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.   

I Can't Think of a Title, So This is the Title

It's been two weeks, yes I am a bad blogger. But sometimes when you never have free time and then you get 5 minutes to yourself you just don't feel like blogging about it. Hmmm, maybe I should. Isn't that what bloggers do? Give you a small insight to their life, like "My husband isn't home, both kids are asleep, the dishes are done, (high five self) what am I going to do for the next 3.5 minutes I have before I should go to bed because the baby will be waking in a few hours to be fed and I am super tired? Never mind, baby just woke." That would be my post in it's entirety.

Earlier this week I asked Roo to hand me my hole punch and she did with a weird look on her face. I took it and noticed it was broken. The first thing I do is ask her because she, 

a) looked guilty and 

b) she is always touching my stuff. 

She says no, so I razzed her a bit more about it and then she gets adamant so I know she didn't do it. This kid doesn't lie, she may refrain from telling me something (in which some may say lying by omission. I actually use that one on my husband all the time.) BUT if you ask her if she did it she will sigh and then say "yes I did it". I hope that quality sticks with her through life. Now back to the hole punch story. I enter Sherlock Holmes mode as my mind wonders how this hole punch may have broken. Roo didn't do it, Merle is too young, did I drop it or something?..........Wait a minute. There is someone else who may have done this, someone I probably should have asked first based on his track record. So I ask my husband when he came home and he admitted to breaking it and putting it back without telling me (lying by omission). How did he break it you may ask? He was trying to punch an extra hole in his belt. Even Roo was "Dad, that tool is for paper."  

Did you break my hole punch? Kidding, just a shameless cute baby picture.

Now on to what we finished this week............and last week:  

Memory Work -  I added parts of a plant to the list this week because we started our plant study in science.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - We used these two weeks to do a long drawn out study of AAS level 2 lesson one. It's the review lesson so I thought we should go through it slowly to ensure AAS 1 stuck.

First Language Lessons - We finished FLL1 and will continue to review it throughout the summer since the break between grade 1 and 2 is the time where kids seems to forget the most. 

Writing with Ease - Completed week 32 and 33 of copy work and narration exercises from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Roo doing work while Merle watches.

Latin (Song School Latin) - Review

French (Nallenart) - Unit 10.2 fruit and vegetables with their colours used in sentences.

Math - We finished Math Mammoth 1A and bought our abacus for 1B and completed several exercises from Singapore Math as well.

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 32 Calligraphy in China, Warring States and The First Emperor and The Great Wall of China. We did the map work and read about the great wall and we looked at the tomb of emperor Shi Huangdi on the internet. She also started some Chinese character writing which I will post a picture of when she finishes it. In chapter 33 we read about Confucius and the religion Confucianism and some of his most famous sayings.  

Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do to you. - Confucius

Science (Elemental) - We completed the study of the human body with germs, allergies and nutrition. This week we started our plant study by learning about different types of leaves. We are also getting a seed to plant this weekend so that she can monitor plant growth over the summer. 

Geography - Roo has learned all of the Nordic countries and their location on a map and about half of Western Europe via Sheppard Software. She is currently sitting in a cardboard box because she is taking the train to Paris (said with a French accent) and then a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt because apparently she has opened a business there involving Sphinx. 

Composer Study - We watched part 2 of a YouTube video on Antonio Vivaldi and listened to some of his works while she did tanagrams, or a least tried to do tanagrams. She actually gave up and ended up constructing various pictures involving the different shapes. 

Look Out Von Trapp Family Singers.....Here We Come

I am typing one handed with a spit bubble blowing baby bouncing in the other hand. The spit river is now flowing steadily down my arm and it's a good thing my watch has a metal band. Yay to the gross aspects of motherhood.
Roo had a funny light bulb moment tonight while we were reading a story before bed. We were reading Harry Potter and the story mentioned a stag, and this is how the conversation went.

Roo: What is a stag?
Me: A stag is a deer, a male deer to be exact.
Roo: What is a female deer called?
Me: A doe.
Roo: Oh, like doe a deer?
Me: .....A female deer.
(3 seconds of a deep concentration face and then her eyes slowly opened wider and wider)
Roo: Ohhhhhhhhh...........that song makes sense now.

Note: The Sound of Music is my favourite movie for some reason and the stage musical is awesome too.

We finished D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths this week and have moved on to The Orchard Book of Roman Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean.

On to what we finished this week:  

Memory Work -  I didn't add anything this week from the Living Memory book but I have some ideas. We just worked on the lists and poems from the box and had to put some back into the daily rotation that she had completely blanked on.

Spelling (All About Spelling) - Level 1 of AAS is complete and she got her certificate today. Next week we start on level 2.

She has this thing with smiling nicely until I hit the button and then she gives me a stretched out turtle neck. It's like she thinks the more intense and bigger she smiles, the better.

First Language Lessons - Lessons 94-96, commands, questions and exclamation sentences.

Writing with Ease - Completed week 31 of copy work and narration exercises from the the poems The Sandpiper and The Nightingale and the Glow Worm.

Latin (Song School Latin) - SSL is complete. We are going to go back over the book through the summer and use my flashcards as review.

French (Nallenart) - Unit 10.2 fruit and vegetables.

Math - Two pages a day of Math Mammoth 1A subtraction and addition review. I also brought back out Singapore 1A and we are working on that daily as well in small increments.

History (Story of the World) - We finished chapter 31 India Empire United and The Jakata Tales. 

Science (Elemental) - From our body study this week we studied the urinary system and a overview of reproduction and the stages of a baby growing. 

Geography - We started this week to look at Europe. She is beginning by learning the Nordic countries and western Europe via Sheppard Software. I ordered the book The Core from the library because I am interested in the Geography section that I have heard so much about. 

Composer Study - We watched part 1 of a YouTube video on Antonio Vivaldi and listened to some of his works while she coloured.

And now a little sisterly love

Actually it's because Roo likes Merle to lay on her chest and squish her nose for some reason. She makes me put her there every night to squish her face before she goes to sleep. Kids are strange.