas? Anyway, the kid who normally sleeps like the dead, woke up to every crinkle sound thinking it was the Easter Bunny. I literally had to throw the chocolate out of sight when she woke up as I walked by her room carry a basket filled with it.


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Easter morning and by the hair alone. one may think they had already got into treats.

What we finished this week:  

Memory Work - We are still working on the Mr. Nobody poem but the whole thing now. She also has the human body systems almost memorized plus whatever daily work comes out of the memory work box.  

Spelling (All About Spelling) - For the last 2 weeks we have been working on all the the cards we have behind the review sections. They were getting large and daily review was taking a long time so I thought we would stop, solidify the information and them finish the last two sections in level 1.

First Language Lessons - Lessons 85-90, poem, review, writing dates and seasons.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 28 and 29 of copy work and narration exercises from On the Banks of Plum Creek and All of a Kind Family excerpts. 

Latin (Song School Latin) - Water words and garden words. Review.

French (Nallenart) - Unit 9.2 Colour adjectives and counting from 13-29.

Math - Two-three pages of Math Mammoth 1A subtraction a day and we finished the measurement and shape section. She had a measurement test. 

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 28 Roman Gods, Roman Builders and Roman Gladiators as well as Chapter 29 The Punic Wars. She completed a Roman Chariot. It was supposed to be big enough for her, but seeing we didn't have any big boxes she decided to make one for her Barbie using a Kleenex box.


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Nothing says chariot race like purple hair and a ball gown.

Science (Elemental) - From our body study we looked at the the heart, blood flow, blood cells and the lungs and how we breath and make sounds. 

Geography - She almost has the capitals of Canada down and hopefully we can move on to another section o the world next week. We are using Sheppard Software as our geography guide right now. It is just a basic study of countries and capitals at the moment and a more in depth study of countries next year. 

Composer Study - We listened to The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.


Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Mother’s Prayer for Her Child By Tina Fey

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Remind Me Not to Piss Off a Crow

Because they can remember your face. Also apparently they hold grudges and will plan and conspire with one another in order to get revenge. According to this article crows:

1. Can remember your face.

2. They conspire with one another.

3. The have a incredible memory.

4. They use tools for problem solving.

5. They plan (or plot if you are more of a paranoid type).

6. They have adaptive behaviour.

So I realized two things from this article. First, it seems crows and I have a lot in common. Secondly, I am not being paranoid when I have thought a crow was watching me......it really was.

Friday, April 15, 2011

I Need Ginkgo Biloba - Weekly Report

Even though studies differ about it's efficiency, I remain optimistic. Because it's happening, I can feel it. My brain is in fact atrophying. I just spent at least 30 seconds staring at my camera trying to figure out where I plug in the usb cable to upload photos. We have had this camera for years. I also just realized that I forgot to pick up new dance tights for Roo this week even though I hung them smack dab where I would see them 50 times a day so I wouldn't forget. She wore her only pair of tights to dance under her new jeans last week and the blue dye from the jeans transferred so now she has tie dye tights. 

I also need to find a recycling box with a lock top because every time I turn around Roo is digging stuff out for "crafts". OR, worse my husband every once in a while flashes his pack rat tendencies by either digging out "useful" items in the recycling bin or raiding the bags I have filled to go to charity because we may just need that item someday. I personally would love for someone to come in and completely empty our home and bring back in things piece by piece so we can get rid of 3/4 of what is in here. This is the reason I drool over the Ikea catalogue. Those Swedes have the right idea.


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Recycling bin harvesting mess. "crafts"


Merle was 4 months this week. She can now roll, but not on purpose. It still surprises her every time she flips from back to belly. The only room she has rolled in though is in the kitchen where the floor is very slanted, so it may in fact not count.


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Happy 4 month birthday Merle the Squirrel!



What we finished this week:  

Memory Work - We are working on stanza 1 and 2 from the FLL poem Mr. Nobody plus whatever daily work comes out of the memory work box.  

Spelling (All About Spelling) - We completed lessons 19-22, which included the rules for  using ck and k. We are almost done level one and I plan on slowing level 2 down a lot. 

First Language Lessons - Lessons 82-84, poetry capitalization, pronouns and an oral composition.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 27 of copy work and narration exercises from A Christmas Carol excerpts. 

Latin (Song School Latin) - Review week

French (Nallenart) - Unit 9.1 clothing terms test and numbers.

