Happy Birthday My Love

Before you were born, I lived with the silent fear and guilt that I would not be able to love you as much as your sister. I couldn't see how, since I loved her with my entire heart and soul. Then you were born. "And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day". I love you so completely, every moment of every day. I love everything that you are and everything that you will be. Happy first Birthday Merle my Squirrel.


Love, Mom

Girls Rule! According to the Hidden Pillowcase

A conversation I had with Roo after my husband was changing the pillow cases on the futon upstairs and discovered graffiti;)

Me: Roo, why did you write Girls Rule! on our pillow case with decorative swirls all around it?
Roo: I felt like drawing.
Me: And you thought we would be okay with you colouring on the pillow case?
Roo: I didn't think you would get mad.
Me: Then why did you hide it?
Roo: So you wouldn't see it.
Me: So you obviously knew while you were doing it that you shouldn't be, right?
Roo: *shrugs*
Me: Okay let me rephrase. When you were colouring on the pillow, were you worried I would come upstairs and see you while you were doing it?
Roo: Did I at least spell Girls right? Did you notice I used an explanation point?
Me: Yes

Is it just me, or did she miss the point entirely?

This is what we completed for the past couple of weeks since I missed a few back there.

Memory Work -  I decided I would also incorporate our Latin chants and the Being Words - être for French.

Spelling (All About Spelling level 2) - She finished Level 2 lesson 10, 11 and 12 and we are really focusing on the silent e because she seems to always forget it when spelling. We may take next week to keep going over the silent e rules and words. 

First Language Lessons 2 - We worked on lesson 113-124 using commas, helping verbs, contractions and adjectives.

Writing with Ease 2 - Completed week 5-8 of writing, narrations, and dictation using excerpts from Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerie Henry, My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Latin (Lively Latin) - We are progressing through it very slowly because I don't see any point in rushing this subject since full understanding is needed. We have just entered into what the first declension is.

French (Nallenart L'Art de Lire1) - We are working on knowing and memorizing the Being Words, être, je suis, tu es, il/elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. I remember spending a lot of time on these in school too.

Math ( Singapore 2A/2B) - We are almost done 1B and have been adding and subtracting numbers within 100. We have also completed several chapters in Life of Fred Elementary - Butterflies since we recently finished Apples.

History (Story of the World Middles Ages) - Chapter 5-8 A King named Skadagupta, Monks in Caves, Muhammad's Vision, Muhammad Flees to Medina, The Koran: Islam's Holy Book, Fight for Mecca, The City of Baghdad, Sinbad in the Valley of Snakes, Yang Chein Unites North and South, and The Tang Dynasty. For each of these there were accompanying colouring pages and map work. We also used the Usborne Encyclopedia of religions to read about Muslims.

Science (Elemental Science Earth and Astronomy) - We covered many subjects for the past few weeks such as Tornadoes, Hurricanes and Volcanoes, Mountains, Rivers and Rivers of Ice, The Seashore, Seas and Oceans and Under the Sea, and the biomes desert, plains, rainforest and Arctic. We also built a paper mache volcano and exploded it.





Painting the finished product.





Not quite as colourful as we wanted even though we added plenty of food colouring. I suspect she may have added water or something when I wasn't looking. I have no idea why she taped pieces of foliage around the base either.

Geography (Expedition Earth)-  We stamped our passports and went to India, Israel and Thailand to finish our Asia tour. This week we began Europe and started with Russia (even though it is on both Asia and Europe). We read the Children Just Like Me book to look how each child in these countries live. So far Russia has been her favourite because the little girl goes to dance school. Regular school in the morning and dance lessons every afternoon, who wouldn't want that? 

Art (Meet the Masters) - Roo started her weekly Art class. It is two hours of mixed media fun in which she looks forward to every week. 

