Tuesday, October 31, 2006
feeling good
Sometimes I feel like maybe I am not doing the right thing homeschooling Z. I wonder if she is going to feel resentful that she learned so much and sometimes I worry that in the end, when it is time for college, that I will find that she didn't learn enough.
Yesterday was one of those days that I was second guessing myself, even though the day went very well.
But Z made it all better.
Just as I was leaving her room after putting her to bed she called out "Wouldn't it be great if we had an everlasting day? That way we could do math and geography and science all the time!"
*grin*
I guess I am doing okay then.
Yesterday was one of those days that I was second guessing myself, even though the day went very well.
But Z made it all better.
Just as I was leaving her room after putting her to bed she called out "Wouldn't it be great if we had an everlasting day? That way we could do math and geography and science all the time!"
*grin*
I guess I am doing okay then.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Birthday Party
Today was the birthday party of one of the boys in Z's gifted kids playgroup.
Last night we were at the store and Pere took her to find a card for him. She was looking in the grown-up card section and found one that said something like "I will always be there for you, my love" and she said "I don't think I love him that much."
But she did find another great card for him, also in the sentimental adult card section. This is what it said:
An Invitation to Happiness:
Stay loose – learn to watch snails.
Make little signs that say “yes”.
Make friends with freedom and uncertainty.
Cry during movies.
Giggle with children.
Swing as high as you can.
Do it for love.
Take lots of naps.
Laugh a lot.
Hug trees.
Write letters.
Celebrate every gorgeous moment.
Read every day.
Do it now.
Listen to those older than you are.
Entertain your inner child.
Believe in magic.
Isn't that a great card??
She read the whole thing to me and gave reasons, almost line by line, why this was the perfect card for her friend. Even down to how they watched snails together the other day.
The birthday party was at a park by the beach. They had good healthy snack foods (yeah!) and a very cool homemade dinosaur, volcano, pyramid cake that the kids got to help decorate.
The kids made bubbles, drew, played in the sand/dirt, and got pulled by a rope through a box tunnel on their stomachs. Z had a really great time.
play group friends
bubbles
hula hoop
decorating cake
After the party we came home and rested for awhile. I sat with Z in the comfy rocking chair by the window and we cuddled for a long time. It was really nice.
Then the neighbor girl came over and they played for a bit. Her mom invited Z to go with them to the mall to go on the carousel but I told them, honestly, that I am not ready for her to go off with people yet.
btw, I like Daylight Savings Time because then I get to feel like I am sleeping in. :)
Last night we were at the store and Pere took her to find a card for him. She was looking in the grown-up card section and found one that said something like "I will always be there for you, my love" and she said "I don't think I love him that much."
But she did find another great card for him, also in the sentimental adult card section. This is what it said:
An Invitation to Happiness:
Stay loose – learn to watch snails.
Make little signs that say “yes”.
Make friends with freedom and uncertainty.
Cry during movies.
Giggle with children.
Swing as high as you can.
Do it for love.
Take lots of naps.
Laugh a lot.
Hug trees.
Write letters.
Celebrate every gorgeous moment.
Read every day.
Do it now.
Listen to those older than you are.
Entertain your inner child.
Believe in magic.
Isn't that a great card??
She read the whole thing to me and gave reasons, almost line by line, why this was the perfect card for her friend. Even down to how they watched snails together the other day.
The birthday party was at a park by the beach. They had good healthy snack foods (yeah!) and a very cool homemade dinosaur, volcano, pyramid cake that the kids got to help decorate.
The kids made bubbles, drew, played in the sand/dirt, and got pulled by a rope through a box tunnel on their stomachs. Z had a really great time.
play group friends
bubbles
hula hoop
decorating cake
After the party we came home and rested for awhile. I sat with Z in the comfy rocking chair by the window and we cuddled for a long time. It was really nice.
Then the neighbor girl came over and they played for a bit. Her mom invited Z to go with them to the mall to go on the carousel but I told them, honestly, that I am not ready for her to go off with people yet.
btw, I like Daylight Savings Time because then I get to feel like I am sleeping in. :)
Saturday, October 28, 2006
World City Music and Cards
Today we went into the city to the Disney Concert Hall for a free children's event.
First we saw a storyteller/singer from Australia.
Z went up on stage with him to help sing a song. She has the pink shorts and orange tank top.
We also saw a Maori dance troupe.
After the show Z made a drum and some sand art.
First we saw a storyteller/singer from Australia.
Z went up on stage with him to help sing a song. She has the pink shorts and orange tank top.
We also saw a Maori dance troupe.
After the show Z made a drum and some sand art.
Friday, October 27, 2006
where did I get the energy?
Wow I did a lot before lunch today.
We finished all the Z's homeschooling that I had planned for this week (usuallly Friday's are a low key day but we did that yesterday.) She told me her favorite is reading Norse Myths, second favorite is Math and third is Japanese. She she sang a song about how she loves to homeschool. LOL (I wish you guys could see how she makes up songs about everything.)
I also went to the gym in our complex and walked on the treadmill whole Z did her language arts lesson.
Then I did the laundry and put it away.
And I made a Sheperd's Pie for tonight's dinner.I have never made Sheperd's Pie before but I always wanted to try. :)
I had to make it early because I am leaving to go on a playdate after lunch and then Z had another callback this evening.
Oh! You know, I did have a new kind of coffee this morning, maybe that is where I got the energy!
We finished all the Z's homeschooling that I had planned for this week (usuallly Friday's are a low key day but we did that yesterday.) She told me her favorite is reading Norse Myths, second favorite is Math and third is Japanese. She she sang a song about how she loves to homeschool. LOL (I wish you guys could see how she makes up songs about everything.)
I also went to the gym in our complex and walked on the treadmill whole Z did her language arts lesson.
Then I did the laundry and put it away.
And I made a Sheperd's Pie for tonight's dinner.I have never made Sheperd's Pie before but I always wanted to try. :)
I had to make it early because I am leaving to go on a playdate after lunch and then Z had another callback this evening.
Oh! You know, I did have a new kind of coffee this morning, maybe that is where I got the energy!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Free Day
Today I decided to have a “free” day and I told Z she could do whatever she wanted after piano this morning.
My friend Sarah has inspired me with her free unschooly day and I realize that Z and I haven’t had one of those in awhile, where we weren’t also doing something like packing or moving or unpacking or traveling or going on an audition, etc. I felt it was time she had a “school day” where she just hung about and did her own thing.
So the first thing she does is take out her script for her new Shakespeare play (they got scripts at yesterday’s class) and read The Taming of the Shrew over breakfast. Each kid has to pick five characters they want to play – Z wants to be Katharina, Bianca, Petruchio, Lucentio, or Pendant. I am thinking she is not going to get the first four. *wink* I am hoping that during her reading she will find some other characters she will be happy being.
While Z is doing her thing I am going to read through my “gifted” bookmarks. I find that it is helpful to re-read a lot of that information as Z ages because different things apply to us at different stages.
I am also going to sit in my gliding chair by the window and watch the birds and squirrels.
My friend Sarah has inspired me with her free unschooly day and I realize that Z and I haven’t had one of those in awhile, where we weren’t also doing something like packing or moving or unpacking or traveling or going on an audition, etc. I felt it was time she had a “school day” where she just hung about and did her own thing.
So the first thing she does is take out her script for her new Shakespeare play (they got scripts at yesterday’s class) and read The Taming of the Shrew over breakfast. Each kid has to pick five characters they want to play – Z wants to be Katharina, Bianca, Petruchio, Lucentio, or Pendant. I am thinking she is not going to get the first four. *wink* I am hoping that during her reading she will find some other characters she will be happy being.
While Z is doing her thing I am going to read through my “gifted” bookmarks. I find that it is helpful to re-read a lot of that information as Z ages because different things apply to us at different stages.
I am also going to sit in my gliding chair by the window and watch the birds and squirrels.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Homeschool Halloween Party
I wish I had brought my camera today! We had our homeschool group's Halloween party and it was awesome!
The kids had some great costumes. We had a potluck with too many desserts. There was a pumpkin carving display and seven game booths.
Z dressed as the princess part of her fairy princess costume, because she didn’t want to get her wings dirty. She played for 6 hours with her friends, towards the end she played at the games booths and won a bunch of prizes, including a Harry Potter cauldron.
I had my own booth. This was my sign:
Learn how to
READ YOUR PALM
or
Take a quiz for
Character Analysis
From the 1920’s
FUN and INFORMATIVE!
It was a big success! I didn’t want to give people real palm readings because I was concerned they might believe me and base interpretations of some future event on something I said at the park one day. :)
But some people badgered me into giving them something pretty close to a read palm reading. With kids I just said the nice things that I saw – like one kid had a Angle of Luck and some boy had tons of “marriage” lines!
But the really fun thing was this old book from the 1920’s that had personality quizzes. The questions were very old-fashioned and sexist and very funny too. People loved it and many felt the outcomes, which are very specific, were right on. Here is the book on Amazon I’ve got your number, check out the review.
I had a lot of fun doing the readings and the quizzes and got closer to a lot of the people in our group.
Strangely, the leader of our group that is often mean to me, was really nice today! She came over a several times today and was friendly. Weird…
Here is the Jack O' Lantern I made.
The kids had some great costumes. We had a potluck with too many desserts. There was a pumpkin carving display and seven game booths.
Z dressed as the princess part of her fairy princess costume, because she didn’t want to get her wings dirty. She played for 6 hours with her friends, towards the end she played at the games booths and won a bunch of prizes, including a Harry Potter cauldron.
I had my own booth. This was my sign:
Learn how to
READ YOUR PALM
or
Take a quiz for
Character Analysis
From the 1920’s
FUN and INFORMATIVE!
It was a big success! I didn’t want to give people real palm readings because I was concerned they might believe me and base interpretations of some future event on something I said at the park one day. :)
But some people badgered me into giving them something pretty close to a read palm reading. With kids I just said the nice things that I saw – like one kid had a Angle of Luck and some boy had tons of “marriage” lines!
But the really fun thing was this old book from the 1920’s that had personality quizzes. The questions were very old-fashioned and sexist and very funny too. People loved it and many felt the outcomes, which are very specific, were right on. Here is the book on Amazon I’ve got your number, check out the review.
I had a lot of fun doing the readings and the quizzes and got closer to a lot of the people in our group.
Strangely, the leader of our group that is often mean to me, was really nice today! She came over a several times today and was friendly. Weird…
Here is the Jack O' Lantern I made.
I just thought I should post this here
(this was my response to a new reader regarding Z's rectial. I just put so much time into writing this and I think it is an important note to people who are trying to understand what raising some gifted kids is like - so I thought I should post it again on the front page.)
I have had people assuming that I am pushing Z into formal work before. I understand and I don't blame them. It can be hard to imagine a kid would want to do all this.
I remember when she was 2 1/2 and insisting that she do math for 30+ minutes after breakfast. I would have to make her stop.
Then she would insist that I read to her in Spanish and teach her how. Then she would bring me book after book after book, climbing up on my lap and have me read to her until my voice was getting hoarse.
Of course this only took up a small part of the day and the rest of the time she colored or we went to the beach (we used to live across the street from the beach) or we played with friends. For awhile all she wanted to do was play card games - like SET. LOL
These days she has three days a week where we homeschool before lunch. Yesterday when she finished her math pages she sang a song to me about how she wanted more math. For Japanese her lesson was to actually sing a song on the karaoke machine.
Then she wanted to do more journaling. Then she didn't want to stop our geography project to go to the store but I explained the need to have something to eat for dinner beside hot dogs and she acquiesced.
This is what living with Z has been like since she was 2 1/2 years old. (before that I can't remember exactly. I was sleep deprived.)
I used to have to make her have down time. I remember when she was four she said "I hate free time!" But now she actually values it, and spends a lot of time playing imaginary games or being with her friends in the afternoon. Although sometimes she still tries to turn it into some kind of learning experience. Like before we went to France she was choosing to read her French dictionaries during her free time.
