Falling to pieces , by fractions. 

This morning we woke up late - never good on a Monday morning since that is the 1 day of the week we have the most school work to cover. We also forgot morning prayers together. I said mine quickly in my head as I made breakfast and then jumped into Math which was just stupid on my behalf. 

We are struggling with 6th grade math. Fractions, oh fractions. How we loathe fractions. We spent the entire morning on fractions alone! There were tears, arguments and one broken wipe board, which I should add, was broken by me, not Abi. Apparently if you point (poke) really hard at it, it just breaks. Who knew?! 

Aaron, the peacekeeper, piped up shortly after the board broke and reminded us that we hadn't done our morning prayers! Yes! That's it, that is what we need to do I thought! Then Abi informed me that she had, "done hers". Hmmm, if she had done them anything like she had done her fractions I thought, that's not good. Aaron and I said a couple of prayers together at that point but, because we were late starting our day, we didn't do our usual time of the daily reading of the scripture....another mistake and Abi didn't join us for morning prayers together since she'd, "done hers"- perhaps she should have. 

The day seemed to go on forever. We battled and we struggled and we plodded on through Spelling, Composition, Lit, Greek History, English & Latin but didn't finish until very late. 

I got some time with Justin for lunch.  Justin has offered to help Abi with her Math! It won't be easy because of his schedule but as and when he can, he will, even if that is evenings. Whew, I am so glad that is settled. 

I also got a bit more prayer time on my own. I am now quite certain that God doesn't want us to be miserable over fractions. He certainly cannot want for us to forgo prayers & scripture for fractions.  In our hurry, somehow, we deemed math more important today!  It's much more important to have a happy home, happy kids and happy school day than stressing the stupid fractions. 


Lessons learned... 

1.  DON'T forget morning prayers 
2.  IF we forget morning prayers, everyone stops what they are doing and does them together! 
3. Always ask God for help on fractions!!! 
4. Thank God for his providence in a hubby who can do math:) 
5. Thank God we have scrap paper for when wipe boards    break!

Boat School Busy Soccer, Field Trips etc.

We have been busy with school, soccer and church. We haven't managed to do any sailing as yet but the weather is not conducive at any rate. Still we have the rains or hot still days without wind. Never mind, we are doing a lot of book work, soccer and, our favourite, field trips!

Aaron is progressing with Year 3 maths, learning multiplication and division up to 500 and order of calculations. We have also been working on interpreting data, graphs, tables lists and 4 step calculations. He is still working through the Guinness World Records reading workbook, which he thoroughly enjoys. He has wiped me out of Pokemon cards completely (my rewards for reading). A friend of ours gave us a box of books and Aaron read 12 books last week in his own time, this was partly because he had no game time because he hadn't done his spelling homework. He has completed 7 lessons of Latin (Prima Latina) and is getting better about completing the lessons exercises BEFORE the due date. We don't rush Latin.

Abigail is plodding on with Year 5 maths and doing great. Her lessons up until last week were basically a review of Year 4 and now they are introducing new concepts. This week was positive and negative integers, absolute value, opposite numbers plotting coordinates on graphs, sequences, etc. She has moved away from reading the Church's, "We Believe" books because she is doing it at Church on Sundays so, at home she is working through "Reading for Understanding Grades 5 & 6" books. I had a total melt down this month because her father said she needed something more than that. My melt down was basically because I felt the same way but also, felt ill equipped to handle the next phase. Long story short, I figured if I used the Reading Book as springboard to report writing with the help of her Writing Skills book then we can make English more challenging. So, with that in mind, I have started giving her an extended report on whatever Thursday's lessons are to be written out in 3-5 paragraphs, 100-200 words to be done by Monday and she really loves to write so happily accepted this! Now we are all happy. So far she has done a report on Marie Cure, and Beethoven (which was more of an oral report since we listened to his music on You Tube but we have just started this phase). She naturally writes stories and did a report after our trip to the Museum this week of her own volition so I am not sure why I panic about this stuff!

For history, we read the Horrible Histories, "Vicious Vikings" and they made a books about Vikings, complete with drawings, maps and runes! Actually they didn't want to do the books at first but once they saw some of the stuff you could do online, they became inspired! There books are so awesome. I almost wish they were in school to display them!

