April 29th Wed.

This morning I noticed how much we get accomplished before the actual school day officially starts. This epiphany occurred at 9am when we passed Geneseo Central School and saw the buses disembarking. By 9am, when we passed, Connor had already completed his Math for the day, attended Mass (more on this below), read four chapters in Tom Sawyer, and we did the workout of the day at crossfit. We used to spend our morning "getting ready for school." Now we live school. Mass today was especially interesting. Today was the celebration of St. Catherine of Sienna. Father Ed spoke most eloquently about St. Catherine, and her protests against the Catholic church. The only reason she wasn't burned at the stake as a heretic is because she essentially starved herself (an anorexic, as Father Ed explained) and she lived on only communion bread. People back then thought she must be holy if she can survive on only the host. Consequently, she was a big reformer of the church during the time when the church was at its most corrupt. After Mass and working out, Connor spent hours learning the new Chinese phrases. Then he practiced guitar, and created a map using a graph and plotting the points to outline the world. He is tired of Sheppard software and devised this other way of visualizing the countries and states. Guitar lessons followed, and then Connor read more of Tom Sawyer. He is almost done with the book, and he just started it yesterday!

April 27th and 28th

You'll notice that I am not blogging everyday anymore. Upon review, I found that I was getting quite repetitive. I do want to log what we accomplish, but I think blogging every few days will make it more interesting reading. Yesterday, I had Connor's schedule tightly packed. No more vacation time! We went to daily Mass, did Math pages, a unit in the vocabulary book, finished the book The Ranger's Apprentice, wrote three letters (and addressed the envelopes), responded to a writing prompt on the book White Fang, practiced Chinese, practiced guitar, and went to cross fit. Today, after Mass and math, Connor spent a whole lot of time answering essay questions on White Fang. We went over the proper way to cite a book and quotations. This afternoon we went to the bookstore to buy new school books (Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tom Sawyer and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy). It was interesting watching Connor interact with the person at the information desk at Borders. He confidently approached her and discussed the new series written by Flanagan, and the release of book five. Connor is allowed to read one "fluff" book for every three classic books, and he is loves this Ranger's Apprentice series. After the bookstore, we went to Chinese class. At 5pm, Connor created 63 flashcards with Chinese phrases, and then he settled down to read Tom Sawyer. Yep, my blogs are getting boring. Oh well, at least I am keeping track of what we do all day.

April 20-24 Myrtle Beach

Last week was officially our vacation. That said, we, of course, made certain it was an educational trip. On our way to Myrtle Beach we stopped in Gettysburg Pa. We had all heard about the civil war battle fields, but their sheer size and scope were something to behold. We walked the fields at sunset, and Connor recited the Gettysburg address. While at Myrtle Beach we read a ton of books, played in the sand, studied Chinese, ate like pigs, attended daily Mass, and Connor did Math pages.We took a side trip to Charleston Virginia to spend five hours touring the Boone Hall Plantation. There they had 9 slave cabins with individual museums chronicling the life of various slaves and a working plantation. We also saw a performance of a Gullah dance (their culture)by a slave descendant. On the way home we stopped in Williamsburg Va.for five hours, and then drove through Washington DC. The kids visited Washington DC two years ago, but it was cool seeing the monuments all lit up at night. Vacations are fun, but we were all happy to get home!

Thursday April 9- April 13

This was Austin's holiday break for Easter, so we kept Connor's school work very basic. Everyday he completed at least 5 pages in his Math workbook, he practiced Chinese with Xiao, ran or did other exercises, and practiced his guitar. In addition, he finished chapter 13 in the vocabulary book. Tues. through Friday Austin has school, and Connor will attend his normal school classes (Impact, Boatbuilding, Chinese, guitar etc.), then the following week Austin is on school break. Again I'll scale down Connor's schoolwork, but he never really gets "off." We are completing the entire 5th grade curriculum in 6 months, so we do not take full days off.

Wednesday April 8

Yesterday was an Impact HS Academy day and then Chinese lessons in the afternoon. Today was boat-building at the YMCA, and then guitar lessons after.I would normally have Connor blog about what he learned Tues. and Wed., but he fell asleep when we got home from guitar. The poor kid is exhausted. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a stay at home day and we can work on our writing then.

Monday April 6

Today I could easily list the daily Mass under the title "critical reading." Father Ed compared the reading from yesterday, from the gospel of Mark, to the very similar reading today, from the gospel of John. He pointed out the inconsistencies between the two readings, and questioned why they were different, and which was the correct version of the events. Father pointed out that in the Mark version, Jesus is at the home of Simon the Leper, and in the John version, Jesus is at the home of Lazereth, etc. etc. What I find interesting, is that Father Ed encourages the parishioners to read the Bible through a critical lens, and seek out the true lesson beneath the text.

Sat. April 4 2009

The weather was windy and rainy and Connor was inside on the computer all day today. He decided to tweak his webpage, and he found a site that gave him more advanced programming ideas. Yes, he's writing in Java script now, and he spent all day Saturday working on programming. He also used Xiao's camera to take pictures, upload them to the computer, and add them to his webpage. He figured this all out by reading a book and researching online. Very cool!

Friday April 3

Our "babies" (Chasen and Skylar) are still here, and Austin has off school today. It's been difficult for us to meet all of our objectives with all the distractions, but we really worked on it and did well. Connor finished 7 pages in his Math book, practiced Chinese, did unit 12 in the vocabulary book (I had him skip ahead to unit 12, since that is where Austin is and they can now study together), Sheppard software, worked on his web page, did a webquest on World War II (related to the book Summer of my German Soldier),and read The American History book (nonfiction). It's 5:30pm, and I'm still chasing two toddlers around. I'm wondering where their grandma is, and I don't have time to type much now.

Thursday April 2

I didn't blog yesterday simply because I didn't have time. It was the first gorgeous day out, 65 degrees and sunny, and we were outside most of the day. The only formal schoolwork Connor did was 10 pages in his Math journal. The rest of the day we chased the "babies" around and enjoyed the day. We do lots of work on what are officially non-school days, so I figured we would take a day to enjoy the sunshine.

Wednesday April 1st

Mass this morning was especially interesting. I think I'm going to list our daily Mass under the category World History, or maybe vocabulary. I won't go into detail, but Father Ed always gives the historical background of every reading, and today he spoke of the various translations of the Gospel and how the text changed over the years. After Mass, I dropped Connor off at his boat-building class. From what Connor said when I picked him up at 2p, it seems they sanded and used a router today. Guitar lessons followed boat-building, and reading and Chinese were completed enroute.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I have too much packed into a week. For instance, after church and a full day at Impact Homeschooling Academy, Connor attends Chinese class. That means we are gone from 7:30am until 5:30pm on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, after church and boat-building, Connor attends a guitar lesson. We don't get home until almost 5p. I was trying to be efficient with our drive time when I coordinated these activities, but sheer exhaustion seems to be setting in lately. Fortunately, there are only two more boat-building classes, and only five more Impact HS classes. When these sessions are over, we will need a break from co-ops for awhile. We really want to just stay home and work on other things for the rest of the school year. We will still have Chess on Fridays until the end of June, horseback riding lessons and guitar lessons; I think that will be enough group work. When I set up the curriculum, I was worried about Connor having enough time with peers and me having enough time to myself. What I didn't expect is that we would crave a little less structure. Going to church everyday is sometimes the only outing we need. This weekend we are going to build a raised bed garden, and just getting outside at home will be a pleasure.