A week

I had a tough week of teacher anxiety. It wasn't helped by Pete being away and me not getting to bed at a decent hour.

So, let's see, what did we do this week? Maybe I'll feel better if I see it all written down:

Mon--
Pete left for San Diego.
We went to see a children's singer at Jammin Java. Great place, Pete's old band used to play there a lot. The kids danced a lot and really had a great time.
After that, we came home and did--what? Cozied up in bed and read books to each other. Katie had Brownies after dinner and Zack and I played chess while she was gone.

Tues--
The zoo. All day. Really nice weather and no one else there. I let the kids play on the big pizza at the farm for a very long time, until too many little ones came to play. We didn't have to be anywhere else so I tried very hard to tame (heh heh) my habit of rushing us around and let the kids take their time. We didn't get to see everything but we did get to see the handlers feed the octopus, which made it come out from the corner its usually tucked into and also got to see a couple of deer just outside the Think Tank windows. We were able to get up very close to them from inside and we sat on the floor and watched them for a good long while. Man, they chew their food. It seemed like they worked on the same mouthful for the entire time we watched.

In the afternoon, we watched the next installment in the Private Life of Plant series we've been working our way through. Only one more of these to go, I think, then we'll start on something about evolution if I can find something good.

Tuesday night Zack had scouts and Katie and I played games.


Wed--
Incredibly busy day of running from one thing to the next.

I didn't want to skip my yoga class, so I packed up the kids and the portable DVD player and they sat outside the door while I got a nice dose of serenity. The teacher, John Giunta, played a bamboo flute during meditation and I asked him after class if the kids could take a look at it. He was very nice about it and took a few minutes to explain a bit about how it was made, how it's played and how/why the sound changes when you cover the holes. I want the kids to ask people about the things they like to do, so I appreciated John taking the time to chat.

Home for a few minutes and then off to swim class. This class is great! It turns out that Kate and Zack are the only two in the class, so it's like getting private lessons for cheap. The kids and I like the teacher too. She's involved in scouting and is very willing to fill out the forms to help the kids get their sports badges.

Next, home again and then off to the library for Miss Ginny's ready readers program and to take our time picking out new books to bring home.

Thurs--
It was nice out and we had no plans, so it was time to start in on the ivy-pull I've been trying to get done for about two years now. I talked about invasive vs. native plants and explained that even though it seemed strange, pulling the ivy actually helps our garden. After the explanation, they felt better about pulling and decided to act as anti-invasive ivy super heroes and they did a nice job clearing out a patch of the yard. I am LOVING my hedge trimmer, which I'm using to get through the ivy roots and shoots. I don't think we could get it done entirely by hand and don't want to use the very strong herbicide except where absolutely necessary.

After that, we washed up and Zack went to work on some legos and Katie worked on something, but I don't remember what....

Katie had dance in the late afternoon and Zack and I hung out in the playroom.

Fri--
In the morning we had a chat about the ones, tens and hundreds place AGAIN and it is still taking time to sink in. This time I tried it with pennies and dimes to see if that would help. I'd like to move them on to two-digit addition with numbers adding to more than ten but without the ones and tens place, I can't figure out how to get them to pick up carrying the one. I had worksheets I was going to have them do in the afternoon to follow up, but decided it would be better if I let the morning's lesson sink in for the weekend and see what stuck on Monday.

Experience tells me that this will come with time, but math is just kicking my ass in the wee hours of the morning. I hate when that happens because I know that the following day I have this air of desperation about me when we go over the work.

Later in the morning we had a meet up with the Arlington HS group at our new location. I like the room a lot and the kids had a good time. I'm so glad we found this group. I enjoy all the moms and their kids too.

The afternoon was devoted to getting the house straightened out so Pete didn't pass out when he got home. Actually, the house wasn't all that bad just a lot of clutter.

Pete got in on Friday night in time to say goodbye to Katie as we were heading her over to a Brownie sleepover. She was nervous about going, but as soon as she got there she was fine and eager to see me off. It was weird having Zack in bed here and not Katie.

Pete and Zack worked on Zack's pinebox derby car design because...

Saturday--
...there was a workshop for building pbd cars. Zack's is looking great, just needs paint and wheels and something about a weight that I'm glad Pete is handling.

I went to pick up Katie from the sleepover and we went out for a mom/daughter breakfast, then hung out at home for an hour before FINALLY taking everything off the Christmas tree and putting all the decorations away.


OK, I do feel better about the week. It all flies by so quickly it can feel like we didn't really do anything. I am still worried about math. They've both gone through the computer program twice and don't want to do it again, but I know they need more practice on the skills. Multiplication is also looming near and they have to learn the tables before I can move them to that section of the program. Guess I need to do a bit of research on introducing times tables so that I feel like I have some guidance. Also need to get to bed by 10 more often so I can get my head cleared of worry and be able to plan out the work ahead. It's always something.

The hugs and smiles are still worth it. :-)