So, the reason I am explaining all this is, while there are probably some places where I expect too much from Z, and I will be on the look out for how that it affect her, the "formal" work is what Z really enjoys. And it is not every day all day but 3 days a week or about 4 hours a day.
I have had people assuming that I am pushing Z into formal work before. I understand and I don't blame them. It can be hard to imagine a kid would want to do all this.
I remember when she was 2 1/2 and insisting that she do math for 30+ minutes after breakfast. I would have to make her stop.
Then she would insist that I read to her in Spanish and teach her how. Then she would bring me book after book after book, climbing up on my lap and have me read to her until my voice was getting hoarse.
Of course this only took up a small part of the day and the rest of the time she colored or we went to the beach (we used to live across the street from the beach) or we played with friends. For awhile all she wanted to do was play card games - like SET. LOL
These days she has three days a week where we homeschool before lunch. Yesterday when she finished her math pages she sang a song to me about how she wanted more math. For Japanese her lesson was to actually sing a song on the karaoke machine.
Then she wanted to do more journaling. Then she didn't want to stop our geography project to go to the store but I explained the need to have something to eat for dinner beside hot dogs and she acquiesced.
This is what living with Z has been like since she was 2 1/2 years old. (before that I can't remember exactly. I was sleep deprived.)
I used to have to make her have down time. I remember when she was four she said "I hate free time!" But now she actually values it, and spends a lot of time playing imaginary games or being with her friends in the afternoon. Although sometimes she still tries to turn it into some kind of learning experience. Like before we went to France she was choosing to read her French dictionaries during her free time.
So, the reason I am explaining all this is, while there are probably some places where I expect too much from Z, and I will be on the look out for how that it affect her, the "formal" work is what Z really enjoys. And it is not every day all day but 3 days a week or about 4 hours a day.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
playing school
Oh my gosh so interesting!
Z and her little neighbor friend are playing "school" with Z's stuffed animals and her friend is being the teacher.
I just listened in and I heard the friend "S" say "No sitting so close! Now I have to move you two!" Then "No, whispering!" Then "No, talking!"
so Z says, in the voice of her doll "Teacher? Why do we have so many rules?"
and S says "So that we can keep you safe."
so Z says "How is whispering unsafe?"
and S says "Because it is disturbing me!"
*hee hee*
While they were having snack I said that maybe they could play homechool sometime and S said "I know how to homeschool. You get to play with your friends instead of doing homework!"
Z and her little neighbor friend are playing "school" with Z's stuffed animals and her friend is being the teacher.
I just listened in and I heard the friend "S" say "No sitting so close! Now I have to move you two!" Then "No, whispering!" Then "No, talking!"
so Z says, in the voice of her doll "Teacher? Why do we have so many rules?"
and S says "So that we can keep you safe."
so Z says "How is whispering unsafe?"
and S says "Because it is disturbing me!"
*hee hee*
While they were having snack I said that maybe they could play homechool sometime and S said "I know how to homeschool. You get to play with your friends instead of doing homework!"
Our geography study today
We took items from Zoe's room and around the house and then found what country they are from or what country they represent and found the country on a world map and wrote the name of the country and the continent it is on (or for Hawaii the state) on a folded piece of paper.
I managed to find something from every continent for her to look up (except Anarctica). We even got into our DVDs (see Wallace and Gromit, Clash of the Titans, Amelie, Lord of the Rings, and the Three Amigos?)
Thank you friends who have sent Z postcards from around the world - they are in there too!
Thursday we are going to do a similar project but we are going to work in the kitchen looking at foods and spices.
Maybe Friday we will end up at the zoo with a map and Z will write in or draw the animals on their home origins.
Lastly here is an out of focus picture of Z at her piano recital. I am having trouble getting the video I shot to play.
I managed to find something from every continent for her to look up (except Anarctica). We even got into our DVDs (see Wallace and Gromit, Clash of the Titans, Amelie, Lord of the Rings, and the Three Amigos?)
Thank you friends who have sent Z postcards from around the world - they are in there too!
Thursday we are going to do a similar project but we are going to work in the kitchen looking at foods and spices.
Maybe Friday we will end up at the zoo with a map and Z will write in or draw the animals on their home origins.
Lastly here is an out of focus picture of Z at her piano recital. I am having trouble getting the video I shot to play.
writing curriculum
For Jaime
Well we have only had one day of writing curriculum. *grin* So I am not really sure yet how I am going to end up teaching it.
Right now when she writes in her "journal" I do not correct it although if she wants to know the spelling of something I tell her. The focus of the journal is for her to learn how to get her thoughts onto paper. As she gets better at that I think she will also be better at spelling and punctuation.
For the copywork quote we are just focusing on handwriting, printing, for now. I sit right with her when she is doing that I encourage her to have her best handwriting. If she started being sloppy she would need to erase. I am keeping the writing here short so she doesn't have a tired hand.
We work on cursive separately. She is not ready yet to write everything in cursive.
She has a grammar book that has five problems to do each day. She needs to have perfect grammar, spelling, etc in that because that is the point of it. For that she is usually only writing five sentences.
I also correct her sometimes when she is writing for other things (science, geography, etc) but I don't all the time. It just depends on how much time we have.
Really I think that she is going to learn the most from just reading, reading, reading.
Well we have only had one day of writing curriculum. *grin* So I am not really sure yet how I am going to end up teaching it.
Right now when she writes in her "journal" I do not correct it although if she wants to know the spelling of something I tell her. The focus of the journal is for her to learn how to get her thoughts onto paper. As she gets better at that I think she will also be better at spelling and punctuation.
For the copywork quote we are just focusing on handwriting, printing, for now. I sit right with her when she is doing that I encourage her to have her best handwriting. If she started being sloppy she would need to erase. I am keeping the writing here short so she doesn't have a tired hand.
We work on cursive separately. She is not ready yet to write everything in cursive.
She has a grammar book that has five problems to do each day. She needs to have perfect grammar, spelling, etc in that because that is the point of it. For that she is usually only writing five sentences.
I also correct her sometimes when she is writing for other things (science, geography, etc) but I don't all the time. It just depends on how much time we have.
Really I think that she is going to learn the most from just reading, reading, reading.
Monday, October 23, 2006
great day!
Today was pretty great.
Before lunch we got all our homeschooling done and it was all fun stuff. Z was asking for more math even! She also started her new writing curriculum and we did a geography project where she mapped out our trip to France. We also did Japanese, science, history and she read a chapter of Witches.
After lunch a friend and her gifted daughter, who is Z age, came over and stayed for about 3 1/2 hours. The girls played so well the whole time. They built with Ello, then they played BattleShip, then they danced around and then they asked each other questions from an academic trivia game that Z has.
I am so glad that Z and this girl get along so well. They also homeschool but they don't live that close. And they have busy schedules like we do. But we have been managing to get together every other week.
Before lunch we got all our homeschooling done and it was all fun stuff. Z was asking for more math even! She also started her new writing curriculum and we did a geography project where she mapped out our trip to France. We also did Japanese, science, history and she read a chapter of Witches.
After lunch a friend and her gifted daughter, who is Z age, came over and stayed for about 3 1/2 hours. The girls played so well the whole time. They built with Ello, then they played BattleShip, then they danced around and then they asked each other questions from an academic trivia game that Z has.
I am so glad that Z and this girl get along so well. They also homeschool but they don't live that close. And they have busy schedules like we do. But we have been managing to get together every other week.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Recital - redo
for some reason my post Sunday about Z's piano recital never came through. Here it is
Today was Z's piano recital.
She has been practicing her two songs a lot this past week and for some reason she was having trouble with the easier song. She has known that song for the longest too and when she first learned it she played it very well. That might be why her teacher wanted her to play it at the recital.
This morning she almost cried because she was getting very frustrated with the mistakes she kept making. I talked with her alot about how we all make mistakes, I gave her examples of my past mistakes when I was doing musical theatre. I talked about about other types of people and professions (sports, inventing) where people make mistakes.
I said that the recital was not the end all be all of being a musician and that it was just something her teacher felt would be a good experience for her. I talked her though it.
Then the time came and she played really well although she wasn't smiling and looked furiously serious.
Then her songs were over she was supposed to bring her footstool back to her seat (like we had practiced) and she forgot and a teacher asked her to go back up and get it. She was so mortified and was about to cry over this little mistake. What made it worse was that people in the audience chuckled at her reaction. They thought it was "cute" that this little five year old looked so embarrassed.
I could see her sitting in the seat and for the whole rest of the program she was making upset faces to herself.
When the recital was over I went to her and gave her a big hug and told her she was great and she said "yeah but I forgot my stool!"
*sigh*
Where did I go wrong? I feel like I have messed up, as a parent, that she was so dejected over a tiny mistake., I mean it wasn't really even a mistake! But she was also really afraid of making a mistake in her song.
She has been this way for a long time. When she was 3 1/2 she was in karate and they used to play dodge ball and Z was really good at it. In a class of about 15 kids she would win about 1/4 of the time. But even when she won they would keep playing till they got her out and then she would _still_ cry.
She also will always volunteers to be "it" during tag games at the park. Because she hates to be caught.
*big sigh*
I don't know what to do about this.
Today was Z's piano recital.
She has been practicing her two songs a lot this past week and for some reason she was having trouble with the easier song. She has known that song for the longest too and when she first learned it she played it very well. That might be why her teacher wanted her to play it at the recital.
This morning she almost cried because she was getting very frustrated with the mistakes she kept making. I talked with her alot about how we all make mistakes, I gave her examples of my past mistakes when I was doing musical theatre. I talked about about other types of people and professions (sports, inventing) where people make mistakes.
I said that the recital was not the end all be all of being a musician and that it was just something her teacher felt would be a good experience for her. I talked her though it.
Then the time came and she played really well although she wasn't smiling and looked furiously serious.
Then her songs were over she was supposed to bring her footstool back to her seat (like we had practiced) and she forgot and a teacher asked her to go back up and get it. She was so mortified and was about to cry over this little mistake. What made it worse was that people in the audience chuckled at her reaction. They thought it was "cute" that this little five year old looked so embarrassed.
I could see her sitting in the seat and for the whole rest of the program she was making upset faces to herself.
When the recital was over I went to her and gave her a big hug and told her she was great and she said "yeah but I forgot my stool!"
*sigh*
Where did I go wrong? I feel like I have messed up, as a parent, that she was so dejected over a tiny mistake., I mean it wasn't really even a mistake! But she was also really afraid of making a mistake in her song.
She has been this way for a long time. When she was 3 1/2 she was in karate and they used to play dodge ball and Z was really good at it. In a class of about 15 kids she would win about 1/4 of the time. But even when she won they would keep playing till they got her out and then she would _still_ cry.
She also will always volunteers to be "it" during tag games at the park. Because she hates to be caught.
*big sigh*
I don't know what to do about this.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
testing our kids
One of our neighbors is an grandmother and has a 6 year old granddaughter that Z sometimes plays with. Last spring when our neighbor broke her wrist Z brought her mail in to her for about 6 weeks.
Well today our neighbor's mother (who is 91!) came to visit and they called for Z to come over. I sent my husband over with her.
Apparently my neighbor had Z read from a kids book (that was well below her reading level - a book she had around for her own granddaughter) to her elderly mother. Z sat next to the 91 year old lady and read, very loudly since the lady is hard of hearing, and the lady asked her if she knew what certain words meant, like "queen."
Then they asked Z to write her name and write the first names of the ladies.
Then they had her draw some pictures. Finally Z almost made the older woman almost faint by reading from the newspaper.
Then they gave her some candy and sent her back home.
Well today our neighbor's mother (who is 91!) came to visit and they called for Z to come over. I sent my husband over with her.
Apparently my neighbor had Z read from a kids book (that was well below her reading level - a book she had around for her own granddaughter) to her elderly mother. Z sat next to the 91 year old lady and read, very loudly since the lady is hard of hearing, and the lady asked her if she knew what certain words meant, like "queen."
Then they asked Z to write her name and write the first names of the ladies.
Then they had her draw some pictures. Finally Z almost made the older woman almost faint by reading from the newspaper.
