My Daybook :: May 31, 2014

Outside my window... 
We have had contractors working outside again this week.  Our garage is on hold while we work on getting permits, but we have made progress on the patio outside of the dining room addition! We have been putting this project off for the past 3-4 years and it's so nice to finally have it started.  Part of this project includes building a permanent shed and enclosing our water pumps, pressure tank, etc, to hopefully help prevent them from freezing again this next winter.

 
 

I am thankful... 
that we were able to overcome the "Concrete Emergency" that happened sometime between 12-1pm on Friday… It was "Pour Day" and the contractors had arrived at 6am to prepare for the concrete arriving at 7am.  Everything was going beautifully until the concrete started to dry. It was time to start hosing off the top to finish the "Exposed Aggregate" patio.  The contractor turned on the hose and nothing came out. I found the key to the lid on the holding tank and sure enough it was empty. I had no water in the house and the deep well wasn't pumping any water into the holding tank.   The contractor yelled "I need THOUSANDS OF GALLONS OF WATER. NOW!"



I pretty much had a panic attack right then and there, and I am still trying to recover from the stress! It never occurred to us that he was going to need so much water and that we were going to have a problem. He knew we had a holding tank. Anyways, I ran back behind the house and flipped the breaker to the well which got the well pumping again, then I tricked the restricter float into thinking the tank had more water left than it did so the hoses would work again, but that only lasted 5 minutes, at best.  I got on the phone with our the pump guys to try and figure out why the deep well wasn't producing water (they headed out immediately), called every water delivery service in the area (not one could bring us emergency water), and ultimately was able to contact my neighbors for permission to run hoses from their well! (We live on a few acres, but were able to make it work with five long hoses. Thank you Don & Bev!) Catastrophe avoided.  Barely.

I am thinking... 
If yesterday was any indication, we are really going to need to work on conserving water this summer.  Our well is a low producing well, which is why we have a holding tank, but the reason the water kept stopping was that it wasn't producing enough for even a steady stream to flow into the holding tank.  We usually have problems with running out of water towards the end of summer, but never in May. Everything is so dry already this year.

Learning all the time...
In addition to learning all about concrete this week, the children all started swimming lessons on Tuesday!  All seven are taking classes and we've been at the pool from 3-7pm each day.  This is actually the first year that I have not had to get in the pool with the little ones for the "Mom & Baby" classes!  Ranger has been learning how to teach Bud to swim, and Twinkle Toes has been working with Rose.

 

Just before the first class  - Bud wasn't too sure what to think! 

Celebrating the liturgical year...
This week we celebrated Ascension Thursday (which has been transferred to Sunday/tomorrow in our diocese), the feast of St. Joan of Arc, and the traditional feast of the Queenship of Mary.  I had big plans, but ended up having to keep our celebrations extra simple this year.  We decided to save our Ascension Picnic for Sunday so that Sean would be able to join us.  He has been working long days and lots of extra hours due to an upcoming deadline he has at work.

From the kitchen... 
The big boys took over the kitchen recently while working on an optional Chemistry experiment from the lesson about "Mixtures" --- Baking a Chocolate Cake!  I'm still avoiding all dairy so I didn't get to taste it, but they got an A+ for cleaning the kitchen and washing all the dishes.

I am working on... 
finding ways to control the nauseousness. I've been so sick!  I keep reminding myself that this is a good sign, and trying my best to offer it up.

I am creating...
a Chemistry Study Folder with Snuggles as we review all of the lessons we've completed so far this year in Focus on Elementary Chemistry.  He has really been enjoying this unit study and it's the first thing he wants to work on when he wakes up in the morning!



I am going...
to sleep so early each night...  I can't seem to stay awake much past 9pm, which is crazy! I'm falling behind on all the things I usually get done late at night, after the children are asleep, like blogging and answering emails.  I know I need the extra sleep. Snuggles keeps reminding me that I'm "Growing a Baby!"

I am hoping...
to have a chance to post Chiquita's birthday pictures. She keeps asking when they will be on the blog.  Soon!

I am praying...
that baby is healthy and growing, and that all will look good at my ultrasound next Friday.

I am reading...
The time at the pool has finally given me a chance to start reading some of the books that have been piling up on my nightstand beginning with Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler! Next up is The Little Oratory and Teaching From a State of Rest (or Kindle version here).



I've also been reading Hittite Warrior aloud after lunch while the children work on various projects.



Pondering these words...
from today's Quiet Moment in Catholic Digest:

"One of the most beautiful moments in history was that when pregnancy met pregnancy when child bearers became the first heralds of the King of Kings." Ven. Fulton Sheen

I am listening... 
to the Andy Griffith Show.  The children are watching an episode with their Dad.

