We have Raising RockStars Preschool to help her get a biblical foundation under her, but she’s not been interested in it. We have some Kumon workbooks for tracing and so forth and she likes those, but doesn’t love them. We have Get Ready for the Code which she likes, but which is somewhat behind where she is, though ETC1 is too far ahead of her. We have Core Knowledge 3-4 What you’re preschooler should know but again, a lot of it is behind her. We have the AlphaTales to help her learn alphabet sounds, and she enjoys listening to them,  but she seems to know almost all of her alphabet sounds already (x is a sticking point). She counts well and can do some basic addition thanks to listening in on her brother’s Life of Fred lessons. She even kind of understands set theory.

My problem is that I don’t want to push her and yet I don’t want to hold her back either. Finding balance with this kid is really, really hard. But it’s also easy to let her slip through the cracks because her brother needs focused attention to learn while she’s seemingly learning via osmosis at the moment, so I really don’t have much of a plan for her. Add to that, technically, she wouldn’t be eligible to START preK3 until this fall and you can see where I’m running into trouble. She has two more years before she’s a kindergartener according to the state of Florida. By then, I fully expect her to be completing first grade work if she continues on her current path. So, I’m traversing this territory carefully and trying to figure out how to make it all work. Lord help me.

For Katie we have resources:

Raising Rock Starts Preschool

Core Knowledge Preschool 3-4

What You’re Preschooler Should Know

Kumon My First Book of Tracing

Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code (I have ETC 1 and 2, which Ben rejected waiting in the wings)

She listens in on Ben’s read alouds for bible, science, history, and geography. I copy coloring pages for her when she’s interested in doing them (not often).

She’s started with Book A of Pianamals (aka Phonics for Piano).

For art, she fingerpaints, paints with brushes, glues, etc. A typical range of preschool art projects, I think.

Outside Activities: Right now, she doesn’t do as many outside things as her brother does. She has a dance class, which we’ll continue at the new studio Ben will go to in the fall. She needs this because she has some coordination and balance issues that are “residue” of her surgery. Dance was her doctor’s recommendation, so she’ll dance until he says she can stop (and she can continue after that if she wants, but until he says stop, much like her mommy at that age, she goes whether she wants to or not). She also does a preschool science class at MOSI. She was a little young this year, but she seems to be “getting it” so we’ll continue with it next year. I’m also considering getting her into the little kid zoo classes at the zoo, but they’re not ideal when you’re also dealing with her brother. She’s going to take swimming lessons starting this summer. In Florida, swimming is a matter of survival not choice. You have to know how to swim, so swim she shall.

I guess you could say that I’m not as organized with Katie as I am with Ben. I don’t believe it will always be this way, but it is this way for now.

English: We’re using a multi-focused approach to get Ben where he needs to go. We’re currently working through Writing With Ease, vol. 1 and we’ll continue with Vol. 2 when we finish the first one. We’re also using Writeshop Primary A right now and will continue with Writeshop Primary B when we finish A. For reading, we’re really not using a formal program anymore. He reads; I read aloud. We’re going to adopt How to Report on Books, Grades 1 and 2 for the next year to see if that helps him explain a bit more what he’s reading. Handwriting is going to come through these venues for now. When he’s ready to start learning cursive, we’ll get a Zaner-Blosser book that he can work through at his own pace.

Math: We’re going to continue with the Life of Fred elementary series. We’re currently in Dogs. We anticipate going through the series at least twice before moving up to Decimals/Fractions, as that is what Dr. Schmidt advocates. We both love the story based way you learn math and the practical application skills. An additional bonus is that I now understand the math things that I’ve never understood before. So much so, that we’re buying all the way through calculus even if Ben loses interest because I am learning math in a way I never have before.

History: We’ve been moving slowly through Story of the World, vol. 1. We’re still moving through it, but Ben has come to love it more than I thought was possible. We’ve agreed that we want to do vol. 2 when we finish vol. 1 and then we’ll decide whether we want to change gears or not (more on that after I finish this).

Social Studies/Geography: We’re using A Child’s Introduction to the World and Little Passports to work on the notion of other people and other countries. It’s been working really well. We’re going to add in Around the World in 80 Tales when we get to the continents and different countries, which should be a lot of fun.

Science: We’re going to continue using Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Vol. 1. My projected goal is to finish it in 2013 and move into vol. 2. We’ll see how that goes. We’ve also added A Naturalist’s Guide to Florida and a Florida nature guide book. None of the guidebooks designed for the “east” are really designed for Florida, so we’re having to truly specialize in this area. I’m hoping to convince him (and myself) to keep a nature notebook this year. We’ll see.

Bible: We’re using Telling God’s Story, vol. 1 and loving every minute of it. We have vol. 2 waiting in the wings for when we finish vol. 1.

