Today would have been my son's eighth birthday. There is never a day that goes by that I don't think of him. He is as real to me as Cooper. He is as loved as Cooper. He is, and will forever be, my son.
Love to you, baby. All the love in the world.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Happy Birthday, Geekboy
My husband's birthday is today. I can't imagine my life without him. Ours was a whirlwind romance. We got married less than six months after our first email on an online dating site. It would have been sooner but we waited for my brother to get home from his mission. (We married two days later - which was convenient for the family, even though it made a busy weekend with a wedding Friday, a reception Saturday and a mission homecoming Sunday.)
When I married him, I thought ours was the deepest most eternal love that I could imagine. Twelve years later I realize how incredibly naive I was. We have gone through so much together, and never have I felt that he wasn't completely in my corner. He is the one who encouraged me to go to graduate school. He is the one who prodded me to apply to teach at the university. He sacrificed his own comfort to let me commute to another state for a job I wanted. He held my hand while I spoke through my tears at our son's funeral. He held my hand while I labored to bring Cooper into the world. He could have an easier life with a wife who didn't suffer from fibro and depression, but he counts it an honor to be my protector and best friend. I am the most blessed woman in the world to be his wife.
When I was little I remember looking up at the stars and seeing what I thought was the immensity of space arrayed before my eyes. And then I saw the Milky Way and realized that the iridescent band of light was millions and millions more stars that couldn't be distinguished from each other. I realized how much bigger space was than I had previously understood. And then I saw photos of galaxies taken by space telescopes, and realized that what I had been seeing wasn't just stars, but entire other galaxies, with their millions and millions of stars. Beyond our ability to see, beyond our ability to understand, the universe keeps expanding, and right now I feel like that is our love. It's so much bigger than it was 12 years ago, but I realize I am just at the start of something that will just keep getting bigger and bigger as we continue our life together. I feel like I am staring into the immensities of space when I am looking at him, and unlike the real world, it all revolves around us.
I love you.
When I married him, I thought ours was the deepest most eternal love that I could imagine. Twelve years later I realize how incredibly naive I was. We have gone through so much together, and never have I felt that he wasn't completely in my corner. He is the one who encouraged me to go to graduate school. He is the one who prodded me to apply to teach at the university. He sacrificed his own comfort to let me commute to another state for a job I wanted. He held my hand while I spoke through my tears at our son's funeral. He held my hand while I labored to bring Cooper into the world. He could have an easier life with a wife who didn't suffer from fibro and depression, but he counts it an honor to be my protector and best friend. I am the most blessed woman in the world to be his wife.
When I was little I remember looking up at the stars and seeing what I thought was the immensity of space arrayed before my eyes. And then I saw the Milky Way and realized that the iridescent band of light was millions and millions more stars that couldn't be distinguished from each other. I realized how much bigger space was than I had previously understood. And then I saw photos of galaxies taken by space telescopes, and realized that what I had been seeing wasn't just stars, but entire other galaxies, with their millions and millions of stars. Beyond our ability to see, beyond our ability to understand, the universe keeps expanding, and right now I feel like that is our love. It's so much bigger than it was 12 years ago, but I realize I am just at the start of something that will just keep getting bigger and bigger as we continue our life together. I feel like I am staring into the immensities of space when I am looking at him, and unlike the real world, it all revolves around us.
I love you.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
The Decoy Bride - Movie 1 of 50
The Decoy Bride
Merida makes fun of the Tenth Doctor - standard rom-com with a heavy Scottish accent.
Fun and adorable.
My rating - 3 1/2 stars
GeekBoy's rating 3 1/2 stars
Merida makes fun of the Tenth Doctor - standard rom-com with a heavy Scottish accent.
Fun and adorable.
My rating - 3 1/2 stars
GeekBoy's rating 3 1/2 stars
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Goals for 2013
Education
Now, I should print these out and put them somewhere prominent so I don't forget them.
1. Read five non-fiction books on a particular topic.
2. Learn how to play the ukulele.
3. Get one piece of piano music performance ready.
Spiritual
1. Temple once a month (this is a sign how bad my temple attendance is, and there's no excuse since I can literally see Moroni from my front steps.)