Around the house...
I keep finding little Bible Story illustrations that Chiquita has been creating inspired by her Great Adventure Kids Bible Story Coloring Book. We will have to add these to her timeline.



One of my favorite things...  
watching Rose with her big brothers.  She sure has them wrapped around that little finger of hers.



This week's plans...

• Sunday: Mass for the Feast of Ascension 
• Monday-Thursday: Swimming Lessons
• Tuesday: Final Lessons with Tutor before Summer Break
• Friday: Dating Ultrasound!

A little peek at my day...
My husband had to work again today so I took the children to the annual Young Hunters Day.  They had a blast shooting arrows, throwing tomahawks, and so much more!

Our School Year in Review

I started working on this post months ago and finally had a chance to get back to it last Friday, converting it into another "Seven Quick Takes" post.  Of course I ran out of time to finish it then, but am wrapping it up this morning or else it will never get published… I hope it answers some of your questions on how our curriculum choices for the 2013-2014 school year have been working out for us this year.   (Note: This post contains affiliate links.)

.: 1 - State Testing :. 

THEY PASSED!!!! THEY PASSED!!!! THEY PASSED!!!!

ALL four of our older children PASSED (and some even EXCEEDED!!!!) ALL the required state tests they took last Thursday and Friday.  Deo Gratias!!! And thank you for the prayers!

This was a big accomplishment, especially for our oldest son who has struggled with Auditory Processing Challenges in the past and had not yet (ever!) passed one of these yearly required tests.   (You can read more about our situation and last year's tests in under #2 here.) Not only did he pass the reading test, he was only one point away from exceeding.  He is also one of the only two students to actually pass this year's Math test for 7th grade in our charter school!  

We celebrated!  In fact I had pre-purchased prizes for all four of them.
I knew they could pass. I'm so proud of all their hard work this year! 

.: 2 - Saxon Math :. 

I am so thankful that we switched back to Saxon Math following last year's state tests.  It is a demanding program, but WOW has it been effective for our children.  Surprisingly we are all really enjoying Saxon this time, and the extra help from tutors on most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons this year has been such a blessing.

Captain and Ranger just completed Saxon Math 7/6, Twinkle Toes completed Saxon Math 5/4, Chiquita only has 10 more lessons left of Saxon Math Intermediate 3, and Snuggles is down to just 4 more lessons of Saxon 1!

I love it when I find the older boys explaining "Math Concepts" to their little brother! 

My plan for the summer is to have the children continue Math lessons 2-3 days per week, except for the weeks we will be attending summer camps, with the help of the Teacher CDs, to give us a jump start for this upcoming school year and allow some breaks throughout the year when needed.

.: 3 - Language Arts and Latin :. 

We are still loving the Institute for Excellence in Writing courses.  This year the oldest three moved on from the Student Writing Intensive, Level A to the Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course: A.  It has options for completing the course in one or two years and we have opted for the two year plan.  Our third grader has been working through Student Writing Intensive, Level A and she should complete it by summer or early fall.

At the beginning of last year I thought I would incorporate some of the Themed Writing Courses as well, but the children just love the DVD classes given by Mr. Pudewa, and I love that it is easy to modify the writing assignments based on what they are studying.  For now my plan is to just stick with the Continuation Courses, moving on to the next level once this level has been completed.




Speaking of IEW, another favorite has been Primary Arts of Language: Writing and Reading. Earlier this year I was still not sure I wanted to stick with this program and considered switching to All About Reading (right now we are supplementing with just the readers) but now, at the end of 1st grade, Snuggles is pulling books off the bookshelves and reading independently after just one year of using this program an average of three hours per week. It has been very effective!

He has completed about 40 of the 80 reading lessons and has moved on to Part II in writing. He will continue PAL next year and should complete the program by the end of second grade.

I love All About Spelling just as much as ever and am currently using it with my first grader, as suggested in PAL.  (I actually wish I had the time to continue All About Spelling with a couple of the older children, but Phonetic Zoo has been a great alternative.)

We've been supplementing with lots of great literature, both independently and during our afternoon family read-alouds.

Latin is probably my least favorite, but the children don't seem to mind and have been completing it without any complaints.  The older three are almost finished with Latina Christiana 1 (next year they will most likely move on to First Form) and Chiquita has been studying Prima Latina.

.: 4 - History and Geography :.

This year we have spent the majority of our formal school time focusing on Math and Language Arts, which hasn't left that much time for extra History and Geography projects.  We have been reading through some of the suggested books listed in Connecting with History Volume 1: A Guide to Salvation History, completed the various Maps, Charts, and Graphs workbooks, and studied a few more of the States in our State-by-State Study, but that is about it for this year.



