Bryan St Academy is in session!
We officially started our school August 8, 2018. I was so incredibly busy that day not only trying to cram in school (and make sure that I did a perfect job... yes, after all the blogs and books I've read I still wanted perfection even though I have read and heard it over and over that "perfect" can not happen...) and keep the wild two year old out or quiet so the Bigs could focus, make it to Meals on Wheels to deliver food on time, back home to make lunch and get the wild two year old down for a nap in a good enough time so that he can have a decent nap before having to get back up and out to church. It may not seem like much, but wow time flies when you stay home! I'm going to make this post about just the last 3 school days, but I could (will) make a post on how or why the time flies when I'm home... I used to think that when I was home I would be able to do so much, get so much done!
We had to take obligatory 1st day of school pics! I love that they are so happy in them. They really are excited and still love it even after three days.
I'm not going to lie and say that things have gone smooth. Yesterday in fact was HORRENDOUS! I was questioning what I was even thinking about quitting my job that I loved to stay home with three outrageous kids who don't listen to a darn word I say! The first day went ok, but like I mentioned it was a super busy day so there wasn't much down time. The kids were really excited about the work so they went through it pretty fast. We have only done the core math and language arts (english, grammar and reading) these last 3 days. We will be doing Science and The Story of the World (for our History) together.
MG is already catching on to the math better. I can see her eyes light up when she figures out that she understands even and odd numbers and skip counting. I was worried about this subject, but I know we will do just fine!
She is doing great in her A Beka Phonics and Language 2. It is still seeming like a review, but much needed. We started her A Beka Reading today. She is going to be amazing!
G LOVES his math. We are doing Teaching Textbooks 7 (it's 6th grade content) and it is all on the computer. He likes that he can watch the lesson and do the problems and know his score immediately. He does not like getting anything wrong. I personally love it when he does - only one and only sometimes! HeeHee! It gives him another chance to get it correct and I make him watch the explanation of it whether he gets it right or not. I want him to really know and understand (even though he believes that it already does!) I've had to remind him more than once that he does not know it all and that is fine. He is 10 and is here to learn, I am here to teach and that is the roles we will both be in from here on out. He is starting to understand me as the "teacher" and not just the "mom". Seth is really the academic in the family so he looks to him for all the answers, but he is learning that I know stuff too! ... and I have all the answers with the teacher's key!
His Reading and English are BJU curriculum and I am really liking it so far. He does not like to do worksheets and there isn't as much of that like MG's A Beka, but enough that he has to show he understands and still has to write some. This kid has HORRID handwriting, but we are working on that as well! Today we learned how to combine two sentences into one by making compound subjects and/or predicates and then how to diagram those sentences. It only took 3 days to get to something that he didn't know right off the bat! Nice!
We have decided that W needs to go to a Moms Day Out so that I can focus on the Bigs and he can still be getting something from "school". He learns so much from play (as he should at this age) but when I'm working with the Bigs I don't have time to sit and play or color with him. He really did so much better today and it does make me think that we could make it work, but he could also use some fun play time with other little kiddos! He is used to being the one and only during the day with Mama C and Opa. He loved them and his time there and learned so much so I want to keep that up!
Yesterday was by far the worst day! School was wonderful. Even W was decent about watching his show and came into the school room to color for a few minutes quietly. When school was over the kids turned into little demon children!! They fought like cats and dogs! I couldn't get them to listen to anything. We cleaned upstairs and by the time Seth got home, it looked like we hadn't cleaned in days. (this was remedied before we all went to sleep of course!) I had to remind myself more than once that they are normal children. Siblings fight. Siblings will tear each others' forts apart, essentially tearing their dreams apart apparently! I almost recorded the noise just so that I could post it so you wouldn't think I was exaggerating. I quickly thought better of it as it sounded like someone was being bludgeoned to death ... and then they wouldn't die! I wasn't pushed to my quiet place though. I go hide in my closet when I need to get away. It's the only place that the noise can't come or it's muted somewhat! I used to run there frequently and I only had them the whole day on the weekends then! Prayer (and I'll admit some medicine!!) has worked wonders for me. I take deep breaths and remember that they need to be taught better and they are acting out what they've seen. Yes, I tend to have temper tantrums and mine is to yell... they don't respond to yelling. That's actually what I told them yesterday when they were doing it to each other. "Hey, you are going to need to stop yelling and talk to him. It's like he goes deaf when you yell. You're wasting your breath."
