Thursday November 28

Today was one if those fun learning days, where you do one thing which leads to another and another learning experience. 

We started with breakfast table math, we have been working on getting to 10.  So asking questions like, if you have 23 how many to get to 30.  If you have 64 how many more to 70.   I think this is really working and Nathan and Genevieve are truly understanding how to manipulate numbers!  And they are doing this all in their heads.  I think tomorow I may give them a worksheet that we were working on before just so they can see how much easier it is for them to solve the equations.  

Then we used Nathan's CD player to listen to the story if the world. Thanks Rachel for sending this to us!  I had already read the introduction, but we listened to it again, I let the kids play minecraft when we were listening to it, as they weren't really wanting to do school.  But by the time we got to chapter 1 the iPads were put down and they were intently listening to the story.  We then had about a half hour discussion on the chapter.  We then went to our maps to try and find the Fertile Crescent, I thought it was in Egypt! It's not its in present day turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait.   How did I grow up not knowing this :)

Here's a picture if our map

So after looking at a present day map we coloured a map of the Fertile Crescent.  I thought this was actually a good activity as the map was hard to decipher before we coloured it, it was then easier to compare to a present map. 

This one is Nathan's, I had coloured the blue for him, then he got interested in it, he coloured the Fertile Crescent, his hand hurt after that so he said, I think I should stop now. It was awesome how he said it, he wasn't frustrated at not being able to complete it, and knew his limitations.  Last year in school he had tons of colouring like this and it used to come home for homework, he would get so frustrated.  I used to tell him he could let Gigi do his homework for him.  I can't imagine how frustrating school was for him

Next activity was to colour this

Instead if colouring we decided to talk about what it was.  We talked that the shanduf is actually a lever that was used to water the farmland. We then had a discussion on levers, which dad joined in and discussed how he uses levers at work. We got out our book on how machines work book and read up on levers.  The book even talks about the shanduf. 

 

Then we built a lever and tested it out. We talked about the lever they have a science world and how you can lift the big elephant if you are farther away from the fulcrum.  

It's now recess lunch time, not sure what else we will do today, but so far the day has been a good one for learning!   I love days like this!

Tuesday November 26

Well daddy came home last night, so we had time with him in the morning.  We read another chapter in the lion the witch and the wardrobe. 

We went to art class, then piano.  Then Nathan and Genevieve spent the rest of the afternoon at grandma and grandpas.  

Monday 25

Today we went to mrs shulbas house for our author if the month party.  Genevieve had a good time making and decorating cookies, reading some stories, learning new vocabulary words and hanging out with some friends.  Genevieve's favorite books she read by this author were the little pea series, she thought they were pretty funny, she liked the play on words. She did not like the wumbers book as I think to her the book must have seemed crazy!  Numbers can not be used in words :)

Here is a picture of the Amy Rosenthal books Genevieve read this month.  We had never read any of her books, I'm sure Nathan would have really enjoyed these when he was younger. 

So after we went home, played some math and had piano practice.  

Friday

Math at breakfast, occupational therapy, Gigi did math and linkology while Nathan did ot.  

And the lion witch and wardrobe play.  Nathan and Genevieve had a good time but they were definitely not enthused about it.  It was a 2 person play with no scene changes.  Nathan said it felt like an expensive way to read the book.  I had mentioned that it followed the book almost to the letter, he said that's what he didn't like. He said he likes when they have to change things, this way just seemed more like reading the book then watching it happen.  We talked a lot about it at intermission.  Nathan and Genevieve noticed a few discrepancies, between the play and the book.  

All in all a good experience and a great discussion starter.  Genevieve thought they portrayed mr tumnis as being too silly, she didn't feel that he seemed silly or stupid in the book, it was not something I had picked up on and it was interesting to hear her support her point of view. 

Nathan was not feeling the greatest today either.  And it is uncomfortable for him to sit in the seats, he does not have support for his neck, anything I tried did not work for him.  Maybe he just didn't want to seem weird having a coat as a pillow etc.  but we popped Humpty Dumpty's shoulders back in during intermission and I massaged a few areas and he did much better during the second half.  

