Seriously, How Cute is This?

Upon checking the girls last night before going to bed myself, I found all 3 kittens snuggling with E, age 6. Even with the flash on the camera going off, none of them awoke. Ashley, the runt, is curled in E's arm. Spot, the boy is next to her, and Abby is closest to the wall.



When I got up this morning at 4:30 I saw C climbing out of bed with her flashlight. She kept getting up throughout the night to check on the kittens, and make sure E didn't roll over on them. I can't get her out of bed at 8:30 for school, but she gets up several times in the night to check on kittens. Go figure. LOL

Favorite Time of Day

A couple of weeks ago, C had a journal writing assignment on her favorite time of day. She chose, "Bedtime", because she enjoys her sister and I saying prayers together with her, talking, singing, and being allowed to stay up reading afterwards with her flashlight.

I like bedtime, too, but it's not my favorite part of the day. Bedtime isn't long enough to be enjoyed by me. It goes something like this...lay down, zzzzzzz. I'm so exhausted by the end of my day that many times I don't even remember going to bed.

My favorite time of day is right now. From whenever I get up in the morning (anywhere between 4:00 and 6:00, normally right around 5:30ish)until the girls wake up. E is usually up by 8 or 8:30. C tries to stay in there as long as possible, but I don't allow her to sleep past 9. On weekdays my husband leaves for work about 10 minutes after he crawls from bed. On weekends he sleeps at least until the girls get up, many times it is far later. So these few hours early in the morning, just my coffee and I, are my alone time.

I am NOT a cheeful person unless I have had a minimum of 2 cups of coffee. I don't even speak coherently the first 2 hours I am awake.If you can call it "awake". The first hour is usually a total blur to me. Who knows what I do? I have to check the history on the computer, if I want to know what I did.LOL

Prior to having a computer I would read, study, pay bills, do quiet housework, or write in a journal. Now I read blogs and e-mails, prepare homeschool lessons, pay bills, do quiet housework, and write in my blog. I don't go anywhere in the house without a cup of coffee in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. In other words...I don't do anything exciting during this time, but I enjoy it simply because it is my most productive time of day, and it is QUIET! All I can hear right now is the air filter in the aquarium bubbling. I have spent the past 12 years raising children and living with a very noisy husband. He can not stand quiet. He actually will complain if it's quiet, and go make noise. He can not stand being alone. I, on the other hand, love simple peace and quiet, and a couple of hours each day just to be by myself. I'm not REALLY alone...the girls are sleeping just around the corner, and there are several cats and dogs wandering around here, but they don't demand me to talk to them or keep them company.

So, my favorite time of day is the time when I know everyone is safe and sound, but I am by myself. I've had my night's sleep, I have my French Vanilla coffee, I get to do what I want to do, and life is good.

Kittens

The kittens are 5 weeks old today. They are, of course, adorable. They are also very smart. The little boy kitty is named Spot III (His father would be Spot II, and his grandmother is a feral cat we only catch glimpses of out our back windows, named, obviously, Original Spot.) Had I known we would end up keeping these kittens I would have better names for them. However, my intentions had been to find them all good homes, and I let my daughters name them.

Spot understands English, because as soon as my husband told me it was up to me, this cat can not leave me alone. He cries at the gate until I come pet him. If I step over the gate to go in the girls' room, he climbs up my legs. If I sit down for a minute, I'm stuck for half an hour because he climbs in my lap and cuddles with me. Here's how he helps me do History with the girls. We've been doing History as a bedtime story, so please excuse the raggedy, old nightgown. That's Spot on my back.




Because Spot was smart enough to worm his little way into my heart, I began feeling guilty about the 2 little girl kitties. After all, it's not fair to keep one, and send the other 2 off to someone who might not love them as much as we do. Now I know why I made it 37 years with never having kittens around me. I'd have 37 cats if I'd been around kittens all my life. Look how much C loves them:





The 2 female kittens each have their own personality, too. Ashley is the runt, and hard to get a picture of because she thinks she's a might lioness. This little girl is FAST, and she loves to pounce and attack anything that catches her eye. I took this picture a few days ago. She WAS sitting still in the center of the photo, but in the split second between the flash going off, and the picture actually being taken she was off!



Abby is timid. She doesn't like to be picked up, but she will ease her way over to cuddle on her own time. The least little thing scares her, and she likes to hide under the bed, or behind the door. At least I don't have to worry about Abby tearing up my house like her sister. LOL As you can see she is a GORGEOUS long-haired calico:




They just began eating solid food a few days ago. (kitten chow softened with water)




So it looks as if we may be keeping all three. My next door neighbor might possibly take one, but I'm not going to look much farther for any homes. Next door is okay, because we can visit.

