phase 1 assessment

Just some thinking out loud here.

We've had a 10-week "term" from May to July, a 2-week vacation with plenty of historic sites and educational activities, and a 6-week "term" in August and September. In August, the girls started ballet and tap (one class, split time between the two things) and a beginning music class - dance will go through May, music until Christmas. So far in the past 4 1/2 months ...

The good: Sunny and Posy are reading maniacs! We already knew that but still ... they've taken off even more since May. Sunny can read pretty much everything - she occasionally needs to be corrected on pronunciation of a word but it's rare. I'm going to start a reading challenge for her soon and need to get her reporting back somehow about the books she's reading so I can check her comprehension. I know she remembers things from the stories - for example, the other day, she asked me where our cheese hoop is because Ma in Little House in the Big Woods made cheese with one. Um, we don't make cheese.

Posy needs to be taught rules like "the silent E makes the vowel say its name," but she can read basic things by herself now. I have the phonics book to teach her to read, but can already skip over the first half. She doesn't need it.

Even Birdie has started bringing me books to read to her, which is a totally new thing for her. She'd never sit through even one page, and then about a month ago, she started bringing books to AC or me to read to her and she sits still and listens. Yay!

The bad: I still haven't gotten it together on a consistent routine of daily school time, figured out what to do about math, or managed to get science and history off the ground. My fault, all of it. I've been trying to come up with math activities on my own, but for now, I think I'd be better off with a book. Science and history are "second tier" when I put reading, math and handwriting as the top priorities, but they're still important to get in there. I have the history books and a sketchy outline for science - it's just a matter of doing them.

The ugly: Attitude attitude attitude. Oh my, the attitude! Posy is still 3 - I don't push her to do schoolwork. She'll sit at the table because Sunny does and wants to do the same work so I'll give her worksheets or whatever. But if she wanders off, no big deal. She's fine.

Sunny, on the other hand, is "supposed" to be in regular school now so I feel a bit more pressure to get her moving on consistent work. She's capable of doing the work I have for her - that's not the issue. Some days, she's fine. Some days, she'll flat out refuse to do things. Some days, it's a lot of "I caaaan't." Some days, Miss OCD goes into complete hysterics if I do something "wrong" when prepping an activity for her. And then there are the really fun days when she switches around between all of these things about every 5 minutes. We certainly need to work on obedience.

Moving forward: We've been sitting around for 2 1/2 weeks now waiting for this new baby to make her appearance. My energy level has been shot and thinking just isn't happening. The girls are still going to dance and music classes of course, and we still go to the library for hours at a time. But that's it. No math or handwriting or anything that requires Mom to do any kind of planning.

We had an art day last week because we were all bored and restless, and really enjoyed it. I'd read an article in the Family Fun magazine about making art trading cards. They're supposed to be 2.5 x 3.5 but I cut our paper to be 4x6 so we could put them in a photo album or use them as postcards. Then we got out the paint and other art supplies, spread them all over the dining room table, and did our own thing.

We're doing more art this week to experiment with some things potentially for an art party for Posy's birthday later this month. Might as well have some fun while the baby is being stubborn about being born!