It is always exciting when new school books arrive. Admittedly, the kids are less excited than I am but, nevertheless, they are a little curious!
Abi's new literacy book arrived, "Intermediate Language Lessons" by Emma Serl. She completed its predecessor, "Primary Language Lessons" some time ago and I had put it away in the shed. Recently I dug it out and realised it is perfect for Aaron at his age and then I ordered the follow up for Abi. I had forgotten how wonderful Emma Serl's books are. They are brilliant! She is a kindred spirit to me with regard to grammar, nature and literacy. We have been struggling along with Spectrum books for the last year and really just weren't that happy with them, snore. The content is interesting but the worksheets are a bit lacking in creativity and fun. The Writing Skills books that I purchased for Abi were shockingly incorrect in grammar and spelling! I spent a great deal of time correcting the book before lessons which was completely absurd but necessary. I am really thrilled that we can carry on with the Language Lessons books by Emma Serl. They may have been written over 100 years ago but they are definitely still pertinent and engaging today.
We also received our Memoria Press, "Book of Astronomy" that we ordered online. Abi helped choose this book so she really likes it too. It has constellations and planets etc in it which she likes and Latin and mythology which I like! Lots of hands on drawing of the constellations and learning the major star names. There is even a bit of info regarding navigation by the stars which I like. Aaron is interested but a bit apprehensive as to just how much work is involved in the unit exercises.
I also ordered 2 new cursive writing books for each of them, grade appropriate. They have been working out of an A Beka book I found at Goodwill and have just about finished it between them. So, they will get more mail this week! It is always exciting to get mail and when it is a book you get to write in, it is even better. They don't see cursive writing as a part of "school".
On a side note, we filled in some questionaires called, "I'm No Saint.....or Am I?" and Aaron put down, after filling in his good qualities etc., that he would make a good patron saint of "animals" because he loves them and they obey him and Abi put down that she would be a good patron saint of "tree climbers" (i love it) because there isn't a saint for that and she is really good at climing trees!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A day with the Cornish's!
Today the kids and I woke up but then couldn't get up! Their dad has been working very late nights to get our boat finished and ready for us to move aboard on 15th January. Sooooo, out of respect (and a little fear,lol) we all kept quiet in our bunks until he woke up which was around 10.45am. Besides the fact that his bunk serves as storage during the day for 2 clothing boxes, my fiddle and 2 backpacks (which were now spread around the salon floor and settees making it difficult to sit around the table and start school) the boat is only 30ft and any move you make can be heard from bow to stern. So, the kids happily stayed in their bunks with their new books that we got from Goodwill yesterday. (They got 19 books, 2 journals, 3 notepads and a photo album at Goodwill all for under $20! We absolutely adore that store but learned that Goodwill is not the same everywhere you go and some charge more for books!)
Eventually Justin rolled out of bed and we all said good morning and I made coffee for us, cheese grits for the kids and then he went off to work on the boat again. Bless him, he told me I could wake him at 9am tomorrow so as to get on with school work sooner. Aaron is trying to get done before 2pm everyday so as to play with his mates who get home from their school at that time - sometimes he makes it, sometimes not.
We began our day 11.30am with the daily Bible Reading. Aaron read from 1st John and Abi read from the gospel of John. Then I read the reflection and we discussed the meditation question. Then both of them read a little about today's Saint of the day and we finished with morning prayers. Abi disappeared to her cabin after that to get dressed and do whatever she has to do to get prepared for school. Aaron pulled out his cursive writing (it was copying a psalm in his workbook) so as to get started and get finished soon! He then memorized a poem called "A Secret" and copied it in his grammar book. I gave him his maths lesson on units of measure, quantities and equations and he did some math work independently.
Then Abi came to join us and we read about King Louis XIII and Louis XIV. They paraded around the boat acting like Louis XIV for a while and then Justin came in asking for a bagel. Justin helped Aaron finish some math equations whilst I started lunch.
I made everyone a bagel with cream cheese and after I made the boat really smokey and the frying pan sizzling and popping, Aaron announced, "The Bagels are ready"! Little monkey. We ate lunch together and then Justin and I had coffee. Then Justin went back to work and Aaron made a start on his spelling words for the week (yes, on Wednesday 2 days late) and then he took off to play with his buds for the afternoon. Abi did her Reading comprehension book about journal writing and ordering events and then I gave her an hour break from school. They fed "Feathers" our latest neighbour on the dock. She is a white duck and poops everywhere but we just love her. Justin even bought special "duck food" for her for when we don't have any scraps to give her.
