Week Ending January 27th

Phew!  Only 4 days left in the month and then good-bye January......how sweet it will be to see you go :)

This week was MUCH better at the clubhouse.  And here is why:

I spent less time on my computer in the mornings.  It is so easy to get the kids working on something and then to steal 5 minutes to check my work email and respond to a few of them, or hang out over at TWTM boards, or check the local news, look at last minute vacation deals or whatever.......but that 5 minutes very easily can turn into 10 or 20 minutes and next thing you know, the kids have finished their tasks, realized that I am preoccupied, and then they go wild.  And then Mom gets upset that things have gotten out of control and the vicious cycle begins of meltdowns from the kids, mom getting increasingly frustrated, everyone in a foul mood and then lots of tears, grumpy faces and misery all around.

It worked.

Now I will be 100% honest and tell you that I DID check my work email and I DID have to do a little bit of my work, but it wasn't constant and I made sure that I stopped once the kids were finishing up their tasks.

I went into the office all day Tuesday while the substitute teacher (Mr W) took over.  Let's just say that Mr W has a much different approach to their schoolwork when he is home.  They had lots of fun - but not much work was done.  We stayed up until 10pm that night getting caught up, and the kids LOVED being able to do their work at night.  Mr W and I agreed that on the days he takes over - we call it a PD day :)

On Wednesday, Miss Muffett had an appointment with the orthodontist.  Phase II of her ortho treatment has started; complete with a top appliance and full head gear to wear at night.  She is less than thrilled but handling it all like a real trooper.  And she is loving FLL & WWE. 

Awwww Mom....not again.

Chunky still won't nap that well in the afternoon which continues to drive me crazy.  We have tried every trick in the book without success.  I've been spending lots of time outside with him in the morning and after lunch - but even that doesn't tire him out.  I joked with Miss Muffett that we just need to go to a big empty field and let him run for an hour!  I am not ready for him to be nap-free!!!!  I need that time in the afternoon for work and for the other 3 kiddos! 

Up from his nap!  He makes his way downstairs...

Rather than napping on Thursday, Chunky was trying to be helpful.  He dunked the swiffer mop into the toilet and proceeded to "mop" the floor.  I thought it was pretty cute until I realized that someone hadn't flushed the toilet so he was actually mopping pee everywhere!!  ARRGHHHH!  Spent the next 20 minutes disinfecting the floor. Yep, that was fun.

Today was a fairly good day.  We were supposed to go our enrichment classes but freezing rain and snow descended early this morning so the classes were cancelled.  The kids spent some time doing schoolwork and had their friends over to play for a little bit. 

To finish up a much improved week, DH texted me today to tell me he had booked me in for a mani/pedi tomorrow morning at a local spa.  He is the best.

Week Ending January 20th

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness....." Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Arrrghhhh what a week.  It is still January isn't it?

It was the best of times............hmmmm, there weren't very many good moments at the REAL Jellybean Clubhouse this week.  Let me see if I can come up with at least 1:

1.  We needed to get a spare car seat for Chunky and borrowed one from a friend.  It isn't in the car yet, so Chunky has been playing in it.  And he really likes to be buckled in.  So he has been sitting in there, watching a TV show for 15-30 minutes and it has been great!  I'm sure the novelty will wear off quickly but at least for this week - he was so happy with his new "toy".  LOL

2.  DH knew I was not having a good week and was extra helpful, extra attentive, etc.  He even brought home flowers on Friday night :)

.....it was the worst of times..........indeed it was.  I was so busy with work this week, and a critical deadline, that I was not in a very good mood.  I was not a very good mom this week.  I really wasn't.  The kids were feeling the mood shift in our house and they reacted by misbehaving, talking back to each other and me, being rude & disrespectful, and generally just being disobedient all the way around :(

.....it was the age of wisdom......OK well, in spite of the behaviour issues (for all of us), they actually all got a full week of work done.  So yes, they did learn something. 

WWS is going well with Mr R.  Even though I have to constantly re-direct him back to the instructions. 

Mom:  What do the instructions ask you to do?
Mr R:  I don't know.
Mom:  Read them out loud. 
Mr R:  (reads them out loud)
Mom:  Ok - great so what do you have to do next? 
Mr R:  I have to ........
Mom:  Good, so go and do that.

