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. 

WW - New Fall/Winter Headwear

Hand made by a friend.

Facts About Me That You Probably Don't Care About But I don't Give a Shit

This post is two fold. One because I haven't posted in a while and I have wanted to post our "This Years Curriculum" but I am still figuring it out. Yikes, I know. Second, my About Me section has been "under construction" since day one and I figured, why not hit two birds with one stone. It's going to be more like a bulleted list of random facts, not some deeply poetic dialogue about my life. Here it goes.

• First one is not a shocker to those who know me. I read all. the. time. If I could make a library into my home I would. 
• I actually want a library in my home and any of these will do.
• One of my pet peeves is stupid spelling mistakes or word confusion (ex. lose and loose). So if you notice a spelling error in any of my posts I exempt myself from all responsibility and blame it on pregnancy brain and post pregnancy brain. I firmly believe some of your brain actually gets absorbed into each child you have during gestation. It's real, believe me. 
• I fry my spaghetti. Heat up a frying pan, put in cooked noodles and pour over the sauce. Mix and cook until all sauce bakes onto the noodles. It tastes so much better. I've even converted my husband.
• I have had a crush on Jared Leto since I was 14 and he was on My So Called Life. I am not fickle with my celebrity crushes, so when an opportunity came up where I could potentially meet him I declined. What if I met him and was disappointed? That would be like 18 years of my life wasted. Who would I crush on after that? 
• If I stare blankly at you during a conversation, than it usually means you have said something stupid and I am giving you time to save yourself.
• I am introverted. No that doesn't mean shy. 
• I eat food that falls on the floor. The five second rule applies to everything except what falls beside the stove. It's scary there. True story. On my husbands and my second or third date we went to a Thai restaurant. We each had a main course and split an order of Pad Thai. So when I was trying to maneuver the noodles from the dish to my plate I dropped 95% of them on the table. Without thinking I scooped them all from the table to my plate with intent to eat them. I had a moment of "Oh shit, maybe I shouldn't have done that." and then I shrugged and figured if that turns him off then I have no hope when he really gets to know me. It turns out he liked the fact I did that.........(or so he says).
• I don't understand abstract art, it frustrates me. I just can't see it as art. Can a 5 year old paint like Caravaggio? Not fucking likely.
• I don't like clowns or Santa, they make me uncomfortable. I also don't like crocs.
• I want to live in Europe, preferably the Western half. I also wish I was fluent in another language. Fuck you high school French, you did nothing for me!
• I am a cup half empty kind of person. The eternal pessimist. The upside? I never expect anything to work out so if it does I am genuinely surprised and thankful. 
• I play the lottery weekly because if I don't, then you know my numbers will be drawn next week. This goes back to the pessimist/cup half empty thing.
• I've got a sailor mouth. Some may say the use of swear words shows a lack of intelligence and creativity. I say that when you are mad sometimes "Gosh, your making me mad!" doesn't quite mirror what you are feeling. The F word tends to get the point across quickly.  I also use the F word as verb, adverb, adjective, command, interjection, and noun. Sometimes all at once. I think that ability actually shows my high intelligence and creativity;)
• I love McDonald's, it's yummy and has the best coke. It honestly doesn't bother me that someone experimentally left a McDonald's burger out for 3 months and it still looked the same. 
• I like cheese, the super old stinky stuff.
• I've never had sushi/seafood but I avoid it like the plague. Lobsters are the cockroach of the sea.
• I firmly believe that text messaging is the major reason why kids can't spell. I for one can't bring myself to type short forms of things very often. Proper spelling and grammar should still apply to texting.
• I don't like ice cream cake. I like ice cream AND cake but not together.
• I've worn glasses since I was three and contacts since I was 14. My eye sight still sucks and I am considered legally blind without them.
• I homeschool my child because I don't believe education is one size fits all. 
• I hate the word socialization when applied to homeschool. What do you do for socialization? Do you realize you look stupid asking me that question when we are watching our children in dance or art class together. Seriously? Look it up, socializing and socialization are two different things. A) Socialization is the process through which a child learns the customs, behaviors, and expectations of certain culture and/or society. B) Socializing is getting together for a social or common purpose. It’s an activity, not a process. I want my children to get socialization from her family not public school peers and socializing is done every time you leave the house. It seems to me that people who lived in the pioneer days who saw nothing of anyone except their families and a few scattered strangers for months on end didn't worry that much about socialization. This "socialization" thing annoys me. It's a made-up concept by the public school system and our modern society.  
• I honestly don't care if you don't like me. Really. I may actually enjoy the fact that you don't. So don't think my feelings are hurt if you don't like me and we aren't friends. I've probably already thanked god/goddess/or various deities that we are not.
• Still Under Construction!