2. Visiting teaching done by the 15th of every month.
3. Study a general conference talk each week.
Wife
1. Watch 50 movies with GeekBoy that neither of us have seen.
2. Plan a game night at our house. And then actually have the game night.
3. This one is none of your business. ;)
Mother
1. Read a book a day to Cooper that he has never heard before.
2. Enroll Cooper in at least one sports class besides his gymnastics. He loves baseball and soccer on TV.
3. Vegetables once a day! He's great about fruit, he actually prefers it to candy most times, but I'm bad about getting veggies into him.
Fun Stuff
1. Plant a fairy garden
2. Knit something I would actually wear
3. Crochet something geektastic.
Running a Home
1. Do the dishes every day!
2. Kick the storage closet's butt.
3. Get all the art rehung that we took down when we moved rooms around. And the new art we have acquired since.
Mental and Emotional Wellness
1. Read some fiction every day.
2. Stretch for 15 minutes every day.
3. Have a sing along at the top of your lungs session at least once a week.
Make the World a Better Place
1. Respond to all circumstances from a place of love.
2. Write a letter or card each week. Not email!
3. Do whatever Leslie's weekly challenge is.
Now, I should print these out and put them somewhere prominent so I don't forget them.
Also, I am a little tired just looking at this list.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
How did I do on my 2012 goals?
So my goals for 2012 were the following:
2. Finish the basement. Nope, because three turned out to be a disaster.
5. GeekBoy and I take a real vacation with Cooper. Nope. Our calendar was all kids of weird this year.
6. Plant a tree that is at least as tall as I am. Nope. I feel really bad about this one.
8. Make an item of clothing - not an accessory - and wear it. Fail!
10. Try thirty new recipes. Fail.
Maybe I should post my list of goals somewhere other than just on my blog so I can see them more than once in a year.
Monday, December 31, 2012
The New Normal
At the beginning of this year I was a college professor. Now I am a homeschooling mother.
At the beginning of this year I wore heels and jewelry and makeup every day. Now, I live in pajama pants and nerd t-shirts.
At the beginning of this year I was in pain every day. I still am, but not as much. And I've learned a lot about managing my disease.
About two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I had been symptomatic for over a decade - it started being debilitating in the last few years. And as difficult as dealing with the pain has been, its assault on my mind has been much harder to deal with. They call it "fibro fog" and when that part shows up, my ability to think clearly and logically - such an inherent part of my personality, to think and speak precisely and elegantly - is undermined. I can't follow conversations. I hear other people, but can't process what they are saying. My vocabulary gets locked away and I can't find the words to express the thoughts that are fighting to get out. That's more frustrating to me than the pain.
But this is the new normal. There are days when I stay in my pajamas, because I literally have to choose between putting on jeans and reading stories to my child. I have reduced my outside commitments drastically because I have had to define my priorities, and my husband and my child are always going to come before anything else.
If I was in charge of the world, nothing would start before 1:00pm. It takes me three or four hours to get to the point where I feel like I have the energy to face the world. Rather, I think it would be more correct to say that it takes me three or four hours to accumulate enough energy to face the world. I wake up with an empty fuel tank, and a pretty good idea of how big my fuel tank is going to be for the day. That's a particularly frustrating point for people outside my family to grasp - my ability to deal with the outside world varies widely from day to day. I may be able to go out to the movies one day and seem fine, and the next day I'm going to stay in my pajamas and have someone bring me food. It makes planning ahead difficult. I never know when I am going to have a good day. I really want to take Cooper to Disneyland next year, but how do you plan something like that when your own health is variable? And then you feel guilt for not being able to do all the fun mom things, and that rebounds into making your symptoms worse.
I also have the fun additional quirks of having depression and being severely introverted. Depression makes the pain worse and the pain makes the depression worse, so that's fun. And then with being introverted, having to interact with people is exhausting. So, I might be able to go sit through Les Mis fine (I did and bawled like a baby) but going to a party for the same amount of time, where I'm expected to interact with people, especially people I don't know well, would end with me spending the next day in debilitating pain.
And that's the new normal for me, and for our family. We do the things we can when I can. GeekBoy picks up my slack when I can't do things, and never complains. We may not have the perfectly decorated home, and sometimes the dishes don't get washed for longer than I like to think about, but it works for us.
So I update facebook more than my blog, because posting a sentence or two, or just uploading a picture, is so much easier for me than writing out a thoughtful post. And we have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner rather than pork loin or gnocchi. But my son reads now, and he didn't do that three months ago. And he skip counts by two for fun, and can do math in his head, and he builds elaborate marble mazes, and loves story hour at the library (my Thursday priority) and gymnastics (my Friday priority) and knows the first three Articles of Faith by memory and the first six apostles and he is kind and generous and thoughtful and sharing and that means I'm doing right by him even if he doesn't speak multiple languages or play a musical instrument. And he knows he is loved. Every minute of the day.
