Math

Well so far, our schedule is working OK. Ballet is going well and K says she has fun in French class but doesn't like it. When I press the issue, she says, it's fine Mom. Piano lessons with Dad are going great. They do them once a week on Saturdays and she's moving right along. He teaches completely different than I would but she enjoys it. She practices during the week and even that is going well. She likes to play. Math class with me has been going OK too. We have the kindergarten math book from the public school so we do that and I usually take it to another level. I've been trying to incorporate more manipulating numbers and fun with numbers. I've realized that math is so very different from reading. I really have to take more time to teach her some math concepts instead of her just getting things. It's going to be a challenge to instill a love of math in her but that's my goal.

We missed our first Spanish lesson this week but I wasn't quite ready. We did a great art lesson. We signed up for American Girl Doll Book Club. We don't start until mid October. I think it could go either way so I'm anxious to see. We're reading Kirsten Learns a Lesson for October. It's a slow process, there's so much new stuff to explain. It's been great for learning history but I have to explain a lot. She reads some and then I just read her a chapter. We have to work on both sides, comprehension and reading. We decided not to do Chinese right now. It was too much having it right before her French class. Plus, we may start that as a family at home, I have to see if the library has rosetta stone available.

Gymnastics and ice skating start mid to late October so that's my next question. I'm really trying to decide about homeschooling her next semester. I could pull her out of Montessori and not start C in it. It would definitely save us money but I'm really torn on it. She loves school.

Week in review

I have not had time to write that much. This was the first full week (9:15-11:45) at K's Montessori school. She is reading her book from the library at school. The Green Toenails Gang (Olivia Sharp Agent for Secrets) She reads 2 chapters a day. I talked to the teacher about her reading. She tends to skips words and not sound out words she doesn't know. Instead she guesses what word it might be, says that and keeps reading. So, if you are just listening you may miss that she isn't reading the right words. D and I have been wondering if she is speed reading some. She skips the little words. Who knows? She's also been reading some good Scholastic books. She started French class on Thursday and she seemed to like that. There were 5 girls and they are all older. I'm not sure why French is OK but she doesn't want to do Spanish. I think she's just doing it to bug me. I have to start the Spanish at home next week. I need a good lesson plan for that. D did piano lessons with her today as part of his teaching music at home. It went pretty well. Now we just have to get her to practice on a daily basis. We have our Friday playdate and this time the girls were at our house. K loves this so I'm going to try to stick with it every Friday. I wish they lived in our neighborhood. We have a little girl the same age as K and her 3 year old sister come to play. We just lost the other 4.5 year old because of her preschool schedule. They ride bikes and play. I've been trying to find more little girl friends in our neighborhood but we seem to be surrounded by boys. We tried a playdate on Wednesday with a boy in our neighborhood that is the same age. He's been riding his bike without training wheels for a year so he made fun of K and her training wheels and they just play different. It went OK. K really needs to feel comfortable, lots of time with the kid and his Mom until she comes out of her shell. I don't know if I should pursue it or not. The Mom mentioned that her first grade daughter (who was in school at the time) might be a better fit. Just because they are both girls.

I'm still working on her schedule and it is almost October. I don't know why I'm struggling so much. I called about Daisy's (Girl Scouts) and they meet 2x a month and do a craft and talk. It would about 8 little girls. The meeting up is the hard part for me b/c of C's nap schedule. I'm not that excited about it.

C is such a crazy man.

K's schedule

I'm still trying to get her fall schedule in place. I haven't spent much time with C's schedule.
Here's what I have so far:
K's schedule:

Breakfast with Dad
Morning routine, calendar, clean room
Montessori school – 2.5 hours math, writing, reading, music, etc. check contract

Lunch

Outside of the home Classes
Monday – Ballet 45 minutes (afternoon)
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday – French 1 hour (afternoon)
Friday – playdate 3 hours (afternoon)
Saturday – piano lesson (1/2 hour, morning)
Sunday – Religion class 1 hour (morning)
American Girl Doll Book Club once a month

Possibilities
Daisy Girl Scouts
Chinese 1 hour Thur afternoon
Gymnastics 1 hour a week
Ice Skating

