So how come no one warns you when you start homeschooling that you are going to be tired? Not physically tired, but mentally tired. We have finished another week and things are going well. But I hit friday and it's like my brain is working in very, very slow mode.
I have the answer. I just need to stop thinking for a while. My brain hasn't had to do this much thinking for 13 years. After having the three kids, there isn't as much brain power as there used to be. So I'll just give it a break for a while, let it rest up a bit.
So when my brain restarts itself, it will hopefully be monday :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
In the Beginning
What a great afternoon we had! After doing a little bit of school work while Abby was in preschool, we grabbed lunch at McD's (I would love to find something else that is fast because I really do not like eating there but we were crunched for time) and drove to meet Manny at the theatre. We love that we live near a theatre that is dedicated to producing Broadway caliber shows that have a message of Christ.
And they gave a special to local homeschooling families of extremely reduced tickets for an afternoon show. Gotta love that! And it was even better because Manny was home for a meeting and got to join us.
This is the last season for their "In the Beginning" and yep. It's the story of Creation and Adam and Eve. They obviously take a lot of liberty in creating dialogue and events since not many specifics are given in the first four chapters of Genesis. But the kids (and us too, I do freely admit!!) loved the animals (live and animatronic) and the story. The best part is when you're watching the stage and suddenly live sheep and other animals will come flying down the isles right next to you. Awesome! It was great too that they gave an invitation at the end. What a great afternoon :) I wish I could've taken pictures, but you know, it's nice to sit and enjoy the show too without worrying about getting the right shot.
Abby actually managed to do okay, though she was very fidgity and sat on Daddy's lap. She inadvertently kept kicking the chair in front of them, where a sweet older nun sat. At the end, just as we were set to apologize, she leaned over and said what well behaved children we had. I like to hear that! We apologized for Abby kicking her chair and she said "Oh, don't worry about that. It kept me from drifting off during the show!". What a great attitude! I know that I probably would not have been so kind if I'd been the one sitting there.
We hit our first milestone!
It's official. We have done 100+ hours of school!!! Yeah!
That means we are 1/9 done for the year. I never thought that I'd be one obsessing over how many hours we put in, thinking we'd just count days (we get to choose in PA whether to do 180 days or 900 hours). Other homeschoolers say that it's easier to count days. it probably is, but my Homeschool Tracker has a nifty little tally that happens all by itself as I check off our schedule. I love it. I love being able to see it change and yesterday our total hours went over 100.
That means we are 1/9 done for the year. I never thought that I'd be one obsessing over how many hours we put in, thinking we'd just count days (we get to choose in PA whether to do 180 days or 900 hours). Other homeschoolers say that it's easier to count days. it probably is, but my Homeschool Tracker has a nifty little tally that happens all by itself as I check off our schedule. I love it. I love being able to see it change and yesterday our total hours went over 100.
I know that it's blurry, but you can just make out the time spent. :)
Sigh. What a great sense of accomplishment, that we've made it thru this far with little issues. Oh, I don't count the math tantrums and the grammar groaning. Those are normal, aren't they? We are in a routine and though I need to shake it up a notch to get some more excitement into learning, we're doing great.
You know what, it's time for a field trip! I didn't know that we would've hit this milestone when we made our original plans, but today's field trip is going to be fun. The kids are excited, I'm excited and Daddy's actually home to join us :) Life is good.
Now if only the rain would stop, it'd be a great day!
You know what, it's time for a field trip! I didn't know that we would've hit this milestone when we made our original plans, but today's field trip is going to be fun. The kids are excited, I'm excited and Daddy's actually home to join us :) Life is good.
Now if only the rain would stop, it'd be a great day!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Adjusting my way of thinking
When we decided to start homeschooling, I jumped in with both feet. I read all the articles I could, I joined some online groups to get information each week, and I researched curriculum. We started a month ago and I felt like I was doing great teaching the kids. They were getting their assignments done and with only a few quirks, things seemed to be going well.