What did Merle do? Merle can walk around her play pen no problem and will sometimes stand unassisted for a second or two before she falls or grabs onto something. She also thinks Yo Gabba Gabba is the best show ever and will literally bitch at you if you shut it off or the video runs out. She stands and laughs and dances the entire time it is on. When it stops she points and yells. We recently ordered the Yo Gabba Gabba Party in a Box DVD set because she only had one video she watched repeatedly. If I hear the "I love Bugs" song one more time.........

Excitement is in the Air and I have Seen the Light

Hmmm, what to blog about since I have been missing in action for the last two weeks? Some exciting things have taken place, began taking or are about to take place. First off, Stella, who is a little girl in my online mom group for when I had Merle has had an improvement over a scary last week. Stella has Type 2 Gaucher Disease. It is a very rare form of the disease that affects the brain as well as the major organs and is characterized by severe neurological involvement in the first year of life. She is a very brave, strong little girl who needs your prayers. So if you have some extra prayers to give please send one Stellas' way. You can read about her and follow her story at CaringBridge where there is also a link for donations.

The next news is a close friend of mine had her first book published, it was released last week and it is awesome (I am about 1/2 way finished). It is called Down The Yellow Brick Road: Finding Home by D.X. Luc and it is currently available in Ebook format. This book is for mature audiences only, and you need to get it because you won't regret it. It will also make you unable to look at The Wizard of Oz the same way ever again;)

As we (my husband and I) slowly breathe in and breathe out to try to rid the anxiety, the next thing on the forefront is his band. Their first single should be hitting the airwaves soon so it is an exiting and scary time for us. The final touches of mixing and mastering are being done as I type this. So keep your ears open for BeforeTheCurtain because soon they may be played on a radio station near you:)

Lastly I had an epiphany. I always read about them, and never had one so when I did, I was all "what is this weird feeling of clarity and empowerment?". Believe it or not (and those that know me will not) it was about exercise. I am finally feeling like I am ready. I have been working out since July of this past summer and have noticed an overall change in my strength, endurance and slight changes in my body. I have put on a little weight recently but I am holding on to the hope that it is muscle gain. If it's not, then I'm pissed;) Anyway, I have always been the skinny fat girl. I know, Boo Hoo you wear a size 0-2 and you jiggle a bit. I'm not looking for sympathy, that's not the point of this. I get it, I am blessed in the fact that I never really have had to watch my weight my whole life. Even during pregnancy I topped out at 143lbs. But I have never, ever been fit. Seriously, changing the sheets on the bed makes me tired.....that may actually be because clean sheet day is the best day and I feel inclined to climb in and enjoy them. But you get the picture, climbing the stairs, folding laundry, typing on the computer, all theses tasks make me tired. I never have energy and feel like I am dragging my ass 24/7. I could probably sleep for a full day and still wake tired. I haven't had a descent night sleep since October 2004 and that combined with being out of shape makes me feel like I am only 1/16 of the person I can be. So this is where the epiphany comes in. It was in regards to not only wanting to get fit, but finally the motivation to do it. I have been doing Bodyrockers since I began my workouts in July. I love it. I hate it. I want to embrace it fully. I have never completely had my ass kicked that hard within the first 2 minutes of anything except maybe floor hockey, dodge ball, or Canada Fitness day in grade school. And those are some serious flashbacks to traumatic school experiences. I hated gym. That could be a whole blog post in it's own. Anyway, these workouts are called High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT and that they are. And an even more awesome part is that these workouts are designed to do from home in small spaces and by using your own body weight instead of a billion pieces of equipment. There has been some equipment that has been incorporated as Bodyrock.tv has evolved but they are not necessary. Even so, I hope to have it all at some point anyway:) especially the dip station. I really want a dip station. One thing that I do feel is needed though, is a interval timer. I bought the Gymboss one that was recommended, but there is also a free Gymboss app for your iphone/ipod as well. It is more of a pain in the ass to use but it does work and I used it for the first little while. I am the type of person who has no time to go to the gym, like zero. And even if I did, I probably would find an excuse to not go, especially by myself. So the idea of getting fit from home in a real small amount of time (most routines are only 12-15 minutes) is what I was looking for and never knew existed. I came across Bodyrock.tv on the web through the magic that is Google. After seeing the completely jaw dropping ripped body of Zuzana Light, looking through her website, and reading her very open interview, I find her completely charming and inspiring. She had me at "Hi Guys" :) I like the challenge, the change of daily routines, the Bodyrock community camaraderie and even the "oh my god, I think I'm going to puke" feeling after a really intense workout. At the start I could only do half (sometimes not even half) of the routine or reps than what was stated. I always did the push ups from my knees and two days ago I was able to do a series of regular push ups (not the whole time though) but that is an achievement for me. I am so happy I found this site and so happy that I now truly feel like I can do this, not just the motions of doing it. I want to become the best me there is and I think I am finally on the track to getting there.

