Mama's Muse

Advent Week Four 12.21.09 to 12.24.09

Everyone is still coughing and recovering. Violet's Confirmation last Thursday was the obvious highlight of our week last week :))) She now has four Nutcracker performances between Monday and Xmas Eve and then off until the 29th for two more final shows!

We're truly looking forward to January, SNOW anyone????

Final days of Advent and awaiting our blessed Saviour ~ Finishing up our Jesse Tree/Advent cubes, morning prayers and devotions.

Books read:

The Christmas Tomten (so good!)

Susan Jeffer's Nutcracker

Madeleine L'Engle's Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas (read all last week, so good)

Hanna's Christmas by the very talented Melissa (Wiley)! 

Continuing our daily and evening readings of: An Advent Storybook, and our new very favorite The Christmas Rose (so sweet and beautiful).

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and we will see you in the new year with some more learning and love with the Sweetness and Light gang :)

Advent Week Three ~ 11.14.09 - 11.18.09

Monday ~ Advent Morning Basket - Advent Cube/Jesse Tree readings, Read alouds: Annika's Secret Wish, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Christmas Trolls, "December" by Robert Louis Stevenson. While I fixed lunch the kids listened to The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

Our days have now morphed into gift making spurts and playing lots of music and games together. We have officially finished formal studies for the year (did I really say that??) and will truly enjoy slowing down our days (even though they are cranking up with Nutcracker performances for Violet the closer we get to Christmas).

Lunch - Angelus, Christmas novena. Listened to The Polar Express.

Matthias organ lesson, Seamus cello lesson. Me library stop, post office, bank. Violet babysat, Sean-Paul played :)

We had our St. Lucy bread and tea this afternoon as it was not possible to celebrate on Sunday. YUM :)

Mass tonight, my older boys will be serving their first Low Mass tonight together :) Talk about a proud mama (is beaming aloud at Mass??)

Rest of Week ~ Everything went pretty much downhill for the remainder if this week and slowly each of the kids got sick one after another beginning with Matthias. Thankfully it was a pretty mild cold, but with an accompanying cough that is lingering, :(

Many books were read and re-read, many cups of tea and cocoa were administered. And (thanking God) neither myself nor my dh have yet to get it :)))

Advent Week Two ~ 12.07.09 to 12.11.09

Monday ~ COLD!!!!! We are practically wearing our snow clothes upstairs in the schoolroom, no joke! It's the feast of St. Ambrose, love his story in Once Upon a Time Saints. Also read the collect and Mass readings for him today. Read about St. Alice too as it was on our Advent Cube for the day. Jesse Tree readings - Coat of Many Colors. Finished I Saw Three Ships (such a delightful tale for Advent).

I am reading An Advent Storybook to SP at bedtime, it's cute and has a nice religious message on each page relating to the day's adventure of a little bear.

Seamus and I and relishing The Mitchell's for his bedtime RA.

Violet: Math - w/Matthias A+ Notes Ch.7-3 more on linear equations and functions; Poetry - The Lady of Shallot (first 3 stanzas);

Matthias: Morning piano practice 20 minutes; Math - w/Violet A+Notes Ch.7-3 more on linear equations and functions; Poetry - almost finished w/Casey at Bat (2 stanzas to go); Grammar -  ILL#256 proper use of "shall" and "will"; Reading - finished On the Wings of Heroes! He really liked this one. Organ lesson in the afternoon. Violet and I babysat.

Seamus: Math w/me - Inv5 in Saxon 5/4 about percentages, he got it right away and enjoyed figuring out all the questions :) Poetry - beginning to memorize "Long Long Ago" for Christmas; Grammar - Green Reading word list cards - "er" ending and middle sounds, copied vocab words; Cello pracitice in morning for 1/2 hour and then his hour lesson in the afternoon - a welcome activity as he only had one lesson last week :) His cello teacher's mother turnd 90!!!

SP: Watched a Berenstein Bears with his cocoa first thing. He's a little stuffy today, cold weather and him don't mix well :( He did most of his Gingerbread Baby activities last week, but did finish a few things w/Violet this morning.

Afternoon - library run, rolled and cut out Speculaas Cookies (I know a day late for St. Nicholas, but tasty nonetheless). Violet tired her hand at piping from her deco-kit. The lemony glaze was heavenly :)

Yummy Beef Stew w/Leeks and Carrots for dinner!

Tuesday ~ Crepes for breakfast as it is a special feast day!! Very cold again, everyone bundled!!Advent morning basket - Jesse Tree readings for Moses, Advent cube, prayers and read collect for Immaculate Conception and talked about preparing for Mass at noon today. Read aloud The Donkey's Dream.

Violet: Reading - furiously working to finish The Endless Steppe! (and she did after Mass this afternoon); Math - worked through some more linear problems from 7-3; Confirmation prep ?'s - working through each of them and typing her answers on the computer. She and I have been slowly going through them all together as well.

Matthias: Math - 7-3 equations; Reading - started The Perilous Road and then for Grammar - narrated first few pages then copied from dictation; typed Book review on his reading page for On the Wings of Heroes w/me  

Seamus: Math - Fractions & Percents worksheet from Mammoth Math w/me; Grammar - Gingerbread Baby copywork; Made his Gingerbread Baby circle story disc w/Violet in the afternoon;

Sean-Paul: played with his cars in the schoolroom while listening to morning basket, worked on a few Gingerbread activities since we haven't cleared the shelves yet...Marbles match w/Matthias; practiced his Glockenspiel :)

Noon Latin Mass for us all! Take-out fish and chips for lunch and home for a nice afternoon. Love feast days :)

Dinner....hmm???

Wednesday ~ COLDER still, wowee!!! Advent morning basket - Feast of St. Juan Diego!

Violet: Began immediately working on her confirmation ?'s review; Ortho appt w/daddy before lunch; did some ? eview with her after lunch/ she's really got them down :)

Matthias: Math - 7-3 learning f(x), tricky but once he got it, he liked it :) Reading - Beethoven (Music Appreciation) narrated a portion to me; more reading - The Perilous Road;

Seamus: Math - review of divisibility by 2 and taught him the rule for divisibility by 3 (he didn't like this much), playing solitaire :) Geography - Scandinavian countries, learned names, marked capitals and boundaries and major water ways; 1/2 hour Cello practice.

Sean-Paul: enjoyed listening to the Chipmunk's Christmas Song "Christmas Don't be Late" a classic! Read Aloud from today's Christmas Rose reading.

Afternoon - made sweet bread walnut buns for tea/cocoa. Cello lessosn for Seamus

Tacos for Juan Diego for dinner!

Thursday ~ Matthias began his day with a piano lesson to accomodate his piano teacher's schedule.  Jesse Tree/advent reading - Paschal lamb/pillar of fire.

Morning RA - The Mitten with Seamus and Sean-Paul. Made mitten story pockets. Also read the Frost, Ice and Snow pages from Wacky Weather (cute series)

Violet and I reviewed her Confirmation ?'s/tommorrow's her big day with Fr.

Seamus: Math - showed single/two-digit multiplication.

Matthias: Zoology - Tawny Frogmouth research, what an interesting bird :)

Violet: Reading - Faces of Courage, Art Appreciation - The Impressionists/pastel drawing;

SP: built himself a respectable traintrack.

Mass at noon and altar server training for Matthias and Seamus. Violet to a friends for the afternoon :) SP stayed home with daddy today!

Started my first pair of mittens, very excited to see where this leads...

Curry Chicken and Couscous for dinner!

Friday ~ Busy day, no notes other than Violet aced her Confirmation inquisition with Fr. She's very relieved and ready to be Confirmed next week :)  Also, Matthias played the Pat - a - Pat on the organ Friday evening for a Christmas program, so nice!!

Advent Week One ~ 11.30.09 to 11.04.09

Monday ~ Started off a bit slow...As is per usual, but especially because we have just come off of a massive Nutcracker rehearsal and opening weekend whirlwind, not to mention the fact that we celebrated Thanksgiving and the First Sunday of Advent all in the past week, whew!! We did manage to begin our Jesse Tree readings/felt ornaments and Advent Cubes (we're going chronologically this year for the little boys) and we also began I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge, such a good one :)

Matthias:  Grammar - Read a portion of The Greatest Skating Race and narrated to me, then I read it back to him and he copied from dictation. He also worked on memorizing Casey at Bat and copied the new stanza. Reading - On the Wings of Heroes; Religion - Practiced his Latin Mass responses with his audio tape from Fr.; Geography - Sweden major cities

Violet: worked mainly on her Ivy Basket gatherings - Reading - Anne of Windy Poplars; Poetry - memorizing The Lady of Shallot; Grammar - typing her final drafts; Babysat in the afternoon for piano teacher's daughter; more reading in the afternoon.

Seamus:  Cello Lesson today 12-1; Math - Division work w/me Mammoth Math; Grammar - reviewed learned Green reading word/pic lists; RA - Abraham Lincoln and then he lined up all our President's flash cards to find out where Lincoln fits into the timeline. He was excited to reach him at 16 :) Read Billy & Blaze to me!

