2014-2015 School Year, Part 1

We are several weeks into the 2014-2015 school year.  At the end of our last school year I wanted to review what we had done and how much of it we were keeping for the new year.  That, obviously, didn't happen, so I thought I would give a bit of an long update now.

Since I am not one to leave out details, this has been split into three separate posts.  Today I'll fill you in on what we are doing for language arts.  The following posts will cover the big changes we've made in our approach to arithmetic.  The final post will cover everything else. 

As many of our posts about schoolwork go, it is mostly as a record for our family.  Within a few days years, we are likely to forget what we did in this crazy stage of life.  It's always kind of fun to look back and say, "Oh, yeah!  I remember doing that!"  If it's at all informative or helpful to others that is an added bonus. 

So, without further ado, I will jump right into what the 2014-2015 school year is looking like!

 

THE STUDENTS

Joshua, 7 years old, Grade 2

Hannah, 6 years old, Grade 1

Abigail, 4 years old, Preschool / Kindergarten 

The kids' grade levels are partly determined by age and partly be capability.  They all have birthdays in the summer or early fall, so if they were going to school they might be a grade behind what they are now just based on their ages.  Like most children, they do not perform at the same grade level in all subject areas.

Joshua probably fits best into a grade level, while Hannah is doing some second grade work, some first grade work, and some work that simply cannot be graded at all.  Abigail is similar in that she is in between grade levels doing some preschool type stuff and a couple of things that are advanced for her age (she just turned 4 last week).

 
LANGUAGE ARTS

Phonics / Reading
Abigail is on the slow road to reading using the Spell to Write and Read phonics system mentioned below.  This is not actually because of her abilities.  I think she is already reading several words, but we have some issues with following directions.  These challenges generally keep us from finishing our lessons without a tantrum.

We have an unspoken rule now that if she throws a fit or fights with me then I put the books away and we finish for the day.  We are gradually making progress (with the tantrums), but it is painful.  Probably in several months when she is no longer so hard-headed more ready for formal instruction, we will start from the beginning and I suspect it will be a fairly short and smooth road to reading from there.

Abby's spelling list.

Spelling
Joshua (7) and Hannah (almost 6) learned to read through the Spell to Write and Read phonics program by Wanda Sanseri.  I've written about it before and I have told many people about this extensive program.  Now that they are solid readers, we use the program for spelling alone with The Wise Guide for Spelling.

Joshua currently learns 40 words per week and is slated to finish out the entire program (spelling at a college freshman level) by the end of next school year.  Hannah is now learning 20 words per week and is about half way through the book.  This, I think, is the only curriculum we have used from the beginning of our schooling journey.  And we have no plans to change it in the future.

Handwriting
Previously we were using a Christian handwriting curriculum called A Reason forHandwriting.  I thought it as going well, but both kids were not improving in their handwriting as I had hoped.  Also, one of them has a right-handed hook pencil grip, which I was set on "fixing".  So, in January we switched to Handwriting WithoutTears.

Initially this change seemed to solve our problems - the handwriting was getting better and the pencil grips were also improving.  And, overall, I do like this program better than what we were using.  However, our kids still revert to sloppy handwriting, the hook pencil grip seems to be here for the long-haul, and I generally feel like I am failing my kids in the area of good handwriting.

Oh, well.

They can write legibly.  They are making slow progress in their handwriting skills.  And the strange pencil grips seem quite functional and are not causing any major problems (meaning, they don't keep the kids from writing and drawing for hours and hours every day).  So, for now we're going to leave it.  Handwriting may not be the strongest subject in our homeschool, but I'm learning to accept that.

And if we have some problems that come up, we'll address them as needed.

Writing / Composition
When I started out this official homeschool journey, I started reading a book called The Well-Trained Mind.  You can read about how that shaped our first year of homeschooling in this post.  While we still agree with many of the key principles in the classical method of education, we started running into some practical challenges.

One area has been that of writing and composition.  We were using Writing with Ease by Susan Wise Bauer.  I really like the basic premise of her system.  It's simple and seems like it might be effective.  The problem we had was that I simply could not keep up with finding passages of books to read, make discussion questions for, and provide copy work sentences from.  This could be solved by purchasing a workbook with every assignment included.  The problem with this was that I didn't like many of the literature choices for one reason or another.

So, for now we are not doing any specific writing curriculum.  The kids, do however, write plenty on their own and at this stage I think they are alright.  In a year or two we may need something formalized to work through, but like handwriting, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Grammar
Unlike the suggested writing curriculum from The Well-Trained Mind, we are having pretty good success with Jessie Wise's First Language Lessons.  Hannah is just about finished with Level 1 and Joshua is somewhere in the middle of Level 2.  I like that the lessons are short and simple - perfect for me to fit into our school days.  And the kids actually look forward to them.  Imagine that!

