Good Monday

Everyone is well again.  Dad went to work this morning and we got right to work on our schoolwork before we had to leave for Tae Kwon Do.

Today, Andrew had a substitute teacher - Master Matt.  He was fantastic.  He was very precise and really stepped up the expectations.  Andrew liked him too especially since he kept redirecting the 2 boys that mess around the ENTIRE class.  I learned a lot today to help Andrew improve and we found out that he can test for his yellow belt on March 1st.  Andrew is super excited!!

We returned home to the ice man working on our street.

The most amazing part was I had called at 8 AM this morning and they were already here.  It was so nice to see our street cleared of the ice and snow.  We have such a bad time when there is storm after storm after storm - our street just can't keep up.

For school, Cairn is working on her last unit in her Gamma book (multiplication), next she moves too Delta (division).  Andrew is working on adding +0 and +1.  He has 90% of them memorized.  Skylar is working on subtracting 8's and 9's.  She is working on memorizing them but she has a clear understanding of how to subtract.  All the kids started a new vocabulary/spelling book today called Word Ladders.  They start with a word at the bottom then they are given clues and how many letters to subtract or change.  The littles started with cow, then the clue - a small bed that is foldable - change one letter...cot.  Cairn started with vegetable, then the clue - a place where you eat - subtract 4 letters....table.  The littles had 5 words to change, while Cairn had 10.

One of the other new changes I instituted with the kids is everyone must practice the piano for 30 minutes.  We set a timer and I sit with them and work through each piece of music.  The timer helps them concentrate on their music and not on the time.  They know they will hear it when they are finished.  They are also more relaxed and practice a piece several times because they know they have to sit the entire 30 minutes and work so mine as well practice.  Skylar has already memorized her new song and is even doing the extra credit songs.  She has a lot of confidence right now because she knows her songs so well.  Andrew has also showed a lot of improvement with naming his notes on the staff and has memorized 2 new songs.  He will be ready for his solo on Thursday.  I told him today I won't be able to help him count for his solo and he said, "that's okay, I can count by myself. Watch!"  He did it and was very proud of himself.

Cairn and I went to the music store on Sunday and picked up a few new books for her.  She got 2 Disney music books, a Classical book and Tchaikovsky.  I also picked up an adult piano course to help me improve and also to model for the kids how to sit, study and learn something.  Cairn sees me doing it with my Spanish but the other 2 don't that.  I would really like to sit down and play a piece of music like Cairn, hopefully this course will help me do that.

The kids finished up their schoolwork by 3 PM and played until 5 PM, when we did a quick clean-up.  Then I gave them an art project to work on while I cooked dinner.

Tomorrow, we are heading to a museum with some friends.

Illness hits the house

Last night looking at Andrew I could tell he didn't feel well but I chalked it up to tiredness.  Today I found out I was right.  Everyone (the 3 kids) woke up with fevers of 102 degrees, coughing and sore throats.  I put them all in their rooms and started cleaning, unpacking and grading schoolwork between runs to their bedrooms.  Andrew and Cairn both threw up 3 times, Skylar just felt crummy and had a horrible cough.  They all slept off and on all day.

Cairn and Andrew both missed their piano classes and Skylar missed her weekly playdate with A.  Looks like she will miss her piano class tomorrow - the first one of her graduation year of piano.  She will learn to play the recorder and the guitar this year.

When Dad came home, he was feeling pretty crummy too.

Everyone went to bed early.  The snow started falling, good thing we aren't going anywhere tomorrow.

Mythbusters, piano and playdate

Today we got up even earlier than yesterday and got out the door - no schoolwork completed.  But that's okay because we were headed to the Museum of Nature and Science for the Mythbusters exhibit.  Our tickets were for 9 AM so we had to be out the door by 8:15 AM.

We had a fabulous time.  Every single exhibit was hands on and the kids learned a lot.

First, they built a house with light, medium and heavy materials - put it inside a wind tunnel and watched to see if it could withstand the wind.  Then we timed ourselves changing into our super hero costumes inside a phone booth.

Next, we walked and ran through rain and then looked at ourselves in ultra violet light to see if we should walk or run when it is raining.

Then Cairn and Skylar pulled a tablecloth off a table without disturbing the dishes.

