Help me!

Does anyone out there have any brilliant suggestions for homeschooling two kids (one in kindergarden and one in first grade) when you are home alone and breast feeding a five month old?  My original thought was that I would school while he napped, but the kid is against napping.  I find that my goal of prioritizing the girls' school and taking care of a needy infant seem to be at odds!  I do know that part of my struggle has to do with my own expectations.  Somewhere in my brain, I'm still planning my school day as though I don't have an infant who doesn't nap consistently.  Harry had to remind me today that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result each time.  Hmmm..... Got me there!   Well, at least I got that off my chest!  

Readings for today:

Genesis 18:1-15

Aesop's Fables--The Fox and the Grapes.  

Spanish--review of greetings, introductions, color words and vowels.  The girls actually did some reading in spanish today!  It was very exciting.

Art- studied The Four Continents by Jan van Kessel

Activity- feeding the ducks at Tower Grove Park

Movie- Fly Me to the Moon. This movie actually sparked some interest in the Apollo 11 mission, gravity, etc.  Did Russia put a man on the moon?  I actually don't know.  Tomorrow.... 

Internet!

May I just say that it has been really hard to homeschool without the benefit of internet at home. When we first let go of our internet last year I was surprised at how much I missed it. I expected to miss checking my email and facebook page. I knew I'd miss being able to have information at my fingertips to look up recipe or a map or a phone number. I was concerned about how not having internet would impact our homeschooling. Still, I was surprised with how often I needed to look something up but couldn't. But we managed somehow. We went to the library a lot. We focused on reading and phonics and math. We made it work.

When Harry started working at The Word at Shaw the church got him an internet hot spot on his mobile phone so that he could work from home. For the last few months we could get internet when Harry was home and his laptop was available. Believe me, that didn't happen very often. BUT today we got our first day of internet at home, and it was sooooo cool!

Because we noticed squirrels on our morning walk (and we're studying mammals), we googled squirrels when we got home. We found the National Geographic Kids website. Which, by the way, is a fantastic resource. We were able to identify the squirrel we saw as the Eastern Gray Squirrel. We listened to squirrel calls, and saw photos of different types of squirrels. Then we looked up a tutorial on how to draw squirrels. The internet is such an awesome tool!

Homeschooling just became a teensy bit more accessible today. Yay!

Reading for the day:

Genesis 17

Snow Fun!

So, we have been having a lot of snow here in St. Louis lately.  And, of course, snow means it has been cold!  In keeping with the values of a Charlotte Mason education, the girls and I try to get outside as much as we can, but Q is so little and can't really take being outside for too long.  So last week I decided to bring the outside in. We brought the snow inside! We sat at the dining room table and made snow men and snow castles on cookie sheets.  We used the girls play tea set and various other cups and containers.  The girls really had a blast.  It also helped release some pent up energy and creativity too! When we were done we watched the leftover slush melt in the sink on its way down the drain.  The girls enjoyed this immensely!

Ice Castle

Brisa's Snow Lady