For any of you who read my blog and have a daughter that is in daily e-mail contact with C tell your daughter not to mention this little post because my girls still think we won't be keeping any kittens. C's birthday is next week. One of the things she asked for was to keep the kittens. I'd like it to be a surprise.

Next post: taking up a collection to pay for neutering/spaying fees. LOL I called the vet yesterday, and it's a bit more expensive than I recall from years ago. $285!!!! EACH!

Week 4 Review

Both girls did very well this week.

In first grade E completed 2 more lessons (in addition to the 2 posted below), and got an A+ on test #11 in Saxon. Her dad also did a few pages one night in her Abeka 1 math, and I might have done 1 page in there yesterday, but I won't admit that.

She also did 3 lessons in her Queens Language Lessons, and 2 pages in Abeka Language 1.

She read me 3 stories aloud. E also completed a chapter in her Reading Comprehension workbook.

She did 2 pages in geography, which she loves, and is up to lesson 9 in CLE Bible LU 104, which she also loves. I, however, and getting tired of stories written to 6 year olds about all the evil kings, and torturous punishments going on in the Old Testament. I'm hoping they soon move to the more peaceful, and pertinent to Modern-day Christianity, New Testament soon.

We did not do any spelling this week, although I hope to get back to that over the weekend.

As usual, E also hung around listening to her sister's science lessons. We are all still loving the Zoology, which is good, since we are in book 1 out of 3. This week we completed chapter 4, which centered on migratory birds. *I* even learned a ton, and it was fascinating. We went out in our backyard one day, and pretended to "migrate", which all 3 of us enjoyed.

In 5th grade C completed 1 test (A+), and 2 lessons in math. It's hard for me to get used to doing math only 3 days/week. C won't admit it, but she ASKED to do math Thursday, so maybe it seems strange to her, too.

We flew through English 5. C did the review of Chapter 2, got an A on the test (only missed 1 this time), and has completed 6 lessons of Chapter 3. She also did a daily gram each day, and is up to #50 in the book.

She also completed chapter 14 in spelling, getting an A+ as always. She doesn't really NEED spelling, but it's good vocabulary practice.

In history we learned about "Illumination" writing, and mosaics. I have intended for the past 3 days to make our own mosaics using paper, but haven't gotten around to cutting up millions of tiny pieces of paper for the "tiles". This week has been a good one to be able to have internet for, as we found some gorgeous examples of both the illumination writing, and mosaics online. C also did 1 page in her weekly geography book.

We haven't begun Literature yet. I still have to read the first book I plan to assign, and I've been reading a series of books my brother sent me, and can't get motivated to read a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder at the moment. Not a big deal, as I only plan to study 4 books in depth this year.

C also completed 3 lessons in her Bible, not to mention daily reminders on how God wants us to treat others....especially little sisters. LOL

I am missing a subject, but can't for the life of me remember which one at the moment. Anyway, it's been a very productive week, and I hope to tie up loose ends over this weekend. (Reading that biography, and making the mosaics.)

In non-school life we have been watching the kittens grow and falling more in love with them every day. They are now a month old. We took our pool down, as the nights have been so cold we haven't swam for 4 weeks now. We have been dealing with more spiders than I've ever seen in years past, including one at 11:00 last night that ran under E's bed. (Thank you, hubby!!!!!)

This week has also been full of step-daughter-15 issues. I don't want to say too much here, but I've been in frequent e-mail contact with her caseworkers, frequent phone contact with her biological mother, (always a joy) and dealt with B running away and missing for 3 nights in a row last weekend, a court hearing Wednesday, another one scheduled for Oct., a probation appointment next week, and a very important meeting scheduled for the 29th, at which something might actually get done to get help for this wayward child. I think I spent more time on this child's issues this week, than school, and she doesn't even live here anymore!

~May God bless you all~

Just a thought...

WHY do they have answers in the back of all first grade school books? Or the Kindergarten ones, for that matter?

Do they REALLY think if I need an answer key that I should be TEACHING my child?

First grade Math

Remember how my husband was going to take over teaching math for first grade? Weeellll....to put it nicely, he isn't very consistant with it. He did 2 nights of math the first 2 days. A week later he did 3 pages with her, which is 1 1/2 lessons in Abeka's first grade math. That was 9 days ago, and he hasn't done any since. He is quite possesive of doing math with her, and doesn't want me working in the book with her at all because HE can handle it.