Sean-Paul: cocoa and Gingerbread Friends w/me; played most of the morning.

Tuesday ~ Advent morning basket:  Jesse Tree bible readings - Adam/Eve & Original Sin, Matthias placed apple, Apple Cube; December meanings, mottoe and poetry from Country Diary of an EL; Book of Virtues - Marley's Ghost excerpt from A Christmas Carol.

The usual - Math w/Seamus working on divisors and beginning factoring.  Matthias managed only a few problems on solving to find solutions for ordered pairs. Violet - no math today/worked w/SP on his new Gingerbread Baby shelves.

Seamus - 1/2 hour cello before lunch. Math - more division work; Botany - painted an evergreen tree; Grammar - more learned Green Reading cards, copywork letter "h"; Abe Lincoln narration & copywork; Read aloud Counting to Christmas

Matthias - Grammar - ILL #236 Selection for Study "Winter"/discussion ?'s w/me; Reading - War Inventions (shells and explosives); Math - A+ Notes Ch 7 work; Botany - Douglas Fir

SP - RA Gingerbread Friends aloud to him while he ate his breakfast. Played Gingerbread baby pompom game (super cute). Violet did a roll and color with him earlier and he cut it out very well.

Violet - Grammar - finishing typing up all her writing portfolio work. Ivy Basket work. Math - A+ Notes Ch 7 work; Botany - Holly; lots of reading in the afternoon

Wednesday ~ light morning basket, Jesse Tree readings, Advent Cube; prayers and devotions, read, then sang aloud "Over the River and Through the Woods"!

Violet:

Matthias: Math - working through equations in lesson 7-2; Grammar - gave him dictation containing plurals (review); Reading - On the Wings of Heroes; Piano lesson in afternoon (I babysat today).

Seamus: Math - L51 w/me; Grammar - Green Reading "ar" word/pic list - copied; Reading - Seton reader; Knitting - still plugging away on his hat :)

Sean-Paul: don't for the life of me remember what he did today???

Thursday ~ Advent morning basket - Jesse Tree readings, Advent cube, RA -  Once Upon a Christmas Time, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve to SP while he ate his breakfast.

Violet: Ivy Basket findings, knitting, reading; Zoology - Birdopoly w/ everyone!

Matthias: Math 7-2 finish, Grammar - ILL# 248 reviewed rules; Reading - On the Wings of Heroes; Piano 1 hour, basketball practice in evening. Zoology - Birdopoly w/everyone.

Seamus: Math - L52 w/me & skip counting 3's and 7's; Grammar - Green reading word/pic cards "ay" list - copied, sentences - copied; Read aloud from Beginner's Bible; Religion - 2nd Commandment lesson and copywork; Zoology - Birdopoly game with everyone FUN!!

Sean-Paul: not feeling well today, fever in the night and up alot, poor sweetie :( I was extra tired as well, does not make for a good mommy day. Lots of videos for him today...

Friday ~ First Friday Mass and home for making our St. Nicholas paper crafts :) SP stayed home with daddy.

I can say that I was truly thankful for the end of this week :)

Week in Review 11.16 - 11.20.09

Monday ~ Seamus' turn for not feeling well, stuffy nose sore throat thing :( Thankfully no fever is involved in this one and we're hoping he'll be back to normal before week's end!

The older two and I rearranged the Geography area and the Reading area in the school room, it's much nicer and will potentially produce less clutter than before (at least that is my prayer). We had been using the wooden arch for a "store/kitchen" but it was constantly in disarray and truly not being used to it's full potential. Here's how the new reading corner looks now:

Violet displayed some inviting picture books for now ~

 
I have now re-purposed all of the wooden food and accessories to some kitchen shelves and a new playdough station downstairs for better accessibility and hope to see some little "Iron Chef" action more frequently :) (They LOVE doing this!)

Violet: Back in full force from last week intense activities and her not feeling well. Lots of reading, Marine Bio work on Ocean Geography, Math and some organizing projects in her room :)

Matthias: Reading Camp X (it's a page turner, he can't put it down!), Math w/Violet, Piano practice (no Organ today)

SP: messed around in the new reading corner, but then settled in and read a few stories with Violet.  Played off and on with Seamus as he was in bed listening to Ramona's World (a classic and favorite especially when you're feeling a bit poohey).

Rest of the day was quiet, I started and re-started a hat for Matthias for Xmas.

Tuesday ~ Seamus feeling a bit better, but not much for doing too much school work, he and Sean-Paul watched the Aristocats. Matthias and SP also a little sniffly, guess it's going to hit us all. Read a chapter of Winged Watchman.

Math for V & M - cont. Rev of Ch6 A+ Notes Algebra

Violet: Worked straight away on her LAST Lingua Mater lesson, she's very excited to be finishing this up!! Other - lots of reading, knitting on her leg warmers and watching season 5 of the original Little House on the Prairie episodes. More Marine Bio tidbits.

Matthias: Grammar - He and I did a lesson from Writing With Ease by Susan Wise Bauer (I like this, very nicely laid out), Reading - Camp X (couldn't pull him away from this one :)

Seamus listened during read aloud and then buzzed around w/SP and later in the day did a lovely cello practice, definately feeling better :)

SP: worked on some trays from his Dinosaur shelves :) (see below)

Wednesday ~ Finished The Winged Watchman during Morning Basket time!! What a great book, sad last page though :(

Math - Violet and Matthias still working through Ch 6 Review exercises from A+ Notes Algebra.

Matthias: Copywork from Winged Watchman and review of Proper Nouns in ILL.

Seamus had Cello lesson in the morning, great lesson as he had missed Monday. Narrated George Washington for me to keyboard.

Thursday ~ late start, Violet didn't get up until after 9:00 (ooh, those ballet nights are catching up and it's not even Nutcracker yet!) I finished Kilmeny of the Orchard last night, good ending, and only a "tad" predictable. Lovely writing!

Zoology Research and Presentations - Seamus: Bush Viper, Matthias: Hammerhead Shark, Violet: Nile Crocodile, SP: Chipmunk

Violet: a few math problems, helped SP with his Dino work, more grammar, confirmation reading/?'s,

Matthias: a few math problems, Religion FYC read and narrated/?'s with me, piano practice 30 minutes before lunch, Reading - On the Wings of Heroes (WWII historical fiction find at 1/2 Price books)

Seamus: Copywork from his D'Auliare's George Washington narration, very nice! Also coloring a picture copied from the book, such delightful drawings by the D'Aulaires! Math - a Mammoth Math worksheet on Divisors, nice example of patterning with Multiplication and Division. Identified all the squares and square roots too :)

SP: Dinosaur fun pages with Violet, he's really enjoying his Dinosaur shelves this week!

 

After lunch, SP and I read Bones, Bones Dinosaur Bones and Dinosaurs Dinosaurs by Byron Barton (we love him) and he worked on tracing some letters. Then he sat and worked a Ravensberger Dinosaur puzzle with me for over a 1/2 hour, tons of fun!

V & M made Oatmeal Scotchie Bars, YUM!!! These won't last long around here ;-)

Friday ~ Quick morning before Violet's confirmation class, met up with her for Mass and lunch before Matthias' piano and Seamus' cello lessons this afternoon.

Boys played many card games. I showed SP how to do the Dinosaur template rubbings with the flat crayons and then he tried some on his own. Animal matching Mothers and Babies cards w/me.

Violet reviewed all of her work in her Lingua Mater writing portfolio and has chosen her favorites. Yesterday she polished her final draft from Unit 4 and typed it out on the computer. Now she wants to type ALL of them as well :) (That should keep her busy for a while:)

I was very happy when all said and done yesterday afternoon and we had a lovely quiet evening and now it's the weekend, sigh!!! Looking forward to celebrating the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday!

thursday 11.12.09

Violet still feeling poorly, sore throat and snuffy nose, darn it all!! She has a big weekend of ballet performances to boot starting with on stage rehearsals today, sigh...hoping heavy doses of tea will suffice for my sweet girl. UPDATED: Power outages at the school and performance hall cancelled ALL classes and rehearsals! (Thank you guardian angels :)

Matthias - 15 minutes of piano right after breakfast, little boys playing star wars guys :)

Sean-Paul having cocoa w/a Caillou (what is it with the no hair on a 4yo??)

Morning Basket ~ prayers, holy souls devotions, singing; RA - from 50 Famous Rides and Riders by James Baldwin "How Dick Turpin Rode to York".

Matthias: Math - cont. word problems solving with two variables, geometric equations; Zoology - Strawberry Poison Dart Arrow Frog; after lunch worked on his baseball science and timeline;

Seamus: Math - Division work; Zoology - Grizzly Bear research/charades; Reading - he andI alternated reading Billy and Blaze together out loud; building traintracks w/SP after lunch;

Sean-Paul: Rainforest block puzzle - Gorilla; Zoology - Common Garter Snake; building trains w/Seamus after lunch; picked out several cute books and a dog video at the library with me.