Math - Two pages of Math Mammoth 1A subtraction a day and 1 page of measurements. We also finished 1B shapes this week. 

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 27 The beginning of Rome, Romulus and Remus and The Power of Rome including map work.

Science (Elemental) - From our body study we looked at the the senses this week. We completed some senses experiments and made a braille sentence. Which is kind of appropriate because before Roo got her glasses she was considered legally blind. We had no idea she had vision problems until she started giving signs at age 4. It makes me sad that she went years being unable to see properly without us realizing it.

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Braille activity


Geography - Now that she knows the Canadian provinces and Territories memorized with map placement, we started working on their capitals this week. We are using Sheppard Software as our geography guide right now.

Art - This week she did a picture narration and a line drawing by sketching the contour of an object without looking down at the paper.


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Hard at work and pissing and moaning that her pencil wasn't sharp enough. Is it my fault that she lost the only good sharpener we have after I specifically told her not to take it out of the room. It has entered the abyss of things to never be seen again.

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Power of the Biebs - Weekly Report

Once upon a time, Roo's Aunt Naomi came for a visit bearing a magazine filled with Justin Bieber pull out posters. (He will be referred to as JB or Biebs from here on out) The result was Bieber Fever as shown in this post. Who would have thought JB would have an integral part in Tummy Time success? Roo stuck a picture of JB above Merle's change table and she smiles and "talks" to him every.single.time.she.gets.changed. We have not been having Tummy Time success and I wasn't sure if it was because she couldn't or she was just lazy. So a few days ago I decided to take the change table poster and stick it to the bottom of the shelf in front of her TT mat. Lo and behold! She apparently was just lazy after all.

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Never underestimate the power of the Biebs.

Last week I decided I needed to work on my own education before my brain atrophies so I learned the countries of Europe, their capitals and map placement. This week I learned all the countries in Asia and the Middle East, their capitals and locations on a map. I will soon conquer the world;) I also worked on my Latin with Getting Started with Latin. I discovered a way to make flashcards for Song School Latin too. I went to the SSL website and found the pdf for the colouring pages for the SSL vocabulary words. When I went to print them I changed the layout so it would shrink and fit 9 colouring pages for every 1 printed page. The result is perfect flashcard sizes that all I need to do is colour, cut and laminate. It totally beats coming up with my own (lazy procrastinator). I also just discovered while typing, that the fingernail on my middle finger is way too long and it is impeding my typing skills.

What we finished this week:  

Memory Work - I added the list of Greek Gods.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - We completed lessons 14-18, which included the rule for the different sounds of "c" and the endings ck, ng, and nk.

First Language Lessons - Lessons 79-81, titles of respect, poem review and a new poem called Mr. Nobody.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 26 of copy work and narration exercises from The Tales of Peter Rabbit excerpts. 

Latin (Song School Latin) - Sky vocabulary and review.

French (Nallenart) - Unit 9.1 clothing terms and made collages using magazine cut outs for these clothing vocabulary words.

Math - We started Math Mammoth 1A subtraction and continued with 1B shapes. 

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 26 The People of the Americas which included the Nazca Drawings, The heads of the Olmec and the tale of Rabbit Shoots the Sun. She then completed a Nazca drawing of her own.

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Working on her Nazca drawing while sporting a juice moustache and a bad ass snake tattoo;)

Science (Elemental) - From our body study we looked at the nervous system and the brain and tested our reflexes. She was supposed to remember and record her dream from last night but she said she couldn't remember it because the dream catcher caught it, so we have to try this weekend. 

Geography - She has the Canadian provinces and territories memorized and almost placed on the map, she just always forgets where Nova Scotia is located. We are using Sheppard Software to get these down and  I love this site.

Art - This week she did a picture narration and made a three dimensional animal. She decided that she wanted to make a panda and then used to scraps to make her dad a skeleton pirate. 

We also spent a significant amount of time today googling mythological beasts. Now that she has figured out how to Google, it has become her new favourite thing. 

Friday, April 1, 2011

Weekly Reports - Self Education

Today I have one of those headaches where you blink, and your eye actually feels like it is going to fall out. The ones where Tylenol just seems to take the edge off but nothing else. It's not pleasant.
I just finished writing a post for The Ultimate Blog Party, so if you are interested it is a great way to get your blog out there and meet like minded (or not so like minded) people hop over to 5minutesformom.