Abi came back from playing outside for an hour (3.30pm) and I gave her a maths lesson in long division and multiplication and positive and negative numbers. She bawked at how elementary it was but then made loads of silly mistakes on her worksheet until she got her brain in gear. She then did her spelling words for the week and sentences too. She also did her book report which is due Friday! She then left to go play outside with her brother and his friends again.
I vacuumed the boat whilst everyone was outdoors and cleaned up breakfast and lunch dishes. I also ordered an astronomy book with a $10 gift card I got from Memoria Press!
This evening they came in when their friends left. They are reading books and chillaxing.
Justin will be in soon and we will have dinnner. He is making dirty rice tonight. The first non seafood meal in over a week! The kids will be happy. The thing is we got 31 lbs of fish for Christmas from one of Justin's customers in Alaska. He sent us king salmon, wild salmon, snapper and cod! We all love fish and we have all thoroughly enjoyed it but the kids protested after fish and mussel curry last night. Abi ate hers whilst holding her nose and Aaron bravely fought back the urge to regurgitate. It wasn't the fish so much as the mussels they didn't like. We have never given them much choice in their dinner options however and we encouraged them to eat 2 mussels each. Abi never should have cut her mussels into lots of tiny bits because then every bite of curry tasted of mussels poor girl. Aaron only heard the 2 mussel requirement after he had eaten 6 of them:)
They are both hungry now and I have given Abi an apple and Aaron an orange. We are all on a diet since the Christmas feasting took place!
Eventually Justin rolled out of bed and we all said good morning and I made coffee for us, cheese grits for the kids and then he went off to work on the boat again. Bless him, he told me I could wake him at 9am tomorrow so as to get on with school work sooner. Aaron is trying to get done before 2pm everyday so as to play with his mates who get home from their school at that time - sometimes he makes it, sometimes not.
We began our day 11.30am with the daily Bible Reading. Aaron read from 1st John and Abi read from the gospel of John. Then I read the reflection and we discussed the meditation question. Then both of them read a little about today's Saint of the day and we finished with morning prayers. Abi disappeared to her cabin after that to get dressed and do whatever she has to do to get prepared for school. Aaron pulled out his cursive writing (it was copying a psalm in his workbook) so as to get started and get finished soon! He then memorized a poem called "A Secret" and copied it in his grammar book. I gave him his maths lesson on units of measure, quantities and equations and he did some math work independently.
Then Abi came to join us and we read about King Louis XIII and Louis XIV. They paraded around the boat acting like Louis XIV for a while and then Justin came in asking for a bagel. Justin helped Aaron finish some math equations whilst I started lunch.
I made everyone a bagel with cream cheese and after I made the boat really smokey and the frying pan sizzling and popping, Aaron announced, "The Bagels are ready"! Little monkey. We ate lunch together and then Justin and I had coffee. Then Justin went back to work and Aaron made a start on his spelling words for the week (yes, on Wednesday 2 days late) and then he took off to play with his buds for the afternoon. Abi did her Reading comprehension book about journal writing and ordering events and then I gave her an hour break from school. They fed "Feathers" our latest neighbour on the dock. She is a white duck and poops everywhere but we just love her. Justin even bought special "duck food" for her for when we don't have any scraps to give her.
Abi came back from playing outside for an hour (3.30pm) and I gave her a maths lesson in long division and multiplication and positive and negative numbers. She bawked at how elementary it was but then made loads of silly mistakes on her worksheet until she got her brain in gear. She then did her spelling words for the week and sentences too. She also did her book report which is due Friday! She then left to go play outside with her brother and his friends again.
I vacuumed the boat whilst everyone was outdoors and cleaned up breakfast and lunch dishes. I also ordered an astronomy book with a $10 gift card I got from Memoria Press!
This evening they came in when their friends left. They are reading books and chillaxing.
