Dad is a teacher too.

When I was cooking dinner the other

night, Robert was sitting at the table

with Seth teaching him how to roll

coins to cash in for paper money 

at the bank.  It was such a mentoring

moment that I wanted to capture

it in pictures.  So here they are:

I think that is SO awesome!

It gives me warm fuzzies!

I love this Blog Post:

My truthful, encouraging on-line friend has

a blog called, I'm Nobody Who are You?

Today she posted about the extreme LOUDNESS

of children.  And it is hilarious!!!

A MUST READ!!!

Just Shut Up! I mean, "Be Quiet, Please."

How often I want to say that very thing!!!

Week 6 - Check!

WOAH!!!  

I can hardly believe it is time to do my weekly wrap up again!

We are about to complete another week.  It flew by at light speed.  It seems it was just Monday morning, and now, it is Friday.  

I think that is because, not only have the days been FULL, but the nights as well!  Monday night was the only night we did not have an official evening activity.   Robert and I did walk over to the neighborhood store to get bread and have a little 'date' at the coffee shop housed therein.  :)  Tuesday night, we had a second brief date in the form of a steak dinner for the PSU Faculty.  (Two dates in one week is a RARITY to say the least!  FUN!!!)  Then, he was off to buy milk and pick up a boy from soccer practice, and I was off to Worship Team practice.  Wednesday night, he had class, and the rest of us had AWANA.  Thursday night, another class for Robert, another soccer practice for Seth, plus a youth gathering for Josh and Erik.  And tonight, Robert and I will be attending a dinner at church to appreciate us and other volunteers for our service, while Isaac will be attending soccer practice.  (We're being brave and taking Erik with them and then having them both walk home from the practice field, about 20 minutes.)  Finally, tomorrow, Robert and I will be attending a leadership training conference at church and trying to work around 2 soccer games.  So, on Sunday, I think a nap will be in order!

As for school, we have steadily plodded along through the week completing regular math, English, history, Spanish, Bible, spelling, and penmanship exercises.  We've made our way through the insect orders: hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) and isoptera (termites) in the 4th grade and through preparing for and taking a test in the 8th grade.  Several discussions about study skills being life skills occurred.  Isaac and Seth and I have started to make our way through The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.  It has been quite enjoyable so far.

Today, we are covering Rafael, another Renaissance painter and listening to the musical works of Clementi.  Here is an amazing video of a very small child playing a Clementi piece with NO music in front of her.

 WOAH!!!

We are also attempting to draw insects.  I found a book that shows how to form many different insects.  Joshua and Erik can take their pick.  Isaac and Seth will be attempting insects that are in the Orders we have been covering this week.

Isaac

Seth

Erik

Joshua isn't finished yet, so...T.B.P.L. 

(to be posted later)

Isaac and Seth are finishing up their 

science chapter by creating a 'Bee Book'.  

Joshua and Erik have grammar and history to work on today.  

Joshua and Erik made empanadas for a Spanish assignment:

Master Chefs - thinking in progress:

Now, let us begin:

(What looks like a peaceful process

was actually laced with much

bickering, but working was

going on as well...)

TA-DAA!!!

I'll let you know if the end result

was tasty or not!

Isaac and Seth are memorizing a new poem, A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray.  It involves a man with a pigtail trying to figure out why it stays behind him no matter what he does.  We made a 'pigtail' out of rope and attached it to a hat and tried it out.  However, I made the 'pigtail' too long, and it would NOT stay behind them like it was supposed to.  The sage in the poem just needed to grow his longer apparently!  :) 

They did finally recite the other poem they learned to Daddy, which they hadn't been able to do yet.  I will try to record it when I get the proper equipment.

One highlight for me last week was Friday night.  Robert covered a progression of styles in musical history, as driven by the African American community.  It was great!  He had to stop because we ran out of time and out of the ability to sit still and pay attention.  I think he will try a bit more later on.  I love it when I can find a way to incorporate him into teaching the boys in areas that are a natural skill for him and don't create too much extra work for him.  I think he liked that assignment.  :)

And....

they really are quite tasty!

Way to go Josh and Erik!


(Of course, with all this going on,
I have NOT tweaked my
Lesson Plans for next week
nor graded today's papers,
and therefore, of course,
have not entered them in 
the grade book either.
Oh well, I'll get there!
With the Lord's help!)

Week 5 - CHECK!

WOW!  At the beginning of the semester, before we even got started, I actually cried because I was facing a 7-week stretch before our 1st break and then another 7-week stretch before Thanksgiving Break.  (I usually set up our schedule for breaks after 3-4 weeks.)

I know, it probably doesn't seem like a big deal to veteran public school teachers because you go longer than that all the time.  But for me, it was a big deal, because I don't get to leave my students at school.  I don't ever really leave school either.

