Copyright dates...

Had a funny thing happen last night. I gave Declan the bag of old zoology and animal encyclopedias that I'd gotten from a freecycler in the area. I knew he'd be excited, but had no idea it would lead where it did. 

"These are OLD, "he said,  "like from the 60's!" I showed him how to find the copyright date, and he decided that he wanted to *write* all of the copyright dates for the books on a piece of paper. This from the boy who doesn't much care to write! He and his dad decided that he'd put them in numerical order in the morning (it was bedtime). He put an arrow next to the earliest date and was happy with that. So was I!!

Cid

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Torin's Bedtime business..

Gotta make this a quick one, just wanted to document the AWESOME job Torin is doing with his new "big boy" bedtime business! We decided that we just could NOT wait until his birthday ( after a couple of nights with him up until 11:30) and so, Monday night we implemented the new routine. The first night I took a chair into his room and sat down...he had been nursing at the couch and I had him walk, holding my hand, into his room. He got mad when I told him there would be no more "nu-nums". He pitched a fit and then asked "how me go to sleep, then?" I said that's what we need to figure out!! So, 9pm is when I got him in bed, and after shushing him a number of times, letting him bring "new Lightyear" into bed with him and his changing position a bunch of times...he was asleep by 9:30!  Last night I didn't get him in there until 9:15...again, asleep by 9:30!  Tonight, Dirk's sitting alert and I was a bit worried about what I'd do if it didn't go smoothly. I tried to get him to bed earlier, and not sure if that was a good idea or not. 8:45 I got him into bed. My back starting hurting at 9 and I lay down on his floor. When I got up at 9:15 (after finishing my rosary) he was asleep!! And now I better get to sleep and take advantage. He's been sleeping in his own bed until 7:40 each morning so far, so I'm praying that's going to be a regular thing. He seems to be doing better with late afternoon tantrums, and I'm hoping that means he's getting enough sleep now!

Yippee...sleep is good!! Cid

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

oops...

It's been a long time, and I have no excuse, since I've been in bed for a majority of the last two weeks. My back is giving me fits, and Dirk had to come home from a deployment to take care of me and the boys. I just couldn't get out of bed... the muscle spasms were too bad. Ugh.

Funny and great things have happened as I lay in my bed. Life went on without me... the boys are still alive and well and have gotten to spend some quality time with their dad. I am learning to let go of the guilt about not being able to do everything. Actually, not being able to do alot! I am coming to terms, and realize that this is necessary growth, and God is asking me to do it :)

We are enjoying a wonderful Christmas....Declan got up early as usual (ONLY 5:30 this morning) and as I requested, came and got in bed with me and we got up when we heard Nana and Papa coming in and out with presents! So, we headed for the living room at 6:30 and Declan opened his stocking gifts from Santa and played in the Mega Bloks Adventure Castle from Dirk and I. Torin woke up around 7:30 and was not in a good mood (he hadn't gone to sleep until 11:30 the night before...but Declan coaxed him out of his bad mood with the sword from his part of the castle set! Pretty soon he was all smiles and looking through his stocking.  Dirk was scheduled to sit alert from 8am Christmas Eve until 8am Christmas day...so we waited and opened presents when he got here. Kelly also got here about that time. We all enjoyed a breakfast casserole and carmel tamales (yes you read that right! good...you just have to think "out of the box" as far as what a tamale is supposed to taste like!) and opened presents. WE got lots of great pics and everyone loved all their goodies. Kelly and Dirk took the boys to the park to play with Declan's new ball set from Kelly while I took a NAP! My mom (Nana) slaved in the kitchen and came up with a beautiful Chrismas dinner, which we ate between 2:30 and 3pm. Dirk's parents (G-Mo and Papa to the boys) got in around 5pm, after a delayed flight cost them extra hours. 

