Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Thank Goodness for Grandmas!

I have not had a full night's sleep since February 18th! I hate when Ella gets sick, it throws her so off schedule and out of sorts. One thing I've discovered since having Ella is that Momma needs her 8 hours all together :) I need to get some sleep soon, my patience is really suffering.

Luckily, last night Grandma said she was feeling better and offered to take Ella home for a couple days. Ella loves going to Grandma's B&B (as she calls it) and my mom loves to have her company. Grandma has been such a big part of Ella's life right from the start. I really don't know what we would have done without her. Grandma is just in heaven whenever I let Ella come over.

I'm finally starting to feel better. A little congested and still coughing, but definitely feeling like I'm winning the battle. I just need to keep up with my asthma medicine. I don't want to be still coughing 2 months from now (a real possibility).

Got a surprise in the mail yesterday. A thank you letter from my dad. He says he really enjoyed the visit and wants to come up. Maybe around Easter. We'll have to see.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get some rest! Glad things with your Dad are looking brighter.

Paula said...

Hi Kjunebug

I got the Christian Light cataloge. It looks really good. It's the curriculum you use, right? How much time everyday do you guys spend "doing school"? How school-like does it feel?

Anonymous said...

Christian Light is good, but we aren't using any right now. Mostly because it can get expensive buying "Light Units" for everyone. We did use the Social Studies and Science; level one for Emma, as Rod & Staff doesn't start those subjects until grade 2. We loved them, and Emma loved them too. Both CL and R&S have amazing preschool material that will give Ella a jumpstart, the emphasis on God's Creations, learning ABC' and numbers just work really well. The "Little Jewel" books from R&S are just fun, alot are written about farm life, I'm sure Ella would enjoy those stories. We have almost all of them and we still enjoy reading them. (I'll never get rid of them, with a 20 yr old - grandchildren will enjoy them!!)

Our school day goes like this: I get up about 7 (non-farmers, you know ugh!!); I try to get the children up, fed, dressed etc and ready by 8:30, the goal is to be done with work by 3:30; afternoon activities start about then and we've told them, since they are old enough to understand, that is about when "the school children are out". This is M-Th; Friday is our relaxing day, they usually play all day. We may do an errand or have an outing but usually they just really enjoy playing with their stuff here at home.

When the children were preschool age doing written work in the AM before lunch worked pretty well, then during the afternoon, while big sis was doing school I had a large selection of educational type toys. Might be things for playing house for the girls, and dump trucks, plastic animals and tractors for the boys or Duplo building blocks or floor puzzles geared to whatever we might be working on (visit www.lakeshorelearning.com for these things, they are out of California and sell to preschools and lower grades and have great educational toys for learning while playing)

It's a little different since we started out teaching Nicole when she was in the middle of 3rd grade. I spent a great deal of time concentrating on getting her set up, but, when she was doing school the boys of course wanted to be in the same room with us, and they liked markers and things so they would school parallel with Nicole. Then when the girls each came along it was the same, only, being girls they really loved what was happening and fell into good habits easily and real young.

One thing you would notice upon walking into our home is our kitchen area, we have all sorts of school type things on the walls! R&S has a poster with math fact families, so we have that up; and various maps, a Bible time line and the children's current art lessons. We've done that from the start. When they were just about Ella's age we hung ABC cards on the walls!

So, yes, it is schoolish in here. Oh and we do take a recess every now and then, if the weather is really exceptional, or if they are sluggish I'll send them outside for a recess to refresh and energize. Most days are the same, but not always. The boys sit mostly at the kitchen table, the girls are able to keep focus elsewhere in the house, so they aren't always right here at the table. The children say that they don't really know what a regular school feels like, but that when it is a school day the atmosphere is different than at non-school times. I can say that making "school time" clearly set apart helps with getting a homeschooler in a routine, and helps them understand that the time is special.

Hope that answers some of your questions! Keep asking, I'll answer best I can!!

Anonymous said...

OK, we have a blog now! it is: homeschoolingahandful.blogspot.com I did the first post, but I have so much to figure out, add and make it more personal! You inspire me Paula, to share about our homeschool!!!!

Paula said...

I'm going to be ordering the Beginner's Activity set and the ABC Readiness from CL. I'm ordering both because I think Ella's going to blow through the first set. She's so smart it's scary some days :) We've got a number of the Little Jewel books. I like them, they are very much like our life.

Colin's up for the barn around 6, but I don't usually get up until Ella does (usually around 7). We are having sleeping through the night issues so I try to get all the sleep I can. Any suggestions? Ella wakes up about 2 and can't get back to sleep unless I stay in her room with her. We are usually up until 3-3:30 before I can creep back to bed. I can't just let her cry, she's a "spirited" child and will just get more and more upset until she destroys the room or throws up. She's always been like that. Besides, it kills me to hear her crying and calling me "Momma I neeeed you". I'm really getting exhausted.

Anonymous said...

Oh that is so tough. Our middle daughter, Nattie can get herself worked up pretty good, she been close a couple times to actually throwing up, fortunately we've been able to calm her down, I remind her to breath and I look her straight in the eyes, so that she knows that I am connecting with her. She is being pill right at this moment!!!