Jen's Mental Scribblings

I lost my piece of paper with my outline of my lesson plans for second grade.

Good thing for me that I wrote them down somewhere else. I was about to panic, but then I remember that I blogged about it.

Man I'm smart.

Month of January: Language Arts Block
Spanish for month:
Wheels on the bus (Cante 46)

Homeschooling plans for the week of January 25-29
Music for the week: Baa Baa Black Sheep

Monday:
Ike: The Letter G and The Golden Goose (First Grade 109) Draw a G Goose in MLB
Elli and Gwen: Jack Frost (they get this story all week)
Baking: Icicle Bread Sticks
Afternoon: origami cranes
Activites:

    * All TKD (assuming I get to talk to Mr. Moore about it)

Tuesday:
Ike: Narrate and Summarize. Copy summary into MLB
Form Draw; First Grade page 110
Painting: Blue Hides her Face (WHE color story) Didn't get to this last week.
Activities

    * Ike: Eurythmy at MGWS at 8:40AM
    * Ike: Vision Therapy @ 2PM
    * Girls: Off to M's at 1:30

Wednesday:
Ike: The Letter K and King Thrush's Beard (First Grade 112)
Modeling: Thrushes
Afternoon: Milk Carton Bird Feeders
Activities:

• All: Co-op at Lincoln Glen Park @10AM

Thursday:
Ike: Narrate and Summarize, Copy summary into MLB
Form Drawing: review waves
Copywork: this week's Music
Afternoon: Ice Candles
No ACTIVITIES!!! WooT!

Friday:
Ike: Forest Friday
Elli and Gwen: KidsPark
Library Day


Last week's Goals
work on mollygm's hat (Finished on the Mom's Retreat. CUTE!!!)
finish "Ask and it is Given" (Even returned to the Library)
Start one of the sleeping books  ( Finished Both. Started some with Gray, but then he came down with a cold)
Practice Recorder twice (I cleaned house instead)
Prep for Mom's Retreat this weekend. (Awesome! See post here about it)

This Week's Goals
Practice Recorder Twice
Finish First Lord's Fury
Finish Temperaments in Education
Request St. Francis Book from library
Work on mollygm  daughter M's hat (Third try is the charm).
Paint with the kids this week

Musings Adding Co-op and Vision Therapy has eaten more out of my schedule than I realized it would Oy! I'm going to try and do school with Ike before co-op instead of walking the dog. That way we can just be done. Last couple of times we did it after we got back while the girls were in quiet time, but then I didn't get quiet time and I got cranky. We'll see what happens.

Item the first or "Why I'm glad we got a second opinion"

So I took Ike to his evaluation appt to the developmental optometrist, Dr. Rice. The eval was LONG, and interrupted by the earthquake. Turns out he has astoundingly good visual memory. Ike just doesn't know how to access or use it. She and her therapist can help teach him that. Things I really like about Dr. Rice vs the other guy I started with.

• She does very through exams.
• She showed me the dianostic score sheet she was using and explained the results to me.
• She mailed me a copy of the final report!
• She does therapy incrementally. One therapy session a week for 8 weeks then an eval to see if more is needed. I don't need to pony up $8000.00 at the beginning. This is very cool!

Item the second. "Or I'm making my life more difficult/stressful"

We didn't get to two days of school last week. So we get to make them up this week. Luckily, I've got a couple of days of play in the schedule. Why did we miss two days? First off,  we have joined a park day/coop on Wednesday's. We've been too isolated and this gives us all a chance to go out and meet new friends and have some fun. Lots of playmates available for all 4 kids. Since it started at 10AM and we didn't leave until 12:37 and we had TKD at 3 (we have to start prep at 2:15) we never got a chance to squeeze the work in. On Thursday we had the above mentioned appointment with Dr. Rice. That took up the morning and the early afternoon was absorbed playing at my friend M who is going to be watching the girls for me while I'm at the appt with Ike.

We've had to move TKD from Wednesday afternoon to Monday afternoon as two activities in one day makes for a bad day (read cranky, stressed out Mommy). That being said, Ike starts vision therapy on Tuesday afternoon, giving us two activities for Tuesdays. Ugh. The only good thing about that is that therapy is temporary. Hopefully in 2-4 months we can stop.

Item the third or "This space for Rent!"

Not much else worth mentioning going on. We are living life and enjoying something about each day. =) Oh wait. I went to a fellow member of UUFLG today and taught her the basics of wool felt embroidery. Yea! I love teaching handwork. Also when I got home, Joe had taken everybody to the park so I got some time in the house all by myself! Yea!

when I originally decided to homeschool, I planned on using the Oak Meadow curriculum. Oak Meadow uses, standard watercolor paints that you can get at almost any art store. Melisa over at alittlegardenflower.com sells Stockmar watercolor paints.

Since tomorrow is paint day, I needed to mix up a new batch of paint. So I did, and then soaked some paper and tested it to see if I had added enough/too much water.