Next, they hung on the side of a building and timed themselves to see how long they could hang.  Andrew got to 30 seconds, Cairn's record was 10 seconds, and Skylar was 15 seconds.

Then we determined if a plane could take off with the ground moving.  Finally, we watched a demonstration about reaction times and shooting paintballs.

We left the Museum and drove to A's house to drop off Skylar while Cairn and Andrew went to piano class.  Skylar saved her lunch to eat with A.  Cairn ate in the car, Andrew ate his lunch during Cairn's class.  After 2 hours of piano we went to A's house and all the kids played while I chatted with A's mom.

Eventually, we got home, I made dinner and everyone went to bed exhausted again.

Gait Clinic, Piano and finally school work

Even though we were in bed late last night we still had to be up early today to get Skylar to her Gait Clinic appointment and Cairn and Andrew to Aunt Trish's.

Skylar had an evaluation at Children's Hospital in the Gait Clinic because of her continued leg pain.  We know how to manage it but I want to stop the pain from coming.  There is no reason for her to have to endure it if we can figure out the reason and then fix it.  At her 6 year old appointment we got a referral for leg measuring x-rays.  They determined that the legs were different lengths so we were referred to the Gait Clinic to see if they could figure anything out.  Finally, we had the evaluation today.  She had to wear a leotard because they were going to watch her walk, jump, run, hop, walk backwards, walk on tiptoes all the while video tape her.  They had to draw smiley faces on her knees so the camera could see her knees.  It was a very fun appointment for Skylar.  The results...

1) Her legs are the same length but the ankles and the knees do not align because...

2) both her femur bones are twisted or femoral anteversion.  Now, this sounds like a problem but it occurs a lot and we even heard about a very famous Denver Bronco, car salesman who has it - obviously didn't affect him too much.  But this leads to...

3) she has very weak joint muscles but incredible flexibility.  Which seems weird to me because she had incredible muscle definition in her legs but it is the joint muscles that are weak.  For example, she can't lay on her stomach and with her knees bent, raise her leg.  There was virtually no muscle strength.

So, the doctor thinks that she has learned to compensate for the twisting femur and weak muscles which is causing leg pain because it is not the right way for her legs to work.  She was referred to physical therapy and they also suggested she get into gymnastics for dance to help strengthen her muscles.  (She chose gymnastics).  If we see no improvement in 3 months, then the doctor will reevaluate.  If she is progressing, he wants to see her in one year for new x-rays and new gait study.

Her first PT appointment is September 4th.

After Skylar's appointment, we picked up the other 2 then headed home to eat lunch before we headed back out the door to get Andrew to his piano class.

Today was the first day of his 2nd year.  I thought it was going to be a great class but the new kids that joined are behavior problems.  I have an option to go to another class.  We might check it out.

After piano we returned home to finally get going on our school work.  It was little tough to get everyone on task but slowly they worked and finished their school work by 6 PM.

Because everyone was tired, they were in bed with lights out by 8 PM.  It sounds pretty quiet up there so I think everyone fell asleep quickly.

Back on the horse

We jumped right back into our schedule since we got home.  Today, Cairn had a private piano lesson because her teacher will be out of town on Tuesday.

Skylar and Andrew practiced on the keyboards while we were at the studio so they got in an extra long practice too.

Then we went home to eat lunch and do a little schoolwork before heading out to Girl Scouts.  Today we had a special tour set up.  We are having a used book sale on June 1st to help us earn some money to purchase medical supplies for our Kits for Kids that we are making for Project Cure.

Now, if you haven't heard of Project Cure go here.  They are an amazing organization.  Every time we go in I learn more about what they do.  They operate within 1% of overhead, just about everything they have is donated.  Even the notepads they use in the office are donated - sometimes they are scrounging.  

I have always been looking for an organization that I would adopt so the kids and I could really get involved in donating time and money to. We may have found it.  The kids really like because there is so much they can do to help.

After Girl Scouts, we went home to ride bikes, roller skate, finish up some schoolwork.  Finally, it was dinner and bedtime.  Everyone is still catching up on sleep and went to bed easily.

Week in review

What a week.  Could not stay awake long enough at night to blog so here is the week in one entry.