Thankfully, there's a solution to this problem. In addition (puns intended LOL) to me orally working on her skip counting and math facts through the day, I also happen to own Saxon 1, which we had completed almost 1/2 of the book in before buying Abeka. I had left off at Lesson 56 out of 130 lessons. Over the weekend I picked it back up, and E and I did lessons 57, and 58. My husband suspiciously asked what we were doing. I just innocently replied we were doing Saxon. He said, "It looks like math." I replied, "This isn't the book you guys do math in, is it?" LOL

Now watch...this will be the semi-annual time he reads my blog....LOL!

Week 3 Review

We had a very productive week, even though it was shortened by Labor Day.

In Math, C completed Lessons 52, 53, and 54. She missed one problem each day, and every time it was a problem on using the distributive property of multiplication. She obviously isn't getting it, but since she can multiply those numbers in her head, I don't really care. Yesterday she was so tired of missing the same type of problem she actually voluntarily took notes on my explanation to refer to.

E did 3 pages of math with her dad. He's not being very consistent, so I've started orally drilling her on facts and skip counting, so she doesn't forget. She does fine; it's just that they will never get through the book at this rate, even though I had her 1/3 of the way through it before he took over.

C completed the next 4 pages of Daily Grams, and wrote a compare/contrast essay all by herself. She earned an A. This is a huge accomplishment for her...an A on writing, with no help from me. She has completed 19 lessons in her 5th grade English book now. E did 7 lessons in her Queens Language Lessons, and 2 pages in her Abeka Language.

Both girls finished lesson 3 in Zoology 1. I hadn't intended for E to participate in C's science, but she loves it, and is having no trouble retaining the information, so we've been doing science together. C is notebooking through this course, and writing lab reports on all experiments. E just listens, and helps out with the experiments.

Both girls also completed a few pages in their respective mapwork books.

C did Chapter 13 in BJU Spelling 5. She got A+ on it, as always. E completed Step 4, and half of Step 5 in her All About Spelling.

Both girls completed 4 lessons in their Bible workbooks.

C and I began the first 2 chapters in history. They are all still pretty much review of the fall of the Roman Empire, which we just finished studying a few weeks ago. She did get to read an abbreviated version of "Beowolf", which was pretty cool. She liked the poetry style of story writing.

We have not started literature yet. I will next week. It has a ton of time-consuming work, so thought it better to hold off until she wasn't on a writing chpater in English.

E read me 3 stories. She actually asked to. She doesn't like the stories in her graded reader, but she begs to read to me from real books.

Both girls have sinus infections, but not severe ones. They've been well enough to play outside with friends every day this week. I think it is interesting that this is the first time either one of them has gotten sick since I pulled them out of public school a year and a half ago. I'm almost positive they caught their bugs from a little boy they play with who was over here, and didn't mention he'd been out sick from school until my girls had been playing with him for over an hour.

This week was a very good week school-wise for all of us. It has also been a very busy week with step-daughter, B. She is having more issues, and has a court hearing next Wednesday. This was an unscheduled hearing, but due to her extreme problems, it was requested.

Stealing a Quote

I have no idea where this quote originated. I recently saw it on a friend's blog, and like it well enough to "steal" it for my own. Remember Hillary Clinton's famous, "It takes a village to raise a child..."? (when the U.S. was reforming education to the No Child Left Behind mind-set? the one that leaves more children behind now?)

Well:



No truer statement was ever said!

Yesterday...(5th grade)

...was just one of those days where school flowed smoothly. C was up at 8:30, ate breakfast, and began her independant work by 9. (Bible, Spelling, and Grammar.)By 10, I'd given her math lesson and assignment, and her English assignment. She and I spent last week writing a Compare/Contrast Essay together. This week she is doing one entirely on her own. While she did those assignments, I finished cleaning the kitchen, and switching laundries around. By 11, all we had left was science. (We alternate science and history/geography.) By lunchtime we were done.

After lunch I made the suggestion that, even though she did very well all day, and had her work done, she might want to consider working ahead, since she had 2 writing assignments today. Her choices were to do her journal writing a day early, or go ahead and begin her rough draft of her essay. I let her know she didn't HAVE to do either, but it would make her day easier today. Shockingly...she chose the essay. Even MORE shocking...she wrote it fairly well. She didn't ask for help one time. She wrote it in the correct format, and had zero punctuation or spelling errors. I only saw one thing she could add, and I'm trying to make her figure it out on her own, without pointing it out.

So...here's my reminder to myself in black and white (okay, technically GREEN and white, LOL) that C CAN write, and she can even do well at it. And some days we can do 6 subjects in just 2 1/2 hours.

