Well, I set out to edit a post I started last Friday, and was fortunately able to erase the paragraph lamenting my poor milk supply woes. Several days of dedicated frequent nursing, with the rare supplemental bottle and pumping got us back on track. Glad that is behind us and I have learned my lesson about trying to lose weight too fast. Mama has to eat to make plenty of milk - duh! And all the legislation in the world can't buy you time to pump if you are a nurse and your patients need you. :(
Regarding homeschooling, we are making good progress As of last Friday Science is caught up to reading (3 science lessons Thursday night after supper) and reading is closing in on math! We are on lesson 41 in LA and 45 in Math so I anticipate being on track by the end of January.
Behavior is not on track at all though. Zeff is making the two steps forward, one step back progress in his behavior that I am learning is par for the course with him. Hitting is much less frequent, name calling more so. The corner has made a comeback here, as well as posters with the kids names that get stickers for good things (going potty, doing as asked without complaint, etc.) Joss also has a "healthy habits chart" for personal hygeine and grooming that is helping with that stuff slightly. Anyways, time is very short today so I will discuss our discipline issues another time.
I wanted to post about some of the fun "unschooling" moments we had last Friday. We had a long discussion about calendars (completely led by Jossy's interest and questions) and Jossy really almost gets it now. She now has her own calendar that she has drawn pictures on to show when upcoming events are.
Zeff also started begging to go the the "old fashioned farm" (Oliver H Kelley historical farm) out of the clear blue sky. We went twice last summer and it was a major blast. However, I was not able to drop everything and take him, but did the next best thing. I googled the website and within minutes I was at their photo gallery page. I asked Zeff what he wanted to look at and he chose animals. We went through all the pictures and talked about the names of the baby animals as well as the proper names for the mommies and daddies of each species.
We had a busy, but nice family weekend. Unfortunately, Joss is now also going through some major behavioral turmoil and seems to have forgotten all our rules, as well as what an acceptable tone of voice is. Worse yet, she was showing everyone in the family major disrespect in her words and actions. Because that is one of the worst things she can do in my eyes, I came down very hard on her for every infraction of our rules but I really questioned if I was doing the right thing, because we were all very miserable for a few days there. She lost a major privilege on Saturday and nearly lost one on Sunday as well. However patience and consistency seem to be paying off. We have prayed together several times for help in having a "cheerful heart" and I think I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After a rough start to our day she seems to be almost entirely back to her old self. I have made sure to acknowledge this good behavior, while not making a huge deal out of it, after all it is what I expect of her!
Yesterday was a complete wash for formal school but not without education as Joss spent the day with her grandma piecing together and helping to sew an outfit of her own creation! After a mad day of driving to grandma's and back home with about ten minutes to spare before I had to leave for work, I then proceeded to have a crappy shift that bothered me so much that I couldn't sleep until past 3am. I then started coughing and slept very fitfully until 8am when I gave up and got up for the day.
Joss started her first homeschool ceramics class. She said she didn't like it, but was very enthusiastic about sharing with us what she had learned. The main problem (I am thinking) is that she expects to instantly have friends and feels lonely if she doesn't. She has never had a problem making friends, and I reminded her of that. I also talked about classes I took in college where I never did make a friend, but instead learned alot about a cool subject. She seemed okay with that but still said she didn't want to go back. Well, I just paid $75 for the first five sessions and trust me, she is going!
After ceramics class we came home, had lunch and then got busy with school. She impressed both of us by how well she is doing with her reading. She is reading full sentences and getting faster and smoother with her sight words and those darn d,p,b lookalikes. For math it was one of our review lessons, where you have a choice of fun math activities and we decided to chart the different kinds of coins we had in our spare change mug. I think she is really understanding the concept of graphing and has the values of each coin down pat now. We even added up how much of each kind of coin we had!
After Math we got to the lesson that she had been anxiously waiting for - the recorder! Our good friend graciously lent us one, and I had picked up an Usborne book on learning the recorder from my all time favorite store, half-price books, and so we are working our way through it together. She loves music, and loves having an instrument to play. I appreciate the simplicity of the instrument, and with my 8 years of piano instruction I feel competent to teach it at a beginner level.
So Art, LA, Math and Music. Not a bad day of K if I do say so myself! Zeff and I have also been doing more informal preschool projects. Monday we cut out wheels from the newspaper and he glued them on construction paper, and counted them. We talked about the number 7 (that's how many) at the time and 3 or 4 times since and I think he is actually recognizing the number 7! He also recognizes his name on the paper and is very proud of his work. Tomorrow morning is his preschool coop (Big Thanks go to my friend who is organizing this - you know who you are!) and I am hoping our little preschool sessions at home might help him to focus better than he did at the last one. And if it doesn't, well, he's only 2 still, and I will try to remain philisophical about it. Boys truly are different and until he is 5 or so, I will not push academics, but provide many rich learning opportunities (I hope) and trust that he will continue to soak up info the way he has so far. The kid counts to the teens, knows all shapes and colors, recognizes a handful of letters, his name and number 7 - all with next to no formal instruction. (Oops, forgot to insert a brag alert there, forgive me.)
