Mostly notes and babble

The healing from the oral surgery is coming along nicely.  And now I have two days off starting tomorrow and that will be nice.

I'm still prepping a bit for Esme's school.  We looked up the details of a trip to a gem and mineral museum for the upcoming year.  I've copied out and put some 'worksheet' like activities into her 'to do' folder - some travel stickers etc..  I put our printed copy of the edited poems in that folder, too.  I've still got my eye on a couple of books to order, but may decide to keep a list of them and have them as 'end of first quarter' refresh supplies.   In all, I think we've spent about a hundred dollars on her school supplies to kickstart... that is with using last year's supplies as well.  I know other things will come up and want to not feel like 'whoa, but I already spent all this...'  I'm definitely not into 700 dollar curriculums and ongoing subscriptions etc...  We are definitely taking the 'eclectic' approach, picking things here and there that we think will work for our situation.

Maybe list so far: Reading comprehension workbook (language arts/spelling/interpreting content will be her hardest subject with her language development), Reading and math for gifted students (actually threw that in the cart because it had 6 good reviews and a deal on a used copy), TumbleHome Learning press dinosaur fossil kit and Galactic Academy of Science books (for later in the year maybe now), Little House on the Prairie used copy.  Geoworld excavation kit for fossil.

National Geographic copies: April 2013 Reviving Extinct Species, should we? (ordered, as it directly deals with her questions in science) , also want to look into January 2012 Twins copy because she has interest there, February 2012 is Dogs, maybe, June 1989 is also about extinction of dinosaurs with a pullout supplement.

I would like to get her reading a kid's news site several times a week. I found one at Scholastic that seems like a good match for her.

There are some graphic novels on a nearby library's website we can access and I think she'd like to read some of those....would have that time dedicated for her to explore their free library.
Maps, landmarks, monuments, highway systems, sewer systems, water and electricity systems... we touched on that the other day just in conversation ... might have her make a pretend 'city' and add these things to it one by one, like SimCity.....we had a copy of that, but it doesn't run on my computer anymore.   There were some good photo essays I saw out there about the Statue of Liberty and National Parks, for days when it is hard to get into much else.

Spelling is tough for her - as if it doesn't stick- but I think it would be good for her to know how to spell color names and major parts of the body (like eyes, teeth) by the time the school year ends.  So, there will have to be weekly spelling tests and activities that center around spelling common words.  I might use Grandma's Silly Situations game some for making sentences and stories.

For my own reading:
I'm enjoying The Martian.  I copied down the title of 'In the Unlikely Event' by Judy Blume as something I might want to read myself, but too old for Esme.  Also, interested slightly in the Harper Lee 'sequel' Go Set a Watchman, but I'll wait a while and finish the books I have before I get anything else.  I was most of the way through the Black Fawn by Kjelgaard before I switched over to The Martian.  I read a lot of Kjelgaard in middle school and found that as a free Kindle book online.  I also downloaded a highly reviewed ebook called The Green Ember by S.D.Smith

In other news:  I've repaired our quilt in several places.. doesn't mean much to anyone but me.  I like it...and want it to last longer.  We made it several years ago and Esme watched me baste the edging on it during one Christmas season.  I've also got an idea for a kid's book  - based on some things Esme was saying about her painting the other week... am making sketches for it and may make a few paintings for it.

Second Grade Curriculum (updating)

This is just the beginning of our collection... I will update this as needed until August, when we will begin again.

Our Core Values
Mixie Engineering Primary School
is about:
Asking questions:
---and learning HOW to find answers.
---Reading and Writing
---Math and Science
---Building and Engineering
---Art, music, history, learning new skills

Trying hard:
---not giving up
---and working together for goals.

Meeting People in our Community:
---learning from each other
---changing the world around us for the better

And - adding for second grade (we've discussed this) -
Discerning truth from evidence and experience.
This one is so hard - and also so very important.  It is at the very core of Critical Thinking.
I also have doubts as to whether this prepares or excludes her from public education...a lot of what she got in trouble for was questioning the rules, the processes etc... things we actually raised her to do.  She was called 'argumentative' and 'disrespectful'.... At this young age it does seem like that - unless you are purposefully trying to teach these skills and are willing to draw the lines clearly for the child.  Everything is open to question up to a certain point...and she knows that point with us.  Trying to find that point with a public school teacher didn't reach anything - except a seat in the principals office (which doesn't make the line clear..only move it into the principal's court).

Special Needs:   Expressive language development - moving into the writing stage.  Asynchronous - very good reader, science topics, one level ahead at least on math, one level behind with anything to do with writing original thoughts.

Curriculum:
Art :
More drawing and painting on the easel.  Introduce chalk pastels at some point.  I really like how many details she is putting in her art now, and the way she is working on background.


Social Studies and Geography (Tied together with History):
People Together: Adventures in Time and Place :: I got this at the library book sale.  It is social studies, history and geography with lots of big type and graphics. (comparison shopping, this was an expensive book and we got it extremely cheap)  // paired with Our Neighborhoods (1979) also library sale. 

