A Silly Post about Nothing Much

A recap of my day.

Awoke late because we stayed up late. Both my "boys" were still asleep. Took the dog out, another beautiful, unseasonably warm day. Went in, made coffee, checked email. About this time the boys had decided to get up.

I'm putzing around the house, still in my pj's, desperately needing my shower, when DH decides we need to play Blokus. I say, "Uhm, honey, I really do stink -- I can smell myself, so you'll just have to wait until I shower." Nope, he wants to play now. "Uhm, honey, you're just procrastinating. I told you that I am instituting my Family Clean House Saturday Morning Instead of Just Me Ultimatum starting today." He insists we'll do it later.

So I grab another cup of coffee, sit down and we play several games of Blokus. We love this game and I highly recommend it! I have been trying to institute a family game night forever, and that will never come to fruition. I do have to take advantage when DH is feeling "gamey." lol

When we finish, DH declares it cleaning house time. I just roll my eyes, say okay and head off for the shower. I get out of the shower and DH is just so proud that he has managed to empty all the garbage. (All four garbage cans.) Okay, I took a 20-minute shower. Big deal.

So we start cleaning. I kept thinking of the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. My DH just won't stay focused on what he's doing, he's jumping around from one thing to another without completing anything. (And I wonder where DS gets his attention issues!)

Halfway through cleaning, DH proclaims he needs to run to Kmart because he needs to buy dog food, cat litter, and paper towels. Yes, dear, we need those things but it can wait until the house is clean.

I just do my thing and he's stomping around so finally I say.....GO.

When he gets back, he informs me he's tired. He lies down for a nap. I sneak down to check email. I get back to work.

Well, we were finally officially done cleaning the house at 4:30. At five three of DS's friends came over for the evening. DH made homemade pizza. I had to clean the kitchen all over again after supper.

Now, if you were to ask me, I would tell you that I did the majority of the house cleaning today. DH would take full credit for more than half the work accomplished. lol I give up. At least he did help. At least he was playful today. At least he made supper.

Never a dull moment.

A recap of my day.

Awoke late because we stayed up late. Both my "boys" were still asleep. Took the dog out, another beautiful, unseasonably warm day. Went in, made coffee, checked email. About this time the boys had decided to get up.

I'm putzing around the house, still in my pj's, desperately needing my shower, when DH decides we need to play Blokus. I say, "Uhm, honey, I really do stink -- I can smell myself, so you'll just have to wait until I shower." Nope, he wants to play now. "Uhm, honey, you're just procrastinating. I told you that I am instituting my Family Clean House Saturday Morning Instead of Just Me Ultimatum starting today." He insists we'll do it later.

So I grab another cup of coffee, sit down and we play several games of Blokus. We love this game and I highly recommend it! I have been trying to institute a family game night forever, and that will never come to fruition. I do have to take advantage when DH is feeling "gamey." lol

When we finish, DH declares it cleaning house time. I just roll my eyes, say okay and head off for the shower. I get out of the shower and DH is just so proud that he has managed to empty all the garbage. (All four garbage cans.) Okay, I took a 20-minute shower. Big deal.

So we start cleaning. I kept thinking of the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. My DH just won't stay focused on what he's doing, he's jumping around from one thing to another without completing anything. (And I wonder where DS gets his attention issues!)

Halfway through cleaning, DH proclaims he needs to run to Kmart because he needs to buy dog food, cat litter, and paper towels. Yes, dear, we need those things but it can wait until the house is clean.

I just do my thing and he's stomping around so finally I say.....GO.

When he gets back, he informs me he's tired. He lies down for a nap. I sneak down to check email. I get back to work.

Well, we were finally officially done cleaning the house at 4:30. At five three of DS's friends came over for the evening. DH made homemade pizza. I had to clean the kitchen all over again after supper.

Now, if you were to ask me, I would tell you that I did the majority of the house cleaning today. DH would take full credit for more than half the work accomplished. lol I give up. At least he did help. At least he was playful today. At least he made supper.

Never a dull moment.

We're not book purists here

Woke up this morning coughing. Took the dog out -- it is unseasonably warm for MN this morning and feels wonderful. Coffee is taking way too long to kick in.

Sat down to read emails. I subscribe to a lot of homeschool groups. I skim messages for anything relevant that will help us on our journey. I reply if I can be remotely helpful, which isn't too often. Occasionally I reply if something ticks me off, but I'm going to make myself stop doing that.

Anyway, one of the groups I lurk on has just had a discussion about books, abridged, unabridged, etc. I couldn't believe my eyes reading the posts. They were discussing one specific book and many of the members were aghast that they didn't have the original, unedited, unabridged book. They were such purists! Many of them went on and on about not reading anything other than the unabridged. They were serious, too. It was as if those of us who read the abridged versions are severely flawed! Okay, I admit I am severely flawed, but I never thought it was due to my book choices.

It took me back to the book The Well Trained Mind. Bauer suggests that grammar-stage children do read abridged classics. In fact, she recommended the Stepping Stone series. One night, when we were all playing near the computer, I logged on to Amazon and started reading excerpts out loud from some of the Stepping Stones series. My DS was hooked and wanted me to order books. My DH said it was a good idea, too.

So I ordered a bunch. My DS, sadly, has never been one to pick up a book and read for joy -- except for the Magic School Bus series. He picked up Great Expectations out of our pile. And he read it. He read for a couple hours until he finished it, another unlikely occurrence. He has liked every single Stepping Stone book he has read.

When we organized the classroom, I noticed two in the series he had not read. Yesterday I had him read The Time Machine. He finished it in about 20 minutes. (It is a 2.4 grade level read.) He loved that. As we were discussing all these books again, I told him that they are abridged versions and versions that are written for children, explaining what that meant. His eyes grew very large when he realized we could trot down to the library and get "the real books." And then music to the mother's ears......"Mom, let's go to the library now. I want to read the real books."