Here are a few pics

Nathan says your not getting a serious picture from me, I wanted him to put his arm around his sister, yeah right!

What I'm eating

I'll pose pretty mommy :). And look I'm wearing the perfect fur coat to go see Narnia in!

Come on Nathan lets get a real picture with your mom

Ok seriously time to give me back the camera

Thursday

Thursday

We went to the Vancouver symphony, so much fun!   I am definitely looking forward to going again.  Nathan and Genevieve had never seen a symphony performance before, we have been to a the nutcracker before and checked out the pit, but it was much different seeing them.  My only complaint was it was a little short!   I think it was just over an hour, I know Nate and Gigi would have liked more.  The performance was all about dance music, we learned a little about various composers thru the ages.  This was great as we do look up the composers if they are listed in Nathan and Genevieve's piano music.  I think Nathan and Genevieve were surprised at how many of the pieces of music the recognized.   

After the vso we went walking in search of food, we ended up at the Vancouver public library.  We decided to go in and check it out, they thought the building was cool, you were inside but it felt like you were outside on a street!  We went in and checked out the kids section, an entire floor!   Nathan and Gigi spent about 1/2 hour just wandering looking at the books.  Poor Nathan thought he was going to get lost, I gave him a spot to go to if he got lost, he went there once and waited I'm sure 30 sec before he saw me, mom I was looking for you, oh were you lost :).  And the resource section is the size of our library entire kids section.  

We talked to the librarian and she told us the library is seven stories, and told us we should go check out the library sorter, so that's what we did. 

Could you imagine working here!   They all waved at Nate and Gigi who watched it seemed like forever.  

So after a steamed milk from starbucks we continued our search for food,   We walked a LOT!   Had some food and home we came.  

A very good day.  And we also did math along the way.  

Wednesday nov 20

What have we been up to.  

Monday not much, had an appointment with Nathan's teacher, math games, piano, and Narnia

Tuesday art lesson, piano, math games, as well as discussions on math and oral math questions.  And lots of outdoor fun.  We decorated our outside tree.  

Nathan and Genevieve helped me for about 45 minutes, than holding the ladder and untangling lights was boring so scooter riding and soccer practice it was.  

Wednesday

I had a drs appt 1st thing this am, so the kids packed done books and games to read and play.  Genevieve read kids can book of Canadian geography.  Nathan read diary of a wimpy kid

We then went right to physio, where Nathan had one of his weird events, getting out of the car.  He lost sight in both his eyes at the same time, he said it was black circles constricting closing how much he could see.  His stomach felt weird when this happened as well.  This occurred right when he was getting out of his door, of course his door was along traffic.  This fact made me a little nervous, thinking about what could have happened, he was able to remain standing by leaning against the car, and it  lasted less than a minute.  I turned around to look for him and he wasn't there.  

So physio did a lighter day today, we went home he wanted to practice piano, fought Gigi over wanting to play the piano.  And he had enough energy for hockey. 

Gigi playing games waiting for Nathan to finish. 

This game was scrabble junior, they then played snap it up math game. 

Tuesday November 12

Today hmmm

We had a nice big breakfast as we don't get home until 1:30 on Tuesdays.   

Then the kids practiced piano. 

Art lessons

A stop at the library 

Piano lessons.  I had planned on going grocery shopping while Nathan and Gigi had their lessons but as we were leaving the house Nathan says where your bag of math games, I want to play with you first.  So I went and got them.  This meant I had to shop after piano with hungry kids but it worked

We got home later because of the shopping and I was tired.  

I put in a movie about Scotland as Nathan is supposed to do a presentation at school on Friday.  We then attempted to read ( Nathan about Scotland).  Genevieve the other if the month and cats.  I tried to help Nathan hot down some important points in Scotland, this was slightly tortuous for us both grrr.  He is still not himself.  

Ohhh yesterday before bed and yesterday afternoon after I posted we did some more homeschooling.  Genevieve drew a self portrait, and made a snowflake snowman.  And then just before bed we read 2 chapters in Narnia.  

