Journal 9/30/09

• Read B a chapter of Farmer Boy
• B made a card for Rick because we've been talking about his upcoming birthday. This was just an I love you card (she makes a lot of these): To Daddy (on the cover) Dad, I love you P.S. Love is great, Becky
  
• J went for a walk in the a.m.
  
• J read a couple of chapters in HAW
• W drove himself to NVCC. Yippee!
• B spent a lot of time playing with, um, I mean practicing her violin
• S practiced piano and made up tunes
• B did cursive practice, mental math and read 6 sentences out of her reader
• B did VT homework
• H called from TX. She got a B+ on her first paper!
  
• S did cursive practice and spelling, worked on his little outline exercise in his reader
• S did a tiny bit of Latin (reviewed vocab and wrote out 2nd conjugation
  
• S did mixed practice in lesson 10 of Saxon
• J took B and Tillie for a walk
  
• J worked on Algebra
• W came home from NVCC. He made it there and back successfully!
• Looked over Learn to Write the Novel Way with J and W; they are going to try and do the 18 week plan
• Read most of Book 1 of Iliad and answered study questions. We didn't quite finish before I had to make dinner.
  
• W and J to CLC
• B got so busy making gifts for Rick that she didn't eat dinner. She made a little vase out of construction paper and tape and the cut up a wooden dowel and made paper flowers out of tissues. She made a "card" out of two small paper plates and some cardboard. She drew Rick'face on one paper plate and her how on the other and the cardboard is an arm. Rick has a tie made out of yarn. Then she made necklaces out of yarn, cardboard and aluminum foil as well as a doctors kit (the thing that goes around the head and then a stethescope.) She was so busy and so happy and there are tons of bits of paper all over the floor as a result!
• Read another chapter of Farmer Boy; we only have 2 chapters left.
• REad another chapter of Carry on Mr Bowditch to B and S
  
• Read the story of St. Jerome and the Lion to both
• Rick finished The Lightning Thief yesterday and he got home late so he didn't start a new book. He did start the next Rebecca book for B.
• S listened some more to Charlotte's Web on audio.
• W and J successfully made it home with Will driving! Will got his classical guitar back. Turns out he can't con't to take lessons with Jack the teacher from SOR so we have to find him a new teacher He's getting so into classical stuff now, he wants to be classically trained.
  

Journal 9/29/09

• Happy Michaelmas!
• Finished Latin homework this a.m.
• Got everyone up early; realized I had never run the dishwasher last night and the sink was full of dirty dishes that needed to be loaded into the already full dishwasher, so we did the sensible thing and went to IHOP for breakfast - studied our principle parts there
• Went to Latin class - which was quite fun! We did Roman Geography, tried to speak in Latin as much as we could and acted out the 3rd chapter of Lingua Latina which was quite funny.
• S did 100 subtraction facts, cursive practice and spelling; didn't get his outline exercise done
• B did 10 place value problems, cursive and a page of her reading workbook, reading two syllable words.
• After Latin went to Target to buy stuff like underwear, Fall jackets, new pjs, socks and J got two new pairs of khakis.
• Came home just in time to turn around and take B and S to gymnastics. S liked gymnastics! I thought he'd start liking it after he got used to it but you never know that with that boy!
• J did Algebra while we were gone - finished L. 7 and started 8.
• W tried to mow lawn but he's waited until it go so long that it keeps choking it up and shutting off! Grrrr.
• B practiced violin
• Did S practice piano?
• Took W to voice lesson
• Rick read The Lightning Thief

Journal 9/28/09

• Happy St. Wenceslaus Feast Day
• Read Bible History to B and S about how the rod of Aaron blossomed - got into a good discussion about the tribe of Levy and then other things in the OT
• Took W to CC and then B to Foxes to rent her violin
• J did next lesson in Alg.
• S read his F&L chapter, studied his poem and watched Ch. 14 dvd in Latin again
• Home again: read B her chapter of F&L
• S practiced piano
• J did Latin homework on computer
• S practiced cursive and did next lesson in Saxon
• B practiced cursive and did a bit of math (place value up to 100)
• Took B to her violin lesson which went well; planned my RE class while there
  P/u W from CC; he practiced piano there
• Read B chapter from Farmer Boy - Threshing
• Latin homework with W and J
• W did Latin homework on computer
• Taught RE class - we went to 7:30 Mass - didn't cover nearly all I wanted to!

