A little stressed and a little exhausted

Home schooling is hard work! It can be exhausting (for me). In addition to hiding the mess in a closet or under a bed keeping the house clean, I have to teach the boy. Some days are good and others I feel like I'm just running face first into a brick wall over and over and over (and over). I've decided to quit stressing over his reading, because it will happen, but there are days when it just makes me crazy (though I know it shouldn't). In addition, we've recently added some activities. On Tuesday and Friday he takes German lessons across the river for 90 minutes. This is actually pretty good for me because I can run to Aldi and do some grocery shopping and maybe (maybe) slip off to Mantei for a chocolate croissant and a little time to read. Heaven. On Thursday he has violin lessons over at PHV. Unfortunately neither of these things are within walking distance, so we have to drive. I'd much rather walk, to get in a bit of exercise, but what are you going to do? I'm worn out just driving one kid around to 2 activities. I don't know how parents with multiple kids in multiple activities do it. I need a nap. Seriously.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do next year. It's not really next year for us though because learning is continuous and we take mini breaks throughout the year, so there will be no big summer break before the next year starts. This year we've really kind of done our own thing (while keeping to educational standards), but I've realized I'm just not organized enough for that. I need a plan. Preferably a plan that is done for me because I'm really just too lazy busy to make lesson plans. I'm debating between 2 different curriculums next year: Sonlight and Moving Beyond the Page. Both are good for different reasons. I'm going to have to decide within the next few weeks to make sure I get everything in time to start in mid-July. Ack!

My little virtuoso

Indy has started violin lessons! He just started a few weeks ago, but is already playing very simple songs. He absolutely loves it. His teacher, Christof (isn't that an awesome name?) plays viola with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra. He's amazing! His American students gave a recital 2 weeks ago and Indy thought it was fantastic. He can't wait to perform in the recital next year. Look how cute he is with his little 1/4 violin.

Too Long!

Oh, it has been too long since I posted. We're still schooling (obviously) and some days are great, others...not so much. Reading. READING! We're still working on the reading. Some days I think we're just about to crest the hill, we roll back down it. I know it will happen, but I wish it would be sooner rather than later.
Indy is amazing at math. We've already moved on to 2nd grade math. He takes forever because he likes to talk and he's meticulous about getting the answers right, but he can do it. He has a friend in 2nd grade (closing in on 3rd) at the local PS, and he's doing more complicated math than she is. He can even do simple multiplication in his head. He's 6! He can do math faster in his head than on paper. I think having to write it down slows him up. Isn't that funny? He's also great with math concepts, like odds/evens, greater than/less than/equal to, length and capacity. Telling time on a real clock (not digital) is almost second nature to him.
Vocabulary is another area where he excels. His vocabulary is astounding. People cannot believe how many words he knows and how well he uses them. His talk is peppered with words that most 6 year old's wouldn't use: predict (or prediction), manufacture, investigation, catastrophic, congeal, fluctuating, contagious, complication, situation, centralized, extraordinary, epicenter, indigenous, and thousands of others. He asks me daily what words mean, words he's heard someone use or heard on TV, and then makes is a point to use them throughout the day.
He's got a phenomenal (one of his favorite words) memory. The boy forgets nothing. He'll tell me he doesn't remember something, but that's just him being lazy (a problem I have with him), but when I tell him he can't do something fun until he answers my questions, he "suddenly" remembers the answer. He usually answers verbatim from what I've read to him. It's pretty impressive. He remembers things I don't and I'm the one reading them. Once he starts to read (please, let it be soon) I don't think there will be any stopping. He loves to be read to and takes great pleasure in picking out words he recognizes.
He started violin lessons this past week. It was so flipping cute! He's very excited and has an ear for music. He gets that from M, who was a music major in college. I walks around the house humming classical music. Isn't that funny? I probably have one of only a handful of 6 year old's who walks around humming Beethoven's 5th, The 1812 Overture, Fur Elise, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or Greig from Pyre Gynt. It's pretty funny when he does it in public, because he gets a lot of stares.
Overall, I'm incredibly proud of how well he's done this year. We're taking the month of June off (we'll be in the States), but will start up with 2nd grade after the 4th of July. I'm going in a new direction next year, but I'll talk about that later. And I'll try to update more often.

Egypt is awesome!

We're still studying Egypt and it's still all good! Much like our amber dig, way back in August, we had another Fun Friday with an excavation. FUN!

Indy got geared up and was so excited over what we might find.





Arf is watching closely.


Too closely!

Dutch has to get in on the attention.


Indy found an Ankh!

