L'Shana Tova

To my friends and family celebrating Rosh Hashana:
We wish you a Sweet, Happy, and a Healthy New Year. 

Book of Good Life song, by the Maccabeats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRaQSbuTiBg

A Quiet Week

This week we have been taking it light.  The focus has been on Math, Grammar, Vocabulary, and History.  For History the kids have started reading Around the World in 80 Days.  They will be mapping the route of Phileas Fog and doing research on the places he visited.

The Great Frog Dissection

 Yesterday we got together with a friend to dissect frogs.  Here Little Miss M is showing how she feels.  To dissect or not to dissect led to some interesting philosophical discussion in our house.

Gloving up!

Examining the eyes and the membrane.

Getting a good look at the eyes and nostrils.

Prying open the mouth to examine the tongue.

Who knew that the tongue is attached in the front not the back like ours?

The opened frog.

I can't believe you are making me do this!

Examining the stomach.

Little Miss is examining the stomach.  None of the frogs had any food in their stomachs.

Removing the lungs.  You can see an assortment of organs on the tray.

The last organ has been removed and it looks like Little Miss is contemplating the meaning of it all.  Although I think she was just wondering if she could take off the gloves now.

Tuesday!

Week 3 and so far things are moving along well.  So far this week I have managed to be patient and understanding.  How does that saying go.....G-d grant me the patience to accept the things I can not change.  My kids are kids.  With the normal ups and downs and envelope pushing tendencies of kids.  Some days their behavior has me hiding under the covers chanting that murder is wrong and other days I embrace their natural curiosity.  I am only human after all.

Little Miss M has been working on her vocabulary words (she got 90% on her test of last weeks words), diagramming simple subjects and predicates, learning the difference between fact and opinion, reading The Endless Steppe, adding and subtracting mixed number fractions, finding the volume of cubes and rectangles using fractions, and observing different environments using all of her senses.  Okay, she refuses to lick a tree but she is using the other senses.

Mister B has been busy with his vocabulary words (he got 100% on his test of last weeks words), diagramming compound subjects and predicates, reading The Giver, learning the rules of writing, brainstorming ideas for writing, converting fractions to decimals and decimals to percentages, figuring out sales tax and tips, studying about a Sumerian astronomer, and learning about following the rules of society and why we do follow those rules and what we learn from the various social groups we belong to.

Tomorrow they will be dissecting a frog.  I had originally thought we would go with a virtual dissection but a friend called me and asked if I wanted to join her on the dissection.  I thought, well, even though we are really not up to that this opportunity landed in my lap so I should go for it.  I will post about it later in the week.

We did it!

Week #2 completed!  It actually went quite well.  So far this year is off to a better start then last year.  Last year it felt like it took forever to get into the groove.  This year we just got right into it.

Little Miss and Mister B are progressing in math and grammar nicely.  Little Miss M is learning about observation in science.  Observing living things and non-living things, determining if things move too fast to observe (the river) or too slow.  Mister B wrote a paragraph on why he enjoyed reading about Newton.  He likes the way he observes thing.  He said it would never have occurred to him to question why an apple always falls down.

I am hopeful that next week will be as successful as this week.

The week continues...

Yesterday was the first Discussion Group of the new school year.  Everyone was excited to be back and to hear what everyone did over the summer vacation.  Each child took a turn presenting their "What I did over my summer vacation" report.  It is amazing how much they have all grown in regards to their abilities to stand up in front and give a report.

Mister B talked about swim team, swim camp, and volunteering at the library.  He is definitely comfortable talking in front of the group.  He makes eye contact and looks at different people throughout the presentation. He needs to work on content.  He needs to elaborate.  Another area he will be working on-not interrupting when others are speaking.  He gets a thought and out it comes.  Granted, his comments are darn funny.  The boy has a sharp wit.  Time and a place is the lesson of the day.  He needs to be more respectful when others are speaking.

Little Miss talked about swim team, swim camp, and the friends she made over the summer.  She has also shown great improvement in her confidence in speaking in front of others.  She now needs to work on not reading straight from her text but looking around at the audience.

Some of the things the others did: Visits to Lake George and Camel Back beach, summer camp and trips down the shore, and growing a garden and how landscapers can be hazardous to your newly growing garden.

Week 2 is on it's way...

So far, so good.  We are settling into a routine.  Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be ready to dive into to learning by 9.

Mister B is still grumbling about his increased work load.  Too bad.  If he wasn't complaining then it would be too easy.  We are not going for easy, we are going for college.  Mister B gets a little more control over his schedule this year.  Math is always the first subject and then he gets to decide the order he completes the rest of his assignments. 

Our largest hurdle in these first weeks of school is his absolute hatred of writing.  Every writing exercise is greeted with such an attitude of displeasure.  We are working on attitude improvement when unhappy with an assignment.


Little Miss M took her first Chapter Quiz in science today.  She did quite well.  90%.  As we went over her test we identified areas for her to work on in the upcoming year.  She needs to work on her handwriting.  Writing slower will help.  She needs to work on elaborating her answers.  She needs clearer descriptions.

For Literature she started reading The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig.  One of my favorite books when I was a girl.  She will be using various graphic organizers during her reading of this book to start developing skills in analysis.

Little Miss is also grumbling about her increased work load.  She is quite appalled at the addition to vocabulary quizzes in addition to spelling.  It is no longer enough to do the workbook and copy work. No she has to be able to recall the information a week later.  Development of study habits is important.

First Week of School has been completed.

