Saturday, February 24, 2007
Day with Grandma & Pap
The kids spent yesterday with Grandma and Pap. D and I had a dinner last night so I took them out in the afternoon. K has been learning sewing and I think an intro to knitting with Grandma. Last night they were working on cross stitch. I'm so glad K has the opportunity to learn and appreciate all these things with Grandma. Grandma makes dresses and PJs and they are K's most prized clothes b/c they are homemade. K takes the time to wear clothes Grandma made whenever she is going to see Grandma. Last night she wore the flannel dress PJs that Grandma made her. They are so cute. For Christmas this year Grandma made matching dresses for all her granddaughters (there are 6 but she didn't do one for the newborn so just 5) The girl cousins at Christmas were 7, 6, 5, 4, 2 and 4 months. I have to find the picture of that and post it here.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Sushi
I made sushi for dinner tonight. C was asleep when we had to leave for K's French class. He transferred OK so I just dropped her off today and rode around. I got the car washed and then decided I could run in and out of the specialty fish shop. They had sushi grade tuna so I got some. I was going to cook it tomorrow b/c of Lent. I forgot we had plans tomorrow for dinner so I switched and made sushi tonight. I made it last year with Erika (Japanese exchange student) and I took a sushi class last year. The rice is the hardest part. The family loved it! It wasn't perfect. Since I didn't plan for it, I didn't have all the ingredients and I couldn't make spicy tuna rolls, . But my tuna rolls turned out OK. I had nori and wasabi.
Before we left for French, K told me they are going to do a recital. She doesn't want to go on stage so she wants to quit French. I reminded her of how much fun she had on stage at her ballet recital. Two answers, no friends there and she knew ballet much better than she knows French. Both are probably true. She started ballet late last year and didn't really know that many girls in the class. And, the French class is a stretch for her. I can't decide if she's learning or not. A lot of the girls in the class are older and have been taking French for awhile. So, I think she either is learning a lot or is just skating along, following their lead but not really learning French. I'll have to do some things here at home to figure it out.
Before we left for French, K told me they are going to do a recital. She doesn't want to go on stage so she wants to quit French. I reminded her of how much fun she had on stage at her ballet recital. Two answers, no friends there and she knew ballet much better than she knows French. Both are probably true. She started ballet late last year and didn't really know that many girls in the class. And, the French class is a stretch for her. I can't decide if she's learning or not. A lot of the girls in the class are older and have been taking French for awhile. So, I think she either is learning a lot or is just skating along, following their lead but not really learning French. I'll have to do some things here at home to figure it out.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Another day off
No school today because of the ice and fog! C said that's OK we can just homeschool. That was a nice thing for me to hear! We did music and math. K is still working on fractions. C is working on recognizing and writing 1-10. We did a preschool math workbook. He likes dot to dot and they really helps to learn numbers.
We went to visit Gigi (great grandma) today. They had fun, dancing and putting on a show for her. I think she enjoyed the visit but after an hour she was ready for us to leave. They are so loud and have so much energy.
We went to visit Gigi (great grandma) today. They had fun, dancing and putting on a show for her. I think she enjoyed the visit but after an hour she was ready for us to leave. They are so loud and have so much energy.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
More Books
I forgot to mention that I found a great Music book for K & C. It is Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! . The kids are really enjoying it. It has a CD with it to listen to the different instruments in the orchestra and songs from composers. So far, we've been focusing on the instruments. It's easier for C. I may spend more time on the composers with K.
K said she was interested in taking violin lessons. I've been asking her about taking violin lessons but she's been doing piano. Piano has not been going well since December so I thought maybe I'd make a switch. I'm not sure. This is the debate. D's aunt had 4 kids and she told me she required them all to take piano from 1st through 8th grade. They could add another instrument too but they had to do piano. She said it was as important as reading or math to her and she stuck by it. It does teach discipline. They are all 4 very musical now, maybe they would have been even without the piano lessons. I wonder if I should stick to piano and be stricter about practicing. Part of the problem is D is the teacher and if K is not interested in doing class on Saturday, he lets it go. I think she wants to do class but like everything else playing with Daddy would be more fun. So, should I give up on D teaching her and enroll her in piano lessons before I take the step of violin lessons? K has some friends taking violin so I know some violin teachers that are supposed to be very good but I don't know any piano. As with everything else, we are already overbooked and this is with just 1/2 day Kindergarten. I'm not sure how to manage it all next fall. I have to prioritize.
