Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Day 2
The grandmother pictures are still here. I just moved them to the picture page. Can someone (Yoo
Hooooo Kevin or Laura) please send me a picture of G'ma?
I promise that I'm not going to start blogging about my schedule everyday. It helps me to see where I can modify if needed
and any time wasters if I write it all out, which is why I'm doing it now. It might also be helpful to new homeschoolers...who
knows? Co-op doesn't start until Sept. 9th so we're taking Fridays off until then, but the rest of the week should be more
or less the same. Anyway, here is Tuesday.
6:45am - Get David up and off to work. (sausage,egg,cheese breakfast burritos for his breakfast)
7:15am - Eat breakfast and mess around on the computer.
9:15am - Get KJ up, fed, and ready to go. (sausage,egg,cheese breakfast toaster sandwich and grapes for him.)
10:15am - leave for McLennan Community College (MCC), KJ is attending class with the provision that if other students
find him distracting or disturbing, then he won't be able to attend anymore. I remind him to lay low until everyone is used
to him being there. He is bigger than me so maybe nobody will notice that he is under 16.
10:45am - arrive at MCC and start to panic, because I can't find a parking place anywhere
10:55am - wait for a leaving student to get in his car so I can take his spot
11:02am - arrive at our World Geography classroom (class starts at 11:10) Nobody bats an eye at KJ. *whew* They either
don't know he is a child or don't care.
11:12am - think to myself that I'm paid good money for this class so the professor better hurry up and get here
11:13am - realize how much I've changed since I was in college the last time as I notice the rest of the class
checking their watches and hoping the professor is more than 10 minutes late so they can leave
11:14am - professor arrives
11:15am - professor asks, "Who's Rebel?" I raise my hand. He asks, "and who's KJ?" KJ raises his hand. Professor
asks, "Do you mind if I introduce you to the rest of the class?" It is hard to explain how he did it, but he introduced
KJ and explained the situation in a way that made it clear that nobody better have a problem with KJ being there. So much
for laying low, but I REALLY don't think anybody cares. They were mainly concerned with whether or not the class is easy.
KJ paid attention and took notes as well as he was able. The professor asked KJ a question once (my heart stopped while I
was thinking, "Oh please let him be paying attention) but KJ answered it very thoughtfully. (thank goodness)
12:30pm - Class is over. KJ told me that he liked it, but felt like his brain was full. He later told David and Kevin
that it was boring.
12:50pm - I grab KJ some chicken from Bush's and stop by the library to turn in an overdue book and pick up a pile that
is waiting for me.
1:30pm - We're back home. KJ takes a break while I fix myself some lunch.
2:00pm - I read aloud to KJ.
2:45pm - We watch "Magic Schoolbus: Lost in Space."
3:15pm - KJ does his Spanish on the computer while I wash dishes.
3:25pm - KJ reads "As You Like It." He said that he was too tired to read it the night before. I'm still washing dishes.
4:00pm - Math: It's reviewing stuff from last year so KJ does it pretty easily, but still wants me to sit
with him while he works. He has a math phobia.
4:25pm - I throw a frozen lasagna in the oven.
4:30pm - Latin: We're on Lesson 1, day 2 now which is longer and harder than yesterday. KJ wants to deviate from the
lesson plan. "Whhhyyy do I have to write the words 3 times? I'll just write them once. Whhhhhyyy do I have to write the declensions?
Can't I just say them." I tell him that I do not know HOW to teach lesson which is why I bought the study guide that lays
it all out for me. I explain that the lady who wrote the guide teaches Latin for a living at a private school, and therefore
knows what she is talking about. In a word, "No," we're not changing the lesson plan. KJ says that when he grows up, he is
going to find that lady and kill her, but starts writing.
5:10pm - KJ reads pages 8-11 from 1000 facts on Space.
5:30pm - We eat supper. KJ is done for the day except for his nightly reading.
6:30pm - I leave for my classical educators meeting at Barnes and Noble.
10:30pm - I return home. According to David, KJ was in bed at 10:00 and is reading his book. He was supposed to read
pages 6-35 of Michael Harrison's retelling of Don Quixote.
11:15pm - Bedtime for me.
Monday, August 22, 2005
First Day
Today was the first day of school for our Fall schedule and it went very well. KJ did not actually finish
the last of his work until 8:00 this evening, but it still was a good day. He spent the weekend with his dad and since
his dad did not have to be at work until 10:00 this morning, we started later than normal. Here was our day.
6:45am - I get up and help get David off to work.
7:30am - I drink a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast and play "Harry Potter" on the computer.
8:45am - I take a shower and get ready to go get KJ.
9:30am - I leave to meet Kevin. (KJ's dad)
10:00am - I return home with KJ who is telling me all about his weekend. We're both hungry so we both have a breakfast
bar for a snack.
10:30am - KJ eats an apple while I read aloud. This is always his favorite time!
