E on investing

The afternoon before their investment into cubs…..

E – what happens when get invested?

The K mum – well, you’ll probably do it at the beginning or end, you’ll have to say your cub promise then you’ll get  your scarf and badges.

E – oh (downcast look )… you mean it will be in front of everyone?

The K mum – yes, your pack will want to welcome you in.

E – well, then, I don’t want to be invested! I though you had to go into a private room and do those things!

(E leaves the room – the K mum gives him some space to think things through…)

No other comments were made that afternoon. E went on to be invested in front of the pack and replied to the welcome call with a very loud ’1-2-3 WOLF’, the volume of which even surprised me!

Update 2011

I am being peer pressured to post something.  My friends are on a blogging spree and I just have to keep up (cos I’m that kind of a girl – not ).

This has been a big year for us so far. Derek is studying full time as well as working full time and we have had to cut back on our homeschooling commitments because of it.  Actually, that’s been a good thing because it means we are spending more time at home and actually ‘schooling’ rather than traipsing around the countryside doing all sorts of other things!

We have also had the blessing of having a beautiful nun, Sr T, join us on Tuesday and Wednesday for the day.  She is an angel, helping out exactly where she is needed.  The kids love her and I adore her!!  I get to work in the afternoons of the days she is here and so we have Saturdays relatively free (when Derek isn’t working or at uni that is!).

Home schooling is cruising along nicely.  We are achieving the goals we are setting.  We are embarking on new journeys with new curricula.  We are maintaining great friendships and making new ones.  We’ve had a few stumbling blocks along the way.  I and E have had their fair share of trying to ‘buck’ the system, but with a bit of tweaking and consistency of consequences we are actually enjoying the tasks we are setting.  J and C’s reading is coming along very well.  C is having a go at reading most things and J has begun to blend well. I can’t wait until the older four are reading and we can begin unit studies – my dream for next year!!

I and E have begun cub scouts.  They are loving it.  They were invested the other night and are really excited about starting badges.  E is already setting goals needed to achieve the highest ‘wolf’ badge! I wonder if that enthusiasm will continue?

N is growing fast, 7 1/2 months old now.  He got his first five teeth last week, all at once.  He is getting another one this week.  He began ‘proper’ crawling this week.  He has been caterpillar crawling for a while and he has been rolling as a means of motion for a few months now.  He is delightful and the whole family are relishing his every smile and laugh. J is a mother hen with him and he adores her!

I’m going to post this now so that I can say that I have blogged .  The younger boys are demanding my attention and I must relinquish it…..

11 goals for 2011

A friend of mine posted her 11 goals…. so I thought I’d follow in  her footsteps:-)

1.  Increase my fitness and lose weight in the meantime.  I would like to do the 5 km run in the City to Surf in August… well Derek would like to do it with me!!

2.  Keep up with my homeschooling responsibilities (which is another post in itself )

3.  Begin prayer journaling again.

4.  Pray the rosary every day/second day (to begin with… this may change as the year goes on)

5.  Keep up with my bible study

6.  Develop more emotional self control with the kids.  This is something I am constantly struggling with.  I am finding it changing as the kids get older.  E is growing up so fast… and we are occasionally having arguments where I am losing my control… not a good model .

7.  Have J reading by the end of the year so that we can embrace my homeschooling dream of studying together in 2012.

8.  Travel to Darwin (and back) as a family.

9.  Being happy and content in our current home.  It really is a good home with heaps of space and meets our needs perfectly, even if I do have a moving itch!!!

10.  Play enough piano to keep up with E.

11.  Be more organized in my work and use it as a place of ministry in my life.

#6 week 32

Okay, so I am actually huge .  Baby and uterus measuring about 2 weeks bigger…. hmmm either a big baby or it’s going to come early.  Considering Derek is away the weekend before the ‘due date’ I think I’ll opt with bigger!!

Baby dropped a bit last week and then rose up again this week, so I’m lacking a lot of gusto.  I have gone back to either cleaning or homeschooling, not both.  The kids are not in a very good routine.  They are whinging every time I mention formal work.  Natural homeschooling is working brilliantly though.  Zi’s reading chapter books (with pictures) and Eli is really into the Secret Seven.  I’m doing reading eggs again with Gubbs because it’s easy and we have a free five week subscription, may think of purchasing this time   We went to a Gladiator fighting demonstration on the weekend which has inspired ancient Rome to come alive in our backyard… yay!!