Journal 9/27/09

• Got up and did some planning
• Went to breakfast and the 11:45 Mass
• Came home and the Touchstone Discussion books had been left on my door by the homeschool mom organizing it!
  
• While Rick watched football, made 4 kids help me clean for an hour.
• Read just the beginning couple of pages of the Iliad with W and J
• Rick took W for a dry run to the CC so W won't get lost tomorrow driving himself
• Read a chapter of Farmer Boy to B and then we played Go Fish; we tied!
• J is watching anime on youtube
• S took Tillie for a walk
• Tonight is Yom Kippur so I'm going to run out and get something special for Rick to eat before he fasts. Sundown at 6:57
• Getting lots of laundry done
• Rick worked with J on his Algebra test.
  
• Rick read Rebecca to B
• B was being very sweet and making me pop-up cards that said I love you Mom. Then she wrote out on a piece of cardboard how much she loved in a mathematical formula that involved lots of infinity signs and plus signs (which she kept saying meant 'times' It was very cute. Then she sang a little song that had me cracking up, it was rather in a Reggae style.
• Rick read more Lightning Thief - it's amazing how conversant everyone's become on the topic of Greek gods. Did you know Saturn is the Roman god of time and agriculture which is a conflation of Chronus and Dimeter (sp?) in the Greek gods? Chronus was father to Zeus and Saturn father to Jupiter. I now know these factoids! So does my 8 yo!
  

Journal Saturday 9/26/09

• Got J and W up really early to go to 8 o'clock mass since we missed on Friday and . . . there was no 8 o'clock mass. So we said 3 decades of the rosary on the way to the bagel store.
• Read B next chapter of Farmer Boy.
  
• J, S and B and I went on the St. Vincent de Paul Friends of the Poor Walk and walked 5k (actually one lady there said it was more than that.) It was at Frying Pan Park and they were having a horse show so we saw many beautiful horses. We also walked through the farm and saw lots of animals which was fun. They were advertising agility/obedience training and that is what I think we need to do with Tillie, as we are neglecting her! Next year that is my goal. I also want to talk up this walk a lot and go next year.
  
• W and Rick didn't go with us. Rick had Will drive to his piano lessons and then told him he was now allowed to drive on his own. So Will spent the day driving around and then calling us when he got lost. Which was a lot! Because apparently Will has never paid the slightest attention to where we were when driving in the car. He wasn't even sure where our house was!!!!! Rick said he'll learn but it has to be the hard way by getting lost a lot.
• Came home with two friends, one of B's and one of S's and they had really nice playdates. S and his friend took Tillie for a long walk even though it was raining by then (the rain very politely held off until after the morning walk). B and her friend drew lots of pictures and played with. Then they all made up skits that they showed me and the friends' father when he came to pick them up. Hysterical!
• Rick installed the Lingua Latina text and exercitzia for me on my laptop and I actually had fun doing my homework for Latin. W and J have to do this today.
• Have decided Thumbelina needs to be an outdoor cat since she has taken to having accident in the living room and even on the carpeted steps. I can't take it anymore. She's already destoyed the dining room carpet. So either we give her away (and who will take a cat like that? She's crazy!) or she has to be an outdoor cat. She can't understand it and is frantic to get inside. I ran to the petco and bought her one of those cat condos and this special mat that reflects her own body heat and keeps her warm, plus her own set of water and food dishes. B and her friend set it up on the porch. She should be cozy out there!
• J watched anime videos on youtube all afternoon and evening.
• R got carry out from Santini's for dinner.
• R read more Lightning Thief to B and S and then read American Girl Rebecca to B.
• S decided he was going to read another Louis Sachar book. He couldn't get into A Wrinkle in Time. R said it was too old for him. I have a distinct memory of reading it in 5th grade but R says its really for 6th grade and up.
• Looked up Blessed Imelda - she's an incorruptable, which always totally blows me away!!!! B wants to be Imelda for the All Saints Day party.
• I started reading the Iliad yesterday and was actually enjoying it but I want the study guide so that I can do the same exercises as W and J while they read it.
  