Cello lesson for Seamus. Library run.

Park play with three boys after cello! Glorious autumn afternoon :)

Some knitting time for me, Violet feeling markedly better, Hallelujah!!! Thanking God and his angels for watching over her today!

Violet in her down time read some chapters of The Family Manager, read and then watch National Velvet, did some scrapbooking, knitted on her leg warmers, and listened to Keeping Cool

Penne and Meatballs, homemade Naan bread and spinach salad for dinner. Super yum!

wednesday 11/11/09

Martinmas Day!! Various stories about St. Martin, coloring pages were painted and colored with various medium, prayers, collect, singing.  An excerpt from Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill "The Summer Queen"; poem in Edwardian Lady "November" from the German.

Violet: Math - A+ Notes cont. from yesterday; Geography - Scandinavian Countries research; St. Gertrude's prayer for the Holy souls;

Matthias: Math - A+ Notes cont. from yesterday; Geography - Russia research questions; Copywork - creating his own Latin Missal book :)

Seamus: Math - cont. division lesson from yesterday; Geography - South America puzzle map arrows, toob animal identification w/SP; Cello practice - 25 minutes; Copywork - St. Martin's Day worksheet created at Handwriting for Kids H/T: Jessica

Sean-Paul: Geography - Three part animal cards for Africa continent box, identified all the South American Rainforest Toob animals w/Seamus;

Lunch -  RA 1 ch of Winged Watchman, Violet not feeling 100%, sent her down to rest and try to feel better. She's knitting and watching original episodes of Little House on the Prairie :)

Matthias working on a WWII Submarine model in his Lego digital creator site (this is a very cool site for boys). Lots of engineering and architectural analysis going on ;-) So far he's done a Latin Altar for the Extrodinary Mass Form, a WWII troop transport vehicle, a Cathedral, and others still in the works!!

Seamus and SP outside for a while, it's a beautiful Autumn day, need to go on a nature walk before it gets dark!!

Baking some shortbead Horses for Saint Martin, will have tea, and perhaps a skit and some singing with everyone :)

Roasted Lemon Chicken, roasted carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, salad and artisan bread for dinner.

Ballet rehearsal for V.

tuesday 11.10.09

Morning Basket ~ daily prayers, final day of Holy souls novena, St. Gertrude prayer for Holy Souls, good morning song (SP's favorite besides Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above), "November" in CD of an Edwardian Lady, RA - Apples Ripe and Rosy from CHC's 1st Communion prep lesson plans, always a good one :)

Violet: worked w/SP during basket time; Math - A+ Notes Literal equations cont from yesterday's lesson; Lingua Mater - L35/day2 narrative of figurative writing; Reading - The Silver Sword, National Velvet; Knitting - she's already working on Xmas gifts (I should take note ;)

Matthias: worked on a baseball diagram during reading time; Math - A+ Notes Literal equations cont from yesterday's lesson; Grammar; Lingua Mater L5/day2 Verbs; History - reading War Inventons by Charles Gibson (Baldwin project); Other reading - Enemy Brothers; Piano practice 45 minutes;

Seamus: flew a paper airplane towards me during reading time that had "I love u" written on it :) Math - Division lesson 46 Saxon 5/4 review for him, he got it right away and did the practice set quickly with colored bead bars when necessary; building train tracks w/SP; Cello practice - 25 minutes

Sean-Paul: Leaf number cards, arranged in correct order, cut out pictures from Ranger Rick for his ABC book w/ sissy, ate his toast while Seamus RA to him from Seton reader :) Building train tracks w/Seamus;

Lunchtime - RA 2ch's WW, Marine Bio for Violet, worked on her sponges (porifera), watched some sponge videos and look at tons of sponge photos, very cool!

RA's w/SP - The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (we watched Miss Potter the night before :)

Dinner - Potstickers, Jasmine Rice, and Edamame with salt and olive oil, yum!! (Better than take-out)

1 Ch each of Children of Noisy Village and Dr. Doolittle to Sean-Paul and Semaus at bedtime.

Thursday 11.05.09

Morning Basket ~ Prayers, novena, singing, started Themosticles, read Creation story in SP's newly gifted from Matthias Beginner's Bible, Poems - The Lady of Shallot for Violet to begin for her Ivy Basket - ala Ann w/an "e", read beginning of Horatius, Seamus recited "Where Go the Boats" and immediately SP wanted me to help him say "Rain" which he is determined to learn :)

Violet: Lots of reading, I didn't catch it all, but she finished Anne of Windy Poplars! Math - A+ Notes 6-8; Zoology: Marsh Rabbit

Matthias: Math - A+ Notes 6-8; Zoology - Long-tailed Weasel;

Seamus: Clocks, Mixed numbers/fractions worksheets, Zoology - Viperfish;

Sean-Paul: Zoology - Rattlesnake;

Lunch - RA 1 ch of Winged Watchman. I did an animal charade (the Kinkajou) for the kids while they ate, these are fun and can be done with anything :)

Afternoon- Violet worked on some confirmation ?'s, Matthias began inputing baseball stats into an Excel program, Seamus working on some knitting and embroidery (a Xmas present, shh) Sean-Paul played.

Later, SP and I read his new (and very first real chapter book) The Children of Noisy Village. We sipped cocoa w/marshmallows and enjoyed about 3 ch's together, sweet boy :)

Lots of lego creations/movie making (hysterical!) The boys also got in some of their circuit workout time in the garage (remember the RAIN?)

Cello practice for Seamus 1/2 hour, Matthias got in an hour of piano before dinner.

Seamus picked The Story of Doctor Doolittle for his next bedtime RA, I did my best British accent for him.

Beef Stew w/Leeks and Popovers for dinner.

Power went out for about two hours after dinner, very exciting storm in the middle of the night as well! Hello November!

wednesday 11.04.09

Morning Basket ~ Singing, St. Charles Borromeo: collect, morning prayers, St. Gertrude prayer for the Holy souls, Holy Souls Novena - day 2, St. Pharaildis (More Once Upon a Time Saints), The Garden Tools (A Child's Book of Stories from Many Lands)

Violet:
Math- A+ Notes 6-7 translating words into variable equations;
Reading - Anne of Windy Poplars, Catholic Girls Guide.
Geography - Located, identified and drew all the Archipelagos of the world land/water forms w/Matthias
Copywork - Quote from Anne of WP;
Grammar - helped Matthias out with his "debate" lesson (she was the affirmative rebutal ;)

Matthias:
Math - A+ Notes 6-8 translating word problems into equations and solving for variable;
Geography - Puzzle map of Europe - named all countries correctly, land/water sandpaper forms w/Violet blindfolded
Copywork - 4th stanza of Casey at Bat, recited all;
Grammar - debate lesson w/Violet from ILL;
Reading - Enemy Bros.

Seamus:
Math - Time worksheet to the minute, Mixed Numbers & Improper fractions worksheet;
Cello lesson;
Copywork - from Home Geog L2;
Listened to Billy and Blaze w/ SP;
narrated last ch of WWatchman at lunch;
PS2 w/SP.

Sean-Paul:
Brown Bear m&m sorting and graph w/me;
Newt coloring page (fact file);
Finger Stamping falling leaves picture w/Violet;
"In the Child's World" lesson on Autumn birds w/me. 

Lunch - RA 2 ch's of The Winged Watchman, kitchen clean-up.

Afternoon - Matthias working on new Baseball stats science project, Lego movie creation work.

Violet and I discussed the end of the Sunflower in Catholic Girls Guide, moving on to Ivy.

Boys doing a workout circuit with the punching bag, stairmaster and calisthenics, hysterical!!! (Gee, I should be doing this too!)

RA w/ SP - Blaze Shows the Way (CW Anderson).

Ballet tonight, Lettuce Wraps and Basmati Rice, pumpkin pie :)

Monday/Tuesday 11.02.09 - 11.03.09

Monday ~ Feast of All Souls; Mass at 11:30 with everyone. We accomplished a little Morning basket reading ~ The Winged Watchman, some poetry selections, listened to Mozart's Requiem.

Everyone did some Math and grammar, then we headed out.

After lunch we realized that our day was free as the piano teacher's daughter was ill (poor sweetie). So we read more Winged Watchman (great book)!

Violet polished her Marine bio project 

Boys played intermittently outside and inside, LOTS of lego action going on, there's a new challenge to enter, pieces to create, pictures to take, descriptions to be written ~ all very secretively ;-)

Dinner - Provencal Vegetable Soup (Barefoot Contessa in Paris), Homemade Buttery Rolls.

Tuesday ~ Morning Basket: Feast of St. Martin de Porres; read from both Saints for Young Readers and The Children's Book of Saints; talked about being "missionaries of love and mercy" like St. Therese and began our Holy Souls from Purgatory to Heaven poster/Church Militant poster! Finger Play "The Mill" for SP, prayers for the Holy Souls (St. Gertrude prayer) Holy souls novena Day 1.