Any way, we have made it through 5 of the 7 weeks, and I am doing fine.  This is BY FAR my busiest year, teaching-wise, ever.  But the Lord has helped and empowered me SO much that I'm keeping on top of things better than usual, even my grading.  I'm VERY excited about that!!!

Two more weeks and then...awwwww...a little relaxation and mostly just a different kind of busyness as I begin to restore order to other parts of the household that fall apart while we're schooling.  But, at least cleaning is a somewhat mindless and tunnel-vision task.  That will be a GREAT break for my constantly taxed brain which must switch between 4th and 8th grades too frequently and between a whole spectrum of subject matter as well.

This week was shorter than usual, due to Labor Day Weekend.  Since Robert was home Monday, we took an extra day too.  The kids are having to cram alot in to make up for it, but we are getting it done.

Josh and Erik continue to be greatly challenged by the increase expectations of this year, but I KNOW that by the end of the year, they will have learned to handle it and will enter high school much better prepared because of it.  My main goals for Josh and Erik this year are to work on self-responsibility, following directions, and paying attention to and working successfully with details.  As you notice, having all As and Bs is not my goal.  The expectations for them have shot way up and I know that will be reflected in their grades somewhat.  But what I really want is for them to gain study skills and take ownership of their own learning.  If they can do that, they will be well-prepared to enter high school even if their current grades aren't what I want them to be.  (Yes, please keep reminding me I said this when I am feeling like moaning over their grades!)  I know that learning how to learn is a major hurdle.  But, if they can do that, they will do better in all of life.  This is more important than being able to regurgitate information that is spoon-fed to them.

Isaac and Seth are studying Colonial Life in history and even got to make Man and Woman paper dolls and dress them in layered, era-appropriate styles + have move on to learning about 'social' insects in science.  They are doing great learning to do some basic sentence diagramming in English and are amazing in their retention of the info we talk about.   In addition, I am proud to report that Isaac and Seth have memorized their 1st poem for their English program, The Land of Nod by Robert Louis Stevenson.  I will try to record it digitally and put it on here for you to hear.  :)  They memorized way quicker than me and can do it better than I can still.  We move on to a new poem Monday.

Fridays continue to be my favorite.  It's so nice to talk about artists and musicians and geography and health after 4 days full of the other subjects.  Today, we talked about Leonardo Da Vinci, a contemporary of Michelangelo.  (The boys like to learn about the Renaissance artists because 'they are named after' the boys 4 favorite turtle superheros. (Of course, Donatello is actually pre-Renaissance as far as I can tell, but...SHHH!)  In music, we switched from Haydn to Clementi.  September Fridays will major on Clementi.  I hope to have a different composer every month and at least move through several artists in one era per month.

I have NO idea if anyone who reads this blog really wants to know all this, but it is helping my brain process my life as a sort of journaling catharsis.  So, if you don't want to know all this, just skip over any post that looks 'school-ish' in nature.

For those of you who care to know all these crazy details of my life and the random meanderings of my mind, God bless you and thanks for caring!

Love to you,
Lezlie

Discipline is rough.

Why, when it is the child's disobedience that causes him an ugly consequence, do I feel guilty?  Why does his upset, fully deserved, wreak havoc in MY heart?  I don't know, but it has ALWAYS been true.  I seem to feel bad FOR them.  (Many times I feel worse than they do and for longer!)  It must just be the way a Mama is wired.

I don't know why it is so hard to learn to keep your hands to yourselves in school.  But some children just cannot seem to refrain.  And the mother has to preach (again) that everyone has a right to be safe and not have someone else hurt them (however inadvertently).

Oh well...I press on...and I'm trying not to grow weary of doing good...

AWANA starts tonight.

For the past two years, our church has had the AWANA Club program.  Isaac and Seth have both been Sparks and now will both be in Truth in Training (TnT).  They study Scripture verses and earn jewels, patches, and stickers.  They also earn points to spend at a toy/treat store every quarter.

Seth finish 3 Sparks books in 2 years.  Isaac got a book AWARD upon completing his 1st (and only) year of Sparks.  They still remember some of the Scriptures from previous years!  I think it is great to have a motivation to learn Scripture and to have an opportunity to interact with other children their age.

Tonight, our third year begins.  The handbooks are A LOT more work than in Sparks.  Isaac only finished 1/2 of his book last year because of the steep expectations.  He is reading a lot better on his own now and I think he will improve a lot just from that.  (I am very proud of his recent progress in word decoding and in reading stories in which the context helps him to figure out difficult words.  As with all my children, he reads huge words more easily than small ones.  I KNOW that context clues are invaluable for that.)  In addition, Seth moves into Isaac's class, so they can work together a little more and 'spur one another on to love and good deeds'!

