I wiped my hard drive yesterday and did a fresh install of Windows XP. Now my damn computer is running slower then before.
I think that's because I tweaked things with the last install to make it run faster but now I can't remember what I did! It's because of Google. With Google I never have to remember anything. I find what I need, use the information and then dump it.
Darn it.
There was something to do with the cache I think...Oh, the hours ahead of me.
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Book Pile
I must be freakin' crazy.
And that's not all of it either. Getting Started with Latin hasn't arrived yet and neither has Oxford's The Medieval and Early Modern World (no, I didn't pay that price! Got it on sale for $95).
I haven't got a clue how it will all work. I have a vague idea that math and much of the English stuff will get done first each day while the rest will be consigned to a loop schedule. That is, there will be a list with all the rest on the stuff on it and a certain amount of time to work on that list. If time is up before we get through the list then when we get to that blocked off time the next day we'll simply pick up where we left off on the list. Maybe. Possibly.
*sigh*
But as much as it seems like a little too much we're all looking forward to it. Harry loves the idea of having his own workbooks rather then some copyright-infringing photocopies. Catherine already dipped into Grammar Voyage and A World of Poetry and has been asking when we can go back to it together (seriously, those are books unschoolers should look at. It's hard to explain but they're less a program and more a dialogue). I can't wait for the routine that will ground me and the kids.
Soon my children, soon.
And that's not all of it either. Getting Started with Latin hasn't arrived yet and neither has Oxford's The Medieval and Early Modern World (no, I didn't pay that price! Got it on sale for $95).
I haven't got a clue how it will all work. I have a vague idea that math and much of the English stuff will get done first each day while the rest will be consigned to a loop schedule. That is, there will be a list with all the rest on the stuff on it and a certain amount of time to work on that list. If time is up before we get through the list then when we get to that blocked off time the next day we'll simply pick up where we left off on the list. Maybe. Possibly.
*sigh*
But as much as it seems like a little too much we're all looking forward to it. Harry loves the idea of having his own workbooks rather then some copyright-infringing photocopies. Catherine already dipped into Grammar Voyage and A World of Poetry and has been asking when we can go back to it together (seriously, those are books unschoolers should look at. It's hard to explain but they're less a program and more a dialogue). I can't wait for the routine that will ground me and the kids.
Soon my children, soon.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The New Addition
This is Blue. She came from a Labrador rescue and is a lab/pit bull mix. We've had her for a couple of weeks now and can't imagine how we did without her. Even our old lab/rottie mix is having a great time with her.
My brother died at the end of February in a car accident that he should have walked away from. I may post more on that later but for now I'll just say that since he left puppies have invaded our family. Granted, my sister adopted her puppy in December so she already had Olive. When we arrived at my aunt and uncle's house (they live in Ontario, close to where my brother and his family was living at the time) we found that their Shih Tzu had given birth to four puppies just days earlier. When we got back to Nova Scotia my other brother adopted a puppy, Bella, from the same rescue my sister had. A month later one of the shih tzu puppies, Jazz, made the journey east to join my mom and dad. And two weeks ago my daughter and I fell seriously in love with Blue who was being fostered by my sister.
Now I don't mean to imply anything spiritual or mystical with any of this. I don't view see the sudden influx of puppies as mysterious or purposeful. All I want to say is that puppies are wonderful little things and that sometimes they have awesome timing.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My Summer/Fall Lineup
Me gone? Not at all. I've been posting all alone. You just missed it I guess. Maybe you need your eyes checked? Your browser's wonky perhaps? Because we both know I would NEVER be so irresponsible as to just abandon my blog for extended periods of time.
Anyway, on to the curriculum.
Catherine (who's now 12. And won't listen to me when I tell her to stop growing)
Math - Singapore Discovering Mathematics. I choose it because I'm too much of a chicken shit to try Singapore New Elementary Mathematics. We've had a discombobulated year and as it is we may need to go back to Primary Mathematics 6.
English - Michael Clay Thompson's Grammar Voyage. Grammar as Socratic dialogue...Right up our alley.
- Michael Clay Thompson's A World of Poetry. Because I'm all wrapped all in the trendy love all the Well Trained Mind homeschoolers are feeling for Mr. Thompson's materials.
- Megawords (yes we did this once before. Now be quiet)Jensen's Vocabulary and Jensen's Punctuation.
- Remedia Outlining
Handwriting - Peterson Directed
Science - Singapore's Interactive Science for Inquiring Minds
History and Geography - Canada; A People's History and maybe Oxford's The Medieval and Early Modern World set because I got a smokin' deal on Amazon. And it's very trendy at the Well Trained Mind forums.
