Day Seven - Tuesday

Day Seven. Tuesday. Wife is still gone. For some reason the kids take this to mean they can be crazy. In spite of their behavior I am determined to have a good learning day. Oh, it's storming outside, so we can't go outside and run off any energy? Great and wonderful.

Circle time went well. We read My Robot by Eve Bunting. We sang a song. We talked about the weather being all stormy, and how there will probably be no more tornadoes (at least not today).

For Lifeskills we are still working on telling time. Today we went around the clock in 5 minute increments.

We used some of our daily words for reading.

Our number of the day is 6, so we added 6 to a few numbers (I tried to pick the hardest problems).

See? Number of the day is 6.

C was complaining that the math was too easy so I made it hard for him. Wrote out the problem as a sentence and made him read it, only writing the equation as he read each part.

Social Studies we went over the same stuff again. President, Governor, Mayor, Country, State, City. I quizzed them pretty hard, they almost have it down.

Our Spanish conversation for Language time. I added in Hasta luego today. Little by little we'll get there. I acted out the whole conversation with two stuffed animals to help keep their interest. (obviously I can't take a picture of myself holding a bunny in each hand).

For science we talked about buoyancy and density. I got the last two pieces of foil in the house for them to ball up and test if they float.

 Yup, they float.

Then I pounded them flat and let the kids test if they would sink. Yup. Change in density equals a change in buoyancy. Fun and quick science.

They watched Daniel Tiger and ate a snack of gummy vitamins and apple slices.

It has been storming all day, so no recess (sad face). I let them do 15 minute centers, and start with computer time to make up for it.

Shapes center. C tried hard at tangrams, but still doesn't really get it yet.

S was excited about something. Probably not this reading center, since he ditched it pretty quick. I didn't chase him down. He's only 4. I let him play.

D wanted to play shapes, and built a wonderful tower.

C at the reading center. Doing well once he quit whining and started trying.

After centers we had lunch. Caesar salad with onions, cucumber, banana, and dino nuggets.

Proof that my kids eat salad. They like it too!

Chapter 12 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was read for lunch. We didn't finish the chapter, due to listening issues.

They were so grumpy by this point that I made them lay down and sleep for nap time. No Signing Time on PBS today! They have been pretty difficult all morning. When they are difficult it slows everything down, because I will not demand that they obey me, sit down, shut up and listen. I think if I do that then they will learn nothing, and resent being home-schooled. So when they act up I have to stop everything and talk to them until they understand that we are working together so that they can learn a lot. It works, and it is worth it to do it this way, but MAN does it take a lot of time.

I guess I favor this approach because my personal goal is for them to learn a lot, faster than they would in public school, and to have more fun than they would in public school. If my goal was to get through the day's material, then sure I might just force them to sit still and quiet, while I recite material to their glazed over eyes and walled off minds. That would be easier...

Wow, they were nice and tired, and slept until 2pm today, for a good hour and a half. I should have woken them up sooner, but I'm tired with no wife here to help out, and rowdy kids from dawn until dusk.

Well, we tried expanded subject time today, we really did. But not going outside today has really affected the kids. They wouldn't listen at all. I would rather be constructive than yell, so I had them do extra chores to burn off that energy and we called it a day at about 3.

Considering that when C was at school he said they would go to lunch (at 10:30am), then have rest time, then watch TV until the end of the day, I think we are doing pretty well. I am so ready for the wife to come home tomorrow!