Then there were 3...well, sort of.

Magnus decided he was going to run away today after I told him he could only have one piece of toast for breakfast. After an episode of talking back and disciplining, he started packing. I knew what was going on but acted like I didn't. He came out into the living room and said, "Mom, will you come into my room and look at the pile on my bed?"
Mom-"What is this, Buddy?"
Magnus-"I'm running away."
Mom-"Well, I hope you will change your mind."

After a few more minutes of packing he went into the pantry.
Mom-"What are you doing?"
Magnus-"Packing some food?"
Mom-"No. That food is for our Team. (We refer to our family as a "team" a lot) And if you are running away, you aren't part of the Team anymore."
Magnus-"Well, can I have a garbage bag? I don't want to litter when I am out."
Mom-"No. You can use a Kroger bag when you stop and buy groceries. How are you going to pay for your food?"
Magnus-"I don't know."
Mom-"Looks like you are packing a lot of stuff. How are you going to carry it all?"
Magnus-"I don't know."
Mom-"Where are you gong to sleep?"
Magnus-"Can you get my tent and sleeping bag out of the attic?"
Mom-"You'll have to ask Dad."

Then, after all of this, he actually sat down and did his school work. Later he told me he decided he wasn't going to leave until the day after tomorrow. Not sure why though. Then he decided he wasn't going to be gone but for only a few days.

Thankfully he came to me later and said, "I don't think I am going to leave. I will miss you."

Weekly Report

We are back and having a great time! School was fun, relaxed, and productive. What a winning combination! I think I may have finally found our groove. Here's what we accomplished...

Monday...Alright, so this was kind of a bad day and not the way I wanted to start off the week, but it ended up alright. We met our friends at HS Storytime then headed to the park. When it hits 70 in the winter, you HAVE to spend the day outside. Well, 3 hours in our case. The water pump on our Cherokee decided it was going to go bad. I had a pool of anti-freeze under the car. Now, Collin just replaced the water pump on HIS Wrangler last week. This was also the 2nd time in 4 weeks the boys and I were left "stranded" due to something going wrong with the car. They are such a necessary evil. Anyhow, I was able to get it home without a hitch. (pun intended!)

Tuesday...What a great day! We got everything done we set out to do.

History

We are on chapter 15 of SOTW vol. 1, the Phoenicians. We listened to the story and did the coloring page. The boys asked me to make extra copies of the page, it's of the Phoenician ship, so they could draw "battle" pictures. It looks exactly like the Playmobil Roman ship they got for Christmas. And Magnus is having a heckuva time saying Phoenicians. It keeps coming out Phoehicans. It's pretty cute.

Language Arts-Magnus

Spelling-We started our new program All About Spelling today and let me tell you, I am "All about spelling"! This is going to be a great fit for the boys. It is phonetically based and follows the rules to a "T". This was our missing link.

Grammar-We are still going over common/proper nouns in First Language Lessons. He gets it. I think I may move on.

Letter of the Week-Thane

Today was the first day I had "formal" lessons with Thane and he was loving it! One on one time with mommy doing school was good. We are going to be doing the vowels first so this week was "A". We practiced writing it and memorizing the vowel poem in OPGTR.

Math-Magnus

Loving Right Start! We worked on money values and word problems using the whole and part method. He catches on quickly.

The best part of the day was driving home in my new, well new for us, 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee!!!! Yes, we got another Jeep. This is our 5th. Collin knows them inside and out. I feel spoiled as our other Jeeps are at least 15 years old. I HAVE ELECTRIC WINDOWS AND LOCKS NOW! That is a complete luxury! We would not have been able to do this without the generosity of my grandmother. Here is what it looks like (this is a pic off the internet, but ours is that color)...


Wednesday...Collin is still home on Christmas break so we decided to take advantage of that and the unseasonably warm weather we are having and go hiking. We climbed into our new car and drove to one of our favorite places, Radnor Lake in Nashville. The trails are fairly easy and it is beautiful there. We saw 6 different kinds of wildlife too...deer

birds, otters, turtles, dogs, and ducks (guess those count as birds, huh?). Here are some more great pictures...

Thursday...We hit the books again.

History

We read about the founding of Carthage. I must say, I am so happy I purchased the SOTW on cd for the boys to listen to. I don't like to read out loud if I don't have to, although I do because I believe it is important to, so it's great to be able to have someone else read for a change. One of the things the Phoenicians were known for was making and blowing colored glass. The boys and I made our own using wax paper and crayon shavings.