I love how SWB has the material directed to the student.  And the TM is awesome!

Miss Muffett had several changes to her work this week.  We dropped GWG and WWW and went back to the familiar, much loved (by Mom) WWE & FLL.  Oh how I love these :)  It is just what we need.  It takes a lot less time to do these so she even had time to bake some cookies.

We also started FLL with Hugs this week.  So far so good.  He is doing so well with SWO A and his math.  And the new Timez Attack Addition/Subtraction is a huge hit here.

We also started Mark Kistler's On-Line Art Lessons and the kids are thrilled.  They all love to draw so this is a natural fit for them.  It isn't as much a subject for them, it is more of a fun thing to do when they have finished their work for the day.

....it was the age of foolishness............there was a lot of foolishness here this week.  Foolish decisions, foolish actions, foolish mistakes, just foolishness all over.  And not the good kind either. 

I think we are all glad that this week is over.  We are happy to have the weekend to relax, re-connect and prepare for next week.  Until then............

In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear.”
-Saint Therese of Lisieux

 

“Let us run to her, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence.”
-Saint Francis de Sales

Week Ending January 13th

I don't like January.  There I said it.  

It is a rather depressing month; all of the Christmas decorations are taken down, no more joyful Christmas music on the radio, the weather is cold, the days are short, there is virtually no sun to speak of, school gets back in session, and everyone just feels BLAH.  Including me.

So why do I still expect that our regular schedule will be followed?  I really should have adjusted my expectations this week.  It was our first week back.  It wasn't awful.  It wasn't great.  It just was.

(Gosh - this post isn't sounding very positive!)

It was a busy week; Brownies started again, piano lessons for all 3 started again, orthodontist appointments and then Mommy had to go into the office for a few hours.  No easing back into the schedule at all.

Mr R struggled the most; but in his defense, he was fighting a cold so he wasn't feeling 100%. 

I was SO excited to start WWS with him!  And he was pretty excited as well when he saw that it was all on the IPad.  We got through Week #1, Days #1-3 and so far, so good.  It is clearly very different from WWW so it is taking a bit of getting used to for him.  I personally find it very comforting to be back to a familiar look/feel/style, if that makes any sense.  

We started Spelling Workout again, which he hasn't done in over a year.  We stopped doing it mid-way through last year because he was getting 100% on all of the pre-tests that he did every Monday and I didn't want it to turn into busy-work.  But lately I've noticed some really silly errors in his spelling; it is almost like his spelling has regressed?  So I pulled out SWO Level E and we're going to work on this for a while.

In math this week, Mr R had a lesson about Pi and calculating circumference.  I had him start the lesson by reading Sir Cumference & theDragon of Pi.

These books are so simple yet really engaging for the reader - even the 10 year olds :)  I think I will include some of the other books as part of his math lessons next week.

Basically, Mr R had a fairly productive Monday, and then got very little done until Friday when he plowed through a tonne of work.  He will also be doing some work over the weekend to get caught up (yes I am mean that way). 

Miss Muffett had a GREAT week.  She jumped right back in and was very motivated this week.  

I decided to drop GWG 3 for now.  I think she is going through the motions with this and not really learning that much.  I'd rather wait and let her focus on her other subjects rather than get frustrated.  And as I think about the various work she has been doing, I have to remember that she is a young grade 3 student.  She just turned 8 so there is no rush to push her into things when she clearly isn't ready.  I know I've said this before, but I really have to look at FLL again for her.

Saxon 3 Intermediate is working really well for her and she has been doing all of it on her own this week!  We did run into some trouble with her novel study this week.  She is working on Charlotte's Web (Progeny Press) and one of her assignments this week was to look up & define some words.  We realized that the dictionary we have is useless.  It is a cheap little pocket one.  It didn't have any of the words she was supposed to look up.  So I will need to order something this weekend.

I'm also realizing that WWW is not exactly a hit with Miss Muffett either.  I was listening to SWB's audio lecture (A Plan for Teaching Writing:  Focus on the Elementary Grades) and it really resonated with me this week.  I need to go back to the basics with her: narration, dictation, copywork.  I need to stop pushing her along and meet her where she is at.  So I will dig up our WWE books this weekend and move her back into them for next week.  I am sure she will be less than enthusiastic - she prefers to work independently and WWE is definitely not an independent curriculum.  