Homeschool Time
Reading aloud to her
Reading aloud to me
NEED memorization, narration
Writing – Pen pals (Carly, Jack, Ashley, Hailey, Sydney, Ryan) and Gigi, with writing we work on her printing, sometimes spelling (some days we work on the message together and she copies, other days I have her write and sound out words), creative concepts, geograhpy, computer skills, drawing, etc. I would like to start her writing in a journal
Math – I’m working on basic addition and subtraction with her, introducing math concepts, I need to work on this, I hate worksheets, not sure how to do this better, I need to incorporate money better
Art – was building some basic art concepts but lost track of it, need to join kids club art
Music – 30 minute music class at CHM, once a week music/piano lessons with Dad (I need to build the lesson plan for them)
Spanish - I switched to me teaching Spanish this fall b/c of the problems with a Spanish class
Science – nature programs Wash Township park district, Metroparks

Need history,

Field Trips
Children’s Theater (4x this year) with Grandma & Pa Pa
Art Museum
Children's Museum IMAX
other

Calming Down

I'm relaxing about my decision to just do Montessori. I'm happy that I chose to just do one b/c I love the time in the afternoon. K brought a book home today that was exactly right for her so that made me happy about the teachers at school. We're still struggling to build all her other activities.

C had his first day of school today and did great! He was there by himself for 2.5 hours and no crying, no problems. He really enjoyed it. It was sad for me to be by myself during the day (1.5 hours) without the two of them.

A Weekend Away

D and I went to his 15 year college reunion. We flew out Friday morning and came back Sunday. I didn't want to leave the kids and they didn't want us to go but I'm so glad we did. We had a good time, we needed some adult only time. They had a great time with my parents. It was very nice.

I took K to the Monday Spanish class today. 2 1st, 2 2nd and a 4th and 5th grader. She seemed to like it but still doesn't want to do Spanish. The director called me tonight and said I can't join that class because it is full. So I can do the 12:30-2 with some 2nd year kids and some beginner. It is a 4-6 year old class and hopefully the teacher can handle the spread. Or, I can go back to the Tuesday class with 3 9 year old boys and possibly an 8 year old girl will move in. Why is this so hard? I emailed a prof at the university nearby for just a tutor but she didn't know of anyone. I can't seem to find that. Am I not looking hard enough? living in the wrong area? something? I cannot figure out why K does not want to do Spanish. It seems like she just does not like that language. She keeps saying because there are boys in it but I don't think that is it. She just says that.

Angst of school

I have not been blogging for some time. We've been so busy. Labor Day weekend we went to my parents' house in TN. It is on a lake. K tried to water ski. She got up in a crouch position but wasn't able to stand. I did some wakeboarding. I really need to spend some time getting the hang of that. Of course I skiied some too.

I've been going back and forth on Montessori kindergarten and/or public kindergarten. I signed K up for aftn public and morning Montessori. She could do both and I wanted to compare the two but the logisitics are awful. 1/2 hour to pick her up, eat lunch and be out for the bus. I decided to just do the Montessori. I have such a hard time not doing the society thing. I'm not sure I could ever homeschool. I must not have enough confidence in myself to do that. I called today and officially dropped her out of public. I thought it would be OK for socialization and learning the rules of school but 2 Kindergartens a day was not really necessary. Plus I want my afternoons with her. I'd rather her study language than do 2 kindergartens.

Which brings me to my language dilemma once again. I moved her from the 4-6 year old group to a second year group. Today she had class with 3 9 year old boys. They are 3rd graders. I think she was bored in the 4-6 class but liked being with other girls her age. This class may have her learn more. They can all read and write so they'll move faster. K doesn't really want to do the class though. She has fun but when I ask her later she says she doesn't want to do it. She wants to do French now. I can try a different class next week but she has ballet on Mondays so I would have to try to rearrange. One class on Mondays has a 6 year old girl who is advanced. Should I insist she go to Spanish because in the long run it is better? How pushy should a parent be? Of course D wants her to start Chinese now too. I said we could do it as a family with Rosetta Stone maybe. I don't know much about it.