Unless something changes, we will stick with these through the end of the series at which point we will find something more advanced.  Any suggestions???

Bleach Spray

A Note to the Concerned Reader:  After perusing this post, you may wonder if I am in my right mind, if my mental faculties are together, or if I am fit to be looking after small children all day.  Of course, I am completely sane and in control of my mental capacities.  As for looking after children all day...well, a little bit of hilarity comes along with the territory, does it not?

We are having quite a time at the Chew household as of late.  Claude and I think it may just be a stage, but we are facing some pretty horrendous (to use one of Joshua's new favorite words) attitudes and behaviors.  It's exhausting.  The other day I had a thought to pay myself a dollar each time I gave a specific correction to the kids.  I would be able to buy myself and Claude some plane tickets to a nice quiet beach side resort in a matter of days at this rate.

And might I add that we should get paid double for corrections that are required between the hours of 12am and 6am?  Apparently tantrums never sleep.

Add to an unusual set of disciplinary breeches the very usual demands of a house full of small children - for example, Jeremiah just sat on Rachel's head...for fun, Abby and Joshua are hitting each other with library books, and my toe is being sucked on by a teething baby.  Put it all together and you've got a ticket to the looney bin.

So, this morning, as I checked to see if Rachel was ready to come out of her high chair, and as I found a very substantial diaper leakage (the worst, smelliest kind of refuse, I might add) in her seat, and as she proceeded to discover the sight, feel, smell, and taste of said diaper leakage, my brain short-circuited and I entered a state of delirium from which the following ode was birthed:

Bleach spray you make my house clean
You make everything sanitary, bleach spray

Bleach spray, you are amazing
There ain’t no mess you can’t clean
Come on and disinfect, you are amazing

Bleach spray you make my house clean
You make everything sanitary, bleach spray

Bleach spray, you are amazing
You wipe out the biggest blowouts
So come on and disinfect, you are amazing

Bleach spray you make my house clean
You make everything sanitary, bleach spray
Come on , Come on bleach spray
Clean it, Clean it bleach spray

I know, I know...bleach is not very en vogue right now.  But when it comes to a battle with diarrhea, I am not messing around with vinegar.  I'm going for the big guns.  What else can handle the blue marker on the white bath mat, the throw up under the kitchen table, and the great diaper leak of 2014 in the high chair seat?

Bleach, my friends.  It makes everything sanitary.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by Clorox or any other such company.  I was not compensated in any way shape or form for writing this post.  No one sent me a free bottle of bleach spray.  All opinions, however, are 100% my own.

Updated to Add: I took the bleached down high chair outside to rinse it and subject it to the bright sun for drying, and what scurried out of the coiled hose but a LIZARD!  Can somebody send me back to bed, please???

5:45pm

It was dinner time.  It was dinner time on a Thursday - Bible study night.  The night that I was leading, no less.  And dinner was running late.  Okay...so dinner wasn't actually running and it wasn't late.  I was late preparing dinner and I was doing a little bit of running around the kitchen trying to get things ready.

The kids, however, were quiet, happy, and productively occupied.  This won many points, especially considering it was 5:45pm.  Anyone who has been around kids knows just how many points this peace and quiet was truly worth.

Then it happened.  My biggest fear in parenting - vomit.

Yes, the toddler threw up all over himself, the bench, and part of the kitchen floor.  And no, he was not happy about it...at all.

As an aside, if you are ever wondering how to clear a room in a hurry, just let loose an active puker and you'll see just how quickly a group of kids can flee.

Once the scene of the crime had been adequately cleared of extra bodies, I assured the unhappy patient that he would be alright and I ran him to the bathtub.  Of course, I couldn't leave the kitchen for long because I knew I had a mess to corral and I needed to make some quick decisions regarding how to go about such a task.

What I hadn't accounted for between the big kids leaving the room and the sicky being confined to the bathroom was the baby.  She was not in the kitchen when things went from miraculously serene to monumentally disgusting.  I actually don't know where she was or what she was doing.  I had, in fact, forgotten about her.  Terrible, I know, but I don't presume to be the only mother who has done this.

I also do not presume that I am the only mother who witnessed what happened next, but I can't say that I have heard anyone tell such a distasteful story, either.

The forgotten one made her appearance as I rounded the corner to the kitchen.  Apparently the baby had missed the memo about the recent stomach-churning happenings in the kitchen.  I found her crawling out from under the table.  Being one to scan the kitchen floor for little tidbits between meals, she must have been very interested in the big puddle of goodies her brother had just lost.

As she crawled into the open her wet hands, knees, feet, and especially chin and mouth gave her away.  She had indeed visited the vomit and sampled whatever she could find to put in her mouth.  She even enjoyed her snack, as her grin so clearly communicated.

Gross.  Just gross.  And yet, all I could do was laugh.