Friday November 8

Well I woke up today not being able to move my arms grrr.   I slept with my arms above my head, typically if this happens it's only 1 arm and I can use my other to move.  But no I couldn't move either hand, thankfully I am flexible and my feet still worked.  It took about an hour to regain feeling in my left arm and over 2 hours in my right... So we didn't go to tla this morning.  

So today we didn't do a lot school wise.  Nathan and I did flash card math.  I also got Nathan to count by 2 starting with 1 while he's playing mini hockey.  I would like to see both kids be able to really understand how to work numbers before we move on in math.  

Genevieve and I played an awesome new math game I bought while Nathan was at ot.  It's called mathological liar, Gigi loved it. 

On the backside if the cards is a mystery you have to solve.  Each mystery has 4 suspect cards.  You have to read the cards and figure out if they make sense.  If they are correct they didn't do it.  If there is a mistake, they did it. 

Here are 4 suspect cards, this was an easier puzzle to solve.  

What a fun way to do math, it involves a lot if reading and comprehension to do as well.  So this is probably not a good fit for a struggling reader.  I would think this may take the anxiety of word problems away from some kids though.  

Not sure what else we will do today...

Nate and Gigi practiced piano already and we went on YouTube and listened to different styles if music, opera, classic and boys choir.  Nathan and Genevieve enjoyed this. 

Monday November 11

We started the day off decorating a folder for our lion the witch and the wardrobe unit study.  I decided that we should have a folder as I'm pretty bad at saving things we've done.  I guess I should save them until at least we have our teacher conferences :)

Here is Gigi's decorated

We then finished activities from last weeks unit 7&8.  We made some snowflakes we have in jars with water and borax hoping to grow crystals. 

Nathan played mathological liar and liked it.  And then Genevieve Nathan and I played 7 ate 9.  The last game is good as it reinforced what I was telling them about quickly adding, and that it is important to be able to skip count forward and back on both even and odd numbers quickly.  I have been getting them to work on skip counting odd numbers.  I will work on skip counting down soon.  I should say they know how to do this but I think they have to think about it too much, even numbers are much easier for both of them.  

Piano practice

And yeah we started story of the world. We did the intro chapter today, discussing our own history.  We also discussed the importance of historians and archeologists in studying history.  

So even though we are making progress in our homeschool lessons, I still feel we have a ways to go, we have so much to learn and do.  I know for our family we need to ease into this but it is so hard to not jump in and do everything.  Nathan was not having a great day, yesterday he was soooo hyper, and today he was anxious and moody.  I started him on his adrenal pills, which I should have yesterday noticed the adrenal fatigue, but I didn't and today I think he crashed.   I know on days like today he would not have retained anything at school and I would have picked him up in an emotion mess, but still it is hard to feel good about not accomplishing the goals I set for today.  

Perhaps I am expecting us to get more done in a day then we can at this point.  I find the transitions the hardest time wasters in our house.  It takes time to get them back on track to what we are doing.  I think what takes us two hours would take others one hour to complete. 

This is a picture of my wish for a schedule, or at least the start, so much more to add in.  But I would at least like to start following this schedule. 

Wednesday November 7

Well the days continue to get easier for our homeschooling!

Both Nathan and Genevieve practiced piano.  Nathan ate 7 bowls of oatmeal while Gigi practiced!   Good thing I made a very big pot of oatmeal!   While Nathan practiced Genevieve wanted to do science, so she grabbed a bin we have of electrical components, and powered up a light which she took into to Nathan so he could see his music better :)

Genevieve than practiced a bit more piano while Nathan read a book about matter.  He enjoyed the book, as he kept on grabbing me so he could explain what he was learning.  He read a few pages and bookmarked it for later.  

Next we worked on some worksheets from Narnia.  We then read 2 chapters in Narnia.   Unfortunately poor Nathan could not get comfortable his neck was aching.  We finally went up to my bed which was more comfortable.  Poor guy. They are playing mini hockey for a break right now, then it's bath time and on to cheer practice.  I hope to work on some math with Nathan when Genevieve is at cheer.  