Journal 9/25/09

• Read B chapter of Farmer Boy in a.m. She woke up really early
• Ran out and got ingredients for mummifying apples experiment. We couldn't go to morning mass because J never moved his clothes from the washer to the dryer last night.
• Did mummifying apples experiment with 3 different types of salt: epsom salt, table salt and baking soda.
• J took took an Algebra test and only got a 70 on it. I have to talk about this to Rick. . . J is so not into academics this year
  
• W slept in late and listened to lots of music
• Went to tennis 1-3
• Picked up S's friend for playdate here
• Called Clonlara - thinking of enrolling J
  
• Talked about Book of Job and a little bit of HAW with W and J
• Read another chapter of Farmer Boy to B
• Rick read more of The Lightning Thief to S and B
• W cleaned the kitchen for me without being asked!!!! God bless him!
  

Journal 9/24/09

• Read next chapter in Tales of Ancient Egypt
• B and S did some cursive practice
• S did a tiny bit of spelling
• S practiced piano
• S recited all of Trees poem
• B learned By the Seaside by RLS
• Becky read compound words and two syllable words from her reader. We discussed schwa vowels and how put emphasis on one syllable in multi-syllable words.
• Becky did part of Ch.2 2-1 in MCP
• S redid a little of L. 8 in Saxon and then finished up the mixed practice problems (odd numbered)
• Watched ch. 14 in LfC - learning 2nd conjugation
• J did Saxon Alg. II L. 5
• W slept in! Have no idea what he did besides that all a.m.
• B and S worked in Greek workbook
• J read HAW and Book of Job
  
• B to Little Flowers S to play with Jack - LF looks greats, lots of new girls
• Rick is home!
• J and I watched lecture 2 of Earth Science - geological time - wow! Earth is 4.567 billion years old!!!!! How'd they figure that out? Well the prof told me but I still don't understand what radioactivity has to do with it!!!!!!
  
• Rick is reading Rebecca of American Girls series to Becky and The Lightning Thief to S and B(I thought he'd finished it but I was wrong).
• W passed his driving test so he now is an official driver except that Rick isn't letting him drive until he tests him himself on Saturday. Poor W, so instead of driving, W is making cds he can play in his 'new' car.
• Read B next chapter of Farmer Boy; she's listening to Little House in the Big Woods on audio as well.
• S is listening to Wrinkle in Time on audio.
  

Journal 9/23/09

• Took W to Music Theory; he took a quiz and got an A-
• Read Bible History to B and S (didn't get to it on Mon.) - about how the Israelites had to wander in the desert for 40 years. Had B and S answer questions at end.
• Read next two chapters of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch - getting very interesting!
• Did Latin grammar review with S; he really knew his grammar stuff. Just have to work on vocab.
• B and S practiced cursive and S did a little bit of spelling.
• Never got to math; oh well - tomorrow!
• J did L. 5 of Alg II
• J read intro to Romans and Galatians scripture study
• J and I watched the first lesson in How the Earth Works (TTC)
• W practiced guitar
• Took S and B to VT
• Had to run all the way to Levine to pick up music books S left there on Monday
• S listened to more Roald Dahl on audio
  
• first drawing class tonight with B and S but it turned out that the class, even though advertised through FCPA never was actually set up. So no class even though I registered and paid for it a couple months ago! They didn't bother to inform us!
• Read a chapter of Farmer Boy - my favorite chapter about the blacking on the parlor wall.
• Took W and J to CLC. Came home and B had cleared off the kitchen table and wiped it down all without me asking her to
• S finished listening to James and the Giant Peach
• B and S are watching The Little Prince
  

Journal 9/22/09

• Got up and studied Latin a bit
• We ate breakfast at Starbucks. Haven't gone grocery shopping in a long time. Need to go!
• Latin class - me, J and W
• B and S did seatwork. B did cursive, math drill, reading workbook on compound words; drew lots of pictures
  
• S did cursive, 2 pp of grammar, subtraction drill sheet, read in his reader
• after Latin - J finished up L. 4 in Alg 2
• S and B did VT homework; S did a little bit of spelling
• W did drivers ed with student drivers
• S and B went to gymnastics
• I read some more of Book of Job
  
• Read chapter of Farmer Boy to B
  

Journal 9/21/09

• Took Will to Music Theory
• Did VT with B and S!!! B did circles, angel touches, and K. figure 8's. S used the flippers while read F&L
• B and S practiced cursive
• S finished spelling exercises from last week.
• B took the cumulative unit test in MCP
• S did L. 8 in Saxon
• S supposedly studied his poem Trees
• Didn't get to Latin with S
• S practiced piano
• J worked on Algebra did L. 4 except didn't do problem set
• Read F&L chapter to B. S read his F&L to himself
• Took B to meet her new violin teacher. Really pretty lady, seeems very sweet.
• P/u Will from NVCC
• Took S to piano lesson; studied Latin for 45 minutes in car
• Came home and got J and W to study Latin while I did
• Did final planning for RE class
• Taught RE class - very sweet group of girls; supposed to be 9 but only 8 were present.
• Read a chapter of Farmer Boy to both S and B.
• Can't believe I got through this hectic, crazy day!
  