And then we hit yesterday. Jacksonian Democracy. It is almost impossible to make JD interesting. I think Ellie stared at me with a blank look on her face while I read the history readings. Ben kept groaning and asking when we would be done. Abby went off and played - she was the lucky one. Now I actually found it interesting what we were reading. The kids thought the only cool thing was the story about how Jackson' supporters literally ransacked the White House on the day of his inauguration.
What am I doing? Just reading boring history lessons? Something has got to change. I need to create a way to actually reach these kids or else I'm going to be talking to a wall each week.
My mom is the one who pointed it out to me. I am normally a very creative person. I can come with a craft at the drop of a hat. It's served me very well over the years at church. And yet, here I am, pushing my gifts to the side. All in the name of getting the subjects done. I've lost my creativity in the midst of planning.
As soon as my mom told me that, the creativity started flowing again. Now there's not much I can do with Jacksonian Democracy, but I did find some clipart that corresponded with things that happened in Jackson's life. I made each into a card and the kids had to match the picture with the statement. It actually worked. And the kids had a smiles on their faces while they took turns picking the right card. Yeah!
And the best part - they must have been listening yesterday, because they actually knew the answers :)
Now if only I had the time to get really creative!
And then we hit yesterday. Jacksonian Democracy. It is almost impossible to make JD interesting. I think Ellie stared at me with a blank look on her face while I read the history readings. Ben kept groaning and asking when we would be done. Abby went off and played - she was the lucky one. Now I actually found it interesting what we were reading. The kids thought the only cool thing was the story about how Jackson' supporters literally ransacked the White House on the day of his inauguration.
What am I doing? Just reading boring history lessons? Something has got to change. I need to create a way to actually reach these kids or else I'm going to be talking to a wall each week.
My mom is the one who pointed it out to me. I am normally a very creative person. I can come with a craft at the drop of a hat. It's served me very well over the years at church. And yet, here I am, pushing my gifts to the side. All in the name of getting the subjects done. I've lost my creativity in the midst of planning.
As soon as my mom told me that, the creativity started flowing again. Now there's not much I can do with Jacksonian Democracy, but I did find some clipart that corresponded with things that happened in Jackson's life. I made each into a card and the kids had to match the picture with the statement. It actually worked. And the kids had a smiles on their faces while they took turns picking the right card. Yeah!
And the best part - they must have been listening yesterday, because they actually knew the answers :)
Now if only I had the time to get really creative!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A Conversation in The Car
Ellie : Mom, do you fly in heaven?
Me : Maybe, we don't really know. What we do know is that we will be praising God!
Ellie : I guess we'll be able to eat anything we want. Well, except junk food.
Abby : God and Jesus are invisible! And they are right next to me. (piping in with her words of wisdom, and not to be left out)
There are some days when it's the little things that make me smile and realize that God is sitting there smiling with me too.
Me : Maybe, we don't really know. What we do know is that we will be praising God!
Ellie : I guess we'll be able to eat anything we want. Well, except junk food.
Abby : God and Jesus are invisible! And they are right next to me. (piping in with her words of wisdom, and not to be left out)
There are some days when it's the little things that make me smile and realize that God is sitting there smiling with me too.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Our Curriculum
A friend who is starting to look at homeschool curriculum just asked what we are using. So I thought I'd post my reply to her. There are so many things that we plan to do, and I know that I won't even get to most of it. My plan is to have a field trip every few weeks. I like learning hands-on, so I love field trips. We live in such a great place to where we are only hours from DC, Philly, NYC, etc. I love that! Now if I only had unlimited funds, we'd be having a grand time!
We are an ecclectic family. I knew that before we even decided to homeschool, but it carried over into our approach to homeschooling too:)
I don't have anything against box curriculum/online schools, yet I knew that they would not provide me with the opportunity to vary studies according to interests and schedules. One of my concerns was keeping the subjects interesting enough to keep Ben's attention specifically. Since 6th grade is his first time in HS, it was an issue that I had to address. For those who start from day 1 (which I'm assuming is you!), you probably won't have that issue.
So here's what we are using:
Horizons Math - I'm very happy with it. The biggest problem is actually my daughter's attention span, so it's not the curriculum. Ben is moving thru it very quickly also, but that should get more challenging to him once we're past the review sections.