And my husband knows that I love him. And we laugh together, and I go to the movies with him when I can, and watch tv in bed with him when that's all I'm capable of doing, and he is the most amazing person for never letting me feel like he resents me for the additional burdens my health places on him and on our family. He is wonderful. He is my rock, and my guardian, and my best friend.
This is my new normal. It's a good normal. And I'm perfectly happy with it.
At the beginning of this year I wore heels and jewelry and makeup every day. Now, I live in pajama pants and nerd t-shirts.
At the beginning of this year I was in pain every day. I still am, but not as much. And I've learned a lot about managing my disease.
About two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I had been symptomatic for over a decade - it started being debilitating in the last few years. And as difficult as dealing with the pain has been, its assault on my mind has been much harder to deal with. They call it "fibro fog" and when that part shows up, my ability to think clearly and logically - such an inherent part of my personality, to think and speak precisely and elegantly - is undermined. I can't follow conversations. I hear other people, but can't process what they are saying. My vocabulary gets locked away and I can't find the words to express the thoughts that are fighting to get out. That's more frustrating to me than the pain.
But this is the new normal. There are days when I stay in my pajamas, because I literally have to choose between putting on jeans and reading stories to my child. I have reduced my outside commitments drastically because I have had to define my priorities, and my husband and my child are always going to come before anything else.
If I was in charge of the world, nothing would start before 1:00pm. It takes me three or four hours to get to the point where I feel like I have the energy to face the world. Rather, I think it would be more correct to say that it takes me three or four hours to accumulate enough energy to face the world. I wake up with an empty fuel tank, and a pretty good idea of how big my fuel tank is going to be for the day. That's a particularly frustrating point for people outside my family to grasp - my ability to deal with the outside world varies widely from day to day. I may be able to go out to the movies one day and seem fine, and the next day I'm going to stay in my pajamas and have someone bring me food. It makes planning ahead difficult. I never know when I am going to have a good day. I really want to take Cooper to Disneyland next year, but how do you plan something like that when your own health is variable? And then you feel guilt for not being able to do all the fun mom things, and that rebounds into making your symptoms worse.
I also have the fun additional quirks of having depression and being severely introverted. Depression makes the pain worse and the pain makes the depression worse, so that's fun. And then with being introverted, having to interact with people is exhausting. So, I might be able to go sit through Les Mis fine (I did and bawled like a baby) but going to a party for the same amount of time, where I'm expected to interact with people, especially people I don't know well, would end with me spending the next day in debilitating pain.
And that's the new normal for me, and for our family. We do the things we can when I can. GeekBoy picks up my slack when I can't do things, and never complains. We may not have the perfectly decorated home, and sometimes the dishes don't get washed for longer than I like to think about, but it works for us.
So I update facebook more than my blog, because posting a sentence or two, or just uploading a picture, is so much easier for me than writing out a thoughtful post. And we have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner rather than pork loin or gnocchi. But my son reads now, and he didn't do that three months ago. And he skip counts by two for fun, and can do math in his head, and he builds elaborate marble mazes, and loves story hour at the library (my Thursday priority) and gymnastics (my Friday priority) and knows the first three Articles of Faith by memory and the first six apostles and he is kind and generous and thoughtful and sharing and that means I'm doing right by him even if he doesn't speak multiple languages or play a musical instrument. And he knows he is loved. Every minute of the day.
And my husband knows that I love him. And we laugh together, and I go to the movies with him when I can, and watch tv in bed with him when that's all I'm capable of doing, and he is the most amazing person for never letting me feel like he resents me for the additional burdens my health places on him and on our family. He is wonderful. He is my rock, and my guardian, and my best friend.
This is my new normal. It's a good normal. And I'm perfectly happy with it.
Friday, October 19, 2012
What week is this?
I think we had a good week here at our little school. Geekboy's company has been experimenting with consolidated schedules and for the last month he wasn't getting home until 6:30 or 7:00 at night. That was super difficult on both Cooper and I, and by the last week of that we were both just dragging through the days. But this week, he moved to a different schedule where he's home by 5:20 and still has time to come home and see us during lunch. This has been a much better schedule for everybody (except maybe Geekboy, who is getting up at 6:00am now) and I'm really grateful that I have a husband who is willing to get up early to make his wife's life easier.
