Persephone, hedgehogs, Osiris and the moon

Caveat: If you're not me this might be pretty dry reading.

Today started well. I've been timing the kids to see how long things are taking. My goal is to keep each lesson to about 15 minutes for Henry and 20 minutes for Eleanor. We were on track all morning even with a bit of trouble during language arts with Eleanor during which there was a minor flare up on my part. Let's face it, a person can only say, "Please look at me while I'm talking", so many times in one life and I maxed out last week.

So we trucked along up until the morning break and then when we reassembled it wasn't quite as smooth riding anymore. Henry, who usually loves science, didn't pay attention during the reading on hedgehogs and mice (one page per animal). He had trouble during the narration (3 -4 sentences per animal) and had to re-read some bits for basic information that usually really sticks with him. Still, it wasn't *so* bad until we got to the notebook page.

The notebook page is just a drawing of something from the reading. Its easy and fun but there are rules; it isn't free-form. That is, it has to look like the animal about which we learned using information from the reading. If the reading doesn't mention flying hedgehogs then no flying hedgehogs. If we already know that mice aren't cherry red then no cherry red mice. Also, no rushing through it. It has to be thoughtful. He had to start over 4 times. He seemed to think I wasn't going to follow through on making him do it by the rules. By the time I took out the fourth sheet of plain paper he was convinced and the final product was quality work.

Since the day was going well and we were doing great on time, I had Eleanor get ahead in history. The reading was extremely short and easy. She banged it out and answered the questions without a problem. The narration wasn't quite as smooth. At her grade level, part of the purpose of the narration should be to come up with concise, explanatory sentences. I'm trying to teach her to trim the fat by asking prompting questions which she will often ignore in the hopes that I will give up and tell her the answer. Or, she thinks she has a better approach than my question. It was a struggle of this sort over one small point that dragged out the narration. It was resolved but not without some unhappiness.

Those two blips set us back in terms of staying ahead but we were still doing well for time. However, my handling of the situation was once again not helpful. Instead of being angry and annoyed I should have come up with a way to get them back on track. I hope that by writing this down and then reading it again, I can reinforce the idea that I'm supposed to be teaching them and not just managing their books and assignments.

Eleanor didn't follow directions for the science portion but I let it go and accepted her work which was actually quite good in spite of not being what she was told to do. Math went along easily except that Henry was being insanely silly and got a time-out which took up some time.

Here's the breakbown:

Henry

• Printing - 2 pages - 17 minutes
• Break - 45 minutes while I worked with E
  
• FLL - Lesson 18 - Review "The Caterpillar" & "Work" poems for memorization. Discuss place names/proper nouns. Copywork - San Jose, California x 2 - 18 minutes.
• Read aloud from UGMfC, Demeter and Persephone. Watch the cool short. - 20 minutes.
• Break - 45 minutes
  
• Science - Hedgehogs and Mice - read, narration, coloring page - 50 minutes - TOO LONG
  
• Lunch
  
• Math - 35 minutes - includes time-out and lots of goofing
  

Eleanor

• Piano - about 15 minutes (I didn't time this one)
  
• Spelling - one page - 20 minutes.
• FLL3 - Lesson 12 - Review "The Land of Nod", discuss how to do narration. Copywork. - 20 minutes.
• Cursive - 3 pages (she requested the 3rd page) - 10 minutes.
• Writing Strands - Build on a core sentence - 15 minutes.
• Read GMrbGM, Demeter and Persephone. Watch the short. - 20 minutes.
• Break - 45 minutes
• History - Egyptian gods & goddesses - read, oral questions, narration, coloring - 55 minutes (did not finish coloring)
• Science - The Moon - read, watch clip of moon landing, narration, coloring page - 25 minutes

We were finished by 2:15-ish. Then, we went for our weekly park day with a local home school group. On the way there Eleanor did some French. We stayed at the park for about 2 hours. Eleanor finished her French on the way home and we listened to a few more chapters of "Despereaux" (it was rush hour).

I had dinner in the crock pot already which was good because after I stopped to pet the Guinea pigs (more on that later) I only had enough time to get changed and go talk Iliad at class.

Which brings me to now, finishing this blog post while Rick brings me a bowl of soup. Its not a 401k but I understand that there will be cake to follow and in my world that's just as good.