Continue with maps an geography games.  She wants to do a program like Little Passports - we kind of have all of the stuff to do that on our own, debating whether to spend 15.00 for a month to try their service. Mark says I can tear maps out of our fifty-cent 1950s world Atlas...but it seems like a travesty to do that...even though the binding is already half-broken the prints are perfect inside...*debating*

Add the 'day in the life' and sightseeing info for her 'passport countries' from Time for Kids  : France

Picked up two dollar HISTORY overview type books - good for starting off points. (She is already reading the Ancient History one)

Using Minecraft to talk about economies, transportations, projects and goals - recognizing and accomplishing goals etc.  She said she can make some world flags in Minecraft.

Science:
Geology - Rocks and Minerals book, microscope, crystals, geology samples cards (tie with geography, too).  Planning a visit to Ben Clement Mineral Museum (tentative). The Pinson mounds  are close to us, and she has expressed great interest in the archaeological finds on display at the library - try to tie some of that together.  Reelfoot Lake would be a good 'not too far away' field trip this year.

Biology : She came up with an idea for Ocean 'Aquarium' of paper fish, drawn out from pictures in book and internet and learning specific facts about them to write down (what they need, where they live, any important facts, also how big they are).  Use geography, art skills and measurement.   I think that is a great project - we painted a background for the 'aquarium' today (July 13).

Astronomy -online night sky program, Zoo in the Sky book, maybe we could visit the planetarium at Land Between the Lakes as incentive to know what she is seeing.

Body chart (hand drawn using our book set The Human Body TorStar books and Mom's artist talent) - labels for major parts and also anatomical parts - add these to spelling lists

Looking for more Chemistry experiments etc..
She wants to make oobleck again,with 'variations' -sprinkles transfer their dye to the oobleck slowly...we mixed potato starch and salt with the recipe to see what the differences were.
She asked to investigate how real the DNA idea in Jurassic Park is - can it really be recreated from amber?
Amber is tree sap.  We discussed what tree sap is - 'resin', and how it captured the mosquitoes.
We discussed seeing tree sap in a tree in our forest in real life - and sealing some plants in acrylic resin from the hardware store as a project in 'pretending' the process from the movie.
I asked on our 'Eclectic Academic' support group and they gave me a TON of articles and website links to science and biology related things we can discuss. She is at that age of asking more biology type questions, too...figuring out how to approach the subject - we've discussed some things and want to be prepared as she continues to come up with the questions.
What are fossilized fuels - and how do we know about them?   This ties in with the population questions she has asked lately...the population of the Earth multiplying and resources etc.
Don't want to forget the Space book Aunt Dot sent us.

Language / English:
Thrid grade vocabulary words (we did second and some third last year)
Continue with the first grade and move to the second grade spelling words when appropriate.
Punctuation.
Continue dictionary use.
Reading - Stink series, Little House etc.  Try to advance to less picture books as possible - might try some short stories on her to see how she fares.  I'd like to find more Encyclopedia Brown - I loved those (although I was reading my brother's copy at her age).  Movie series : Emily of New Moon Farm, about a little girl who dreams about becoming an author and just 'has' to write - it is in her bones.  Poetry : I am copying and illustrating some important poems for her to go over with me.  We've mentioned her helping me illustrate some of them as part of her art projects.

Harcourt Language: probably grade 1... This is the subject she needs the most catch-up in, so having this to go over topics will be good.  Also a Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing book grade 1, for the same reason.  The library was selling them at less than a buck each :)

Writing:
Script - reading script writing, writing her signature.  I won't do official penmanship unless she shows some interest - but it can't be 'a foreign language' to her like she claimed this summer.
First Grade writing prompts - on to second grade after we finish the first grade ones.
Poetry - Will introduce her to some basic poems beyond the kids book she has.. some wider variety, have her take her hand to writing a few more two or three verse ones on her own.
Science explanation/exploration - She will need to write a sentence or two of what she studied, and/or discovered in her science.

Math:
Continue with Khan math where we left off, we were 70% of the way through the K-2 material.
Review addition and subtraction borrowing and carrying.
Review money counting and change making.
Review measurement- add more real world scenarios and tasks.
Continue with multiplication - use in real world scenarios.
Continue with geometry/coordinates - review graphing and data from where we left off.
Continue with parts-to-whole, percent etc.

Events:
There is a quilt show in September by Murray, KY.
She wants to go to the roller rink a few more times this school year.

Materials List:
I need to buy some more : Large painting paper, acrylic paints
Ideas for : themed travel stickers, foreign coins and stamps for our passport theme

 Link to other post:  More notes and babble as I plan

Projects in Minecraft homeschool stuff

 Esme's 'most beautiful place in the world' and 'book temple' which has lots of books

and enchanting tables inside it.