A Day in the Life of

My online mom group decided we would each do "day in the life of" posts so everyone could learn about one another more and them secretly compare ourselves to each other;) If I am talking about something and you are thinking WTH is that, I usually include links for as much as I can find. Just click on the green bolded words. 

So my day starts depending on when Merle wakes. If I keep the room dark and try not to move too much, sometimes I get a bit longer. Mostly it's me closing my eyes trying to pretend sleep in hopes she catches the drift. Usually not and she starts the day by plucking out her sucky and singing a little bit. It's usually between 7:30 and 8:30 (sometimes longer on the weekend). I have one happy morning kid and one crusty one. I get up and while I feed Merle I steep myself a cup of tea (because I like it super strong).



Happy morning breakfast baby.
After that I am usually catching myself up on Facebook and my favourite homeschooling forum The Well Trained Mind.  Lots and lots of great information on there. You can lose a full day once you start reading and researching. Time to wake the crusty one. It usually involves pulling back the blinds, cheering good morning, placing a baby on her head and whipping the covers back. Still it will take 15-20 minutes for her to crawl out of bed with a scowl and crazy hair.
It's time for me to motivate myself to exercise. Blah. Today I warmed up, did a workout called Prison Cell Exercises which I have aptly renamed, You Will Die in Prison Exercises. Then I stretched it out. This is my prison mugshot, I thought it was going to kill me.

Shower, dress and beautify. I have to shower with the door open since the bathroom is small and I can't bring Merle in. She hangs out in her jumper beside her sister (who is usually playing on the computer) which is right out front of the bathroom door. Showering with the door closed or without an audience, now what would that be like?

School time! If you ever watched Seinfeld you would know the Soup Nazi. I refer to myself as the school Nazi. Yes we do school during the summer. We take various other breaks throughout the year as needed but if we take the summer off, I know I will be spending the first two months of the next school year reteaching everything she forgot over the summer.
We start our lessons with daily memory work, and math facts. Next we work on geography. Where the Canadian provinces are located and what their capitals are and European countries on a map via online sources. Daily we do math, Latin, French, copywork, spelling and grammar. Alternating days are History (3x week) and Science (2x week). If she pays attention it usually takes close to 2 hours a day. She is Harry Potter obsessed right now so currently she goes to Hogwarts. She puts on a witch hat, has a wand and I have changed the class names to Chants, Transfiguration, Spells, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, History of Magic, Potions, Muggle Studies and Charms. Merle wants to join Hogwarts too.






Lunch is next and I usually read or scan the computer while eating. Merle is either cat napping, sitting on my knee or bouncing in her jumper. Roo usually eats lunch in the living room with her toys or while playing JumpStart on the computer. We did a quick photo shoot before going out.











We live right downtown so most things are really close and convenient. Today we went to the library which is 1.5 blocks away. She hung out with a little girl that was there while I perused the books. A quick 20 minute library visit turned into 1.5 hours. She also has the habit of reading and walking so I constantly have to pull her over to stop her from walking into people/objects.