P.S. Shelley, if you are reading this, you are my inspiration as well. Thank you.

Lions and Tigers and.......Inbred Cannibal Mountain Men

I'm not a big "let's be one with nature" person. I don't like camping, bugs or hot sunny days, so nature walks aren't really my forte either. But my husband and Roo wanted to go out for a family walk along the trails. I was supposed to compile a list of things so that the two of them could have a scavenger hunt while on our walk. It's a very common place for bike riders, dog walkers and families to go around the various trails. They are scenic and easy to walk along..........as long as you stick to the trails. I pushed the carriage with Merle while the two of them did their hunt. At the end of one trail was a park where the girls played for a bit and then we backtracked. Instead of going down the same way we came up, Tom decided that "it would be fun to go into the more wooded area because it went down by the water and we could cross a bridge and come around", his words not mine. He apparently used to bike these paths and was familiar with where they led or something like that. Always go with your gut. For one, the path wasn't paved. It was more of a human flattened out path, which was fine at first until it got more hilly, rocky and the woods got denser. Then as we walked further in you could no longer hear people talking and laughing. It got really quiet and I have seen too many horror films. Actually not seen, but been more in the room while Tom was watching them because they scare me so bad I can't sit and watch them. Because I am a firm believer that nothing good happens in the woods and I frequently say it, Tom said something along the lines of "your thinking of those inbred, cannibal, mountain men from that movie aren't you?" That would be the ones from the movie Wrong Turn, which is seared into my brain for life. I can't run fast to begin with and pushing a stroller in a heavy wooded area, there would be zero hope for me. I would be the first to go if that moment was a horror movie. So the path sucks, and is gradually getting suckier as we continue to forge through because "there is the water just up ahead and then we can cross the bridge to the other side. Nope. The dirt ground turned to mud and giant puddles, and the paths go smaller. Long story short, we had to turn around while I carried Merle all the way out and helped Roo through the mud, over puddles and up hills while Tom had to collapse and carry the big stroller because it was way easier than pushing it. And somewhere along the way I twisted my ankle and hurt my armpit. We got back to the car and then when to Dairy Queen. Mint, Oreo and Skor Bar is my new favourite Blizzard.

During the park play.

This is what we completed this week.

Memory Work -  We added the definition of earthquake to our box.

Spelling (All About Spelling level 2) - She finished Level 2 lesson 9 when to use c or k.

First Language Lessons 2 - We worked on lesson 110-112 linking verbs, seasons and we started a poem booklet.

Writing with Ease 2 - Completed week 4 of writing, narrations, and dictation using excerpts from Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

Latin (Lively Latin) - We spent the week learning/memorizing our vocabulary words and our chants did exercise 1.2 and read a history section.

French (Nallenart L'Art de Lire1) - 1 worksheet, and flashcard reviewing.

Math ( Singapore 2A/2B) - Still finishing 1B, we did time this week with a review chapter.

History (Story of the World Middles Ages) - Chapter four The Beauty of Constantinople, Justinian the Just Emperor, The Empress Theodorra and The Church in the East. We did the corresponding map work and advanced map work for this chapter.