It took us a long time to accomplish what we did today as the kids were excited about learning, we had many tangents we went on and I feel if Nathan was feeling better we could have accomplished more.  Poor Nate was a little sad, he said I'm finally excited and want to learn, and now I don't feel well!

I am sure we will have lots if ups and downs but I hope we can keep done of the excitement for learning!

Gigi said she was doing science experiments with jars :)

Wednesday November 6

Wednesdays are always so busy, in a good way though.  

We had a nice breakfast again as on the days we are out I know they need to eat week in the morning. We then snuggled up on the couch and read chapters 5&6 in the lion the witch and the wardrobe.  We answered the questions and discussed the chapters.  Nathan and Genevieve are loving this time reading this book together.   

Nathan just wanted to stay home today and do schoolwork, but we had to go to physio.  Nathan stayed up late last night to finish a book.  I gave him some Tylenol before we left the house which helped.  I felt bad for forcing him to keep going but I know he needs to do it.  It is amazing how much our bodies can hurt on a poor nights sleep.  

Genevieve has started some music lessons while Nathan is at physio, his physiotherapists daughter is a music therapist and piano teacher.  Genevieve has been great the last six months, but I don't think it's fair for her to have to sit for an hour twice a week and wait for Nathan's therapies.  She had a fantastic time today!  She sang, she played some piano, and she had fun plaing on the piano making up songs with her teacher playing duets Gigi was making up.  Genevieve was thrilled with her day!  It was much more fun than watching Nathan.  

After physio we came home for a quick lunch and I convinced Nathan to go to hockey.  I bought a book written by an eds expert for physiotherapists, in this book it talked about the ups and downs of the edser.  I think it's important to stay balanced, if we had done nothing today either Thursday it Friday he would be well enough to overextend himself then feel terrible the next day.  So we still completed most scheduled activities today, but the kids were resting in their beds by 5:30 and just asleep now at 8.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a back to normal day.  The book talked about the importance of balancing and avoiding the ups and downs, I have seen this in myself many times I feel great and decide to power wash the entire deck, I then can't get out of bed for 3 days. 

So I decided to skip tayoisi choir today and instead have an early dinner early bed.  Oh we practiced piano at our lunch break too.  Nathan is able to practice so much better directly after physio.  

Here's a picture of Genevieve skating with grandpa today.  He looks a little wobbly in this picture but he was being goofy.  Gigi sure enjoyed having her grandpa come out and skate with her. 

Tuesday November 5

We had a later start today so we started with piano practice after a nice breakfast.  

Math practice. 

Art class at 10:30-1130.  

Piano practice/ more math practice

Play date with friends

I like Tuesdays and love art class, but I think we have to give it up after this session.  I think our week would be easier to handle having an extra morning with school work.  If we dropped art we could stay home until 11:30.  Perfect amount if time to get the necessities accomplished. 

Monday November 4

Today we read chapter 3&4 of the lion the witch and the wardrobe.   We are working with the beyond the page curriculum guide and I like it so far.  We are having some great discussions and they are both engaging in talking about the book. I purchased the online version so we can input the answers right on the computer and then print the page.  Nathan likes this much better no writting.  

We then played some math games.   

Piano practice for both of them was next.    It is helping Nathan to engage his muscles before he attempts to play piano.  

Nathan was completely wiggly today, almost anxious so I decided to leave it at this for today.  

I am thinking that we need to come up with fun exercises to do everyday several times a day, as he seems to be able to sit better when he has done something physical beforehand.  I happened to bump into his it from last year, and she mentioned perhaps he needs that physical feeling, she suggested a rebounder to use at home.  We were watching him play soccer and he definitely like the physical aspect if soccer.  He also loves physiotherapy.  He is also a very touchy cuddly guy.  So she was also thinking maybe he craves the physical touch to help him realize where his body parts are.  

So tomorrow hopefully we will complete chapter 5&6.  And I think we are ready to start both grammer and story of the world.  I have to get a better idea of what days work for doing what