Music/Art: We’re currently using Pianamals to learn the foundations of playing the piano. Ben seems to be in enjoying it and Katie likes to get in on the act with this one as well. To learn more about the history of music, we’ve been reading/listening to The Story of the Orchestra. Again, it’s been a hit and works well with the way that Ben learns. For art, we’re still trying to use Artistic Pursuits. Ben has some resistance to this, but we’re not sure why. We’re going to keep on with it for a bit longer and see if his attitude changes.

Outside Activities: We’re currently looking at several. Some are one’s we’ve been doing and some are new additions: MOSI classes — we started these in October of 2011 and Ben has fallen in love with them. This is a once a month class that focuses on different areas of science and technology/industry. Zoo school — another once a month class that Ben has been doing for almost two years. He’s enjoyed it quite a lot and desperately wants to go back for next year. Dance: Ben has really enjoyed his dance class (harassement and teasing aside) but wants more focus on the areas he’s interested in (tap, specifically), so we’re going to move to a dance studio around the corner from us and see how that goes. He’s expressed interest in also taking ballet, but I don’t know if he’s serious or not. We’ll see. Finally, we’re going to add a homeschooling class at Young Chef’s academy to capitalize on his interest in cooking.

Physical stuff: He’s working on swimming. He rides his bike. He’s learning to use a traditional scooter. We have a PE curriculum, but we’ve never really implemented it. We’ll see where we go from here with this area.

So, that’s the plan for Ben. I’ll be working on a plan for Katie next and will hopefully be able to post it sooner rather than later. As for shifting gears after vol. 2 of Story of the World. I really, REALLY like Trail Guide to Learning’s Paths for Exploration, but Ben’s skills just aren’t quite up to where they need to be to conquer that curriculum this early (I have to keep reminding myself he’s a very young whatever grader because of his birthday). I would have to modify even the lowest level for him and at that point I don’t see why I would do that. So, we’re going to wait at least a year and then look at it more seriously. None of us are sure we’re ready for vol. 3 of SOTW, and it might make more sense to shift over at that point. We’ll see.

P has changed jobs and company. The new company is a good fit for him and is an exciting opportunity. But people who know what those words mean know that there is a lot of work involved and he’s frequently far busier than he used to be. He also now works from home part of the time. This is not always ideal as he tends to prefer quiet to no quiet, but we’re persevering so far and we seem to be getting the hang of it.

My work schedule went loopy. I’m teaching classes I haven’t taught in quite a while and they’ve changed significantly and I ended up working crazy numbers of hours to not be behind my students. And, really, it’s not settled, I’m still working crazy hours and don’t have a lot of time when you add in teaching my own kids. I don’t see this schedule letting up until summer. Sigh. I can hope for a miracle, though.

My health has been a roller coaster. Allergies hit very hard this year, but I didn’t end up with my semi-annual case of bronchitis. This is good since my primary for the last seven years quit the practice and left a lot of patients with no primary care. I’m meeting one of his partners at the end of the month and we’ll see if that relationship will work or if I need a new primary all together. I also have to admit defeat (ha ha) and find a podiatrist. My feet are so painful in the mornings now that I look like a 90 year old woman hobbling across the floor. It’s not attractive and it’s not fun. Plus, now my knee is in on the act. It clicks and makes noises I know it shouldn’t. First step is the feet. If that doesn’t fix it, then off to the orthopedist I go to try to find out what the heck is going on in my knee.

And then, there’s homeschool. It’s a journey and a lot of times, it’s not fun. Ben is prone to tantrums and he is very vocal about what he doesn’t like and what he won’t do. There have been more curriculum changes — we’ve adopted WriteShop A, and that seems to be helping a little, but anything involving the physical act of writing is right out. He can read phenomenally well, and could easily read chapter books, but he’s realized that some of his friends can’t do that and so he refuses to do it as well. He keeps reminding me that he’s a first grader and I can’t ask him to do anything that isn’t first grade. We’ve had the talk that the grade thing is arbitrary and that we use first grade as convenient because it keeps him with kids his age. He seems to understand that, but he’s still very attached to the idea that he’s a first grader and that’s that.

I’ve started calling what we’re doing story-schooling because Ben seems to learn best through stories. We are using a host of curricular options that rely on telling him stories or him creating stories to get the information across. This seem to work better than anything else we’ve done, but still, there’s resistance if he feels like there’s any fine motor stuff involved (clearly, he doesn’t call it that, but anything using his hands, he’s not interested in). And there is irony in this because he will draw for hours, color to his heart’s content, cut out things he’s drawn and glue them to other projects, but if it’s not his idea, he’s not willing to do it. Sigh.

Katie has started preschool with a vengeance. We tried a more formal program, but she wasn’t quite ready for it, so we do a page of Core Knowledge, read AlphaTales, and she loves to watch Leap Frog’s Phonics Farm. I’m toying with Reading Eggs for her, but haven’t decided yet.

We’re adding and subtracting activities and options as we go. This homeschooling thing is really an adventure. I don’t know if I’m going to be more active in the coming months, but I thought a brief update was in order.