Latin - Getting Started With Latin. Excellent choice I think since we're just getting started with Latin.
French - L'Art de Lire. Again. But we'll finish it this time. I promise.
Art and the other stuff - I'm sure I'll find something suitable in my pile of Curriculum Bought With Good Intentions in the next week or two.
Harry (who's now 9 and transitioning out of unschooling freedom)
Reading - We'll finish How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and go on to Dancing Bears.
Spelling - Apples and Pears.
Handwriting - Peterson Directed.
Math - Primary Mathematics 2.
Science - Singapore's My Pals Are Here 3/4. Yes, I went to town on the Singapore stuff. But it's heavy on skills, not just content. And it's trendy.
History - Story of the World Volume 1.
Art and the other stuff - Not sure yet but it will likely include improvisation with macaroni and glitter glue.
There's the list. It represents a lot of money but it also represents little work in terms of planning for me which, considering some events in the past year that I'll likely mention in a later post, is very much for the best.
Knitting club meets at my house tomorrow so I must be off to bed to rest up for the morning of panicked cleaning. Ta ta for now!
Anyway, on to the curriculum.
Catherine (who's now 12. And won't listen to me when I tell her to stop growing)
Math - Singapore Discovering Mathematics. I choose it because I'm too much of a chicken shit to try Singapore New Elementary Mathematics. We've had a discombobulated year and as it is we may need to go back to Primary Mathematics 6.
English - Michael Clay Thompson's Grammar Voyage. Grammar as Socratic dialogue...Right up our alley.
- Michael Clay Thompson's A World of Poetry. Because I'm all wrapped all in the trendy love all the Well Trained Mind homeschoolers are feeling for Mr. Thompson's materials.
- Megawords (yes we did this once before. Now be quiet)Jensen's Vocabulary and Jensen's Punctuation.
- Remedia Outlining
Handwriting - Peterson Directed
Science - Singapore's Interactive Science for Inquiring Minds
History and Geography - Canada; A People's History and maybe Oxford's The Medieval and Early Modern World set because I got a smokin' deal on Amazon. And it's very trendy at the Well Trained Mind forums.
Latin - Getting Started With Latin. Excellent choice I think since we're just getting started with Latin.
French - L'Art de Lire. Again. But we'll finish it this time. I promise.
Art and the other stuff - I'm sure I'll find something suitable in my pile of Curriculum Bought With Good Intentions in the next week or two.
Harry (who's now 9 and transitioning out of unschooling freedom)
Reading - We'll finish How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and go on to Dancing Bears.
Spelling - Apples and Pears.
Handwriting - Peterson Directed.
Math - Primary Mathematics 2.
Science - Singapore's My Pals Are Here 3/4. Yes, I went to town on the Singapore stuff. But it's heavy on skills, not just content. And it's trendy.
History - Story of the World Volume 1.
Art and the other stuff - Not sure yet but it will likely include improvisation with macaroni and glitter glue.
There's the list. It represents a lot of money but it also represents little work in terms of planning for me which, considering some events in the past year that I'll likely mention in a later post, is very much for the best.
Knitting club meets at my house tomorrow so I must be off to bed to rest up for the morning of panicked cleaning. Ta ta for now!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hallelujah! I Have a Math Geek!
We were driving home from Catherine's violin lesson today when Catherine started telling me about an article she'd read in one of her old Yes Mag(an excellent Canadian science magazine for kids). It was about prime numbers and included a bunch of neat tricks and facts about the number 13.
"I think 13 is my favourite number," she said when she was done.
But then, to my delight, she added, "Prime numbers are awesome."
I glanced back at her. She was staring out the window with a goofy smile on her face.
"Be careful," I said, "You're starting to sound like a math geek."
"So? That's not a bad thing you know"
My turn to wear the goofy smile.
She's a math geek and she likes it! Woo hoo!
"I think 13 is my favourite number," she said when she was done.
But then, to my delight, she added, "Prime numbers are awesome."
I glanced back at her. She was staring out the window with a goofy smile on her face.
"Be careful," I said, "You're starting to sound like a math geek."
"So? That's not a bad thing you know"
My turn to wear the goofy smile.
She's a math geek and she likes it! Woo hoo!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
One of Those, "Here's What We Do in a Day," Posts
We've actually managed to settle into a homeschooling routine here. I've not been eager to write about it because it sometimes seems as if when I do mention here it's not too long before I shift gears or something comes up to spoil it all. But this is a homeschooling blog and every so often it's good to give people an idea of what our day looks like so here goes.