Monday - Andrew went to the doctor for his 4 year old check up.  He is healthy.  He is 34 pounds and 3.2 ounces (35%) and 3 feet, 4.25 inches (50%).  His BMI is 14 (22%).  Doctor has no concerns other than his speech.  She asked me to call his old therapist and ask her to stop by and check on his speech.  She stopped by on Wednesday and agreed that he is missing some sounds that he shouldn't be missing at 4. (C's, G's, Th's and F's). So she gave me some activities to do with him and if in a month I don't see a marked improvement then I will take him in to be reevaluated.  I hope to avoid taking him to another therapist because at this age it is all out of pocket.

After his doctor appointment we went to the Colorado History Museum for a co-op.  The kids loved it.  They got to "milk" a cow, collect eggs, go to school in a one room schoolhouse and ride a horseless buggy.  Then we went upstairs and learned about mining, WWII internment camps and Colorado tourism.  The kids wanted to stay longer but I knew we were about to reach our limit so we headed home before everyone lost it.

Tonight, I went to a friends' house to do some planning.

Tuesday was piano for Andrew and a class for me from 5 to 8 PM.  I didn't get home until after 9 though.

Wednesday Miss Jill stopped by to see Andrew and then we headed to Golden to go to another co-op.  We went to NREL (National Energy Renewable Lab) where Phil told us about different kinds of renewable energy  such as; solar, biomass, wind, ocean, geothermal and hydro.  We learned about corn stover (the leaves, stalk, husk and cob that are left over after harvesting), bagasse (the fiber stuff leftover from sugar cane after squeezing the juice out to make sugar), and switch grass (American hay). We smelled some corn-biomass that smelled pretty yucky.  It took my breath away.   Phil told us there are over 40,000 types of algae.  We also learned about photovoltaic, a car run by water and about a concentrate solar array that melts salt and then preserves the heat for when it is needed later.  When it cools then the salt goes back to crystals and you can use it over and over.  I learned a lot and Cairn asked lots of questions but it was a little over Skylar and Andrew's heads.  I know they picked up a little though.

Got back home just in time to throw dinner on and I left for my class again.

Thursday - Grandma came over to watch Cairn and Andrew while I took Skylar to the eye doctor.  We discovered she is farsighted and needs to wear glasses to read and whenever she is inside.  She could possibly outgrow it but for now she will wear her glasses.  This explains a lot.  She complains of headaches almost every day after we finish up school.  She did great in her large piano book but ever since she moved to her piano book where the notes are on the Grand Staff she has really struggled.  Now I know why - she couldn't see the notes.  I was getting pretty frustrated at her at times because I thought she was just guessing.  She probably was but only because she couldn't see.  She is excited to get her glasses - the color is chocolate raspberry.

Tonight, Skylar had piano even though she couldn't see well because her eyes were dilated but I figured she could do everything but read her music. I prepared her teacher.  I had a Girl Scout unit meeting to run so Dad took Skylar to piano.  

Friday - the only thing on the schedule was Andrew getting his 4 year old pictures taken.  He was so excited.  The girls went to 2 different houses for playdates so I could take Andrew by himself.  He liked having mom all to himself.  We hung out at Cairn's playdate for awhile because the mom, L, is going to help me co-lead the Girl Scout troop next year and we were doing some planning.  

Finally, we got home and we didn't have to go out for once this week.  Every night, I was out and the kids got to bed late but not tonight.

Snow is in the forecast for the weekend.  It kinda threw off Andrew's birthday plans but I am sure we will have a great day anyway.

Movie and Graduation

Somehow our troop was chosen to see a special preview showing of The Croods.  Watch the trailer here.  So we got up early Saturday and headed to the movies for a free movie.  Most of our Girl Scout troop was there so the girls sat with their friends and Andrew sat with me and my friends.  Everyone loved the movie.

After the movie, we headed home for quiet time for Cairn.  I ended up taking a nap, Andrew did too.  Cairn practiced a little and then got dressed.  She looked beautiful in her new outfit.

Skylar got dressed and Andrew took a nap.

 Dad took some pictures with Cairn and then off we went.

Cairn had to be there early to warm up so we hung out in the car while Andrew slept a little longer  Finally, it was time.