Now all the grandparents have gone to their respective sleeping places, and Kelly and Dirk are on the couch playing with their Macs :) Torin is watching the Save-Ums and I'm resting my back so I'm ready for the long ordeal which will be his going to sleep. Poor guy's had troubles getting to sleep lately...

but we have gotten some good one-liners out of it! I've been nursing him laying down on his bed, since I cannot carry him anymore (due to my back) and he's said some funny things like he wanted "the big one" or the "bigger one" and the funniest wasn't at bedtime, but in the afternoon when he was trying to convince me to give him Nu-nums and he said "me pay you...me have LOTS a moneys". I tried not to laugh and said okay and held out my hand. He pantomimed handing me pretend money and I said "okay pretend nu-nums for pretend money". He was NOT happy :)

So, I better wrap this up, but look forward to blogging more regularly as we try to add more of a Charlotte Mason flavor to our home learning life.

Blessings, Cid

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Geography and faith...

This morning we started our day (at least, Torin and my day!! Declan had been up for awhile!) with hot cocoa and our family prayer book. It was the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery and the parting of the Red Sea.  Declan mentioned that G-Mo and Papa used to dive in the Red Sea and proceeded to get down the globe and point out the Red Sea on it! It only took him about 15 seconds to locate it...

Torin threw up last night, it was a long night for me and I'm dragging this morning. The boys have watched Zoboomafoo and now Cyberchase while I try to "get it together"...need to go grocery and Target shopping. Want to take the boys to the library and have a massage appt. at 4:15. Emily's here to help today at 3.

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

boys playing

overheard as the boys were playing in the hallway (sitting in laundry
baskets):

Declan: "Hold on to your asteroid belts!"
Torin: "Hop on my back!"

They've been playing nicely for like 20 minutes....hopefully it will
last, as Dirk and I are trying to get our flooring project planned out!

Literature Circle

Today we got together with Jules, Theo, Heather and Nathan at Jules' house (beautiful old home!) for our first Literature Circle. Jules' had asked each child to bring their current favorite story to read (or have Mom read) to the group. I was skeptical that the boys would sit and listen for that long....but they did!! Torin found his way to the playroom halfway through the first story, but that was okay.  Theo picked a story called something like the Three Samuri Cats, Nathan a story called Puff, Puff, Chug, Chug (or something like that) and Declan asked to bring The Very Last First Time. We hadn't read it in months, so I figured if he remembered it then he must really like it!  It was fun! And the boys had fun playing outside afterwards...I got to hold little Claire (what a doll) and get my "baby fix".

I'm looking forward to doing it again next month!

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Declan figuring factors

Yesterday, Declan watched a new Cyberchase and they were figuring the
factors of different numbers. After the show, he says "Mom, I want to
figure out all the factors of 20"....ooookay! He tells me he needs a
white board and 20 objects. We decided on pennies (coins weren't good
enough, they all needed to be the same) and he sat at the table while
I made lunch. He asked me "how do you write "times" something?" and I
told him to use a small "x" between the numbers.

WELL, when he brought me the white board, he had written 1x20, 4x5
and 2x10!! Amazing, for sure :)

I love "organic learning" and it makes me love the show Cyberchase
even more!!

What a difference a month makes

Well, I'm now *very* happy with the relaxed learning that's taking
place in our home!! I've read alot and have really been observing and
noting things that the boys are learning and playing during the
day...I hope I can get my act together and get some of it down in
writing.

Just today...
We met Heather and Nathan at Chuck E. Cheese's (CEC) and the boys got
alot of energy expended! I was telling Heather how we spent $600 on
three tires...and Declan says "that makes them $200 a tire, because 2
times 3 is 6"!!!!! Wow...haven't gotten there in Math U See, yet :)

Torin has been saying some very cute and "old" phrases....like "maybe
so," "not so bad," "me know, Mom, me know."

Start Blog

Well, I've read with interest the blogs of others, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm not good with journaling, but am hoping to keep this as a sort of journal about the boys, our family adventures and our homeschooling adventures. We'll see how it goes!!

I'm coinciding this blog with the beginning of our more structured learning. I'm having those common, nagging feelings of not "doing enough" with Declan's first grade education :) and so we've started using a loose structure to our school week.