K also checked out 4 books on her card. Mirette on the Highwire , Happy Birthday, Josefina!: A Springtime Story , The Hurricane Mystery (Boxcar Children Mysteries) and a book by Cynthia Rylant. These are from 4 different areas of the library so she could learn more about the areas. I let her make the choices. The Josefina book is for March for book club.
K said she was interested in taking violin lessons. I've been asking her about taking violin lessons but she's been doing piano. Piano has not been going well since December so I thought maybe I'd make a switch. I'm not sure. This is the debate. D's aunt had 4 kids and she told me she required them all to take piano from 1st through 8th grade. They could add another instrument too but they had to do piano. She said it was as important as reading or math to her and she stuck by it. It does teach discipline. They are all 4 very musical now, maybe they would have been even without the piano lessons. I wonder if I should stick to piano and be stricter about practicing. Part of the problem is D is the teacher and if K is not interested in doing class on Saturday, he lets it go. I think she wants to do class but like everything else playing with Daddy would be more fun. So, should I give up on D teaching her and enroll her in piano lessons before I take the step of violin lessons? K has some friends taking violin so I know some violin teachers that are supposed to be very good but I don't know any piano. As with everything else, we are already overbooked and this is with just 1/2 day Kindergarten. I'm not sure how to manage it all next fall. I have to prioritize.
K also checked out 4 books on her card. Mirette on the Highwire , Happy Birthday, Josefina!: A Springtime Story , The Hurricane Mystery (Boxcar Children Mysteries) and a book by Cynthia Rylant. These are from 4 different areas of the library so she could learn more about the areas. I let her make the choices. The Josefina book is for March for book club.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
My books
The next book for my book club is Patty Jane's House of Curl This is supposed to be a light read since we just read Snow. We missed the discussion of Snow because of the snow. How ironic. We're going to talk about both books in March.
K and I went to the library yesterday. Since it was just the two of us, I had more time to explore. I got Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk I read a review of this book and it sounded very interesting so I'll have to see how it is. I was surprised the library had it. I also got a cook book by Rachel Ray and 2 multiplication books for K. I also spent time showing K where her books are shelved. We found where Caldecott and Newberry award winning books are kept. We went through where American Girl series are and where books with CDs are. K & C both love books with CDs now. C loves to listen to them when he goes to bed. He's been listening to Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains . He loves this book/CD.
K and I went to the library yesterday. Since it was just the two of us, I had more time to explore. I got Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk I read a review of this book and it sounded very interesting so I'll have to see how it is. I was surprised the library had it. I also got a cook book by Rachel Ray and 2 multiplication books for K. I also spent time showing K where her books are shelved. We found where Caldecott and Newberry award winning books are kept. We went through where American Girl series are and where books with CDs are. K & C both love books with CDs now. C loves to listen to them when he goes to bed. He's been listening to Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains . He loves this book/CD.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Books
Valentine's Day went pretty well although school was canceled so they did not have their party. School was out T, W, Th of this week because of the snow. Our road is still covered. They are having the party on Tuesday b/c Monday is a holiday. K and C each made 27 Valentines for the party. K made 27 individual ones. She is very into "olive you" for I love you. It's from her Valentines joke book. Some of hers are very long and pretty. For C, I cut out hearts and he glued them to a card. I couldn't get him to write his name 27 times but he did write it for special cards. Then, we had a search and find for their Valentines. I had cut out hearts and put clues on them and hid them through the house. Their big Valentine and piece of candy were on their pillows. They loved it. I wrote some riddles for K and she did a good job solving them.
Since we had no school on Wednesday we made pizzelles. We had them set up for one per bag to take to school but now with the party moved to Tuesday we gave them to K's French class, our friends, Grandma & Pap and ate some! They were very good. I need to make them more often.
For V Day their other grandparents sent a package. A Thomas book for C and a Junie B. Jones Valentine book for K. What to do? I got a Junie B. last year at the library. I read the first chapter to her and then put it away. Of course she started saying "my stupid brother". It was a disaster. So I banned them for now. I think when she's older she can look at them and point out the grammatical errors and the wrong way to talk but last year she was definitely impressionable and she's trying to learn correct grammar. Last month Grandma took them to B&N and bought K Captain Underpants. I put it up and then K was asked so how did you like that book? I'm not sure what to do. I know Gma means well but just has not read the books. I gave Gma a hard time about Captain Underpants but I can better understand Junie B. Those books are everywhere and even in the schools. I'm going to let K read this Junie B and just talk to her about it. I think she may be old enough to understand it now. But why waste time on those books when she has some great books waiting to be read? She's reading Charlotte's Web now and the writing is SO much better. We've been doing vocabulary from that book and looking for compound words. She even did a mid book summary and speech on the book. Why isn't it called Wilbur since he's the main character she asks? I'm afraid of the answer when she gets to the end.
