Yes, I'm already working on my lesson plans for second grade. Sad, I know. But  so far this is just a basic outline of the year.

September (Language Arts)
2 weeks Trickster Tales
1 week Aesop
1 week St Michael & St George
We will start basic grammar structure and word families this month and carry them on through all the Language Art Blocks. We will also do nearly daily short math drills both oral and written (but not necessarily both on the same day).

October (Nature Stories/LA)
1 week Plants
1 week Insects
1.5  week Animals
1/2 week Halloween prep

November (LA/Saints/Nature Stories)
1 week Jataka tales
2 weeks Saints (Martin, Jerome, Isaac, Elizabeth of Hungary)
1 week Aesop  and Thanksgiving
1 week Moon Stories

December (LA/Saints)
1 week St Nicholas
1 week St Lucia
2 Weeks Break!

January (Math)
4 Weeks Math

February (LA/Saints & Heroes)
1 week Jewish Heroes
1 week American Indian and Islamic heroes
1 week St. Valentine
1 Week St. Francis

March (Math)
3 weeks math
1 week open for catchup/off

April (Math)
2 weeks Math
Easter Break
1 week St. Mary and Easter Prep

May (LA/Catch up)
1 week Natural Phenomena
3 weeks open for catch up/other things I think of.
1 week St. Joan.

And of course we will be doing various drawing (pencils!), painting,modeling and handwork projects. Ike will continue with his Forest Fridays and Eurythmy Class at Morning Glory Waldorf School

Plans for Elli and Gwen will be forth coming. Mostly lots of stories, playing, drawing, painting, modeling, and handwork projects. They may start attending Forest Fridays and the Eurythmy class (with the Kindergarden) at MGWS as well.

You know? In some ways this doesn't look like a lot. But I know it is!

Tags: grade 2, homeschooling, lesson plans, waldorf

Arrived in Louisville four hours late due to our aircraft leaving Syracuse four hours late due to our crew having arrived in Syracuse four hours late yesterday and needing sleep. Naturally the first leg of our flight had been on time. I am sure Washington, DC is a fine city but its airport is not where I would choose to spend an afternoon.

Got to Rob's parents' house, where we... the only way I can describe it is "babbled", so yeah, babbled for a couple of hours. We took a short break to go see Rob's dad who does not talk. I genuinely like Rob's mom, but I confess I do not understand how people can spend all day in small talk. I would rather chew off my own face. She, in her turn, is appalled that people can spend all day on a computer. I must admit Facebook can be inane. Fortunately for me, on Facebook I do not have to wear a nice facial expression as if I am awake (a nontrivial task after a day like this one).

Sleep soon.

Current Mood: tired

Tags: snowy windshield
Current Mood: cheerful

We are in trouble. Gray is walking. He's not even 8 months yet!!!! And he's WALKING!!! I'm in trouble!

Tags: gray

Taken in October

Tags: kids
Current Mood: sleepy

School's over (for now).

We have an inversion, so the air quality is awful and we have no precipitation, which bites.

I did virtually all of my Christmas shopping yesterday. Although the stores seemed crowded, I didn't really have trouble parking, and my purchases went very quickly (perhaps a sign of the economy). I didn't have any issues with people being impatient or pushy, and I found folks in all the stores I went to that helped me out. I had a little trouble finding the video games my brother's kids wanted, but I came home and made some phone calls and found them at a store nearby. (Walmart! They held them in electronics for me, I drove over, waited for one person to finish a transaction, got 'em and paid for 'em! (I'm still not a big fan of Walmart, but they saved my bacon yesterday.)

I was leaning over the container with my yarn stash yesterday morning, pondering a new project, and felt a twinge in my back. Now it's stiff. Crap.

The socks I'd started several times, I got to the heel and realized I was three stitches short. I couldn't figure out what the problem is. The sock is frogged and in a timeout; maybe I'll try again in the future. Right now, I'm working on a leafy scarf (just started it). (My current trouble is starting projects and losing interest; I didn't used to have this trouble...)

Today I wrap gifts. On the 24th, I'll drive to Vacaville to spend Christmas with my brother and his family, my parents, and my brother's wife's parents. My brother wants to ski with me in Tahoe on the 26th, but it would cut out time with his kids and my back isn't feeling too great right now. Well, I can put the ski clothes in the car, and if I don't use 'em, no big deal.

Tags: blah blah blah

I am loving it! We have about eight inches at the moment, and snow is still coming down. It's powdery and light. (God help us if the weather warms up a tad.)

Zoltar the cat is Not Amused. I opened the side door, making a nice little arc in the snow cap, and he turned right back around to stay inside. Then I shoveled the front walk, with my dad joining me to make a little path down the driveway to the street, and when I came back in I opened the front door. Zoltar walked out gingerly. He shook his paws. He got dusted on his head and back. His fur twitched. He hid under a bush. A little bit of wind brought him some more powdered sugar on his back. That did it! He went back inside!

My dad is, of course, out doing his daily run. He does not miss a day no matter what. He'll be back in a few and we'll give him some hot tea.

Snow snow snow snow SNOW! Yay snow! :)

Current Mood: ecstatic

Looking out my parents' windows, I've seen the following birds today:

On the lake:
Swans
Mallard ducks

In the back yard:
Crows (many)
Tufted titmouse (many)
Black-capped chickadee (one)
Carolina wren (many) (I think: might be a chipping sparrow, but I'm going to guess the wren based on head shape)
Cardinal (one each, male and female)
Male blue jay (two or three)

I have never before seen swans on the lake. Every year I come here I see something new. Last year it was the deer in the back yard.

Current Mood: cheerful

Basic or Plus users, anyone want a coupon for $10 off a paid LJ account? I'm afraid I can't send them to paid users for use in re-enrolling, which I think is kind of annoying, but that's the deal LJ is offering. Any takers? First ten comments get 'em.

Current Mood: cheerful

Okay, since I know there are many people who are more computer savvy than me, I'll give it a post.

So, Joe got me a new laptop for Xmas. (Yea Joe!) I'm at the point where I want to move files off of our external hard drive (our network storage device where all my backups are) to the laptop and free up my XP machine for other uses.

The external drive requires a login and password. Windows 7 keeps adding the name of the laptop to the login (i.e. blue\login) and we can't get this machine to drop the Domain (the blue part) of the login.

Anybody have a clue?

TIA

Tags: computer woes
Current Mood: tired