Wow guys- thanks for indulging me last week in my marathon of by-the-minute updates. That was actually really fun! Honestly, I forget about most of my day by the time I go to bed at night, so it was funny to just jot down whatever was happening every time I passed the computer.
I was surprised to find myself a little depressed at the end of the week, though. I had hoped that writing down everything I did would prove that I DO get a lot of stuff done, but all I saw was day after day of me being busy from 3:30 AM to 10:30 PM and I still didn't get everything done that I needed to. Weeding? Vacuuming? Bathroom cleaning beyond the emergency spot-wiping and mopping that happened every few hours in Mimi's bathroom? Grrr. And this isn't even a busy time of year- starting in September I'll be teaching piano 7 hours a week. Mom's right- I should hire a house cleaner!
Anywhoo. There were some questions that popped up over the week, I'll answer them here.
The video I shared on August 3rd was put out by "The Piano Guys." They are steadily gaining a rabid fan base on You Tube and Facebook. I can see why! I fell in love with their music when I first heard Jon Schmidt perform Michael Vs. Mozart with Steven Sharp Nelsen. The Piano Guys own a Yamaha piano dealership in St. George, Utah, and they love to make videos. They record artists that come through their shop, and publish the videos on You Tube! Go to their You Tube site, and you can find links to the various artists, as well as links to Facebook and Twitter and all those kinds of places.
Our homeschool curriculum this year was purchased through Calvert School, in Maryland. They produce their own, original curriculum for grades pre-K through high school graduation, in addition to extracurricular courses like art. It's a textbook and workbook heavy curriculum that's been wonderful for Ernie so far. We received our supplies in one enormous box, including everything from textbooks to pencils and paper. The course comes with a daily, blow-by-blow lesson manual that makes teaching the lessons fool-proof. My mom used this method when she home schooled my brothers for a few years, and recommended it highly. The lesson manual is a life-saver: I don't have to think about how to integrate 11 required subjects over the course of a year.
In general, Ernie is SUPER EXCITED to do school every day. She's a creature of habit, and if I tell her to go get started on her math, she pulls out her math manual and two workbooks, and starts working down the daily check list of required reading and problems, finishing up with a daily "test" online. Yes, there are days that she's distracted and we don't get everything done, but the beauty of starting school in June is that we have some extra lee way. We've settled into a rhythm of school in the morning, and then the girls play a bit before lunch and have the rest of the day to themselves after nap time. There's normally a day every week that school just doesn't happen, and I'm OK with that.
The Baby Bjorn that we've used with all three of our kids is fantastic. I've heard the Ergo is great too, and we've used a faux Moby Wrap as well. Mimi preferred the wrap, and Wonder Boy hates it. He can be happy in the Bjorn for hours, and doesn't mind facing towards me (which is much easier on my back.) My shoulders get a little sore, but Wonder Boy is nearly twenty pounds...I'm not surprised! If he insisted on facing out all the time, I don't think I could wear it nearly as long.
"The Berninger" is a friend from church- 3 years ago she basically bribed Ernie to talk to her by offering candy, and so won Ernie's devotion for life. Kids ADORE this woman. I think she's pretty great, too!
I was surprised to find myself a little depressed at the end of the week, though. I had hoped that writing down everything I did would prove that I DO get a lot of stuff done, but all I saw was day after day of me being busy from 3:30 AM to 10:30 PM and I still didn't get everything done that I needed to. Weeding? Vacuuming? Bathroom cleaning beyond the emergency spot-wiping and mopping that happened every few hours in Mimi's bathroom? Grrr. And this isn't even a busy time of year- starting in September I'll be teaching piano 7 hours a week. Mom's right- I should hire a house cleaner!
Anywhoo. There were some questions that popped up over the week, I'll answer them here.
The video I shared on August 3rd was put out by "The Piano Guys." They are steadily gaining a rabid fan base on You Tube and Facebook. I can see why! I fell in love with their music when I first heard Jon Schmidt perform Michael Vs. Mozart with Steven Sharp Nelsen. The Piano Guys own a Yamaha piano dealership in St. George, Utah, and they love to make videos. They record artists that come through their shop, and publish the videos on You Tube! Go to their You Tube site, and you can find links to the various artists, as well as links to Facebook and Twitter and all those kinds of places.
Our homeschool curriculum this year was purchased through Calvert School, in Maryland. They produce their own, original curriculum for grades pre-K through high school graduation, in addition to extracurricular courses like art. It's a textbook and workbook heavy curriculum that's been wonderful for Ernie so far. We received our supplies in one enormous box, including everything from textbooks to pencils and paper. The course comes with a daily, blow-by-blow lesson manual that makes teaching the lessons fool-proof. My mom used this method when she home schooled my brothers for a few years, and recommended it highly. The lesson manual is a life-saver: I don't have to think about how to integrate 11 required subjects over the course of a year.
In general, Ernie is SUPER EXCITED to do school every day. She's a creature of habit, and if I tell her to go get started on her math, she pulls out her math manual and two workbooks, and starts working down the daily check list of required reading and problems, finishing up with a daily "test" online. Yes, there are days that she's distracted and we don't get everything done, but the beauty of starting school in June is that we have some extra lee way. We've settled into a rhythm of school in the morning, and then the girls play a bit before lunch and have the rest of the day to themselves after nap time. There's normally a day every week that school just doesn't happen, and I'm OK with that.
The Baby Bjorn that we've used with all three of our kids is fantastic. I've heard the Ergo is great too, and we've used a faux Moby Wrap as well. Mimi preferred the wrap, and Wonder Boy hates it. He can be happy in the Bjorn for hours, and doesn't mind facing towards me (which is much easier on my back.) My shoulders get a little sore, but Wonder Boy is nearly twenty pounds...I'm not surprised! If he insisted on facing out all the time, I don't think I could wear it nearly as long.
"The Berninger" is a friend from church- 3 years ago she basically bribed Ernie to talk to her by offering candy, and so won Ernie's devotion for life. Kids ADORE this woman. I think she's pretty great, too!
2 comments:
It's hard to keep up, but it will ease up as your son gets older. I've only recently begun to get back to my thorough house cleaning routine with my daughter becoming more self sufficient. I had to lower my standards there for a while, a bitter pill to swallow, but you can't do it all. If we could have done it, I would totally have hired some help. I did when I worked outside the home full time. It was heaven!
It's great to hear that Ernie is so excited to do school! Keep up the good work, mom!
-Christina S.
Calvert School Community Manager
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