It's when we get back to work after Christmas break, it's the month of "indoor" activity, which can be hard on boys, it's the time when I look at what we have done, what we have left, and I realize that we are going to have to push through to finish in time to have a summer break!
It's the same every year, so I don't know why I don't do a better job of preparing for it.
Being inside together all day can present a bit of a challenge when it comes to patience. The boys really are very good and they are creative in entertaining themselves, but I find myself wanting to get out and get some exercise with them, it's just too cold!
John uses the treadmill, but I don't want the other two using it because they are still to short.
I am glad that we have two sets of stairs and that they have to go up them multiple times per day!
School does really go better when everyone is getting out a couple of times a day. Our PE plan is to have everyone running a few days a week at the local track and we will get back to it as soon as we can do it without freezing our faces off.
Today it is about 7 degrees out there and it's just not an option. This Global Warming is tough!
I am confidant that we will have at least part of June and all of July and most of August off, but as I am looking at what we need to work through over the next six months, it is easy to feel like we'll never finish! I know from experience that this is just a normal phase of the school year.
The Math books look pretty good. John should finish his by June quite easily. Paul will have no problem and Brendan has a little more to do than the others because I moved him into the 4th grade book in October. He had been working through the third grade all summer and so things were a little off. It will be SO nice not to be trying to get a math lesson in twice a week all summer. They can play math games for a bit each day and that will keep them up on their skills.
Of, course Music goes all summer too. Brendan is making good progress on the piano.
All the work books will be finished with no problem, but History is going to be a challenge.
Brendan is using a very good book, but it takes a couple of years to get through it and I am going to have to push pretty hard to get to the halfway point this year. This year is all about the explorers and early American settlers, it isn't easy to visualize. Next year he will be doing the period from the Revolution to the Twentieth Century. Then we can do lots of field trips! That really helps.
Paul finds History to be a snap. He can do it standing on his head! No really, he actually reads like this. Somehow I can't see him in a traditional classroom...
John is doing a really neat Science unit on food packaging with one of the co-ops from TORCH. It's full of data gathering, teamwork and experiments. I am really happy that he is able to do it. He is also working through the Earth Science projects that we are doing at home, so that he can still finish that book. He is also really enjoying his art projects.
He is becoming a rather competent jewelry creator. He started with Rosaries, and has moved on to some other very unique projects. Yesterday they worked with wire, and he made a neat bracelet out of loops, twisted into a pattern. I have several really nice pair of earrings that he has put together from the beads that he has left over from the rosaries!I think I am going to sign Paul up for a theater workshop that is forming down town. It's with Tidewater Theater, which is a group that the girls used to perform with. I think Paul would love stagecraft. John wants to get into backstage work.
So onward through the chilly days of January. Page by page and chapter by chapter, this family is growing in so many ways!
