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| For Valentine's Day, we did some candy heart chemistry experiments! |
The sun is shining. The temperatures are breezy. The leaves are budding and the air smells just delicious.
But none of that matters, because we're doing school!
Actually, we don't have to--but we do need to reach 186 days of instruction according to state law. Plus we need to check all the boxes that count, because the kids have that kind of a mom-teacher.
Besides, my kids insist on a real summer vacation, and so do I.
So here's what it's like to school in the spring:
Lately, the kids have been hopping out of bed relatively well most days. In the winter, they would easily lie around for 45 minutes or an hour if we let them. Kalina still tries to sneak in extra reading time (not exactly a crime), but they know they have animals depending on them and it's sunny, so they get up.
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| A very common scene lately as Elise says hello to her tiny critters. In the background, Naomi has arranged fake flowers for us. She's always loved vases of flowers. |
Elise has further motivation, which kind of energizes the whole room. She's intensely into freshwater plankton right now, and has set up a portion of kitchen counter as her lab (plus the entire stream). The other girls, fortunately, have not asked where their portions of kitchen counter are and they, being used to Elise, roll with it when she talks of nothing but hydras for basically the entire day. It's been hydras, copepods, daphnia, and not much else for a good week. The microscope gets used hourly, as do the pocket microscopes the girls received for Christmas. This will be a common theme throughout our day, so I'll stop for now.
Everyone completes their chores quickly today. Naomi has her bunny jobs done before I'm even downstairs, and she informs me that Daddy changes the water nowadays since there are usually escaped fruit flies in it, plus hay and fur that shouldn't go down the drain. I'm beyond grateful for this solution, because it's been a problem as Naomi is terrified of all bugs except, amazingly, bees and wasps. The wasps because we've had so many in the house that she's just kind of grown up with them, like siblings. Except you don't usually go after your siblings with a fly swatter or Daddy's special salt gun (even if you really, really want to at times). Once a pest control guy came to our door and was freaked out by all our wasps, dodging and ducking them, while Naomi placidly let them dart around her head, not blinking an eye. So proud! And the bees because they're her favorites. But harmless ants and fruit flies? She's still not using the bathtub in the kids' bathroom because for about a week when the weather warmed up there were ants around it. Just terrified. [Just FYI, the wasp problem was finally taken care of last spring when Matt started working from home...yay!]
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| Everything is better with a cat! This particular one was caught pin-pawed, having slept on Kalina's chalk drawing the night before. This was not her first offense, either. |
Kalina scoops the cat litter (but doesn't refill it, which it totally needs) and Elise empties the dishwasher. Usually it takes her about 20 minutes because she darts back and forth to tadpoles, micro-critters, cats, tadpoles, and any other distraction she can possibly find, but today it's pretty much finished by the time I'm downstairs. So nice not to have to nag on that one today.
Sooner than usual, we're ready for breakfast, over which we begin a little Bible schoolwork to start our day. I relay the news--the wood ducks who'd been nesting at Grandpa's have flown away and the mask mandate in our county has been lifted--plus I list the girls who will be able to attend Nature Club later (not many this time, but at least one friend for everyone). They're super excited about Nature Club, and so a little more motivated than usual. They choose outfits accordingly, with Kalina in her hiking pants and new peach activewear shirt, Elise in some new shorts and a nature T-shirt, and Naomi in her dark-blue dress that she wears whenever she knows she might get wet or dirty. It's her version of old shorts and a T-shirt, but she always looks totally put-together in it. Sometimes she reminds me of the women who wore full "bathing costumes" for a dip in a lake.
I tell Elise that she has a good 45 minutes if she wants to dress quickly, brush her teeth and run outside to look for hydra (she's obsessed with the idea of keeping them as pets). She insists that there aren't any in our stream.
"Really, the entire stream?" I challenge.
"Mommy, I just feel like I would have seen them. I look really closely."
"But how long have you been looking for hydra?"
"Just yesterday, but I see everything, I would have found them by now."
"But they're tiny/how can you possibly search the whole stream/I'm not taking you to the pet store to look for them until you have spent a lot longer looking for them here, etc." (She knows they're invasive species and has heard you can find them living on snails and plants at pet stores.)
I ask her if her watch works since she hasn't been wearing it lately and she has to be inside at 9:00. She says the time is off but it's still ticking. When she brings it to me, I reset it from DST and we're good to go.
