A Need for Speed

J has a need for speed. He's normally a pretty docile boy, but let him loose on something with wheels and his face lights up and his smile gets bigger in direct proportion to how fast he can go.

Last night after dinner, we all went out front so the boys could ride their bikes. I'm not quite sure how it started, but while I was talking to our neighbor Cr sat J on Z's bike. Not too much later, while I was still talking to the neighbor, I noticed Cr taking the training wheels off of J's bike. Then, during a short phone conversation with my mom, J figured out how to balance, and now knows how to zoom around on a two-wheeler. This entire process took less than an hour. He's also good at not getting hurt when he does fall--he doesn't even have a skinned knee. Before we came in for the night, J had figured out how to slam on the pedal brakes to skid his back tire.

He may never be allowed to get his driver's license.

L's Eighth Birthday

Yesterday was L's 8th birthday. We celebrated on Sunday, though, because J had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it interfered with L's lunch plans for his big day. L told me several weeks ago that he wanted pancakes for breakfast, steak for lunch, and Chuck E. Cheese for dinner, but J's doctor's appointment (which had to be on Monday) surrounded the lunch hour. L was easily persuaded to celebrate on Sunday as soon as he verified it would be 1 day earlier. He changed his plans to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, steak for dinner (these on Sunday), and pancakes yesterday morning.

We went to church Sunday morning and then went straight to the parental torture chamber known as Chuck E. Cheese. You know, they are brilliant advertising on PBS--otherwise my boys would know nothing of the place. We paid way to much for some cheap pizza and then we divided the tokens between the boys and the real fun(for the boys) began. Cr took charge of N, J, & Z and I took charge of M & L. The most disappointing thing that happened was J sat his cup of tokens down (he only had 3 or so left) on a game and forgot to pick it back up when he left the game. J told Cr where he left it, and Cr went to get it. All he found was an empty cup, and then he remembered seeing another dad, who was playing the game with his daughter, empty a token cup into his cup. Hrmph.

Once all the tokens were gone, we came home and L helped me ice his cake and put the cookies on top. I was thrilled that he wanted this super-easy cake instead of a decorated one. We ate cake, opened presents (pirate sword, origami book, magic trick book, Spiderman football, bug vaccuum, clay, cowboy rope, and a bike), had steak for dinner, and then watched Spiderman.

Yesterday morning I made him pancakes for breakfast, and we went to Judo where everyone threw him because it was his birthday. I think L enjoyed turning 8. While the time is passing too quickly, I'm so thrilled with the boy that my baby has become.

N is Twenty Months Old

and I think we can now call him an official biped.

He now walks more than he crawls, unless he's in a hurry.

Our Starting Schedule

I've got our starting schedule figured out (if you click on the picture it should open up a full size document you can read more easily). L & Z have the basics down, and I really feel like I need to step it up a notch with them this year. J will be doing "official K" this year and I think M will thrive having a bit of structured schooling time with me for PreK. And in case you're wondering about N's presence on the schedule, he loves to color with his brothers. This just reminds me to actually give him paper and let him sit at the table with them.

The darkest gray boxes show me where I am needed for teaching. I make the schedule based on worst-case scenario times, so many of our days will be shorter than the schedule (I hope). For example, while Z has 1 hour scheduled for Math, he's usually done in 30 minutes, and history usually only takes around 30 minutes. But I like the extra cushion built in so I don't feel like we're rushing through our days. Also, I keep moving along to the next thing I need to teach-the times are just a guide to make sure I don't spend all of my time teaching L & Z Latin and neglect to teach J & M to read. So if I finish L's math lesson in 5 minutes, I tell Z to get to a stopping point on his handwriting and give him his math lesson. After I'm done teaching he can then finish his handwriting (either before or after his math worksheets). Our core subjects are listed in the morning, which helps me to reschedule our days if we lose a morning or afternoon to an appointment. We will only do history or art on Wednesdays and Fridays. We will probably do 10-11 weeks of History, stop and do Art for 9 weeks, and then restart History for another 10-11 weeks. If we finish on time with History and Art, then we'll have time for a 5 week science course. If not, then all science this year will be informal learning and reading (I'll pad our library book basket with various science books).

Clear as mud?

Eye Appointments

J had a blood draw this morning to recheck a level that was low on his last draw. After 3 years of nary a peep when getting his blood drawn, last time he cried. When he woke up this morning and I told him he had to get blood drawn, his face started to squish up. I caught him before he started to really cry and told him that all of his brothers were going and he'd have to show them how brave he was. His face lit up like a Christmas tree and at the lab he sat in my lap, with his audience of brothers, and stoically watched them draw his blood.

We all went for this blood draw because L, Z, & J all had eye appointments. L & Z had appointments this morning, and J's was supposed to be after lunch. When I walked in with a herd of boys, though, they took pity on me (or got scared) and were somehow able to fit J's appointment in the morning as well.

The results are they are all farsighted but L & Z have great focusing abilities so they don't need glasses. I'm supposed to do some eye exercises with Z because he can't draw his eyes in. Basically he can't cross his eyes like he's supposed to...I think that's what the doctor said. M was busy repeating loudly over and over that he had to go potty. L has eye allergies and we've got a prescription for drops. J ended up with glasses, though. He's been complaining of headaches, so hopefully the glasses stop them. He's got almost the exact prescription as I do (it's not strong at all), and I get headaches without my glasses. J was bummed because his glasses won't be in for 2-3 weeks.

We're headed up to the Children's Hospital tomorrow to see J's rheumatologist. I'll post if we learn anything interesting, although I don't expect we will.