My whole point to the entry is that I am glad I was not a purist. I am very glad I bought those Stepping Stones books -- they are also called Bullseye Step Into Classics. They started my DS reading, really reading. And now that he's finally reading between a fifth and sixth grade level, he still loves to read them as it gives him great confidence to be able to read them very quickly because he has always been a slow reader.

I have always provided, on occasion, DS books at lower than grade level to boost his confidence and help his fluency. I also occasionally provide books above his grade level to make him reach. I have never said no to a choice he makes at the library. Yes, he reads Pokemon books. Yes, he reads Garfield cartoon books. Yes, he reads twaddle. He also reads books I've carefully selected. I'm just happy that he's reading.

I am so happy that we are graduating and starting the "real book" journey.

Overwhelmed by Negative Internet Blogs

I've been a little overwhelmed lately -- online, that is, reading links that Doc is posting. The uninformed, opinionated, closed-minded people *really* get to me. I have to quit reading and hyperfocus on us for awhile. If I started responding to every one of those closed-minded people (I want to use a harsher word, but I'm going to be polite and show more class than they do) I'd get nothing done. And they're just not worth my time. Nothing I say will matter to them, anyway.

What I can do is promote homeschooling locally, especially through example. That I am willing to continue to do.

I also will give up trying to convince my SIL, who teaches fourth grade, that homeschooling isn't crazy. She seems to think that it is okay for us, because she knows I will do what is necessary to make sure DS gets a good education. It's all the other homeschoolers she worries about. So anyone who homeschools who happens to read this blog, she's worried about you. lol She'll never get it.

I do a good job homeschooling. I research like crazy, I present things in a manner that suits my DS's learning style. I encourage, support and teach him by being positive. As good as I am though (tooting my own horn here!) I am human, I make mistakes, and I have tons of worries. Isn't that typical of all homeschooling parents?

We all do the best we can. We all work on meeting our children's emotional, physical and educational needs.

I'm just not going to worry about the uninformed out there. I'll just worry about my sweet son for now.

Math Facts -- Great Free Download

I'm sitting at the computer, reading blogs and just remembered -- I have to print out tomorrow's math facts sheets.

www.schoolhousetech.com

When we began homeschooling, I downloaded their free worksheet factory software. I have used it every, single day.

We do math fact practice every, single day. With this software, I get to make the sheets that I want rather than using a book.

In third grade we did addition and subtraction facts every day, now we're doing multiplication and division. When we have finished and have them down pat, I'll do mixed sheets.

DS learned to do 100-problem-five-minute-timed tests in public school. That was something he wanted to continue. So I make 100 problem sheets and time him every day.

It is interesting to note that DS struggled with 7s and 8s in multiplication. He just wasn't getting them. So before we do our timed test, I have him take a peak at his monster wheels and then I have him do a test that has the answers! He traces the answers while he is saying the problem out loud. After about two weeks, he's just about done with 7s and 8s. If I had the chance to teach math facts from the beginning, I would have him do the answer sheet first -- that way the correct answer is getting drilled into his head.

We do 100 problems of one multiplier a day. When we have finished all numbers 2-9, we do mixed multipliers. DS has to pass with 97 correct in five minutes. (Public school's guidelines.)

I love this software.

Puppy Cam

My cousin just sent me this link.

http://diesel.camstreams.com/

It is a live puppy cam showing Weimaraner puppies born on Jan 15th. It says it will be up for eight weeks. This will be fun to watch the pups as they grow.

Our Weekend

What do homeschoolers do over the weekend? What do atypical homeschoolers do over the weekend, I guess the question should be. (Sleep in on Sunday morning. In fact, have a pajama day on Sunday.)

We cleaned the house. It is so much better. We finished the homeschool room. We cleaned up our explosion from finishing the HS room. We did eight loads of laundry. We ran the dishwasher three times. We found 32 plastic glasses that we used for a cub scouts craft project and I just couldn't throw them away, so that's why an extra dishwasher load.
We went grocery shopping. We had Wendy's for supper. We rented movies.

We had no play dates this weekend. It was very cold here and we didn't want to go out unless absolutely necessary. Groceries, movies and Wendy's I deemed necessary.

Now for our movies. March of the Penguins, Polar Express and Sign of the Beaver.

We both loved March of the Penguins. DS got so upset with the death scenes. I thought he'd come unglued when the momma whose chick died tried to steal another momma's chick. DS kept commenting that the filming crew should have HELPED in many scenes. I kept explaining that they weren't interfering with nature. I'm glad we didn't see this in the theater because DS couldn't keep his mouth shut. He is very strongly opinionated regarding animals and their rights. Toward the end of the movie, if a chick died, he finally sighed and said, "Well, the mom and dad can try again next year." So maybe we made a little progress with understanding how nature works.

Polar Express. I was half afraid to watch this movie because of all the "it is weird and creepy" comments I heard. The Polar Express is one of my favorite children's books. Well, it wasn't the book -- didn't give me the same feeling. However, we both really liked it. I didn't think it was that weird. We'll probably rent it next Christmas.

Sign of the Beaver. Don't do it -- Don't watch it if you *loved* the book! I'm not one to bash movies that aren't true to books. This one bothered me, though. If you watch the movie to save yourself from reading the book, you're not getting even close to the book. That said, it was a good movie, we did enjoy it -- but we enjoyed it as an entirely different story than the book. I felt really let down, though, because I had higher expectations. It was one of our favorite books that we've read this year.

Sunday evening arrives, time to get back into a routine. Bedtimes stink. Here I am, 2 in the morning -- it's going to be a three-cup-of-coffee before I'm coherent morning.