Jonathan will be in his second year as a Cubbie.  He started preschool this month and he turns 5 on the 20th.  He is a VERY smart little guy and is teaching himself to write and to read and spell.  He is also teaching himself to draw Marvel Comic Book characters from my boys' how-to book.  I am AMAZED by him!

Joshua and Erik are in Youth, of course.  Youth is on Wed. nights, as well.  Plus, now on Thursdays, from after school until 7:30pm, the Youth is invited to the Youth Pastors house to fellowship and get help with homework.  They are VERY pumped about that!  (Maybe that will be a motivator for getting work finished every week.  Outside influence certainly helps!)  They are doing well in school, though their English program could use some extra prayer for motivation and attention to detail!

I will continue to sew on the patches for all the AWANA Clubbers who earn them.  That way, I can serve the Lord and the kids, but not actually have to deal with children ANY MORE at the end of a very long day!

So...I'm taking a deep breath before the pluuuuunnnnnnggggggeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 4 - Check!

Well, I can hardly believe I'm already a month into school.

Four weeks down; only 33 more to go!

This year is shaping up to be very full, but I feel good about the work we are doing.  The Lord is helping me to keep up with my paperwork and with keeping track of each boy's work to make sure every is getting completed.  I don't feel like I have near as many holes in my plans for things to slip through this year.  I'm very grateful for the Spirit's empowering in this area.

I have worked out a grading system that I'm happy with.  It is not as detailed as I might decide to make it later, but it is a great springboard into record-keeping.  And since highschool starts next year, I really need to get a handle on that.  In addition to subject-matter scores, I am trying to track Attitude as well.  I thought that might help the boys gain control over their balky natures.  Time will tell.

We are covering a WIDE range of material.  Fridays are fun because, though they contain plenty of learning, they are full of different subjects than we cover the other 4 days.  It's a nice break in the routine.  Today, we were covering Beats and Time Signatures in Music Theory, as well as reading a book about the progression of the development of music styles, especially as relates to the black community.  We read about Michelangelo in Art Appreciation and looked at the Sistine Chapel mural and St. Peter's Cathedral and the Pieta statue.  SO AMAZING!  (The internet ROCKS for 'traveling' to see the sights!)  We talked about spiritual health being just as important (if not more so) as physical health.  We also talked about WHY good posture makes you healthier.  We read about the history of the Star Spangled Banner, which is the patriotic song we've been singing for the past month.  That was very interesting.   (We start with "My Country 'Tis of Thee" next week.)  We also checked science tests and did geography pages.

Our school week ended with our weekly trip to Pittsburg Public Library.  The boys pick out books and then they like to play games on the computers.  They don't get to do that at home generally, so they love that opportunity.  I catch up on grading/planning and pick out books for the following week (like books on contemporaries of Michelangelo).

Now we're getting ready to watch our 'Friday Night Movie', which is another weekly event.  Tonight, we are actually watching something that I like, My Fair Lady.  The younger 3 couldn't remember watching it.  So I said we should and they didn't even protest.  How exciting is that?  :)

I can hardly believe all we've crammed into today, much less the last 4 weeks in totality!

I really am enjoying teaching them this year.  They are all a little more mature.  They all protest a little less.  They are all doing good work most of the time.  And we are learning lots of interesting information.  I love to learn.  And I sure love these boys.  I'm glad we're on this adventure together even if I do want to scream and pull my hair here and there.

The most amazing thing to me is that I am actually persevering, most of the time, in making them clear off their work stations at the end of each day.  That is a major miracle in self-discipline there.  I always know it's a good idea to teach them to do that but have always run out of the mental fortitude necessary to accomplish a goal like that in previous years.

Thank you, Jesus, for all Your help this year.  I SO appreciate your empowering work in my life.  Please help me continue on this productive track.  I LOVE YOU!!!

Science

I really enjoy teaching the younger boys science.  I don't like the topic hugely at the moment.  Insects are not my favorite.  But, they are fascinating.  It's amazing to me how God designs even the littlest critters to fit their environment and to eat the food and do all the tasks they were made for.  The sheer variety of kinds is amazing.  And, He even created at least 3 different ways for them to grow into an adult.  God is INCREDIBLE!  I couldn't even think up all the things to create that one creature, or even part of one creature would need in order to exist and He did it more times and in mores ways than we will ever discover.  He made things that He KNEW no one but Himself would ever know about just for the joy of creating.

The older pair are doing General Science, which is also very interesting.  We've learned a lot about the history of science and the thoughts of many early scientists.  We're learning the difference between an observation, a hypothesis, a theory, and a scientific law.  Do you know it only takes ONE counter-example to totally throw out a scientific law or to at least send it back to hypothesis status to be modified and enter the process toward becoming theory and then scientific law again?  Woah!

The greatest thing about teaching is LEARNING!