Our School Room

Every now and then on a homeschooling board I visit, someone asks to see pictures of other's school rooms. I finally took new pictures of our school room and thought posting an entry here would make it easy to share our room. It's nothing grand, but it works for us!

This is the view as you walk in the door. This couch used to be in our living room, but we moved it down here when we got new furniture upstairs. I'm looking forward to having a couch we can sit on without worrying about messing up the slipcover! Its matching loveseat is down the hall in the playroom.

This is the boys' work table, the whiteboard, and the boys' computer. I love the whiteboard, and could even use a bigger one at times. The posters are hung with clothespins on white nylon string that I ran through small screw eyelets. This allows me to change the posters out as needed.



This is a view from the whiteboard of my desk and our storage cabinet and shelf. Having a lockable storage cabinet for our texts has been a must for us. On my desk is my Brother DCP7020 copier/scanner/printer. I'm so happy that we bought this.



This shelf is new to the school room. It was in the playroom holding the animal cages, but now that we're down to one hamster cage I decided he'd be better of in the school room with us. It also provides a great place to store our art supplies, leap pads, and school room toys (fun, educational toys for the younger boys that are only allowed to be played with in the school room during school).

This is a picture of inside of the school cabinet. It holds all of our books and workbooks. On top are our everyday markers, crayons, and colored pencils. Down the hall is the playroom, so the little guys are still within earshot while I'm working with the older boys. The closet next to the cabinet holds all of my scrapbooking, crafting, sewing, and gift wrapping supplies. There is also another closet that runs under the stairs that serves as our "library".



With the ages of the boys, I find it easiest to have a room devoted to school. If we work at the kitchen table or patio, I tend to get distracted and lose boys (they finish what they're working on and wander off). But if we do want to work somewhere else, it's simple enough to carry our books to where we need them.

J's Fifth Birthday

Yesterday was J's 5th birthday. He's been counting down for around 49 days and was very excited that the day finally arrived. During his countdown he made sure that we would not be doing any school on his birthday. I made his cake in the morning (we saw this cake in Family Fun magazine, and while their example was green, J wanted a "sky blue dragon with red wings") and answered somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand questions about when Daddy would be home, when he could open his presents, when we would eat the cake, etc. It was a long morning, and they ended up watching Pooh's Grand Adventure and some PBS (hey, as L pointed out, the PBS they watched was science).

Cr came home around 3:30 and we loaded the boys in the van to get McDonald's and go to the park for dinner (we were so thankful J came up with this option and ditched the "Chuck E. Cheese for dinner" idea). After we finished at the park, we came home and had cake and J opened his presents. He received a Superman figure, an Imaginext Dragon, a pirate sword, a red razor scooter, and a bike. We hid the bike on the side of the house and hung his helmet on it. After he opened his presents inside, we suggested he take his scooter out front to test ride it and told him we thought his helmet was on the side of the house. He was surprised when he saw a bike "just his size!". We stayed out front for a few hours and all the boys rode their bikes (or trike in M's case). It was a fun day, and J is happy to be 5.

For those wondering , N is kinda-sorta walking. Not exactly in a straight line, kind of sideways. But he's made additional progress which gives us hope that we might be able to cancel the appointment in August.

The Importance of Prepositions

Last night we held our Tuesday night family art class. We drew parrots, but that's not important right now. This isn't an entry on art; this is a grammar entry on the importance of prepositions.

The title of our art book is called Drawing with Children. I believe Cr got the preposition in the title confused, because he held a class in Drawing on Children. He said something about "extra credit". At least he used the washable marker that we give to M, and not one of the Sharpies the rest of us use.

He does look extra handsome with dark eyebrows, though, huh?

Two Wheelin'

Z learned how to ride his bike last night. Cr has been working with him this spring, and last night it clicked. We're so happy for him!

Our School Plans for the Fall

This year L will be in 3rd grade, Z will be in 2nd grade, J will be in Kindergarten, and M will be PreK. I finally placed the last of our curriculum orders this morning. Here's a list of what we'll be doing when our new year starts in August.

L:

• Saxon 5/4 (will probably start 6/5 mid-year)
• Singapore Challenging Word Problems 2 & 3
• Quarter Mile Math
  
• Classically Cursive 3 (Shorter Catechism)
  
• Classical Writing Aesop & Classical Writing Poetry
• Spelling Power
• Piano Lessons
• Typing Instructor Deluxe

Z:

• Saxon 3
• Singapore Challenging Word Problems 1 & 2
• Quarter Mile Math
• Pentime 2
• Classical Writing Aesop
• Spelling Power
• Typing Instructor Deluxe
• Piano Lessons

J:

• Saxon 1
• Singapore Challenging Word Problems 1
• Quarter Mile Math
  
• Pentime 1a-1b
• Explode the Code 1, 2, & 3
• Phonics Pathways
  
• First Language Lessons

M:

• Saxon K
• Phonics Pathways
• Bob Jones' Foundation for Fours (just the Language Arts portion)
  

Group Subjects (L and Z, with J and M tagging along):

• Latin for Children A
• Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! Level One
• Rod and Staff Bible Stories to Read Aloud
  
• Story of the World 3
• Oxford First Book of Art
• Drawing with Children
• How to Introduce Your Child to Classical Music in 52 Easy Lessons
• Bellerophon Coloring Books of Great Composers
  

Now, to figure out the puzzle of how we're going to get it all done...and still have a somewhat tidy house and clean underwear. Oh, yeah...they'll probably want to eat, too.