Language Arts-Magnus

Spelling-Learned their method of using the letter tiles and phonetics. Also hit on alphabetizing which was great because I got him a Dictionary Skills workbook.
Completed a page in his new Dictionary Skills workbook.
Grammar-yep, common/proper nouns again.

Letter of the Week-Thane

Worked on writing "A" and memorizing the vowel poem, which he has down. Then we looked for pictures in my magazines that were objects that begin with the letter "A". He really liked that...

Math-Magnus

More money problems. He even got out his bank and counted his money today.

We had Book Club and I am kicking myself for not bringing the camera! We read Jan Brett's The Hat, and then put on a play of the story. Everyone got involved and had a great time.

Friday...We worked some more on Language Arts and the Letter of the Week. Then we headed over to our friend's house and did science and geography. I'll let you know more about that at another time as this post is getting too lengthy.

Scheduled this weekend...take down Christmas decorations!

Wordless Wednesday

6 going on 13

Magnus is in a transition stage right now. Therefore, we, as parents, are also in a transition stage. Since he is our oldest, we are in new territory. Thankfully (praise God!) I have a husband who is very much in tune with our family and provides the leadership needed in such cases as this. He is very intuitive and discerning when it comes to our boys and I value his insights greatly. We work very well together at figuring things out. We, Collin and I, are very different in our approaches and it balances the family nicely.

Magnus has been challenging our authority and talking back a bit the last few weeks. Let me just say that he is a GREAT kid and we rarely have issues with him aside from the "norm". However, this was pretty consistent and weighing heavily on me. It took a significant episode to figure out what the real issue was. My son is growing up and I don't know how to deal with it.

After listening to Magnus explain how he was feeling, we figured out that one of his issues is having to work around the house. To be more specific, he didn't like having to stop what he was doing or put off his plans in order to help out right when he was asked. Understandable. I don't like to be interrupted either. He understands that our family functions as a team and that everyone has their own jobs to do in order for the family to function well. So, we came up with a chore chart for the boys.


It is my responsibility to get their jobs posted by 9:30am and it is their responsibility to have them completed by the time I have posted. That way they have a bit of a choice as to when they do them as long as they are done by the time I stated. If they are not completed by the time stated, then they have to stop whatever they are doing and do their job. This is teaching them time management skills and giving them a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. I also reserve the right to ask for help (and to receive it) for little tasks like setting the table or helping with dinner. I think this is going to work well. The boys are excited about it too.

We have also decided to give Magnus a bit more independence. Just with little things like pouring his own milk, making his own toast, playing chess on the computer, ect.

He may be ready, but I don't know if I am.

Weekly Report

Ever have one of those weeks when you have every intention to begin something and it just doesn't work out that way? Me too. In fact, I took the week off from everything having to do with homeschooling, except for posting my Wordless Wednesday post. I needed the break. I was stressing out about it. Now it is Saturday and I hope I have a new perspective on things. Had a pretty decent week though...

Monday...New Year's Eve...I had a girl's day out! My friend, Kara, and I spent the entire day doing things that needed to get done, and some that didn't ;o), WITHOUT kids! It was fantastic! I got so much accomplished and it felt great! Wanna know something else? I was in bed, asleep, by 10:30 pm. Pretty pathetic, huh.

Tuesday...Happy New Year!...We scoured the boy's room and made room for all of the Christmas gifts. Well, we tried. That Playmobil Roman Coliseum and I are going to have "words". Holy Cow, that thing is huge and we have no place for it. We have to store it in pieces and the boys have to put it together when they want to play with it. I showed them how to fold their clothes and put them away in their dresser and how to hang up their shirts and place them in the closet. The laundry has gotten out of hand and I hope this will help.

Wednesday...AWANA started up again so Collin and I were able to have a date. We went to dinner and had some great, uninterrupted conversation. Oh, and I was FINALLY able to get The Office Season 3 at Blockbuster. We don't watch t.v. so we are always a year behind the times.

Thursday...We had Book Club, but no one else showed up at our friend's house. So they kids were able to play while Kara and I did some planning.

Friday...We spent the afternoon at Kara's again playing and planning. For dinner we met our friend, Laura Beth and her boyfriend (LBJ, can I call him that?). Then they came over and we talked some more. Great conversation and laughs. We had a nice time.

This weekend, well today, I hope to...
1. Get my Christmas stuff put away
2. Do a little bit of planning for school
3. Check out and prepare our new spelling program, All About Spelling, that came in the mail during my break from homeschooling.
4. Clean my room
5. Organize our c.d.'s (should there be an ' there? I never know?)

Next week, back to work! And I am ready!

Wordless Wednesday