Obligatory What-We-Are-Doing-In-School Post

It would seem that the stomach bug has struck again.  This time it's Alvin.  He was complaining about a stomach ache last night after church.  I thought that he just wanted to get out of cleaning his room, so he got scant sympathy from me.
 Until he vomited all over the carpet.
 Every 30 minutes.
 For the next 10 hours.

Today, I am definitely dragging my tail feathers.  So much for my carefully crafted school routine!  But, that's OK.  That's why I home-school.  Even though I am feeling queasy myself, we were still able to do simplified versions of Math, History and English.

And let's not forget the quintessential Winnie the Pooh video.  It's not a sick day without our favorite bear stuffed with fluff. 

And now, because I've put it off long enough, I will go ahead and write about our regular school day routine.  I'm doing this now mainly because I am avoiding folding the aftermath of last nights laundry.  All 43 loads.

Without further ado...

TYPICAL DAY OF SCHOOL

10:00  Begin the day with prayer and Bible reading at the kitchen table.  We skip this part at our own peril.  I need all the Divine help I can get.  It only makes sense to seek His guidance before the day falls apart.  

The Bible reading morphs into our Morning Meeting.  This usually lasts 30-40 minutes.  It's easy to skip, but there is a lot of important work going on here.  First, we review our math facts with flash cards.  I hated this when I was a student.  Doing it as a teacher isn't much more fun.  But it really does make a difference in the boys speed and retention of their facts.  Next, we turn out attention to the large dry erase board that dominates one end of our dining room.  It's so large it blocks the view entirely from our 3 bay windows.  That actually might be a plus, though...  At the top I have written out the date. Ex; Thursday, October 10th, 2013  10-10-13  Day 17.  I have the older boys copy the date into their notebooks.  We then count out change to represent how many days of school we have had so far.  Alvin counts in pennies.  Cy and Dee try to find how many different ways our number can be represented.  We'll probably start making change before long.  Below the dates I have written out our poem and Scripture verse for the week.  We read these together and maybe discuss them a little or any interesting words that might be there.  Story It has a great collection of classic children's poems.  Robert Louis Stevenson and Emily Dickinson, the whole nine yards!  Here is an example of what we used the first week of school.

At the Seaside
~Robert Louis Stevenson
When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup,
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.

• 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
  This makes great copy work samples, vocabulary ideas, spelling words.  You name it, classic literature can provide it!
  10:45ish  After everyone has dated their papers and written their spelling and vocabulary samples (on the board as well) we turn to Math.  To ease into school we used Life of Fred: Apples for the first month.  Today we finished the book to everyone's great sorrow.  If you are not familiar with Life of Fred, you can check it out here.  The plan for now is to do Math U See during the regular school year with Fred as a reward in between levels.  Or possibly during times of extreme duress.  Each Fred book takes about a month to finish.  I can see us utilizing the next book (Butterflies) during December and maybe again when Reindeer is born.
   11:30 Cy and I attack Shurley's English.  It can get a little intense.  Sometimes we have to take a break and run laps around the house and hear a story before we can finish the work.  But, that's OK.  Dee takes a break during this time.
  
  
  12:00  While Cy finishes his English assignments, Dee and I practice his phonics.  We use Hooked on Phonics circa 1995 (complete with cassettes!)  It helps him focus if I set the timer for 15 minutes.  If he finishes his pages before the timer then we read a library book together
  
  
  Around 12:30 everyone gets a break.  Outside time is mandatory.  I check my messages, reboot the laundry, straighten a little, go to the bathroom (!) and listen to Rush in peace while fixing lunch.
  
  
  After lunch we have Toddler Story Time.  Once Elle is safely tucked in we have Big Kid Story Time.  This usually features our Literature selection (Beowulf right now) Story of the World history textbook and one or two library books that go along with our history.  Alvin is put to bed.  Then we have project time.  Depending on the day, this is when we do our world map practice, history map, history coloring page and penmanship page and spelling tests.  If there are any science projects or arts and crafts this is when we do it.  If I can muster enough gumption this is also when I clean the kitchen (breakfast and lunch dishes) get a head start on dinner and fold the day's laundry.  
  And take a nap.  
  Most especially take a nap.  
  
  
  After the nap timer goes off (yeah, I really set a timer for naps.  The older kids read) the boys are welcome to watch a pre-approved library video while I finish resting/hiding.  While fixing dinner we often listen to classical music or Lyrical Life Science (on cassette as well :-D )
  
  
  Thursday is my planning day.  I print off all of next weeks work sheets and reserve next weeks library books.  I choose the poem and Scripture verse and spelling words (from this weeks mistakes)  I add any special supplies or ingredients needed to my shopping list and make a tentative menu based on what activities and outing might occur.  I lurk on face book.  And I'm thankful for the freedom to live and learn in our own peculiar way.  I'm sure that this routine will metamorphosize several times during the year.  I don't know how I'm going to handle being as big as a whale and as cranky as a bear.  Or nursing.  Or being sleep deprived.  But we'll cross those swaying rope bridges as they come.  Bill Nye the Science Guy and Stories From Herodotus can cover a lot of down days.