Tuesday, September 05, 2006

First Day!

Today was our first day of 5th grade. We'd been practicing going to bed early and getting up early in anticipation. ... Like you can really practice that! It was a long, hard day -- for mom.

We did our annual biscuits and gravy breakfast. Hopped in the car right as the school bus drove by then hit Hardees. That has always been a great incentive for getting Thomas up and out of bed.

Started school at 8:10. By 11:00 I thought I was going to drop. I was sooooo tired. Thomas was working on his math and I went to lie down on my bed -- just for a few minutes. 45 minutes later Thomas woke me up asking what was next. Good grief!

The afternoon "session" was strange. We break our day and do stuff in both morning and afternoon, and the afternoon I scheduled reading time for Thomas so that I could take a nap (if needed, which sadly happens frequently.) Today we were also going to do geography and science in the afternoon. Thomas threw me a curve ball today, though. When his appointed time was up for reading, he insisted he get to read longer. He was really enjoying his book. (One of the Little House Series which he didn't finish this past summer as I had hoped.) Well, he read for an hour and a half longer than he was supposed to.

That's a good thing, right? I told my husband and he said well, he doesn't have to read tomorrow. I said bull! He has to read daily. So DH was upset we didn't do geography or science today. DH was supposed to take over science, but he didn't have anything prepared except for Thomas to identify a huge moth he caught. So tonight Thomas and I snuggled up in my bed tonight, read about matter from How Science Works and then drew maps of the world and labeled them. We have a lot of geography learning ahead of us, because sadly, neither of us did a very good job. It was fun, though, and will be great to compare today's maps to the maps we will do at the end of the year.

I took a sleeping pill a half hour ago in hopes that I'll be asleep by 11 tonight. I think we'll get up a tad bit later tomorrow morning. I'm hoping this old bird can get used to the schedule this week so I'm not dragging so badly! Thomas did fine. The rest of the week I can see me tweaking our schedule, adding and dropping some things.

All in all, I'm so happy that we said goodbye to the public school a few years ago. Homeschooling is wonderful.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish my 10 year old was as full of the learning spirit. Ya'll do so much more(time wise) than we. Share your schedule so I can scrutinize it and make sure we are doing enough.

Are you sick? Why are you so tired?

Anonymous said...

You have had a lot going on lately mama. Be very gentle with yourself.
The best advice I have ever had for keeping up my energy was to eat three almonds and drink an eight ounce glass of water every waking hour. I know it sounds crazy but it does several things it regulates your protein intake thus stabalizing your blood sugar. It also provides some nice healthy EFA's to your daily diet and prevents dehydration which is the cause of so many problems. This even helps pregnant mamas. It was my midwife who taught me the trick.
I used to have migraines. I mean terrible couldn't get out of bead except for a shot of Imitrex and my Vicodan. When I am doing this I feel great. Haven't needed a shot in years.

Mz.Elle said...

Aww your first day sounds great!
I love Thomas's enthusiasum,lol.
What a great kid wanting more!

Angela said...

Sounds like a great day! ANd remember, sometimes it is more important to allow them to enjoy what they are learning. Sometimes that leaves them more motivated the next day!

mull-berry said...

I'm anxious to hear how you like Mapping the World by Heart. I'm this close to getting it.

Frankie said...

Oh my gosh -- the almond thing. My dad has been telling me to eat almonds like you mention. I am used to ignoring him, but now since I've heard it from an outside source, I'll go buy some. That's wonderful about the migraines! Both my parents were/are diabetic, both my sisters are, too. I'm not -- knock on wood. I would imagine I probably have blood sugar spikes, though, so that's a good idea.

Wisteria, Thomas and I both have colds. I didn't realize it when I blogged, but he'd been achy all day and had a sore throat. We both woke up today with raging colds -- thus the fagitue for me. Plus not being able to stay up until 2 am and sleep until I wake naturally. lol

Mull-berry, I like Mapping the World by Heart but I also think it is extremely expensive for what it is. Basically it's a 3-ring binder with a bunch of ideas and you have to put your own program together. So I'm not overly happy with it for the price I paid and the fact that I have to put a lot of time into it. However the ideas are really good and the lists are great for me. If you buy it, definitely buy used. You can buy an extra set of maps at Rainbow for about $5, I think.

Anonymous said...

I hope ya'll feel better!! I'm going to start using almonds, too. It sounds like a fabulous idea.

mull-berry said...

The thing that caught my eye about MTWBH was the grapefruit/orange peel exercise. (With a sharpie, draw the continents, etc. on the fruit, peel it carefully then have the kids try to use the peel to make a flat map.) His other book is at our library ... I've put in a request for it.