We're on the third day. I ordered most of my books from Rainbow Resource and some of them are on backorder, so they haven't come in yet. That mean's we're having shorter days this week; Bible, reading, grammar and math. Since the days are shorter, so far it's been pretty stress-free. I wonder what it will be like next week.

But something amazing has happened--up until now Baylee has hated math PASSIONATELY. And Izzi pretty much hated it too since lower-math is so repetitive and so much work (tons of long multiplication and division problems almost daily). But this year, Baylee starts pre-algebra and LOVES it. (Well, it's only been three days, so maybe "loves" is an overly strong word). But she doesn't dread it. And actually looks forward to it. Izzi likes hers too. We have tried lots of math curriculums...Math-U-See, Saxon, SOS and Horizons, Singapore, A Beka, (that's all I can remember right now, but I know there was at least one other program in there) and what I finally settled on that works for us is Bob Jones. It's linear. (And gentler.) One thing that became clear as we were using Saxon is that the spiral method of learning DOES NOT work for us in math. We need mastery of a concept before we move on. A brief exposure to a concept, even if it get's revisited every few weeks or so, is a disaster, especially as the kids progress and the concepts become more complicated. For the assignment at the end of the chapter, there would be two problems or so from each concept that was introduced in the prior weeks. (We usually only spent a day on each concept in a rotation. Then a few weeks later, the book would start the rotation again.) Even though the chapter number where the concept was first introduced accompanies each problem, we had to spend way too much time looking back to try to remember how to do the problems. And since there were only two or so from each concept, by the time we really got into school, we were looking up tons of different concepts to complete assignments. (I was having a hard time teaching it because I couldn't remember either.) I could see that William (public school 10th grader now) was beginning to hate math even though he's always been instinctively good at it. But everyone I talked to seemed to love Saxon and no one ever said they liked Bob Jones. In fact, Bob Jones was never mentioned at all. :-) That's one of the great things about homeschooling. You can choose the curriculum that works best for your kids' learning styles. So even if no one else says "Bob Jones Math works for us!", it does for this family. (I found it through this awesome used curriculum store here. The Tea Room, owned by my friend, Jo Ann Masterson. She has some of everything so you can go and really look through the books before you buy).

Anyway, I didn't start out this post to talk about math curriculums. But it IS great the girls like math now! :-)

First Day of 2009

Today was the first day for Baylee (7th grade) and Izzi (5th grade). It went well except that I found out there were some books I need that I forgot to order (and don't have money for) and our day takes longer than I anticipated. Baylee is taking pre-algebra this year and it's better than her regular math last year (which she hated). We're using the same program I used with William two years ago. (Bob Jones) The girls like school because it makes the day go faster. (Their words) And because it gives their lives purpose. (My words :-) )

Wow, I can't believe how low my motivation is right now...well, I guess I CAN, seeing as how it's January, one of the hardest months to get through. It's a good thing Heart of Dakota (our curriculum) is so easy to follow.

This morning we started with math. We almost always have math first because it is the girls' least favorite subject and in order for them to have a decent attitude the rest of the day, we need to get it out of the way.

We do two pages a day of math. Baylee's first page was on exponents and patterns and problem-solving for Pascal's Triangle. I usually have to break through her mental block to get her to at least TRY to understand. (She is convinced that she CAN'T understand math, so she doesn't even try at first and usually breaks down in tears.) But after a lot of patience on my part, she almost always realizes it's much simpler and easier to understand than she assumed. Why it always takes her a while to figure that out, I don't understand. Anyway, when she finally understands how to do something, her attitude INSTANTLY changes from a weepy, hopeless, negative one to a happy, bouncy, positive one. Right now she is working on her second page which is percentages. She understands it, so she's happy. She likes to lay on the floor of the living room to finish her work.



Izzi is working on several digit multiplication and long division. She hates it because the problems take so long, but although she is slow, she is methodical and hardly ever makes a mistake. Her favorite spot is under my table/desk in the school room and she is there working right now.