Okay, my title says it is completed but technically Mister B is still working on science and then he has to do Civics.  He is working on Science now-reading a bit about Aristotle.  When he completes that he will move on to a question on Justice in Civics.

Overall, I think it has been a successful first week.  We had a few bumps.  Thanks to all the rain from Tropical Storm Lee I am still cleaning up water from the basement.  Yesterday and this morning I was clearing ruined things from the basement and dragging them out to the curb for garbage pick up along with all of my neighbors.  If nothing else, it prompted me into getting rid of those broken toys I have been meaning to toss.  School bumps were the usual grumblings of getting back into the routine along with some boundary pushing.  Those moments are always so much fun.

I think the year is off to a good start.  I am hopeful that the good things will continue.

First Day of School!

We had a rainy start to the 2011/2012 School Year.  The flood waters have receded.  The basement is almost dry.  However, today, we are back under a flood watch due to the continuous rain from Tropical Storm Lee.  I am hopeful that this time the water won't enter the home.  Now back to our start of the school year report.

Our first official day back went pretty well.  We started with the First Day of School Mug Shots.  I still can't believe I have an 8th grader and a 6th grader.  After the pictures were taken we sat down and got to work.

The day started with Math and was followed by grammar.  This was followed by science.  After that Little Miss did independent reading and she colored some maps.  She know knows the State Capitals for Pennsylvania & Ohio (I certainly didn't know).  While Little Miss was doing that Mister B started his Civics course.  Today was a discussion on "What is Civics? Why is the study of civics relevant to my life?"  Then we discussed the ideas of equality, justice, and freedom.  Once civics was done Mister B moved on to Literature.  He will be reading The Giver by Lois Lowry.  Today he read a short bio on the author and received his vocabulary list and his chapter assignment to be completed by next Wednesday.

Once all of the above was completed we headed over to Philosophy.  They did manage to have a brief philosophical discussion but today was more about getting reacquainted after not seeing each other all summer.  Over the next 2 or 3 sessions they will get back into the swing.

Tomorrow is a new day and we shall see what it brings.

Flooding Update

It seems I spoke to soon about the lack of water in our basement.  We ended up with a couple of inches down there.  Thank goodness the floor in the finished part, the laundry room, and one of the closets is raised off the floor.  I am also thankful that the majority of things I store on the floor are in plastic bins.  That said, we borrowed a shop vac from a friend (because there is not a pump to be had) and have been vacuuming up water since Friday night.  At first, it felt like I was not even making a dent.  I wondered if the water I was dumping down the slop sink was just spewing back in.  It wasn't.  The basement is physics at work.  Where the slop sink in, the floor is at the lowest point.  I was vacuuming up the water and the water from the rest of the basement was flowing down hill.

The downside to the raised floor is that I have to wait for the water to trickle down to the area where I can vacuum it up (which is the storage closet in the laundry room).  Most of the exposed floor in the furnace room is now dry.  One big damp spot in the corner that is getting smaller every day. 

Now I am left with a new problem.  The gross musty, mildewy smell.  The parts of the floor that I can scrub down with a vinegar solution will get done but there is that whole big section under the raised floor.  I have now way of cleaning that up.  Now we are shopping around for a dehumidifier to help with the dampness.  Price is an issue.  The really good ones are a few hundred dollars.  The internet is both a blessing and a curse.  We read reviews until we are too paralyzed to make a decision.  

Even with the few inches of water in the basement we are still luckier then most of our neighbors.  I am trying to count my blessings.

We survived the flooding

There has been lots of excitement by us these past few days.  Hurricane Irene didn't do too much damage.  The same can not be said of the flooding she caused in her aftermath.  Here is a link to some pictures of the flooding: http://fairlawn.patch.com/articles/day-3-fair-lawn-versus-irene#photo-7568936

We were incredibly lucky.  The river did make it to our house but only started filling the driveway before the river crested.  We did get a few inches of sewer back-up in the slop sink in the basement and one of the basement walls is a bit damp with some seepage.  Compared to my neighbors nothing happened to us.  My friend's parents live one block away.  Their basement was filled to the ceiling.  They spent all night bailing water to keep it from getting into the rest of the house.  Many of my neighbors experienced similar.  Many people also had a lot of sewage spewing into their basements.  It makes me glad that we hubby and decided many years ago not to put a bathroom in the basement.

School starts in our area the Tuesday after Labor Day.  It will be starting for everyone except the students at the middle school my two would attend if we did not homeschool.  The middle school had a boiler room full of water and some overflow into the auditorium.  Fortunately, no water made it into the classrooms or hallways.  However, between pumping out the water, the clean up, etc, they are anticipating that school will start on the 12th but they admit it may be longer.

Of course, my two thought a delayed start to the school year sounds awesome.  I pointed out that losing vacation time and/or having school end later then everyone else was not ideal and that we will be officially starting the school year next Tuesday.

From a school standpoint we are ready to go.  The new books are on the shelves.  Supplies are organized. 

This year Mister B will be using:
Math U See Pre-Algebra
History Odyssey-Modern Times
Oak Meadow English
Growing with Grammar
Oak Meadow Physical Science
Oak Meadow Civics

Extra Curricular:
Philosophy
Music Appreciation
Discussion Group
Swim Team

Little Miss M will be using:
Math U See Epsilon
Growing with Grammar
Critical Thinking Skills
Assorted Reading -Poetry, Biography, Non-Fiction
Oak Meadow Basic Life Science
History Odyssey-Modern Times

Extra Curricular:
Music Appreciation
Philosophy
Swim Team

Plus, we will be doing units on whatever else strikes our fancy.  I think this will be an exciting year.