Violet: Math - A+ Notes 6-7 translating words to equations;

Matthias: Math - finished 6-7; History - Baseball timeline;

Seamus: Math - finished L45, clocks and finished his 9's skip counting; History -we  finished Columbus (D'Aluaire)/discussion; cello practice;

Sean-Paul: a few activities on his "Leaf" shelves, mostly messed around today :( Watched St. Nicholas w/his cocoa; listened to our lunchtime RA, then outside after lunch.

Lunch - RA 2ch's of Winged Watchman.

Afternoon - chores, reading, knitting, music time for SP, piano practice for Matthias.

Ballet night for Violet.

Dinner - Chicken Stroganoff (Saving Dinner)

friday 10.30.09

Morning Basket ~ Art Ap - Fresco of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant by Andrea di Bonauito at the Museo di Santa Maria; then we had a discussion about the Communion of Saints and how we fit into the Universal Church as pilgrims of our faith still living on earth and why it's important to be praying for people on all levels of the Communion of Saints. 

I read aloud several October poems and notes Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (the fruits and berries she spied in October), "To Autumn" by Keats, "Give to me the Life I Love" by RLStevenson, "That autumn eve was stilled" by R. Browning; then we moved on to Athena and Arachne from D'Aulaires Greek Myths

Free Choice Day, also share some work from the week, and tidy up day: 

Violet: Shared her Horse NB work, some geography work on cities of Italy, and a titch of her Marine bio project, she'll complete and present it on Monday! Worked on Marine Bio project, reading Anne of Windy Poplars.

Matthias: Shared some Latin responses from memory, and his Math accomplishments in his algebra book. Worked on a History of Mariners Baseball team/created timeline; Reading-Enemy Bros.

Seamus: Shared his Columbus drawing, his Leaf rubbings book and his Fractions-to-decimals math page. Math, paper airplanes from Dangerous Book for Boys, listened to ch of Trumet of the Swan.

Sean-Paul: listened to Athena story and then went down for breakfast (he's such a late riser compared to all the others). He brought me a stack of books including: The Book of Virtues and I read "The Sword of Damocles", Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song Nursery Rhymes and I read "Hope is like a harbell trembling in its birth", If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullan (a reading/singing boardbook he loves).

Lunch- RA 1 1/2 ch's Winged Watchman.

Ballet rehearsal and watch night for Violet and I :)

Our little village has commercial candy hand-out this afternoon, so my older boys decided to go down, Matthias with a friend and Seamus w/daddy. Tomorrow we'll have our own All Hallow's Eve carnival, should be a fun weekend, All Saint's Party at our parish as well.

Happy Weekend all!!

thursday 10.29.09

Light morning basket today ~ read from a sample of Nature Friend Magazine, very nice, ordered subscription promptly!  H/T: MaryEllen and Jen ;-)

Violet:
Math - Multi-step equations w/variables in A+;
Zoology - she opted to work on her Marine Bio project;
Reading - Anne of Windy Poplars; Rested all afternoon (pooped)!

Matthias:
Math - Multi-step/cont. from yesterday;
Zoology - Baraccuda research & oral report
Reading - Enemy Bros., Baseball Encyclopedia (brushing up for tonights World Series game 2 ;-)

Seamus:
Math - skip counting review 5's & 6's marked squares, Inv 4 in Saxon 5/4 fractions & decimals reading tenths, hundredths, thousandths :);
Zoology - chose the Baltimore Oriole and the Bullocks Oriole to research and compare and then gave a lovely oral report;

Sean-Paul: mostly messed around, sigh...why are some weeks better than others??? He managed to do a little presentation on the River Otter for Zoology, cute.

Lunch - leftover Ribollita and bread; then started our new Historical fiction RA - The Winged Watchman while Violet organized her embroidery tin and the boys built lego creations.

Kitchen clean-up, chores and music practices including SP on the Glockenspiel, he sets himself up for practice every day now, very cute!! He's pulling out all his Musikgarten cd's and listening regularly to them as well, he's a music boy just like the others :)))

Sean-Paul and I made a Pumpkin pie together :) Then had to dash to the store for one ingredient mid-pie, yikes!! Also grabbed books at the library.

Greek Salad w/Naam and Hummus for dinner, kids had grilled burgers and crinkle fries.

World Series game 2....

wednesday 10.28.09

Morning Basket ~ Sts. Simon and Jude; Saints for Young Readers; prayers; finished Snow Treasure!!!

Violet:
Lingua Mater - picture study, synonyms with me;
Religion - Catholic World Culture about Cardinal Mendszenty/discussion with me
Reading- Anne of the Windy Poplars and an American Girl History novel (India?? need to check)

Matthias:
Math- worked on Multi-step in A+ Notes 6-6, did great on his own, he's got this down.
Saints Stories - St. Maximillian Kolbe - discussion/narration w/me;
Reading - Enemy Bros.

Seamus:
1st thing - Skip counting review 6's, 2,3,4's and a hop-scotch 3,4,5's, listened to RA and then off to his Cello lesson w/daddy (back for lunch).

Sean-Paul:
slow morning for him, listened briefly to RA, then wanted to watch a Caillou w/cocoa; Coloring/Pumpkin stuff

Lunch - Sticky Buns for St. Jude (he gets us out of sticky situations). Prayers and petitions to St. Jude.

Afternoon - Matthias and SP played legos.  Piano lesson and we babysat both the piano teacher's kids, whooppee! It was entertaining to say the least...

Seamus and I did a Home Geography lesson about directions, using a compass, etc. We mentally mapped out how to get from the park to our house walking and from his bedroom to the schoolroom. Then I typed out some copy work for him to reinforce the lesson.

Lots of Marine Biology research/note taking by Violet, she's preparing her project for Friday.

I wrote down quite a bit more for this day, but somehow typepad ate it or didn't save when I hit save??? It was a good day and people were busy busy...

Ballet night.

Dinner - Ribollita with Homemade Artisan Bread.

tuesday 10.27.09

Morning basket ~ morning prayers and singing; helped Seamus choose a RLS poem to begin memorizing (Where Go the Boats); read aloud 3 ch's of Snow Treasure.

Listening in the Learning Room: More Vivaldi and Nature Sounds :)

Violet:
Math - A+ notes, cont yesterday's work;
Botany- Sunflower sketch/parts/description;
Lingua Mater- Synomyms work;
Written narration/book review for Miss Happiness and Miss Flower;
After lunch- Marine Bio - project research!!

Matthias:
Math - A+ notes, cont yesterday's work;
Botany- Leaf shape cards/definitions;
Grammar - ILL #202 "The Gleaners" picture study w/me,
Copied another stanza of Casey at Bat;
Reading - finished Motor Boys;

Seamus:
Cut & pasted many jack-o-happy pumpkins (he's making a mobile);
Math - skip counting 12's;
Grammar - homonyms cards matching game;
After lunch - Religion FYC w/me beginning the Ten Commandments/copywork & catechism/Moses;
Reading - independently read in his Seton reader;
Cello practice 25 mins

Sean-Paul:
P Sound Bin (beginning Pink Reading Series) w/me (includes sandpaper 'p' and HWT wood letter 'p');
Colored St. George from our new and very handy Saints CDs from Catholic Artworks Co.
Tried the Pumpkin quilt block puzzle, but he got frustrated as the pieces kept moving around on him :(
Cut and pasted shapes for a jack-o-happy

History RA time - Snow Treasure 2 ch's

Lunch - little boys outside for some ball play, lunch clean-up, laundry switch

Dinner prep, ballet tonight. 

monday 10.26.09

A little bit of a late start but not a bad monday morning  :)

Morning Basket ~ Talked about the beautiful Feast of Christ the King (Traditional) and yesterday's sermon by our beloved priest.  Read about the Evening Primrose from HBNS and accompanying poem, wished we had some in the yard. Singing,  St. Everistus (1st c. trad calendar) 

Violet:
New week of activities for SP "Pumpkin Theme" very fun! She's really enjoying putting these together, and such a big help to moi!!
Math - A+ Notes 6-5 2-step equations w/variables;
Lingua Mater - Week 34 picture study/synonyms day 1;
Reading - Downright Dencey (I think) and others;
History - Landmark about rise of Moussolini/Hitler
Marine Bio - spent a long time researching her topic for project week!!

Matthias:
Math - A+ Notes 6-5 2-step equations w/variables;
Grammar - Casey at the Bat/began memorizing (and recited from the book at Poetry time) copied first stanza into his poetry book;
History - SOTW4 The Marshall Plan;
Reading - Working on Motor Boys, almost finished

Seamus:
Math - squares/square roots drill, skip counting 11's, Mental math from L 43;
Green Reading sounds aw/au;
RA w/SP and I "It's Pumpkin Time" and Lifecycle of the Pumpkin 3-part cards;
made a pumpkin mask;
History - RA Christopher Columbus (d'Aulaire) and sketched an incredible picture from the cover design of Columbus, then dictated a narration of the first portion to me.