In preparation for school tomorrow after our long break, I went through a pile of papers I hadn't looked at for a while and found an old homeschooling journal from 2005. Wil was in 6th, Baylee was in 3rd, and Izzi was in 1st grade. I wish I would have kept it up faithfully but I was very sporadic. Anyway, I thought I'd put a few entries on her that I found interesting:

August 18, 2005
Started @ 8:30 and spent 1 hour and 10 minutes going over rules, expectations, etc. Did reading w/ Wil for 45 min. Baylee worked w/ Izzi . Izzi said it was too long.
Wil did Daily Grams on his own. It only took him 10 min. I made pot roast during that time. When he was done, I set him up w/ Social Studies and Baylee up w/ Spelling. They both worked for an hour. I read to Izzi for about 35 min. Then she got on the treadmill. Wil finished and got on the treadmill after Izzi. I gave Baylee her verbal quiz and then she got on the treadmill for her exercise before lunch.

Lunch and my treadmill time--1 hour & 10 min.

Wil & Izzi did math for about 20 min, then Wil started spelling while I was doing SS with Baylee. Then Baylee and I did language arts for 45 min. That seems to be the limit with her. Will did spelling (while complaining about how hard it is) for an hour.

We ended @ 3:30.

Aug, 20, Saturday
Went to the Indiana State Fair. Learned about agriculture, plants and farming. At least I did. The kids learned about the state's fattest pig.

Sept 19, 2005
This morning didn't start well. The girls were fighting before school even started. We began with prayer and the pledge at 8:30. Wil and Izzi fought over a Bible verse card. Wil put his head on his desk and had a bad attitude and began arguing. Izzi started crying. We said our verse a few times and talked about it, had history, sang a song and prayed again. Then we did science for 1 hour. For lunch and recess we are going to the park.

We had spelling, LA and math after lunch. Baylee really struggled with subtraction but I helped her and she did better.

Oct 10, 2005
Field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum to visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit. I loved the history. Even though the kids' favorite part was playing with the old-fashioned radios, phones and dress-up clothes, I think they actually learned something.

Nov 12
Mondays are always hard and today is no exception. Oh how i wish I could escape my emotions, just rip them out. Arggg.

Dec 4
While Wil did his math, I read to Baylee. Then Wil and Baylee did history and SS while I read to Izzi. Then I read to Wil while Baylee did LA. She was very confused, so I stopped reading to Wil and just helped her. I feel like we had a breakthrough with studying skills.
Lunch.
Wil did his SS, Izzi had reading, and Baylee had math in the afternoon.

Well, there's a little snapshot of 2005. If you're still with me, hope I didn't bore you too much!

Godly character traits. We study one each week, and let me tell you, if we all really exhibited all of these character traits all the time, this world would be a better place. But I continue to be amazed at how often they come up in our everyday lives. Children are always making decisions that don't line up with the attitude they know they should have and that we are trying to instill in them. But what's cool is that the more I have to talk to them about their attitudes and how they should be in line with what Jesus wants from us, the more I think about how I struggle with the exact same things in different ways. God is using my kids, once again, to teach me how to be the woman he wants me to be.

Teenagers

I was just looking at all of William's assignments and grades on-line when he got home from school today. I asked him why he had two really low scores back to back on his Algebra homework. He said because it was a really hard chapter that he had not understood at first. Supposedly his teacher said it was the hardest chapter they would have in all of ninth grade. But did he ask me for help? No. In fact, he said cockily that there was no way I'd be able to understand it. I asked what it was over. Substitution was his reply. Substitution, I thought. That is one of the easiest things to do in Algebra. I told him so.

Him: I'd like to see you do a problem!

Me: Bring me your book.

Him: Of course you could do it if you spent a long time reading the directions!

Me: I won't read the directions. I don't need them.

Him: Then do this one! (under his breath: She'll never do it without reading the directions.)

Me: Here's the answer.

Him, grabbing the book and looking in the back where the answer to that particular problem was: Silence. He, like most 15 year old boys think he knows more than anyone else, but I guess he learned different today. LOL.