A Reason For Spelling - I'm not sure if I needed this for Ben, but he'll do a year anyway for reinforcement. It's been great for Ellie since she was behind in reading/comprehension. I love the fact that it has short stories that have a moral dilemma to deal with for each lesson and that it incorporates the Bible into the lessons too. That's all new to me coming from the public school system. Ben and Ellie end up listening to each other's stories and we've gotten into some great moral discussions.
Shurley English (Grammar and Composition) - This has been a challenge to me in trying to figure out how to work the lessons and such. It's not as easy for me to just assign pages since there's really not a workbook to use daily. I'm doing a little better, but I did not do enough planning to start with. Ben likes the lessons so far, or at least that's what he said. They are short lessons, so he doesn't feel like I'm talking non-stop to him. Some of the jingles that go along with the parts of grammar are cute, others are annoying. But I guess if you learn them either way, you'll still now the information, right! Friends of ours who have homeschooled for years began using this curriculum a few years ago and she also struggled in the beginning in teaching it. Now she's very happy with it and the kids are developing a strong basis in grammar. When I started looking at curriculum, I didn't want to have to research every subject. I didn't have the time to do that. Since our friends have a similar philiosphy/approach, we decided to use the same curriculum, for math and language arts. I'll finish out the year and see if we will continue in the same path.
American History 1815-Present (Veritas Press) - this is a challenging subject for me, not necessarily because of the curriculum, but because of the amount of material that I could teach to cover 200 years of viewing Amer History. It's set out in a set of 32 cards. I'm hoping to do one card per week, though I have a feeling we might get sidelined at times. This is one of the subjects where I let Ben pick what he wanted to study. So far we haven't done too much that is very exciting in terms of hands-on acitivities so that's something that I need to work on. It's very much a classical approach and has a lot of writing and reading, which can be good and bad. I'm finding that Ellie isn't retaining a lot of the information so I need to find a solution to that.
Oceanography for Science - when I asked Ben what he wanted to study for science, he said "I want to dissect a shark". Definitely a boy statement! I laughed because I didn't get to do that until I was in college. The shark then became a study of the ocean. Science curriculum would be one area that I feel is not a strong selection in homeschooling. There is very little available for elementary ages that I liked. I ended up using Exploring Creation:Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. It's written well and covers all the topics. The only problem is that it's basically a 13 chapter book and you have to divide it to fit the needs of your family. We're actually doing science with another family once a week to do the experiments and games (wed am while Abby is in preschool) and I assign the kids reading and filling in an outline (that I have to create) for the rest of the week. I create a quiz each week too so that I can see whether they are actually doing their work. I'm also having each kid complete a research project on a sea creature of their choice that they will finish by May. A lot, but when it gets to the dissecting part, the boys will be thrilled. I think the girls will be too, but I wonder if they'll actually want to do any of the touching :)
Art, music and Gym - these seem to be a little of this and a little of that. I don't have too much planned as of yet simply because I'm still trying to get into a groove with everything else. I did buy a Great Composers series that covers 12 musicians since the 1600's. It's on the boring side though, so I have to bump that up a notch too. I tried today with finding different clips on YouTube to watch and that helped, though I'm not sure if the kids were just tired after a long week or not. Ellie and Abby seem more into the music side of things, while Ben really doesn't like classical music. The girls love dancing to any music while Ben runs away to hide :) He'd rather be out on his rollerblades - gym class!
Starting next week my mom is going to be doing some basic spanish with the kids while I'm at the women's bible study. I am so thankful for that since I know that I will need that time to rejuvenate my soul. Being home with the kids all day after the years of them being in school has been a challenge to me. A challenge in how I approach the day and my interaction with them. Ellie has challenged me to have patience and control as she throws a temper tantrum. Today was a good day with no tears, so hopefully we're past the whole 'deschooling' aspect of our first year.
So all that to say, this is what we are doing this year! I know it's a lot, but I'm jumping in with a sixth grader, a second grader and a preschooler. We do science and history together, among some of the smaller things.
