I was so pleased that I was able to get all the wash done by noon today. I was not pleased that it felt like the twins were crying and screaming all day. I'm thinking that I may need to take some tantrum extinguishing steps.
Moving on to happier notes, this is the time of year where subjects start dropping off as different curricula are finished. We have finished the religion curriculum although we will finish off the stories that the curriculum does not cover. We are on our last week of science and only have a couple weeks for grammar and Writing with Ease. We still have All About Spelling, Latin, and Daily 6-trait Writing that we will try to continue as well as driling with Xtramath. I may make sure we have some handwriting practice as well to keep that up. We will, of course, continue our library visits.
Religion - The kids watched a few chapters of the video before we moved on to our next subject. We also did our memorization, or at least, I told the kids to and I hope they did it. Sunshine somehow flooded the bathroom and I had to mop that up.
Math - Racer is very close to passing off the two second subtraction in Xtramath. He's at 92 so far. Chicklette is still working on her addition. I'm not sure why she is hanging out in the 60s but someday she has got to move on. It's just the law of averages, right? Right?
Physics - We worked on reviewing all their vocabulary while I made French bread, which turned out beautifully by the way. We will definitely work on these definitions this week. DH volunteered to make their rocket with them this week.
Latin - Racer reviewed the Latin lessons, but Chicklette didn't because we were working on her spelling lesson. Maybe I will have him teach her tomorrow so he gets some more review and she at least hears the lessons again. We also get to read a couple chapters out of the Famous Men of Rome book this week. I think it looks pretty interesting.
All About Spelling - I was getting pretty frustrated with Chicklette that she didn't seem to retain any of the syllable rules we had practiced and she was having such trouble sounding out words that I thought she should know. Really, I was frustrated with the screaming and crying that was happening from the twins and Sunshine. I need to work on their screaming and develop a plan for them to play better. I don't have any ideas about that yet. We'll figure it out, or they will grow out of it and into doing actual school and activities. Racer ended up doing half of his program by himself so I could try to figure out what their problems were and settle everything down.
Grammar - Racer finished up his business letter today, corrected it and made a clean copy. Chicklette learned more about the four types of sentences and we practiced identifying them.
I also got to deal with some lying behavior today. I am only going to post a few details and how I handled it for those who think my life is perfect and for any new homeschoolers. If you haven't dealt with this behavior yet, you will, and hopefully it will only be once. It is a good thing to think about how you want to handle it before it happens so you don't fly off the handle like I did the first time it happened with one of my precious angels.
One of the kids was working on their math as I went out to hang some clothes on the line. When I came back in, we did that child's weekly log for their virtual school and then I told them to work some more on their math. It was not an assignment that needed to be done today, but I knew they had a bit of work to still do. When that child told me they were done, I knew they either had not done a good job or they were lying. So, I asked to see their paper to correct it. They were protesting and told me that I didn't need to see it. My mom senses were really starting to tingle now! Then, they told me they threw their paper away. I told said child to get it out of the trash. They said they threw it in the outside recycling can. Now if I had any doubts about their veracity, they were gone now. Wanting to see how far this child would take the behavior, I told them to go get it. And then they were standing at the door to the garage crying because they knew there was no way out now.
I finally told them that I knew they were lying and I rehearsed all their stories to me. I wasn't terribly upset about the incident; it had happened before with a different child and I knew this was a test to see if they could get away with it. The consequences they received were: feeling bad about their behavior, needing to have a conference with Principal Daddy, losing their school point on their checklist, and having their mouth washed out with soap three times for the three separate lies. Hopefully, that will nip this behavior in the bud and I won't have to deal seriously with it again.
Moving on to happier notes, this is the time of year where subjects start dropping off as different curricula are finished. We have finished the religion curriculum although we will finish off the stories that the curriculum does not cover. We are on our last week of science and only have a couple weeks for grammar and Writing with Ease. We still have All About Spelling, Latin, and Daily 6-trait Writing that we will try to continue as well as driling with Xtramath. I may make sure we have some handwriting practice as well to keep that up. We will, of course, continue our library visits.
Religion - The kids watched a few chapters of the video before we moved on to our next subject. We also did our memorization, or at least, I told the kids to and I hope they did it. Sunshine somehow flooded the bathroom and I had to mop that up.
Math - Racer is very close to passing off the two second subtraction in Xtramath. He's at 92 so far. Chicklette is still working on her addition. I'm not sure why she is hanging out in the 60s but someday she has got to move on. It's just the law of averages, right? Right?
Physics - We worked on reviewing all their vocabulary while I made French bread, which turned out beautifully by the way. We will definitely work on these definitions this week. DH volunteered to make their rocket with them this week.
Latin - Racer reviewed the Latin lessons, but Chicklette didn't because we were working on her spelling lesson. Maybe I will have him teach her tomorrow so he gets some more review and she at least hears the lessons again. We also get to read a couple chapters out of the Famous Men of Rome book this week. I think it looks pretty interesting.
All About Spelling - I was getting pretty frustrated with Chicklette that she didn't seem to retain any of the syllable rules we had practiced and she was having such trouble sounding out words that I thought she should know. Really, I was frustrated with the screaming and crying that was happening from the twins and Sunshine. I need to work on their screaming and develop a plan for them to play better. I don't have any ideas about that yet. We'll figure it out, or they will grow out of it and into doing actual school and activities. Racer ended up doing half of his program by himself so I could try to figure out what their problems were and settle everything down.
Grammar - Racer finished up his business letter today, corrected it and made a clean copy. Chicklette learned more about the four types of sentences and we practiced identifying them.
I also got to deal with some lying behavior today. I am only going to post a few details and how I handled it for those who think my life is perfect and for any new homeschoolers. If you haven't dealt with this behavior yet, you will, and hopefully it will only be once. It is a good thing to think about how you want to handle it before it happens so you don't fly off the handle like I did the first time it happened with one of my precious angels.
One of the kids was working on their math as I went out to hang some clothes on the line. When I came back in, we did that child's weekly log for their virtual school and then I told them to work some more on their math. It was not an assignment that needed to be done today, but I knew they had a bit of work to still do. When that child told me they were done, I knew they either had not done a good job or they were lying. So, I asked to see their paper to correct it. They were protesting and told me that I didn't need to see it. My mom senses were really starting to tingle now! Then, they told me they threw their paper away. I told said child to get it out of the trash. They said they threw it in the outside recycling can. Now if I had any doubts about their veracity, they were gone now. Wanting to see how far this child would take the behavior, I told them to go get it. And then they were standing at the door to the garage crying because they knew there was no way out now.
I finally told them that I knew they were lying and I rehearsed all their stories to me. I wasn't terribly upset about the incident; it had happened before with a different child and I knew this was a test to see if they could get away with it. The consequences they received were: feeling bad about their behavior, needing to have a conference with Principal Daddy, losing their school point on their checklist, and having their mouth washed out with soap three times for the three separate lies. Hopefully, that will nip this behavior in the bud and I won't have to deal seriously with it again.