So, what have we been up to this week?
We've been doing our standard handwriting, math and reading combination in the morning. Larry the Lobster (a handpuppet my mother sent us is required to supervise these lessons, according to Cooper.) This week we started doing children's fairy tales. Cooper's favorite has definitely been "The Gingerbread Man."
For science we've been studying the change in the seasons, and what happens when it turns autumn. He gathered a bunch of fallen leaves and has brought them into the house for his collection. We read Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell, and learned about the cycle of nature on a farm. He recognized the drawing of a chickadee in the book.
We went to story time at the library this week for the first time. I finally remembered it and got there on time! Cooper was very reluctant to go at the beginning, but by the end, he decided it was fun and he wants to go again next week. We have a wonderful children's library here. They are doing some remodeling, so I'm not sure what they are adding. Cooper has also discovered the big bean bag style chairs up in the teens' section on the third floor, so we have to go visit up there every time we come so he can lounge in one of the chairs for a few minutes. We checked out his first Bill Peet book, How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head. It might be the start of a new addiction for him. I remember my little brother loved Bill Peet books. It cracks me up that Cooper checks out books by the color of the spine rather than any other thing. This week was yellow books.
We tried geocaching. We didn't find the cache, but had a great time being outside and learning about shadows and burrowing animals. I need to get a better gps system than the one I have on my phone.
We've been watching playoff baseball in the evening. Cooper is fascinated by the scorekeeping icons on the screen, and likes announcing which bases have players on them. Teaching your child isn't all about academics.
Cooper's favorite thing this week was using poker chips as toys. He sorted them. He played "which cup has the red one in it." With transparent cups. He fed them to his farm animals. He built roads for his cars with them. We had a target throwing contest. Which reminds me I need to get some of the chips out from under the bookshelf, because sometimes my aim is really bad.
He had gymnastics this morning. He loves his gymnastics class and Miss Tracy so much! He may not be the best athlete, but he is definitely enthusiastic.
We watched the (Scandinavian?) movie Max's Magical Adventure, or Frogs and Toads. Netflix has it listed both ways. It's dubbed, and is about two little kids who go on an adventure in the countryside looking for frog eggs. Cooper was mesmerized. He laughed and smiled, and was fascinated by all the different animals the kids saw. He was singing one of the songs from the movie later. It's definitely a kids movie, but much less annoying than most.
Finally, his favorite app on the iPad this week has been Where's My Water? It's a logic game in which you have to get water to the alligator's shower around a variety of obstacles. It amazes me how fast he can do some of the levels.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monastic motherhood
There is a part of me that thinks parenting is, or should be, like monasticism. There's a lot of repetition of chores, praying, hard work, service and calls to overcome the flesh. Right now the issue I am dealing with the most is learning how to parent as an introvert.
People tire me out. I need a certain amount of time alone to recharge. My son is quite independent but also needs a good amount of attention, quite regularly with physical contact. And while I love cuddling with him and playing games with him, sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in the backseat of the old station wagon with both of my brothers. "Stop touching me!"
I haven't come up with a solution to this problem. It's something I'll probably always have to work on. For example, right now he has both of his legs draped over one of my forearms as I am typing this. And he's stealing my graham crackers.
It's a good thing he's so cute. :)
People tire me out. I need a certain amount of time alone to recharge. My son is quite independent but also needs a good amount of attention, quite regularly with physical contact. And while I love cuddling with him and playing games with him, sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in the backseat of the old station wagon with both of my brothers. "Stop touching me!"
I haven't come up with a solution to this problem. It's something I'll probably always have to work on. For example, right now he has both of his legs draped over one of my forearms as I am typing this. And he's stealing my graham crackers.
It's a good thing he's so cute. :)
Sunday, September 23, 2012
A good week
This last week has been good. Cooper's making noticeable progress in all of his learning. The FCRR curriculum I'm using is just wonderful, his handwriting is getting better, he's making progress in math, and we have been learning about magnets this week. Our front door kind of looks like a refrigerator with the number of magnets on it, but he had so much fun discovering which surfaces in the house were magnetic and which were not.
Now I just need to find my cell phone so I can take pictures of some of the things we have done. I haven't seen my phone in a week.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Chapter books
I've started reading a chapter book to Cooper at bedtime. I've found that his tolerance for read alouds is much higher in the evening than during the day when there are so. many. things. that needs his attention. Not only am I hearing the fabled words of "read some more!" but I'm also impressed with how much of the story he remembers. He basically retold the story to his dad last night, to catch him up to where we were.