The children have mentioned that they miss creating the coordinating Lap Books like we've done in the past, but we just haven't had the extra time this year.  I also only got through the first couple weeks of Classically Catholic Memory: Alpha but I haven't given up on it completely yet - just for this year!

Building the Parthenon 

.: 5 - Science :. 

The older boys completed Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 1 (the sections on Physics and Earth Science) and rather than have them move on to the first half of Concepts and Challenges in Science Book 2 I decided to have them join the younger children and we are all studying Chemistry together.



Captain and Ranger are using Focus on Middle School Chemistry with Laboratory Workbook and Teacher's Manual.

I ended up moving our 4th grader back down to the Focus on Elementary Chemistry (with Laboratory Workbook and Teacher's Manual) along with our 3rd and 1st graders.  (Next year she'll move back up to the Middle School levels.)

Even though they haven't all been as yummy as making marshmallow molecules, we have all really enjoyed the corresponding Labratory experiments. 

Originally I thought we would complete two books this year - Focus on Elementary Chemistry followed by Focus on Elementary Biology - but we'll be sticking with just Chemistry this year and moving on to a second topic next year.



With all our other studies and activities one course was all I could manage this school year and still be able to leave plenty of time for outdoor play, exploration, and nature sketching!

.: 6 - Art and Music :. 

So far we have completed four of our six units from Meet the Masters Track A.  (You can scroll through all our completed lessons here.) This program has been such a hit with all the children and we are looking forward to completing our final two units for this school year on Pablo Picaso and Claude Monet.  I'm sure we will be continuing this program next year, especially since we already have the rest of the tracks (for three more years) and all the art supplies!

I've had to let go of my hopes to continue Along the Alphabet Path with my little ones for now.  It just not possible during this season of our family. Of course we are still incorporating lots of fun field trips, feast day celebrations, and more!  Even if I haven't gotten to everything I had initially planned or hoped, I'd say it is turning out to be another productive and successful school year!

.: 7 - Religion :.  

I don't like to think our beautiful Catholic Faith as a "school subject" to be checked off this list, but I can't leave it out either.  My husband continues to teach our children on Sunday afternoons using various levels of the Baltimore Catechism.  We supplement with lots of great books and do our best to incorporate the Catholic faith in our home - the "Domestic Church."

We had hoped to be given permission to take our older children to one of Sean's brother's parishes this summer to receive the sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form, but that request was denied. At this point they will need to go through the local parish program once they are in high school… For now we will continue praying, preparing them at home, and preparing Snuggles for his First Holy Communion next year!

I think that pretty much sums up our school year so far. I have once again fallen way behind in answering emails, so if you have any questions for me please leave them in the comment box below and I will do my best to respond. I hope you all have a great week! Summer is almost here!! :)

Making Marshmallow Molecules!

This year some of our children have been studying chemistry using the great books from Real Science-4-Kids.  We are using Focus on Elementary Chemistry for both Chiquita (3rd grade) and Snuggles (1st grade).  Twinkle Toes (4th grade) is working her way through Focus on Middle School Chemistry, which is more challenging and seemed to be a better fit for her.  (Currently my plan is to have her complete all the Middle School books in the series - Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geology and Astronomy - before possibly moving on to Concepts and Challenges in Science sometime before high school.)  So far everyone has been very happy with the switch and learning so much, including myself since I never did study chemistry growing up! ;) 

The chemistry books are broken into ten chapters and we have been spending about two weeks or so on each - one week reading and studying the material in the student textbook and the following week working through the activities and experiments in the corresponding laboratory workbooks.    

Elementary Book on the Left and Middle School Book on the Right

I love that both levels cover basically the same material in each chapter (the middle school book is just more advanced and goes into further detail) so it is easy for me to combine lessons and work with all the children at the same time. 

The week before last we completed the experiments for Chapter 2 - which was all about "Molecules" - and the kids were so excited to see that the lab experiments included making molecules with marshmallows! 

Demonstrating a "water molecule" 

Recording data in their workbooks

First they got to make whatever creations they wanted, then they had to "follow the rules" to create specific types of molecules.  

The older boys wanted to know why they don't get to use this awesome science program this year... I'm actually considering switching them next semester, once they complete Book One of Concepts and Challenges in Science.  We'll see... In the meantime they can't resist participating in all the experiments!  

 

"Mom!  I made a square based Pyramid... Can this count as my Ancient History project?!"  

I am really looking forward to the kids returning from their trip so we can move on to Chapter 3!