 This is more my build than hers - but she has helped some with it - especially on the inside.  We are calling it the Moon Palace.  It goes through the mountain and comes out the other side.

She had said I had to post the other side picture, too - while I was at it.

This is her 'summer room', which has a beach, a pool the 'sun' above and a place to rest and be warm.  The 'winter room' next door is the same, except open to the sky and snow all over the ground.  She was making snow golems there, but they kept dying because it was too warm.

We also are building our undersea Atlantis - which is not that picture worthy at the moment, but is becoming so.  We joined for fun tonight (not count as school) and made a sunken ship with sails and a lot of extra rooms on it.

For the record - she was reading her Power Pack comic books (of which I bought her a stack of twenty a few months back) and she was telling me about the story she had been reading on her own, and about the 'hideous' alien guards.  She knows what the word means, can read it - and hasn't been told it by us or helped with pronouncing ..maybe Grandma, but not sure.  She said the character hid behind 'one of the gang', which is like you and me, we are a gang because we are together.  She is breaking out with lots of new info, words and ideas and there is probably a 'spurt' about to occur.

Other comments today:  'I ate a LARGE container of popcorn chicken today!' (Mark let her order for herself, and she took advantage).  Mark: Not all at once (indicating she made more than one meal of it). Esme - from the back seat and matter-of-factly : 'Of course not, I ate them one at a time, with ketchup!'. //we laughed hard, she wondered exactly why...  Also, she didn't like the idea of lettuce at first in her taco - which I had ordered in haste.  Later she told me she liked the taco with the lettuce inside it, instead of the taco with no lettuce inside it, which was not what that was...  Things are forging ahead.

Bits from Friday out to town before I forget : When I said her cat had made a noise, she said no she didn't, she was right here *be-haivey* herself - which turned my head.  We also talked about 'What makes tires stay on the road on hills - why doesn't the car move' and the combination of brakes in the car and tread on the tires.  I had her look at her shoe bottoms, too - and said they were 'tread', and 'tread' also means to step on something with force or grip.  There was a truck transporting a tractor in front of us in the car and I pointed out that tractor had 'mud on the treads of its tire'.  She looked at her shoe again and said she never knew those things and lines were treads.  I used the word 'eaves' on her when we were at the library in the rain - 'Get up under the eaves quick or we'll get wet.'  She said: 'There are no leaves, mom - and we can't get under them/'  She was a bit frustrated when I said that 'eaves' was a word and it meant the bits of the roof that stick out over the wall - just say roof MOM - but some 'rooves' don't have eaves, this one does - and we don't get wet.  She got there and suddenly liked the idea - as she walked all along the building out of the rain.  We talked about climbing and baseball/soccer shoes with points - called 'cleats'.  She asked what the pitcher's name was (the throwing man) and if he needed the shoes.  I explained he needed the shoes too, to grab the pitcher's mound when he throws the ball - as much as the runners did for running in the sand and grass.  We've discussed what 'blood in the water' means as regards to sharks - which she hadn't understood that comment and why one had to do with the other (she had a toy shark she threw in some water and I made a comment).  She was very round-eyed about that -- we might need to get a shark documentary or watch a short Youtube.

Sunday

We had originally planned with a friend to go out to a park but they had something else to do last minute, so we made our own plans.  We bought some groceries and the sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs today, and Esme and Columbus were watching it as seen above.  We also finally found a world map - and hung it up in the hallway where Esme can see it easily.  I've seen her steal glances at it on the way down the stairs...She may learn some of it by osmosis, perhaps.  She chose a Minecraft poster for her room and pored over it for fifteen minutes recognizing what was happening in the many scenes and if it was purely funny or a real possibility in the game.  She is growing up some - gone from having an animal alphabet poster on her door to a video game ;)

//laundry now and a few little bits.  Esme wants to try to feed Minecraft cake to pigs, as seen in her poster.

I've got to remember to look for 1987 NGs at the library this next time we go.  There is a map of walruses in one of them that we didn't have.

---

bits of note:  I've made a few observations lately.  Esme is much more 'grown-up' about some things than she was even last October (when we began homeschooling).  It's not across the board, but it is noticeable and it has been creeping up on me lately that I needed to try to put some of them to words.  

She has finally started to take more direction for herself, and be vocal about future ideas although she doesn't always follow through.  She was in quite a bad mood when our friend cancelled on us - and I thought she was doing very well with it, but she blew up a bit later when something else didn't go as planned, and it lingered for a while with her unhappiness on things - but we told her to shape up and she teetered a bit and came back to acceptable behavior.  But, in her favor she did not throw any 'tantrums' .. just was unpleasant and snippy...that is a good change from a year or so ago, or at least a more sophisticated one.  I haven't been kidding when I say things like we've had a teenager in training since she was three...

