Joining the Bale

Did you know that a group of turtles is called a "bale?" I didn't either, until I decided on this week's topic. See, you can learn something new everyday. We ventured out of our shell this week to join the bale, but more on that later.

Last week, I talked a lot about how much my oldest does not want to learn to read. After much worry on my part, I have decided that it's not so much that she doesn't want to learn to read, she just doesn't like the monotonous weeks of learning sounds. She wants to read; she just wants to go from nothing to full words in a day. After explaining how unlikely that is, she's a little more willing to practice sounds this week.  Taking the advice of those who've gone before me, I made reading a little more hands on.  She loves to paint, so I'm letting her paint her own alphabet, with matching sound pictures. She loves making it, is very proud of it, and refers to it while studying her phonics lessons.  Woohoo!

 

Reading with our hands



Running with what works, we also made science even more hands on this week.  I'd been letting her draw a picture after discussing the lesson, but we moved on to drawing out the lesson this week, literally.  She let me outline her, colored herself in, and then pinpointed body parts as we talked about them.  Her sister even had to get in on the act with this one.

I had to tell her to use a color other than pink.  That's my girly-girl.



Speaking of siblings in the middle of things, baby brother decided that sissy was a good chair while she was making her family tree.



As for joining the "bale," this was our first week of co-op!  We met up for a play date last week, but this week began our bi-weekly meetings for classes.  My friendly girl became super shy when she realized she knew no one there, and begged her teacher to come see me often.  I'm not sure if it helped or hindered to know I was right down the hall.  She loved finding new people to play with, but is still worried that she doesn't have friends there, yet.  I told her to give it time.  She's very amiable, so I'm sure she'll have plenty in another week or two.  I helped in the 3-yr old class, and was reminded that while I love my young 'uns, I'm still a high school teacher at heart.  I also helped in the Latin and drawing classes.  I was quite content to add four new words to my foreign language vocabulary. It was enlightening to see how other homeschooling families work, and enjoyable to have others with whom to talk.

Animal crackers and new friends!

I did promise to discuss being a full-time working mom who also homeschools, so I will begin addressing that with this post.  It has become obvious to me that our house will never be clean.  Of course, I knew that before this venture, but it's even more clear now.  Between breakfast, three hours of schooling (dad does an hour of "homework"/review in the evenings), lunch, an hour or two of naptime for the youngest (in which he demands to be held), and afternoon snack/playtime outside, there isn't any time left before I begin working.
However, I do find time to clean on my off days, and my husband has pitched in some this week.  We tacked the girls' room and lightened their load by 3 Hefty bags.  We'll donate those and have less to clean, until the next birthday. ;-)
I also have found that while I may not get kid-free time, I do get quasi-free time while the baby naps. He wants to be held, limiting my ability to work around the house, but it gives me an hour or two to read, my favorite past time, or to catch up on social media.
Having more to do is actually causing me to get more done, as well, if that makes any sense at all.  I no longer can lie in the bed for an extra 30 minutes while the kids play, or sit in front of the tv or computer for an hour.  However, that means that I am not wasting any part of my day, also.  I get up, get going, and am motivated all day (for the most part).  I've even decided to kick the caffeine habit, and have been successful so far.  For a mom that works until midnight and then gets up to school early the next morning, that's not too bad.
And lastly, being a working and schooling mom, has caused me to re-examine my priorities.  I couldn't tell you the last tv show or movie I watched (other than one with my hubby on an evening off), but my kids and I are being active together all the time.  I'm putting more thought into their activities, and scheduling our days to matter more.  Actually, I feel less stressed than I did before I added a "part-time job" to my week.  Although, it might just be that I can say, "Yeah, I know the house is a mess, I work full time and homeschool." ;-)

Back to work.  See you next week.