I am hot.  Really, REALLY hot.  Crazy Alberta weather.  LOL   Seriously, it's over 30 degrees.  But we had frost last week.  No sense at all.

I'm babysitting a two-year-old little girl part time these days, and we've started homeschooling again, so those two things alone are a fairly significant chunk of my day.    I've made some decisions lately about what I spend my time on, and one client has been dealt the ax.  I can't keep up with them anymore, at least not with my sanity intact, so they're out the door.  I've got plenty of other things in the works, though, no question there.

There are plans in the works for a new computer, since my poor abused laptop has been feeling and showing its age a bit.  I can live with the bolted-together lid and the dysfunctional touchpad and the wonky spot on the case where it will make the mouse jump around if I rest my hand there.  I can even deal with the tendency to overheat (bought a lap desk to help with that), and with the slight irregularity in the screen color depending on its angle.  Oh, and the way it forgets the wireless network whenever it reboots, and loses connection with our local network when it gets bored.  But lately it's started randomly restarting Windows, every five to fifteen minutes some days.  That is kind of the proverbial straw for me.  So I'm shopping.  I got a quote from a local guy, but sadly he can't even come close to what is on sale at Staples... and while I would rather support local, I can't do it when it means nearly doubling the price and not even getting as much.  So off to the big box I will have to go, at least this time around.

Hubby is keeping busy... he's been here for quite a while now with no trips scheduled so we're hoping he gets something soon.  Which is not to say that I want to get rid of him, of course.  LOL   He likes getting the experience, and the bank likes getting the extra pay... I won't say that the kids like it, but so far they've done all right with the trips he's had.  Next week he gets to go on a little one just to help out with stuff for an exercise.  Nothing big, but he will at least get to see some of the western US for a few days.  After that, I don't know what else might be in the works or for when - it's a take-it-as-it-comes kind of lifestyle.

We didn't get a whole lot done today, but I did get up to the MFRC and drop off my paperwork to register as a volunteer for when they do up care packages, or welcome packs for people moving here, that kind of stuff.  Things the kids can help out with a bit, too.  It'll be nice to get out and give a hand here and there when I am able to.  I also signed up for a woodcraft night coming up the end of this month :o)

September 7, 2011

A little more like a normal school day today - although we have a lot of plans for the rest of the day, so we tried to get done early!  We didn't do as well as yesterday, but even after a bit of humming and hawing and pouting, we were still wrapped up by 9:30.  So that's all right.   Now we're off to get ready for the rest of the day.  We might go to storytime at the library for a bit, then we're meeting our homeschool group at the beach for a couple of hours, home for naptime (we're babysitting today, too), hopefully a chance to bake something  (I'm thinking strawberry scones), finish supper and straighten up in time for Bible study here tonight at 6:30.  Never rains but it pours, eh?  LOL

C's work for today...

History - reading about Babylonia and learning a few things.  We work on this together as I don't really expect her to remember names of kings and countries just yet!

Social Studies - Just the introduction for today, but we'll be learning about North American peoples.

Math (two of her four pages)

Reading/Language Arts - Questions about the story we read yesterday

A's pages... she's a school-a-holic just like C was when she was three.  LOL

Math - finding patterns

Tracing letters - she finished the book.  LOL

More tracing - she can't read the words yet but she is starting to be interested in their sounds.

The last maze in the book.  Anyone want a birthday idea for A?  Maze books!

Counting and tracing numbers.

September 6, 2011

Today is our CSA day and we'll be spending 4-5 hours out at a farm, so it's a light school day.

C's copywork:

C's reading:

C's math:

A decided it was a good day for mazes:

Off to play in the dirt... have a great day!

September 5, 2011

A's workbook pages for today:

C's work for the day:

And a nature craft using things we picked up on our walk today:

September 2, 2011

Today was our first day of "school"... but not really a full day.  We started out with a special breakfast of pancakes, eggs and hot chocolate.  (And I started out with a routine of getting up earlier than the kids, which I hope to maintain.)

