Just the 3 boys and Me!

Have I really not posted since August? That's sad. Well, obviously its been crazy around these parts. Here are some of the updates.


Life without Daddy
This Fall has been Joel's busiest since having kids.  Honestly, though, it doesn't feel that bad.  Something about not being pregnant or breastfeeding probably has to do with it.  Also we are keeping super busy, and the boys love going places all the time!

This Fall our schedule was this:

Monday - Joel's homeschool co-op (Classical Conversations) from 9a-12
Tuesday - CrossFit 945-1045
Wednesday - Off. laundry and cleaning at home.
Thursday -Skill Builders at YMCA.
Friday - Off. Daddy home.
Saturday - Daddy home. Play with him.
Sunday - Church in am.  Awana from 6-745pm.

Skill Builders at the YMCA...



Judah is 3!!!
3 is a fun age, but it does not come without its challenges.  Judah has REALLY enjoyed being in Skill Builders class and Awana with Joel.  He has had a hard time learning to sit still and "Focus." He struggles with that, but he is doing better. Joel and Judah are learning how to play together (and on their own) without disobeying all the time, which is incredibly encouraging.  Judah is doing much better at taking care of himself.  He will put on his shoes, clothes, take himself potty and he even gets himself up after naps and takes off his diaper and puts it in the right place. Of course, we don't go a day without a loud SCREAM of frustration from him as he tries to do something he cannot quite figure out.  Like socks.  Or coats.  But all in all, he's a pretty easy boy.

Sept 19th, Judah turned 3 years old!  Pictured below was our first family gluten free & sugar free cake... it was enjoyed by all :) 


His favorite gift...



Awana...



Joel III - sleep
Why does that oldest kid always pose the biggest problems for the parents? Well, Its because the parents don't know what they are doing!  We wasted  invested a good 6 months of our time and energy wondering, praying, stressing over Joel's crazy long temper tantrums and it turns out all we needed to do was take away his nap and put him to bed at 700.  This kid has ALWAYS needed his sleep, and he doesn't seem to cope well if he doesn't have enough sleep (sound like someone you know?;)  I should have figured that was the problem earlier, but, that's what happens with that oldest child, right?

Joel III - homeschooling schedule
Figuring out Joel's schedule took some serious thought.  I knew I would have to teach him during nap time.  As much as I would have liked to spread out his teaching time (20 min of math in the am, 30 mins of phonics later on.. etc.) I knew that with Judah around, Joel would not be able to focus. Teaching during naptime is working out just fine.  At first I wanted to do just 4 days of school for around 1.5 hours each.  Quickly I learned that was too much to expect for Joel.  We switched to 6 days a week for 40 mins-ish, and that worked out much better. Joel's Classical Conversations co-op is not your average homeschool co-op.  It is incredibly intensive and structured!  We knew this going in, but we are fans of the classical model of education and were excited to see how this could supplement Joel's education.  Yes, I did just say supplement.  The CC material is awesome, but it does not cover Phonics (including teaching the child to read), Math, or Handwriting.  "What else is there for Kindergarten?" you say.  Well, you are kind of right.  I knew my focus at home would be the Three R's.  Therefore, paying and investing a ton of time into a program that wasn't exactly helping me with those Three R's seemed counter intuitive.  I don't think I could have been more wrong, but I will get into that more below.

After a few weeks of tweeking with the schedule, we settled on something like this:

Monday - no school. (due to just doing 3 hours of school)  Watch videos taken by Mommy during class.  Up to quiet time by 1:30,nap if needed. (Awana the night before makes him super tired for school at times)

Tuesday - 1:00-1:45 CC review. (yes, the first day takes forever, learning all the new material is just as hard for me as it is for him.. maybe harder!) 1:45 something easy like a handwriting worksheet, Reading Raven on my ipad, or Letter School on my ipad.

Wednesday - 1:00-1:30 CC review.  1:30-1:50 Reading Lesson. 2pm up to quiet time.

Thursday - 1:00-1:30 CC review.  1:30-1:50 Easy Reader book. 2pm up to quiet time.

Friday - 1:00-1:30 CC review with Daddy.  1:30-2:00 Math.

Saturday - 1:00-1:20 CC review.  1:20-2:00 Math, Prepare for CC Presentation.

Sunday - Off.