Here is the song the group sang to demonstrate they learned how to sing.

Here is Cairn's composition song that she wrote and played.  It is titled "Ghosts and Goblins".

Here is Cairn's solo - "Moonlight Sonata"

Here is Cairn receiving her diploma and trophy.

Finally, her last song with the group.

 After the ceremony we had cake and punch and then headed out to dinner to India Oven. Cairn's choice.  It was a great evening.

School, try-outs, piano and a movie

Cairn woke up early, got dressed and came downstairs and got to work before she had even eaten her breakfast.  She did a math lesson on story problems with area and perimeter.  She took a spelling test, and a Spanish test and got ready for her piano solo.  She was finished by 10:30 again.

Skylar struggled with staying on task.  She did take a language skills test and aced it and read her phonics book.  She loves to read to us now and Andrew likes that Skylar can read to him and she wants to read to him.

Andrew worked on Reading Eggs.

After we had a snack of popcorn I got everyone working on some of our science experiments.  First, we crushed some ice and put it in a plastic bottle.  It was supposed to cave in but it didn't.  I don't know what we did wrong but we will try again tomorrow.  Then I read a chapter about atoms and molecules.  I pulled out the periodic table and we found different elements.  We found out what the numbers mean.  We acted like neutrons, electrons and protons too.  Then we started working on our buckyball.  We couldn't get it to work either so we will try that again tomorrow with Dad's help.  Finally, we created a water molecule model and talked about how different atoms attract.

Our Girl Scout troop had their flag team try-outs and Cairn made it on the team.  Skylar is an alternate.  It was so beautiful outside we held try-outs outside.  Only the roofers next door thought we were a little crazy, everyone else on the street figured it was just us.

Cairn had piano tonight and struggled through her solo - she forgot the chords -so she will try again next week.  She was pretty upset about it.

We came home and while I made dinner we turned on a holiday movie to get everyone into the giving spirit.  It was just a nice evening.

This weekend looks to be beautiful and busy.

New Reality

Everyone is aware that I supported Romney in this election and it has hit hard that he lost.  I am trying to figure out our new direction with the new reality we face.  It is going to be a rough road.  I already have ideas forming and people ready to support me/us so we shall see where this goes.  Details another time when there are more details.

Today, we got right back into the old regular routine.  No more mom making phone calls, checking emails in the morning or checking news sites.  I spent a little time reading some sites but then it was full on school.  With the time change, everyone is up and ready to go by 8 AM so by 9:30 when we needed to leave everyone had almost all their schoolwork completed.

We took Cairn to her Microsoft class and since the other 2 were a little behind we went into the food court, took over a table and got to work.  The kids seemed to like it and they got a lot of work finished and I was even able to assess Andrew on his letter recognition and sounds.  He did great and now I know where to focus.  He is ready to learn to read.  He is always asking me what a word says (1st clue) and he understands a lot of phonemic awareness (2nd clue).

After Microsoft, we headed to Cairn's next class - Ameritowne.  This is a great opportunity for her.  They have so many weeks of classes to learn about finance and money, running a business, getting a job and leadership.  Then the final activity is running the town for several hours.  This week's assignment - read the "Help wanted" ads and find a job you might want to interview for the day long activity.  Cairn was looking at doctor, medical center supervisor and bank teller.

While Cairn was in school, Skylar and Andrew played outside because it was 74 degrees outside.

After Cairn's class we went home to ride bikes and then finished up schoolwork.  Cairn had a great attitude about school today which was refreshing.  Could it have been because mom was more focused?  More than likely.

We are doing a big unit study on Thanksgiving this month.  We love the Learn our History DVD's so we watched the one tonight about Thanksgiving and the Mayflower.  My favorite part was when the Pilgrims (in 1620) figured out that when people were given their share of property and had to work it to survive they prospered but when the group shared everything there was no prosperity.  People gave up and didn't work very hard.  Sound familiar?


Tuesday, November 6th
Andrew's piano class - this was his first class where he had to perform to earn a reward - it was the bird cage contest.  He had to wear his hat too.

Here he is with his reward he chose - a plastic slinky.  The girls had chosen this reward several times and he always wanted his own and now he does.  I think he is so handsome in his hat.