Every Child Should Have the Right to a Loving Mother

Why are there so many children in our country that are unloved and unwanted by their mothers? I just can't understand this. I was loved very much by my own mother, and had a great, idyllic even, childhood.

From the age of 4 I informed everyone that I was going to be a nurse until I got married, and then I was going to be a mommy. That was all I ever really wanted. (I even told mom when I was about 12 or 13 that I was going to marry a man named the same name as my husband, and that I was going to have 2 girls in a row...right again.)

From the moment my first daughter was born I've been in love with her. The very first thought I had, when the cord wasn't even cut, but I could feel her tiny movements, was, "WHOA! I have NEVER felt like this before. There is no man on earth that I've even come close to loving like this little girl, and I will do anything, anytime for her." Almost 11 years later, that hasn't changed. I believe this is how it should be.

I know there are other women just like me when it comes to mothering. They adore their children. They protect them, watch them, do their best to guide them, listen to them, talk to them, help them, and most of all, love them. The thought of them leaving one day for college, or marriage, or work is almost unbearable. Who will protect them then? Yet we know that day is coming, so we do our best to at least prepare them to make it successfully on their own.

Lately, though, I've noticed more and more children seemingly longing for the love and guidance of an adult. The little 8 year old boy down the street who comes to play with my girls, but sits talking to me, instead. A 10 year old girl who comes to our house, and after playing a few minutes with C, comes to sit on the bed with me, and talk for an hour. A 3 year old behind us who wanders the streets day and night with no one even calling him home or noticing he's not there. A 13 year old across the street whose mother leaves him home alone night after night, in a house with no electricity, but she has the money to pay her cell phone bill and nightly booze. My own step-daughters, whose mother literally abandoned them when they were age 3 and 6. (Dropped the 3 year old at the police station while Daddy was at work, and 6 year old was at school.) I just can't figure out how it is that some women don't see what treasures their children are!

This morning on the news I watched the saddest story that happened right here in my hometown this week. A 10 year old girl was found riding her bike down the busiest street in town, NAKED and soaking wet. She was crying, and trying to find someone to help her. A man finally stopped to give her a blanket, and call the police. Turns out her mom had just tried to drown her in the bathtub, but relented when the girl promised she would leave and never come back home.

These are little people! They crave love and need nurturing. They have feelings. Honestly, if someone doesn't want children these days, there are so many options for birth control. If that's too difficult there are tens of thousands of parents willing, and anxiously waiting to adopt. I realize most of the people who read this are followers of the Bible, and don't believe in birth control, but you must look at all the people who don't follow the Bible, and for whatever reason choose to bring children into this world, only to neglect them or abuse them. A trip to the local pharmacy or free clinic would be better than a suffering child.

I hear so many moms say, " I need ME time." I can empathize with that, but I haven't had ME time in almost 11 years. I didn't have children to neglect them. I didn't have children to let someone else raise them most of the day. I didn't have children to gain ME time. I don't have a weekly date night. I don't have a weekly, "go-out-with-my-girlfriends" time. These growing-up years are my daughters' time to be with me. I'll have plenty of my own time (too much) when they are grown up.

Every child deserves to at least have love. I can't understand "mothers" who have children, but don't care for them and love them. I am, by no means, a great mother. I lose my temper. I try not to cook, if any other means of providing a meal is available. I can't teach English well. (LOL...see post below.) Some days I'm just so tired, or sad about other things in my life, I go hide out in my room with the pillow over my head for half an hour. But always I listen to my girls, talk to them, play with them, read with them, teach them, and above all CHERISH, LOVE, and TREASURE them. Don't all children deserve at least that much?

What is it About English?

I love teaching my daughters. Some days it's hard to find time, and some days I get incredibly bored, but the teaching itself, is usually actually fun. I loved that my daughters aren't wasting hours waiting for other students to catch up, and I love that when they "get it", we can keep moving on to new material. My daughter used to literally cry over math in public school. They spent almost 2 hours a day on it, and C was done in 1/4 of that time. She still won't admit to liking it, but we do the entire lesson, and homework assignment in under half an hour most days. Science is more of a fun activity than boring. I couldn't stand science in school, but my daughters and I love it now. Rocks, birds, clouds, it doesn't matter, it's fun. History is apparently my strong point. I'm a history buff, anyway, so teaching it is easy, and I always have a flair for turning some boring old war into a funny story. (If I do say so, myself. LOL) I get so into history that I've caught my husband eavesdropping in the hall, and laughing out loud. Whatever it takes for her to remember the stuff.