Friday, 9/18/09

• Got to 9:15 a.m. mass at St. Mark. This is the sweetest Mass! The schoolchildren do the readings and prayers of the faithful and the children's choir sings the music. Monsignor Tom directs his homily right to the children in his down-homey, gentle style. It is lovely.
• Picked up breakfast at Dunkin Donuts on the way home.
• B worked a page in her reading workbook; Sean did some spelling in his speller
• S practiced piano quite a bit
• Did a lesson in math with both S and B.
• J did some Algebra and read some
• Don't know what Will did????
• Made everybody chant 1st and 2nd (M and N) declensions all the way to tennis lessons! LOL! So we got Latin in!
• Weather was great for first tennis lessons. Teen class is at 1; B and S's class @ 2. Had fun visiting with moms.
• Will had his Beatles concert in the evening.
• Came home and I read to Farmer Boy to B while she took a bath.
• Rick read more to S and B.
• Talked to Hannah a long time! She read me her first paper over the phone on Book 9 of The Iliad. She is really trying hard. I thought her paper sounded pretty good!
  

Journal 9/16/09

• Blech, woke up late @ 8:45 with migraine. Decided to pretend I didn't have one, but 45 minutes into that idea I started throwing up. Spent whole morning sick as a dog. Around 1 o'clock it started to abate.
• During the morning Will watched B and S. He played word bingo with B and S wrote a new e-mail to his friend, so I guess they got some language arts in there. They also played on the computer, watched TV and played a lot of make believe games down in the basement. Rainy, dull morning.
• W did do a lot of reading for Ancient Studies and J did some as well, though he did take advantage of my illness and spent some time on the computer.
• In the pm did a little bit of cursive and a tiny bit of Greek with B and S. Becky read the next 6 sentences out of her reader and she did really well, I think VT is already kicking in for her. She didn't have to sound out every word painfully and she didn't keep moving her head or losing her place as she read. She did complain that it was making her eyes hurt. I've notice she is also trying to read things around the house by herself. That is a new thing!
• S did a bit of spelling.
• Met with Josh and Will. We discussed the Theogony chapter from HCM and also the next 4 chapters of SWB's HAW. That was pretty productive.
• W went to guitar practice and then band practice for his Beatles show tomorrow night.
• Still want to do math with B and S; check with J to see if he did any Alg. and also read Nathaniel Bowditch to S and B.
• Read B another chapter of Farmer Boy about maple syrup. This led to a nice discussion about different kinds of sugar. She remember very clearly all the details in Strawberry Girl about sugar cane. She loved that book!
• S is listening to the second Harry Potter book on audio.
• Update: never did get to math but I did read Bowditch
  

Journal 9/16

• Read story of Thutmose and the Sphinx to B and S
• S worked in Language of grammar book
• B did some cursive
• Did mental math with B
• S did some math from L. 6
• Read F&L ch. 2 to B.
• J worked on Alg. Rick helped
• W went to Music Theory class
• S practiced piano
• B set up a restaurant in her room; she cut up cheese and had crackers and a bowl of blueberries. She was looking for the Mozart cds but they mysteriously gone missing.
• B and S are building a 'town' downstairs in basement.
• Dropped off something for girls' club on the way to pick up Will, took forever!
• Got home just in time to take S and B to VT; we were late.
• Sent care package to H
• Collapsed from about 4:30 to 6, ordered pizza for dinner
• Met with W and J to see how much stuff they'd gotten done. J did more Alg. W did some reading for tomorrow
• Took W and J to CLC
• Did 10 minutes of Latin with S. Still reviewing grammar, chanted 1st and 2nd delensions went over N, G, D, A, A and what a predicate nominative was
• Read another chapter of Farmer Boy to B
• Rick is reading The Lightning Thief. Everybody, including W and J are getting into Greek Mythology because of this. Ties in with reading Heroes of the City of Man Theogony chapter.
  