Have fun researching all the curriculum. I found that there's a ton of great things out there and just not enough time to get it all done :)
We are an ecclectic family. I knew that before we even decided to homeschool, but it carried over into our approach to homeschooling too:)
I don't have anything against box curriculum/online schools, yet I knew that they would not provide me with the opportunity to vary studies according to interests and schedules. One of my concerns was keeping the subjects interesting enough to keep Ben's attention specifically. Since 6th grade is his first time in HS, it was an issue that I had to address. For those who start from day 1 (which I'm assuming is you!), you probably won't have that issue.
So here's what we are using:
Horizons Math - I'm very happy with it. The biggest problem is actually my daughter's attention span, so it's not the curriculum. Ben is moving thru it very quickly also, but that should get more challenging to him once we're past the review sections.
A Reason For Spelling - I'm not sure if I needed this for Ben, but he'll do a year anyway for reinforcement. It's been great for Ellie since she was behind in reading/comprehension. I love the fact that it has short stories that have a moral dilemma to deal with for each lesson and that it incorporates the Bible into the lessons too. That's all new to me coming from the public school system. Ben and Ellie end up listening to each other's stories and we've gotten into some great moral discussions.
Shurley English (Grammar and Composition) - This has been a challenge to me in trying to figure out how to work the lessons and such. It's not as easy for me to just assign pages since there's really not a workbook to use daily. I'm doing a little better, but I did not do enough planning to start with. Ben likes the lessons so far, or at least that's what he said. They are short lessons, so he doesn't feel like I'm talking non-stop to him. Some of the jingles that go along with the parts of grammar are cute, others are annoying. But I guess if you learn them either way, you'll still now the information, right! Friends of ours who have homeschooled for years began using this curriculum a few years ago and she also struggled in the beginning in teaching it. Now she's very happy with it and the kids are developing a strong basis in grammar. When I started looking at curriculum, I didn't want to have to research every subject. I didn't have the time to do that. Since our friends have a similar philiosphy/approach, we decided to use the same curriculum, for math and language arts. I'll finish out the year and see if we will continue in the same path.
American History 1815-Present (Veritas Press) - this is a challenging subject for me, not necessarily because of the curriculum, but because of the amount of material that I could teach to cover 200 years of viewing Amer History. It's set out in a set of 32 cards. I'm hoping to do one card per week, though I have a feeling we might get sidelined at times. This is one of the subjects where I let Ben pick what he wanted to study. So far we haven't done too much that is very exciting in terms of hands-on acitivities so that's something that I need to work on. It's very much a classical approach and has a lot of writing and reading, which can be good and bad. I'm finding that Ellie isn't retaining a lot of the information so I need to find a solution to that.
Oceanography for Science - when I asked Ben what he wanted to study for science, he said "I want to dissect a shark". Definitely a boy statement! I laughed because I didn't get to do that until I was in college. The shark then became a study of the ocean. Science curriculum would be one area that I feel is not a strong selection in homeschooling. There is very little available for elementary ages that I liked. I ended up using Exploring Creation:Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. It's written well and covers all the topics. The only problem is that it's basically a 13 chapter book and you have to divide it to fit the needs of your family. We're actually doing science with another family once a week to do the experiments and games (wed am while Abby is in preschool) and I assign the kids reading and filling in an outline (that I have to create) for the rest of the week. I create a quiz each week too so that I can see whether they are actually doing their work. I'm also having each kid complete a research project on a sea creature of their choice that they will finish by May. A lot, but when it gets to the dissecting part, the boys will be thrilled. I think the girls will be too, but I wonder if they'll actually want to do any of the touching :)
Art, music and Gym - these seem to be a little of this and a little of that. I don't have too much planned as of yet simply because I'm still trying to get into a groove with everything else. I did buy a Great Composers series that covers 12 musicians since the 1600's. It's on the boring side though, so I have to bump that up a notch too. I tried today with finding different clips on YouTube to watch and that helped, though I'm not sure if the kids were just tired after a long week or not. Ellie and Abby seem more into the music side of things, while Ben really doesn't like classical music. The girls love dancing to any music while Ben runs away to hide :) He'd rather be out on his rollerblades - gym class!