Then we walked through town to the water front because they have ducks there she likes to feed. We have to do it covertly because we feed them our ends from the bread and the crunchy momma's (no offence) hang out there by the coffee shop in their mom group. They frown upon this and "encourage" feeding them corn and seeds. I don't need to be given nor do I deal well with someone lecturing me so we hide;) The grocery store is literally a 2 minute walk from home so we usually pick up stuff every 2-3 days in small quantities because I have to carry it home. Today was one of those days because I needed diapers. I often make Roo wear a backpack to carry stuff to help. It's usually only bread or other light things and she complains the whole way home. Even while I am strapped with a kid on my front and carrying 4 bags struggling, she is literally skipping along and complaining. It's annoying. We get home and put the groceries away then Roo stripped down and sat in front of the a/c unit because "she was disgustingly hot". Then we figured out what's for dinner. While thinking about it, I feed Merle. She had peas first with bananas after. She loves any kind of banana mixture and can't open her mouth quick enough for it.
I prepared a stir fry for me broccoli, green pepper, onion, leeks, a couple of eggs thrown in, slivered almonds and teriyaki sauce. Roo had kraft dinner because she's picky with stir fry on the side. Then she went into the bath. I wash her hair she hangs out in the tub until she wrinkles. When I went in to fish her out I noticed that her shampoo bottle was now almost completely empty and floating in the water. When I asked her what happened she declared that she wanted to smell like strawberries so she washed her body with it. Pretty expensive bath. Out she comes and then it's Merle's turn, quick, easy and painless. Roo gets a bedtime snack and Merle ate paper.



Then ready for bed. It's usually around 8:30 by the time I am able to get her in. We all climb into bed to read a couple of stories from Aesop's Fables for Children and a chapter from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Now we see how long she will be awake for, my guess is 11:30 or later. Merle takes her final 8 oz bottle before bed at 9:00 and slips into milk coma on her mat.

I slide her into bed when I go to bed and she will sleep until a 4am feeding. Right now is my time to fiddle on the computer, update my blog, or watch things that I have missed on TV because I get zero time to myself. I usually watch TV shows or Movies on THIS site. I love it it's awesome.  I've still got to wash, sterilize and prepare bottles and almost forgot:( It's now 12:00 and I am sliding into bed to read one of my three books on the go and Roo is still awake. She will be crusty in the morning and then the full circle starts again.

I'm So Sorry Iza..........Please Forgive Me.

On Friday which happened to be Canada Day, I made myself accept that my cat wasn't getting any better. I was just wishing and hoping she was. That afternoon I brought her to the emergency clinic knowing I wouldn't be bringing her home. After the vet checked her out, she told me her opinion but the decision was mine to make. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Signing the paper to permit the euthanasia felt like a betrayal of the worst kind and I still feel sick thinking about it. She asked me if I wanted to stay in the room or not. I really wanted to run away and say I couldn't do it. But I had no choice because she was sitting there scared and not knowing what was happening. It was quick but seemed so very long. The whole time I was crying and saying "I'm so sorry" over and over. It's so blurry but so vivid in my mind still. I remember hearing my tears rolling down my face and hitting the stainless steel table. Then it was done.
She was 14+ years old. I adopted her from the humane society and her age was unknown at the time. It was estimated at 1 year, maybe more. I named her Iza (pronounced Ee-suh) a character from one of my favourite books. She was my constant friend, my heart is aching and I miss her terribly. 

Thank you mom, for being there when I needed someone. I love you.

A Hillbilly Smile.....or Redneck Depending Where You Are From

So Roo's top two front teeth came out this week and this is how it went.

They were extremely loose but she refused to let me work at them so I just left them alone. On Monday she was trying to avoid brushing her teeth at bedtime and hid under the covers. When I whipped them back somehow one tooth got snagged or something (she must have been under there with her mouth wide open...strange) but never the less she came out with a shocked look and a tooth in her hand. The other tooth was hanging on sideways barely, so it looked like it was one tooth in the center of her mouth. When she smiled I burst out laughing and told her that it looked like a hillbilly smile. What do you think?





After 3 days of that, she let me take the tooth out on Thursday. She was very excited at 6:15 am the next morning when she woke me to show me that the tooth fairy left her ten dollars. The tooth fairy really needs to keep smaller change in the house.

We did school in 4 days this week because a) I am tired, b) it's hot and that makes me crabby, and c)We had an Opthamologist appointment on Friday. You could tell  Roo was taught reading by using phonics because when she did her eye exam chart she used the letter sounds instead of the letter names;) 

Roo's dance recital was last Friday. They were supposed to be Tinker Belle like fairies and they danced to It's Not Easy Being Green. She was nervous.