Since we had no school on Wednesday we made pizzelles. We had them set up for one per bag to take to school but now with the party moved to Tuesday we gave them to K's French class, our friends, Grandma & Pap and ate some! They were very good. I need to make them more often.
For V Day their other grandparents sent a package. A Thomas book for C and a Junie B. Jones Valentine book for K. What to do? I got a Junie B. last year at the library. I read the first chapter to her and then put it away. Of course she started saying "my stupid brother". It was a disaster. So I banned them for now. I think when she's older she can look at them and point out the grammatical errors and the wrong way to talk but last year she was definitely impressionable and she's trying to learn correct grammar. Last month Grandma took them to B&N and bought K Captain Underpants. I put it up and then K was asked so how did you like that book? I'm not sure what to do. I know Gma means well but just has not read the books. I gave Gma a hard time about Captain Underpants but I can better understand Junie B. Those books are everywhere and even in the schools. I'm going to let K read this Junie B and just talk to her about it. I think she may be old enough to understand it now. But why waste time on those books when she has some great books waiting to be read? She's reading Charlotte's Web now and the writing is SO much better. We've been doing vocabulary from that book and looking for compound words. She even did a mid book summary and speech on the book. Why isn't it called Wilbur since he's the main character she asks? I'm afraid of the answer when she gets to the end.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Ballet Observation
Today was K's ballet observation day. We were able to go in and sit and watch the class. Usually the blinds are closed so you have no idea what they are doing. They have been learning a lot. They went through the different positions and moves they are learning. K is doing pretty well. She is having fun and that is what is important. C and I were the only ones there. D couldn't make it and both sets of grandparents are on vacation. This was a disappointment for K but the recital is coming soon and I'm sure they will all be there.
Friday, February 09, 2007
K's Blog
Today I showed K the blog I set up for her last July. She was very interested at first but then I spent too much time working on getting things set right and she lost interest in it. She may be too young for this. She has really enjoyed having her own email address and emailing C's godfather and her friends so I thought she might like this too.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Snow
Well, K & C have been off school all week. Monday and Tuesday the schools were closed because of the cold - it was in the single digits most of the day. Then Tuesday around noon the snow came in. It kept coming until around 7 p.m. so they were off today too. We have about 5 inches on the ground. We played in the snow but it is still very cold. C gets cold easily.
So, 3 days in the house all day is exhausting.
I've been reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk for book club. It is a very appropriate time of year to read it since it is snowing in both places. It's an intersesting book. I'm ready to hear some other opinions about the writing style. Book Club is Tuesday so I have to focus on finishing it. The main character is a poet and we've been talking about poetry at home. K wrote a poem the other day. We were working on rhyming poems. There's a poetry contest coming up and I thought maybe it would give her an incentive to work on her poems. I haven't told her about the contest yet, I'm not sure she's interested. I wanted to see if she would get interested in writing more poems first.
So, 3 days in the house all day is exhausting.
I've been reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk for book club. It is a very appropriate time of year to read it since it is snowing in both places. It's an intersesting book. I'm ready to hear some other opinions about the writing style. Book Club is Tuesday so I have to focus on finishing it. The main character is a poet and we've been talking about poetry at home. K wrote a poem the other day. We were working on rhyming poems. There's a poetry contest coming up and I thought maybe it would give her an incentive to work on her poems. I haven't told her about the contest yet, I'm not sure she's interested. I wanted to see if she would get interested in writing more poems first.
Friday, February 02, 2007
A day in the life
Today
Breakfast, dress, calendar (since it's Groundhog Day, we turned on the TV and found out no shadow and spring is coming!) Of course it is snowing and cold here today. K asked to go visit Chicago b/c they were talking about it on the news (hmm...that's an idea)
K School
C Work on drawing and writing 45 minutes, we worked on birthday cards, he's doing a great job drawing faces now, even adding some eyelashes today. He still gets frustrated easily. He wrote his name one time.