Her language ability has taken another step up the ladder - which is a big thing because she HASN'T been in speech therapy or around many children her age, which were supposedly the best things for her (therapy and 'audio bombardment').  She listens more to conversations that don't directly involve her and remembers more of it for later -- a skill she was lacking on.  And she has started to understand and pick up some more of the little bits of language that are odd or colorful..  She is starting to sound more like a teenager in the words she uses, although she still makes tense, gender and question/declarative mistakes often.  'Do you want to know what kind is it?'  'There's Mom, Columbus, you can tell because he is much taller than I am.' 

However, spelling and writing are her least favorite things.  But, I've seen her spelling improve when she doesn't know she's being watched (names in Minecraft, signs, notes she writes for herself)..and she is more willing to attempt to spell things phonetically than she was before.  She throws some huge words around now that she doesn't always know what they mean - but they're there.. and she is gaining ability with them (magnificent and superstitious and pteranadon, today...)  And her sense of humor is getting better.  She is less 'lost' when it comes to sarcasm, jokes etc.. 

Last bit, her names and pretends are becoming some bit more interesting and using info from many places..her creative streak is coming into it's own.   And she still does things that are very much like a seven year old little girl.   She had a sweet little 'dress shop' made out of a book holder box, some dresses I had made for other dolls and her chosen favorite animal dolls to put the dresses on.  Her rubber "Leaferella" frog was given a dress and getting some very special treatment (even a baby bottle).  Her own fashion sense is coming along nicely - pairing her clothes and such in a less haphazard way - that is worthy of note, too...even if it isn't something she sees in either of us, it is a step to growing up. 

She made an awesome 'Flint Lockwood' type computer out of the bottom of her book box, drawing a screen and keys on it.  She then put on her white 'lab coat' and told me her new pretend sister Sam Sparks was coming for a visit and they were going to do science!  She said she can look up pretend things all day long on her new computer and real things on the computer upstairs with Daddy.

//Notes
Homeschool articles:
Why do some schools feel like prisons?   // Yes, if you had read our Homeschool Decision, this was half of our complaint about the local school district.  School should not be like prison.  School should have talking and playing somewhere in the day for six year olds - not constant lockdown and punishment for whatever the teacher decides is being punished today. ie: stand in your square, don't drop your pencil, etc etc..  They then tried to tell us those are the skills that she will need in her job someday.  I think you're doing it wrong, especially at six.
De-Schooling Me // Great article, especially about halfway through I started seeing the reasons we are homeschooling.



Note: The best medicine - humor and laughter - is the best teaching method with this girl.  She shuts down when something goes wrong, or she is wrong - perfectionism streak...trying to teach her to try again, laugh it off (if possible) and learn from mistakes.  If something is funny or really really cool - she wants to learn about it and doesn't mind doing things related with it, as long as they really seem related to it.  Bribery doesn't work too well...at least not for hurrying along - she is very in the moment when she is working on something.  

We've been talking about 'the fourth dimension' though, and thinking back in all of the time you saw something (photographic memory, making it an asset) and thinking with your brain what the future can be - because we make the future, and how to make it happen.  She was skeptical about the idea when I brought it up a week or so ago (while looking for something at the supermarket that had moved) and now she is quoting it back to me and pointing out areas the skill is useful and how to use it.  //Mom would fist-pump the air at this one if it continues to progress!  My photog.mem has really become an asset in my work because I took the time to train it...it can still be annoying at times, too - but it really helps as well when I can quickly access orders and product locations in my 'mental file' instead of the computer one that takes more time.

bits as we go

School starts in less than a week.  as Mark said - it is the day after the day after tomorrow.. three days.. eep!

I haven't gotten that last dress done... hope sometime soon the time will reveal itself to me.
Esme and I have been talking about more 'advanced' topics, as she is interested - like taxes, and who pays for the library, and other current events things.  She surprised Grandma last night by talking about - in her own way - the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in her own terms... confusing Grandma, until I explained.  She keeps telling everyone who asks that she is not excited that school is going to start soon - because to her, next week is not soon - it is next week.  It's in the details - she is excited, but not about 'soon'.. because it isn't 'soon' to her.

She told me a few weeks ago her Aunt Dot was sending her a doll.. at the time I thought she was imagining it.. but the doll did arrive today.  She told me to open it because she had been 'waiting all of her life' for it.  *ha*.. well, maybe that was true.

So much going on for her... so many things just bursting at the seams.  We watched the Lego Movie today, too - and she was enthralled... really... she sat right by my side the entire movie almost and when the reality parts started leaking in towards the end, she was even more excited - sat right on the end of the bed staring up at the screen.  When it was all over - she wanted to go build with Legos, right there, right then.

Other bits:  We put a little basket on her bike when we repaired the pedals.  It was a big thing for her - we couldn't find one at the store and then happened upon something the right size at the dollar store.  She is doing so much better with her bike - gaining dexterity with it.  And she can microwave snacks for herself once in a while now, popcorn chicken or a corndog etc that is already in the fridge.  I will hear her saying 3 - 0 is thirty and START... have to remind myself I'm pretty sure of what she is heating up when I hear that!