February Wrap Up

Positive Parenting Solutions

I failed utterly at this one. I didn’t manage to watch one session or complete one worksheet. So, that was a bust.

Drink More Water

I did it. I now consistently drink at least 2 32-oz glasses of water (or water mixed with Crystal Light Pure) every single day. It’s definitely improved how I feel and I’ve even lost a tiny bit of weight as a result.

28 Days To Hope for Your Home

I completed all 28 days and my kitchen, bathrooms, and clutter areas have not looked better in years. I’m really very pleased. It took very little time to get organized for a visit from an AC repair person. Woohoo!

March Goals

Positive Parenting Solutions

My goal is to watch one session, complete the worksheet, and incorporate the actions into our parenting “plan.” I think this is much more manageable and actually gives the sessions and their material the time that they should receive.

Stop Eating at 8p

Because I work in the evenings, I have a bad habit of snacking all the way through my work sessions, so my plan this month is to stop that. I can drink, but no more eating while working. We’ll see what that does.

Mindset for Moms

I seem to be using my third goal as sort of an e-book a month kind of thing and that actually works for me. So, this month I’m going to read Jamie Martin’s Mindset for Moms and see if I can improve my attitude.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Positive Parenting Solutions

My goal here is to work on completing the sessions and worksheets. There are six sessions, total, and I’ve completed one, so I have five to go and this is the month that I’m determined to get through them and start applying the techniques that I’m learning.

Drink More Water

My plan here is to drink two 32 oz. glasses of water per day. So, it’s really more specific than drink “more” water, but that’s definitely more than I’ve been drinking and I’m hoping it will help to stave off my usual March bout with bronchitis.

28 Days To Hope for Your Home

Honestly, this could not have come at a better time. I cannot get organized. I cannot keep the house clean. I don’t know why these tasks seem insurmountable, but they do. So, this featured challenge is perfect for me. I’ve already done the first two days, and my wonderful husband did the third day without even realizing it for me because I have a cold.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Mind-Body-Soul Time

This really has been one of the best things that I’ve done for myself and for the kids. I’m getting know them a lot better (which, I know, sounds nuts given that I homeschool them and see them every day), and I think they both feel more valuable to the family as a whole.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

The Motivated Moms thing is going out of the window, today. It is simply not working for us right now. It has worked in the past, and I think when I get this crazy class behind me, it can work again, but there’s just so much happening, I feel like I have to find an “easier” way to manage the house. To that end, new chart being made tonight and implemented tomorrow. Hoping that with fewer things on it, we’ll all feel better able to manage the house and that we’ll all feel like we’re valued, contributing members to the culture of our family.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

I think this has worked for us in ways I couldn’t have predicted. Has it made P a completely new person? Of course not. Has it softened my attitude toward some of his foibles? You bet. So, I think this has been a win and something that I’m going to continue for the next month in a less structured way. Perhaps more praying in color or something like that.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Mind-Body-Soul Time

Still managing this quite well. Most days both kids get one on one time and they seem to be thriving with it. Clearly one of the better decisions I’ve made. Need to keep this going for them and for me.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

We have been dividing the chores each week and the kids have attempted a couple of them. Ben is making huge strides with keeping his room clean and remembering to put his clothes in his hamper. We’ve had a few glitches with toys in the living room and with some of the more involved chores due to my work schedule being way more full than I anticipated this term. We may have to rethink the Motivated Moms part of this and create something that is more doable for us in this season of our lives. Worth the thought.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

I’m keeping this up well. Mostly in the morning with the daily office, but sometimes I don’t get to any of it until the evening. I’m trying to be more precise with it and more determined in my focus. We’ll continue to see.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Mind-Body-Soul Time

We have managed this. There have been days where the ten minutes turned into thirty minutes, but otherwise, both kids are getting some one-on-one time with me where their interests dominate.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

We sat down and divided up the chores, but then we got swept up in some household craziness and didn’t get as far with the chores this week as we’d hoped. We’ll divide the chores again tomorrow and see if we can make a better stab at finishing things next week.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

This has been going really well. I’ve linked it up with my Daily Office readings and just plug away a little every day. I have to believe that it will ultimately have an effect even if it doesn’t seem to be in the beginning.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Mind-Body-Soul Time

This is a concept described in Amy McCready’s Positive Parenting Solutions class (and her book, If I have to Tell You One More Time …).  The idea is that you spend ten minutes of uninterrupted time with each child, each day, that is child directed. That means the child chooses the activities and so forth. My goal here is to ddo this with each of my kids every day this month.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

My goal here is to use the Motivated Moms chore chart to help divide the household workload and to help  them learn new skills. I think this is going to be interesting and hopefully helpful to all of us in maintaining the house.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

This is a challenge going on this month based on a book by the same title. I’m hoping that joining into this will help ME think more about P and his needs as my health issues seem to be heading toward resolved..

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Please note this is the first post written using my new keyboard hooked up to my iPad. I’ve tried to catch all the errors, but if I’ve missed any, I’m sorry.