But apparently she is not nervous when she video tapes herself dancing. This video makes me think that she should be taken out of ballet and placed into hip hop. I had no idea when she filmed this video when I saw it, but then I remember her yelling "Mom, Where's my leather jacket? I need it for something".

Now on to what we finished this week and last.

Memory Work -  Nothing new has been added, we are just working through our memory box to ensure that everything is being memorized and retained.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - She finished Level 2 lesson 3 and 4 this week. 

First Language Lessons - Daily review

Writing with Ease - Completed week 36 of copy work and narration exercises from The Wizard of Oz. We are now done it and have slowly started Handwriting Without Tears Cursive. 

Latin (Song School Latin) - Review

French (Nallenart) - We learned about time, and numbers 30-59.

Math - Using our abacus we did 2 pages of Math Mammoth 1B (we only have 2 sections left) each day and one exercise from Singapore Math a day too. We continued with math facts online using XtraMath. She is plugging along and each day more go into the mastered list. This only takes about 5 minutes a day.

History (Story of the World) - We completed Ch 36 The First Roman Prince, Ch 37 Birth of Jesus and Crucifixion, and Ch 38 The End of the Ancient Jewish Nation and Ch 39 Nero the Evil Emperor, and Christians in the Catacombs.

Science (Elemental) - Our plant study is almost done and this week we completed Nuts, Cones and Spores as well as Stems.

Geography - Every day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories as well as Europe via Sheppard Software. I really need to dig in my heels and figure out how I am going to implement The Core's method for Geography before I have to return it to the Library.

These are my thoughts on curriculum for next year (grade 2). Some of these I already have on my shelves. Edited to add some changes.

Language Arts

First Language Lessons 2

Writing With Ease 2

All About Spelling 2 and 3

Handwriting Without Tears Cursive

Math

Math Mammoth 2A/2B

History

Story of the World 2 - Middle Ages

Activity Guide for SOTW 2

Science 

Elemental Science Earth Science and Astronomy

Geography

Ideas from The Core 

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. I asked around on the WTM Forum about Mac compatibility and they said it would work. I really wanted to use this program but the Internet Explorer necessity scared me away, but I have since been told that I can use my Safari Browser without issues. Yay!

Composer - a study I will put together (presumably one composer a month from the middle ages period) 

My Feelings About Bedtime Summed Up in 2:36 Minutes

Here is the link to the actual book. Not that I would read it to her as tempting as that might be. But I would like it for my own mental being;) It sounds better with Samuel L. Jackson reading it though.

Let's Put it on Facebook!

We had a 4 day week this week because Wednesday we went to Walmart. You know how easy it is to lose a full day in Walmart;) This week Merle started to cut her first tooth. She is a champ, I didn't even know until I felt it when she started to chew on my finger. Roo's top two front teeth are almost ready to come out as well. I am happy that they have finally become loose, since looking at the chipped one has been giving me mommy guilt for the last 4.5 years. When Roo was two she climbed onto a kitchen chair to sit beside her dad while he was on the computer. She began to wiggle in her seat and somehow managed to wiggle right off and land on her face. The result was a chipped front tooth that makes me feel terrible every time I see it.

Last week I had surprise photos from Roo taking pictures of herself and this week I have a funny video she made of her sister. It's not the video that is funny, but the song she is singing during filming after she made me put Merle into a sparkly fairy costume.

 

Now on to what we finished this week.

Memory Work -  I added parts of a flower to the list to coincide with what we are learning in science.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - She finished Level 2 lesson 3 this week. The use of y as a vowel. 

First Language Lessons - Daily review

Writing with Ease - Completed week 35 of copy work and narration exercises from The Wind in the Willows. One week left in this and the book is done!

 Latin (Song School Latin) - Review

French (Nallenart) - We learned about time, how to ask for time and how to answer.

Math - Using our abacus we did 2 pages of Math Mammoth 1B  each day and one exercise from Singapore Math a day too. We continued with math facts online using XtraMath. She is plugging along and each day more go into the mastered list. This only takes about 5 minutes a day.

