4/30 prog

We are working hard on figuring out where to go.  No time for anything else.

4/28 school

TYCTR100EL
- Lesson 2

Math

- Unit 5 ex 1

- Addition and subtraction facts

Grammar

- Reviewed titles of respect and abbreviations

History

- Finished reading Ch 25 on Alexander the Great

- Review questions

- Narration and copywork

Composition
- Week 23 Days1, 2

Spelling
- Cards from Ch 25

Science
- Planted seeds in the grow tubes

4/25 school

Grammar

- Lesson 78 titles of respect and abbreviations

Math 

- addition and subtraction facts

- started unit 5 on position

History 

- Read the second section of Ch25 on Alexander the Great

 

TYCTR100EL

- Lesson 1

4/28 progress

April did an awesome job this weekend packing the girls' clothes bins.  All the girl clothes left in the house are those going with us.  50 gallons of kid clothes went out.  Short post, but huge progress.

50 days left.

4/24 school

Math

- addition facts

- subtraction facts

- finished subtraction unit

Grammar 

- street and state abbreviations

Science
- Read the new Magic Schoolbus book about plants and seeds
- Wrote a sentence on it

History

- first half of Al the Great ch 25

Field trip to Butterfly Pavilion

Reading:
- I read to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

Memorization:
- Recorded A & L reciting "Under the Bed" Penny Trzynka 

4/24 progress -- 55 days left in CO

I put a good dent in packing tools and going through unopened boxes from the last move. 

The big puzzle of the moment, besides where to go, is what to do about internet access which is especially important in my current job. I need 200G per month at a bare minimum.  400 would be much more comfortable.  If we can find somewhere with Comcast I'm golden.  If need be I can use my Verizon Jetpack as a stopgap which provides excellent speeds on 4g LTE, but costs $5/G, which is obviously not sustainable. 

More good stuff from both Fluenta and Hotspur today.

4/23 progress

So we've recovered from our travels and are returning to the task at hand.  We have 8 weekends left.  We planned for packing 10 of the big black bins over the next 5 weekends.  The last 3 will be for dumping what's left.

Gee, I wonder where we'll go.

Great new posts forthcoming from Hotspur, as they become shellbacks 16 days in; and from Fluenta as they weigh anchor for the jump, sailing off their anchor, no less.

55 days left

4/23 school

A Math:
- Wrote down number bonds for numbers 0 - 10 3 times each

L reading:
- Read her The Runaway Bunny
- Read her a bunch of poems from Robert Louis Stevenson
- Sang Old MacDonald's letter farm

Memorization:
- Recorded A reciting "Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost
- Worked on "Under the Bed" Penny Trzynka

Spelling:
- Lesson 26

Reading:
- I read to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- A read aloud the fourth chapter from Dolphins at Daybreak
- A read aloud The Dollhouse Fairy

4/15 progress

I picked up those scanned photos and docs today. 

We're going to Chicago for Easter tomorrow, so we won't be doing any physical packing for the next 5 days.

We'll have 58 days left when we get back.  I'm beginning to fell the crunch rather acutely.

4/15 school

Math:
- number bonds
- addition facts
- SMPMW1ASE Unit 4, Ex. 13

Memorization:
- "Dust of Snow", by Robert Frost
- "Under the Bed",  Penny Trzynka

Reading:
- A read to herself from Moominland Midwinter
- I read the rest of "The Tailor of Gloucester" to L
- I read to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

4/14 school

Math:
- number bonds
- addition facts
- SMPMW1ASE Unit 4, Ex. 12

History:
- Greece mapwork

Composition:
- WWE: 1 Week 22 velvet bunny days 1, 2

Spelling:
- quizzing on words from MCPB.

Memorization:
- "Dust of Snow", by Robert Frost
- "Under the Bed",  Penny Trzynka

Reading:
- A read to herself from Julie of the Wolves
- A read Dr. Seuss' Sleep Book to herself
- I read "Peter Rabbit" and the beginning of "The Tailor of Gloucester" to L
- I read to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- A read aloud the second chapter from Dolphins at Daybreak
- I finished reading aloud Moominland Midwinter to the girls.

4/14 "progress"

No progress.  Just paid
taxes.  Sixty four days left.
How 'bout that haiku?

4/12 progress

We had a great productive day.


The girls and I returned the chintzy plastic bins I'd gotten at Walmart, then went over to Costco and got some much better, tougher, rain-proof ones.   I  only got 12 but they're twice the size of the others,  so it's kind of like having 24 instead of 15.  Not that we really want to bring more stuff, but I'm thinking just little extra space to fudge is probably a good idea.

We went to Office Depot next and shredded 20 pounds of old statements and junk and dropped off some important docs we've been hauling around forever to be scanned.

Next we went to Mike's camera and dropped off something like 1000 old photos to be digitized.  It's going to 10 cents per shot which is actually pretty great compared to the prices I'd seen online.

This afternoon I hauled our 7-year-old queen-size mattress, box spring and bed frame down to the dumpster.  We're on the air mattress now, with apple boxes for bed-side tables.  It's all very classy.