Now, you may be asking "Is this too much information?  Should stories like this be filtered from my web browser?"  Well, my friends, I spared you from this much, at least.  Notice that I have not shared any photos of the event?

You're welcome.  :)

Snapshots: The Weekend

 

Nearly 90 degrees at home.

90-degrees at home = lunch at Costco.

Breakfast date.  Not quite alone.

Walmart with this funny kid.  :)

 Beating the heat.  Backyard pool.

 Grocery date with the Abster.

 What we saw at HEB.

Cleaning up after AC repairs.

All seven.  Almost all smiling.

Self-proclaimed Confederate.  Complete with Rebel Yell.

Haircuts for four.

Celebrations

Yesterday was Claude's birthday.

We celebrated with a special breakfast (a surprise even to the kids) and coffee made by Hannah.

What's a birthday without a banner?

 

Or some cheesecake?

Happy Birthday, Claude!  Thank you for being a dedicated husband and father, and for setting an example for our little crew of Christ-like sacrifice and service.

We love you!

Yesterday was also our wedding anniversary.

It is a privilege to be journeying through this crazy adventure with such an honorable man.  Here's to 9 years and counting!




 

The Tale of Two (or more) Lizards

I am not a fan of lizards.  Something about them just makes my skin crawl.  But living here in Texas means that there are lizards galore.  We have long, sleek anoles that come out and sunbathe during the day and bumpy, little geckos that perch themselves on the windows and eat bugs through the night.

Last summer we had a gecko who came to our bathroom window every night.  I couldn't handle it.  So, after a few months and it having ample opportunity to become big and fat, I decided to open and close the window a few times to shake it off.  I shook it off, alright.  And I think I killed it or at least mortally wounded it in the process.

This is the baby gecko who came to stake out the awesome bug-catching spot from where his ancestor, just a few nights before, had been driven out.  We only saw this guy one time.  I was not the one to encourage its departure.

Claude made me feel bad.

Okay, okay...so I felt bad all on my own.

I had lived my entire freshman year of college with a lizard at large in my shower.  Did I feel differently about lizards way back then?  No, I did not.  They creeped me out like they do now.  The difference was that I was willing to pretend that this little lizard did not exist.  The lighting was dim in the shower and without my glasses I couldn't see well.

Ignorance is bliss, right?

Well, at least it meant protection for the small bug-eater.

Consequently, I never gave a thought as to what food source this lizard might have had which supported it for a year.  Ewww....

I've often thought of this juxtaposition of responses.  In one case, most recently, I had had enough of the creepy, crawly gecko and tried to stamp it out.  But long ago, before being a mother had tested my patience, I let another lizard go.  It wasn't hurting me.  It didn't do anything wrong.  It was better to pretend that it wasn't there and let it live then to try and snuff out its life.

How often do I respond with such grace to my children?  Those little habits they have - ones that aren't harmful to themselves or anyone else and are simply annoying by the sheer fact that I can't get away from them...ever.  Oh, and I can't forget about my own sin that makes these habits seem so frustrating - selfishness!  I have preferences, 'ya know.  And sometimes I prefer not to have five people whistling and singing at me all at once.  Sometimes I prefer quiet.

What do I do with those preferences?  Do I insist on having things my way and squashing my kids in the process like I injured the innocent gecko on our bathroom window?  Or do I take my glasses off, turn down the lights, and let them go about the business of being kids?

I have resolved to do my best at tolerating both the lizards and my children's idiosyncrasies.

On the kid end, my resolve is tested daily.  I don't often succeed, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.  Thank You, Lord!

But things on the lizard front have been slow because we haven't had as many lizards this year.  Over the past week, however, my lizard tolerance has been tested.  Hannah found a baby gecko in our music area last week.  It scurried under the piano pedals and we didn't find it.  For several days it didn't show up.

After a handful of days we caught a glimpse of the gecko and just as quickly as it hid under the piano, it ran into the grating around our fire place.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't on high lizard alert by this time.

Late last week I came into the house after Bible study and found Claude standing over a clear plastic container, a tiny lizard inside - its tail wriggling outside.  Can you see why I can't handle these things?  He had spotted it on the windowsill in the kitchen, stunned it with some bleach just to slow it down so that he could catch it, and he set it loose in the front yard.

We had caught the lizard at large.  Or so we thought.

Less than an hour ago, after a lovely nap, I walked into the kitchen to find another baby lizard.  I sprayed it, caught it, and set it loose out front.  Was it the same lizard from last week?  The one that we assumed made its way from the fire place to the kitchen, hid all day, and only came out after bed time?

I don't think so. This guy had a full-length tail.  I know they grow back and all, but in just a few days?  I have my doubts.

My thought is that our gecko family has come back, somewhere in or very near our kitchen.  And they are abounding in offspring.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  ;)

This leaves me with a couple of questions, however.  Where is the musical lizard?  And where are these baby lizards coming from?