Sean-Paul:
Pumpkin Seeds game with me,
Letter stamping  activity;
made a bakeable eraser from Matthias' kit;
paper cutting - triangles,
RA w/ Seamus and I "Its Pumpkin Time" and Lifecylce of the pumpkin 3-part cards; 

Lunch - Left over Beef Bourguinon (yum) RA - 3 chs of Snow Treasure.

Afternoon - Seamus Cello, Matthias Organ, Violet babysit and Marine Bio research on her new project (shes really excited about it, might be a year long project in the beginning stages!!!)

Stir Fry for dinner/bean and cheese burritos for the kids.

thursday 10.22.09

Religion work for everyone while I snuck in a quick waffle and cleaned up the kitchen, SP finished Nim's Island w/cocoa. Nature Sounds background music.

Morning Basket ~ David Nevue while I RA 2 ch's of Snow Treasure, we're at a really good part and want to read it every chance we get!! A few RLS poems "Escape at Bedtime" and "The Cow" (Violet has fond memories of this one as it was one of the very first poems she memorized as a Kindergartner ala Laura Berquist's K syllabus :)

Violet:
Math - A+ Notes lesson 6-4 Solving 1-step equations/check work
Zoology - worked on her History of the horse and shared her findings on "The Shire"
Reading - A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos

Matthias:
Religion - read about Guardian Angels and shared
Math - A+ Notes lesson 6-4 Solving 1-step equations/check work
Zoology - chose a King Cobra to research and present 
Reading - Handbook of Nature Study - weather and climate pages

Seamus:
St. Francis w/ colored pencils
Math - skip counting 9's; L-41 Subn across zero (three-digit)
Zoology  - Trumpeter Swan research and presentation :)

Sean-Paul:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Little Saints activity page w/me.
Dog's Colorful Day visual discrimination cards/felt dog activity also w/me;
then again w/me - Math work with golden beads 1's and 10's and number cards (he's really not quite ready for this yet);
Zoology - Hairy woodpecker cut out a picture and added it to his W page then shared his information with us all (very professionally I might add) ;-)
Outside to rollerblade before lunch;

ALL ~ Art Appreciation time: viewed and compared four different Autumn scenes, each child chose a different one to re-create with oil pastels (pics coming soon). Listened to Vivaldi's Autumn again!

Lunch: delicious leftovers and 2 ch's of Snow Treasure!

Afternoon - outside time for all three boys, kitchen clean-up and email check.

Violet worked on her Mangroves page, then trying to finish up her Confirmation ?'s for tomorrow's class.

More reading and outside time, knitting stuff, dinner prep...

Matthias decided to make Panna Cotta (from Barefoot Contessa at Home).

Cello practice for Seamus about 25 minutes. He's got three really nice pieces he's working on right now - Tarantella, Elfin Dance and Dance Rustique. Piano after for Matthias.

Ballet for Violet and rehersals tonight. Quick library stop for pick-ups! (Need to do another pick-up post soon :)

Minestrone for dinner and homemade bread (not sure which one yet, but a bread machine selection tonight)!

Looking forward to the weekend :)

wednesday 10.21.09

Morning Basket ~ Morning prayers at the breakfast table while we awaited our Apple Puff Pancake to cool (it was a little bit like the Three bears and the hot porridge) It was very tasty after it cooled.

Music Appreciation focus this morning - listened to Vivaldi's Autumn, then Tchaicovsky's October Song, it was decided that we liked the Vivaldi better. I also played some other random Vivaldi's and our favorite was this one - Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera :)

Violet:
Math- A+ Notes: found the area of some complex shapes and wrote the correct expressions using variables and exponents  
finished her ballad, very nicely done "The Ballad of the Haunted Wood" inspired by the woods scene in Anne of Green Gables :)Saints- St. Faustina in Stories of the Saints Vol II
Marine Bio- worked on her seagrass reading and research and then read about Mangroves and produced her sketches from the text, sadly we won't be seeing any of these beauties up close any time soon, unless some one has any tickets to Florida, say anywhere near Theresa???

Matthias:
Math- A+ Notes: found the area of some complex shapes and wrote the correct expressions using variables and exponents;
New morning piano lesson;
Grammar- comparing poems by Helen Jackson Hunt and Beecher (ILL #198);
Reading- Enemy Bros.; 
The Greeks and the Solar System in his Dangerous Book for Boys - read; 
Latin responses w/Seamus;

Seamus:
built marble structures during Music time
Math - skip counting 8's;
cello lesson; blue reading objects and words and moveable alphabet (Violet helped hime with this while I got lunch going);
Reading - Seton; Billy B copywork "f" and Trumpet of the Swan copywork;
Latin responses w/Matthias

Sean-Paul:
painted a dixie cup getting ready to make a "tiger cup" in the same fashion as his "doggie cup" (need to post pics)
marble towers w/Seamus during Music time
watched Peter and the Wolf w/ a snack
finger plays w/mommy The Bees and the Ants (cute)
outside time

Lunch- leftover Soup from last night, so yummy!!

RA - 3 ch's of Snow Treasure, this one is getting good :)

Afternoon work entailed Marine Bio, copywork and reading by most. SP went to Costco w/daddy -THANK YOU!!!!!

Finished my knitting project, will try to get some pics up on Threads or Main blog soon. Think I'll make one for Violet now :)

Lettuce Wraps for dinner, one of our favorites and SO easy!!!

Tuesday 10.20.09

Morning Basket ~ St. John Cantius (traditional)-collect and Epistle reading from James; read from Treasury of Catholic Saints-St. George and the Dragon; decade of the rosary and singing; G is for St. Gabriel (The Angel's Alphabet by Hilda von Stockum)

Violet:
worked on more activities for Dog's Colorful Day for SP;
Math-cont. 6-3 exponents and simplifying equations/dist. prop;
helped SP get started on a craft activity for Dog's Colorful Day (so cute) and then left for her Ortho appt w/daddy (we're hoping they bring back lunch from the Market for all of us :)

Matthias:
morning reading Honus and Me (got paperback version for his bday);
Math- cont. 6-3 exponents and simplifying equations/dist. prop;
Grammar - ILL #197 subject/predicate review & copywork from Harp & Laurel Wreath "Flint's Island" underlined & circled subject/pred;
Science experiment-making a battery from Dangerous Book for Boys (he needs to do more of this)

Seamus:
watercolored from Fenestre Fidei-St. Francis of Assisi;
Math - skip counting 7's, Investigation 3 (Saxon 5/4) w/me squares and square roots;
Listened to Shell Book w/SP then PS2 w/ SP before lunch for a bit

Sean-Paul:
Violet started him on an activity;
played a card/coloring game w/me; then we read What Lives in a Shell, a Read and Find Out science book;
PS2 with Seamus before lunch for a bit

Lunch-YES!! Humbow (sp?) and gyros from the market, YUM!! Thank you daddy :)

Afternoon - Little boys outside, rollerblading, basketball, scooters and bikes. Then they came back in and played Parchesi (sort of).

Matthias 1/2 hour of piano, then played Divinty w/Seamus, now they are building something on Lego Factory (I think it's a church with a Traditional Latin altar :) I wonder if they'll include a communion rail, have to go check progress....

Violet worked on Marine Bio - searched some sites for Light & Color info, still trying to complete week 6 so we can try our hand at project week!!

Ballet tonight, Monkey Bread rising on the counter, getting ready to peel and roast a bunch of veggies for a yummy Roasted Vegetable Soup (ala Ina). Better get some Artisan bread going too!!

Whew, is it only Tuesday???

Monday 10.19.09

Morning Basket ~ St. Isaac Jogues, St. John deBreuf and Companions (our parishes namesake Saints) Saints for Young Readers; Singing; Poetry-more RLS "Looking Glass River" (delightful), "Autumn" by Emily Dickinson, "Fog" by Carl Sandburg, "Vagabond Song" by Bliss Carman, "The Mist and All" by Dixie Wilson (all in FPON)

Violet:
Helped Sean-Paul with his new shelves, played a game with him;
Math-Math-A+Notes 6-3 Exponents/Applications;
Lingua Mater-four more stanza's of her ballad;
History-started Escape from Warsaw (aka The Silver Sword by Ian Serralier);
Marine Bio- reading, notes & discussed possible projects

Matthias:
Helped Seamus with our new daily wall calendar;
Math-A+Notes 6-3 Exponents/Applications;
Grammar- ILL#196 read and discussed/outlining;
History-started Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery

Seamus:
Stained glass coloring;
Math- number lines and mixed numbers, skip counting 6's;
Cello practie 2o min;
Reading- read aloud to Violet from Owl at Home

Sean-Paul: played a Dog's Colorful Day game w/sissy (Violet's new weekly theme for him);
D sound bin with me, Dogs Colorful Day colored dot glueing activity w/ me;
helped me unload d/w and started laundry load;

Lunch-RA 2 ch's of Snow Treasure

Afternoon - Matthias organ lesson, Violet babysat and we reviewed her Sunflower basket and decided where we wanted to venture with her Literature basket, Seamus Cello lesson.