// garden news: The Banana Legs tomatoes are starting to ripen.  The Ireland Creek Annie dry beans are starting to come in -and they look really good!  

bits to remember

Mark said yesterday Esme received her first grade letter in the mail, telling her who her new teacher is and all the times for the first day etc..  Esme ripped it open in the middle of the street and read every word to him out loud.  She read it for me again, when I got home.  Too bad it didn't come by owl, we said to each other, out of her earshot ;)  But, it is amazing to hear her read that well.... and as I watched her build her Minecraft tonight when a two story house, haybarn, cow, pig and sheep fences and a chicken 'coop' complete with wool square nesting boxes... I wondered just how first grade is going to measure up to her expectations, or ours.. or if it will be just another repeat of 'sit in your desk and do as you are told.'  We will see....

On the bright side, she loves going to the library, and reading books.  We read a Magic Tree house book together last week - which was long and I did most of the reading while she tried hard to keep paying attention and begging me not to stop...  and her other five books she read very well partly with me, partly by herself.  She truly enjoyed several of them.

We have rewatched through all of the HP movies in order... so I told her the other day, in her Minecraft, I was giving her 'first level OWLs - or tests, to see how much she knew.'  I  put up signs with questions all over her castle room and she had to answer them for me.  She has been reading and rereading her Kindergarten readiness brain games books Grandma gave her, so these were in a similar line.  They were questions like 'What color is a ruby?', and 'What is 3 times 3', and 'fish', 'dog', 'cat', 'umbrella', Which one doesn't belong?  She had to read the question herself, and try to answer.  She did really well, and enjoyed that - and built several hidden rooms with signs spelled out for me to find.  I am glad to see her taking more of a stab at writing things out, and trying to spell words.  She spelled DAV and GEF for names of her (Minecraft) animals on nametags... which she can't remember seeing the real names - but she sounded them out well.

Tonight she built a rainbow garden before she went to bed - to add on to the rest mentioned above.
 

 House with porch swing, tire swing outside, gardens, animal corrals and 'egg nesting boxes' the green squares in the fence in the back.

"Rainbow gardens":

Tomorrow we go to the library and hopefully sometime later in the day I can start to think about and work more on the last dress and matching pants I want to make her before school starts.

A bit before first grade starts

Oh it's been a hard few weeks - and I know that next week (when school starts) will exacerbate the stress and no-time feeling.  Esme has been a bit out of sorts because I have worked so many days in a row lately - and the days we have had off have been busy doing things we really had to do... and not a lot of time for her big ideas.  And, she has lots of big ideas, and order of things, etc.. that she really wants us to do with her lately.  Every night before she goes to bed - and sometimes as soon as she wakes up in the morning, she grills me about when I have to work and if I work tomorrow, or the next day, and if we will do 'X'... And we have been quite strict with her about some things on top of that - like running for the house when she is outside and not saying 'its okay' that she didn't make it etc.. and not talking incessantly during the movie (yes - this is me saying this!).  And when I have just come home from work and she has a list two miles long of things and I don't answer her - she has gotten touchy about that and not very polite at times...  But, overall she has been very good considering the strain I am feeling with this week - and how much harder it is sometimes when you have no control at all - she can't drive to town, or decide the schedule, or say yes or no to big things... and she feels like she has been cooped up in the house forever and ever and... // I see it in her Minecraft builds where she makes cars, and 'expensive' houses, and a wardrobe full of iron and diamond chainmail, and recreates the beach and friends and 'big parties' etc etc...

In contrast, I feel like we've gotten some things done... even though there is more to do.  And, I feel she has made another 'leap forward' these past few months - which this is all stemming from... her thoughts have gotten wider and deeper... and she is a bit antsy to go to first grade - but worried at the same time because she doesn't know what it will be... ie: the 'practice' on her Minecraft etc.

I don't get another day off until Friday.. and then it is just the one day - and not another until after she starts school on the fifth.  Here we go... hold on to your hats and sunglasses... we're in for a ride.

//Other little bits:  I took a few minutes to look in a store today as I had to cut some time at work - and it felt like 'something' to be doing that I normally wouldn't allow myself time for.  I was taken aback by the prices as always - forty dollars for a skirt like the ones I wear at home (handmade ones), six for a tank top, fifteen for a bar of soap in the cosmetics department... I really can't believe those prices... and knowing that I am not the kind to actually buy in a store like that - I feel like I don't even belong looking, at times... But, I do it because I continue to learn and get a feel for the styles that are being pushed at people now - the collars, the cuts, the ruffles etc... I saw a dress almost exactly like the fabric I am planning on making a top/pants set for Esme out of... similar cut to what I was thinking but lots more ruffles on that one.  I had seen this dress in my mind's eye already and seeing that one confirmed the plainer style... but also neat and simultaneously strange to see something so similar to my idea on the racks already...at a place I haven't set foot in over a year.