Hug-A-Bug had an OK week.  He got most of his work done but it happened in fits & starts.  He has a little bit of work to finish up this weekend but he enjoys it so I don't think he really sees it as "work".  He is working on SWO A and LOVES spelling, especially the pre-test on Monday and the final test on Friday.  He wants to do a full lesson EVERY DAY so he can have the tests!!!! He has finished up the Abeka Language Arts 1 book now & I had him start the MCP Comprehension Plus Level A book but I'm finding it to be a lot of busy work and essentially redundant for him.  I went back and re-read some of TWTM and decided to get him started on FLL 1 and scrap MCP.  

In the land of Chunky Monkey, we continue to work on getting him to sit still and play with his toys.  He has also been climbing out of his crib when he is supposed to be having a nap or down for the night.  Last week he was getting out of bed in the middle of the night, multiple times!  It was exhausting to be up every hour or two!  But he seems to have finished playing that game and now he just keeps getting out of bed when we initially put him down.  Yesterday, it was 19 times before he finally stayed!!!!  Mr W has decided to lay down on the floor beside his crib every night just to keep him from climbing out.  Once Chunky is asleep, Mr W leaves his room but I'm not sure who falls asleep first - Chunky or Daddy :)

I am swamped myself at work.  This is the start of our planning season, which typically lasts a few months.  Last year at this time, I wasn't working so I really hope I can manage to juggle all of this.  Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

Week Ending Jan 6th

The Week of Stomach Flu & Superglue.......yep, that about sums up the week here.  At least we were still on Christmas break :)

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve:

We had a great party with some of our friends for New Year's Eve!  It was awesome - lots of delicious food and drink and so much fun for the kids who had some of their friends here as well. 

And then 24 hours later, Chunky Monkey came down with a nasty tummy virus :(  Fortunately it only lasted 36 hours - but it seemed like a lot longer.  Then Mr R came down with it on Tuesday.......we did more laundry in 2 days than I normally do in 2 weeks!
I switched up the bedroom situation on Monday.  That involved taking apart beds/crib and moving dressers, bookcases and lots of "stuff".  It took most of the day but is much better now.  When DH was away on business last September, I thought it would be great to move Chunky out of the nursery and into a room with Hugs; this way Mr R could have his own room.  In theory it should have worked, and it kinda did.  But DH thought it worked better with Chunky in the nursery and Mr R and Hugs sharing.  So that was how I spent the day - moving furniture and cleaning/organizing the rooms. 

Hugs & I headed out for some fresh air and to do some final Christmas returns on Tuesday night.  As I am standing in line at one of the stores, I get a text from DH to call home.  The first words out of his mouth when I called were "Please don't freak....."  HUH????  What is going on?  He proceeds to tell me that he was using superglue on one of Chunky's toys (a plastic toy car ramp thing that kept falling apart) and left it sitting on the table while he went to do something in the basement.....and while he was gone, Chunky climbed up on the table and starting playing with it!!!!  When DH came back just a minute or 2 later, Chunky had superglue all over his fingers!!  I think DH was pretty worried.  He put him in the bath and tried to soak it off?  We got home shortly after and thanks to the ladies over on the WTM forums, we used some nail polish remover to get the rest off. 

Here is the cause of the superglue incident:

Pretty eventful week so far....and it was only Tuesday night!!!

Wednesday morning, DH called to let me know he wasn't feeling well and was on his way home.  He spent the next 48 hours quarantined in the guest room in the basement.  I did make a big pot of chicken soup for him and brought him some Nyquil, ginger ale and the tablet so he could play Angry Birds as he recovered :)

So here we are on Friday, the last day of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord.  We were supposed to be going to my in-laws to celebrate but with everyone having been sick this week - we will just stay home and keep any residual germs to ourselves :)

Everyone is healthy.  But the house??  Oh my - it is a disaster.  Better go and start cleaning up.

Have a blessed weekend and happy feast day to those celebrating today, and this weekend.