School, Mansion visit and Piano

Kids are definitely feeling better because they were ready to go out today.  We got some schoolwork finished and then we headed to the Mansion.  The mansion is open to the pubic on Tuesdays and Thursdays for people to walk around and tour by themselves.  We went to check out the areas that were not open to us at the opening.

We also took some schoolwork so we could sit in a quiet spot and work.  Just a change of scenery kind of thing.

 Cairn wrote a couple letters to friends and worked on her invention notebook.  She had learned about Da Vinci in History.  He kept a notebook full of his ideas for inventions so Cairn started one today.  One picture she showed me was a floating house.

Skylar also worked on a letter to a friend.  I had her sound out each word - it was a challenge, a little different concept for her.

After the mansion, we went to piano class.  We arrived a little early so the girls could meet with their teacher since they had missed class last week.  They got some pointers and things to work on before their own classes this week.

After piano we returned home to finish up schoolwork and then played until dinner and the debate.

Bridging Ceremony and on the mend

Looks like people are finally on the mend today.  After Dad's doctor visit yesterday and starting on antibiotics he is getting better.  All the kids are feeling better and Skylar even has most of her voice back.  Andrew still seems to be lagging a little but I am hoping it is because he was sick for so long.  He finishes his medicine tomorrow.

We also had our bridging ceremony for the troop.  Cairn bridged up to a Junior.  Skylar will bridge to Brownie next year.  It is nice that I only have to buy one uniform a year.  It was a nice ceremony.  (I didn't get to take any pictures because I was the MC - hopefully a friend will send me some)

After we got home from the ceremony, I got a text from one of the mom's.  She was telling me that a couple of the older boys were being mean to Andrew and her son had stepped in and stood up for Andrew.  He is 11 and the other boys were 13/14.  He was telling his mom because he was very upset about how they were treating Andrew. I am very sad that boys in our homeschool group are being mean to other kids but it was a good learning opportunity for me with Andrew and the girls.  We talked about how nice it was of our friend to stand up for Andrew and how proud of him I was and so was his mom.  I asked the kids if they wanted to be the mean kids or the one that had stood up for someone else.  They all agreed to be the nice kid.

After lunch, everyone worked on school.  Cairn is working on decimals, the Renaissance still and recognizing alliteration, onomatopoeia and personification in poetry.  She was very excited about it because just last week she had attended a class on it online and so she breezed through the lesson because she already knew it.  I knew it was coming up so when I saw the class offering I made sure she went.  We had talked about these in the past too but they didn't seem to click until this time.  Cairn's writing is improving tremendously.  I don't know if she has gained some extra confidence or I finally broke through the barrier but she writes with ease now.  It used to be an hour fight to get her to write one sentence.  I think part of it is that I have her typing many of her answers in One Note so when she does have to write she hasn't used up all her writing energy.  The last 2 assignments I sent to her "teacher" for a grade she has gotten wonderful comments.

Skylar is finishing up her unit on addition.  We read the Elves and the Shoemaker today and she is doing better with listening and understanding the different elements of a story - setting, cause and effect, predicting. She is almost finished with her China lapbook.  She seems to really enjoy making the lapbooks as she gets right to work on it everyday.  So today, she learned how to write the numbers 1 through 10 in Chinese.

Andrew floored me last week with his recall of stories that I had read to Skylar and his understanding so I have him working with us when we do stories now.  He knew all the answers before Skylar so I had to have them take turns because Skylar was getting pretty frustrated but it also pushed her to pay attention because if she didn't know the answer she knew Andrew knew it and she didn't like that.  He also named all the letters on a box the other day.  I didn't know he knew some of the letters so today we started working on how to spell his name.  He thought it was pretty cool to see his name written and be able to name the letters.  As soon he can name them all in order, we will start working on writing them.  

Cairn has been working on different ensemble pieces for one of her songs for piano.  Today she wanted to start putting them together so she asked me to come play the triangle.  I had Andrew do it instead because he is learning how to read music too.  He got it right away.  He loved being able to play Cairn's music so then Skylar had to join in and she did really well too.  So the three of them played a piece together.  We will practice some more and then I will get it on video.  We just have to have Cairn slow down a little so they can keep up.  It was fun to watch them all play a piece of music together.