Then they gave her some candy and sent her back home.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Audition and Opera
Everytime Z auditions with an adult actor, usually a woman playing her mom in a commercial, the woman comes to find me afterwards and tells me how great Z was.
I figured they were just being courteous. So today when Z came out of the audition and the adult actress came over to me and said "She was so amazing!" I said, with a wry grin, "I feel like that is something you guys say to all the kid's moms."
"No!" she assured me. "I've worked with a lot of kids and she is _really_ good!"
hmmm
So that was kind of cool. :)
On the way to coffee this morning Z was singing and I managed to write down some of the words she sang
1st song
I'm not just crying wolf
I need to know that you care
I need to know that you are really there
Then she told me it was about a woman who had lost her daughter. In the next song she goes to her ex-husband and asks for him to help her look (in song) and he accused her of not even wanting a child in the first place and then they had a fight about whether it was the woman's daughter or the man's daughter i.e. who got to make the decisions about her.
Here are some lyrics from that one - they were sung very loud and punctuated. It got into the reasons why they broke up. She felt he was always just doing the opposite of whatever she asked.
2nd song
I guess that is why we left each other!
We have our differences!
You're right, she is MY child!
but then she had a reprise where the man said of course he would help look for the daughter
the third song was from the little girl's point of view. First she sings operetta style - sing talking
I'm lost
I'm scared
I don't know what to do.
I was just picking berries
and I went further in
breaks into real singing
Now I am lost in the heart of the woods!
My voice doesn't even echo.
Then we got to coffee.
She told me how the rest of it goes. The mother and father find a farmer who lives on the edge of the woods and he leads them in to find their daughter and he ties a string to a tree on the outside and ties more strings along the path, so they can find their way out.
I don't know where she gets this stuff. I swear that Pere and I are not fighting or saying anything like that. It is weird but still cool.
I figured they were just being courteous. So today when Z came out of the audition and the adult actress came over to me and said "She was so amazing!" I said, with a wry grin, "I feel like that is something you guys say to all the kid's moms."
"No!" she assured me. "I've worked with a lot of kids and she is _really_ good!"
hmmm
So that was kind of cool. :)
On the way to coffee this morning Z was singing and I managed to write down some of the words she sang
1st song
I'm not just crying wolf
I need to know that you care
I need to know that you are really there
Then she told me it was about a woman who had lost her daughter. In the next song she goes to her ex-husband and asks for him to help her look (in song) and he accused her of not even wanting a child in the first place and then they had a fight about whether it was the woman's daughter or the man's daughter i.e. who got to make the decisions about her.
Here are some lyrics from that one - they were sung very loud and punctuated. It got into the reasons why they broke up. She felt he was always just doing the opposite of whatever she asked.
2nd song
I guess that is why we left each other!
We have our differences!
You're right, she is MY child!
but then she had a reprise where the man said of course he would help look for the daughter
the third song was from the little girl's point of view. First she sings operetta style - sing talking
I'm lost
I'm scared
I don't know what to do.
I was just picking berries
and I went further in
breaks into real singing
Now I am lost in the heart of the woods!
My voice doesn't even echo.
Then we got to coffee.
She told me how the rest of it goes. The mother and father find a farmer who lives on the edge of the woods and he leads them in to find their daughter and he ties a string to a tree on the outside and ties more strings along the path, so they can find their way out.
I don't know where she gets this stuff. I swear that Pere and I are not fighting or saying anything like that. It is weird but still cool.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Z's new writing curriculum
I have been having so much fun designing a curriculum for History, Geography, Math and Science that today I took a look at what else I wanted Z to learn and turned my creative inspiration to Writing.
Z does not really like writing yet. She will often shorten her sentences, taking out any "extra" prose so that she can get away with writing less. For example she might say "I found this beautiful purple flower today at the park." but she would try to write "I found a flower." and maybe tack on "at the park." But "beautiful" and "purple" aren't worth the effort.
But all it is really going to take is more practice. She needs to get more comfortable with a pencil.
So today I came up with my short term writing goals for Z. They are that she learns how to put together a coherent sentence and how to put her thoughts into writing. The first wont be too hard if she just writes the way she speaks, she speaks properly most of the time. The second is hard for some people, and may be hard for Z at first.
With those goals I decided that daily (or close to it) journaling is in order. But I don't think that Z is ready to keep a journal on her own, she just try to write a few short sentences to get it over with. So I am going to offer her some writing prompts. I have some of my own ideas but I am also going to use some from this website Journal Writing" Ideas/Prompts.
I also want her to do some copywork and I found this great list of short quotations that are also very thought provoking and are from figures all over the world and throughout time.
Z will also be doing some cross-curricular writing in geography, where she will be making a book about the United States.
As she gets more comfortable with writing I have some projects like writing a menu or a recipe, sending letters to the editor, working on poetry and her own story. But for now my plan is to have her write a little bit almost everyday to get into the habit and get comfortable with it, because I want those bigger projects to be fun and they won't be if she is still uncomfortable writing.
Z does not really like writing yet. She will often shorten her sentences, taking out any "extra" prose so that she can get away with writing less. For example she might say "I found this beautiful purple flower today at the park." but she would try to write "I found a flower." and maybe tack on "at the park." But "beautiful" and "purple" aren't worth the effort.
But all it is really going to take is more practice. She needs to get more comfortable with a pencil.
So today I came up with my short term writing goals for Z. They are that she learns how to put together a coherent sentence and how to put her thoughts into writing. The first wont be too hard if she just writes the way she speaks, she speaks properly most of the time. The second is hard for some people, and may be hard for Z at first.
With those goals I decided that daily (or close to it) journaling is in order. But I don't think that Z is ready to keep a journal on her own, she just try to write a few short sentences to get it over with. So I am going to offer her some writing prompts. I have some of my own ideas but I am also going to use some from this website Journal Writing" Ideas/Prompts.
I also want her to do some copywork and I found this great list of short quotations that are also very thought provoking and are from figures all over the world and throughout time.
Z will also be doing some cross-curricular writing in geography, where she will be making a book about the United States.
As she gets more comfortable with writing I have some projects like writing a menu or a recipe, sending letters to the editor, working on poetry and her own story. But for now my plan is to have her write a little bit almost everyday to get into the habit and get comfortable with it, because I want those bigger projects to be fun and they won't be if she is still uncomfortable writing.
imaginary play
Z has been really involved in her imaginary play recently. Did I tell you she was invited to play with a girl from the neighborhood and she said yes but then she told the girl that first she wanted to go home and play alone with her imaginary friends first but that they could get together later in the afternoon? lol
She is really reminding me of myself. I can't really remember the games I played when I was her age but when I was 7 and 8 I used to wander around in the wooded lots in my neighborhood, by myself, and pretend that I was on a plane that crash landed and that I had to survive on my own in the woods. I would pretend to eat berries and then make myself weapons and a shelter, etc. Or I would get into the trees that were all interwoven and pretend that the ground was a poisonous swamp and see how far I could go climbing from tree to tree without having to touch the ground.
I also had a tree in my front yard that had lots of low braches that I divided into rooms and I had a whole family that lived there with two kids named Lucy and Michael.
Z has been playing her imaginary games so much recently that I was worried that maybe it was taking the place of her daily spontaneous hour of singing. But yesterday she sang and this morning too so :)
She is really reminding me of myself. I can't really remember the games I played when I was her age but when I was 7 and 8 I used to wander around in the wooded lots in my neighborhood, by myself, and pretend that I was on a plane that crash landed and that I had to survive on my own in the woods. I would pretend to eat berries and then make myself weapons and a shelter, etc. Or I would get into the trees that were all interwoven and pretend that the ground was a poisonous swamp and see how far I could go climbing from tree to tree without having to touch the ground.
I also had a tree in my front yard that had lots of low braches that I divided into rooms and I had a whole family that lived there with two kids named Lucy and Michael.
Z has been playing her imaginary games so much recently that I was worried that maybe it was taking the place of her daily spontaneous hour of singing. But yesterday she sang and this morning too so :)
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Park Day
Z is loving Shakespeare. When I asked her what was the best part of the day she said "All of it!" then she said "Well, I think Shakespeare was the best." Apparently they did improv and Z was a penguin.
I kind of miss sitting in on the classes. I did that all last year. But now I have been walking instead. I suppose it is better for my health.
Park day was really fun today. I made some more friends and got closer to some new friends. One of the ladies is a member of my new gifted yahoo group. Just being in that group together has made us closer.
It feels good to be somewhat popular. I have kind of low self-esteem about all that. Sometimes I don't trust that people really like me. When I was a kid I was pretty popular but also the target for a lot of abuse because I was different. Kids were cruel sometimes, I know I was. Girls especially could be mean. The homeschool park day is all women, except one, and I am not as comfortable around them as I am around guys. Sometimes I get to feeling like I did in junior high. Some of the women actually still act like that. :(
But so far everyone new that I am meeting is pretty cool and they are all treating me nicely. It is likely some are still getting the impression that I am "cold and aloof" but that is really me just being "insecure and shy." *wink* But I am trying to go out of my way to talk with everyone and be the personable person I can be when I am ON.
Z has made friends with all the 10 other girls in the Girl's Club plus all her old friends so she is constatly playing with someone until we have to go. Late this afternoon all of the kids her age had gone and it was just the older kids, the teens and preteens, and Z went over to play with them and they were all calling her over and picking her up and carrying her around. It was really really sweet. She doesn't have brothers and sisters but she does have big kids who invite her to play and carry her around. *big smile*
I kind of miss sitting in on the classes. I did that all last year. But now I have been walking instead. I suppose it is better for my health.
Park day was really fun today. I made some more friends and got closer to some new friends. One of the ladies is a member of my new gifted yahoo group. Just being in that group together has made us closer.
It feels good to be somewhat popular. I have kind of low self-esteem about all that. Sometimes I don't trust that people really like me. When I was a kid I was pretty popular but also the target for a lot of abuse because I was different. Kids were cruel sometimes, I know I was. Girls especially could be mean. The homeschool park day is all women, except one, and I am not as comfortable around them as I am around guys. Sometimes I get to feeling like I did in junior high. Some of the women actually still act like that. :(
But so far everyone new that I am meeting is pretty cool and they are all treating me nicely. It is likely some are still getting the impression that I am "cold and aloof" but that is really me just being "insecure and shy." *wink* But I am trying to go out of my way to talk with everyone and be the personable person I can be when I am ON.
Z has made friends with all the 10 other girls in the Girl's Club plus all her old friends so she is constatly playing with someone until we have to go. Late this afternoon all of the kids her age had gone and it was just the older kids, the teens and preteens, and Z went over to play with them and they were all calling her over and picking her up and carrying her around. It was really really sweet. She doesn't have brothers and sisters but she does have big kids who invite her to play and carry her around. *big smile*
cute example of Z's vocabulary
This morning Z asked if her agency called when she was supposed to be doing her piano recital if we would have to leave the recital and I said "No." and she said "So it is not permitted on all accounts?"
she makes me snort into my coffee sometimes.
She also had a tale told on her by another mom. When she was next door playing with the neighbor girls one of the girl's mom came to get her and the girl hid from her mom because she didn't want to go home. The girl who's house it was and another girl where trying to get her to come out and Z walked out of the room and said "I am going to go sit in the living room. I really don't want to get involved in this."
The mom of the girl who hid told me about this and at first she seemed to be complimenting Z on her adult-like speech but then she followed it up with saying that her daughter "would never say weird things in public"
she makes me snort into my coffee sometimes.
She also had a tale told on her by another mom. When she was next door playing with the neighbor girls one of the girl's mom came to get her and the girl hid from her mom because she didn't want to go home. The girl who's house it was and another girl where trying to get her to come out and Z walked out of the room and said "I am going to go sit in the living room. I really don't want to get involved in this."
The mom of the girl who hid told me about this and at first she seemed to be complimenting Z on her adult-like speech but then she followed it up with saying that her daughter "would never say weird things in public"
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
babylon 5 or friends?
That is not a choice many 5 year olds have to make.
Today I let Z have friends over pretty late. She had two girlfriends in her room and they were playing some game about pirates and princesses. Pere and I were in the living room watching Babylon 5 we have watched most of the episodes with Z.