Oh My. These colors are WONDERFUL. I had been trying to figure out what I was doing wrong with my paint that it seemed so blah compared to others that I've seen.

I'll never go back to Michaels for paint again!

Now, off to sleep. Tomorrow is Tuesday, BUSY day!

Yes, I'm already working on my lesson plans for second grade. Sad, I know. But  so far this is just a basic outline of the year.

Revised Feb 17 2010 (changes in red)

September (Language Arts)
1 week ease into school (Form Drawing, Painting, etc)
2 weeks Trickster Tales
1 week St Michael & St George (Includes Prep for Michaelmas)
We will start basic grammar structure and word families this month and carry them on through all the Language Art Blocks. We will also do nearly daily short math drills both oral and written (but not necessarily both on the same day).

October (Nature Stories/LA)
1 week Plants
1 week Insects
1.5  week Animals
1/2 week Halloween prep

November (LA/Saints/Nature Stories)
1 week Jataka tales
2 weeks Saints (Martin, Jerome, Isaac, Elizabeth of Hungary) (includes prep for Martinmas)
1 week Thanksgiving
1 week Moon Stories

December (LA/Saints)
1 week St Nicholas
1 week St Lucia
2 Weeks Break!

January (Math)
4 Weeks Math

February (LA/Saints & Heroes)
1 week Jewish Heroes
1 week American Indian and Islamic heroes
1/2 week St. Valentine
1 1/2 weeks St. Francis

March (Math)
3 weeks math
1 week open for catchup/off (including Ike's birthday, need 2 days for that)

April (Math)
2 weeks Math
Easter Break
1 week St. Mary and Easter Prep

May (LA/Catch up)
1 week Natural Phenomena
2 weeks Aesop
1 week open for catch up/other things I think of.
1 week St. Joan.

And of course we will be doing various drawing (pencils!), painting,modeling and handwork projects. Ike will continue with his Forest Fridays and Eurythmy Class at Morning Glory Waldorf School

Plans for Elli and Gwen will be forth coming. Mostly lots of stories, playing, drawing, painting, modeling, and handwork projects. They may start attending Forest Fridays and the Eurythmy class (with the Kindergarden) at MGWS as well.

You know? In some ways this doesn't look like a lot. But I know it is!

A clip from George Carlin's "Life is worth losing"




I love Carlin, I miss him greatly.

Weekly
Verse Autumn Leaves ACT 48
Spanish Bi 420
Yoga AB 57
Music Twinkle Little Star
Handwork: Knitting

Monday:
Ike: Letter F, Next Part of Wise Sophia and The Little Fish (99), Draw F Fishes in MLB
E&G: Crumbs on the Table Earth, 382
Baking Day: GF Bread and something for dessert
Handwork Day (during Quiet time) Starting Ike on knitting

Tuesday:
Ike: Eurythmy class @ Morning Glory. Narrate and Summarize The Little Fish, put summary in MLB
E&G:  See Monday
Form Drawing: Castle form
Painting Day: Fish!

Wednesday
Ike: Letter H, Next Part of Wise Sophia and The Hut in the Forest (101), Draw H Huts in MLB
E&G: See Monday
Modeling Day: Huts
TKD: Ike @ 3:00 and Girls @ 3:30

Thursday
Ike:  Narrate and Summarize the Hut in the Forest, put summary in MLB
E&G: See Above
Form Drawing: Castles
Copywork Day: Autumn Leaves ACT 48

Friday
Ike: Forest Friday at Sanborn Park
E&G: MOPS with Me
Library Day
Kidspark for everyone after Library. Its Date Night.

So what did I accomplish on last weeks goals for me?
Knit some on Gwen's Hat
Read another chapter of "Power of Stories"
Cleaned Ike's room and made it easier for him to keep up.

Not on the list but accomplished
Practiced my Recorder twice.
Vacuumed and cleaned both bathrooms
Kept the girls room picked up
Didn't kill anybody.

I guess something is better than nothing.

This Week's Goals!
Knit some on Gwen's Hat (I'm on a time crunch. I need it finished by the Martinmas lantern walk (Nov 12)
Stitch some on Gray's Stocking
Read another chapter of "Power of Stories"
Finish current lecture in "Rhythms of Learning"
Practice Recorder at least twice this week.
Draw! I haven't worked on my drawing skills in awhile.