History (Story of the World) - We completed Ch 35 Caesar Fights the Celts, Caesar Crosses the Rubicon, Caesar and Cleopatra, and The Death of Caesar. We also read about Caesar in the Famous Men of Rome book and have begun Cleopatra by Diane Stanley.

Science (Elemental) - In our plant study this week we looked at Fruit, Why Plants Have Fruit, and Seeds. 

Geography - Every day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories as well as Western Europe via Sheppard Software. I just got my copy of The Core from the Library and am avidly reading the geography chapter so we can begin our five circles and continent blobs. 

Merle has mastered the skills of the Old Man face this week. She sucks in her lips and this is the result.

These are my thoughts on curriculum for next year (grade 2). Some of these I already have on my shelves. 

Language Arts

First Language Lessons 2

Writing With Ease 2

All About Spelling 2&3

Handwriting Without Tears Cursive

Math

Math Mammoth 2A/2B

History

Story of the World 2 - Middle Ages

Activity Guide for SOTW 2

Science 

Elemental Science Earth Science and Astronomy

Geography

Ideas from The Core 
Expedition Earth done secularly

Foreign Language

Latin for Children A

L'Art de Lire 1 - French

Art and Composer Study

Art - Usborne Art Treasury book and picture study I put together and maybe I will sign her up for a weekly art class.

Composer - a study I will put together (presumably one composer a month from the middle ages period)

Go the F**k to Sleep

So, Roo has always been a hard one to get to sleep at night. Even as a baby it seemed she always thought that she was going to miss something if she closed her eyes, so she would fight it. Once asleep, she would sleep the night through and half the day if you would let her though. Lately it seems like it is getting worse. She used to just read quietly in bed with the occasional "I have to pee", "I need water" or "my lips are so dry, I need chap stick". You know, any excuse to get out of bed to make sure she isn't in fact missing anything. I did notice though, that she has been getting a collection of toys and hiding them near the bed so she can play instead of read. So I said enough is enough and got a big basket, filled it with the toys and left only the books for night time. Did that work to make her go to sleep? Nope, I went in last night and she had cleaned, dusted, organized and folded everything instead. This book......so appropriate.

And this is what you find on your camera when you leave it unattended.

There were 17 of these in a row with various poses and facial expressions. She has obviously figured out how to use the timer.

Now on to what we finished this week.

Memory Work -  This week I added the Greek and Roman names for the gods. We still have a lot in her daily work but she wanted to add them to the list.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - She finished Level 2 lesson 2 this week.

First Language Lessons - Since FLL is done, I went back to the beginning to start our daily review for summer. It only takes 1-2 minutes a day to go over.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 34 of copy work and narration exercises from Socks by Beverly Cleary. I also received our Handwriting Without Tears Cursive book today because she wants to begin "fancy writing" during the summer when Writing With Ease is done. We will see how that goes.

Latin (Song School Latin) - Review

Merle bounces along when Roo listens to her Song School Latin CD. It's pretty funny.

French (Nallenart) - Unit 10 fruit and vegetables with their colours review and test.

Math - We bought our abacus for Math Mammoth 1B and completed 2-3 pages each day and one exercise from Singapore Math a day as well. She also started doing her math facts online using XtraMath thanks to a recommendation and honestly, I have noticed an big improvement over the last week and a half she has been using it. Her recall is a lot quicker. 

History (Story of the World) - We began our study of Caesar this week and read Caesar is Kidnapped, The Consuls of Rome and Caesar and the Senate. After the map work we played the Ransom Caesar game which is like Battleship but we gave up because she didn't quite get it and let the pirates have Caesar;)  

Science (Elemental) - In our plant study this week we looked at buds, and flower reproductive parts, as well as different kinds of flowers. We also ended up flipping through the Usborne Science book and read some of the sections on evolution again because she wanted to. 

Geography - Every day she reviews her Canadian provinces and territories as well as Western Europe via Sheppard Software. 

Composer Study - We just listened to some classical music I have downloaded while she dug through my winter gear and put stuff on. This is her impersonation of me apparently.

I am trying to figure out what exactly I am going to need for next years curriculum. I already have some of the things that I bought in advance last year with the previous levels. I think I just need to sit down and make an inventory of what I have and what I need.