When she heard it was on she ran out of the room and seemed about to get upset because we were watching it without her. I said "You know we don't watch all the episode with you. You are having a playdate now and daddy and I want to watch this." So she just about ran back into her room and called the play date off. I told her I would watch the episode with her later if necessary.
But she kept running out from her room "Is that the doctor?", "Is that G'Kar?" "are G'Kar and Londo fighting??"
*hee hee*
Today I let Z have friends over pretty late. She had two girlfriends in her room and they were playing some game about pirates and princesses. Pere and I were in the living room watching Babylon 5 we have watched most of the episodes with Z.
When she heard it was on she ran out of the room and seemed about to get upset because we were watching it without her. I said "You know we don't watch all the episode with you. You are having a playdate now and daddy and I want to watch this." So she just about ran back into her room and called the play date off. I told her I would watch the episode with her later if necessary.
But she kept running out from her room "Is that the doctor?", "Is that G'Kar?" "are G'Kar and Londo fighting??"
*hee hee*
Zoe's reading list
D'Aulaires Norse Gods and Heroes
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (only 2 chapters left!)
Wind in the Willows
The Witches - Roald Dahl
A Light in the Attic
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (only 2 chapters left!)
Wind in the Willows
The Witches - Roald Dahl
A Light in the Attic
Monday, October 16, 2006
*basking*
Have I mentioned how much I love my new apartment? It is so clean and orderly! Being here makes me feel this special mixture of relaxed and energized.
I have some new things going on.
I just started a new yahoo group for hg, eg, and pg kids in my area. We are going to have gatherings and maybe get the kids together for classes.
Also I have been working really hard on my homeschooling schedule. Today I worked out a geography curriculum. I feel like all my hard work has been paying off. Zoe is so excited to do all her lessons. Well not terribly excited to do math and I think our Japanese curriculum has gotten off track, but otherwise being able to use what I know about my daughter, how she learns, what she enjoys, has made homeschooling so wonderful for us.
I have some new things going on.
I just started a new yahoo group for hg, eg, and pg kids in my area. We are going to have gatherings and maybe get the kids together for classes.
Also I have been working really hard on my homeschooling schedule. Today I worked out a geography curriculum. I feel like all my hard work has been paying off. Zoe is so excited to do all her lessons. Well not terribly excited to do math and I think our Japanese curriculum has gotten off track, but otherwise being able to use what I know about my daughter, how she learns, what she enjoys, has made homeschooling so wonderful for us.
religion
Since Z was born Pere and I have sung the first two lines of theSh'ma with her everynight before bed.
After the Sh'ma Z asks God to bless everyone in her family and our cats and her grandma's cats. When her grandmother's cat Charlie died Z didn't want to take him out of the blessing. Last spring her great-grandfather died and she didn't want to take him out either. Altogether she blesses 16 people and 6 cats. Sometimes she adds people that we have seen that day.
I taught her to do this and my grandmother taught me. My blessing list was very long when I was a kid - it included every single person in my extended family as well as all my friends and every kid in my class, even if I didn't like them. I figured that is what God would have wanted. *grin*
Then I say a prayer over her thanking God for our day. Then she says a prayer with Pere thanking God for our basic things like food and shelter and health - we started this the night of her third birthday. It is kind of like a verbal gratitude journal. Then they add whatever else they are grateful for that day.
Z also knows the prayers we say on Shabbat (Friday night to Saturday at sunset) over the candles, the wine and the challah.
She used to go to a Jewish preschool and that year she celebrated all the many Jewish holidays. On our own we often don't get around to doing them all.
She also has a CD of songs in Hebrew and English that are for Shabbat and the holidays and she knows all of them.
She has about 40 jewish children's books, books for the holidays, Jewish folktales, biblical tales, etc. She loves to read these. But now wants to read from the adult Torah instead of her children's Torah stories book so I have been letting her.
We used Jewish religious terms for everyday things too. Like instead of doing "charity" we do Tzedakah.
She used to know the Hebrew alpabet but we haven't done it in a long time so she probably forgot.
There is more to it than that. We talk about God and how we percieve it/him a lot. Basically I say that we don't know anything about God and that I believe that God is not like a person and that God is unknowable. Z has believed in reincarnation since she was three and I support her in that but I also let her know that I don't really have any beliefs about the afterlife.
This would be the year that she would normally start religious school and Pere and I are looking for the right one. Pere had a good experience at his but there is so much that goes into it. First of all the presentation of the concepts would be for regular 5 year olds thus too easy and simple for Z. Also the behavior and attitude of the other kids will effect her as well as the teacher's reaction to her. *sigh* I really want her to have a "spiritual" experience at religious school, if you know what I mean...
After the Sh'ma Z asks God to bless everyone in her family and our cats and her grandma's cats. When her grandmother's cat Charlie died Z didn't want to take him out of the blessing. Last spring her great-grandfather died and she didn't want to take him out either. Altogether she blesses 16 people and 6 cats. Sometimes she adds people that we have seen that day.
I taught her to do this and my grandmother taught me. My blessing list was very long when I was a kid - it included every single person in my extended family as well as all my friends and every kid in my class, even if I didn't like them. I figured that is what God would have wanted. *grin*
Then I say a prayer over her thanking God for our day. Then she says a prayer with Pere thanking God for our basic things like food and shelter and health - we started this the night of her third birthday. It is kind of like a verbal gratitude journal. Then they add whatever else they are grateful for that day.
Z also knows the prayers we say on Shabbat (Friday night to Saturday at sunset) over the candles, the wine and the challah.
She used to go to a Jewish preschool and that year she celebrated all the many Jewish holidays. On our own we often don't get around to doing them all.
She also has a CD of songs in Hebrew and English that are for Shabbat and the holidays and she knows all of them.
She has about 40 jewish children's books, books for the holidays, Jewish folktales, biblical tales, etc. She loves to read these. But now wants to read from the adult Torah instead of her children's Torah stories book so I have been letting her.
We used Jewish religious terms for everyday things too. Like instead of doing "charity" we do Tzedakah.
She used to know the Hebrew alpabet but we haven't done it in a long time so she probably forgot.
There is more to it than that. We talk about God and how we percieve it/him a lot. Basically I say that we don't know anything about God and that I believe that God is not like a person and that God is unknowable. Z has believed in reincarnation since she was three and I support her in that but I also let her know that I don't really have any beliefs about the afterlife.
This would be the year that she would normally start religious school and Pere and I are looking for the right one. Pere had a good experience at his but there is so much that goes into it. First of all the presentation of the concepts would be for regular 5 year olds thus too easy and simple for Z. Also the behavior and attitude of the other kids will effect her as well as the teacher's reaction to her. *sigh* I really want her to have a "spiritual" experience at religious school, if you know what I mean...
Sunday, October 15, 2006
That Sondheim
Today Pere had a project for Z.
This morning he taught Z about pointilism and George Seurat. He showed her how blue and yellow dots look green when far away and how dots closer together look darker than dots placed farther apart. Then Z made her own pointilism painting from a model.
Then they watched the first act of Sunday in the Park with George. I was working on our homeschooling schedule in another room during most of the show but I did come in and see the end and cry with Z.
I don't think she understood a lot of it but she asked good questions and Pere paused the DVD during after some parts to explain things.
*************
I worked on my schedule for homeschooling this week and ended up making a 6 week schedule for science, history, and math. I went through our science book first because I was wanting to plan our next topic and I wanted to see how long it might take for us to finish the Human Body book. It looked like we would end up finishing in about 6 weeks, just in time for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
So then I was curious about how many more chapters we have in our Norse Gods and Heroes book and that looked like it would take us up to five weeks - so if I add in some supplementation that is six weeks too. I did the same thing with her math book (six weeks plus a couple days each week for math games).
Cool!
This morning he taught Z about pointilism and George Seurat. He showed her how blue and yellow dots look green when far away and how dots closer together look darker than dots placed farther apart. Then Z made her own pointilism painting from a model.
Then they watched the first act of Sunday in the Park with George. I was working on our homeschooling schedule in another room during most of the show but I did come in and see the end and cry with Z.
I don't think she understood a lot of it but she asked good questions and Pere paused the DVD during after some parts to explain things.
*************
I worked on my schedule for homeschooling this week and ended up making a 6 week schedule for science, history, and math. I went through our science book first because I was wanting to plan our next topic and I wanted to see how long it might take for us to finish the Human Body book. It looked like we would end up finishing in about 6 weeks, just in time for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
So then I was curious about how many more chapters we have in our Norse Gods and Heroes book and that looked like it would take us up to five weeks - so if I add in some supplementation that is six weeks too. I did the same thing with her math book (six weeks plus a couple days each week for math games).
Cool!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Shabbat and Spider Pavilion
On Yom Kippur Pere and I recommitted ourselves to observing Shabbat as a family. Last night we lit the candles and had some challah and dinner at home. This is a picture of Z building a LEGO town in the dining room after dinner. The Shabbat candles are on the table behind her. She has her own candle to light, she even holds the match. Then I say the prayers, then Pere says the prayer over the wine and then Z sings a prayer song over the challah.
This morning we took Z to the Natural History Museum members only kid's event.We met some friends there (Hi J., E., and O.)
It was at the Spider Pavilion exhibit. It is for 3 - 5 year olds and some of it was kind of too young for Z, iike they sang Itsy-Bitsy-Spider (which is a good song) and said that the "secret word of the day" was Arachnid. But Z did get the pet the tummy of a taratula and see a garden spider spin a web around a cricket and see many more spiders in the pavilion.
One of the docents told Z that this spider (can you see the spider she is pointing at? Is Charlotte from Charlotte's Web. Did she not read the book? Or is this the reincarnation of Charlotte? Or did perhaps she mean that this is the same kind of spider that Charlotte was supposed to be?
for a craft they made little parachutes that they attached to a cut-out spider's spinnerets. Then the kids flew them with the help of a fan.
For lunch we went to our new mall. The line for the carousel was too too long but we did get to have our crepes. :)
Then Z wanted to play on the computer so she did her SpongeBob typing (she is up to 7 words per minute) and then Kid Pix (I love that program!). She has also taken to reading the Old Testament to herself when Pere is reading from the Torah. She told me today that she got to the part where Cain killed Abel and now Cain has to walk the Earth alone, forever. Perhaps I should have a talk with her about that...
We stopped over at the neighbors for a bit and Z got to play with her little friend S.
She also helped Pere make dinner - fried chicken and fancy mac and cheese (with Gruyere).
It was a nice day!
This morning we took Z to the Natural History Museum members only kid's event.We met some friends there (Hi J., E., and O.)
It was at the Spider Pavilion exhibit. It is for 3 - 5 year olds and some of it was kind of too young for Z, iike they sang Itsy-Bitsy-Spider (which is a good song) and said that the "secret word of the day" was Arachnid. But Z did get the pet the tummy of a taratula and see a garden spider spin a web around a cricket and see many more spiders in the pavilion.
One of the docents told Z that this spider (can you see the spider she is pointing at? Is Charlotte from Charlotte's Web. Did she not read the book? Or is this the reincarnation of Charlotte? Or did perhaps she mean that this is the same kind of spider that Charlotte was supposed to be?
for a craft they made little parachutes that they attached to a cut-out spider's spinnerets. Then the kids flew them with the help of a fan.
For lunch we went to our new mall. The line for the carousel was too too long but we did get to have our crepes. :)
Then Z wanted to play on the computer so she did her SpongeBob typing (she is up to 7 words per minute) and then Kid Pix (I love that program!). She has also taken to reading the Old Testament to herself when Pere is reading from the Torah. She told me today that she got to the part where Cain killed Abel and now Cain has to walk the Earth alone, forever. Perhaps I should have a talk with her about that...
We stopped over at the neighbors for a bit and Z got to play with her little friend S.
She also helped Pere make dinner - fried chicken and fancy mac and cheese (with Gruyere).