Ordinary Tuesday

Which really isn't all that bad.  I kind of enjoyed it.  The kids had talked me into letting them have some play time in the morning again and then starting school at 9 AM.  I went with it at first because I was able to get some computer work done or the kitchen cleaned up or something accomplished.  But when I called the kids in they always gave me a lot of this...

"aHHHHHHHHHH moooooooooommmmmmmmmmm, can't we have a feeeewwwww more minutes?"

"I didn't get to play as long as Cairn because I just woke up, can I play for 30 more minutes?"

"I am still hungry."

Today, for those kids that were awake, I said, "Wouldn't you like to get your schoolwork finished and then have the rest of the day of uninterrupted time to play or do what you want?"

They went for it and so we got right to work by 8:15 (for those awake).  Cairn got right to work on her math - today was congruent shapes.  Andrew and I read a book about the season Fall.  Skylar woke up around 9 and since we were all in the classroom she came right in and got straight to work.  In the end by 11:45, everyone was finished with their schoolwork.

Cairn started writing her Book Review, and learning  about an artist during the Renaissance, and working on some Spanish.  Andrew and Skylar read "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies" with me.  Andrew really listens during our stories.  He understands a lot of things that Skylar struggles with either because she isn't really listening or she just doesn't get it.  I didn't really like the story much, it was a little rough at one point.  I was just thankful no one asked me to explain it.  If you know the story, I am talking about the part where Mr. MeGregor throws the bag on the floor in such a manner that it would have hurt the Flopsy bunnies.

Skylar worked on writing her numbers to 20, drawing a picture of a royal family and piano practice.  Andrew started some phonics lessons today and he loved it, geometric shapes, drawing curvy lines and sorting in different ways (by color, size and shape).

After lunch we headed to Andrew's piano class.  He isn't too sure about the big kids in the class.  He keeps a wary eye on them but he does everything the teacher asks.  He jumps right in.  Today while I was testing Skylar on her different notes, he was shouting them across the room and he was right - even some that he doesn't officially know yet.  Well, we got into class and the teacher asked what a new note was and he knew it.  She was impressed.

After piano, we dropped off our items for consigning and then headed home in the rain for some playtime and I cooked dinner.  Everyone was happy with their playtime because I didn't bother them to get some schoolwork finished.  I made a big deal about it at bedtime.  "Didn't it feel good to get all your work finished and then you played all afternoon?"  I noticed how different their attitudes were when I asked the girls to come do something for Girl Scouts.  They didn't complain because I hadn't been on them all day about getting their schoolwork finished.  If I can keep up my part of the schedule by getting them on to school in the morning then maybe they will do their part and get it done.

Something new I am going to try.  I want to take a picture of the kids with a piece of schoolwork that they want to share on the blog.  Hope I remember.

 Skylar drew a royal family for her art lesson today.  She was working on adding detail so she added crowns and fancy clothes.

Andrew is showing his geometric shape matching.  He put circles inside the circle and squares inside the square.  Not only did this practice naming shapes, matching by shape but it was a good fine motor activity.  He had to peel off the stickers and place them inside the correct shape.

Cairn didn't want to do a picture today.

DIBELS, Piano class 1, Piano class 2

We are finally getting back into our routine.  Everyone was up, dressed and fed by 9 AM and ready for school.  Skylar got right to work on her Reading Eggs.  She has to do Reading Eggs for COVA so they set her up with a new login so I don't have to pay for it anymore.  She took the test yesterday to see where she needed to start.  She tested to Map 7 which is the beginning of 1st grade.  She was very proud.

Cairn got to work on her Roman house that she is building.  She did some research - online and in some library books.  She decided that she didn't need to create a plan she just started cutting boxes and getting paint out.  She kept yelling for help and I kept directing her back to research.

Andrew worked on fine motor skills by coloring, folding paper, cutting and drawing lines.

Skylar had a meeting with her teacher to do the beginning of the year assessment.  I typically like to participate in the assessments because I learn information that helps me guide my lesson plans.  Today - not so much valuable information.

