A Typical School “Day”

I thought it would be fun to map out a typical school day for us.  Here is what we did yesterday.

7:40 – My “alarm clock” goes off saying, “Ma-ma! Ma-ma!”  Get up, feed the baby.

8:00 – Do my devotion while A plays.

8:15 – Hear the girls get up, head upstairs.  Get Boo Bear out of bed (usually she comes down but sometimes she reads in her bed until I come get her) and help her get dressed.  Buggy gets herself dressed.  S is getting better and better at getting herself dressed, but some days she still wants me to help her.

8:30 – Breakfast (leftover pancakes from the girls’ Saturday morning pancake-making-fest.). Read and study their Awana verses while eating.  S falls off chair.  Twice.

9:00 – Head over to the computer to “attend” Buggy’s weekly class connect session (web conference with her teacher and classmates).

9:30 – Math lesson on simple addition.  Buggy is done within 10 minutes (it’s supposed to take up to an hour) and spends the next twenty minutes playing with her math manipulatives. 

10:00 – K does her online vocab lesson while I put Peanut down for her nap.

10:15 – Literature and comprehension lesson:  For our current unit we were allowed to choose between a list of 10 books.  We choose Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  Read the 2nd chapter of the book and answer all the questions from the lesson guide.  Combine with Handwriting (she just has to write for 10 minutes a day since she finished her Handwriting Without Tears book already).  I read to S on the couch while K sits at the table and writes about the story.  Redirect at least 3 times.

11:00 – Phonics lesson with Boo.  K sits next to us and shouts out most of the answers before Boo can figure them out.  K takes the unit assessment at the end of the lesson (spelling, reading, and writing).

11:15 – Girls take a break and play on Noodleverse (a Language Arts game site through our school).  I go get out of my pajamas and ready for the day.

11:30 – Art lesson on landscapes. 

11:40 – Emergency potty break (they wait till its an emergency about 75% of the time) causes slamming of toilet lid which prematurely wakes the baby.  Get baby up.  Let the little ones play while we finish art lesson.  Redirect at least 5 times.  Finish lesson.  “Ok, my little wild bird, fly away and be free!” I often say this to her at the end of our “day”.  K likes to work quickly and get all her schoolwork done by lunch so she has the afternoon off, but at the same time she gets awfully antsy by the time we are done and I have to remind her over and over to sit still and focus.  It’s a bit irritating for both of us, but if we leave anything for after lunch she seems to have NO focus and can’t sit still to save her life!  Some days we still have an elective to do after lunch and we make the best of it, but it’s definitely not easy!  

12:00 – Whew. Take a breath. Feed the baby. 

12:15 – Shoes and coats on, load everyone into the car to go pick up Daddy and have Mexican food together! Yum!

Afternoon: FREE!

We really are loving K12!  Every day we do 5 lessons from the common core: Math, Literature and Comprehension, Writing, Vocab, and Phonics.  Then each “daily plan” has 1-3 electives.  The pattern seems to be Art: Monday, Wednesday; Science: Tuesday, Thursday; Social Studies: Wednesday; and History: Wednesday, Friday.  Wednesday is always our longest day because of the three electives, but even so we almost always manage to finish everything by 2 o’clock. 

She also has to have 100 minutes of P.E. a week but with 45 of those taken up with dance class, and 30 for Awana games, it’s not hard to fill in the rest.  Last night we went for a walk and she rode her bike so that will take care of the extra 25 minutes for this week! 

I’ve pretty much decided to slow down and just go through the daily lessons as they are intended because even though the core stuff is extremely easy for her I think it’s helping in the long run.  Since she is not encountering brand new information in every subject I believe she is able to retain what new information IS being presented.  She has been impressing me with the details she is able to retain from the electives.  We are also able to do a few extra things, like an American History timeline we are working on.  I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve forgotten since school, and I’ve been learning and re-learning things right alongside her! It’s fun!  “You learn something new every day!”

Partyin' on the Weekends

I am loving this "season" we are in right now.  Our Friday and Saturday nights are typically filled with Lego building, Skipbo playing, and dance parties.

The kids are in bed by 8 (S), 8:30 (A) and 9 (K) and by 9:05 T and I are curled up on the couch with a soft, fuzzy blanket watching whatever our current favorite is on Netflix. By 11 we are in bed and almost asleep.

Pretty wild and crazy! ;)

And I wouldn't trade it for anything!!!

Brown Bear

Peanut's favorite book these days is Brown Bear Brown Bear.  But not just any version.  She likes the one where she gets to slide the flap back.  We have the regular book too, but she brings me the "slide + find" version at least three times a day.

She's gotten pretty good at moving the flap herself.  I often go to read her the book and find them all pushed back since she "reads" it quite often on her own. :)  Usually she points and squeals during it, but this was right before bed and she was pretty tired.

She is loving (short) books these days and if her sisters aren't there to distract her she will read book after book saying, "Mo! Mo!" in between books.  Before I can even finish the last page she leans forward to try to get another one out of the bookshelf. Another bookworm in the making!!!

A Sad Sad Day

Wednesday was a very sad day for us.  We finished our schoolwork and the girls asked to get Herbie out, like they usually do when we are done.  I was fixing lunch when Bug came rushing in, “Mommy! Mommy!  I think Herbie is dead! He feels really cold and his eyes are closed!”

Sure enough.  It is especially hard because we have no idea why.  They girls have asked me over and over, “Why did Herbie die?” I’ve tried to come up with some possible answers but we really don’t know.  We played with him for about half an hour the day before and he was 100% fine.   He was eating his little food out of the Duplo house the girls had made for him.  He had water, and his chew toys.  It appears that he just curled up in his little nest, went to sleep, and never woke up. 

There have been many tears.  I made a little nest in a shoebox for him, and Noni and Papa took him home to bury him since we don’t have a good spot at our house. 

Buggy wrote a little message on it before they took it home, and wanted me to get a picture so we would always remember.  She cried herself to sleep that night.

This is one of those hard hard things as a parent.  You just want to wipe away the hurt along with the tears.  :(

We will always remember our little Herbie.  He was a good hamster in the short 5 weeks that we had him.

Goodbye little Buddy.  We will miss you.

"Thank you"

Peanut has a very distinct and very cute way of saying "Thank you".  She knows how to point and make noises to get what she wants and as soon as you show any sign of acquiescence she wrinkles her nose and gives you a big cheesy grin.  I love it.

In this video she is asking for her new favorite food: blueberries.  She will literally eat them until she is blue in the...shorts area. :)  I keep thinking it would be so weird to work at a daycare and open a diaper to find it so bluish/purple it is almost black!  Her skin is still a little blue tinted after we clean her up!  TMI.  Sorry. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Stuck

After getting the new carpet I took about a week to slowly return things to their homes.  I had piled a bunch of stuff under the table and was pulling it out and putting it away one day when I heard a screeching.  Peanut had decided to help me and somehow crawled UP on a chair that was pushed under the table.  She was wedged in there tossing things off the chairs.  Silly girl.  Of course I had to grab a picture before rescuing her. :)

Is this funny Mommy?

Notice the picture she was holding?  Looks a lot like her!  That is K at 9 months.

Another thing Peanut has discovered lately is climbing!  She can now crawl up on the couch and anywhere we leave a “stepping stool”.  When I was putting things back in the window seat she found the Cricut to be a great step stool.  This is her grinning at me after I’d told her four times to not crawl up there!

Little stinker! Hopefully I can keep her off the furniture and keep her noggin’ free of bruises!