Later, she concedes that maybe there are a few places she hasn't looked, and I concede that she really might be right, but I want her to give it a really good try, and I'll even go looking with her. She's satisfied for now, but then wonders how she'll feed them because they eat live food.
In the end, Elise ends up simply staring into space a while and then reading either a Gordon Korman book from the library (thanks, Uncle Tom) or a Diary of a Wimpy Kid which is basically trash, but they have to learn pop culture somehow. She acts surprised when I call her to start school, but I know it's just an act.
Kalina seems ready to start early, and indeed agrees to a head-start on math. Her most recent assignment had some sloppy mistakes, and a few that aren't-so-sloppy, so I bring them to her attention. Fortunately she handles it all quite gracefully for a pre-teen, and quickly figures out the right answers. She's very analytical and doesn't mind math, but by the last two problems I had planned to go through with her, she's tuned me out and instead become fixated on some little thingy she had in her hands. We're in a good spot, so I give up and leave her with her day's assignment. She's been more motivated in math lately because every Monday morning she Zooms with a friend to complete part of an assignment together. Amazingly, they're at about the same level, and we're coincidentally doing the same curriculum, so it's been a great arrangement for both of them. Next year, they'll both start Algebra 1, and we've agreed on to use the high-school curriculum so we can keep it up.
Kalina's comments from a month or two ago about how effective my help is:
Kalina: "Every time you help it's like that show where you go through an obstacle course and they dump slime on you and squirt you with giant tubes of ketchup and mustard and stuff."
Me, caught completely off-guard: "You mean Double Dare? Huh. Is there a way I could help more helpfully?"
Kalina: "No, it's pretty helpful."
We both cracked up.
By the time I finish getting Kalina started, it was 9:00 and time for Elise and Naomi to begin. I'd been hoping to put through an Old Navy order for a few summer clothes this morning, but it got put on hold in favor of doing math with the youngers.
Naomi has been sailing through her book and working almost completely independently lately, although for the first 3/4 of the year she insisted on my joining her (which was fine!). But the girls' math curriculum is written so well that as long as a child is somewhat motivated, they can pretty much learn it themselves step by step, and now Naomi doesn't always like to wait on me. It's also called Math Mammoth, which is another reason we like it, because we were able to acquire a stuffed mammoth "support animal" to accompany it. Naomi used to take possession of Barney, who would "check her work" amid joyful giggles at the end of each assignment (because Barney is a very majestic, very funny mammoth), but now Elise is more likely to be holding on to him.
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| Elise is enjoying candy heart math around Valentine's Day! |
Because Elise is just a mess when it comes to math. Not in the sense that she gets the problems wrong, because she generally doesn't, but because she is terrified of doing so. She also doesn't like that each problem only has one right answer, and that it's really dry, and that there are a million other things she'd rather be doing. She hates it almost as much as dentistry. Lately, the thing that works best is for me to crochet while she snuggles up to me on the couch, and I nag her through the assignment between conversations about miniature pond life. It's very relational and sweet, if you can get over the extreme grumpiness, whininess, and self-pity. Tell it to the mammoth, Child. She's currently getting introduced to decimals and frequently shows a solid understanding even while freaking out about them. She hasn't always been this way and I know I need to nudge her out on her own again, but this is working for now, and summer is so, so close. It's like letting a 12-month-old nap in the swing for the nap they'll be giving up really soon.
And yes, I constantly remind her that scientists need to be good at math. Now that she's decided she wants to be a plankton biologist when she grows up, it's almost working. "Finish these 5 problems and then we can look at another page of your microorganisms book."
Today, she actually begins her math outside for the first time in a while, which I let her do but remind her to come in and get help right away if she needs it, and that she can only work outside if she actually works outside. Naomi wants to work in her room, probably because there's a cat on her bed.
For about 5 minutes I'm living the homeschool mom's dream: each child is actually working on math independently and no one needs help. I finish the breakfast dishes--before lunch! And I reflect that that's one thing I love about school in the spring--the kids have finally learned the routine given up all resistance and have finished a subject or two entirely and really figured out others. It's so much smoother than, say, October, when things are just starting to get hard and they all still remember summer vacation.
Then Elise charges back inside--which I'm grateful for because it means she's not daydreaming her math time away in the crabapple tree--and demands help. We initiate the couch routine.