Music seems to be on the backburner.  Eli does some practice by himself, though he really needs at least a couple of mum lessons a weeks which he is not getting.  Gubbs and Zi get violin when I am able which means there isn’t a lot of progress happening .  I was hoping Gubbs would play Twinkles at his solo, but not sure if that is going to happen in the next two weeks.  Zi is enjoying playing now that he has a few songs under his belt.  He will often pick up his violin and just play his songs without me .  Eli is up to me in piano.  He is about to start book2 and so I am hoping to pick up my practice and learn along with him…. we’ll see .  Thinking vaguely about introducing Zi to the piano using his violin songs and seeing what happens…..

#6 week 29

Feeling HUGE!!!  My iron is low and so have to take 2 tablets a day to increase it.  We have all had colds/coughs this week and so my energy is fairly low… and I can’t have caffeine .  Baby moving heaps, and Derek can feel it.  Doesn’t want to move for the kids though.  Gubbs has been the only one to feel a good squirm!

Beginning to plan for the birth, cooking extra meals (or planning to cook them!) and sorting through kids wardrobes to get rid of excess clothes.  Have had to put away sizes 1, 3 and 4 now.  Jordy and Gubbs are both in size 5, Zi in size 6 and Eli size 7!  Zeek is size 2.  Weighed Jordy and Gubbs last week and they both weighed 21 kgs!  It’s like having twins!

Zeek has settled down a lot now.  He loves the new trike we got for him and rides it around saying ‘go, go, go!!’.  He has stopped napping during the day and so goes to bed around 7pm – yay!!  He gets cranky at about 5pm, but I give him dinner early and then put the obsessive Wiggies on for him and this tends to keep me sane!

Can’t believe that we have an 8, 61/2, 5 and 4 year old now.  It only seems like yesterday that we had 4 under four.  I am really enjoying the gaps we have had between Jordy and Zeek and this one.  Three under 4 1/2 is so much nicer .  Can’t believe Zi was 2 1/2 when Jordy was born and that Zeek will be the same age (with no other younger sibling!) when this little one arrives.  I now understand why people would say ‘how do you do it?’ and ‘your hands are full aren’t they?’.  Even though those statements still drive me mad!!

I am really looking forward to having a newborn in the house again, and to breastfeeding.  Good thing there’s only 11 weeks to go!!

#6 week 19

I’m finally feeling as though I am back on my feet!!!  baby kicking  lots now.  Won’t be long before the others can feel it moving!  I didn’t nap at all last week.  I was exhausted by the evening, but still able to get dinner and kids to bed without collapsing!  I’ve had to buy some new clothes as I only have old trackies and two pairs of jean shorts that fit!  I bought the belly belt so I can just wear all my old jeans and some new tops (a much bigger size!) that will cover up the zip part of my jeans.  I’m hoping this should do me for winter .

Have started homeschooling again.  Our morning routine of work is going well.  We do violin in the afternoons after quiet time and possible nap time (I work much better knowing that I can still nap even if I don’t need to!).  I’m still not managing to do maths with Gubbs, but we have started circle time.  This was mostly so that I do fit in counting (and abacus) and letters with Jordy and Gubbs.  We also do an atlas poster I bought at that time which is excellent!

Back on the topic…. the ultrasound is on Monday!!!!

#6 week 15

Feeling a billion times better this last week.  The nausea is still present all day, but not life constricting.  We have begun homeschooling again, minus the music aspect, which I have realized is a HUGE part of our schooling… maybe too big!

I have felt little flutterings of baby movement for a few weeks now.  I thought it was my imagination, but now I don’t think it was.  No big ‘kicks’ or anything though.

I cut down my work hours reducing to a maximum of 4 clients in the morning.  Much more manageable!

I’m still resting in the afternoon, but noticing that I only really need an hour not two.  I hope to get my afternoons more productive and put music lessons in there instead of in the mornings.

Happy Birthday Zeek!!!

Zeek is now 2 years old!!!   He is an energetic boy (to say the least!).  Full of life and excitement and cheekiness.  He is a biter, a screamer, a climber, a hitter and now a thrower.  Though he is gorgeous and is slowly gaining some self control. He loves packing things away and knows where things go better than his older siblings!