Monday, September 10, 2012
How things have been going
A little update on how we are doing:
Math: We've been working on more than, less than lately and today he figured out how to skip count by 10's as he was playing with the calendar. So, yeah, I'm not really worried about his math progress.
Writing: We're working our way through the Getty Dubay Handwriting A book. A page a day, or sometimes we'll do something else for copywork.
Reading: He does pretty good if I give him a word that he can decode how to spell it - he loves typing on the computer. We're working on recognizing rhyming words now. We stopped using Hooked on Phonics and have moved to a program developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research. It's lots of fun games and ideas for a more kinesthetic approach to learning. And then we are testing out the weight limit of our library bag each week.
Science: This is mostly interest led. Today we spent quite a bit of time playing with flashlights and different colored lenses to explore color mixing. Also, the major thing Cooper learned from the unit we did on the body was that the body turns food into poop.
Memory work: Address, phone number, scripture verse.
Fun extras: Cooper had his first gymnastics class last Friday. He is not the most coordinated child, but most of the other kids have had gymnastics before, so he's just behind in some of the routine. I think we're going to start going to story hour at the library every Thursday. We bake bread every Monday. Cooper finds the bread machine endlessly fascinating, and today's loaf was the best so far. I tried mixing a couple of recipes I've liked in the past and came up with a nice, light but hearty, recipe with whole grain flour.
Oh, and we got these awesome hand puppets
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identified this Box Elder Beetle nymph
and built this giant rocket.
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Friday, August 31, 2012
Listening to Cooper make himself a sandwich
I would like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on some nice bread.
We have to get the bread and the peanut butter and the jelly.
The bread is the first ingredient in the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
We have bread. Now it is time for the peanut butter.
So, we've got all the ingredients to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
The peanut butter is the second ingredient in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Now we have the peanut butter.
This is the jelly. Jelly is the third ingredient of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Ta-da! This is peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
We have to get the bread and the peanut butter and the jelly.
The bread is the first ingredient in the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
We have bread. Now it is time for the peanut butter.
So, we've got all the ingredients to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
The peanut butter is the second ingredient in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Now we have the peanut butter.
This is the jelly. Jelly is the third ingredient of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Ta-da! This is peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Awesome thing about parenting #432,566,895
Watching your kid fall in love with the books you loved as a kid. So far both Make Way for Ducklings and Millions of Cats have been favorites.
Friday we are going to read We Were Tired of Living in a House (with the Doris Burn illustrations), Andrew Henry's Meadow and The Little House, and then do an art project that is based on designing a house.
And how do I not have the Mr. Putty and Tabby books?
Friday we are going to read We Were Tired of Living in a House (with the Doris Burn illustrations), Andrew Henry's Meadow and The Little House, and then do an art project that is based on designing a house.
And how do I not have the Mr. Putty and Tabby books?
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
My life is awesome
Things we've done in the last week or so.Made birdbaths. We put one in the sun, and one in the shade. We're charting the results to see which birds prefer. So far, shade is winning.
We are learning bird calls. Chicka-dee-dee-dee!
Built forts. Stocked forts with supplies.
Tried to make popcorn on the stove. Made waaaaaay too much.
Colored. Ridden bikes. Spun around in circles.
Baked bread.
This is how I spend my days.
This is the best life ever.
This is how I spend my days.
This is the best life ever.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Friday Funday
Today has been a good day. We started working with a spelling program today (All About Spelling) and Cooper seemed to really enjoy it. We'll see how it works out long term, but I like that it's very hands on, and I also like that it's completely open-and-go.
Then we worked on sight words. We reviewed flash cards for five sight words that all started with the letter B. I then put them on the floor and said, "Which word says ____?" and he would smack it as hard as he could with a fly swatter. Because they were all b words, he had to look at other letters to figure out which word was which. I would swap the order of the cards every time we went through them all.
We followed that up with an episode of Word World. We talked a lot about building words and how letters go together to make words.
That was followed up by a round of jumping math. Jump twenty! Jump two plus three! Jump backwards from 15! It's a fun way to practice math facts and burn off some extra energy.
We did some coloring, and worked on handwriting, and played Lego. Though, apparently, I play Lego wrong. I was trying to build an RV, but you cannot put a house door on car wheels in this household, according to the enforcer of the Lego rules (a.k.a. Cooper.)