Then...there is English. Growing up, English was one of those subjects I called a "blow off" subject. An easy A. No work involved. I never really got into poetry, but I could spout something off if I was assigned to. I could write volumes of stories, essays, persuasive arguments...you name it, I could take 10 minutes, and have an "A" paper. We didn't do a whole lot of grammar, but that was easy, too. Noun, verb, adjective...guess the rest. Essay question that I didn't know the answer to?..no problem. Just baffle 'em with B.S. I could cover half a page in answer to said question, and say absolutely nothing, and get one of those little "Excellent" comments written in red pen next to it from the teacher. Another A. Spelling...no problem for someone that taught herself to read AND write at age 4 during naptime. Literature...easy....just read a book, something I did non-stop back then, and still do now. I didn't have to take English classes of any sort in college, because I was allowed to "test out" of them. (I did the same with college math.) I did, however, take some just for fun. Yes, I'm a nerd.

So......WHY IN THE WORLD CAN'T I TEACH IT?!? It is my daughter's weakest area. She's not really bad at English, but she certainly isn't good, either. She loves to read, and thankfully seems to be a natural speller, like me. We do a spelling curriculum, but only because it has really good vocabulary exercises, and there are some thinking skills involved. Up until yesterday I would even have said she's good at the grammar portion of English. Her weak area is writing. She can not stand to write, and will always take the easiest (read...laziest) way out of a written assignment. I KNOW part of it is that I expect too much from a ten year old. I expect that because she excels in other areas that I excelled at, she should go above and beyond in writing. (If anyone has ever noticed that I occasionally let her type "guest posts" here in my blog, that is why. If she manages a decent paragraph, she feels very special to be able to type it up on the computer and put it on Mommy's blog.) I rarely yell at my children, but poor C gets frequent rants from me about English.

We just started the year. I have it planned that, although we will do grammar, we are going to concentrate on writing this year. Her book is set up so that every other chapter is grammar, alternating with a writing chapter. It is written very well. I had high hopes for this English program, after going through 2 last year. (And the second half of last year I wussed out, and did only grammar. My excuse being, that some children need a little more time for their brains to grasp the abstract thinking involved with writing.) C has never (until yesterday) had any problems with grammar. She has a good, solid background in grammar. The first chapter we doubled up on lessons, and did 2 each day. She did the chapter review Monday, and took the test yesterday. She didn't miss a single thing the entire chapter. I didn't expect her to, as it was mainly review of things she has done for 2 years now. She missed SIX test questions yesterday, earning her an 82%. That's a C. On things she's never had a problem with, and should have easily aced. For those of you that know me, C's are completely unacceptable. B's are barely tolerable, but C's?!? I figure if you know the stuff you will get an A. Anything less means 1.) I didn't do my job as a teacher, and 2.) the child is a borderline idiot, and needs more work. (Sorry to offend. If you don't like it, don't read my blog.)

Remember, this C was on a test of things she KNEW. She's done hundreds of times. She had no issues whatsoever on the entire chapter, but when she did the test apparently the word "are" became a preposition, and interrogative sentences suddenly became confused with imperative sentences. (Cute side note.....during my rant after grading the test I asked C, "Why do you think they call it an interrogation when the police question their suspect after arresting them???" Poor C said, "I don't know, Mom. I've never been to jail." LOL!)

So, on day 7 of our official start of 5th grade, I am already having issues with English. I would like to call in a substitute, but as the only legal substitutes for homeschooling are other, immediate family members, that won't be happening. My choices are limited to a 6 year old, and a man that skated through school with D's, dropping out at age 16, and has read a total of two books in twelve years that I've known him. (both having to do with snipers in Iraq killing the enemy.)

I'm not sure who dreads English more, me or my daughter. Yes, I realize she zooms in on the "subtle" little clues I give her, and that my attitude affects hers. My attitude reguarding English has not been subtle at all. I have not been patient or humble. I have a mental block when it comes to people that don't understand concepts quickly. I am, basically, a horrible English teacher. I have no qualms about admitting that. I am not helping my daughter out. If I could afford to hire a private tutor, I most likely would, for this one subject. If it was legal to do so, I would skip English entirely until I get her into high school.

However, the moral of this story/rant is that I, at least care. In school a C is perfectly acceptable, and they move on. In homeschool we CAN work through this, and if we have to do it in baby steps we will. If I feel myself getting angry we should stop for the day. If I see C becoming frustrated we should stop for the day. We school year round, and we are far ahead in every other subject. We have plenty of time. I love this girl with everything in me. I want her to learn, to do well, and to enjoy learning. We CAN make it through 5th grade English.

Today we begin her first writing chapter, and I promise to remain calm. In the event I feel my blood pressure rising, we will stop.