• Did vocab cards for Latin before class
• Latin class 10 to 12
• S did additions fact sheet, page of speller, cursive practice, studied poem Trees, then played outside with another 5th grade boy who also tags along after his older brother. They seem to be making friends.
• B did a few addition problems, a page in her reading workbook, cursive practice, then she colored a lot and played with playdoh.
• J was really alert and on the ball in class, W seems to have slept through it.
• W practiced music
• J worked on Less. 2 problems in Saxon but got several wrong, sigh
  
• W went driving with drivers ed.
• J finished first Logic/Writing assignment
• Did Latin grammar review with S.
• Went to first gymnastics class for S and B - Sean did not like it. He is out of shape and was remember how well he did over a year ago. He stayed up way too late last night and was cranky from that plus he's got a bit of a cold. He hated it and cried all the way. I do wish he was not so darn high strung. I signed him up for 3 months. Get ready for the emotional roller coaster!
  

Journal 9/14/09

• Until Will gets his driver's license (which hopefully will happen at the end of this month) I have to drive him to his Music Theory class on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have to leave the house about 9:30 to get him there by 10 and then I don't get back home until 10:30. This is so awkward, I can't stand it! Because it starts the week off badly. The younger kids get up and laze around in their pjs and play computer and watch tv and then they really don't want to do Mom-directed stuff by the time I get home. Plus just after I got home Hannah called and wanted to talk so I wound up talking with her until after 11:00. Then the cleaners came! I love having cleaners that come bi-monthly, but it is disruptive. We had to quick tidy up for them and deal with vacuum cleaners roaring and such. So the morning was frustrating.
  
• So we only got a little bit of cursive, a tiny bit of math and a tiny bit of Greek done before I had to go back out to pick up Will from CC.
  
• S definitely got some spelling in because he and his friend Joe have been exchanging e-mails. He'll probably learn spelling faster that way than doing work in his spelling workbook.
• I also read Bible History. It was Providential because the chapter had to do with Moses instituting the holy days of Passover, Pentecost, Sukkot and Yom Kippur and I had decided yesterday to read a book called My Jewish Friend, A Young Catholic Learns about Judaism. Of course this book goes into detail about Jewish holidays so it was wonderful kismet! We read the first few pages of that out loud. Then S read the 2nd chapter in F&L.
• Josh did part of L. 2 in his Saxon math but he didn't finish it up.
• Josh read the first part of his Logic book The Argument Builder. I'm making him write out all his answers to give him writing practice.
• W did a bit of SAT Prep.
• We've been listening to a Rimsky-Korsakov (sp?) recording in the car everywhere we go. It is his 'greatest hits'. Sean kept playing The Flight of the Bumblebee over and over.
• S went to his first piano lesson of the new school year.
• W, J and I have hours of Latin homework still to do. We did some on Sunday afternoon, but we still have much more to do between now and tomorrow morning.
• Update: We got some Latin done before dinner and then most of the rest of it after dinner. Still have a tiny bit to do Tuesday a.m.
• J did more math and more logic
• W practiced lots of music and mowed the front lawn.
• Rick is reading The Lightning Thief out loud to S and B and suddenly everybody is talking about Charon and Dionysus.
  

Journal 9/11/09

• Read two sections in Life in a Bucket of Soil. Read about roundworms, yuck! And snails and slugs.
  
• B and S practiced some cursive
• B did a little bit of work practicing subtraction. I completely forgot to do math with S!!!!
• S practiced memorizing Trees by Kilmer and finished up week 1 in his CHC speller.
• B reading a bit to me from her reader.
• We watched Chapter 11 section of LfC dvd
• We listened to audio cd of review of all 11 chapters in LfC in the car on the way to Mass
• Went to noon Mass!
• Ate lunch at Panera near church
• B and S watched TV, played, ran around outside, played with neighbor
• J, W and I reviewed first reading assignment in scripture study
  
• J, W and I tackled part of the Latin homework; got a good chunk done!
• W went to band practice
  