Didn't get to any hands on Marine Bio today...

I finished Betsy's Wedding last night, planning to start The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge next (Violet's stack for me :)

Started a new knitting project over the weekend, something for myself...just trying it out...

Dinner- something with all the yummy root veggies in our organic bin this week....

Friday 10.16.09

Morning basket ~ St. Hedwig (traditional) collect; prayers and singing.

Violet:
Finishing up her confirmation homework, went over several questions with her at breakfast;
Tidyed up her school things from the week and cleaned out her cubby/filed in her notebooks;
Off to class w/daddy;

Matthias:
Started with piano 20 min;
Played Toy Story 2 Monopoly w/SP and Scrabble w/Seamus simultaneously (it was QUITE entertaining for me!)
Math-managed a few more problems on yesterday's sheet;

Seamus:
First up today with me,I read aloud 2 ch's of Trumpet of the Swan with him;
He knitted while I checked email, then we served everyone hot cocoa and tea and toast;
Played Scrabble w?Matthias;
Cleaned off his very messy and cluttered work table (I'm afraid he takes after me in the cluttered surfaces arena, sigh...)

Sean-Paul:
Played Monopoly w/Matthias;
Stories w/me while he finished his breakfast-Dog's Colorful Day;
Colored a raccoon picture;

RA - Magic School Bus Plays Ball to all three boys.

Latin Daily Mass and lunch of bagels and apples in the car on the way to pick up ballet slippers for V-Nutcracker!!

Cello lesson for Seamus, then home.

Afteroon play time and clean-up.

Chinese takeout for dinner - it's been a l-o-n-g week....Happy weekend friends!

Thursday 10.15.09

Morning Basket ~ St. Teresa of Avila-collect, morning prayers-spiritual communion, singing;
"The Wise Ant" and "Walter and His Dog" from The Children's Kindergarten Hour;
more RLS poetry-"Foreign Lands" and "Windy Nights" again for SP :)
Children's Golden Bible "The Coming of the Holy Spirit" and talked about Violet preparing to receive her Confirmation this year.

Violet:
Helped SP during morning basket;
Math-A+ Notes simplifying equations with variables/combining like terms using dist. property;
Zoology- wolf research reading and presentation;
Lingua Mater- wrote 5 stanza's of her "ballad";
Collected many library books from her room that have to be returned today, sadly the library is cutting us back to 50 books per card instead of 100, sob!!! Reading- Finished Blue Willow; started another...

Matthias:
Created some "how to draw" booklets during morning basket;
Math-A+ Notes simplifying equations with variables/combining like terms using dist. property;
Zoology- Komodo dragon research reading and presentation;
Grammar- ILL#187 Diary of a cat for a week, very entertaining!!

Seamus:
knitted during morning basket;
Zoology- Eyelash Viper (started learning how to do a research for an animal w/Me) looked at Enchanted Learning and found nothing specific so I googled and found a great link at WhoZoo :) He did a very nice presentation telling some of his facts he discovered!
Cello practice 1/2 hour

Sean-Paul:
worked on some coloring for his forest animals activities w/Violet;
He unfotunately had to be removed from the schoolroom on several occasions this morning due to disruption :( Some days are really hard for him, grrr....
Zoology- spiders, looked at MANY, showed everyone pictures of MANY!! His presentation included lots of information about what spiders like to eat, hysterical!! Cutie :)

Lunch-poached eggs on toast and bananas; made granola bars while the eggs poached; lunch and kitchen clean-up; little boys outside-skinned knee on SP/icepak/bandaid/lots of kisses and hugs and sympathy fom Seamus & I/Popsicles w/a Max & Ruby show (all better:)

Afternoon ~ Matthias and I made shortbread dough together and talked about some of the books he's been reading this week :) He decided to use our assorted leaf-shaped cutters and spent the next hour or so creating his cookies! YUM! 

Helped Seamus with his knitting and knit a few rows for him to speed it along :) He read aloud from his Seton reader the story of Jesus blessing the little children.

SP came up and asked if anyone wanted to say the rosary with him (HELLO!!!) and so of course I did, drop everything and kneel down with him, OOOh such a sweet boy!!

Then little boys discovered some Michael's wood craft kits I had stashed and went to work putting them together, it was a glu-ey time had by both of them ;-) 

RA - ch of Snow Treasure, everyone enjoyed a shortbread cookie :)

Took Violet to Ballet, boys to gym for basketball w/daddy.

Groc shop, library stop, post office to mail a Mondays With Mary to Australia!!

Ground Turkey Tacos and Cannelinni Beans w/garlic, red peppers and spinach for dinner.

Looking forward to some knitting this evening... TGIF tomorrow!!

Wednesday 10.14.09

Morning Basket ~ Listening to Nature Sounds; decade of the rosary with the boys; St. Callistus-collect, morning prayers and singing; Robert Louis Stevenson poems-"Autumn Fires" "Singing" "From a Railway Carriage" "Windy Nights" "The Wind"; read Frisky's Nutting Party from Child's Stories from Many Lands; Catechism questions for Seamus and SP.

Violet:
Still feeling kind of poohey so took her book review sheets and other books and notebooks to her room to work for the morning, we're praying for her to feel better quick, we miss her cheeriness in the schoolroom!
Came up for lunch, feeling better, whew!!Finished her embroidery work for a special quilt block she's creating :)
She also managed a couple of book reviews for me to add to her reading page. (I need to get going on Matthias' page too...)

Matthias:
Reading- finished Captain Nobody and narrated it to me (cute book)!
Math- working diligently on some A+ algebra, solving equations when x=?
Grammar- ILL# 179/184 Synonymns/Homonymns review/words pairs, sentences using homonyms
Afternoon piano lesson;

Seamus:
Awoke and began his new knitting project (a super hero cape for his gingerbread man that Violet knit him) on the couch even before cocoa and breakfast;
Math-Skip counting 4's;
Morning cello lesson;
Cursive practice

Sean-Paul:
asked to say rosary first thing and handed them out all around :)
He wants his own math book so he can do his numbers in the squares (what is it with grid paper???)
Made lots of squiggles in his mini-cop "spy" notebook "that's my secret code mom!"
Discovered the Rocks and Minerals tackle box and began taking each one out and comparing to some loose rocks/minerals we have.

Lunch-Homemade Brioche sands for the boys, Cream of Cauliflower Soup w/bread for V, daddy and I, yum!

RA-ch of Snow Treasure

Babysat for Violet during M's piano lesson, little boys played around with our little guest and Seamus knitted some more - he ripped out the super hero cape and decided to knit himself a hat instead, I casted on for him and knit the first four rows :)

Hmmm, time to think about dinner.

Tuesday 10.13.09

Morning Basket ~ St. Edward the Confessor; collect, Saints Stories for Everyday and Our Island Story. Oxford Book of English Verse; "For the Baptiste" by William Drummond, "The Character of a Happy Life" by Sir Henry Wotton, "Weepe you no more sad fountaines..." Anonymous; Kids painted their St Edward's (thanks Matilda;) and Violet worked on some different horse faces in her sketch book.

Violet:
Math-more A+ algebra; solving word problems with variables;
Lingua Mater-pre-writing her ballad;
History-read Ch 29 and marked dates on timeline;
Marine Biology-working on her shell collection identifying and classifying;
Reading-didn't catch all her books today, but I think one was Downright Dency, others...

Matthias:
Math-1-8 solving equations with inverse operations;
History-reading Ch 29 end of WWII  (never finished from yesterday, didn't like the Atom Bomb ch :(
Latin-practiced Mass responses;
Grammar-outlining lesson/drafted his descriptive paragraph of a grocery store;
Reading-Captain Nobody (funny, he's enjoying this one) 

Seamus:
Math- Skip counting 3's and Saxon 5/4 L: 35; using words to write mixed numbers, money;
Cello practice 20 min's;
Reading-new Seton reader "These Are Our Friends" independent reading, then read a ch to me :)

Sean-Paul:
started the morning w/cocoa and a Max and Ruby,
Forest Animal Alphabet matching upper and lower case letters with clothes pin :)
Owl shapes worksheet w/Violet, then he colored the whole thing with an orange colored pencil;
Storytime with me-some Parables of Jesus (TdeP) Mary Mother of Jesus-Flight into Egypt and Findng in the Temple (also TdeP) Come Along Daisy,
Botany-First lesson from "In the Child's World" Fruit and he worked on the lifecycle of a fruit (apple). This is a question and answer style kindergarten/pre-school lesson from the late 19th century, very dear little lessons and he really liked it :)

Lunch-RA from Snow Treasure 3 ch's

Little boys doing Cars PS2, Violet not feeling well, sniffly and scratchy throat, pooh!!! Matthias and I discussing the future of technology... 