Today was MUCH better. The school work was done wonderfully, chores were done without me asking even twice and W even went to the potty twice before nap time! (granted now I have to go clean up poo and that's why I'm cutting this short[er] than I had planned!)
We had to take obligatory 1st day of school pics! I love that they are so happy in them. They really are excited and still love it even after three days.
I'm not going to lie and say that things have gone smooth. Yesterday in fact was HORRENDOUS! I was questioning what I was even thinking about quitting my job that I loved to stay home with three outrageous kids who don't listen to a darn word I say! The first day went ok, but like I mentioned it was a super busy day so there wasn't much down time. The kids were really excited about the work so they went through it pretty fast. We have only done the core math and language arts (english, grammar and reading) these last 3 days. We will be doing Science and The Story of the World (for our History) together.
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| Beautiful girl is loving school! |
MG is already catching on to the math better. I can see her eyes light up when she figures out that she understands even and odd numbers and skip counting. I was worried about this subject, but I know we will do just fine!
She is doing great in her A Beka Phonics and Language 2. It is still seeming like a review, but much needed. We started her A Beka Reading today. She is going to be amazing!G LOVES his math. We are doing Teaching Textbooks 7 (it's 6th grade content) and it is all on the computer. He likes that he can watch the lesson and do the problems and know his score immediately. He does not like getting anything wrong. I personally love it when he does - only one and only sometimes! HeeHee! It gives him another chance to get it correct and I make him watch the explanation of it whether he gets it right or not. I want him to really know and understand (even though he believes that it already does!) I've had to remind him more than once that he does not know it all and that is fine. He is 10 and is here to learn, I am here to teach and that is the roles we will both be in from here on out. He is starting to understand me as the "teacher" and not just the "mom". Seth is really the academic in the family so he looks to him for all the answers, but he is learning that I know stuff too! ... and I have all the answers with the teacher's key!
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| G really likes to use the white board more than writing - thanks for this advice Jessica!! |
His Reading and English are BJU curriculum and I am really liking it so far. He does not like to do worksheets and there isn't as much of that like MG's A Beka, but enough that he has to show he understands and still has to write some. This kid has HORRID handwriting, but we are working on that as well! Today we learned how to combine two sentences into one by making compound subjects and/or predicates and then how to diagram those sentences. It only took 3 days to get to something that he didn't know right off the bat! Nice!
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| Not enthused about having to diagram sentences! |
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| Big man getting ready to color his "bire-truc" |
Yesterday was by far the worst day! School was wonderful. Even W was decent about watching his show and came into the school room to color for a few minutes quietly. When school was over the kids turned into little demon children!! They fought like cats and dogs! I couldn't get them to listen to anything. We cleaned upstairs and by the time Seth got home, it looked like we hadn't cleaned in days. (this was remedied before we all went to sleep of course!) I had to remind myself more than once that they are normal children. Siblings fight. Siblings will tear each others' forts apart, essentially tearing their dreams apart apparently! I almost recorded the noise just so that I could post it so you wouldn't think I was exaggerating. I quickly thought better of it as it sounded like someone was being bludgeoned to death ... and then they wouldn't die! I wasn't pushed to my quiet place though. I go hide in my closet when I need to get away. It's the only place that the noise can't come or it's muted somewhat! I used to run there frequently and I only had them the whole day on the weekends then! Prayer (and I'll admit some medicine!!) has worked wonders for me. I take deep breaths and remember that they need to be taught better and they are acting out what they've seen. Yes, I tend to have temper tantrums and mine is to yell... they don't respond to yelling. That's actually what I told them yesterday when they were doing it to each other. "Hey, you are going to need to stop yelling and talk to him. It's like he goes deaf when you yell. You're wasting your breath."
Today was MUCH better. The school work was done wonderfully, chores were done without me asking even twice and W even went to the potty twice before nap time! (granted now I have to go clean up poo and that's why I'm cutting this short[er] than I had planned!)
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