Justin will be in soon and we will have dinnner. He is making dirty rice tonight. The first non seafood meal in over a week! The kids will be happy. The thing is we got 31 lbs of fish for Christmas from one of Justin's customers in Alaska. He sent us king salmon, wild salmon, snapper and cod! We all love fish and we have all thoroughly enjoyed it but the kids protested after fish and mussel curry last night. Abi ate hers whilst holding her nose and Aaron bravely fought back the urge to regurgitate. It wasn't the fish so much as the mussels they didn't like. We have never given them much choice in their dinner options however and we encouraged them to eat 2 mussels each. Abi never should have cut her mussels into lots of tiny bits because then every bite of curry tasted of mussels poor girl. Aaron only heard the 2 mussel requirement after he had eaten 6 of them:)
They are both hungry now and I have given Abi an apple and Aaron an orange. We are all on a diet since the Christmas feasting took place!
New Year, New Attitude!
Christmas was great this year and we were able to celebrate Christ's birth with family and friends. One of the greatest gifts we received was ..... a break from boatschool! The kiddos and I, mainly me, were getting a bit burned out!
After a 3 week sabbatical, we have started back with our lessons this week and are thorougly enjoying homeschool again:) It is true what they say about when mama is happy, everyone is happy.
I had begun to feel overwhelmed and out of my depth regarding the responsibility of educating our two little angels. However, I have had a break which allowed me to really consider the why's and what if scenarios about our homeschooling vs traditional school choices. It was a time of enlightenment for me!
I only opted for the homeschool option in the first place because of circumstances regarding boat life and travel and it seemed the best for the children in their primary years. I thought, "how fun!" I loved singing with them and teaching them their letters and fingerpainting etc. Recently, after our 5 years of "let's go sailing for 5 years and then return to a house and normal life" had run out 2 years ago I had begun to resent homeschooling. Hey, I had been railroaded in my mind and it wasn't fair because I NEVER wanted to be a teacher and this was all getting a bit overwhelming. My 10 year old has a will like her mother and the school work is getting a little more difficult and takes longer to teach and ultimately I didn't choose this, it just happened.
I read a book recently about homeschooling and realised just what an absolute ungrateful cow I had been in my thinking! Instead of looking at the positives I had begun to get caught up in society's teaching of "do your own thing" "be yourself" and as Frank Sinatra sang, "MY Way" mode of thinking.
Instead of thinking, "Wow, how could I be helping society more and being in the workforce" or "I never wanted to be a teacher anyway" "I should have been thinking, "Wow, what a blessing I have and honour to educate our children and truthfully what else would I be doing?" How many mothers have expressed their desire to be able to do what I do and cannot because of finances or unsupportive husbands etc.? I am able to help my children on an individual basis academically and when my son is sad about math taking too long (because he was singing, "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer for half the day", he can have a little cry on my shoulder and then feel better and get back to work. Perhaps a school teacher would be kind enough and give him a cuddle but I would be missing out on that cuddle from my 8 yr old boy!
When I thought of putting them in school, it was not so much for them, as for my own selfish reasons. It was getting overwhelming and I questioned my abilities and especially my enthusiasm for teaching. I thought, "It is too hard and I would get more respect as a Waffle House waitress then I do around here." But when it comes down to it, there are many teachers in our public school system that are burned out and have been burned out for years. There is no guarantee that my child wouldn't have a teacher like that at least once or twice througout their school years. Personally I had many teachers like that. Plus, as I read about sex education being taught in the schools, it scares the cuss words out of me! I am grateful that I will be able to discuss this with them at an age appropriate level and from a christian view.
Family is about love, support and sacrifice and God has blessed me with such a wonderful life that I am truly begining to see my blessings rather than get bogged down in my own self pity.
Since becoming catholic, and realising all the christian values that I haven't been living for a while I have had some radical changes in my attitude towards my family and life and God. I think that the dangers of the selfish modes of thinking that our society teaches as a whole are extremely anti family and anti God really. Now with really thinking about the options before me, to homeschool or not to homeschool, I know that I would choose homeschooling.
