Trying to get back on track

with both schoolwork and blogging. No schoolwork got done Wednesday. I have no idea why. We had an errand or two to run, nothing major, and the plan was to do schoolwork when we got back but it just never happened. I just feel like I have no control over things sometimes (see iVillage's homeschooling board if you want the full rant on that ;)). The kids spent most of the day covering shields made of K'nex with aluminum foil. It was creative and productive so I was glad to see it happen, I just wish it hadn't taken up ALL of their day.

We did visit the animal shelter to pay our licensing fees so I'm going to count that as a science/social studies field trip in our little black record book, lol. The kids wanted to take home every one of those beautiful cats, and to be honest so did I, but we restrained ourselves. On the way home from there we did have an interesting discussion on the merits of spaying and neutering your pets. Cameron and Cassia do not agree. They think it is cruel and that you should allow your cat to have a litter of kittens first before spaying her. My mom used to believe that too - until we ended up with seventeen cats at one point because our dumb cat kept getting herself pregnant. I tried to scare the kids with that story but they promised that they wouldn't let that happen. When they are adults they are each going to get a cat and let her have six kittens before having her altered. Yes, I'm sorry, but my children are going to be responsible for a dozen strays. Yikes. Now that I think about it, on the way through San Francisco on Tuesday we saw a wood chipper doing its duty on some tree clippings. Cameron just thought that was horrible and cruel to the trees. I said that trees needed to be trimmed just like our hair needs to be cut, but he said that taking the leaves off of trees would be like cutting hair but trimming the branches would be like cutting off our arms and legs! So it looks like I've raised a little environmental activist here. I just hope he doesn't end up joining PETA or something. Actually he's too much of a meat eater for that - they'd never let him in. LOL.

Today, Thursday, I felt like it was going to be another get-nothing-done day, but it didn't end up that way at all. We started with ballet where the class started learning their dance for the recital coming up in June. Cassia was bestowed the honor of being one of the line leaders for the dance. I was very proud and remarked that she must be a very good dancer then. She said no, that she was just one of the biggest and they lined everyone up from tallest to shortest, lol. Her teacher though did say that she was very happy to have found leaders and that being chosen for that was a very good thing. (She only said this because when she announced that they had a couple leaders and pointed to Cassia and another girl, I misheard and thought she said "beaters." There had been some incidents with girls banging on the floor a couple weeks ago instead of listening. I was afraid that Cassia was instigating rebellions again, lol, but it turns out that she must have been listening very well to be given the place of honor and keep it.)

After ballet and lunch I finally managed to get the monkeys rallied for school. Cassia did the first actual reading lesson in our phonics book. She's covered all the short vowels and consonants and is ready to learn to sound things out. The concept is still a bit beyond her, I think, but she is eager. Together we read the words at, am, an, and ad. She kept trying to add all these other syllables in there though. She tried to read "am" as "appamom" or something, lol. She also kept looking away and just guessing random "a" words and I had to keep reminding her that to read you have to actually look at the words. Cameron still has trouble with that one too. ;) Cameron read some three-syllable words today and he did pretty well. It was a two-page lesson and he definitely did better on the first page than the second. Ordinarily I would have broken it up and let him do it on two days, but since we didn't do any bookwork on Tuesday or Wednesday I figured it was a good catch up lesson. Math also ended up being kind of a double lesson. We did a page of review problems from the text orally and then went on to a new section and its exercise. It was an easy section though: multiplying and dividing by 10s. I think even Cassia can do that. Cassia wanted to do math too but I couldn't find her book!! Whoops! For grammar we learned about sentences of exclamation. That was a fun one because there were some really silly sentences like, "There's a pink alien outside the window!"

I was ready to call it a day there. My patience is just not up to par lately and that phonics lesson coupled with Cassia and Greyson constantly interrupting just about did me in. But as I brought the books inside (did I mention that our heater is on the fritz and we did school outside because it was actually warmer than it was in the house?) Cameron said, "OK, I'm ready for History now!" Well I just can't argue with that so I grabbed a library book and read Growing Up in Ancient Greece to them while Cameron built with K'nex and Cassia wandered in and out. This was one of the first successful "I read and you play" sessions we've ever had. Usually the playing just takes over his mind and soon he is talking over me with his own little dialogs between LEGO guys. But this time he was engaged and actually making conversation about the things I was reading. So that was a very good thing.

We also spent some time in the morning learning the numbers from one to ten or twelve in Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. No particular reason for it; it was just the thing to do at the time. Actually, we should be learning the numbers and letters in Greek. That would be cool. Remind me look that up and print out some worksheets for next week.

Tomorrow is Science Class and Favorite Park Day. There are two birthdays being celebrated there and I am really on the fence about whether or not to get gifts. If you remember, back in December there was a double birthday party and I was the only person not to bring gifts. We've never brought gifts to park birthday celebrations so I was totally caught off guard. So you'd think it would be a given to bring gifts this time except that one of the birthdays is for the brother of one of the boys from December. Won't he feel cheated that Cameron bought his brother a gift but not him? *Sigh* What to do. And of course I've put it off long enough that it's going to make for a crazy morning trying to figure it out and then getting out to buy something before class. Will I look cheap not bringing anything again? I know I don't need more crap in the house, but I also know how much the kids like getting gifts. I really wish I had had them make something but that would have taken more organization than I can muster. ;) OK, enough rambling for tonight. TTYL. :)