It was a nice day!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
ecstasy in music
this afternoon I had to ask Z is do all her practicing at once because we let the morning time get away from us without getting to the piano at all. I was worried that playing 3 songs 10 times each and 1 song 5 times would be too much for her.
but instead she played really really well! It was some of the best I have ever heard her play. These are things that she was saying while she was practicing. I had to write them down.
I said "I am glad you are enjoying your practicing so much and she said "I'm more than enjoying, I am overjoying! I am letting energy out into my music and that just gives me more joy and energy."
and she also said "Now I see how happy you can be once you practice a lot."
She is working on four Kabalevsky songs right now. The newest one, Song, is really good! It has a beautiful morose tune and Z plays it very well. I think she really happy with the music in part because she likes this song so much. But she also likes it because she is playing it really well and that makes her feel great. :)
That was probably her best practice ever!
She also said "You know when I am frustrated with math? This is like the opposite of that. Actually it is way more than the opposite!"
Now I just need to find some math that gives her that ecstasy.
*****************
This morning:
Z asked if she could work on social studies while I was making breakfast. I told her yes and that today she was going to put her new quarters into her U.S. map. I talked her through it while I was cooking by telling her things like "That one goes on the east coast, in the north" and "that one is a land-locked state in the south" and "that one is a peninsula." Then afterwards I gave her a little test on the terms.
Then she wanted to do some more I Love Math. Then she learned about the nervous system in science. Then it was time for her audition. I think the audition went well. I don't know really. I didn't get a vibe off it at all.
but instead she played really really well! It was some of the best I have ever heard her play. These are things that she was saying while she was practicing. I had to write them down.
I said "I am glad you are enjoying your practicing so much and she said "I'm more than enjoying, I am overjoying! I am letting energy out into my music and that just gives me more joy and energy."
and she also said "Now I see how happy you can be once you practice a lot."
She is working on four Kabalevsky songs right now. The newest one, Song, is really good! It has a beautiful morose tune and Z plays it very well. I think she really happy with the music in part because she likes this song so much. But she also likes it because she is playing it really well and that makes her feel great. :)
That was probably her best practice ever!
She also said "You know when I am frustrated with math? This is like the opposite of that. Actually it is way more than the opposite!"
Now I just need to find some math that gives her that ecstasy.
*****************
This morning:
Z asked if she could work on social studies while I was making breakfast. I told her yes and that today she was going to put her new quarters into her U.S. map. I talked her through it while I was cooking by telling her things like "That one goes on the east coast, in the north" and "that one is a land-locked state in the south" and "that one is a peninsula." Then afterwards I gave her a little test on the terms.
Then she wanted to do some more I Love Math. Then she learned about the nervous system in science. Then it was time for her audition. I think the audition went well. I don't know really. I didn't get a vibe off it at all.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
asking for fun math
This evening before dinner Z said "Didn't you say that if I finished my math on time then afterwards we could play some math games?"
Me: "Umm, yeah." (but we didn't do any math today.)
Z runs off to her room and brings back one of her I Love Math books. See has seven of eight of these books and she really loves them. I think they are too easy for her these days thought they were great for last year. I really wish I could find something like them for her.
*********
Today was our homeschool park day. Before the park Z worked on the story she is writing and then practiced her piano. At the park she did her Shakespeare class, and made a tie-dye shirt with the Girl's Club.
One kind of weird thing happened. There are these two older kids - like 12 and 10, who are very gifted. I talked about their mom recently on my blog and how it was nice talking with her since I didn't have to guard my speech so much.
Anyway while Z was tie-dying her shirt the girl V came over and asked Z how she was doing and Z asked her if she wanted to play and V said yes and then Z left the Girl's Club and went over and played with V and her brother N. Isn't that kinda weird? Still Z thinks they are totally cool because they are obviously really smart and knowledgable and they are funny.
Second weird thing is these teenaged boys came and sat by me today and wanted to talk with me about manga and anime. I enjoyed talking with them too because they watch some of the same shows I do and I also like talking manga. I feel kinda weird that I still get along so well with teenaged nerds. LOL
We had to learn early because she had an audition. It was for Nauticca. Tomorrow she has another audition for CSI. That should be cool. It is more fun when she has lines to learn.
Me: "Umm, yeah." (but we didn't do any math today.)
Z runs off to her room and brings back one of her I Love Math books. See has seven of eight of these books and she really loves them. I think they are too easy for her these days thought they were great for last year. I really wish I could find something like them for her.
*********
Today was our homeschool park day. Before the park Z worked on the story she is writing and then practiced her piano. At the park she did her Shakespeare class, and made a tie-dye shirt with the Girl's Club.
One kind of weird thing happened. There are these two older kids - like 12 and 10, who are very gifted. I talked about their mom recently on my blog and how it was nice talking with her since I didn't have to guard my speech so much.
Anyway while Z was tie-dying her shirt the girl V came over and asked Z how she was doing and Z asked her if she wanted to play and V said yes and then Z left the Girl's Club and went over and played with V and her brother N. Isn't that kinda weird? Still Z thinks they are totally cool because they are obviously really smart and knowledgable and they are funny.
Second weird thing is these teenaged boys came and sat by me today and wanted to talk with me about manga and anime. I enjoyed talking with them too because they watch some of the same shows I do and I also like talking manga. I feel kinda weird that I still get along so well with teenaged nerds. LOL
We had to learn early because she had an audition. It was for Nauticca. Tomorrow she has another audition for CSI. That should be cool. It is more fun when she has lines to learn.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
so these guys...
actually, these dad's that I know were outside with two of the neighborhood girls that are Z's age. Z and I saw them when we were going to to check the mail.
Z saw her friends playing the in tennis court and asked if we could stop in and play with them for a little awhile. The girls had found a praying mantis and were poking at it with leaves.
I felt uncomfortable with the way they were treating it. Sure, it was me who let one mantis eat another just two weeks ago. But I never condone Z treating animals cruelly or teasing them, not even insects. The dads totally didn't seem to care that their kids were poking the poor mantis. So I tried to handle things by saying "Z, please don't hurt the mantis." and "Z don't torment it." even though she wasn't because I was hoping to get the other girls to stop.
Then the dads told their daughters that if they touched the mantis they would turn green and then everyone at school would make fun of them. And their daughters believed them! Then they were really worried about turning green! (so they poked at the bug from a greater distance)
Z said "They won't really turn green" and I said "No, of course not." in a friendly voice but loud enough for the girls to hear.
I had enough of the leaf poking so I got a stick and got the mantis to crawl up on it and then let the girls view it up close. I talked with them about how many legs it had and how that shows it is an insect. Z pointed out it's thorax and abdomen. We looked at it's mouth and I told them that it eats other insects and spiders.
The girls were pretty interested but still they wanted to poke it. One girl was telling me I needed to put it back in the bushes because it was "weird."
When they seemed tired of looking at it and learning about it I put it on a bush. They found where I put it and started poking it with leaves. Z was standing by them so I said loudly "Zoe honey please don't do anything to bother the mantis anymore." The other dads took the hint and told their daughters to leave it alone too.
I (I mean Z) ended up inviting the girls over to our house to play for awhile and everything was fine there.
It reminds me that last week Z's bossy older friend K tried to step on a beautiful big flying iridescent beetle but Z protected it. That girl is bigger though and was pushing past Z to smush it when I called out "Z, it is okay with me if you protect the beetle." and the girl looked at me and then stopped trying to manhandle Z out of the way. :(
Z saw her friends playing the in tennis court and asked if we could stop in and play with them for a little awhile. The girls had found a praying mantis and were poking at it with leaves.
I felt uncomfortable with the way they were treating it. Sure, it was me who let one mantis eat another just two weeks ago. But I never condone Z treating animals cruelly or teasing them, not even insects. The dads totally didn't seem to care that their kids were poking the poor mantis. So I tried to handle things by saying "Z, please don't hurt the mantis." and "Z don't torment it." even though she wasn't because I was hoping to get the other girls to stop.
Then the dads told their daughters that if they touched the mantis they would turn green and then everyone at school would make fun of them. And their daughters believed them! Then they were really worried about turning green! (so they poked at the bug from a greater distance)
Z said "They won't really turn green" and I said "No, of course not." in a friendly voice but loud enough for the girls to hear.
I had enough of the leaf poking so I got a stick and got the mantis to crawl up on it and then let the girls view it up close. I talked with them about how many legs it had and how that shows it is an insect. Z pointed out it's thorax and abdomen. We looked at it's mouth and I told them that it eats other insects and spiders.
The girls were pretty interested but still they wanted to poke it. One girl was telling me I needed to put it back in the bushes because it was "weird."
When they seemed tired of looking at it and learning about it I put it on a bush. They found where I put it and started poking it with leaves. Z was standing by them so I said loudly "Zoe honey please don't do anything to bother the mantis anymore." The other dads took the hint and told their daughters to leave it alone too.
I (I mean Z) ended up inviting the girls over to our house to play for awhile and everything was fine there.
It reminds me that last week Z's bossy older friend K tried to step on a beautiful big flying iridescent beetle but Z protected it. That girl is bigger though and was pushing past Z to smush it when I called out "Z, it is okay with me if you protect the beetle." and the girl looked at me and then stopped trying to manhandle Z out of the way. :(
Monday, October 09, 2006
Cool Clubs - tell me about them!
Wow Forte! I am so envious of the cool clubs that Gracie is in!
Could you please do a post on your blog and describe the clubs? Foreign Lands Sounds awesome! I might like to do something like that with out homeschool group (when I ditch Girl's Club.)
Anyone else have cool groups or clubs that your kids belong do that you want to share?
Could you please do a post on your blog and describe the clubs? Foreign Lands Sounds awesome! I might like to do something like that with out homeschool group (when I ditch Girl's Club.)
Anyone else have cool groups or clubs that your kids belong do that you want to share?
A timely report on the importance of play
A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says free and unstructured play is healthy and - in fact - essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient.
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/play-public.htm
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/play-public.htm
first day on new schedule
So Z woke up at 8:00 instead of 7:00. :S
After breakfast she worked in her old math book. She is so funny. Before summer she was really bored of that book and really excited to start on the Menu Math book. Now she was like "Oh! are we going to do that book? I _love_ that book!" *heh* Apparently it is all about novelty.
Then for Language Arts I had her alphabetize our DVD collection... Is that wrong? *evil grin*
But hey! I found out that she didn't know how to alphabetize within a word, "Should Amelie or American Pie go first?" and now she does know. So it was totally educational!
For science we studied Muscles from her Human Body Encyclopedia and did a Brainpop quiz on Muscles and then I let her choose her own movie and quiz and she went with Infancy.
Japanese was just a quick review - less then 10 minutes.
It only took me ten minutes, instead of thirty, to read her three chapters from her "history" book - Norse Gods and Heroes.
Then Z read to me for twenty minutes. I like to hear her read aloud because then I know how she is pronouncing things.
After lunch she did her art project - which was gluing glitter to a mask and putting beads on the handle and then making some beaded jewelry. Not so much art as craft. but I haven't gone to the art supply store to get our pastels yet.
**********
I called her Voice teacher and I told her that Z has to drop that class. I explained that she is just over booked right now. The teacher asked if Z would still sing at the rectial but Z isn't sure. She is worried that if she doesn't practice enough she won't be good and she doesn't have time to practice. Her teacher said that she is good enough already but Z wasn't sure. We have a couple days to decide.
But her piano teacher decided she will play in ther rectial in two weeks and she should also be practicing for a competition in December. So she had four songs she needs to play ten times a day each. *sigh*
When I asked Z if she was okay dropping voice she is "If I have to drop one of my classes it can be voice, but I would like to get to do it again later."
Then I asked what about dropping piano and she looked at me very forbiddingly and said "No" very seriously. *heh* It was cute.
After breakfast she worked in her old math book. She is so funny. Before summer she was really bored of that book and really excited to start on the Menu Math book. Now she was like "Oh! are we going to do that book? I _love_ that book!" *heh* Apparently it is all about novelty.
Then for Language Arts I had her alphabetize our DVD collection... Is that wrong? *evil grin*
But hey! I found out that she didn't know how to alphabetize within a word, "Should Amelie or American Pie go first?" and now she does know. So it was totally educational!