We have also started doing a daily reading. The Catholic Church has a reading from the old testament and the new testament everyday and we have just incorporated that into our school day. I like to start our days with that. Usually Abi will read one and Aaron the other and then we discuss or reflect and that can make for some interesting conversations! Aaron seems to get the meaning of scripture actually and it is really weird to me because I still don't sometimes :)

We had to go to Aaron's doctor in Jacksonville on Wednesday so we went for an early appointment and then spent the day at the MOSH! The Museum of Science and History totally rocks. We have always loved that place. This time there was an exhibit about Sea Monsters (dinosaurs) and we watched a National Geographic video in the planetarium. It was so cool and little scary as it looked almost 3D. We attended the Science show and since we were the only people there that day we got a really cool interactive show. Science is not my strong subject so I was really glad they got to see some explosions with hydrogen and learn about ac/dc and watch and join in the Tesla machine tricks? Not sure how is worked still, but there were bolts of electricity flying about the room. It was super cool. My kids never volunteer for these things so because it was just us, they actually did get involved but only once the guy doing the show guaranteed them that they wouldn't be shocked. Then we got to pet Daisy May, their resident opossum and see all the owls etc. They had the Disgusting Digestion exhibit which was gross and yet fascinating with actually human organs on display!

We took off for the afternoon at a state park earlier this month. The weather was so nice, hot but not too hot and it was absolutely beautiful. We must have hiked 4 or 5 miles. We dipped our toes in the spring to cool off (see pic). One of the nice things about this park is it is contained by a fence all the way around the perimeter so the kids could roam ahead of their old mum with the broken back and I didn't have to worry about them too much. I could hear them in any case but there are no vagabonds around this place. Some of the other sites we have been to have poor souls living out in the woods!

Soccer has begun practices and fortuitously they have the same coach even though they are in separate age categories. Because their coach is coaching both teams we have one practice to attend for both kids which has been 3 times a week so far. They are called the Ducks and the Ducklings. LOL

Abi is starting Girl Scouts next Thursday! We are so excited. Truthfully I am way more excited than she is because I know all the songs and all the fun she will have. We discussed the fact that we will be moving in a few months and the costs involved and decided it was worth it. Her troop, 252, will only have white golf shirts and sashes for their uniform to be worn with khakis or jeans. Abi will get to help with a pumpkin patch, a food drive and possibly the Christmas float before we go!

We are going on another field trip next Friday to St Augustine! We are really looking forward to it. We have exhausted all there is to do in St Augustine or so we thought, but this is a new place for us, the oldest church in the USA!

We have had a hard lesson in forgiveness this week as our neighbor's grandson cut up all of Abi and Aaron's plants that they were replanting with some shears. He did it out of spite because Aaron had told them they were going to move the plants. Anyway, he is 8 yrs old and comes from troubled home but is quite spoiled, rarely disciplined. Abi was reduced to tears after that and we had a heart to heart about forgiveness and about how it really only hurts us when we hold grudges. She didn't like what I said about forgiving him. I did add that she could do it in her own time but not to let it take too long and to ask God to help her to forgive because usually that is the only way we can do it. Tomy Alex Chackalackal puts it much more eloquently when he said,
"Our unforgiving attitudes are obstacles in attaining blessings from God. Forgiveness
brings into our lives fresh, clear and sparkling grace of holiness and hope. Staying in a state of revenge is not only offensive and disrespectful but also is a sinful condition that prevents us from reaching God. The bitterness of anger and grudge are the worst enemies of personal and spiritual growth. In a world where movies, video games and the digital media are giving undue credits to wars,violence and revenge, God wants us to be forgiving souls. In the Bible we read, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord
forgave you. (Colossians 3:13)Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord. How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins,
your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-16) Do not
judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37) Jesus Christ gave us the finest example of forgiveness when He prayed in His dying hours for His killers:
“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they
are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” (Luke
23:34)

July 21, 2011 boatschooling

Abi and Aaron have plodded on with little prompting from me this week to get their work done. Aaron did a Latin lesson, started a new Reading Comp book (Guiness World Records) which he loves, read books, practiced cursive writing, completed 5 maths lessons, used the computer for looking up rainforest spiders, a history lesson and spelling sentences and test as well as a maths test (times tables). Abi did 10 math lessons, her new "We Believe" Grade 6 books (given to us by the church) in place of reading comprehension which she finshed last week, a history lesson, read numberous novels, spelling sentences and test.