Esme bits of summer

Making pants

double pockets

22 inch elastic, joined down to 20.5 inches, with 26 inch hemmed length.

About 5 or 6 pairs of these will make a good start for school wardrobe.

I got up this morning and had been doing several things in the kitchen and bathroom - decided it was time to wake Esme up before I go to work.  However, her light was on and she was not in bed.  She was in her spaceship drawing small glyphs of turkeys and other things in pink chalk.. 'There's no little girl in this bed.'  'No, *giggle* I got up early!'  This is the child that is usually at my bedside first thing I wake up saying 'Good morning!'

Mark said he gave her a 'double bologna sandwich' today, with a piece of bread in between the two slices of bologna.  She said to him it was a double AA triple AAA battery type sandwich - with three pieces of bread and two pieces of meat just like the As.

Her math skills are very good.. she has been adding up her eggs every week on Saturday or Sunday, and getting her allowance. 

The other day we were in the house while Esme was outside in her pool with the impact sprinkler on the end of the hose.  She had it weighted down with something on top of the wellhouse spraying water at her in a jet, filling the pool.  We were both getting eaten by bugs and went inside after a bit...  We happened to look out at a certain moment and she had Tink, the black kitten, held up and water spraying on both of them!  The kitten was resigned - not terribly upset..but looking away from the water.  I popped my head out the door and asked her what she was up to, maybe Tink wouldn't like that!  Then she reluctantly put him down, he took two steps away, and shook water off of himself.  He looked slightly offended, sat down to lick a paw, and then hopped around the area back and forth like a spider monkey.  Apparently he wasn't quite as upset by that ordeal as I thought he might be...

She has been sitting in trees with this kitten, as well, having 'Indian parties.'  She always wanted to name him Tinkerbell... but he is a boy.  So, I'm not sure if this is a Peter Pan and Neverland pirates thing or...  She told me Tink has some Indian in him, just like her.  The other day I was in the garden and I hear 'Mom, come see me at the Indian Party.  I'll wait for you.'  Then, less than a minute later - THUMP -followed by .  'I'm OK!'  She is going to look like a warzone when she goes back to school.. we've been talking about it, scratches on her legs, dirt everywhere, cedar needles in her hair, sunburn... I know she wont' be the only one, but I can't keep up!

blackberries in the blueberry cake recipe...

bits orange daylillies and nasturtium petals

 lunch today - cucumbers in mayonnaise sauce with nasturtium petals, mint, black pepper and a toasted flour tortilla.  The mint was the big win. I can't say I actually tasted the nasturtium petals at all, but it was the first one of the season, so ... maybe not enough of it.

Recipe: cucumbers in mayonnaise sauce.
It is so easy sometimes I don't remember I had to read it somewhere the first time - cut up the cucumbers as small as you want them... I go pretty small squares.  Then put them in a container with a lid - and sprinkle a little salt over them.  You could wait five minutes or so at this point, if you want to, especially if the cucumbers are kind of dry.    Put about a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise (Miracle whip is okay for this one -- it isn't for a lot of things I like, but it is for this) and put the lid on and shake it.    Some people put other things in this... vinegar, or etc... none of that in this.  I really did like the dried mint, though - it added a lot to this.

garden notes : Ireland creek Annie's are making beans now - they are between the cucumbers and are dry beans, so we will not pick them, even though they will look like they 'need' it... same with several other ones in the garden, like the Kenearly that is starting to vine up a small trellis, and the non Shackamaxon beans on the vertical fence.  I am waiting to see if the 'wax' beans turn waxy... they are not, yet.  The Providers continue to fill up the colander daily :)  I tried to convince some of the tomatoes and beans not to fight - we will have tomatoes soon, I think.

Our orange daylillies are blooming.  A dead armadillo incident happened to our yellow ones this year.. but the orange ones were saved specifically because they were surrounded by weeds and baby mimosa trees etc etc..

My father and stepmother left for home last night - hope they are doing well on the road back to Iowa.  We really enjoyed their visit and need to get pictures of them with Esme next time.. somehow we just kept talking and never did that this time.   They went out of their way to find me a lemon birthday cake and bring it to me on my birthday, which was extremely sweet (them, not the cake).   I admitted by geeky obsession with beans to them and sent them home with one of the more rare ones to plant in the colder climate... and a few other of our Tennessee treasures.  I'd like to order an extra batch of Japonica corn to send them that as an oddity - the striped leaves and purple silks...not sure if they would get any chance to plant that.

Esme and I went to town this morning before it go very very hot.. and took her to the park, and for a hash brown, and for to spend her allowance at the dollar store.  On the way there we talked about lots of things - and she really participated.  We talked about history, and what people did without stores to buy food at, and how they lived through the winter (lots of firewood) - and they need to be warm in the winter (with furnaces and they get wool from sheep and make it into things and clothes and boots to stay warm), and cool in the summer (she thought about shade and umbrellas), and how they do that.. and about droughts, and floods - how the corn needs water but not too much water, and the animals do, too...and many other topics.