Well, all in all, I must say things are going well. Hope everyone reading this is well too and I just want to wrap this up with a prayer request for those who are so inclined. Please pray for my close friend Anne who is dealing with preterm labor and bedrest while homeschooling her 6yo son and caring for her 19 month old daughter. Please also pray for my little brother who will be deployed very soon.
Regarding homeschooling, we are making good progress As of last Friday Science is caught up to reading (3 science lessons Thursday night after supper) and reading is closing in on math! We are on lesson 41 in LA and 45 in Math so I anticipate being on track by the end of January.
Behavior is not on track at all though. Zeff is making the two steps forward, one step back progress in his behavior that I am learning is par for the course with him. Hitting is much less frequent, name calling more so. The corner has made a comeback here, as well as posters with the kids names that get stickers for good things (going potty, doing as asked without complaint, etc.) Joss also has a "healthy habits chart" for personal hygeine and grooming that is helping with that stuff slightly. Anyways, time is very short today so I will discuss our discipline issues another time.
I wanted to post about some of the fun "unschooling" moments we had last Friday. We had a long discussion about calendars (completely led by Jossy's interest and questions) and Jossy really almost gets it now. She now has her own calendar that she has drawn pictures on to show when upcoming events are.
Zeff also started begging to go the the "old fashioned farm" (Oliver H Kelley historical farm) out of the clear blue sky. We went twice last summer and it was a major blast. However, I was not able to drop everything and take him, but did the next best thing. I googled the website and within minutes I was at their photo gallery page. I asked Zeff what he wanted to look at and he chose animals. We went through all the pictures and talked about the names of the baby animals as well as the proper names for the mommies and daddies of each species.
We had a busy, but nice family weekend. Unfortunately, Joss is now also going through some major behavioral turmoil and seems to have forgotten all our rules, as well as what an acceptable tone of voice is. Worse yet, she was showing everyone in the family major disrespect in her words and actions. Because that is one of the worst things she can do in my eyes, I came down very hard on her for every infraction of our rules but I really questioned if I was doing the right thing, because we were all very miserable for a few days there. She lost a major privilege on Saturday and nearly lost one on Sunday as well. However patience and consistency seem to be paying off. We have prayed together several times for help in having a "cheerful heart" and I think I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After a rough start to our day she seems to be almost entirely back to her old self. I have made sure to acknowledge this good behavior, while not making a huge deal out of it, after all it is what I expect of her!
Yesterday was a complete wash for formal school but not without education as Joss spent the day with her grandma piecing together and helping to sew an outfit of her own creation! After a mad day of driving to grandma's and back home with about ten minutes to spare before I had to leave for work, I then proceeded to have a crappy shift that bothered me so much that I couldn't sleep until past 3am. I then started coughing and slept very fitfully until 8am when I gave up and got up for the day.
Joss started her first homeschool ceramics class. She said she didn't like it, but was very enthusiastic about sharing with us what she had learned. The main problem (I am thinking) is that she expects to instantly have friends and feels lonely if she doesn't. She has never had a problem making friends, and I reminded her of that. I also talked about classes I took in college where I never did make a friend, but instead learned alot about a cool subject. She seemed okay with that but still said she didn't want to go back. Well, I just paid $75 for the first five sessions and trust me, she is going!
After ceramics class we came home, had lunch and then got busy with school. She impressed both of us by how well she is doing with her reading. She is reading full sentences and getting faster and smoother with her sight words and those darn d,p,b lookalikes. For math it was one of our review lessons, where you have a choice of fun math activities and we decided to chart the different kinds of coins we had in our spare change mug. I think she is really understanding the concept of graphing and has the values of each coin down pat now. We even added up how much of each kind of coin we had!
After Math we got to the lesson that she had been anxiously waiting for - the recorder! Our good friend graciously lent us one, and I had picked up an Usborne book on learning the recorder from my all time favorite store, half-price books, and so we are working our way through it together. She loves music, and loves having an instrument to play. I appreciate the simplicity of the instrument, and with my 8 years of piano instruction I feel competent to teach it at a beginner level.
So Art, LA, Math and Music. Not a bad day of K if I do say so myself! Zeff and I have also been doing more informal preschool projects. Monday we cut out wheels from the newspaper and he glued them on construction paper, and counted them. We talked about the number 7 (that's how many) at the time and 3 or 4 times since and I think he is actually recognizing the number 7! He also recognizes his name on the paper and is very proud of his work. Tomorrow morning is his preschool coop (Big Thanks go to my friend who is organizing this - you know who you are!) and I am hoping our little preschool sessions at home might help him to focus better than he did at the last one. And if it doesn't, well, he's only 2 still, and I will try to remain philisophical about it. Boys truly are different and until he is 5 or so, I will not push academics, but provide many rich learning opportunities (I hope) and trust that he will continue to soak up info the way he has so far. The kid counts to the teens, knows all shapes and colors, recognizes a handful of letters, his name and number 7 - all with next to no formal instruction. (Oops, forgot to insert a brag alert there, forgive me.)
Well, all in all, I must say things are going well. Hope everyone reading this is well too and I just want to wrap this up with a prayer request for those who are so inclined. Please pray for my close friend Anne who is dealing with preterm labor and bedrest while homeschooling her 6yo son and caring for her 19 month old daughter. Please also pray for my little brother who will be deployed very soon.
posted by KatyM @ 10:06 PM
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