Starting next week my mom is going to be doing some basic spanish with the kids while I'm at the women's bible study. I am so thankful for that since I know that I will need that time to rejuvenate my soul. Being home with the kids all day after the years of them being in school has been a challenge to me. A challenge in how I approach the day and my interaction with them. Ellie has challenged me to have patience and control as she throws a temper tantrum. Today was a good day with no tears, so hopefully we're past the whole 'deschooling' aspect of our first year.
So all that to say, this is what we are doing this year! I know it's a lot, but I'm jumping in with a sixth grader, a second grader and a preschooler. We do science and history together, among some of the smaller things.
Have fun researching all the curriculum. I found that there's a ton of great things out there and just not enough time to get it all done :)
It's a Rainy Day...
and no one wants to do much. It seems like things are taking a long time to get done today. I started to stress out about it and decided that it just wasn't worth it. It may take all day to do their assignments and maybe we won't even get them all done.
What I do know is that I am enjoying the kids playing together. There's no fighting and so far temper tantrums. Ellie was pretending to be a snail as she wandered between rooms (fortunately, she moved a lot faster than most snails!) and Ben was building everyone a fort on the couch. I know that I need to enjoy these moments of togetherness because it doesn't happen often with the age differences.
I have chickens baking so that I can make soup stock (a two day process for us that is worth every minute of work). I love taking the time to cook ahead and freeze for those days when I don't have the time to make good meals. I used up the last of my chicken stock the other day when I made chicken pot pie, only to have hubby tell me he wants to make Italian Wedding Soup this weekend. Well, a trip to the store this morning (chickens were on sale too! special blessing!) and we're on our way.
I tried to get Ben to help with cleaning up the chickens before putting them in the pan. His face was hysterical when the chicken's heart fell out of the bag. This is the kid who put on his short term goal list for the year - learn how to dissect a shark. Dissection in Oceanography is going to be very interesting this year....
What I do know is that I am enjoying the kids playing together. There's no fighting and so far temper tantrums. Ellie was pretending to be a snail as she wandered between rooms (fortunately, she moved a lot faster than most snails!) and Ben was building everyone a fort on the couch. I know that I need to enjoy these moments of togetherness because it doesn't happen often with the age differences.
I have chickens baking so that I can make soup stock (a two day process for us that is worth every minute of work). I love taking the time to cook ahead and freeze for those days when I don't have the time to make good meals. I used up the last of my chicken stock the other day when I made chicken pot pie, only to have hubby tell me he wants to make Italian Wedding Soup this weekend. Well, a trip to the store this morning (chickens were on sale too! special blessing!) and we're on our way.
I tried to get Ben to help with cleaning up the chickens before putting them in the pan. His face was hysterical when the chicken's heart fell out of the bag. This is the kid who put on his short term goal list for the year - learn how to dissect a shark. Dissection in Oceanography is going to be very interesting this year....
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Thank you Mom!
It was a rough week as we had to adjust to bringing Abby to preschool TWTh mornings and do schoolwork on the road. It meant that our days are now longer than I would like as the kids end up finishing their work thru the afternoon. I used to think that I'd still have some free time in the afternoon. What was I thinking? :)
We were finishing up some grammar after getting home from Abby's speech session, when Ben came up behind me. Now it won't be long before he's taller than me. Right now, he's a great height to give a hug. This time, he gave me the hug. A huge, big hug and said "Mom, thanks for homeschooling me. I love you!" It was enough to melt my heart. On a day when I was tired and wondering if I can handle the schedule, I got the boost I needed to remember why we are homeschooling to begin with.
We were finishing up some grammar after getting home from Abby's speech session, when Ben came up behind me. Now it won't be long before he's taller than me. Right now, he's a great height to give a hug. This time, he gave me the hug. A huge, big hug and said "Mom, thanks for homeschooling me. I love you!" It was enough to melt my heart. On a day when I was tired and wondering if I can handle the schedule, I got the boost I needed to remember why we are homeschooling to begin with.
Are you ready for some football!!!!