She really not only has the information now, but can talk about it, relate things to each other and really understand how to find out what she doesn't know and why it is important.   I told her it was all like science, too - and when I said 'history' she said she knows that one - it was in school.  I related it to the past - when Grandpa's father was a child how things were, and that now was like the Jetsons for him - the future (and outer space)...  The one that really cracked me up was when we were talking about corn - which she saw in the field - and she knew it by the pointy things on top (tassels) and the strings (silks) that made the ears.  We talked about how the tassels and silks work together to make the seeds.. and she made a cross-reference to acorns and how they both grow the same.. she told me about the acorn seed being hard and needing water to break out a tiny vine that gets more water from the earth.  Then we talked about what leaves were for, besides being pretty.. and how the plant makes food from the sunlight on the leaves and the water down below and grows and stores that food in the seeds to grow many many more plants..   I told her that each single kernel on the corn and each single acorn on the tree can make a new plant, and that plant can have lots of new seeds (like a hundred, yes?) and on and on.  She said 'Wait Mom, I know this one - this is math, too.'  I really laughed at that one. 

At the park I read her a little bit of Harry Potter (trying to get out of completely running around in the heat) while pushing her on the swing, and watching her climb the ladders etc etc... then we went for a short walk around the walking path, and climbed a tree and saw the water which was almost dry in the ditch etc etc.. she read signs and we talked about them.  'No Motorized Vehicles' she saw on a sign - and when I asked her what that meant, she said 'You can't drive air-o-planes down here.'... Well, that is technically true *heh*.  She was trying to encourage some children in their Sunday clothes to get dirty in the trees - 'There's syrup up here - you want to see?'  and then we went for a drink and a hash brown.  She is picking up her change amounts a bit better, now.. and was able to slowly make the right change to the cashier at the dollar store - and look at her receipt to see written down exactly what the cost was, what we paid, and what the change was.

We brought a piece of cake and some pork, and one of the orange daylillies, to Grandma Irene, with Esme staying there for a few hours.   I need to go collect her in a few minutes, bring some garden produce to Irene, do chickens, pick beans, start laundry,  feed supper, give her a bath for her speech appointment tomorrow.. and go to bed as I have 6 am work.

It was a very nice birthday, and having today to semi-rest (with a little Minecraft) was a nice way to wind it down.  I have enough canned beans from Mark to last another six months until Christmas again *heh*.. and a few cans of pumpkin, as well.

Esmes comments on the tree vehicle trauma

Esme asked to go to the park first thing off the bus today.  I told her that would not be possible because a lot had happened while she was at school - a tree had fallen onto our truck and broken it (the windows) and someone had come to take it away to see if it could be fixed.  It happened just after we put her on the school bus this morning and I had not been able to drive to work because of it.  She wanted to see it - I told her she could see the tree and the glass in the driveway, and the tractor - which had a broken front tire now because Mark had used it to get the tree off of the truck.  She said 'oh no - two broken things?  Why is it the thing?'  She really wanted to see the truck and was worried that we had no car, and could not go do the things she wanted.  I told her I could not go to work, either, because of the situation - and that we hoped the man could fix our truck well enough that we could drive it soon, but we did not know what day it would be ready.  She was despairing in a very major way, about maybe to just have a frustration right there.  We were halfway down the driveway now.  I told her we were working on a solution to the problem, but she said that there was no solution, it was unsolveable, because there was no car to drive to go buy a new car and were just stuck, and all was lost.  I repeated again we were working on a solution - making some calls, we had gotten this far to get someone to come get it to be repaired... she was unconvinced.  I asked her if she thought Mom and Dad were smart enough to find a solution to this - didn't we usually work together and figure things out?  She disagreed - 'Nooooo! you cannot solve it -there is no truck to drive to get the things!'  The expression in her voice was priceless...

I said we were going to make dinner, give her a bath and get her ready for school tomorrow and when she was at school we would continue to work on it and maybe figure it out.  Then she began to run down towards the tractor, got there, and she said 'It is gone!'.. yes, the truck is gone.  I told you that.. but she meant the tree was gone from where it was supposed to be.  I pointed across the driveway to the fallen log that was the tree - and she stared at it for a millisecond, then marched right up to the hole she had been looking at - nearly walking over the glass - and prodded around - it is all gone, it is not right, the things are not in the usual places, and it is all not right.  I pointed to the tree again, and she finally looked at it.  For the record she asked to go to the park again after we got into the house and did her homework.  *facepalm* but was extremely good after that - took her bath, ate her dinner, asked for things politely... she was trying really hard to be good (and did say that at least once) to help with the situation by being good.  *impressed*.  She listened to the phone ring from the insurance company and said 'good maybe it is the car man with the fixed on the truck?' but was sad to hear it was not.  She wanted to play a game on Daddy's computer but we said he was doing 'his work' looking at cars we might be able to buy to replace the truck.  She accepted this gracefully.  I was knitting dishcloths during her bath and she said I was doing good work for the house making things we needed and she would be brave and do good work washing her hair.  She did... and that is usually a frustration for her, wanting to do it but not wanting to etc...