Rainy afternoon, perfect for a Sour Cream Coffecake and lots of good books, may even pull out my knitting and dust it off :)

Printed out some art appreciation pics (scroll down a bit) from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study to use in conjunction with our Autumn Nature Studies! LOVE THESE!

Dinner- Grilled steaks, mashed potatoes and zuchinni with parm!

Monday 10.12.09

Monday ~ morning basket-Lord Byron- "She Walks in Beauty"; The Amateur Naturalist, a few pages; Violet read about the "Turkish towel" seaweed she found yesterday at the beach.

Violet:
Math: A+ Algebra Ch6 solving equations w/varibles
Read Klickitat Island w/SP and showed him his new Forest Animals area (she organized his work area over the weekend and created all new activities based on Forest theme :)
Lingua Mater: working on finishing Week 33/day 3& 4
Reading: Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden, Anacaona (Royal Diaries)
Homekeeping: read parts of intro in Home Comforts-discussed the difference between "playing at homemaking" and housekeeping/what are the things that make our house "tick"
Afternoon-read about Marine grasses, notes.

Matthias:
Math: Pre-algebra worksheet-solving equations with variables/finding true solutions (1-6)
Grammar: ILL #180-Descriptive sentences 
Piano: 1/2 practice (Organ lesson this afternoon)
Reading: The Singing Tree, SOTW 4 for History-end of WWII 

Seamus:
Math: Skip counting 2's, Saxon 5/4 L:34 numbers to hundred-millions, number word cards
created cover for his 2nd grade subjects notebook
Cello: 1/2 hour practice
Reading: Seton (independently) RA last ch to mommy (woohoo finished it); looked at awesome Sword book I found in the new books section at the library over the weekend/ he showed it to Sean-Paul and they marveled over many pictures together, then I read aloud some of it and especially a snippet from Beowoulf included!

Sean-Paul:
Forest activity w/Violet-hunting for animals and their tracks (Download Texas Tracks) (he likes to do this with a magnifying glass in hand :)
Hot Cocoa w/a Caillou
Played in his Forest animal activity area (I'm pretty sure I saw some marine animals join in for a party!!)

Grandpa arrived for a quick cup of tea and chat, his delivery made some big & little people very happy.

New Lunchtime Read-aloud: 1st chapter Snow Treasure!

Violet babysitting, Seamus cello lesson, Matthias Organ lesson, Sean-Paul and I storytime: Dr. Suess' Wish for a Fish, The Amazing Trail of Seymour Snail, all the while building elaborate roads and towers with cherry tree blocks. I think there was some egg shaker juggling as well....

Curry Chicken and Rice Soup, Homemade Bread and salad.

Week in Review 10.05.09 to 10.09.09

Monday - no morning basket again to start the week. Mondays are always difficult for some reason, you'd think I'd have this figured out by now, sigh. Everyone did get right started on Math though, so it's my fault for not insisting that we do it first. Maybe we'll do it for lunch today.

Matthias: Reading-The Singing Tree; Math-variables, solving for; Grammar-pic study/prepositions; History-SOTW 4 start of WWII/oral narration; Piano-1/2 hour before lunch; Organ lesson today.

Violet: Horse NB-parts of and enchanted learning stuff; Math-area of triangles, cross mult/solving for variable; Reading- Blue Willow; played math game for "If you give a mouse a muffin" that she printed off of Making Learning Fun site-clothes pin activity (too cute)!

Seamus: Math-mult tables and worked some problems in Saxon 5/4 (L38); Science NB drawing; Cello 1/2 hour and lesson today; Copywork-letter C; Basketball outside w/Sean-Paul before lunch

Sean-Paul: Math- Activity with sissy

Lunchtime RA-Twenty and Ten

Tuesday - St. Bruno, collect. Matthias' 11th bday today! Bday breakfast and gift stuff, kitchen clean-up and upstairs for fun crafts in the morning.

Mass and lunch, then Latin Mass altar server training with Fr. S for Matthias and Seamus.

Bday dinner menu request: Mommy's BBQ Ribs, Baked Beans, Twice-baked potatoes, Brown-sugar Carrots, and of course a German Chocolate Cake :) YUMMY!!!

Wednesday - Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Latin Missal, talked about Last gospel and meaning of St. John the Apostle's words. RA-The Secret World of Walter Anderson, poems of Robert Louis Stevenson by Brian Wildsmith (lovely illustrations in this edition).

Math for everyone ~ Matthias review of properties and mental problem solving
Violet: Percents and proportions word equations.
Seamus: review of place values to the hundred-millions, solved a few equations writing numbers in expanded form
Sean-Paul: Checkers and chess with mommy

Grammar ~ Violet: working through week 33 in Lingua Mater "The Wreck of Hesperus"

Matthias: also working on Lingua Mater day 2 prewriting and identifying prepositions in a copywork selection.

Seamus & Sean-Paul playing with their race car track!

History ~ Matthias reading more on WWII in SOTW 4.

Lunchtime RA - Twenty and Ten, finished this one.

Book discussion with Violet: Rilla of Ingleside :)

Matthias - piano lesson (we babysat)

Library stop and ballet.

Thursday ~ Morning basket-readings for St. Briget of Sweden (traditional calendar) prayers and singing, finished Cardinal book 1 stories (Seamus grabbed it and started it from the beginning by himself :), Katie and the Impressionists read more about Monet, Renoir and Degas.

Math-Matthias & Violet worked on Distributive property pre-algebra stuff, worked some equations. Seamus-snake game addition/made up his own equations and remembered how much he liked this for math :) Sena-Paul-tweezered tiny red pom-poms onto a hundreds apple tree.

Boys to gym for basketball with daddy.

Friday ~ morning prayersand singing. Violet finishing up her Confirmation class ?'s. Wrote book review for Kathleen and the Celtic Knot.

Matthias-finished Math page on dist. prop. Then began work typing a book review/narration for Edmund Campion.

Seamus and Sean-Paul drawing together at their table.  Sean-Paul also worked on some number and letter tracing while Seamus did some copywork, letter d. I did some dinasour math w/Sean-Paul, then he wanted me to show him the short chains and squares/we did through the 5's.

Read aloud: Eggbert, the Slightly Cracked Egg, Hedgie's Surprise, Ch 3 of Trumpet of the Swan (Seamus' read aloud right now)

Pick up Violet, Mass and lunch out. Cello this afternoon for Seamus and a concert for he and I tonight :)

Week in Review ~ 09.28.09 to 10.02.09

Monday ~ No morning basket to speak of today as I am fending off a sniffly cold and cough :( Readings for the Mass, St. Wenceslaus.

Presented Matthias and Seamus with their new weekly worklists that I created on Excel and they were off and running with Math! Please email me if you are interested in seeing how I set up their weekly sheets.

Violet: Math-solved proportions; Lingua Mater week 32/day3 pre-writing for poem; Reading-First Farm in the Valley, many horse related books, a Nancy Drew;  Marine Bio - pH test and salinity test with observations and notes; Religion-Confirmation ?'s. Babysat during organ lesson and after for an hour.

Matthias: Math w/ Violet; Lingua Mater; week 3/day 1-I chose a different poem to insert for this lesson "The Eagle" by Tennyson/adjectives; Reading-Castle of Lyr, The Singing Tree; Marine Biow/Violet-pH test & salinity experiment/notes; Latin prayers-begin memorizing mass responses. Organ lesson after lunch.

Seamus: Math-Lesson 28 Saxon 5/4; Green reading cards-stamped the DGE endings in a blank book; Costco trip with daddy, gone through lunch. Cello lesson in afternoon.

Sean-Paul: played game with Violet then went to Costco w/daddy and Seamus.

Tuesday ~ Quick morning basket; St Michael the Archangel, prayers and singing.

No math today for Violet. Math with Matthias-percents in A+ Notes. Seamus-Mult tables for 0, 1, 2, 5's filled in chart and reviewed the 2'3 & 3's. Sean-Paul game with sissy.

Violet: Anne copywork for Sunflower basket; Essay on kites for LM week 32; Reading-Anastasia Krupnik, Freaky Friday, Place to Hide; Confirmation ?'s; Geography-Germany/rivers

Matthias: Grammar- recited part of The Eagle/adjectives oral w/me; Reading-Castle of Lyr-finished History-SOTW4 Ch26 stockmarket crash & Rise of Hitler/marked dates on timeline/oral narration; Latin Mass video-practiced responses

Seamus: Cello practice; Latin Mass video w/Matthias; Geography-finished Wa st. page; lots of outside play with SP

Wednesday ~ Morning basket - St. Jerome and the Lion picture book and Cath Mosaic ?'s (we love this one, need to put it on Xmas list) prayers and Mass readings.

Sean-Paul: colored lion picture; Math game with mommy.

Seamus: morning cello lesson; 4 times table; Read aloud to me from reader; painting.