Okay, so I am a huge football fan. My husband just shakes his head at me. You see, he could care less about sports - unless they involve one of our kids playing. Rooting for a profeesional team is not something he'd like to do. I was proud of him when he sat down to watch the last inning of the 2004 World Series when the Red Sox finally broke the curse.
I am sitting here watching the Steelers open the 2009 season with my son. He doesn't usually watch football with me, loves to watch baseball with me. I'm loving our bonding time. It's just that in this house it's mom and son :)
So for anyone wondering, I root for the Red Sox and the Patriots. I was raised in MA and though we have lived in PA for the last 8 years, I'm still a New England girl at heart. I root for the Steelers and Phillies when they're not playing my teams.
And the Steelers finally scored! It's about time!
I am sitting here watching the Steelers open the 2009 season with my son. He doesn't usually watch football with me, loves to watch baseball with me. I'm loving our bonding time. It's just that in this house it's mom and son :)
So for anyone wondering, I root for the Red Sox and the Patriots. I was raised in MA and though we have lived in PA for the last 8 years, I'm still a New England girl at heart. I root for the Steelers and Phillies when they're not playing my teams.
And the Steelers finally scored! It's about time!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A New Van!
Well, it's not brand new, but it's new to us! I was so excited to get rid of what we had started to call the "buckboard" because the shocks were basically gone and every movement caused it to squeak like we were in the wild west. I had people jerking their heads every time I drove by because they were trying to figure out what the sound was. We even had someone in Wash DC yell to us to oil those shocks.
So we were basically down to a decision. Pay a lot in repairs (it was a 1999 minivan) to get it to pass inspection or bite the bullet and buy a new van. Four years without a car payment made us wait to the last possible moment.
That moment was yesterday. We had gotten the name of a used car dealership that many people were happy with and so we decided to take a look. They didn't have many mini-vans, but enough. I pretty much knew what we were looking for and what our budget was. We had it down between a, '05 Grand Caravan and a '07 Town & Country. The first was priced right but the second wasn't too bad. The thing that made the deal was actually the warranty. It can transfer on the '05, but not the '07. So we ended up with a light blue '05 Grand Caravan with stow & go seats (love those!), a CD player that will work, shocks that don't squeak, air vents into the back seats (Ben loves those) and the best one of all - a DVD player for the kids. They weren't too happy when I reminded them that it would only be used for trips of more than an hour one way - unless of course it was for school :) So now I can take advantage of travel time to show them all those videos that will help round out their schooling. I don't think they were too happy with that, but Mommy is :)
So we were basically down to a decision. Pay a lot in repairs (it was a 1999 minivan) to get it to pass inspection or bite the bullet and buy a new van. Four years without a car payment made us wait to the last possible moment.
That moment was yesterday. We had gotten the name of a used car dealership that many people were happy with and so we decided to take a look. They didn't have many mini-vans, but enough. I pretty much knew what we were looking for and what our budget was. We had it down between a, '05 Grand Caravan and a '07 Town & Country. The first was priced right but the second wasn't too bad. The thing that made the deal was actually the warranty. It can transfer on the '05, but not the '07. So we ended up with a light blue '05 Grand Caravan with stow & go seats (love those!), a CD player that will work, shocks that don't squeak, air vents into the back seats (Ben loves those) and the best one of all - a DVD player for the kids. They weren't too happy when I reminded them that it would only be used for trips of more than an hour one way - unless of course it was for school :) So now I can take advantage of travel time to show them all those videos that will help round out their schooling. I don't think they were too happy with that, but Mommy is :)
Whiny kids
I don't know sometimes how to handle whiny kids. Some days it is easy for me to ignore and redirect their attention and minimize the stress on the day. Other days it is not.
Today is one of those days.
We knew that the girls would be a little tired today after a great neighborhood picnic with a bunch of our friends. I should've known that when Manny had to cart Abby home in tears as she had repeatedly disobeyed him, that today would be interesting.