And I worked on blowdrying the carpets some more because I am going to fire my contractor if he screws up sealing the window wells one more time.
Then we worked on sight words. We reviewed flash cards for five sight words that all started with the letter B. I then put them on the floor and said, "Which word says ____?" and he would smack it as hard as he could with a fly swatter. Because they were all b words, he had to look at other letters to figure out which word was which. I would swap the order of the cards every time we went through them all.
We followed that up with an episode of Word World. We talked a lot about building words and how letters go together to make words.
That was followed up by a round of jumping math. Jump twenty! Jump two plus three! Jump backwards from 15! It's a fun way to practice math facts and burn off some extra energy.
We did some coloring, and worked on handwriting, and played Lego. Though, apparently, I play Lego wrong. I was trying to build an RV, but you cannot put a house door on car wheels in this household, according to the enforcer of the Lego rules (a.k.a. Cooper.)
And I worked on blowdrying the carpets some more because I am going to fire my contractor if he screws up sealing the window wells one more time.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Settling into a routine
We're starting to settle into a routine now that we've finished a week. Cooper and I get up when we get up in the morning. I fix him breakfast and give him his medication. He eats and watches an episode of some educational show. The current favorite is The Magic School Bus. That gives me time to eat and shower.
First off we do calendar work. We're learning days of the week, months of the year, seasons, and weather. Then we use our hundred chart to count days of school. We'll be using this to reinforce place values as we go along.
We typically start with handwriting. We spend about five minutes working on fine motor skills, writing, and penmanship. My main goal is to slowly increase his stamina for writing. And working towards legibility.
We do math next. I had three different math programs I was choosing between. I think I've settled on MEP for right now. Miquon will probably be used for reinforcing concepts. Singapore may show up later, but it isn't a good fit for right now.
Next is reading time. We are using this to cover science and letting Cooper's interests lead us. Right now we're learning about all the different types of animals and how the human body works. We've learned songs about breathing oxygen and why we're glad we have joints. We have learned about mammals and insects. We've sorted animal cards into insects, mammals, something else. We've filled the bird feeders (very enthusiastically.)
More formal reading instruction is being resisted a little. We're using Bob books, and some Hooked on Phonics. He knows all his letter sounds, but he doesn't like putting them together yet. I think it's time for some building block letters so we can build words.
Of course, we don't do all this back to back. We play games and watch videos and do art and stuff. Afternoons are pretty freeform. Legos and errands and trips to the library. It's been good.
First off we do calendar work. We're learning days of the week, months of the year, seasons, and weather. Then we use our hundred chart to count days of school. We'll be using this to reinforce place values as we go along.
We typically start with handwriting. We spend about five minutes working on fine motor skills, writing, and penmanship. My main goal is to slowly increase his stamina for writing. And working towards legibility.
We do math next. I had three different math programs I was choosing between. I think I've settled on MEP for right now. Miquon will probably be used for reinforcing concepts. Singapore may show up later, but it isn't a good fit for right now.
Next is reading time. We are using this to cover science and letting Cooper's interests lead us. Right now we're learning about all the different types of animals and how the human body works. We've learned songs about breathing oxygen and why we're glad we have joints. We have learned about mammals and insects. We've sorted animal cards into insects, mammals, something else. We've filled the bird feeders (very enthusiastically.)
More formal reading instruction is being resisted a little. We're using Bob books, and some Hooked on Phonics. He knows all his letter sounds, but he doesn't like putting them together yet. I think it's time for some building block letters so we can build words.
Of course, we don't do all this back to back. We play games and watch videos and do art and stuff. Afternoons are pretty freeform. Legos and errands and trips to the library. It's been good.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
First day of school
Wednesday was technically our first day of school.
Cooper's done pretty well with school. I think the harder adjustment has been for me. It's taken me a few days to realize that he really is five and really does have a five year old's attention span. Some of my grandiose plans have been shelved for a year or two. So far one of the biggest hits has been the series of My First Discovery Books that his Aunt Sarah sent him. He has decided that his favorite insect is the Colorado Potato Beetle. He made me promise that if we find one, he can keep it and feed it potatoes.
The crocodile mouth was a huge failure. He doesn't like it when the animals get eaten, so he kept adding animals to the smaller group to make both groups the same size so the crocodile couldn't eat either group. We had the same problem a year ago with the Pig Tails game. He refused to play it half way through because the wolf eating the pigs upset him so much. I need to remember this for future activities.