Joel III - Classical Conversations
"So, just what are you DOING during this 'CC Review' time?"  Glad you asked.  There are 7 subjects covered during Joel's CC class each Monday: Timeline, History, Math, Latin, Science, English Grammar, and Geography.  Each subject contains a sentence or two of information (which may or may not include a song or hand motions) that is to be memorized.  Some of this memory work is easy. Like counting by 2's, or listing the nominative pronouns, or pointing to France or Spain.  Most, though, can be pretty involved and sometimes hard to commit to memory.  Like counting by 14's.  Or, lets take for example, the History sentence this week -
Q: Tell me about European Exploration.
A.  Between the late 1400's and the mid 1500's Dias rounded the cape of Good Hope, Amerigo Vespucci sailed to the Americas, Balboa crossed central America to the Pacific, Magellan's crew sailed around the globe, and Coronado explored the American Southwest.

Usually Joel has his memory work down by Thursday, but this week was particularly difficult.  I am not sure if it was the material, or the fact that we stayed out late for Halloween festivities 4 nights out of the week and so he needed a nap and had a hard time focusing during school time.  Who knows, but, when something like this happens, we need to call in emergency measures, like this:

If you look closely, you can see that each section of the paper has a letter to represent each explorer, and a picture to help Joel remember what they did.  Whew.  That was a tough one!

Of course, Joel III has no idea what the "late 1400's" means.  But that is intentionally part of the Classical Method.  This phase, the 'grammar' phase, focuses on the basics of an education, enabling the child, whose brain is like a sponge, to soak up tons of valuable information while he/she is still so easily able to do so.  Later on, during the 'logic' phase, the child will learn more in depth about what the "late 1400's" actually means, and why all of these explorers were a big deal in history. In the last stage, 'Rhetoric' The child will be able to express his/her ideas about European Exploration in the form of a paper or a speech.  Does that make sense? To give you an example on a very very small scale - Joel was taught in week 1 all the continents and oceans. So,when we got to "Balboa crossed central America to the Pacific..." he said "Pacific!!! I know that place!!"

Of course, I am not on my own for any of this.  CC is a nation-wide program and there are tons of resources out there to help.  We use an app on my ipad daily to help me keep track of what subject we are on and what he should know.  (They have books for this too, but those are much less exciting;) Here's a screen shot of the app for History week 8.

There are also songs and hand motions to almost everything that is somewhat complex.  Which really helps.  That is why I bring my ipad into the class and take a video of almost every subject ;) "Wait!" you say. "Why are YOU in class?" Haha.  Well, in keeping with the spirit of homeschooling, and knowing how challenging the material can be, the parents are requested to be in the building with their children up until High School age (I think).

After the new material is taught, there is a science experiment, and a fine art time.  (both of which, I would never do at home;) Last week's science experiment was in the gym and included soccer balls, golf balls and marbles.... (and for the adults, a tape measure and rope) and it was an instructional time on the Solar System.  The fine arts time is either drawling/coloring, or tin whistle playing. (its like a recorder. Yeah. Take your Excedrin.) Then finally there is presentation time/snack time, and review.  Presentations are done during snack time. Each boy (Yes. Somehow Joel's class has 8 boys and 0 girls.  But actually, I think that is a good thing.) sits in front of the 'class' in a special chair and gives a 1 minute talk on something.  Usually it turns out to be sort of a 'show and tell' type of time, however, it is amazing to see the improvement in these boys after just 8 weeks! They are not only speaking more clearly, with less ummm's and figiting, but the other boys are listening much better too! Very cool.  The review time consists of playing some type of 'game' while the boys spit off info from the past weeks memory work.  They are getting better at retaining the info than I am thats for sure!

Whew. I"m not sure you wanted to know all of that, but hopefully it was informative for you.  We are so pleased with Joel's progress and with the program in general.


Luther talking!!
Luther talks like crazy and its cute. His most common expressions are "Haaa-me." for "Help me!" "None!" for "All done." "Hi!" for "Hi" to anyone new he sees:) of course, "Book." for "Book." and "Reed-it" for "Read it." He is still proving to be a little mix of Joel and Judah.  He is sensitive and sweet (like Joel) but he also thinks everything is a game and is incredibly personable (like Judah).  He already needs less sleep than Judah, which is so strange considering Judah is 3, and Luther is 18 months, but it is true.  Luther needs about 1 hour less sleep than Judah.  Luther eats everything in sight and is constantly on the move.  He does not just stand still.  When he's put in the stroller he is ok with it, if its moving.  The only time I EVER see him sit down is when he is in his crib after naps, and he sits down to 'read' books.  Flipping through the pages for.. well.. sometimes.. hours.

Boo at the Zoo...

Northwest Bible Trunk or Treat...

Talk to you next month!!! 

Bethany