Science (Elemental Science Earth and Astronomy) - Roo learned about Storms, flooding and earthquakes. We also watched some video clips on storms and tsunamis. 

Geography (Expedition Earth)-  We stamped our passports and went to Japan. We still use Sheppard Software daily to learn the European countries. She is also learning to map the world by heart via The Core method and started her continent blobs this week.  Continent blobs are rough circles/ovals drawn in the area on the map that corresponds with each continent. It's done after the five great circles are drawn in order to be able to visually space where the continents are located. I didn't post a picture last week, so this is an example of how to map the continent blobs and 5 great circles.

Art (Meet the Masters) - We continued our study on Vincent Van Gogh. Her art class starts next week which is going to be fun for her as well. 

What did Merle do? She can make it around her play pen by holding the side and can now easily get from her belly to her butt. She also fell asleep in the most awkward position ever.

I Come From Ork

I was pretty excited when my husband went out to the store today (code for I am smoking) and came up carrying the mail because................today Merle's Halloween costume arrived. Which was pretty unexpected seeing I only ordered it Wednesday. I need to take up the sleeves and put a pin tuck in the wig/headpiece but overall it fits and she doesn't appear to like it:) Princess Leia!

Sorry for the crappy phone photo.

There comes a point in your life when you realize that your child is going to be way smarter than you. You hope for it, but you also secretly wish that you will always be just a little bit smarter. If only, because you are their parents and you need that so they don't know you are talking out your ass most of the time. Well yesterday I had my moment of acceptance. This a three way conversation between Roo, Merle and I (and yes Merle is only 9 months so just go with me on this).

Me: Merle did you poop?
Merle: screech, snort, clap.
Me: Should I be scared?
Roo: If I may interrupt? I have been working on my baby translation skills.
Me: Okay. Did she poop?
Roo: Merley did you poop?
Merle: dada, ma, click.
Roo: She said maybe. But don't worry because it is not diaper explosion.
Me: Good to know.
Roo: She also says that her conscience is still making her feel guilty about the incident on Tuesday, but she doesn't want to talk about it because she is embarrassed.
Me: Where did you come from?
Roo: Ork, but you call it Saturn. Then she left.

I was like, seriously wtf? I had to write it down so I wouldn't forget. That was my moment that I knew she would surpass me in brains. Which is hard to admit because I am a know-it-all asshole, just ask my husband;)

This is what we completed this week.

Memory Work -  We added the water cycle to her daily list.

Spelling (All About Spelling level 2) - She finished Level 2 lesson 7 the silent e.

First Language Lessons 2 - We worked on lesson 107-109 narration and linking verbs.

Writing with Ease 2 - Completed week 3 of writing, narrations, and dictation using excerpts from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

Latin (Lively Latin) - I am moving really, really slow through this Latin program, we may even get 2 years out of it. We spent the week learning/memorizing our vocabulary words and our chants.

French (Nallenart L'Art de Lire1) - 1 worksheet, story translation and the uses of s'appelle.

Math ( Singapore 2A/2B) - Still finishing 1B, we finished up the review and division section this week. It was a nice gentle introduction into division. We also did 2 chapters from Life of Fred Elementary series.

History (Story of the World Middles Ages) - Chapter three Augustine Comes to England, Medieval Monasteries, and Writing Books by Hand. We did the corresponding map work and colouring her Illumination fancy Medieval letters. Tonight for dinner we at like the monks from medieval monasteries, lentil soup, bread and cheese, apples and pears, and apple cider (should be water but I hate water and they drank cider on special occasions). We watched House Hunter International while eating:)





This is our medieval meal, you can't really see it here. Merle decided she really likes old cheese, the older the better she says.

Science (Elemental Science Earth and Astronomy) - Roo learned about seasons and the water cycle this week. She also went on a long nature walk with dad where she fell in a pond.