I can't express how great it feels to be ditching all this stuff!

4/10, 4/11 prog

April's getting the photos ready to ship out for scanning (probably at Mike's).  I went through our old files and have a very small file of stuff to keep; a larger one of stuff to scan (at 8 days); a big one to shred (at OfficeMax) and a big one to toss (at the dumpster).

Here is our 15 box plan:
- 4 for clothes (1 each)
- 2 for toys
- 2 for keepsakes
- 1 for games
- 1 for homeschool
- 1 for books
- 1 for kitchen stuff
- 1 for tools
- 1 for crafts
- 1 more

We are officially Mahina clients.
 
67 days

4/10 school

Norse myths
poems
Midnight on the Moon
Moomintroll Midwinter

4/11 schoolwork

A:
- number bonds
- read on amphibians
- science dictation
- WWE week 21 days 3,4
L:
- puzzles

Norse myths

4/9 progress

So here's the plan: 15 boxes in the living room on 5/18.  Everything else in the garage.  30 days to empty the garage. 

Hardcore.

T-69 days

Boat kids

From Ceol Mors:

4/9 schoolwork

Math

- reviewed number bonds through7

- reviewed addition facts within 10

- completed SMPMW1ASE Unit 4 Ex 11

Grammar 

- FLL Lesson 76 on pronouns, abbreviations, initials

History

- read the second half of the 24th chapter of SotWV1, on the Peloponnesian War

- answered review questions

- gave and copied dictation

Composition

- WWE: 1 Week 21: Tom Sawyer. Days 1,2

Science

- read more about amphibians and reptiles in DK First Animal Encyclopedia

- wrote 5 sentences with interesting facts about them, narration, copy work. 

- drew a diagram of snake anatomy

Spelling 

- quiz

4/8 school

Math
- reviewed number bonds through 7
- reviewed addition facts
- completed SMPMW1ASE Unit 4 Ex 10

Reading
- Audrey read to herself from Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare (she asked for "the book about the shake spears")- I read to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- Audrey read aloud the eighth chapter from Midnight on the Moon.
- I read the girls 8 or 10 poems from the Caroline Kennedy book

4/7 school

Math

- reviewed number bonds through 6

- reviewed addition facts within 10

- completed SMPMW1ASE Unit 4 Ex 9 

Grammar 

- finished identifying nouns, verbs, pronouns in "The Three Little Kittens"

History

- read the first half of the 24th chapter of SotWV1, on the Greek wars with Persia

- answered review questions

- gave and copied dictation

Science

- read about amphibians and reptiles in DK First Animal Encyclopedia

- wrote about them 

- drew a diagram of reptile anatomy

Spelling 

- quizzed on all 125 bonus words in all the chapters through 25 in MCPB and wrote flash cards for the 22 that needed work

4/6 progress notes

We had a really productive weekend.  We sold the girls' dressers; got our bedroom furniture moved down to the garage all ready to be sold; I picked up a bunch of clear plastic bins to be our 15 boxes; I got one of our 15 boxes packed; we got the girls' toys down to 5 stuffies and 1 box of toys each, and April finished going through all the old printed photos.

Reading to Learn

Audrey has really discovered reading for fun! It is awesome. She loves to read, and carries a book with her everywhere now. Today she couldn't even put the book down while I fixed her hair. I have read that the beginning of reading is just about learning to read, and at some point it switches to reading to learn. I believe that is what just happened for Audrey. She is appreciating and enjoying reading in a whole new way. The only downside is that it is leaving her with way less time to play with Lorelei. We have been seeing a new surge of sibling disagreements. It took me a couple of days to realize what it was, and now I have been trying to convince Lorelei to ask her sister nicely to play, instead of just getting angry and throwing things at her. Next step, convince Audrey to set down the book long enough to answer her politely and give her some attention without discouraging her reading.

sneaking up on the reader

We had a nice morning today, of selling a few pieces of furniture, then going out for sushi, and taking a family hike. It felt like a big step to start selling things again. We are getting so close to our move date, and it is a little daunting thinking about how drastically we still need reduce.

Here are a few pictures of what the girls have been up to:

Lorelei's preschool questionare

her accompanying self portrait

The water dragon Audrey made at Kinderheart

We discovered a human body display at the library, and the girls were all over it. Our unit on the human body made a big impression. Audrey was able to name most of the body parts as she put them back in too. 

Lorelei assembling the brain. 

4/5 school planning

MWF
Morning:

• A 
• Math (30 min)
• History (30 min)
• Grammar (15 min)
• L 
• reading
• kumon workbooks
• puzzles
• blocks
• art

Mid morning:

• A Spelling (20 min)
• A Composition (20 min) 
• A&L swimming lessons on Monday
• A Circus Skills on Friday

Afternoon:

• A&L Science (45 min)

Evening:

• Poem practice
• Family Reading

TR
Morning:

• A Math (30 min)

Evening:

• Poem practice
• Family Reading

• Audrey read aloud
• Ancient Literature
• Fun story time 

Up next
Science: Read about reptiles and amphibians this week in DK First Animal Encyclopedia (pages 80-103). Narration, copy work, and art.

