Week 15, days 5 and 6 (Wed. and Thurs.)

I didn't update this yesterday evening, because Ari and I went out for a date and then I thought (again) I might be going into labour. So we watched Wall-E while I bounced on the birth ball and contractions kept up every 10-15 minutes until 11pm. I decided it was bedtime no matter what, and slept very well through the night and woke up with no sign of labour. So much for that.

Bible (Catechism, Bible story, memory verse): Yesterday and today, we reviewed the most recent catechism question and a verse. Yesterday we read about how Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead, and today we read about how Jesus helped Peter catch many more fish than he expected to. We sang "I will make you fishers of men if you follow me" again.

Calendar (Update day of week and date of month, record weather and temperature): P is really gaining confidence with reading the time on the clock. I moved too fast on making her do it by herself before, but I can give her much less help than I needed to a few months ago and she still figures it out. I'll keep giving her as much help as she needs for telling time to the minute, and reviewing hour and half hour on her math worksheets.

Handwriting: Yesterday, I wrote "bed" and "bad" on the blackboard and had P copy them (to practice writing "b" and "d" the right way around). Today, I didn't make her write at all.

Language Arts: Yesterday and today I had P read some of the Bob books. She made it through the first 3 and a half yesterday, and today finished the 4th and didn't want to do any more, so I let it go. Today, we played alphabet BINGO. E is getting more confidence recognizing letters and sounds, and P finds it easy.

Math (5-a-day, other activities): The timer continues to be a good strategy for keeping P focused on her 5-a-day. Today, I told her to make 71 cents any way she wanted to. She hauled out 71 pennies, then realized there was no way she'd be able to trace them on her worksheet. She started trading up, looked at the timer, and decided to do it a different way. At that point, E asked me how much 2 quarters makes, and I suggested to P that she use this knowledge to make 71 cents. This was enough help to have her make it the most efficient way possible (2 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 penny). She finished tracing them just before the timer went off, so she got a sticker and her choice of a math toy. She lost interest fairly quickly, but E wanted to play with the Think-It-Through tiles. I gave him the help he needed, and he enjoyed seeing the patterns, but then we had some kind of communication glitch. He wanted me to help him make patterns with the tiles outside the tile box, but he didn't want me to rotate the tiles, or to complete patterns I saw, or to remove tiles from the box and place them pattern side up, or anything else I thought of that fit into my mental category of "help make patterns." He ended up in a screaming tantrum and I put the blocks away, rather dissatisfied with my inability to grasp just what he'd wanted me to do.

E's "school": Yesterday, we read "Jack and the Beanstalk" from The Tall Book of Nursery Tales. Today, we read "Lentil" from A Robert McCloskey Treasury. Yesterday, we did an activity from SSGMR, involving folding a circle and two squares along axes of symmetry, forming a semicircle, a rectangle, and a triangle.

Geography and/or science: I still can't find P's half-finished Denmark book. I've searched folders and everything now. I don't know if I should have her start another one, or just move on to the most important country in the world (that would be Norway, for those of you who have never met my mom).

Other: Yesterday I taught both P and E to find "C" on the piano, and had them play it with their thumbs. E wanted to keep his hand in a fist while playing with his thumb, but was able to unfold it when I asked him to. I didn't have them practice today, because they were having lots of fun with play-dough and their grandmother at the time I would have asked them to.