This isn't from the nature walk but it is her today enjoying the last flowers of the season of the first day of Fall while we were on our way to the grocery store.

Geography (Expedition Earth)-  We stamped our passports and went to South Korea. Every other day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories and every day she goes over the countries in Europe via Sheppard Software. She is also learning to map the world by heart via The Core method and started her continent blobs this week.  Continent blobs are rough circles/ovals drawn in the area on the map that corresponds with each continent. It's done after the five great circles are drawn in order to be able to visually space where the continents are located. This is what it looked like (I'll take a picture tomorrow because I forgot).

Our stamped passports and the flag of the countries we have visited.

Art (Meet the Masters) - This week we started our study on Vincent Van Gogh.

Composer Study - Classical while doing continent blobs and geography.

What did Merle do? She has started click her tongue repeatedly. No crawling really, she just kind of drags herself on her belly around to wherever she wants to go.

Bathroom Door - 1 ......Celtic War Axe - 0

Two weeks down and I think we may in fact be finding our groove. Except for that one day we slept in because the baby decided to sleep in and when she does we all silently rejoice and stay asleep.  For history this week we studied the Celts. I'm completely not a crafty person but I thought it would be fun to make Roo a Celtic war axe. I have pretty much zero craft supplies in the house except for the basic stuff so it was made from digging through the recycling box. This is the finished product which she loved.





 Later in the day she had on her princess dress because you know all warriors wear princess dresses. Anyway, she went running from her room into the kitchen screaming a Valkyrie war cry with her axe raised over her head and hit the bathroom door and landed on her butt. I have no idea how she didn't see it but she didn't and there were lots of tears and hugs and mutterings of how her hand was broken. I wanted to take a picture because it was kind of funny to see but I thought that would have been mean.

Also: NEW ADDICTION ALERT, it is called Pinterest, I love it. It allows you to keep track of visual lists of things you want, wishlists, idea lists, DIY lists, or in the case of me, wishful thinking lists, and honestly my life isn't complete until (fill in the blank) lists, here's mine. So addicting.

This is what we completed this week.

Memory Work -  No change from last week as she has a pile of stuff that she is still working on daily.  

Spelling (All About Spelling level 2) - She finished Level 2 lesson 6 the silent e.

First Language Lessons 2 - We worked on lesson 104-106 pronouns and state of being verbs.

Writing with Ease 2 - Completed week 2 of writing, narrations, and dictation using excerpts from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Latin (Lively Latin) - We completed Lesson 1.1 which was introducing us to different nouns and masculine, feminine and neuter how they work in Latin 

French (Nallenart L'Art de Lire1) - She did 2 worksheets and translated the story in to English.

Math ( Singapore 2A/2B) - Still finishing 1B, we finished up the multiplication section this week. It was a nice gentle introduction into multiplication. She does math under the table for some reason.

History (Story of the World Middles Ages) - Chapter two The Celts of Britain, Barbarians come to Britain, and Beowulf the Hero. We did the corresponding map work and are in the middle of reading Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo which is a nice, light and entertaining version for kids.

Science (Elemental Science Earth and Astronomy) - We learned about Earth from Space and Day and Night this week. No experiments though because she opted to bike ride instead which is fine by me because if this colder weather continues she won't be able to ride much longer. 

Geography (Expedition Earth)-  We stamped our passports and began our journey to Asia, first stop China. The Children Just Like Me book is great to be able to relate to how other children live around the world. Every other day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories and every day she goes over the countries in Europe via Sheppard Software. She is also learning to map the world by heart via The Core method. We began a rough sketch of our continent blobs this week. Continent blobs are rough circles/ovals drawn in the area on the map that corresponds with each continent. It's done after the five great circles are drawn in order to be able to visually space where the continents are located. That was a mouthful, and I am sure confusing to those that have no idea what I am talking about:)

Art (Meet the Masters) - This week we made our portfolio that will hold all of her artwork she makes this year.