These are the things he dug up:


And here he is sketching his finds in his journal. Just like Indiana Jones!


Here's a little pyramid he built.


And here's what he put inside it.

What we do

We work hard most days. Indy is making great progress despite the fact that he still can't read. Sigh. Here's a glimpse at our day.

Indy putting his spelling words in alphabetical order. The blue thing there is his "office." It is a great reference tool for him.



Being silly, showing off his Ancient Mesopotamia post card. Didn't he do a nice job coloring?



Here's our board where each day I write down daily info, and the weather, which Indy loves to report on. BTW, einundzwanzig is twenty-one in German and Mittwoch is Wednesday.


And here's the board the next day. Indy decided to "decorate" it while I made lunch. I could hear him giggling, but I had no idea what he was up to.


Let's zoom in for a closer look:


We finished up Mesopotamia last week and started Egypt this week. He is over the moon about this. He loves Egypt. We'll probably study it for at least another week (maybe 2) before moving on to Ancient Greece. Yesterday, we learned about Egyptian home life. He was interested and asked a million questions (thank goodness for the internet!). We decided that it would be great fun to have an Egyptian meal for dinner. Oh, it sounds easy, but really, not so much. First off, finding Egyptian food is HARD. We finally had to compromise and have a late Egyptian meal after the Greeks and Romans had introduced them to some new foods. We had falafel in pita with lettuce and a yogurt sauce, flat bread with hummus, dates, nuts and melons. We sat on cushions on the floor around a low table and talked about Egypt while we ate everything with our hands. It was great fun. M was looking at me like I'd lost my mind when he saw me cooking falafel, but once he tried it, he really liked it. He actually enjoyed the meal more than we did I think. Who knew? Indy loved the dates. He's never had them before. He asked me like 10 times before he ate them though if I was SURE they weren't poisoned. Why? Remember the monkey that ate a poisoned date meant for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark? That's why. I assured him they were poison free and he tucked in.
After the meal, Indy bounced up and went to play, while M and I struggled to get off the floor. We felt so OLD! We laughed at how, when we were in college, we used to sit on the floor by choice. We eschewed perfectly good furniture to sit on the floor. We loved sitting on the floor. Now we sit onthe floor for 30 minutes and we aching and creaking like 90 year olds.

I'm such a slacker!

Ugh! I have been so bad about keeping this blog updated. Now that the holidays are over though, I'll try to keep up with it a little more. We have not been slacking in home schooling though. We are so close to getting over the "I can't read" hump I can almost taste it. It gets better every day and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS! This reading thing is killing me! Killing. Me. There are days when I just want to bang my head on the table. He's such a smart kid (if you don't believe me, just ask him, he'll tell you!), but he's super lazy about reading. Ack!
Here are a sampling of the things we've done over the past few weeks:

made a compass (water, needle, cork)
grew borax crystals
made a gingerbread house (and then ate a large chunk of it)
strung popcorn and cranberries
read most of Despereaux (I read it it to him-we're a little over halfway through)
learned about nomads, and the first farmers of Mesopotamia
caught snowflakes on black paper and studied their shapes
cut out paper snowflakes
made a magnetic paperclip chain
planted seeds and watched them grow

Wow, when I look at the list, we've done quite a lot. And this of course doesn't include daily stuff, like reading, writing, math, German, etc.

And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again

Ah, the holidays. Fun, family, togetherness. Isn't it great? I think so...most of the time. I'm sure we've all heard It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas eleventy-billion times and sing every word verbatim. It's running through your head now, isn't it? Your welcome.
On the radio and TV for the past 2 weeks (well, the ones in English anyway), they've been giving parents suggestions on what to do to keep the kids occupied until school starts back after the holidays. I have to say I've never really given it much thought before, but now I'm wondering why it's such a chore to have your kids home all day? They make it out to be such a rough thing. Poor parents, they can't cope with their own children for 2 weeks. Home school parents are with their kids all the time and rarely do they end up in the loony bin. Okay, maybe a few (I could be one of them one day). Why are people so dependent on school to keep their kids occupied? Let me tell you that I do NOT keep Indy occupied 24/7. If he's bored, he has plenty of toys, books, games, whatever, to do. I'm his mom, not his entertainment director. Ooooh, now I'm totally imagining myself like that woman on The Love Boat....Julie? Was that her name? Whatever. I'm curious as to why people think children must be entertained or occupied. Sometimes life's most wonderful moments happen in unoccupied moments. I am not saying that because I'm with my kid all the time I'm a better parent (believe me, I am flawed beyond measure), but spending a whole day, a weekend, a week or even a month with my child doesn't strike terror in my heart.