I get up and check email. I'm working towards getting up with the husband to make his breakfast and lunch (else he doesn't eat right and comes home irritable and ravenous) but I'm not there yet so email it is. I then make breakfast for the kids and call them out. When we're done that we all do a few odd jobs to tidy up and then the schooly stuff begins.
Catherine practices her violins first thing. Part of that is actual playing but now she's also working through an ear training book and doing a music theory workbook. All stuff her teacher expects of her and all stuff she's generally glad to do. While she practices Harry and I work through a few pages of Math Mammoth Addition. Sometimes we do drills on the Nintendo DSs, sometimes orally, less often he writes out the answers. After that we move on to How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I think I mentioned before how, due to some issues I realized Harry has with pronouncing and even hearing certain sounds so we've gone right back to the beginning regarding phonics. 100 Easy Lessons is heavily scripted, repetitive and seemingly very boring but Harry enjoys it and he's making good progress.
Generally Catherine is still playing when Harry and I are done math and reading so we whip out one of the children's poetry anthologies and read several poems. Usually he has a favourite and we also spend a little time on memorizing it. It sounds old fashioned but helps in a few ways. Harry gets a means to put on a performance for any appreciative relative which is something he enjoys and we have another chance to work on his grammar and pronunciation.
After that Harry runs off and plays for a bit. Catherine moves on to either Math Mammoth Geometry or review sheets on multiplication, division and operations with fractions and/or decimals. When she's finished there then she's got KISS Grammar.
By this time it's lunch so we eat. After that some more tidying. That's generally the end of anything formal. Things like read-alouds, outings, crafts, experiments, etc. happen anytime after that but not every day.
And that's pretty much it.
I get up and check email. I'm working towards getting up with the husband to make his breakfast and lunch (else he doesn't eat right and comes home irritable and ravenous) but I'm not there yet so email it is. I then make breakfast for the kids and call them out. When we're done that we all do a few odd jobs to tidy up and then the schooly stuff begins.
Catherine practices her violins first thing. Part of that is actual playing but now she's also working through an ear training book and doing a music theory workbook. All stuff her teacher expects of her and all stuff she's generally glad to do. While she practices Harry and I work through a few pages of Math Mammoth Addition. Sometimes we do drills on the Nintendo DSs, sometimes orally, less often he writes out the answers. After that we move on to How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I think I mentioned before how, due to some issues I realized Harry has with pronouncing and even hearing certain sounds so we've gone right back to the beginning regarding phonics. 100 Easy Lessons is heavily scripted, repetitive and seemingly very boring but Harry enjoys it and he's making good progress.
Generally Catherine is still playing when Harry and I are done math and reading so we whip out one of the children's poetry anthologies and read several poems. Usually he has a favourite and we also spend a little time on memorizing it. It sounds old fashioned but helps in a few ways. Harry gets a means to put on a performance for any appreciative relative which is something he enjoys and we have another chance to work on his grammar and pronunciation.
After that Harry runs off and plays for a bit. Catherine moves on to either Math Mammoth Geometry or review sheets on multiplication, division and operations with fractions and/or decimals. When she's finished there then she's got KISS Grammar.
By this time it's lunch so we eat. After that some more tidying. That's generally the end of anything formal. Things like read-alouds, outings, crafts, experiments, etc. happen anytime after that but not every day.
And that's pretty much it.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Catherine was playing her violin today. I say playing rather then practicing intentionally because she was taking such joy in it.
She started by playing her favourite exam piece at a ridiculous speed for Harry and laughed at how the new tempo made some parts of it sound amazing and others fall apart. Her new piece was punctuated by comments like, "Wait a minute," and, "Oh! That's so cool!" as she read the music, noticed things she hadn't before and incorporated improvements. Never once did she glance at the clock and after a good 45 minutes put her violin away while chatting about how she loves a piece that ends on the same note it begins with.
Meanwhile, I'm just about ready to burst with pride and awe. 16 short months and she's made amazing progress. 16 long months in and she still loves her instrument and puts in practice sessions that far exceed her teacher's expectations. How cool is it that I get to witness an 11 year old pursue her passion?
She started by playing her favourite exam piece at a ridiculous speed for Harry and laughed at how the new tempo made some parts of it sound amazing and others fall apart. Her new piece was punctuated by comments like, "Wait a minute," and, "Oh! That's so cool!" as she read the music, noticed things she hadn't before and incorporated improvements. Never once did she glance at the clock and after a good 45 minutes put her violin away while chatting about how she loves a piece that ends on the same note it begins with.
Meanwhile, I'm just about ready to burst with pride and awe. 16 short months and she's made amazing progress. 16 long months in and she still loves her instrument and puts in practice sessions that far exceed her teacher's expectations. How cool is it that I get to witness an 11 year old pursue her passion?
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