I started giving them Pokemon cards as a reward for reading books about a year ago. Aaron still needs this motivation and so was happy to earn 4 cards this week! I think he has gotten the reading bug finally. Abigail read several books as well, so also got pokemon cards but I just gave her a few (she reads too many books for me to keep up with her in cards). I would have thought she had grown out of them by now but apparently not. I think she uses them as bargaining power over her brother. They ususally wake up in the morning and read for an hour before they jump out of bed. It is nice and allows me a chance to grab a coffee.

Our Horrible Histories books arrived and we love them! I glanced through them and found myself unable to put them down. They are so much fun to read. Abi read, "Bloody Scotland" from start to finish in about an hour. I saw Aaron reading, "Cut Throat Celts". I read, "Loathsome Londoners". We still have plenty more, 16 in total plus 3 science books, which should keep them entertained for a couple of weeks I hope.

For part of their lessons, I usually give them the watered down kid's version from Sunday's lesson at church. This week there was an activity for them to do! They had to draw a garden and then stick cut outs of weeds on it that were labelled with a personal problem they had. Each weed was to respresent something that might interefere with their relationship with God, a sin or something of that nature. The idea is to notice the weeds in your own garden before picking others. Over the course of the week they can remove weeds if they feel they've improved or add weeds if they discover more. Naturally my little angels couldn't think of a single weed they might have! After some thinking Aaron came up with, "not studying my times tables" halleluha! He never thought of another one. Abi can tend to me our "little miss perfect" in her mind so I had to help her along. Aaron suggested "shouting" for one of her weeds. He was also just trying to help. She eventually wrote that one down but refused to put anymore in her garden as it would make it ugly. I suggested "talking back" to which she responded indignantly, "I don't talk back". Hmmmm. My weed, okay one of many I probably have but the only one I shared with them was, ashamedly, cursing, to which they both agreed whole heartedly. Little toe rags.

Independently, Abi has begun sewing. I say independently because I don't sew. I actually despise it so therefore am keeping out of it so as not to spoil her fun. She buys material at Goodwill in the form of big girl clothes and cuts it up to make new clothes. Since Walmart quit carrying bolts of fabric there is but one fabric shop locally and it has very little on offer for a very dear price. She got one brand new $35 blouse for $2 at Goodwill! This is her own little venture and she spends all of her own money on it. I am quite proud of her. She has made several tops, hair bands, skirts, gloves, socks etc for herself and clothing for her brother's stuffed animals - the Meerkat that now wears a tie is my favourite. All of her clothes have her "label" in them that she has made. At this point she is sewing by hand. I have a sewing machine that my optomistic husband once bought me. She can have it as far as I am concerned when she is ready.

Are they getting enough "school"?

Today the kids are schooling themselves really. They are devouring the new 2012 edition of National Geographic's Kid's Almanac. They have read and re-read the 2011 edition so this was a hit with them as well. Aaron has been busy with his Ninjago building and as well as Lego. Abigail read Harry Potter this morning.

I suppose they have had a lesson in emotions this week what with saying goodbye to their Oupa on Tuesday in England and today to our five stray cats we had to take to the Humane Society. Some things just aren't in a text book. There is certainly no mention of faith in US schools. This has been a week of prayer for me and I have encouraged them to do the same. There has also been a lesson in family and the value of family and importance of family relationships. We may not have discussed these matters formally but I know they felt it keenly when we had to leave their cousins, auntie, uncle and oumie in England.

During their week in England they built a myriad of contraptions with lego, jumped on a trampoline everyday, played at a couple of playgrounds, fed the ducks at a lake, tried new foods and spent valuable time with their family. Culturally they enjoyed tossing American differences in pronunciation back at their cousins, yoghurt, yawgurt, tomato, tomahto, crisps, chips, dollars, pounds, etc. Aaron took a wee interest in the wildlife there, noticing the different birds. Magpies which reminded him of mockingbirds he noticed first, later he noticed that there were no turles in the lakes (too cold). All of it just learning on the go.

Since our return on Thursday Abigail has taken out the maps and been studying the UK a bit as well as Europe.

This week we will get back to bookwork, maths, highly important to mom and the only time I feel as though they are actually getting enough school!