For science we studied Muscles from her Human Body Encyclopedia and did a Brainpop quiz on Muscles and then I let her choose her own movie and quiz and she went with Infancy.
Japanese was just a quick review - less then 10 minutes.
It only took me ten minutes, instead of thirty, to read her three chapters from her "history" book - Norse Gods and Heroes.
Then Z read to me for twenty minutes. I like to hear her read aloud because then I know how she is pronouncing things.
After lunch she did her art project - which was gluing glitter to a mask and putting beads on the handle and then making some beaded jewelry. Not so much art as craft. but I haven't gone to the art supply store to get our pastels yet.
**********
I called her Voice teacher and I told her that Z has to drop that class. I explained that she is just over booked right now. The teacher asked if Z would still sing at the rectial but Z isn't sure. She is worried that if she doesn't practice enough she won't be good and she doesn't have time to practice. Her teacher said that she is good enough already but Z wasn't sure. We have a couple days to decide.
But her piano teacher decided she will play in ther rectial in two weeks and she should also be practicing for a competition in December. So she had four songs she needs to play ten times a day each. *sigh*
When I asked Z if she was okay dropping voice she is "If I have to drop one of my classes it can be voice, but I would like to get to do it again later."
Then I asked what about dropping piano and she looked at me very forbiddingly and said "No" very seriously. *heh* It was cute.
re: Looking Schooly
Jaime
I am not sure what to do! Z has always loved her lessons. This is the kid that used to tell me "I hate free time!" But I forced it on her anyway. :P
I do think downtime is really important though and I do worry that Z is not getting enough of it on "school days." I can't figure out what subject I might drop. Unless I do something like science one week and replace it with history another week. We could also possibly drop one or more of her classes.
Forte
We used to fit everything in before lunch (starting at 8:00 not 10:00) but now she has classes in the a.m. so I either had to move some of her subjects to the afternoon or drop them.
So it sounds like Gracie does Math, grammar, science, history at home but not necessarily on a daily basis. And then outside of the home she does Chinese, Art, Music, and 4H. Does she have homework for those classes?
It is cool that Gracie is doing so well in cursive. Z is just starting to pick it up.
Sarah
By personality I am a list maker. I always make schedules like this, designing them is fun for me (I know that probably sounds weird if you are not the kind of person who is into making lists:)). But our homeschooling day rarely goes according to plan. Usually we are interrupted by play dates or unplanned events like auditions.
This morning we are getting started an hour late becacuse Z slept in. I really was hoping to try out my new schedule today but it looks like Z was coming down with something the night we went to Temple. This morning she has a runny nose. :(
I am not sure what to do! Z has always loved her lessons. This is the kid that used to tell me "I hate free time!" But I forced it on her anyway. :P
I do think downtime is really important though and I do worry that Z is not getting enough of it on "school days." I can't figure out what subject I might drop. Unless I do something like science one week and replace it with history another week. We could also possibly drop one or more of her classes.
Forte
We used to fit everything in before lunch (starting at 8:00 not 10:00) but now she has classes in the a.m. so I either had to move some of her subjects to the afternoon or drop them.
So it sounds like Gracie does Math, grammar, science, history at home but not necessarily on a daily basis. And then outside of the home she does Chinese, Art, Music, and 4H. Does she have homework for those classes?
It is cool that Gracie is doing so well in cursive. Z is just starting to pick it up.
Sarah
By personality I am a list maker. I always make schedules like this, designing them is fun for me (I know that probably sounds weird if you are not the kind of person who is into making lists:)). But our homeschooling day rarely goes according to plan. Usually we are interrupted by play dates or unplanned events like auditions.
This morning we are getting started an hour late becacuse Z slept in. I really was hoping to try out my new schedule today but it looks like Z was coming down with something the night we went to Temple. This morning she has a runny nose. :(
re: Looking Schooly
Jaime
I am not sure what to do! Z has always loved her lessons. This is the kid that used to tell me "I hate free time!" But I forced it on her anyway. :P
I do think downtime is really important though and I do worry that Z is not getting enough of it on "school days." I can't figure out what subject I might drop. Unless I do something like science one week and replace it with history another week. We could also possibly drop one or more of her classes.
Forte
We used to fit everything in before lunch (starting at 8:00 not 10:00) but now she has classes in the a.m. so I either had to move some of her subjects to the afternoon or drop them.
So it sounds like Gracie does Math, grammar, science, history at home but not necessarily on a daily basis. And then outside of the home she does Chinese, Art, Music, and 4H. Does she have homework for those classes?
It is cool that Gracie is doing so well in cursive. Z is just starting to pick it up.
Sarah
By personality I am a list maker. I always make schedules like this, designing them is fun for me (I know that probably sounds weird if you are not the kind of person who is into making lists:)). But our homeschooling day rarely goes according to plan. Usually we are interrupted by play dates or unplanned events like auditions.
This morning we are getting started an hour late becacuse Z slept in. I really was hoping to try out my new schedule today but it looks like Z was coming down with something the night we went to Temple. This morning she has a runny nose. :(
I am not sure what to do! Z has always loved her lessons. This is the kid that used to tell me "I hate free time!" But I forced it on her anyway. :P
I do think downtime is really important though and I do worry that Z is not getting enough of it on "school days." I can't figure out what subject I might drop. Unless I do something like science one week and replace it with history another week. We could also possibly drop one or more of her classes.
Forte
We used to fit everything in before lunch (starting at 8:00 not 10:00) but now she has classes in the a.m. so I either had to move some of her subjects to the afternoon or drop them.
So it sounds like Gracie does Math, grammar, science, history at home but not necessarily on a daily basis. And then outside of the home she does Chinese, Art, Music, and 4H. Does she have homework for those classes?
It is cool that Gracie is doing so well in cursive. Z is just starting to pick it up.
Sarah
By personality I am a list maker. I always make schedules like this, designing them is fun for me (I know that probably sounds weird if you are not the kind of person who is into making lists:)). But our homeschooling day rarely goes according to plan. Usually we are interrupted by play dates or unplanned events like auditions.
This morning we are getting started an hour late becacuse Z slept in. I really was hoping to try out my new schedule today but it looks like Z was coming down with something the night we went to Temple. This morning she has a runny nose. :(
Sunday, October 08, 2006
looking schooly
I wanted to describe what we usually do in our homeschooling day because I agree from just looking at the schedule that it looks schooly.
Voice/Yoga
For voice practice Z and I do some yoga stretching and then Z, either lying on her back or on a workout ball, practices singing a couple songs.
Music
During breakfast I play a cd of music and I check my emails while we listen. We listen to all kinds of music. Sometimes if the music has lyrics Z likes to read along. We talk about the composer, if there is something to say about him or her.
Math
Math is usually out of a workbook. Right now she is doing a work book of word problems based on a variety of restaurant menus. On Fridays we play math related board or card games or I read her a math related book or we do a mathy activity, like measuring and comparing or origami.
Language Arts
This is a new subject we are adding this year. Z does one page from her Daily Grammar work book, that takes 5 minutes. For the rest of the half an hour we do different things on different days. She might have a spelling test (she likes spelling and spelling bees) or she might write a postcard to a friend or send them an email, or she might practice her cursive handwriting.
Science
This is Z's favorite subject. Right now we are studying the human body. She has a Children's Human Body Encyclopedia that she reads from and then we do various activities during the week based on her reading. She likes to watch a movie and take the quiz on Brainpop. Sometimes she write a "report" on the topic. Sometimes we do a hands on project.
Japanese
She does some Hiragana writing. Z is very proud of how well she writes in Hiragana and loves working on this if it is for short periods. Then she sings some Japanese songs that she learned into the mic on her karaoke machine. Then we make up stories using our vocabulary words and tell them to each other.
Social Studies
Social Studies incorporates History, Geography, and World Cultures.
In these early year much of our "history" starts with retelling of Myths from various cultures. This year we are staring with Vikings and the Norse Myths. After we finish reading D'Aulaire's Norse Gods and Heroes we will do some hands on activities like writing runes, designing Thor's hammer amulets, drawing pictures from the stories, etc. Knowing Z she will probably want to act out some of the stories too. After Vikings we are going to story the Middle Ages.
For geography we will do something like put pins on her U.S. map of all the places she has been. Or trace where the Vikings sailed on the world map.
World Cultures comes in when we celebrate holidays from other cultures or go to an international children's film festival and then do some follow up learning at home.
Reading
This is done sitting on the couch or the chair by the window together. We do informal vocabulary lessons when she comes across a word she doesn't know.
Art
We are going to be studying pastels. Z found out at the D'Orsay museum in Paris that she loves pastels. For this we sit out on the patio and paint or we go to the local park.
Voice/Yoga
For voice practice Z and I do some yoga stretching and then Z, either lying on her back or on a workout ball, practices singing a couple songs.
Music
During breakfast I play a cd of music and I check my emails while we listen. We listen to all kinds of music. Sometimes if the music has lyrics Z likes to read along. We talk about the composer, if there is something to say about him or her.
Math
Math is usually out of a workbook. Right now she is doing a work book of word problems based on a variety of restaurant menus. On Fridays we play math related board or card games or I read her a math related book or we do a mathy activity, like measuring and comparing or origami.
Language Arts
This is a new subject we are adding this year. Z does one page from her Daily Grammar work book, that takes 5 minutes. For the rest of the half an hour we do different things on different days. She might have a spelling test (she likes spelling and spelling bees) or she might write a postcard to a friend or send them an email, or she might practice her cursive handwriting.
Science
This is Z's favorite subject. Right now we are studying the human body. She has a Children's Human Body Encyclopedia that she reads from and then we do various activities during the week based on her reading. She likes to watch a movie and take the quiz on Brainpop. Sometimes she write a "report" on the topic. Sometimes we do a hands on project.
Japanese
She does some Hiragana writing. Z is very proud of how well she writes in Hiragana and loves working on this if it is for short periods. Then she sings some Japanese songs that she learned into the mic on her karaoke machine. Then we make up stories using our vocabulary words and tell them to each other.
Social Studies
Social Studies incorporates History, Geography, and World Cultures.
In these early year much of our "history" starts with retelling of Myths from various cultures. This year we are staring with Vikings and the Norse Myths. After we finish reading D'Aulaire's Norse Gods and Heroes we will do some hands on activities like writing runes, designing Thor's hammer amulets, drawing pictures from the stories, etc. Knowing Z she will probably want to act out some of the stories too. After Vikings we are going to story the Middle Ages.
For geography we will do something like put pins on her U.S. map of all the places she has been. Or trace where the Vikings sailed on the world map.
World Cultures comes in when we celebrate holidays from other cultures or go to an international children's film festival and then do some follow up learning at home.
Reading
This is done sitting on the couch or the chair by the window together. We do informal vocabulary lessons when she comes across a word she doesn't know.
Art
We are going to be studying pastels. Z found out at the D'Orsay museum in Paris that she loves pastels. For this we sit out on the patio and paint or we go to the local park.
doubts and misgivings
I have been feeling doubts about my plan for Z's homeschooling recently.
She has all these extra curricular classes that she loves and they really eat into the amount of time we can spend on academics. And I don't really want to skimp on the academics - math and writing are really necessary and she loves science and history and reading.
There are a lot of creative and fun things I would like to do with her but I feel like I don't have enough time.
I made a schedule around her classes and if I keep the classes that I teach her down to 1/2 hour each we are done at 3:00 on most days. That schedule includes the classes she takes outside of the home and one hour projects in most subjects once a week.
Wednesday she is out of the house the whole day at our homeschool park day and she _loves_ that. So that leaves four days a week where we are starting after breakfast and going until the middle of the afternoon. Then there are play dates with her friends. I worked in time for one play date on Fridays - but Z has a lot more friends than that.
I am working on starting a local group for families with gifted kids - maybe I can get all my friends together for that so I don't have to meet each of them separately. *grin*
Anyway, if she ends her days at 3:00 then she has about two hours of free time before her father comes home at which point she usually abandons whatever she was doingg to play something with him. Then it is dinner time and bedtime soon follows.
