Writing

I am working on getting more writing into the kids' day.  It has been a struggle for some reason.  I have a curriculum that I love using with them.  I just need to get in the habit of doing it more often.

I love Brave Writer.  I purchased it a little over a year ago from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op at a great discount.  I have used some of the items off and on but when we were using COVA I had to do their stuff.  Now that we are free again, I have pulled my Braver Writer back out.

Today, Cairn did a freewrite about cats.  She wrote as much as she could about cats in 5 minutes.  I had read in Brave Writer to make sure they knew a lot about their topic before letting them write.  We talked about all the things she knew and then I let her at it.  She asked for a couple more minutes.

Then Skylar did a freewrite about cats.  We went through the same process as Cairn; talking about all the things she knew.  She really struggled with sounding out words to write them down.  I don't help with spelling, I expect them to sound out words and then when we correct, we find the correct spellings.  We will just have to work on sounding out to spell too.  She is so good at it for reading, I just assumed she could do it for spelling.

Andrew worked on making a grocery list for me.  I started writing the list, he just helped me with sounding out the words.  Then he wanted to write.  Check out his list.

School, piano and Slick Science

Cairn has had a complete turnaround in her behavior, attitude and sweetness.  I have been reading the book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and it is all small stuff to her at night before bed for several days.  I read one section a night.  Sometimes we discuss and sometimes I just let her think it over.  Like tonight, we read, "Choose your battles wisely."  (Good parenting advice too.)  We were able to come up with several examples of when she makes a big deal out of something a sibling did that could have been ignored.

Anyway, she has been exceptionally kind to her brother, she has completed her schoolwork with little prompting and her attitude has just been joyful.  Even her piano teacher commented on her behavior and attitude in class today.  It was Andrew's class but she always checks in on Cairn after the weekend.  Cairn has her class on Friday so we have had 4 days to practice her homework so she asks if Cairn has any questions.  Then today, after I said we were doing good she said that she had noticed that Cairn has a great attitude in class and she can tell she has more confidence in her piano skills these days.

Speaking of Andrew's piano class - he did great again today.  He was on task, followed directions and is really starting to speak up in class.  Even when the teacher doesn't hear him answer correctly, I do and he gets 90% of the questions right.  He understands rhythm and can clap his notes very well.

In school, Cairn worked on learning about triangles (acute, obtuse, right and equilateral, scalene and isoclese.  She loved it because she is so visual that she can see all those and understand.  She completed her math assignment completely on her own after a 5 minute talk and watching a video from Khan Academy (thanks again, Cappy).  She started a new History unit on the Renaissance, read about Louis Pasteur and played a spelling game, The Great Word Race.

Everyone got to play actually.  I put the words together for Andrew and then I slowly said their sounds he had guessed the word.  This is a higher level skill for him.  You really have to phonetic awareness to hear the words.  For example,  I would say, /s/......../i/ (short i)....../t/.  He loved it.  For Skylar, I would give her a chance to find a word and if she couldn't, I would put a word together and she would read it.  Cairn had to do it all on her own and you know what?  She even found some more difficult words - suit, feet - instead of just sit or get.  Cairn even had a great attitude and didn't complain about me helping the littles, she seemed to understand I was teaching them at their level.  We had a great time playing for 30 minutes.

Skylar worked on Reading Eggs, counting to 20, vocabulary words for family and friends and handwriting.

Andrew worked on counting to 10 and recognizing that even when you move the items around it is still the same number.  For example, I laid his number line on the floor and we counted white beads.  We would put on bead on each number, then we would talk about how many we had.  Then I would take them off the board and ask how many there were now?  It took one time for him to realize that the number didn't change.  The second time, we put them on the number line, took them off and then I would put them into different shapes or organize them in different patterns and he got it - the number is still the same.  He was proud.  He also worked on cutting, tracing lines, folding and puzzles.

After school, Cairn had a Slick Science class at the local library and they learned about rocks.  I wish I could have stayed in the class with her but I had to take the other 2 out.  She made a fossil, a model of the earth out of clay with a core, mantle and crust.  She also glued different types of rocks onto a sheet of paper that was labeled.  The librarian gave everyone a geode to take home to break open too.

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.

Park, it's working and art show

Yesterday, I explained to Cairn how we were going to do spelling using a visual spatial technique - draw a picture that represents the word to her. I have no control or input in her picture.  It has to be completely hers.  She worked on a couple yesterday and quickly learned how to spell them.  So today, she worked on some more words - in total today she did 15 cards.  She LOVES IT - she is constantly asking me to quiz her.  While she was doing her cards I was researching more techniques to use and they said spelling the words backwards too is very beneficial to visual spatial learners.  So I turned to Cairn and asked her to spell one of her words that I knew she had done a card for and asked her to spell it backwards.  She did it without batting an eye.  She looked so proud afterwards.

 Here are some of her cards.  For some of her words that we didn't know the definition or I couldn't come with a good definition for her we would look them up online and she would figure out a picture.  We couldn't come up with any picture for "though" and I remembered reading about breaking up words into their parts, highlighting vowels vs. consonants, so I wrote "though" in different colors highlighting the digraphs and the vowel blends - she can spell it now and it hear it spell it outloud she spells it broken into the different colors.

 This morning before school and before the rain started we rode our bikes to a new park.  Andrew rides in the chariot behind me while the girls ride their bikes.  As soon as we get to the park, Andrew jumps on Skylar's bike and starts practicing.  He loves to ride.

 We put some chalk in the chariot and before we left we did some review - Skylar musical notes and beats and for Andrew his letters and numbers.  I didn't get a chance to do anything with Cairn because we had to get home.

 At home, we made popcorn for snack/lunch and then made new play-doh.  Andrew's speech therapist made him some when he graduated and she adds a packet of jello to make the color and make it smell good.  So we tried it today - we love it!!

On Wednesdays, we empty the trashcans and cat litter buckets before Dad gets home so he can put the trash out at night.  As usual, we had done the trash but tonight we had to leave for the Art Show.  The garage smelled super super bad since it had been warm lately.  We had to prepare ourselves to get into the car.

READY!

 We went to the Wildlife Experience tonight for a homeschoolers art exhibit.  Both of the girls had paintings in the exhibit and they both received certificates.

 Dad came too to see the show.

Dinner time has been a struggle for us for quite some time.  The kids start bugging me for snacks around 4:30 and then they get grouchy, irritable and just obnoxious by dinner.  Finally, Dad and I talked and we decided to have the kids eat earlier so tonight we moved dinner from 6 PM to 5 PM.  Oh boy, did that make a huge difference.  They all were happy throughout the afternoon, they sat down and ate dinner without arguing or meanness.  They all finished their dinners within a reasonable amount of time and it was relaxing.  We did go out for the art show and when we came back they were all hungry again.  They of course wanted more dessert but I said more dinner first and they came up with cereal.  I don't care - I just liked them eating a really good dinner without much fuss.  Dinner will be served at 5 PM now!!