Weekly
Verse "Scary" ACT 46
Spanish Bi 400
Yoga AB 119
Music Itsy Bitsy Spider
Handwork: Spool Knitting

Monday
Ike: Letter W, Wise Sophia and The Fisherman's Wife AJTW Pg. 90. Come up with a list of W Words. Draw a picture of a W Water in MLB.
E&G: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Baking Day: GF Bread, Something for Desert Night
Handwork Day (afternoon)
Outrageous Outgrowns Pickup

Tuesday
Ike: Eurythmy class @ Morning Glory . Narrate and Summarize story from day before. Put summary in MLB.
E&G: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Form Drawing: Waves
Painting Day: Boat on Wavy Water

Wednesday:
Ike: Letter C, Wise Sophia and Poor Miller's Boy AJTW Pg. 97. Come up with a list of C Words. Draw a picture of a C Cat in MLB.
E&G: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Modeling Day: More basic play. Try and make a cat.
TKD: Ike @ 3:00 and Girls @ 3:30


Thursday:
Ike: Narrate and Summarize story from day before. Put summary in MLB.
E&G: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Form Drawing: Review of previous forms
Copywork Day: Scary ACT Pg 46

Friday
Ike: Forest Friday at Sanborn Park
E&G: Kidspark for morning
Library Day

Weekly
Verse "Seasons" JTT 167
Spanish
Yoga AB 111
Music I'm a nut, Wee Sing Silly Songs 61
Handwork: Spool Knitting

Monday
Ike: Letter S, Wise Sophia and Six Swan AJTW Pg. 83, Draw a picture of a S Swan in MLB.
E&G: Sweet Porridge (Grimm 103)
Baking Day: GF Bread, Something for Desert Night
Park Day (Playdate with other homeschooling family)
Handwork Day (afternoon)

Tuesday
Ike: No Eurythmy class (school is on a field trip). Narrate and Summarize story from day before. Put summary in MLB.
E&G: Sweet Porridge (Grimm 103)
Form Drawing: Zig Zag!
Painting Day: Ponds

Wednesday:
Ike: Letter t, Wise Sophia and Six Swan AJTW Pg. 86, Draw a picture of a T Tree in MLB.
E&G: Sweet Porridge (Grimm 103)
Modeling Day: More basic play.
TKD: Ike @ 3:00 and Girls @ 3:30
Playset delivered and installed today

Thursday:
Ike: Narrate and Summarize story from day before. Put summary in MLB.
E&G: Sweet Porridge (Grimm 103)
Form Drawing: 9's and 0's
Copywork Day: "Seasons" October Verse, JTT 167

Friday
Ike: Forest Friday at Sanborn Park
E&G: MOPS with me
Library Day
Kids to KidsPark so we can have date night!

I promise, I'll post some pictures soon. They are in my camera and I just need some time to upload them. =)

I never got around to posting my plans for this last week. I'm going to do so now so I can look it up later.

Monday:
Ike: IX, (AJTWM, Pg 17), Draw a meadow with 9 flowers, write "With number IX you can do just fine, but number VI has many tricks"
E&G: Play
No baking done this week , no handwork either.

Tuesday
Ike: St. George and the Dragon story with finger puppets, draw dragon from board into MLB, write Autumn Verse in MLB. Revisit Curves form Drawing on blackboard.
E&G Play.
No painting

Wednesday:
Ike: narrate and summarize story from day before. Write 2-3 sentence summary in MLB
E&G Play.
No modeling

Thursday:
Ike: X, (AJTWM, Pg 17), Draw a basket with 10 apples in it, write "X shall stand for playmates 10", Roman Numeral Review, form drawing 9's on blackboard
E&G Play.
No copywork, no music

Friday:
Ike: Forest Friday!
E&G MOPS
Library in the afternoon, followed by Ike, Elli, and Gwen off to Kidspark. Date night for Mom and Dad (we spent Gray's nap cuddling and talking, then went to the mall and spent money on various things)

This was a REALLY rough week for me. We went and visited my Grandmother over the weekend and Sunday night was the 5th bad night of sleep in a row. At one point on monday Ike was refusing to do what I was asking (first time he's done it) and I caught myself before totally losing it. Wasn't his fault that I was completely burned out. I stopped what we were doing, put everything away and we finished up on tuesday.

Other rough thing. Ike is seriously getting frustrated with drawing. Give him a pencil and he's quite good, but these block style crayons are driving him crazy. Due to the fact that he's having such a hard time getting them to do what he wants them to do (both in technique and color blending), he's half convinced himself that he can't draw.

On Tuesday he hid under the table and refused to come out because the dragon he was drawing didn't look like either the one I drew on the board, nor like the one I was drawing in my MLB. I think 2 things are causing the problem. 1. The lighting. The lamp in our dining room has 4 separate lights, thus throwing all sorts of shadows. Its difficult for me to see where I'm going. 2. His deficient fine motor skills. I think he just needs to keep at it. I'm trying to pull him into drawing after school (by sitting down and drawing myself), but he doesn't want to. But I can, however, alleviate one layer of stress about the crayons. After much meditation and talking to Joe, I'm going to give Ike the box of 8 crayons. He doesn't like the fact that he has a really hard time creating the secondary colors. I can give those to him and let him focus on the technique side of it. I can still bring in the color blending aspect by making tertiary colors and encouraging him to do so...and I think that's the best thing I can do for him right now