I suppose we can use the weekends to make use of our memberships to the zoo, natural history museum, etc - that is more fun anyway because then Pere gets to come with us and he always has a lot of information to share with Z.
But still. I am worried that Z is going to look back on her childhood and feel like there was too much learning. I don't know, maybe that is crazy thinking. I have worked hard to make learning enjoyable to Z and she doesn't seem to be complaining. But still I hate feeling like I need to choose between sitting on a comfy chair looking out of the window with Z sitting on my lap watching the squirrels play in the trees and practicing her voice lesson. :(
I know there is a way I can make this work. And I know that this year all her age mates who are in school are there working at their desks for as many hours as she is and their work is, probably, not as enjoyable as hers is. I know that I can probably still do all that I want if I am smart about it and Z will probably look back on her childhood and feel that it was very special. but what if she doesn't?
**********
Here is the schedule I worked out
Monday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga - her voice teacher uses yoga to open up her body before lessons
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music - we listen to a CD while we are eating our breakfast
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Language Arts
9:00 – 9:45 Science - extra long class to set up this week's topic
9:45 – 10:45 Voice - class
10:45 – 11:15 Japanese
11:15 – 11:45 Social Studies
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Reading
1:30 – 2:00 Art
2:00 – 2:30 free
2:30 – 4:00 Piano class - this includes 15 minute drive time each way and a 1 hour class
Tuesday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Language Arts
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:30 – 10:00 Science
10:00 – 10:30 Social Studies
10:30 – 11:00 Piano
11:00 – 11:30 Reading
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Art - extra long class for project
Wednesday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Piano
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:45 – ? Park
10:00 - 11:30 Shakespeare Class
Thursday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:30 Language Arts games and activities
9:30 – 10:00 Science
10:00 – 10:30 Social Studies
11:00 - 12:00 Gymnastics class
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Piano
1:30 – 2:00 Reading
2:00 – 2:30 Japanese class
Friday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 9:00 Math games and activities
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:30 – 10:00 Piano
10:00 – 12:00 Play date?
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Science
1:30 – 2:00 Reading
2:00 – 3:00 History project
note: Not all classes will take exactly half an hour, some will take less and those will be a buffer for those that take more.
She has all these extra curricular classes that she loves and they really eat into the amount of time we can spend on academics. And I don't really want to skimp on the academics - math and writing are really necessary and she loves science and history and reading.
There are a lot of creative and fun things I would like to do with her but I feel like I don't have enough time.
I made a schedule around her classes and if I keep the classes that I teach her down to 1/2 hour each we are done at 3:00 on most days. That schedule includes the classes she takes outside of the home and one hour projects in most subjects once a week.
Wednesday she is out of the house the whole day at our homeschool park day and she _loves_ that. So that leaves four days a week where we are starting after breakfast and going until the middle of the afternoon. Then there are play dates with her friends. I worked in time for one play date on Fridays - but Z has a lot more friends than that.
I am working on starting a local group for families with gifted kids - maybe I can get all my friends together for that so I don't have to meet each of them separately. *grin*
Anyway, if she ends her days at 3:00 then she has about two hours of free time before her father comes home at which point she usually abandons whatever she was doingg to play something with him. Then it is dinner time and bedtime soon follows.
I suppose we can use the weekends to make use of our memberships to the zoo, natural history museum, etc - that is more fun anyway because then Pere gets to come with us and he always has a lot of information to share with Z.
But still. I am worried that Z is going to look back on her childhood and feel like there was too much learning. I don't know, maybe that is crazy thinking. I have worked hard to make learning enjoyable to Z and she doesn't seem to be complaining. But still I hate feeling like I need to choose between sitting on a comfy chair looking out of the window with Z sitting on my lap watching the squirrels play in the trees and practicing her voice lesson. :(
I know there is a way I can make this work. And I know that this year all her age mates who are in school are there working at their desks for as many hours as she is and their work is, probably, not as enjoyable as hers is. I know that I can probably still do all that I want if I am smart about it and Z will probably look back on her childhood and feel that it was very special. but what if she doesn't?
**********
Here is the schedule I worked out
Monday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga - her voice teacher uses yoga to open up her body before lessons
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music - we listen to a CD while we are eating our breakfast
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Language Arts
9:00 – 9:45 Science - extra long class to set up this week's topic
9:45 – 10:45 Voice - class
10:45 – 11:15 Japanese
11:15 – 11:45 Social Studies
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Reading
1:30 – 2:00 Art
2:00 – 2:30 free
2:30 – 4:00 Piano class - this includes 15 minute drive time each way and a 1 hour class
Tuesday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Language Arts
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:30 – 10:00 Science
10:00 – 10:30 Social Studies
10:30 – 11:00 Piano
11:00 – 11:30 Reading
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Art - extra long class for project
Wednesday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:00 Piano
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:45 – ? Park
10:00 - 11:30 Shakespeare Class
Thursday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 8:30 Math
8:30 – 9:30 Language Arts games and activities
9:30 – 10:00 Science
10:00 – 10:30 Social Studies
11:00 - 12:00 Gymnastics class
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Piano
1:30 – 2:00 Reading
2:00 – 2:30 Japanese class
Friday
7:15 – 7:30 Voice/Yoga
7:30 – 8:00 Bf/Music
8:00 – 9:00 Math games and activities
9:00 – 9:30 Japanese
9:30 – 10:00 Piano
10:00 – 12:00 Play date?
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Science
1:30 – 2:00 Reading
2:00 – 3:00 History project
note: Not all classes will take exactly half an hour, some will take less and those will be a buffer for those that take more.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Cooking
Z has gotten into cooking recently. She even listed it as one of her interests when I had to update her profile with Davidson.
since we have moved I have let her cut up some watermelon with a sharp knife. Pere taught her how to peel carrots and parsnips. She has used the measuring cup and spoons. Today she stirred up a brownie mix and poured it into a baking dish and was excited to get to lick the spoon.
She has also been making her own sandwiches but she already knew how to do that. But since we have moved the things in the pantry that she uses - bread, peanut butter, honey - are lower and she can reach them. She can also get her own plate down from the cabinet and gets her veggies from the fridge.
Z has been interested in watching Pere and I cook. Pere tends to cook more complicated meals and has been talking her through everything that he does and why. She even came home from a play date next door last weekend so she could be with him and "help" cook lamb stew. Today they made Thai red curry.
I think I should come up with a few meals that she might, with training, be able to make all by herself.
************
I can't beleive what I did today! I went through every piece of paper in the house, about six filing cabinet drawers, and decided whether I needed it or not and threw out more than three big boxes of papers. It feels so amazing!. I was throwing out reciepts from before Z was born!
I decided when we moved that I was not going to put anything away until I was sure I wanted it and then I had to put it away in "it's place."
This morning I went through boxes I have of Z's baby clothes and figured out what I wanted to keep for this quilt I want to make and what I can take to the local children's consignment boutique. I went through all my sewing supplies and threw out some notions and packed up the rest in one of those large tupperware-like boxes.
*************
Before lunch our neighbor's daughter S knocked on the door and asked if we wanted to come with them to the mall. Our local mall just doubled in size and got a lot of good shops (like the Apple store). It also got a really beautiful two story carousel. Remember all those carousel's that Z went on in France?
This carousel is really beautiful. They have zebras, gorillas, giant hummingbirds, sea dragons, dolphins and more to ride on. Z picked an ostrich on ont second floor.
They also have a new crepe place, with both savory and sweet crepes and gelato!
The mall is about 7 or 8 blocks away from our home. I am picturing us walking down there and having some crepes and a ride on the carousel. :)
since we have moved I have let her cut up some watermelon with a sharp knife. Pere taught her how to peel carrots and parsnips. She has used the measuring cup and spoons. Today she stirred up a brownie mix and poured it into a baking dish and was excited to get to lick the spoon.
She has also been making her own sandwiches but she already knew how to do that. But since we have moved the things in the pantry that she uses - bread, peanut butter, honey - are lower and she can reach them. She can also get her own plate down from the cabinet and gets her veggies from the fridge.
Z has been interested in watching Pere and I cook. Pere tends to cook more complicated meals and has been talking her through everything that he does and why. She even came home from a play date next door last weekend so she could be with him and "help" cook lamb stew. Today they made Thai red curry.
I think I should come up with a few meals that she might, with training, be able to make all by herself.
************
I can't beleive what I did today! I went through every piece of paper in the house, about six filing cabinet drawers, and decided whether I needed it or not and threw out more than three big boxes of papers. It feels so amazing!. I was throwing out reciepts from before Z was born!
I decided when we moved that I was not going to put anything away until I was sure I wanted it and then I had to put it away in "it's place."
This morning I went through boxes I have of Z's baby clothes and figured out what I wanted to keep for this quilt I want to make and what I can take to the local children's consignment boutique. I went through all my sewing supplies and threw out some notions and packed up the rest in one of those large tupperware-like boxes.
*************
Before lunch our neighbor's daughter S knocked on the door and asked if we wanted to come with them to the mall. Our local mall just doubled in size and got a lot of good shops (like the Apple store). It also got a really beautiful two story carousel. Remember all those carousel's that Z went on in France?
This carousel is really beautiful. They have zebras, gorillas, giant hummingbirds, sea dragons, dolphins and more to ride on. Z picked an ostrich on ont second floor.
They also have a new crepe place, with both savory and sweet crepes and gelato!
The mall is about 7 or 8 blocks away from our home. I am picturing us walking down there and having some crepes and a ride on the carousel. :)
Friday, October 06, 2006
tantrum
Z is really sensitive to lack of sleep. A year ago we keep her up past midnight for the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The next day she had a terrible tantrum where she even tried to hit me! It was really bad.
Tonight we went to temple for Sukkot. This was our first time at this temple and Pere and I really liked it. The "family" service started at 7:30 and Z tried to find a comfortable position for falling asleep at about 7:45. I don't know what was up.
I know she was frustrated about not being able to see the Rabbi or the bimah well. And I couldn't always find our place in the transliterated lyrics of the prayers we were singing. I also wonder if she might have a cold...
But anyway she kept trying to fall asleep and was getting really bad moody. She had that tremble in her voice that she gets when she wants to cry. Everything was upsetting her and I was thinking about leaving but as the service was only an hour we decided to stick it out.
At 8:30 it was over and I asked Z if she wanted to just go home or to stop at the Oneg and have a cookie. Of course she wanted a cookie and we stood in line and I got her one. When she finished she asked if she could have another. I said "no" for two reasons. One is that there were still people in line getting their first cookie and second is that usually we just give her one of something for dessert.
But then Z started crying "I want another cookie! I want it! I want another cookie!"
As usual, when Z gets crazy is when I get really calm (good thing it works like that.) So I held her close and whispered to her to stop crying and that she was not going to have a cookie. Pere said that we should just pick her up and take her out but I _knew_ she would really scream if we tried and so far only the people sitting at our table knew what was up.
I talked her down some so that I was able to carry her out with just crying instead of full on screaming and trashing about. She was still crying about the cookie though. In the car Pere and I explained to her our reasons for not letting her have another cookie and then we reminded her that that it is a family rule that she is not allowed to have something if she whines about it. We have always had that rule and we have never broken it.
She seems calm now, she is reading herself to sleep in her room (she has rarely been able to fall asleep without reading first, since she was about 3 years old.)
I feel bad for her, she is usually really in control of herself and crying to have a second cookie is really out of character. I hope she isn't coming down with something...
Tonight we went to temple for Sukkot. This was our first time at this temple and Pere and I really liked it. The "family" service started at 7:30 and Z tried to find a comfortable position for falling asleep at about 7:45. I don't know what was up.
I know she was frustrated about not being able to see the Rabbi or the bimah well. And I couldn't always find our place in the transliterated lyrics of the prayers we were singing. I also wonder if she might have a cold...
But anyway she kept trying to fall asleep and was getting really bad moody. She had that tremble in her voice that she gets when she wants to cry. Everything was upsetting her and I was thinking about leaving but as the service was only an hour we decided to stick it out.