My girls and I went for a walk yesterday morning to enjoy the warmer weather. The snow has melted so all the garbage the snow covered has become painfully obvious. Roo was walking and got very quiet while she was looking around and she said, "Mom, why do people pollute? Don't they know that the rain is the earths tears?" I was a little in awe that she made such a statement. But definitely proud. Instead of a lemonade stand, she said she wants a Save the Earth stand. I'm not sure how I am going to accomplish that one.
I have become determined to boost my self education learning. So this week I learned all the countries in Europe as well as their capitals and locations on a map. Next week I am going to try Asia. I have also come to the conclusion that Merle has the hair of a baby orangutan.



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What do you think?


Another big thing this week was that Roo lost another tooth. After 45 minutes of me trying to get it out and her acting like I was amputating a finger, I got it out she said "that wasn't that bad". Yeah right, like the neighbors would believe that after that episode.




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What we finished this week:  

Memory Work - I didn't add anything this week, but for next week I plan on adding the list of Greek Gods.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - As we are speeding through level one we are doing a level a day in about 15-20 minutes. I know we just started but although it is very teacher intensive, I am really liking this program. I think it is going to work. Now all I need is a 2 foot x 3 foot magnetic dry erase board to stick all the letters on. I have a board but it's not magnetic:(

First Language Lessons - Lesson 76-78, review, address abbreviations and titles of respect.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 25 of copy work and narration exercises from Pollyanna excerpts. 

Latin (Song School Latin) - Season terms and review.

French (Nallenart) - Unit 9.1 new words  and flashcards for clothing terms.

Math - We have completed Math Mammoth 1A addition facts and 1B telling time. She did a test on time today and will do the addition test on Monday. Next week we will move on to 1A subtraction and 1B measurement. 

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 25 Alexander the Great. We also noticed and had a discussion about how men throughout history to today never seem satisfied. They always want more and there never seems to be peace. 

Science (Elemental) - From our body study we muscles and how they work. We also googled dust mites and immediately wished we didn't.

Geography - She is working through Canadian provinces and territories, capitals and landscapes via Sheppard Software. I had forgotten about this site and have refreshed my love for it. 

Art - We are working on the art project this weekend because we opted to go grocery shopping instead of art this afternoon. 


Ultimate Blog Party 2011


Ultimate Blog Party 2011


I came across The Ultimate Blog Party through a blog where I am a regular reader. Being an introvert, parties to me are the equivalent of dental work without Novocaine and I try to avoid both when humanly possible. So this kind of party is more my cup of tea (which I prefer to coffee).

I'm Sara age 31 SAHHM (stay at home homeschooling mom) to my daughter 6 with an infant daughter tag along who was born December 2010. My blog mostly consists of our homeschooling adventure and if I feel motivated I may write something somewhat heartfelt or at least about something non related to homeschooling (like this post).

 I have been married for almost 7 years to my husband who is goldsmith by day and rock star by night.......hopefully rock star by day soon as well;)  A little bit about myself, yuck, I hate doing this. Thank goodness there will never be a need for me to write my autobiography because I would be terrible at it.






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  • I am addicted to books. I read.all.the.time, anything and everything during every spare moment I have (my next few points are all related to reading). 
  • I admit it, I usually read the last page of a book before reading. I hate surprises and avoid if possible. I also have been known to google movies to find out what happens before watching them as well. It saves me anxiety while watching;)
  • One of my top ten dreams is to have a library in my home. Not just any library, but one with huge wooden shelves with a rolling ladder and leather furniture. Think these for inspiration.
  • I want to live in Europe. I will live in Europe. To live in a city that has so much history it literally oozes out of the cracks in the sidewalk makes my heart flutter. 
  • People usually don't like me when they first meet me. I come across as cold and b****y, I know this and it doesn't bother me (I may actually kind of like it). I need to spend quite a bit of time with someone before they "get" me. But once we are friends, we are friends for life........unless you betray me. 
  • I have been known to eat something that has passed well beyond the 5 second rule and I'm not ashamed of it.  
  • I think I am physically incapable of Twittering. I over think things and would spend too much time editing what I wanted to say that I would completely ruin the spontaneity of it. 
  • I also text message using complete sentences and proper grammar. I can't bring myself to use slang or shorten words.

That's all I have at the moment because I am supposed to be doing my weekly homeschool wrap up right now. I may come back and add more later. Happy Ultimate Blog Party!