The girls decorated the boxes that will collect their artwork this year:

We set up our nature table:

We review the Bible verse for the coming week:

And A dove eagerly into her new preschool workbooks (sorry for the sideways pics):

Miss C had a harder time getting back into the groove... after pouting and tears and complaining and sighing, she took herself off to bed for a two-hour nap.  She woke up in a much better mood overall, but still not in the right frame of mind to get her work done.  We've definitely spent too long on vacation from regular school work... le sigh...  But it will come.  Not being allowed to watch TV, play on the computer or go outside until work is done will eventually have an impact, I have to think.  LOL

The first day of school... and some obnoxious poetry

I saw this posted on Facebook today:

Twas the night before school started, when all through the town.
The parents were cheering. It was a riotous sound!
By 8, kids were washed and tucked into bed.
When memories of homework filled them with dread!
New pencils,new folders, new notebooks too!
New teachers, new friends, their anxiety grew!
The parents just giggled when they learned of this fright
and shouted upstairs, "Go to bed! It's a school night!

I know it's meant to be light-hearted, but I'm sorry. Things like this just make me sad. Especially when I see the kids in the mall whose parents are all excited to get them back into school, and the kids are seeing it. It can't be good for their little egos to think mom and dad can't wait to get rid of them. Like those Staples commercials. They break my heart, seriously. I know most parents love their kids dearly - so please, don't make them think it's such a wonderful thing that you're getting away from them for several hours a day.

I mean, really. How would you feel if your husband, before going to sleep, said to you, "I'm SOOOO glad you're going to work tomorrow! This vacation has been too long and I've just had enough. I need a break from you. And you'll have a great time, but even if you don't, you're going anyway. Love you!"

And so, here is my own little bit of obnoxious, forced-rhyming poetry...

It's the first day of school; my kids don't even know.
Today is our picnic, to the park we will go!
They'll run and they'll climb, and excitedly find
All sorts of activities to engage a kid's mind.
Bugs, sticks and mushrooms, berries and more;
A scavenger hunt and some woods to explore!
No homework tonight, no bus in the morn,
They're learning the way they have since they were born!

Gearing up for back to school....

A new year, a new plan... and with any luck, more blogging.  LOL   Next week we're going to kick off our new school year.  I hadn't actually planned for the school year to stop, but it did... and well, c'est la vie... but it's time to re-group.  Too much unstructured time has led to some bad habits and questionable attitudes, so we're leading up to getting back into a regular, somewhat predictable groove.

The first step was last week - I posted new room-cleaning instructions in the girls' bedrooms.  I know A can't read yet, but it doesn't hurt to have it there anyway.  I went for a measure of cuteness while at the same time I've been reminding them that it's non-negotiable.  Then I added a reminder list by the bathroom, to walk them through getting ready in the morning.

The current project is a new reward/penalty system for behavior, attitudes, chores and schoolwork.  Last year I made up a nifty system with velcro tabs, where I assigned jobs each day and they pulled off the tab when they had finished it.  Nice idea, but yeah... not so much for us.

What I've crafted now is something a little more tangible.  I want to reinforce some good things with immediate gratification, penalize other things with something that is immediately visible, and also leave room for "random positive consequence" - if you took college psych you'll know that is statistically the most effective approach to behavior modification. But that's beside the point; it's also fun.

I went to the dollar store and bought pirate's gold and some poker chips.  So now we have tokens that are white, blue, green and gold.  And a pretty box of prizes hiding on top of the fridge.  As we go through the week, the girls can earn various colored tokens for doing the things I want them to do.  And I will also reward them randomly if I see them doing something good, like sharing nicely, being particularly helpful, etc.  The white tokens can be cashed in on Saturday for prizes from the treasure chest, or for cash, thus giving them the chance to earn an allowance.  The blue ones are for TV/Computer time, and the green ones are for outings.  The gold ones are something special, they are to reward and reinforce behaviors that are God-pleasing.

For penalties, I'm applying the principle behind a blog entry I saw a while back.  She made her kids pay her back in energy if they did something that sapped hers.  I will be making them pay me back in tokens.  Very straight-forward, concrete, and immediate.

Here are my charts.  Forgive the font; the online converter I used didn't like my fancy stuff.