Journal 9/10/09

• Read 2 chapters of Carry On, Mr Bowditch
• S did 10 minutes on his additions facts sheet, got all 100 right. D L. 5 in Saxon.
• B did mental math and some subtraction through 18 problems
• B voluntarily did her next page in her cursive book.
• B worked happily in her Anti-coloring book
• S read and memorized first two verses of Trees by Kilmer.
• J did Alg II Review B lesson.
• J read Intro in Romans & Galatians Study guide.
• W read HAW
• W practiced music.
• S did cursive practice and two assignments in his speller.
• Discussed Epic of Gilgamesh and HAM Ch. 1-4 with W and J
• W had not read his Scripture study so we'll do that tomorrow.
• W has driver's ed today @ 2.
• worked some more in Greek Code Cracker wkbk with B and S.
• W went to guitar lesson and then to VT
• Went shoe shopping for kids, then we ate out, then hung out at bookstore
• Read B another chapter in These Happy Golden Years, 1 more chapter to go.
• R read some more Holes to B and S.
  

9/9/09

• Took Will to Music Theory at the CC
• Got started with anything formal quite late in the a.m.
• crisis with J's Earth Science - looked too easy. I called, turns out K12 sent me the middle grades Earth Science NOT high school. As soon as they reimburse me, I'll sign him up for the high school one. Sigh. The program looks good, dealing with their beaurocracy does not.
• Checked the workbook-y stuff B and S did yesterday during Latin class.
• B, all on her own, did a page of her reading workbooks. She did it and then came and showed me! I hadn't even asked her! She likes 'playing' school.
• I worked with Sean on his spelling. He doesn't like the fact he has to read in cursive.
• Did a math lesson with S in Saxon. L. 4
• Read from Green's Ancient Tales of Egypt about Hatshepsut.
  
• J did lots of Ancient Studies reading. He read the 4 chapters in History of the Ancient World. Then he read the intro of The Heroes of the Cities of Men. He was reading Gilgamesh the Hero King. I don't know if he finished it. He still needs to read the intro to Romans and Galatians.
• J worked a bit on Review B of Alg II, but he didn't get it finished.
• W finished the Epic of Gilgamesh. He found it laugh out loud funny in parts. He and I had the same thought, it really makes you appreciate the profundity and spirituality of the Bible!
• W was attempting to read HAW. Don't know how far he got.
• Went to VT
  
• Went to the library. Got books out on the Pioneers and the west (for myself) inspired by the Little House books. B got a American Girl Samantha book. S got Coraline which he started to read but then got J to agree to read aloud to him. That kid has just decided he doesn't read novels. It is a bit discouraging. The older kids at this age were absolutely taking off with reading and had a rich independent reading life. Not so S. He's got a mental block.
• Read 3 chapters of These Happy Golden Years to B. R read Holes to B and S.
  

Journal 9/8/09 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

• Went to first Latin class. Brought B and S. They were so good!
• B did subtraction in her workbook. p. in her reading workbook, page of cursive practice, then she drew and colored.
• S did two pages of grammar book. page of cursive, 100 additions facts worksheet, read in his reader. He is rusty on reading cursive so he didn't get much spelling done in his speller. We'll work on that 9/9.
  
• Lots of Latin homework to do and it is painful remembering all the Latin we learned last year. Homework looks like it will takes hours and hours!
• B got a hieroglyphics decoder from Chick-fil-a. I love the toys they put in their kids meals! She was playing with it off and on all day. Looks very much like the Koine Greek decoder that comes with our Code Cracker workbooks. I'll try to remember to use it tomorrow when we are reading Ancient Egyptian Tales and possibly working in our history notebooks.
  
• Went to Blessed Virgin Mary's birthday party picnic. Had a good time! Sold some t-shirts!
• Got Josh registered for his Earth Science class on K12 and he did the first very short intro lesson, I also made up his science notebook for him. The program looks so interesting, thorough and fun.
  
• We are restarting Alg II. Last week was a dry run! So he is working out ALL Review A Problem set so I can check this evening. (I did check. he got 3 wrong. I gave the book to Rick when he came home. I have no idea WHY the three were wrong.)
  
• W practiced music all afternoon
• W did some SAT prep
• W read some Epic of Gilgamesh; he's further along than I am. Has J started to read any of his Ancient Studies stuff????
• I read some Gilgamesh the Hero
• S finished listening to the first Harry Potter. Wants to go the library and get second book on audio, but he's got to start listening to it earlier in the evening. He stays up way too late and then he is Mr. Grouchy all day due to lack of sleep.
• Almost finished reading These Happy Golden Years to B.
• Rick started reading Holes to S and B for his bedtime read aloud.
  

