The Sinister Scribe

Today was good though I’m feeling truely awful and cranky. I was however finally able to do some things with Jessie I’ve been meaning to for some time. So not a total disaster… just a cranky mommy.

With Jessie, I started some activities centered around the book “The Pokey Little Puppy.” I found them at Homeschool Share.

Jessie agreed to color the cover coloring page and looked at a US map with me. (that is the hardest part most of the time… getting her to AGREE to it) We colored MO and outlined the places she’d been or where family lived. That was our “wide, wide world” discussion. Sam read the book aloud to us. He did such a great job using lots of inflection in his voice. Jessie laughted (genuinely) often which I think spurred him on. It was a rare peaceful moment between them. Then we made rice pudding.

I don’t ever remember liking rice pudding but what we made today was delish! I didn’t quite follow the recipe (more raisins and cinnamon) and cooked it A LOT longer than called for. The results made my tummy very happy and also made me feel very, very tired. (’course I was very tired… and cranky already).

Jessie and I also colored a life sized paper doll made by tracing her outline on some packing paper. The clothing colored just like what she was wearing. She wouldn’t let me tape it on a wall though. Sigh.

For Sam there was lots of reviewing today. I had him do another assessment at MathScore.com. Where he did better on the fractions he did poorly on the long multiplication and division. BUT he had several “ah-hah” moments on percentages which we haven’t even covered. Sigh. So according to the assessment, he’s at a 4th grade level because of “uneven performance.” I’m trying hard not to think about it but I’m not getting very far. I think we’ll do another assessment next week in hopes that this week’s review will help but in the future I should have him do a few multiplication/division problems at least once a week. He can do them but for some reason he just makes a lot of little mistakes.

He did so well on Japanese Hiragana today that I’m not sure I should even “test” him. He knows the first 16 Katakana. No prob. Hmmm… maybe I’ll have him see if he can recognize them in his Japanese comic book.

History review was good… I think. He didn’t answer the questions the way I would but then that doesn’t make it wrong. He also stated his opinion on one case and did so very appropriately. By that I mean he didn’t wander off in a completely unrelated tangent.

For Science he found pictures for all but one of the Astronomers we’ve studied. Need to print them out and glue them to the timeline cards. Then review planets and such. I may do a reverse review… have him write the questions for me to read and answer.

So review continues tomorrow and maybe next week. I’ll still be planning next quarter and fixing the last 2 months.

OKay I am offically and completely wiped out. Off to bed with me.