Play with trains/toys 30 minutes
Sesame Street/Snack 10 minutes
Help clean up/wrap presents etc
Pick up K
Make bread in our bread machine, 24 hour clock discussion 20 minutes
We put the bread in at 12:40 and it was supposed to take 3 hours 20 minutes to bake so K had to figure out when it would be done. She did it a couple different ways, one way being adding 12:40 and 3:20 and ending up with 15:60 and translating that into time. We discussed the 24 hour clock and how Europe uses it but America uses the 12 hour clock and then says a.m./p.m. She really wants to visit Europe and see all these things I keep explaining. Of course she wants to go to Paris the most since she takes French.
Lunch
Baking Day
We made muffins for breakfast for tomorrow - very messy, but fun, they have to take turns and put in the right amounts.
Math class - 30 minutes Today we used fraction manipulatives. I'm trying to teach C the different fractions so he can understand what they are (not sure it went in but he had fun playing). K knew everything and kept telling me she already knew it all but I was trying to teach her how to add fractions and which parts are the same 2/4 = 1/2 etc. (I'm not sure it went in either, adding fractions using just math is complicated, but the 1/4+1/4 = 2/4=1/2 went in I think)
Chocolate Chip Cookies - we used an easy mix
Science Class - Cheetahs. K asked about cheetahs today at lunch, what animals do they eat? I knew rabbits but I wasn't sure what else. So we discussed grasslands and animals that live there with our Encyclopedia and then used the internet links to get more info and play some games. They LOVE to do this. This class wasn't as informative as the anatomy class but I think they learned some and liked it. Cheetahs can eat gazelles, we weren't sure if they could eat big animals too or just stuck with the small ones.
C nap
K play/reading time
Mom computer/clean up/make dinner/finish folding laundry time
Dinner
K read Magic Tree House #4, she almost read the whole book, she likes them now but would prefer to just read to herself. She's supposed to be reading aloud to us for practice and to check vocabulary. She reads a chapter aloud and then wants to keep reading to herself.
C & D played dinosaurs
Watched 1 vs. 100 K answered the kid questions
Bed at 10
Breakfast, dress, calendar (since it's Groundhog Day, we turned on the TV and found out no shadow and spring is coming!) Of course it is snowing and cold here today. K asked to go visit Chicago b/c they were talking about it on the news (hmm...that's an idea)
K School
C Work on drawing and writing 45 minutes, we worked on birthday cards, he's doing a great job drawing faces now, even adding some eyelashes today. He still gets frustrated easily. He wrote his name one time.
Play with trains/toys 30 minutes
Sesame Street/Snack 10 minutes
Help clean up/wrap presents etc
Pick up K
Make bread in our bread machine, 24 hour clock discussion 20 minutes
We put the bread in at 12:40 and it was supposed to take 3 hours 20 minutes to bake so K had to figure out when it would be done. She did it a couple different ways, one way being adding 12:40 and 3:20 and ending up with 15:60 and translating that into time. We discussed the 24 hour clock and how Europe uses it but America uses the 12 hour clock and then says a.m./p.m. She really wants to visit Europe and see all these things I keep explaining. Of course she wants to go to Paris the most since she takes French.
Lunch
Baking Day
We made muffins for breakfast for tomorrow - very messy, but fun, they have to take turns and put in the right amounts.
Math class - 30 minutes Today we used fraction manipulatives. I'm trying to teach C the different fractions so he can understand what they are (not sure it went in but he had fun playing). K knew everything and kept telling me she already knew it all but I was trying to teach her how to add fractions and which parts are the same 2/4 = 1/2 etc. (I'm not sure it went in either, adding fractions using just math is complicated, but the 1/4+1/4 = 2/4=1/2 went in I think)
Chocolate Chip Cookies - we used an easy mix
Science Class - Cheetahs. K asked about cheetahs today at lunch, what animals do they eat? I knew rabbits but I wasn't sure what else. So we discussed grasslands and animals that live there with our Encyclopedia and then used the internet links to get more info and play some games. They LOVE to do this. This class wasn't as informative as the anatomy class but I think they learned some and liked it. Cheetahs can eat gazelles, we weren't sure if they could eat big animals too or just stuck with the small ones.
C nap
K play/reading time
Mom computer/clean up/make dinner/finish folding laundry time
Dinner
K read Magic Tree House #4, she almost read the whole book, she likes them now but would prefer to just read to herself. She's supposed to be reading aloud to us for practice and to check vocabulary. She reads a chapter aloud and then wants to keep reading to herself.
C & D played dinosaurs
Watched 1 vs. 100 K answered the kid questions
Bed at 10
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