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| Throwing some kind of gang symbol. |
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| Setting up dominoes to knock them down with his car |
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| Figuring out how to make the path turn corners |
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| Practicing classifying |
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| Practicing which group is bigger with the crocodile mouth |
Cooper's done pretty well with school. I think the harder adjustment has been for me. It's taken me a few days to realize that he really is five and really does have a five year old's attention span. Some of my grandiose plans have been shelved for a year or two. So far one of the biggest hits has been the series of My First Discovery Books that his Aunt Sarah sent him. He has decided that his favorite insect is the Colorado Potato Beetle. He made me promise that if we find one, he can keep it and feed it potatoes.
The crocodile mouth was a huge failure. He doesn't like it when the animals get eaten, so he kept adding animals to the smaller group to make both groups the same size so the crocodile couldn't eat either group. We had the same problem a year ago with the Pig Tails game. He refused to play it half way through because the wolf eating the pigs upset him so much. I need to remember this for future activities.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Sweet dreams are (not) made of this
You know how sometimes things happen in dreams, and then you wake up, and you aren't sure if they really happened or if you are just dreaming?
So, the Queen of England is trying to convince Switzerland to support her plan to make the US give Alaska to her and the Russians, because it's not culturally American anyway. She had maps and stuff.
Waking up from that one was a doozy. It was like last night's march of nations was a reminder of all the countries she used to own, so she decided she was going to do something about that.
Giving Alaska to the Canadians would be entertaining politically, though.
So, the Queen of England is trying to convince Switzerland to support her plan to make the US give Alaska to her and the Russians, because it's not culturally American anyway. She had maps and stuff.
Waking up from that one was a doozy. It was like last night's march of nations was a reminder of all the countries she used to own, so she decided she was going to do something about that.
Giving Alaska to the Canadians would be entertaining politically, though.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Random tidbits
1. I chopped my hair off again. It has never been this short, I don't think. My mom will be happy because it is physically not possible for my hair to fall into my face. Unless it has previously fallen out of my head.
2. Insomnia is teh suck. Luckily I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday because oooooooohhhh myyyyyyyy, this is like having a newborn again, except without the sweet baby head to snorgle, or the tiny little hats, or the general smooshiness.
3. I cleaned out my office this week. I kind of cried. Maybe. Also, I have a lot of books. I think I need another bookshelf. Or two. That seems to be a recurring theme lately.
4. Also, I went to that new used bookstore. It was okay. Nothing fantastic, and the shelves weren't labeled, which is kind of annoying. Also, it mostly seems like an excuse for random hipster guy to just play his guitar and get paid for it.
5. I do not know how to play guitar.
6. Between the moving out of my office and the changing of the living room into the playroom, there is a lot of framed art that needs to get hung stacked up against various walls in my house. Apparently, I like pretty. There are also giant fly guts on my wall that I need to clean off, because I just killed a giant fly. Apparently sleep deprivation does wonders for my reflexes...Okay, now I have cleaned the giant fly guts off my wall, because ew.
7. I cleaned up my bedroom yesterday. (My mom is going to be so proud of me with this post.) Apparently I fling my clothes when I take them off because I found dirty laundry in the oddest places.
2. Insomnia is teh suck. Luckily I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday because oooooooohhhh myyyyyyyy, this is like having a newborn again, except without the sweet baby head to snorgle, or the tiny little hats, or the general smooshiness.
3. I cleaned out my office this week. I kind of cried. Maybe. Also, I have a lot of books. I think I need another bookshelf. Or two. That seems to be a recurring theme lately.
4. Also, I went to that new used bookstore. It was okay. Nothing fantastic, and the shelves weren't labeled, which is kind of annoying. Also, it mostly seems like an excuse for random hipster guy to just play his guitar and get paid for it.
5. I do not know how to play guitar.
6. Between the moving out of my office and the changing of the living room into the playroom, there is a lot of framed art that needs to get hung stacked up against various walls in my house. Apparently, I like pretty. There are also giant fly guts on my wall that I need to clean off, because I just killed a giant fly. Apparently sleep deprivation does wonders for my reflexes...Okay, now I have cleaned the giant fly guts off my wall, because ew.
7. I cleaned up my bedroom yesterday. (My mom is going to be so proud of me with this post.) Apparently I fling my clothes when I take them off because I found dirty laundry in the oddest places.
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