Composition: WWE: 1 Week 22: The Velveteen Rabbit. Days 1-4

Spelling: Write Bonus Words cards, spelling bees .

History: SotWV1, Chapter 24 the wars of the Greeks. Text Book, review questions, map work, narration, and copy work.

Grammar: FLL Lessons 75, identifying nouns, pronouns and verbs in the 3 Little Kittens.

Math: Number Bond Game, splashmath, and begin SMPMW1ASE Unit 4 on subtraction, start memorizing subtraction facts.

Ancient Literature: Norse Myths

4/4 progress

April's kicking butt moving out furniture on craigslist.  Now we're talking!

74 days.

4/4 school

Math

- Reviewed number bonds through 6

- Addition facts within 10

- SMPMW1ASE Unit 4 Ex 8

Grammar

- Identified nouns, pronouns, verbs in the second and third verses of  kittens

History

- finished reading Ch 22 in SotWV1, on Athens and Sparta.  This is the most statist chapter in the book so far and requires some filtering.  (On the virtues of democracy and how we couldn't understand ownership and property rights without Education)  Could be much worse and most curricula are, so I won't complain much.
- answered review qsts
- gave and copied dictation
- coloring

4/3 school

Math:

- reviewed addition facts within 10
- reviewed number bonds for 0-5
- SMPMW1ASE  Unit 4, Ex. 4-7

Reading
- D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- Audrey read aloud the fourth chapter from Midnight on the Moon.

4/3 progress

The Faulkners of Colorado have just weighed anchor for Hiva Oa.  Awesome!  I'm really looking forward to hearing about their adventures.

More planning and mental organization on tap for tonight.  Hey, if all we ever do is plan then we won't ever need to bother with actually dong anything!  Kidding, kidding,

4/2 progress

We made our best progress in weeks. I set us up on wunderlist and it's been huge for me just to be able to brain-dump everything into that .  I'd been looking for a long time for a simple todo list manager that April and I could use to share tasks and with a mobile app but without a lot GTD baggage and this one finally fit the bill.

Anyway, we got in some good progress on working through our photographic inventory of all our stuff identifying what we're keeping.  At this point, that's the strategy -- identify what we're keeping, and set a date when we start moving the rest down to the  "take a chair, leave a table" area down by the dumpsters.

72 days.

4/2 school

History:

- started ch 22 in f SotWV1 on Athens and Sparta
- answered review questions
- gave and copied dictation

Math:

- reviewed addition facts within 10
- reviewed number bonds for 0-4
- reviewed subtraction techniques
  - counting on from the the subtrahend to the minuend
  - counting down from the minuend to the subtrahend
  - taking away the subtrahend

Grammar:

- Identified nouns and verbs in the first stanza of "The Three Little Kittens"

I helped L work some jigsaw puzzles.

Spelling:
- did the next lesson from MCPB (26?) 
 

Science

- read library books on butterflies

- wrote a sentence on butterflies

- drew a picture diagramming parts of a butterfly

Composition:
- WWE: 1 Week 20, Days 3 and 4

Reading:

- Started reading L "Hamlet" from Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare
- I read to A&L the second half of the third chpater of  Moominland Midwinter.
- April read aloud to A&L from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- Audrey read aloud the third chapter from Midnight on the Moon.
 

4/1 progress

Well, this is supposed to be a progress report, but I have no progress to report. 

We're paralyzed by disorganization and the magnitude of the task before us.  We'll continue pushing against our internal obstacles and eventually break through.  Hopefully there will be sufficient time remaining at that point to address the things we need to address.

Specifically, we are anticipating moving onto a 36-foot boat from a 1200 square foot apartment plus a garage full of stuff.  How much of our stuff do we need to dump?  About 98%, I'd say. 

Well, maybe we'll get there.  Or maybe we'll leave the apartment full of stuff and let it be the someone else's problem.  Are we allowed to do that, really?

73 days left.

4/1 school

Math

- A review addition facts and number bonds.

Reading

- I read to L from "The Secret Garden" in Illustrated Classics for Girls.

- A read aloud 5 chapters aloud "The Railway Children" in Illustrated Classics for Girls.
- I read to A&L about Odin and Asgard from D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
- A read aloud the second chapter from Midnight on the Moon.

- I read to A&L the first half of the third chapter in Moominland Midwinter.

3/31 schoolwork

Grammar

Pronoun review

Math

- Unit 4 ch 2 1-8

History

- Ch 22 map work and coloring

Composition

- Days 1,2 week 20 WWE

Science

- 4 pp on invertebrates

Reading

- I read to L from "The Secret Garden" in Illustrated Classics for Girls.
- A read Moon Lady by Amy Tan

- I read A&L Norse myths

- I read A&L the secon half of the second chapter of Moomin Midwinter

  

3/30 schoolwork

History

- finished Ch 22 on the Medes and Persians
- answered review questions

- dictation and copywork