11:15am - Music time: I teach KJ a new song on the keyboard. He has forgotten everything he has ever known about
the keyboard including note names. I make him a chart to study before next time.
11:45am - History: I read the first part of Ch. 1 in Story of the World Part 3. We discuss what I read. KJ
understands it better than I do. I ask him the review questions from the activity guide. He balks when I tell him he
has to write his narration. He says, "I thought that I told you last year that I didn't like to write narrations." I tell
him that is true, but he still has to write them. He flops onto the couch and buries his head in a pillow. I tell him that
I am going to get lunch ready so he had better get busy typing. As I walk into the kitchen, I see him heading to the computer
room.
12:30pm - Lunch: chicken strips and french fries. We watch "The Cosby Show" while we eat.
1:00pm - Time to leave for fencing
1:30pm-3:30pm - KJ has fencing class. I run to the local education store and buy 13 posters and some Spanish flash cards.
4:00pm - We're back home from fencing. KJ spends 30 minutes in the bathroom while I start hanging posters.
4:30pm - KJ says that he absolutely HAS to have a snack and makes himself a bag of popcorn. I'm still hanging posters
while he eats this.
5:00pm - I throw the extra stuffed bell peppers that I made the night before into the oven. KJ goes into the computer
room to do his typing and Spanish.
5:15pm - David arrives home from work. I'm still trying to decide where to put the last two posters as I'm out of room.
5:30pm - I hang the last two posters in the bathroom since KJ spends so much time in there.
5:45pm - I open a can of pears, and put a dollop of mayo and some shredded cheese on them. KJ hands David and I
a copy of his typing report. He has apparently been typing for 45 minutes and has not started on Spanish yet. He only has
to type for 15 minutes, but was on a roll.
6:00pm - Supper time: stuffed bell peppers and pear salad. KJ repeats his entire weekend for David.
6:45pm - KJ finally does his Spanish.
7:00pm - Logic and Latin: "Introductory Logic" has not arrived yet so we do an exercise from "Dr. Funster's Think-A-Minute."
We do Lesson 1, Day 1 from the Henle Latin study guide. That only involves reading today, thank goodness.
7:30pm - Math: Lesson 10 from Spectrum Math Grade 7
8:00pm - KJ finishes Math.
8:15pm - We all troop to Dairy Queen to celebrate the first day with ice cream.
9:15pm - We're back home. KJ takes a shower while I write this blog, and David works on KJ's computer.
10:00pm - KJ goes to bed where he is going to read a retelling of Shakespeare's, "As You Like It."
Friday, August 19, 2005
The Grandma Tour
KJ and I just returned from one last trip before starting school for the Fall. We saw 3 of his 4 grandmothers/great-grandmothers
so I called it the Grandma Tour. Now, we just have to sneak a trip up to see Grandma #4, aka G'ma. The pictures
above are of the grandmothers we visited. It was a lot of driving, but we had a really nice time. I also got to hide
3 letterboxes on the trip.
I'm having a bear of a time trying to get KJ's school schedule finalized. *sigh* Can someone make more hours in the day,
please? There are just SO many things that I want KJ to learn and do. I'll post the schedule when/if
I get it finished.
Oh yes, my mom went to her own doctor the week after her fall, and it turns out that her arm is not broken afterall,
just a bad bone bruise. I think that is what she called it. Woo Hoo!
David is doing better and his incision is draining less.
Lynne - Flower Mound has about 90,000. The parts that I saw were very nice.
Dy - I can't comment on your blog, since I'm anonymous, but I read you daily. Good luck on your
land and house hunt.
>
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
My mother...
*sigh* My dad has a fabulous water garden pond in his backyard. If I have the story correct, my mother saw
a couple of snails under the waterfall and thought they were drowning. She attempted to rescue the snails (sounds like
something I would do) and fell in the pond, breaking her arm in the process. It doesn't seem to be slowing her down any
as she and my dad are still planning on letterboxing this weekend.
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
The week in summary
David is still continuing to heal and is doing okay. Whenever he complains about how long it seems to be taking
for him to get back to normal, I remind him that the doctor said he would have a 6 week recovery period, and it will only
be 3 weeks this Thursday.
I just gave away all the clothes that KJ has outgrown and now his closet is nearly empty! Yikes!
One of the Americana chickens laid the biggest friggin egg I've ever seen. It was nearly 4 inches from end to end!
KJ and I cracked it today for his breakfast sandwich and it had 2 yolks...pretty cool.
I met up with my sister and a friend for a "slumber party" at the friend's house in Flower Mound on Friday night.
We had soooo much fun! We pigged out on candy, bean dip, tortilla casserole, and cheddar peppers while talking all evening.
I arrived home from the slumber party around noon on Saturday, picked up David, and went to Belton for my aunt Olene's
birthday. We also had a wonderful time there visiting and more eating.