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| Naomi is learning about perimeter and area with her hearts. (Kalina refused a photo.) |
Naomi, who loves nothing more than a checklist she can mark off, unless it's a fully marked-off checklist, zooms through most of her usual 2 pages before approaching me near tears for help with the final problem. At which point I discover two more tiny mistakes that I know she can fix. She tries again, and comes back actually crying because she's not sure exactly how to do it. It's one of those things I know she thoroughly understands, but it just tripped her up today, so I do my best to reassure her and help liberally so as not to shatter her confidence. Elise also helps cheer her up. Crisis managed.
I'm trying to peel Elise off of me now that I know she understands the new concept (something she usually denies, and then proceeds to get all of the problems right while simultaneously trying to hide from them under couch pillows) so I can help Naomi with her language arts when Kalina enters the room, flops down on the schoolroom floor, and announces that if she does any more math her head will explode. I totally understand, so I offer for her to work on something else for a while. In fact, I'm kind of delighted that she has acknowledged this--as I noticed a couple months ago that Kalina and Elise had both developed the (normal, developmentally appropriate) tweenage skill for making a simple math assignment drag on for 1 1/2 or 2 hours, I've been encouraging them to switch gears if they're stuck and return to it later. I feel like focus has been better all around lately, which means a lot less time spent on school and more time for microbiology and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
I get Kalina started on Duolingo Russian, which we just started recently. Matt has been diligently working with the kids on Spanish, and while I hate to slightly compromise his efforts, the kids are all actually excited about the "renegade" language of Russian. I mean, just look at the alphabet! So as long as they're motivated.... Plus Kalina just seems to like languages, and I think secretly doesn't mind learning Spanish, too, but can't let her little sisters know that because they're pretty vocal about their negative feelings. Although I think secretly Naomi might also like it. But Elise is loud, so.... Kalina works for a long time on Russian, even getting the tricky verbal portions right, which I'm glad Elise didn't hear, because she struggles with them. In fact, I even stop her so that she has time for her other subjects.
We quickly do spelling with none of the usual pushback, and then I send her upstairs for writing. She'd begun a poetry analysis assignment yesterday and finished it today, again without the usual "Why are you forcing me to do this?" or "Can't I just read?" or the sarcastic "Yes, your majesty" that I would enjoy except that I can just hear the eye roll in it. In fact, afterword Kalina even sweetly admitted that she doesn't dislike all poetry (which she'd been leading us to believe as we've all been reading and memorizing poetry this month), but she only likes the really good stuff. I compliment her taste and say that she shouldn't like the bad stuff. Fortunately, the assignment in the book was about a poem she actually does like, even though you'd never have known it on Wednesday when we discussed it together ("The Bells," by Edgar Allen Poe). She completes the assignment and moves on to her "booklist" literature assignment, which is due today and that she's had a month to do.
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| Romeo and Juliet was not on Elise's reading list--it just happened! She read it in 2 days and asked for more. "Do you think the library will have A Midsummer Night's Dream?" |
This is one of my favorite things: every year (for two years now!) I've created a list of quality books I want the girls to read (this was triggered when Kalina read nothing but Harry Potter for about 3 months--nothing against Harry Potter, but she needed a nudge). This year, I put them in 5 different categories (science, history, etc.). They must read one a month for the 10 months of school. For each set of 5, they get to choose a book for me to buy. Naomi's list is more simple because she only started reading really fluently about a year ago, but next year it'll be more in line with her sisters. They also have to fill in a form to prove they read it and supply some insights, vocabulary, etc. They actually appreciate the book recommendations, and love the system, so it's a win-win.
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| Naomi working studiously on geography. She used a guide to draw a whole world map in one sitting! |
Meanwhile, I've completed language arts with Naomi. She learned (a little) about symbolism, worked on rewriting some sentences to make them sound more descriptive (she loves this), practiced a few spelling rules, and wrote complete sentences to answer questions about a chapter of a book (which always stresses her out to the point of tears because there aren't usually enough lines to write a complete sentence). Then we did a little literature lesson together where she learned what a yoke was. She colored a paper yoke and set up a pair of bunnies in it. She also loves this kind of thing. I set her up to copy the poem I'd written down for her yesterday--"Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear"--so she could practice her Z's, which she still gets backward because really, how often do you write a Z? She enjoyed drawing a fuzzy bear to illustrated it--as she also loves drawing.
I'm not going to name names for who my easiest one to teach has been this year.
When she was done, she delightedly wiped these subjects off of her whiteboard list and noticed she was nearly finished, with only piano and history left. I'd purposefully kept the lists a little short today because of the beautiful weather and impending Nature Club, but lately Naomi finishes everything quickly. "Mommy, I like to get everything done so I can have free time, but then sometimes when I have free time I want to do school!" I can totally relate--why do you think I homeschool?