Maybe it's better if I just close my eyes and sing a happy song.  Ignorance is bliss, right???

Lumberjack Hack

Note: I keep trying to take pictures on our camera and every time I get a message that there is insufficient space on the memory card.  So, in an act of frustration I deleted every photo on the card.  I thought I had copied the existing photos onto our computer.  I hadn't.  There were lovely photos to accompany this post to show that the branch really was quite large and the tools I used really were not meant for cutting wood.  You'll have to take my word for it, because as much as this experience connected me to my rugged Montana roots and made me feel like a lumberjack, I will not be repeating this if I can help it.  Next time I may take my own advice and borrow a chainsaw.

About a week ago we had a fairly intense storm come through.  Claude and I heard the thunder and rain one night and didn't think much of it.  It's summer.  There are storms like this often enough.

The following morning, our early riser (Joshua), ran into our bedroom shouting, "The storm last night blew a huge tree branch into our yard!"

Being one prone to exaggeration and drama, we didn't think much of it.  So, when he insisted we come out to see it, we were pretty surprised to find this in our back yard.

[Insert photo of REALLY big tree branch here]

Yes, half of our neighbor's dead tree fell into our yard.  There wasn't much to do about it right then and there, so we assumed that we would just take care of it when Claude was feeling better from his surgery.  I suggested we ask a few friends if they might have a chainsaw we could borrow.  This was a suggestion that I really should have followed, but didn't.  Oh, well...

Fast forward about a week and I was ready to deal with this thing.  I needed to mow the back yard and the branches sticking out in my way absolutely had to go.  That day.  It really couldn't wait.

So, I started breaking off twigs and small branches.  That lead to realizing that if I started taking off some I might as well cut a few of the bigger limbs off.

I went in search of some tools and found this.

[Insert photo of hacksaw here]

I thought it would do the trick, so I started sawing.  And sawing.  And sawing.  For at least two hours, and I'm not even making that up.

Then I ran into some thick branches that I just couldn't hack (pun intended), so I went back to the garage to find something else that might work.

This is what I found.

[Insert photo of axe here]

In my ignorance I was calling it a pick axe.  Apparently it is called a pick mattock, made for hoeing.  Yes, it is designed for the ground.  No, it is not meant for chopping wood.  It is not sharp.  I used it anyway.  The tree had to go.

So, I began chopping and chopping and chopping.  I chopped for at least two hours, and I'm not making that up either.

I developed a rhythm of 30 swings with the "axe", take a breather, repeat 4 times.  Then I would get the saw out and saw 100 times.  Then it was back to the "axe" and so forth, until I had successfully cut through 3 very thick branches.

Then my work was done.  I had reduced the half-tree to this pile of twigs and branches.

[Insert picture of giant stick pile here]

I had sweated through three different shirts, drank four 32-ounce bottles of water, and acquired a good many ant bites.  Now I had to move the tree carnage into a neat pile so that I could mow.  Remember, I was doing this so that I could mow.

5:00pm, approximately 6 1/2 hours after I had begun - of course, I did take breaks because children were in the house and needed me, but still, my time working on the tree was about 5 hours at this point.  Now, enter the neighbor.

"I'm so sorry about that tree.  I saw that it went down so I tried to reach over the fence and pull it back, but it was too heavy," he explained apologetically.

"Yes, I can imagine you wouldn't be able to lift it.  It is very heavy," I replied.  I would know, I just dragged half of the half about a quarter of the length of our yard.

"I thought of trying to do something about it, but both of my chainsaws are broken," he continued.

"Yes, that could be a problem.  I just did this with a hacksaw," I'm not sure if he saw the "axe" and the saw on the ground, but they were there in all their glory.

And so he continued to tell me his name and all about his teenage daughter who is learning how to drive and how concerned he is about her having an accident.  When he had successfully changed the subject he offered for me to throw some of the debris into his yard so that he could at least help throw it away.  I didn't think that would be necessary, and so he left with a promise to take down the other half of the tree, which was hanging into our yard, and off of which I had already cut the biggest, lowest hanging branch earlier that afternoon.

He cut his part of the tree down on Saturday.  I saw him working out there and heard his chainsaw.  It seemed to take him about 15 minutes.

But he missed out on a really good, total body workout.  And I do mean really good.  My little fitness app on the iPad gave this update Tuesday night:  "Rebecca burned 1,268 calories doing 155 minutes of cardio exercises, including 'chopping wood'".  I think it could have been a higher calorie burn, since I only recorded two hours of work on the tree and just over 30 minutes of mowing.  You better believe I enjoyed a big bowl of ice cream that evening!

As I told this story to my Bible study later in the week one person said, "Hey, we have a chainsaw you could've borrowed."  My sore abs ached as I laughed.