First, she had to name the letters of the alphabet on a page.  They were in random order and included capitals and lowercase.  In one minute, she read 42 with no mistakes.  Then she had to identify the beginning sound of words that her teacher said.  She got 35 correct.  For math, she had to count as high as she could - 39.  Then read numbers - some were 2 digit - she usually can do it but today she seemed to stumble and since I couldn't give her any help she only got 16 right.  Then, she had to state the missing number in a sequence.  Considering we have NEVER worked on this - she didn't do very well and only got 2 right.  Finally, she had to state which number was larger between 2 different numbers.  She did well and got 16 right.  She is above the benchmark in reading and right at grade level for math.  I agree with the reading but not with the math.

After testing we went home for lunch and then headed to Andrew's make-up piano class since he missed Tuesdays class.

We went home after a quick stop at the store for some outside playtime, dinner and then Skylar and I went to her regularly scheduled piano class.

It surprised Skylar tonight how dark it was when we left class and especially when we got home and she went straight to bed.  We don't get home until a few minutes before 8.  Thursdays are our late days.

Our Scientists and piano player

I recently purchased Cairn a subscription to Magic School Bus Science Club.  We got our first shipment - Water!!

So we started the day out with science experiments.

We talked about what materials float and sink so we could start talking about submarines and why they can float and sink.

 Cairn hypothesized that the sub must have some plastic or wood built into it to make it float.

First, we filled the sink with water and emptied a sprite can.

We filled the can with water to make it sink (we could never get it to sink completely) and then we filled the can with air and made it float.

 Pretty cool!!  Now the littles were not interested at first, not until Cairn started blowing the air out and getting excited and then we had 2 extra kids!!  That's fine with me - then it was their choice and not mom made me.

After that experiment, we made solutions or tried to make solutions with oil, salt, sand, and food coloring.

After solutions, we learned about chromotography paper and capillary action.  We learned about the molecular structure of water - H2O and the periodic table.  Cairn was thrilled.  Then later in the day as I was going through her lessons I found a lesson that we covered - solids, liquids and gases.  All the kids learned about the states of matter and atoms today.

After science, we did some other schoolwork and then got ready for Andrew's 2nd piano class.  He was ready to go as soon as he woke up.

He had another great class.  He is very on task and he knows so much already.  After class, I was talking to his teacher about how his little fingers just can't maneuver on their own yet - he can't make his fingers move independently of each other and this is totally developmental - there is nothing wrong with him.  She said that will come in time and he may struggle with the first couple songs he plays on the piano but it will come.  She was actually more concerned that he couldn't sit through an entire class - he has blown her away because he can easily!!

After piano we returned home to finish up the schoolwork we didn't finish in the morning.  Since our science experiments took up so much time they didn't get much else finished plus Skylar didn't finish but one assignment at piano.  The girls take some of their book work to Andrew's piano class so they can sit out in the hallway and work quietly.  Cairn did a fantastic job of finishing most of her assignments and she even commented at home how good it felt to have spent her time wisely.  I also found out at class that there is another boy in class who homeschools (he is 4) and his 2 older sisters will be joining my girls in the hallway.  Oh boy - more friends!!

Tonight, I ran some more errands while the kids stayed home and played outside.  It is really getting to be fall because I remember the sun setting so late and tonight when I came home at 8 it was already SOOOO dark.

Here is our silly Jewel - she loves to cuddle when she sleeps.

Crazy Days

Just when you thought you had a handle on what was going on, you get a reminder that you don't have much control.

First, I am feeling only slightly better.  If I don't feel a whole lot better in the morning then I will call the doctor and see what they want to do.  I don't have my ultrasound until Wednesday.

We are still plugging away at school.

Andrew LOVES his piano homework.  He is working very hard on learning to draw his quarter notes.  He has a worksheet to complete plus he likes drawing them on the whiteboard.  We also practiced his numbers 1 through 5 since he will need those in music every week for a few months.  Then I pulled out some of his pre-junior worksheets and showed him how he was already clapping quarter notes and he thought that was pretty neat.  He also worked on tracing lines, cutting, pasting and folding.  I am building up those little muscles!!