At 8:30 it was over and I asked Z if she wanted to just go home or to stop at the Oneg and have a cookie. Of course she wanted a cookie and we stood in line and I got her one. When she finished she asked if she could have another. I said "no" for two reasons. One is that there were still people in line getting their first cookie and second is that usually we just give her one of something for dessert.
But then Z started crying "I want another cookie! I want it! I want another cookie!"
As usual, when Z gets crazy is when I get really calm (good thing it works like that.) So I held her close and whispered to her to stop crying and that she was not going to have a cookie. Pere said that we should just pick her up and take her out but I _knew_ she would really scream if we tried and so far only the people sitting at our table knew what was up.
I talked her down some so that I was able to carry her out with just crying instead of full on screaming and trashing about. She was still crying about the cookie though. In the car Pere and I explained to her our reasons for not letting her have another cookie and then we reminded her that that it is a family rule that she is not allowed to have something if she whines about it. We have always had that rule and we have never broken it.
She seems calm now, she is reading herself to sleep in her room (she has rarely been able to fall asleep without reading first, since she was about 3 years old.)
I feel bad for her, she is usually really in control of herself and crying to have a second cookie is really out of character. I hope she isn't coming down with something...
the right level
So I am trying to figure out for myself what level of challenge is right for Z.
She is still doing that math book where the first page is 2nd grade problems and the next page is 3rd grade problems. Yesterday she got all of the 2nd grade problems right (that's typical) and she got 4 out of 7 of the 3rd grade problems wrong (usually she gets 2 or 3 wrong).
On the 3rd grade side the problems usually have 4 or 5 steps. For example: Add together 3 menu items for Joe, add together 3 menu items for Lisa and then find out how much change they should be getting back if they paid with three 5 dollar bills.
Zoe can actually do all that but she is trying to do it all in her head. She is barely using the scratch paper I gave her. Yeesterday I erased the wrong answers and asked her to do them again but to write down all the equations. She did and ended up with only one wrong and that was because she added instead of subtracting.
So I compared math to music. You can't just sit down and start playing something without looking at whether it is forte or piano or if it is quarter notes rather then whole notes or on the bass clef rather than the treble. If you disregarded those things you would be playing incorrectly. So I asked her to come back and reread the problems and ask herself what she needs do to before she does it.
I think she should keep doing the 3rd grade math. I think that if she is getting all the problems right on the 2nd grade sheet (usually) then it is too easy.
**********
It is hard to find a level for these kids. Sometimes I feel like she should be getting them all right because that is what gifted kids do right? When I was a kid in most of my classes (not math) I not only got all the answers right I would get my work done way before everybody else. And I never had to study for tests. But then again I was not working at my level.
If she is getting them all right then is it too easy? Or should, if she is trying really hard, be able to get them all right?
I just want her to be learning, stretching her brain, and not get into a frame of mind that everything should be easy for her.
What do you do?
She is still doing that math book where the first page is 2nd grade problems and the next page is 3rd grade problems. Yesterday she got all of the 2nd grade problems right (that's typical) and she got 4 out of 7 of the 3rd grade problems wrong (usually she gets 2 or 3 wrong).
On the 3rd grade side the problems usually have 4 or 5 steps. For example: Add together 3 menu items for Joe, add together 3 menu items for Lisa and then find out how much change they should be getting back if they paid with three 5 dollar bills.
Zoe can actually do all that but she is trying to do it all in her head. She is barely using the scratch paper I gave her. Yeesterday I erased the wrong answers and asked her to do them again but to write down all the equations. She did and ended up with only one wrong and that was because she added instead of subtracting.
So I compared math to music. You can't just sit down and start playing something without looking at whether it is forte or piano or if it is quarter notes rather then whole notes or on the bass clef rather than the treble. If you disregarded those things you would be playing incorrectly. So I asked her to come back and reread the problems and ask herself what she needs do to before she does it.
I think she should keep doing the 3rd grade math. I think that if she is getting all the problems right on the 2nd grade sheet (usually) then it is too easy.
**********
It is hard to find a level for these kids. Sometimes I feel like she should be getting them all right because that is what gifted kids do right? When I was a kid in most of my classes (not math) I not only got all the answers right I would get my work done way before everybody else. And I never had to study for tests. But then again I was not working at my level.
If she is getting them all right then is it too easy? Or should, if she is trying really hard, be able to get them all right?
I just want her to be learning, stretching her brain, and not get into a frame of mind that everything should be easy for her.
What do you do?
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
outed Z and feeling uncomfortable
Today was the homeschool park day and I was talking with some friends and a mom that is new to me. This mom had older boys who are into anime and manga and she wanted me to talk with them about it. She is pretty cool.
Then we got to talking about the new Harry Potter movie coming out next summer and I said "Z is working on the fourth book now. Pere told Z that she has to read the fifth book before she can watch the movie."
I knew when I said it that I was saying something almost controversial. A 5 1/2 year old reading Goblet of Fire? I'm not sure why I said it. Maybe because I was tired of being to guarded about Z.
But the mom was totally astonished and kept saying 'Wow! She can read that?", "Wow, she is only five?", "Boy, she can read better than my sons almost!", "That is just amazing!"
*sigh*
How am I supposed to respond to that?
I said some different things "Yeah, well she really likes reading." as if her reading is just some fluke. And "She is just really into Harry Potter." as if it is somehow the magic of Harry Potter that makes her able to read.
I was feeling weird and berating myself of saying anything at all.
But you know, I am at the park for 6 hours and everyone is talking about homeschooling that their kids and telling funny stories and talking about curriculum and talking about their kid's interests and so much of it I can't really take part in because if I do people might think I am bragging or even lying.
Actually I do talk a lot. But I am very conscious about only saying certain things, making sure to omit or downplay what is really going on. It is completely lame that I have to do that.
For example, because Z is only 5 people assume this is our first year homeschooling, when really it is our third and she is doing things that a normal eight year old it doing. So I either have to let people assume that I am brand new at all this and in need or a lot of advice and newbie support or I have to make up some story about how I have "always" been homeschooling Z, as part of a lifestyle, or something that stops them from offering me newbie advice but doesn't let them know that I was homeschooling her when she was 2 1/2.
Other mom's get to talk about their kids problems and their kids achievements. There is a lot of that talk going on. They talk about their kids schedules and what their kids are learning at home. I just want to be able to talk about that stuff too but I feel like whenever I do that I have to be afraid that someone is going to have a negative reaction.
Anyway, I guess I just needed to vent.
I do have fun at the park talking with the othr parents about safe topics like religion and politics ;)
Then we got to talking about the new Harry Potter movie coming out next summer and I said "Z is working on the fourth book now. Pere told Z that she has to read the fifth book before she can watch the movie."
I knew when I said it that I was saying something almost controversial. A 5 1/2 year old reading Goblet of Fire? I'm not sure why I said it. Maybe because I was tired of being to guarded about Z.
But the mom was totally astonished and kept saying 'Wow! She can read that?", "Wow, she is only five?", "Boy, she can read better than my sons almost!", "That is just amazing!"
*sigh*
How am I supposed to respond to that?
I said some different things "Yeah, well she really likes reading." as if her reading is just some fluke. And "She is just really into Harry Potter." as if it is somehow the magic of Harry Potter that makes her able to read.
I was feeling weird and berating myself of saying anything at all.
But you know, I am at the park for 6 hours and everyone is talking about homeschooling that their kids and telling funny stories and talking about curriculum and talking about their kid's interests and so much of it I can't really take part in because if I do people might think I am bragging or even lying.
Actually I do talk a lot. But I am very conscious about only saying certain things, making sure to omit or downplay what is really going on. It is completely lame that I have to do that.
For example, because Z is only 5 people assume this is our first year homeschooling, when really it is our third and she is doing things that a normal eight year old it doing. So I either have to let people assume that I am brand new at all this and in need or a lot of advice and newbie support or I have to make up some story about how I have "always" been homeschooling Z, as part of a lifestyle, or something that stops them from offering me newbie advice but doesn't let them know that I was homeschooling her when she was 2 1/2.
Other mom's get to talk about their kids problems and their kids achievements. There is a lot of that talk going on. They talk about their kids schedules and what their kids are learning at home. I just want to be able to talk about that stuff too but I feel like whenever I do that I have to be afraid that someone is going to have a negative reaction.
Anyway, I guess I just needed to vent.
I do have fun at the park talking with the othr parents about safe topics like religion and politics ;)
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
what Z said
I just got Z's dollhouse out of it's box and Z was setting up the furniture and she said
"Let's pretend a monster lives here. I'll put the little girl in the oven."
LOL
Pere fell over laughing.
she actually did put the little baby doll into the plastic oven.
*jeez*
"Let's pretend a monster lives here. I'll put the little girl in the oven."
LOL
Pere fell over laughing.
she actually did put the little baby doll into the plastic oven.
*jeez*
Monday, October 02, 2006
"it's not just play, it is what I want to do."
Today Z went on her callback for her audition. The director wanted her to do the scene with two different women playing her mother. That is a good sign.
Now don't get too excited. Getting to the callback stage is good in itself, but it doesn't mean she has the job. It means she was chosen out of hundreds of kids to be one of 10 or so to come back and be seen by the director again. Out of the girls that were there during the call back Z was the only one to work with two "mothers".
On the way to the callback Z's agent called and asked asked her to go to another commercial audition this afternoon. This one was at a fancy hotel in Westwood. Z went in with 5 other girls and since she was going to have to change clothes I got to go in with her.
First the director talked to the girls, joking around with them and checking out their personalities. Zoe told them that she doesn't watch Kim Possible but likes SpongeBob and Jimmy Neutron.
Then they asked us all to stand outside in the hall. A few minutes later the came out and asked Z and two other girls to come back in to try on the clothes - they sent the other girls home. We had a separate room for changing and first Z tried on a golden formal holiday outfit, then a casual three piece outfit with jeans, a long sleeve shirt and sweater. Z was the only girl to try on more than one outfit and so we were the last to leave the room. When we left Z said thank you and as we were walking out the door I heard the people in the room saying "She's so cute!" and "I just love her!." Again, that doesn't mean she is going to get the job but both auditions were very positive today.
Later I was explaining to Z that acting is not like math or science, it is not something she has to do but something she gets to do. I guess I was trying to explain to her that she should be grateful to me for driving her all over the place. *grin* But Z answered with "it's not just play, it is what I want to do."
*sigh*
I am still concerned that acting will some how mess her up - I worry that it will make her too conscious about her body image or that it will make her insecure to have to be "selling" herself all the time. But boy, she is really into it. And so far no damage has been done.
Now don't get too excited. Getting to the callback stage is good in itself, but it doesn't mean she has the job. It means she was chosen out of hundreds of kids to be one of 10 or so to come back and be seen by the director again. Out of the girls that were there during the call back Z was the only one to work with two "mothers".
On the way to the callback Z's agent called and asked asked her to go to another commercial audition this afternoon. This one was at a fancy hotel in Westwood. Z went in with 5 other girls and since she was going to have to change clothes I got to go in with her.
First the director talked to the girls, joking around with them and checking out their personalities. Zoe told them that she doesn't watch Kim Possible but likes SpongeBob and Jimmy Neutron.
Then they asked us all to stand outside in the hall. A few minutes later the came out and asked Z and two other girls to come back in to try on the clothes - they sent the other girls home. We had a separate room for changing and first Z tried on a golden formal holiday outfit, then a casual three piece outfit with jeans, a long sleeve shirt and sweater. Z was the only girl to try on more than one outfit and so we were the last to leave the room. When we left Z said thank you and as we were walking out the door I heard the people in the room saying "She's so cute!" and "I just love her!." Again, that doesn't mean she is going to get the job but both auditions were very positive today.
Later I was explaining to Z that acting is not like math or science, it is not something she has to do but something she gets to do. I guess I was trying to explain to her that she should be grateful to me for driving her all over the place. *grin* But Z answered with "it's not just play, it is what I want to do."
*sigh*
I am still concerned that acting will some how mess her up - I worry that it will make her too conscious about her body image or that it will make her insecure to have to be "selling" herself all the time. But boy, she is really into it. And so far no damage has been done.
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