It started out okay, but then it was time to brush Ellie's hair. Four reminders and it still wasn't done (her favorite brush was missing). In steps Mom to finish the job quickly since we were short on time for getting ready for church. Out come the tears and the temper tantrum. In front of her friend who slept over last night too. It was not a pretty sight. Now Ellie would be considered my drama queen. Very dramatic and full of emotion. We saw it this morning. In the end, she lost friend privileges because of her attitude towards me and her tantrum.
Abby lost her afternoon priviledges after misbehaving in Target. I think the store clerks were glad to see us leave after her teary session for getting in trouble for pushing her sister and ignoring Daddy. She's still in bed. Her nap started 3 seconds out of the parking lot. Yep. She was tired and cranky.
Ellie then had an opportunity to regain friend priviledges because she had been so good thru lunch and the store, by quickly cleaning up the mess she had made in the living room and sunroom over the last few days. A mess that I had reminded her needed to be cleaned up today. She insisted that she needed my help, and not getting it, she burst into more tears and eventually cleaned it all up thru those same tears. Oh my. Then she gave me more attitude and didn't regain the priviledges at all. Sigh. Ellie says her crying is because of me. I guess I have to be used to the idea that there will be a lot more tears to come. And we're still years away from the teen years. Sigh again. it's going to be a long journey....
Today is one of those days.
We knew that the girls would be a little tired today after a great neighborhood picnic with a bunch of our friends. I should've known that when Manny had to cart Abby home in tears as she had repeatedly disobeyed him, that today would be interesting.
It started out okay, but then it was time to brush Ellie's hair. Four reminders and it still wasn't done (her favorite brush was missing). In steps Mom to finish the job quickly since we were short on time for getting ready for church. Out come the tears and the temper tantrum. In front of her friend who slept over last night too. It was not a pretty sight. Now Ellie would be considered my drama queen. Very dramatic and full of emotion. We saw it this morning. In the end, she lost friend privileges because of her attitude towards me and her tantrum.
Abby lost her afternoon priviledges after misbehaving in Target. I think the store clerks were glad to see us leave after her teary session for getting in trouble for pushing her sister and ignoring Daddy. She's still in bed. Her nap started 3 seconds out of the parking lot. Yep. She was tired and cranky.
Ellie then had an opportunity to regain friend priviledges because she had been so good thru lunch and the store, by quickly cleaning up the mess she had made in the living room and sunroom over the last few days. A mess that I had reminded her needed to be cleaned up today. She insisted that she needed my help, and not getting it, she burst into more tears and eventually cleaned it all up thru those same tears. Oh my. Then she gave me more attitude and didn't regain the priviledges at all. Sigh. Ellie says her crying is because of me. I guess I have to be used to the idea that there will be a lot more tears to come. And we're still years away from the teen years. Sigh again. it's going to be a long journey....
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
We're getting the hang of it...
It seems like each day is a little easier. I can't get Ellie to work any faster and I have a hard time slowing Ben down. But it's easier for me to juggle the two needs.
Manny decided to give the kids a computer class while I took Abby to preschool Open House this morning. He had them watch short videos online about the parts of a computer. Then while they were eating lunch, he unhooked all the cables to anything that remotely connected to the computer and the two kids had to figure out how it all went back together again. He said they worked well together and it wasn't just Ben doing all the work. Now why don't they work like that with me ?!? Unbelieveable! The computer actually worked and there were no problems. Gotta love those hands-on activities :)
I had planned for a shorter day since we're still recovering from a long weekend in Washington DC, but it ended up being a full day for the kids and they didn't complain. I think we must have traded our kids in at some point, because my kids would've said at least something!
Manny decided to give the kids a computer class while I took Abby to preschool Open House this morning. He had them watch short videos online about the parts of a computer. Then while they were eating lunch, he unhooked all the cables to anything that remotely connected to the computer and the two kids had to figure out how it all went back together again. He said they worked well together and it wasn't just Ben doing all the work. Now why don't they work like that with me ?!? Unbelieveable! The computer actually worked and there were no problems. Gotta love those hands-on activities :)
I had planned for a shorter day since we're still recovering from a long weekend in Washington DC, but it ended up being a full day for the kids and they didn't complain. I think we must have traded our kids in at some point, because my kids would've said at least something!
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