Composer Study - Classical while doing art. I need to get something together asap. 

What did Merle do? She enjoys getting her hair vacuumed when we are cleaning which is strange because most kids are terrified of the vacuum. She also regularly does something we call The Dirty Old Man. Here is a video, it speaks for itself:)

Her vacuumed hair that resembles Donald Trump.

The Devil is in the Details

This was out first week back to full time school and our first week of what we call grade 2. So far so good with our selected curriculum for this year. I only made one change. After one lesson of Latin for Children A I knew it was going to be too hard for this year so we shelved it for now and I got Lively Latin. It has the right amount of work and history portions to keep her interested. So my title for this post comes from the fact that I just may be raising a smart a$$. I haven't decided if it is an age thing or if it is a personality thing but whatever it is, it is definitely annoying. When you give her instructions, ask her to do something or even ask her a question it seems that you have to make sure you ask for EXACTLY what you want and or expect from her or else she will inform you that, that wasn't what you asked. Therefore finding a loophole. For example,

Me: Roo bring your dishes from lunch time out of the living room and into the kitchen.

Roo: There are no dishes in there.

Me: Oh, did you already bring them in?

Roo: There are no dishes to bring in.

Me: What? You ate lunch so bring the dishes in.

Roo: Those aren't dishes, those are recyclable materials. 

Lunch came from a prepackaged container, there were in fact no dishes.

My husband has been trying to teach Roo how to ride a two wheeler. She seems to be more interested of when they take a break and she collects rocks and sticks. A few days ago she built a fire pit instead.

Our first week was four days due to Labour Day, so this is what we completed this week.

First day of school.

Memory Work -  We are still working through the same materials that we had in the box last year but are adding stuff from this year into it slowly. I added the planets this week for science.

Spelling (All About Spelling level 2) - She finished Level 2 lesson 5.

First Language Lessons 2 - We worked on lesson 101-103 which was a review from last year.

Writing with Ease 2 - Completed week 1 of writing, narrations, and dictation. This was her first time doing dictation. She didn't do too bad, it was more the spelling of some of the words that slowed her down.

Latin (Lively Latin) - This first week is kind of like an introduction. It has given us the history of Latin and some small exercises. All in all, it seems like a good fit for her age and she seems excited to do the lessons.

French (Nallenart L'Art de Lire1) - This level is a gentle introduction to reading French. The level basically focuses on the French vowels and shows you how they are used via simple stories. These stories also aid in reading French. 

Math ( Singapore 2A/2B) - We are still finishing 1B but it seems to be moving quickly. We had to put it aside for a bit last year and did Math Mammoth for a bit to work on problem areas. 

History (Story of the World Middles Ages) - Chapter one was about the Fall of Rome. We did map work  for it as well as placed out final timeline picture on the Ancients timeline (The Fall of Rome picture) before we now proceed to the middle ages. This is exciting for me because the Middle Ages is my favourite time period. I am looking forward to sharing this with Roo.

It's a crappy picture but that is the Ancients and Middle Ages timelines from Pandia Press. the other two levels will be added as we do those years.

Science (Elemental Science Earth and Astronomy) - This week was like an introduction to earth and space. We learned about the earth, space and the moon. Then we built a paper mache model of earth which is in fact still drying and probably needs a second layer of stuff put on it. The we will paint it. She wanted to do the whole solar system, I thought no way:)

Our model of Earth in process. All we had was coloured news print so I hope we can paint of it.

Geography (Expedition Earth)- We began with an introduction to the Continents and Oceans even though she knows them already. The I handed out the passports we will be using for our journey this year. Every other day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories and every day she goes over the countries in Europe via Sheppard Software. She is also learning to map the world by heart via The Core method. I think she has mastered the Great Five Circles and next week we may begin the continent blobs. 

Art (Meet the Masters) - We only did the introduction lesson this week. 

Composer Study - None this week. 