He is a strong boy.  Able to climb trailers, monkey bars, walls (yes literally!!!)…..  He will use his arms to lift himself up on things instead of his legs.  I think he’s getting better at chin ups than his Dad!!!  He can pedal a bike backwards (if he can reach the pedals!), but not forwards yet.

He can talk in short sentences sometimes up to 4-5 words.  Some recent ones are ‘mummy arrow got ball’,  ‘more push please mama’.  He calls drinks ‘water milk’, ‘water juice’ and ‘mummy milk’.

We’re battling to settle him at nights at the moment.  He can climb out of his cot and doesn’t want the door shut anymore.  He will scream for ages for me!  Luckily though, when he finally goes to sleep, he sleeps all night!  He is getting his second molar through, so we’ll see what happens after it finally erupts!

#6, week 6

Morning sickness has begun, though I am looking after myself very well!  I need to eat constantly, and yet don’t feel like eating at all because of the nausea.  It is a constantly physical and emotional battle to decide what to eat and then actually manage to eat it.  I started off with carrots, and have now moved onto celery.  These veges seem to have little taste (which is great fro that yucky taste in my mouth!), are crunchy and cold.  I want to eat my food cold all the time, go figure.  Probably not good for listeria, but it stays down .  I was craving cold boiled potatoes and tomato sauce yesterday.  I ate them warm instead and it wasn’t very good

I’m finding that I can either homeschool with the kids or clean, not both.  My energy levels can’t keep up.  So the choice is clean house, dumb kids or messy house, smart kids…..  sometimes the choice isn’t so easy to make .  When Derek works evenings, it’s particularly hard as the house doesn’t get it’s proper tidy for the next day because I’m too pooped.

I keep telling myself that the nausea is good, the baby is growing strong and healthy.  This mantra works well for a while and then turns into ‘I am a toughy’ when I get worse….

Maybe #6 will be the last…. maybe not!!!

Plans for 2010

Thought I’d post my plans for 2010.  After much consideration, we have decided to go minimalist this year! We have always intended on doing unit studies and so will begin this year.  I miss the naturalness of our learning that happened so much in the early years, and so unit studies will be decided on by the kids.. based on what they have an avid interest in.  Jordy does her Kindy year this year

Maths

Eli – Rightstart C (to be completed) and begin and get through half of D.

Zi- Rightstart B completed

Gubbs – Rightstart B (about 1/2)

Jordy – Rightstart B to ‘go to the dump’ game which is not very far!!!

Spelling

Eli – All About Spelling (level four completed), Soundwaves book 5 and 6

Zi  – AAS Level one and maybe two, Soundwaves book 2

Gubbs – Soundwaves book 1

Reading

Eli – Will have a booklist (yet to be decided which books!) to read independently.  He reads a lot and so nothing else formal.

Zi – Books from library, informal reading which he is now doing much more of.

Gubbs – Fitzroy readers.  I’m going to go with his flow!

Jordy – letters and blending.  Then to Fitzroy readers.

Science

All – one experiment week from a general experiment book .  Also unit studies as they come up, Scitech etc..

History

Big boys – Story of the World Volume 2.  Informal snail trails from this.

Writing

Eli – still to be decided on a semiformal program.  More narration. Mind maps.

Zi – Narration and book making (he’ll love this!!), copywork

Gubbs – story telling, description, reporting, journalling… to me!, copywork

Sport

Eli – homeschool group, footy (maybe), gymnastics, swimming

Zi – Footy, gymnastics, swimming

Gubbs – footy?, gymnastics, swimming

Jordy – swimming

Music

Eli – Violin Book 2/3, piano book 1/2 plus theory…

Zi – Violin book1

Gubbs- violin twinkles

Jordy – violin when interested

Faith

Eli – First communion, catechesis

Zi – Catechesis, maybe…

All – Bible studies…. nothing formal, as interest arises (which it will!!), community service (thinking about playing music for a nursing home/hospital), prayer (as fits into daily life!), Saint stories, advent, lent, feasts.

I don’t want to formalize religion for the kids yet.   The best way to ‘teach’ faith is to live it!!

Extras

Eli – Drama

All – playgroup (we are doing art there!)

Jordy – Kindy (which is a big extra!!)

To come… (one day hopefully this year!!)

Our read aloud list

Eli’s reading list