At this point, Elise has completed her math, Russian work, and literature book form. Since I'm available, I seize the opportunity to work on spelling and grammar with her. Or try to, anyway. She's back at her lab, fishing critters out of the cup of streamwater she's keeping them in, and slipping them into the microscope. I realize these are problems you want to have, but even microbiologists need to spell. Eventually I drag her over. She just switched to a new spelling curriculum a few weeks ago, having gotten bored with the old routine. We find we get super bored with spelling unless we switch it up every 6-12 months, and she's a good speller, anyway, so I don't stress about the lack of continuity. Last time Elise kept making really sloppy mistakes, but this time she's more on her game, and only misses the words that are actually difficult and new. This takes a good 20-25 minutes, though, as we keep having conversations in between sentence dictation passages. About what? One guess.
Naomi completes her piano practice independently during this time, and asks me to print off a new practice chart so she can track her time. When we used to attend lessons in person, her teacher would hand out the occasional prize for a completed practice chart, and Naomi hasn't kicked the habit of recording her time. I'm certainly not going to stop her, plus we start in-person lessons again on Monday.
I straighten up the house a bit, but since we did a lot of cleaning up yesterday so it's not to bad. This not only gives me a little more time to work with the girls, but just makes me feel better at life. Most days, it's a constant battle, emphasis on the word battle, to keep the house clean with all of us here all the time. Although I think if we eliminated pencils, books, and couch pillows, that would go a long way.
After Elise studies her spelling words, we move to grammar. By this time, Kalina is working on typing and is sitting with us, plus Naomi's around for some reason, so I quiz Naomi on her parts of speech, and Kalina gives Elise a few pointers on simple/progressive/perfect-tense verbs, and then goes off to try to finish her book form. Next year for grammar, we're planning to work with our good friends in Pella on the same exact book for our oldest kiddos via Zoom. It'll be a much-needed review for Kalina as this particular grammar book covers everything, and new for the rest--but newest for Elise since she's the youngest. Fortunately, Elise finds grammar fairly intuitive, and is sailing through at the moment, so I think she'll be alright. At least she's highly motivated. Today, she learns that a prepositional phrase works as a single part of speech, plus she practices labeling the verb tenses. I tell her she needs to finish before lunch, multiple times, as she ping-pongs back and forth to her lab. It's taking forever for her to get it done. Finally when she's up again, I actually raise my voice (which I don't do much these days due to overused vocal chords that need a break), only to find that she is done, having completed the final 1/4th of the assignment in the approximately 60 seconds I took to pour a few lunch pancakes with Naomi. I swallow my comment about how much free time she could have if she just applied herself the same way through the rest of her assignments, as she's heard it already.
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| It's hard to see, but we made prints on notecards a week or two ago as an art project. Hers has two bunnies that are just adorable. |
Pancakes are for lunch because we virtually never have them for breakfast and they're something everyone will eat. Plus I make them with with whole grains and protein, so they're fairly healthy. Naomi's finished with all her work and is starting to bug her sisters, so I invite her to help me with pancakes. She mixes them a LOT, and then pours them into the pan, making little baby pancakes, too. Which are really hard to flip, but I don't mind because we're actually running a little earlier than usual for lunch. We round out the meal with fruits and veggies and such, and I heat up some leftovers for myself because I get tired of kid food, amazingly.
During lunch, we always watch CNN-10, our favorite news program. When that's over, we sometimes watch a portion of a documentary, Geography Now, or our new favorite, Tudor Monastery Farm on Amazon Prime, which goes along great with our study of the middle ages. We're all together all day, and this gives us something new to talk about. But today, we work on some memory work songs until everyone starts to wander away.
Generally after lunch we have recess so the kids can get some outdoor time or read if the weather is crummy (plus I can get a breather), but today we launch right into history so we can finish up for Nature Club. Elise wants to do it outside, so we gather everything and head out, with me stipulating that if anyone starts mowing, we're heading in. No one is particularly happy at this point--they mostly enjoy history, but are antsy to be done.