What did Merle do? She has figured out how to clap though it still surprises her when she does it. She kind of gets the waving thing, and she has taken to pulling her dress over her head until you say "where's Merle" and then she whips it down and laughs.





I learned how to do several different types of braids this week. This is the waterfall, the picture makes her hair look like she has a million split ends, I just didn't brush it before the picture. Not bad for my first attempt.

Hell Hath Frozen Over

It's worth checking if it has because my school plan for this year is now complete. The odds were against me, hell even I bet against myself. But remember I am ever the pessimist so I had to bet against myself, it's in my nature. I was pushing my luck with time, but the choices are finally made. I just need to input them into my schedule in a realistic, non horrifying way. I have spent the better part of the day trying to clean and organize the dining room because it in fact could be described as horrifying. This is the room we use for school. The computer is in there, all my book shelves and we sit at the dining room table with baskets of the books we will need. It's cluttered and messy no matter how hard I try to organize it. What I really want is Expedit computer desk/book shelf combo. I want it in the black-brown wood colour and with the larger size book shelf. Computer on one side, she can sit and do work on the other and all our books and supplies would fit nicely onto the shelves. It's not realistic in this apartment though, because the spot it would have to go has such as slanted floor we can't have book shelves on that wall. I'll keep it on my wish list for the next place. In the meantime baskets and crowded table it is!

This is my plans for this school year, grade 2.

Language Arts

First Language Lessons 2

Writing With Ease 2

All About Spelling 2 and 3

Handwriting Without Tears Cursive

Math

Just call me Miss indecisive, or just plain stupid. Either works in this situation. She started last year with Singapore Math 1A/1B and it seemed to jump topics too quick and I had to keep going back. So we stopped and I got Math Mammoth 1A/1B for her because it has a lot of practice. She completed it by summer so I purchased Mammoth 2A/2B for this year. I decided over the summer to finish our Singapore Math 1B book and noticed that she is doing much better with it and math is less torturous. So I ordered Singapore Math 2A/2B and will use Math Mammoth as a supplement.

Singapore 2A/2B

Math Mammoth 2A/2B - supplement

Life of Fred Elementary series - Apples, Butterflies and Cats. There are 4 of these books out right now and we love them! I can't wait for the others to come out.

History

Story of the World 2 - Middle Ages

Activity Guide for SOTW 2

It's my favorite time period so I am very excited. I also got the Pandia Press wall timeline which I am getting laminated and timeline figures from the Hannah_hs_ helps yahoo group already cut out and laminated. 

Science 

Elemental Science Earth Science and Astronomy

Geography

Ideas from The Core by Leigh Bortins for learning the world by mapping it.

Expedition Earth done secularly

Foreign Language

Latin for Children A

L'Art de Lire 1 - French

Art and Composer Study

Art - Meet the Masters Online. She is also enrolled in a weekly art class. 

Composer 
The plan is a composer a month study. Print and post a picture of the composer on the wall, read a biography on the composer, map where they lived and listen to their music. Classicsforkids is a great site for this as well. 

*** I forgot Memory Work, so I will add it at the end here. I am still using the same ideas as before using the Charlotte Mason Method for memory work (but not memorizing scripture because we are secular). I will be adding memory work for what we will be doing this year Science, History, Latin, French. 

I hope the links to everything I posted work. If they don't, please let me know.

I don't know if I am missing anything, but I feel as if I got everything I wanted to covered. The lack of having 62 hours in everyday is frustrating but I am trying to overcome it and get what I need done a piece at a time. Our school start date is after Labour Day so I still have a couple of weeks to manage. I am also implementing a chore/task sheet this year. Everything from school work to, going and staying in bed, to teeth brushing will be on it (it's a fight to get her to brush her teeth as well as stay in bed). At the end of the week the sheet will be evaluated and she will get an allowance and/or treat based on the completion and the attitude while completing. Wish me luck because I am not holding my breath on this one.