A Week

It sometimes feels that our falls are full of nothing, but birthday, but there aren't any this week.  I thought I would chronicle how are days are being spent lately.

Monday:
We started our day with spelling, math, and reading lessons.  The girls' history and science are mixed into that this fall with the unit studies we're using.

The older three had a 2 1/2 hour play practice.  Ellie and I dropped them off and then we went shopping.  We wandered through a craft store and bought the binding I'll need to make Nate's birthday present.  We did our grocery shopping just before pick up, so no food would spoil.

 

We ran home, unloaded, made lunch, and finished up the day's school work before heading off to join a family that invited us to go to a pumpkin patch with them.

Tuesday:
We were home.  We got our new internet service installed (our old company is going out of business).  We had a pretty typical day.  The older girls were working on researching a view point that opposes a position they are taking in a persuasive essay.  The installation fellow even gave Gabby a point for hers.  She disagreed with him (hence the opposing view), but wrote it down.

Wednesday:
We started our school day, then ran out to meet a lady to buy some math books (Life of Fred's Liver, Kidney, and Mineshaft--yes those are the names of the books!).  We came home worked a bit more, and I made lunch.  We had a short quiet time (the older kids work independently on school, read, or rest).  Ellie had a nap in the car, so she hung out with me.  Then it was a trip to the orthodontist for a check up.  The older girls are being watched so that we can take any steps we need to in order to help make all their teeth fit later.  While we were out, we met up with a gal who is purchasing something for a fundraiser for AHG to get a check.  We finished school LATE that day!

Thursday:
We have music class for Gabby and Nate and art for Kate.  We stopped by the library, and did a mid-week produce pick up at the grocery.  We always cut our home assignements a bit on Mondays and Thursdays because they get class time elsewhere, so we were able to skip quiet time and finish up on time on Thursday.  To me on time is before three--sometimes it is quite a bit earlier, depending on how hard we work in the morning.  We can sometimes get three good hours in before lunch, which really shortens our afternoon load.

 

Gabby was doing a presentation about Sacajawea for her AHG troop in the evening.  We practiced the talk that she had researched and wrote up.   Then the four of us drove over for that.  Nate, Ellie, and I sometimes just drop off at these meetings, but we stayed to see our Gabby be poised and confident, sharing what she had learned.  Nate was a great brother too--he sat through the whole meeting so well behaved.  Ellie was a two year old and wandered among the girls, but did so quietly.

Friday:
And today we are home!  We're having a fairly normal morning, but watching Kiss Me Kate this afternoon.  One of the advantages of being on the go as much as we are is that we get to listen to audio books fairly often.  I've not had luck with them in the house, the kids are too busy, but put them in the car with no where to go, and books are great.  They keep our rides much quieter too.  All that to say, we listened to an abridgement of The Taming of the Shrew, so I got this video for them to see.  Netflix doesn't have it, as it is an old title, but the library did!

Our school days generally consist of two different schedules, one for the girls and a different one for Nate.  The girls get a list of assignments on the board.  They are fairly free to complete things in any order they choose, so long as they join me together for spelling and any discussions based on our book.  We normally start with spelling, since they do that together.  Then there are assignments in math, Latin, and sometimes in cursive or math drill practice).  The bulk of their work comes from a reading from a novel or biography with assignments to accompany it.  These vary greatly and have included tasks like drawing and listing facts about a primate, baking a period specific recipe, filling in a timeline, creating works of art, and listening to music.  Many of the assignments are writing based as well: writing letters as though they were a character, creating a future for book characters, and many short essays.  There are generally 3-5 of those assignments each day.

I believe that kindergarten should largely be a time of play and discovery.  Almost every day, Nate reads aloud to me, and we do some math together.  His day is much more varied from that point on.  We spend a good deal of time listening to audio books, he helps around the house, he counts by 5's and 10's when they come up, reads real clocks (to the hour at this point), reads familiar words, and we read, read, read around here.  He has some other workbooks that we work in some, but not always.