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| Sometimes for history and science you have to do the less-academic projects, like building a castle out of Rice Krispie treats. We kinda sorta learned parts of a castle, but that's really a stretch. |
It goes downhill. Half a paragraph in, Elise recognizes that she went through the exact chapter (Copernicus and Galileo) two days prior in her co-op history class. Which she signed onto anticipating that it would be the "activities" portion of history, and later found out it was the same reading that we do as a family. She still mostly enjoys it for the lively discussions, and knows all the answers. I let her go hang out on her monkey line until we start the questions and mapwork. Naomi immediately becomes jealous, so I semi-patiently explain it in terms she can understand. Kalina asks to sit inside the screen door and pet the cats while I read. Everyone is annoyed with everyone, and Naomi keeps asking if I would tell her what to write on the map so she could just get done with it already!
Fortunately, we are able to finish even with the general grumpiness, and with only a few arguments over colored pencils. I make everyone grab a history-based book for a little individual reading, and the girls all scurry off to complete their work. I end up reading Naomi's aloud, because I can. Matt arrives home from his second Covid vaccine, and starts working on various projects.
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| This fall while Kalina attended orchestra, Naomi and Elise did nature study and other subjects with me at the nearby park. We've only done it once this spring thanks to weather and general busy-ness, but it was great while it lasted! |
Soon-ish, it's time to be ready for Nature Club! We are still plastering on sunscreen when the doorbell rings and two sisters from church Elise's and Naomi's age arrive. My girls rush out the door and dash to the stream. It's almost quiet in the house!
The rest of the girls eventually arrive (only a couple more this time), and I step out to chat with Kalina's math friend's mom about some options for next year before she grabs her bike and rides the trails. And then, as Matt has settled into his "home office" (corner of our bedroom), the house is actually quiet. I soak it in. Some chocolate is involved.
I can see the girls from the window, but when I hear a little too much laughter and Kalina suggesting a water fight, I rush out the door and remind everyone that their parents might not want them to get soaking wet. (I also get tired of lending out dry clothes out to everyone--but fortunately several of the girls had brought their own changes of clothes.) Although one has already fallen in, and they insist their parents will be fine, they all agree to tone down the water fight. Later, they come back for walkie talkies and head out a short distance away on the trail.
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| It's the blubber experiment, using Crisco and ice water! I've been wanting to do this with them for years. Naomi found her seal mask for the occasion and is being a seal. |
By the end of it, Elise has needed a band-aid, the two sisters needed their changes of clothes, and everyone got somewhat covered in red clay that kinda stains. But they had an amazing time! I chat with the parents during pickup, but have to leave soon with Naomi. One of her besties who's about to get a new baby sister had invited her over for an outdoor playdate and I figured we should take the opportunity for some playtime. Yes, it's a lot in one day--but it's also April. I have Naomi clean up (she puts on her favorite dress) and I fill a container with soapy water to receive Elise and Kalina's stained clothing in an effort to get the spots out.
After dropping her off, I head up to the grocery store for my own second Covid vaccine. While I'm waiting, I read a fiction story from one of my writing students, text Matt to have the girls soak their clothes, text with Aunt Nancy, and check headlines. After the vaccine, I pick up a few groceries, and, amazingly, it's time to pick up Naomi, who bursts into real tears because "she doesn't want to end on soccer!" We graciously give them a few more minutes, and Naomi shows me their giant hopscotch (they made it to 200!) and shoots some baskets in their hoop. Huh. Naomi's friend's mom and I talk about the possibility of meeting up at the ice cream food truck that's supposed to be at the neighborhood pool that evening.
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| Our one indoor field trip this year: the local aquarium! We were first inside and it was practically empty, but it really complemented our marine biology study! |
Back at home, Naomi and I wolf dinner--Matt has already mentioned the food truck to the girls, and we're all eager to go. I also work on the clay stains. Kalina grabs her bike and Naomi and Elise get their scooters--it's only about a 12-minute walk, and a shorter ride. They also each grab money, because Matt and I offer to pay for the cheapest item only. Normally, we'd use after-dinner time for a simple walk, board game, showers, and/or music practice, but the urge to walk/ride to ice-cream with friends and beautiful weather is too strong.
At the truck, Kalina and Elise both enjoy double scoops (they're humongous), and finish them, and want more. Naomi enjoys her scoop of vanilla on a cone, but even more, seeing her friend again. We all chat way too long, such that our friends have to bike home in the dark, and we ride through our dark woods
This is the latest we've been out in a long time, and people are ready to settle in when we get back. Matt reads the Tripods books to the girls, and I read the next chapter of our American Girl book to Naomi. we're through most of the girls, and we both thoroughly enjoy the books.
And that's a wrap!