Journal 9/4/09

• Made it to 9:15 a.m. Mass
• Read next chapter in Life in a Bucket of Soil about Earthworms and actually had it together enough to make a wormery. B was really into it, of course, S was not, partly because he's been staying up so late listening to Harry Potter on audio. They found two earthworm and put them into our plastic 2 liter bottle filled with dirt and sand. On Monday we'll peek and see if we can see tunnels.
• Becky finished yesterday's reading lesson and we also tackled the -ing rule. This got us onto an interesting discussion about verb tenses and when we use -ing on verbs. B was really thinking. We talked about how 'he runs' is present tense and 'he is running' is also present tense. Past tense can be: he ran or he was running, future tense can be: he will run or he will be running. I think she really understood tenses after our conversation.
• Sean listened to the LfC cd to review Latin vocabulary some more.
• B did MCP lesson on subtraction through sums of ten.
• S did timed addition sheet and he really improved. I told him not to care how neatly he made his numbers, he was getting hung up on that, but to just write as fast as he could add. He did much better. We also did the place value review which was cinchy-cinchy for him.
• We worked in our Greek Code Cracker workbooks, a bit impatiently because S's friend had come to play and had to wait for us to finish up.
• J was supposed to be doing Algebra but I think he just wasn't in the mood. Sigh.
• Met with W and J to talk about Ancient Studies. I was trying to get them to realize they need to get organized and plan out their days better, etc, etc. I went over the books we are going to read. I think they found it daunting. Another sigh . . .
  
• W and J were so draggy that I decided to postpone our Latin review until sometime over the weekend. I just do don't Friday afternoons well!
• Gotta take W to band practice soon!
  

Journal 9/3/09

• Read 2 chapters of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch - had good discussions about what a shilling is and the different old fashioned names for coins, what a privateer is and what 'expectations' are. Learned that April 19, 1775 was when the Battle of Lexington occurred.
• Did VT exercises: Kraskin Circles, the weird tracking exercises with a pencil (forget official name), angel touches.
• Did MCP math with B, adding more numbers with numberline. Did mental math exercises.
• Did just a little Saxon with S: mental math, timed addition facts sheet, mostly spent time cutting up lots of little photocopied ones, tens and 100's dollar bills. We'll do the place value review tomorrow.
• Josh did Lesson 1 (finally finished with review) in Saxon Alg II
• Will did SAT prep and practiced guitar
• Sean read in his reader but I forgot to ask him about it!
• B read 7 sentences from her reader. Did very well.
• Quizzed each other on Latin vocabulary to start review for that.
• Worked more in our Greek Alphabet Code Cracker workbook
• Began Scripture study.
  

9/2/09

Good schoolish day!

• Took Will to Nova class
• Looked over history notebooks with S and B, reviewed names of Egyptian gods, read tale about Zoser and Khnemu and building a temple so the Inundation would come back. Had B and S narrate back.
• S read a poem and then a story about Father Flannigan and Boys Town in his reader. Did comprehension exercise orally. He needs to read more closely; he missed a lot.
  
• B's reading: I dictated words to her from her reading workbook. She wrote them on a dry erase board and then had to put them in past tense.
  
• S did Saxon 6/5 Lesson 2. Took timed facts practice.
• B worked on addition facts on Math Shark then using a number line solved addition problems up to sum of 18.
• Vision Therapy
• Worked on Greek Code Cracker workbook. B and S think that is so much fun! Quote of the day is from Sean: "Whoa! I can feel my brain learning!"
• Josh did more review in his Alg II book.
• Josh worked on his Code Cracker workbook. He's way ahead of B, S and me.

Everybody had really good attitudes today! What a blessing.

Journal 9/1/09

• Read 1st Chapter of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch for American Studies
• Josh did Review Lesson B in Algebra II
• Sean read first assignment in These Are Our People reader
• Becky read first page in her reader and we reviewed the adding -ed rule to words
• Did mental math and Practice set problems in Lesson 1 of Saxon 6/5 with Sean
• Did 2 pages of MCP 3rd with Becky.
• Went to library - Josh got a mystery book out; announced he is through with graphic novels. Sean got the 1st Harry Potter book on cd. Becky got Charlotte's Web on cd. Will didn't get anything.
• Watched next lecture in Superstar Student
• Will worked on SAT Prep.