Skylar worked on building numbers.  One of the trays I had out for Cairn was reading numbers to practice place value.  For example, they had a one thousand cube, one hundred flat, one ten rod and 5 ones.  After just telling her what every item was she was able to tell me the number.  She read 216 (I didn't even know she could read numbers in the hundreds), 1101 (didn't know she knew 1000's either).  First, she read the numbers, then I wrote them on the whiteboard and she matched them.  Then she wanted a challenge so I had her write the number down.  She solved 1223.  Her next unit in math is reading and writing numbers to 10 - she's got that down!!  She also worked on creating a picture with shapes, reading and understanding "Monday's Child", and took a unit test on calendars.

She also had her first piano class tonight at 6:30 PM - too late for me.  She did a fantastic job and she is so excited about her new piano books.  "They look like real music."

Cairn worked on finishing up her weather unit.  She put together several weather measuring instruments and put them outside - she made a wind vane, wind direction thingy, and a rain gauge.  In Literature, she learned about rhyming couplets and rhyme schemes.  I learned a lot today too.

After school (we weren't finished but we had an appointment) Andrew got his haircut and then we went shopping for Skylar's best friends' birthday.  Skylar was very thoughtful and looked at many items before deciding - she ended up getting several small items but she put thought into each one and could explain why she had chosen each gift.

We returned home for some lunch and then playtime with N and C which didn't last long because they had to leave for the airport.  They came back and we did crafts because it was too cool outside.  Skylar's friend came over so Skylar could give her her present and she loved it all.

We went to piano and boy is that class late.  When it is dark, I may fall asleep during class.  We got back and it was 8 PM which is bedtime.  Thursday will be a late night from now on.

100%...almost

Andrew woke up Friday and he was fine.  No more headache and never any vomiting and he is eating fine.  Thank goodness!  That was so super scary that it will be a long time before I forget not being able to wake one on my children.

We did school today.  Cairn wanted to take her spelling test first thing.  I, of course, was fine with that because she usually fights me on doing her spelling test so I was thrilled.

Now usually spelling tests are screaming, yelling fits of rage and that is just me.  Cairn is in tears, screaming she can't remember how to spell any of the words and begging for more study time.  I scream back that she has been studying all week so she either knows them or she doesn't - and she screams she doesn't know them.  We try to start the test and the first word brings on more tears (from both of us).  Sometimes we get through the whole test and some days if she can get a few words in a row right then I will pass on the rest and just move forward.

Today was a different story.

Cairn: Can I take my spelling test?

Me: Sure, get your spelling paper and pencil

Cairn: Ready

Me: Number one "though" - I didn't pick it, the test protocol did.

Cairn:....okay next

Me: Next?  You already spelled the word?  Let me see it.  ..... oh my gosh - it is right!! (I wasn't surprised it was right because she had been spelling it all week correctly - I was surprised she had gotten it down on the paper without complaint but I had to say something.)  Number two "export"

Cairn: okay ready

Me: Seriously?  Ok number three "prehistoric"

Cairn: ready

This is how the whole test went, I would say a word and she would spell it.  It was amazing and it was fun!  At the end of the test she had missed 2 - precaution and Maine - I hadn't included the state names in her card list - I figured she would learn how to spell those during our state study.  She got Mississippi right though.

I loved watching her eyes light up every time she would tell me next.  She knew she was doing well and she was very proud.  After spelling, we moved on to a different subject - usually we have to take a break so everyone can calm back down.  Such a little change for such LARGE rewards!!  The neatest thing about it - the confidence she has from spelling is transferring into other subjects - she is starting to talk to me about what she needs to be successful.  We are both learning so much about how she learns best.

This afternoon, Cairn had her last piano class for summer break and she had a solo on Malaguena.  She has been working really hard on it - she was in tears about it the first couple weeks but now she really likes the song.  The parents get to come in and listen to the solos, so we were in class when she played it.  She was first to play and it sounded good to me but then the next child played it and it sounded much different.  Cairn looks up at me from across the room with eyes that said, "that sounds different."  It happened again and again for each child that played.  When we got to the car, Cairn wanted to know why her song didn't sound like everyone else's.  I said it did they just played it faster and with a little more confidence.  She then said she wants to keep working on it this summer to make it sound like everyone else's song.  I was proud of her!

We didn't get to eat at 5 PM tonight since Cairn's class doesn't end until 5:15 and it was quite evident when we got home that 5 PM is dinner time.  They were all grouchy and irritable and mean to each other.