Saturday, April 12, 2008

A Homeschooling Day April 2008

7:30-9:30
I woke up to find Christian was the first one up and he was doing his math. Usually, I have to sit him down, get his school tub out and help him get started. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he had figured out addition with carrying on his own! I had prepared a big lesson today, but all he required was a tiny bit of instruction and he had it! None of my other 3 boys learned this concept so quickly.

After talking to Christian, I got started on my morning tasks list. First I unloaded the dishwasher, then I had a cup of coffee while reading 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Sophie woke up and snuggled next to me, so I read her a few books we had gotten at the library.

Next I made Chocolate Chip muffins for breakfast. After eating yogurt and a can of green beans (strange breakfast I know, but healthy!), Christian and Sophie watched a Magic school Bus Video (I'm amazed at what Chirsitian has been learning with those books and videos), and I put the ingredients in the crockpot for today's lunch.

The older boys came down and ate, did the rest of their morning routine and read their Bibles. I helped Sophie and Christian with their morning routine, then I showered and got ready for the day.

9:30-12:00:
Andrew started school with history, Charles began with Pre-Algebra, Isaiah read The Tablet by Bill Myers and Christian completed a workbook page in ABeka Letters and Sounds 2. Sophie and I drew pictures and stenciled.

I got back to my morning task list and quickly cleaned two bathrooms and started the washing machine. Around 11:00 Christian and Sophie played with toys in the playroom while listening to a Bible songs CD. I helped Isaiah with Math, Andrew did Geometry and Charles worked on Total Language Plus.

12:00-1:30
We had vegetable soup for lunch (which was all ready for us in the crockpot). After lunch I typed on my blog and the kids had free time. Usually, they would go outside, but it was raining today, so they played a few rounds of ping-pong, and made music on the guitar and keyboard. They also spent time playing with our dog, Paige. Charles and Isaiah looked through a DK Eyewitness book on China. The older three boys took turns playing with Sophie for 20 min. each.
1:30-3:00
Friday is our big cleaning day and usually we would do jobs during this time, but since we didn't get as much schoolwork done in the morning that I wanted to, I had the kids vote whether they wanted to finish school or do jobs first. They decided on finishing up schoolwork first, and I made cookies with Sophie.

Everyone seemed to need my help at the same time, and Sophie made a huge mess with the flour. I asked Andrew to finish the cookies for me, which he kindly did, so I could do Five in a Row with Christian. FIAR is an awesome enrichment curriculum that I used with my older two boys when they were ages 5 & 7. I had kind of forgotten about it, but I was inspired to use it with Christian after looking at Sheri's blog, The Shades of Pink.

Christian got distracted from the lesson and wanted to count how many days there are in a year using the calendar (he has a fascination with dates and calendars). I told him that I could just tell him how many days there are, but he wanted to count for himself. Around 280 days he stopped and asked me to tell him. He asked about the first year in history and that started a discussion about timelines and BC and AD. I'm going to do a unit study on the history of calendars with him soon.

At 4:30 I realized that the older two boys had to leave for youth group in an hour and we hadn't had done jobs yet. I quickly made a list for the boys and they got to work. I put Sophie in the tub and folded laundry while talking with her.

5:30-8:30
Since time had gotten away from me, we only had a quick snack before leaving for youth group. Christian and Isaiah stayed home with Daddy and played Wii. I dropped Andrew and Charles off at youth group, and took Sophie with me to the grocery store. Afterwards, we came back to the church to wait for the boys. Sophie had fun playing in the nursery using play food that has Velcro in the middle so you can "cut" the veggies. She "cut" and I "ate".

Andrew is on the youth worship band and I got to hear them play for the first time. He reminds me so much of his dad, who lead worship for years. While we were in the car driving home, Andrew said something that made me feel really good. He told me that lately he's been thinking about what a good life he has, and that he really enjoys his life.

8:30-11:00

 We all ate cereal, then I put the younger kids to bed. The older boys read for a while. I watched 20/20, then I tried to read, but my eyes were just too tired. So, I fell asleep.

1 comment:

  1. wow WTG Christian!!!

    oh yum Chocolate Chip muffins may i come over for breakfast
    just kidding too far unfortunity

    The Magic school bus series are really good!!

    dont you just love crockpots :)

    interesting reading about your day
    Jen

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