In homeschooling I get to teach them about scripture, astronomy, literacy, history etc but also about family, kindness, love, patience etc. We are a very close knit family and I realised just how close over the Christmas break which we spent with extended family. I love that we learn together, pray together, eat together, play together. It would seem that most of the time we are in a little cacoon and rarely get an opportunity to see how other families are living. 1 in 2 marriages ends in divorce in the United States. Most families, eat on the go and rarely sit down together except for Christmas. Most families have much busier schedules then we do and not enough time to chill. It is a crazy world out there and I have oodles of respect for the families that are striving to live a faithful life and have traditional values in a material, largely secular world. I have never been so happy to come home to our little hovel of a boat! .... and people think we are strange:)
My New Year's Resolution this year is to be the best homeschooling mother possible to our wonderful kiddos and with God's grace anything is possible!!!
After a 3 week sabbatical, we have started back with our lessons this week and are thorougly enjoying homeschool again:) It is true what they say about when mama is happy, everyone is happy.
I had begun to feel overwhelmed and out of my depth regarding the responsibility of educating our two little angels. However, I have had a break which allowed me to really consider the why's and what if scenarios about our homeschooling vs traditional school choices. It was a time of enlightenment for me!
I only opted for the homeschool option in the first place because of circumstances regarding boat life and travel and it seemed the best for the children in their primary years. I thought, "how fun!" I loved singing with them and teaching them their letters and fingerpainting etc. Recently, after our 5 years of "let's go sailing for 5 years and then return to a house and normal life" had run out 2 years ago I had begun to resent homeschooling. Hey, I had been railroaded in my mind and it wasn't fair because I NEVER wanted to be a teacher and this was all getting a bit overwhelming. My 10 year old has a will like her mother and the school work is getting a little more difficult and takes longer to teach and ultimately I didn't choose this, it just happened.
I read a book recently about homeschooling and realised just what an absolute ungrateful cow I had been in my thinking! Instead of looking at the positives I had begun to get caught up in society's teaching of "do your own thing" "be yourself" and as Frank Sinatra sang, "MY Way" mode of thinking.
Instead of thinking, "Wow, how could I be helping society more and being in the workforce" or "I never wanted to be a teacher anyway" "I should have been thinking, "Wow, what a blessing I have and honour to educate our children and truthfully what else would I be doing?" How many mothers have expressed their desire to be able to do what I do and cannot because of finances or unsupportive husbands etc.? I am able to help my children on an individual basis academically and when my son is sad about math taking too long (because he was singing, "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer for half the day", he can have a little cry on my shoulder and then feel better and get back to work. Perhaps a school teacher would be kind enough and give him a cuddle but I would be missing out on that cuddle from my 8 yr old boy!
When I thought of putting them in school, it was not so much for them, as for my own selfish reasons. It was getting overwhelming and I questioned my abilities and especially my enthusiasm for teaching. I thought, "It is too hard and I would get more respect as a Waffle House waitress then I do around here." But when it comes down to it, there are many teachers in our public school system that are burned out and have been burned out for years. There is no guarantee that my child wouldn't have a teacher like that at least once or twice througout their school years. Personally I had many teachers like that. Plus, as I read about sex education being taught in the schools, it scares the cuss words out of me! I am grateful that I will be able to discuss this with them at an age appropriate level and from a christian view.
Family is about love, support and sacrifice and God has blessed me with such a wonderful life that I am truly begining to see my blessings rather than get bogged down in my own self pity.
Since becoming catholic, and realising all the christian values that I haven't been living for a while I have had some radical changes in my attitude towards my family and life and God. I think that the dangers of the selfish modes of thinking that our society teaches as a whole are extremely anti family and anti God really. Now with really thinking about the options before me, to homeschool or not to homeschool, I know that I would choose homeschooling.
In homeschooling I get to teach them about scripture, astronomy, literacy, history etc but also about family, kindness, love, patience etc. We are a very close knit family and I realised just how close over the Christmas break which we spent with extended family. I love that we learn together, pray together, eat together, play together. It would seem that most of the time we are in a little cacoon and rarely get an opportunity to see how other families are living. 1 in 2 marriages ends in divorce in the United States. Most families, eat on the go and rarely sit down together except for Christmas. Most families have much busier schedules then we do and not enough time to chill. It is a crazy world out there and I have oodles of respect for the families that are striving to live a faithful life and have traditional values in a material, largely secular world. I have never been so happy to come home to our little hovel of a boat! .... and people think we are strange:)
My New Year's Resolution this year is to be the best homeschooling mother possible to our wonderful kiddos and with God's grace anything is possible!!!
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