Matthias: Math-percents and applications with ratios/proportions-solved about 10 equations A+ Notes; Grammar-pre-writing poem and recitation; Reading-Edmund Campion, The Singing Tree;

Violet:  Reading-Plain Girl, horse encyclopedia, other stuff; Math- percents equations; Letter writing-Anne to Diana (her version of what really happened at the tea with the raspberry cordial incident :); Confirmation ?'s; Geopgraphy-Germany/regions

Sean-Paul: lion cupcake decorating w/me for St. Jerome's feast :)

Thursday ~

Matthias: Piano lesson in morning; Geography-Germany/rivers; Grammar-write poem/?'s w/me; Marine Bio-Beach day-seaweed collection and microscope/sketches and notes/finished Ch3 Seaside Nat. Nature sketching-eagle

Violet: Marine Bio-Beach day-seaweed collection and microscope/sketches and notes/finished ch3 Seaside Nat; History-Reading SOTW4 Rise of Hitler/Stockmkt Crash-Oral narration/mark dates;

Seamus: no notes for him today???

Sean-Paul: seems he didn't do anything of note either, LOL! At least I never managed to write anything down, such is life :)))

Friday ~ First Friday Mass, Feast of the Guardian Angels and a lovely homeschool social where we created Mystical Rose Cupcake baskets with about 50 other homeschoolers in our parish, fun fun day!!

Good week.

Week in Review ~ 09.21.09 to 09.25.09

Monday morning: Feast of St. Matthew, prayers and collect of his Mass, nice morning basket time; more Thomas Burgess autobiography, Their Hearts Are His Garden, some Cardinal reader stories (very sweet), The Children's Kindergarten Hour poems.

Math for Matthias & Violet- decimal review, comparing fractions and decimals

Violet - Rilla of Ingleside, They Loved to Laugh, Lingua Mater poetry writing, babysat during organ and after for another hour, tennis courts and park with boys and I in afternoon.

Matthias - Edmund Campion, The Castle of Lyr, Baseball stats, Organ lesson, tennis and park,  piano practice in evening after dinner.

Seamus - Math worksheets - fractions, watercolor painting and beeswax clay, read aloud to me from a Magic Tree House, Cello lesson after lunch, tennis and park, outside play with Sean-Paul until dinner.

Tuesday morning: kind of a blur, I know we read the collect for St. Thomas of Villanova, a few poems and some discussions about the Latin Mass (our main focus for religion this year).

Everyone did a little math, reading, writing, playing and more reading and playing :) 

Afternoon - quick trip down to the beach with the bigger two to collect some sea water. Decided it was such a nice afternoon (and hot) that we quickly went home to retrieve the other two boys and headed back for some great beach combing and fort building :) LOVE, love, love these kinds of days :)))

Ballet for Violet and dinner.

Wednesday Morning: Feast of Padre Pio (new calendar), read various stories from our basket including some poetry.

Seamus has cello in the mornings on Wed's so our morning gets a little disjointed, I need to remember this and try not to compatmentalize everyone so much and have the morning be a little more free form. Also the grandparents came over in between cello and lunch to hear Matthias' concert recording from Friday night, so the whole day was really a wash.

Violet and I did manage to get some more book reveiws loaded on to her new 2009-10 book list page, so that was nice. She's really crankin' through her list already, so it's nice to keep on top of it.

Afternoon - Matthias piano lesson and babysitting for Violet, then I took the three boys to the gym for basketball time before I needed to get Violet to ballet.

Dinner was yummy "Big Fat Greek Stuffed Peppers"! (Saving Dinner)

Thursday Morning:  Our Lady of Mercy (Ransom) readings and prayers.  More on Latin Mass focus on the Confeitior, nice discussion about examinination of conscience.

Math for Violet & Matthias - ratio, rate, proportionality and equivelency, word problems and cross multiplication.

Seamus - Math - mixed fractions, whole to parts, definitions of numerator/denominator
Geography - began state geography pages beginning with Washington (our home state).  He really enjoyed doing this and I did too :)
Cello - almost a 1/2 hour practice this morning!!

Snack and read new 2009 Sylvan Dell picture books for review, will write up kids reactions and post my review at Sweetness and Light soon.

Marine Biology experiments for all performed after lunch. "Salinity and Density" test.

More here at Nature's Sweetness!

Ballet for Violet, daddy took boys to the park, I got some solo shopping in :)

Dinner - Curry Chicken and Rice Soup with a yummy Multi-grain cibatta. Getting back to my Saving Dinner recipes, so easy and good :)

Piano for Matthias and the Sammantha movie for all!

Friday morning: more on the Latin Mass, discussion about the Kyrie, Introit and norms of the rite.

Everyone tidied up their cubbies and we decluttered from a busy week of learning fun!

Busy afternoon including Cello lesson, Sean-Paul's very first Soccer class, ballet stuff (pointe shoe fitting) and an incredible Latin Mass with the Archibishop (history in the making here in our Diocese!!!) 

Have a great weekend friends! 

Rest of Week ~ 09.15.09 - 09.18.09

Weekly recap, since I never posted after Monday :)

Tuesday Morning ~

Christina Rosetti "The Wind"
Baltimore Catechism "The First Sins"
Ch 2: Thomas Burgess autobiography
Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, discussion

Matthias: finished fractions review
Violet: Confirmation Baltimore questions t/f
Seamus: lesson on mixed fractions with me
Sean-Paul: tracing dinosaurs

other stuff, Matthias: hour of piano
Seamus: 20 of cello and lesson after lunch
Big boys had tennis, Violet ballet, Sean-Paul park play with me.

Wednesday morning ~ our Artsy time with music! Also a little math was completed by everyone and plenty of reading.

lunch: Swallows and Amazons
piano lesson for Matthias
Violet babysat
boys played around her and made a huge mess for me to clean up
burned the granola bars I started just before piano teacher arrived, sigh... 
more reading
outside play for all during which I discovered this site (thanks to Christine) and downloaded all sorts of delightful FREE goodies!! Sean-Paul had a great time working on the bumblebee in the I is for Insects pack, too cute!

Thursday morning ~ more watercolor postcards during which I read aloud: Stigmata of St. Francis followed by great discussion on the five wounds of Christ
Burgess finished Ch 2
The Magic Flute from The Children's Kindergarten Hour (a library gem)

Violet: confirmation catechism ?'s, writing assignment for Lingua Mater, "Anne" copywork and discussed some favorite sections

Matthias: Math - order of operations review, Edmund Campion (affectionately refered to now as "Eddy Camp") grammar lesson 2 in Lingua Mater, 1/2 hour of piano

Seamus: math worksheets on measurement, number word search, used his protractor for several different things, read aloud to me, 20 min of cello

Sean-Paul: colored pictures, stories with me

afternoon: outside, last tennis, park, ballet, library

Friday morning ~ Anniversary day! St. Jospeh of Cupertino, morning collect

Busy morning before Violet's confirmation prep class.  Read aloud from Story of Mankind about the beginning's of WWI. Then it was time for her to leave with daddy.

Boys~ music practices, reading, snacks, time to prep for Mass and go!

Seamus: cello lesson after Mass & lunch (yummy baguette sammy's) beautiful day, lots of outside play, Sean-Paul in pool for a bit, then tea party with V & M :)

Anniversary night concert!! Pure bliss :)

Monday ~ Triumph of the Holy Cross 09.14.09

Fairly productive day:

morning basket ~ Tale of the Three Trees (everyone loves this one) Catechism questions "Who God Made"

Violet ~ marine biology - wrote up summary of wave measurement from friday night, shell identification; created a little partitioned holding box from an unused tackle box
~ math - writing equations from word sentences and solving
~ copywork - Anne of Green Gables
~ lingua mater - finishing lesson on interrogatives; who/whom
~played bingo dice game with Sean-Paul based on brown bear, brown bear what do you see? (very cute)
~lots of reading (Rilla)

Matthias ~ math - fraction review A+ notes algebra worked several problems
~marine biology - a couple of ocean games on computer, wave measurement summary/lab report
~harpsicord lesson + 45 minutes piano after dinner
~ reading (The Singing Tree)
~ tennis w/ Seamus, Sean-Paul and I (fun, fun fun!)

Seamus ~ math - finished fraction worksheet with metal fraction insets
~ read aloud to me several pages of The Cat and the Hat Comes back; made words with moveable alphabet; this, that, there, then and copied into a small blank book
~marine biology - ocean games and marine animal word search
~ watercolor painting (St. Paschal)
~ cello 20 minutes practice before lunch
~ sketched a black kitty and colored in with colored pencils and created a gallery of his artwork above his table in the learning room :)
~ tennis with us

Sean-Paul ~ many various coloring and collage projects today using lots of gold glitter glue :)
~ dice game with sissy (brown bear, brown bear...)
~ outside for basketball
~ a few read louds included Amelia Bedelia, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, many others
~ tennis with boys & I

We headed to the park again after dinner just before it got too dark, our weather has been delightfully warm and pleasant in the evenings! Good start to the week :)