bits in pink and green

A day off today, and sweet sunlight is spilling in and the world has warmed up a little for the first time in a few weeks.  I'm working up the yarn Esme had chosen yesterday for her pillow, and have a stack of old 25 cent magazines from the library sale to snip pictures out of and arrange into my journal/scrapbook of ideas.  I've cleaned out quite a bit off my desk again and it is nearly all workspace and very little clutter.  Tomorrow it's back to work for a full week and it is the busy season.  Esme is watching old Justice League and Super Friends cartoons so our brains will be fairly dizzy (as the adults in the room) but Mark will counter that with his thick meat spaghetti sauce that is filling the house with it's tomato and basil smell.  I find it nice that when I snip something out of the magazine lately it is pretty plants, branch patterns, fabric designs, hexagons and zigzags... might get into some paint later today and play with color combinations in the little octopus book I made the other day.

I dreamed of a candy from my childhood the other day - although they are not excellent - my grandparents always had them and I felt a bit of nostalgia to find out what they were as only the color and shape and an idea they had peanuts was left in the snippet of memory..

These are French Burnt Peanuts, a small burnt orange globular candy with small nubbles all over it as a sugar coating around each peanut..  Mark found some for me at a store after I finally tracked it down.  The key thing about them is not exactly the taste, but patience, which my grandparents had quite a bit of, (they taught me to sew), and was probably the reason they were always 'around'... a few beside a cup of coffee will last an hour, as crunching into them is not good for teeth! Heh.

Esme came and asked me what I was doing as I was copying an entry in my journal from a damaged page to a new page.  I told her 'copying', and she said no, copying is like I am drawing a pony and you are drawing a pony and that is copying me.  I said no, close, but not.  Copying can be drawing a picture from a picture you did before, or writing something you did before, not just 'copying' what a person is doing etc...  As I explained that she peered into the water in the bathub that was waiting for her to start her bath and said Oh, the water is copying the window.  Close! *ha*  So we talked about reflection (which she does know) and the reflection copies the light, so she was almost right about that sentence.  And then she said - Oh, words.  Yes, I said, there are a lot of words. 

The New Year and bits to remember

I post less frequently lately, but there is a lot going on... just not things that can be easily photographed or reduced to one liners... and that is a good thing.  As someone said today to me - time to catch up on life.. and for me, also, time to record some tiny bits of it because otherwise I may forget the essences... those that fade and change and transmute 'just so'.. some quickly, some so hard you do not see it until one day you realize it is different. Like the puppy being twice the size she was last week, or the old toddler dress in my scrap pile being half the size of the one I made for Esme just last week etc etc...

And that ties into several things for me in this New Year.  I didn't make any resolutions... except to keep working at the good things, the things that are important.. and I would do that anyway.  And I like where we are - know things will change, and getting ready for whatever we can, how we can.

This little bit of patchwork pictured is an embodiment of that... it is filled with little bits of this and that collected and saved over the entirety of Esme's lifetime.  It contains (not in the first picture, but in the second) bits from her very first baby blankets all the way up to clothes she is still wearing.  And I don't have any immediate plans for it.. except to try to keep it and keep it nice... for whatever it will become, and add on to it as it seems fitting... or onto other pieces, that might one day become other things, or the same thing... it is kind of a philosophy of memory and effort in fabric... and that says a lot about me, and my view of the world.  One of my oldest memories - probably before five years old, is going through the multitude of fabric in our house, seeing every different pattern - the fabric that was not things, the fabric that was part of everyday things... how were they different, how were they alike, which ones were in both piles. I didn't think so deeply on it then - it was just color and pattern and hey - those match etc... but it was important to me, and as I grew up sewing in the same household, using fabrics and collecting bits here and there, recycling a shirt, patching something with a bit from another project - I felt time and memory crystallized in those objects, and the memories around that time they represent - like riding the elevator with my mom at Kremers for the very last time to get the flannel fabric for my eighth grade quilt...

so now I look at the little red and white flower fabric in the bottom left corner and I see a rabbit Esme held onto the leg of, and her pink rabbit quilt I made as her receiving blankets, and the blue and white star fabric that was a sundress when she was three, and a multitude of other things.

I like that, it is my own private treasure trove.. with nothing more than my memory.  And I fear a little there, with my mom and her memory problems, but... that is somewhere in the future and the past.

And the other bits I want to remember now : Esme has 'changed phase' since she started school.. it is scary and amazing all at once.  She can open many more things with her hand coordination - like twist ties on bread, and ziplocs, but still has trouble getting a knife through bread.  Her processing is much better at big tasks - still easily distracted, but she has a good idea of where she is, and what comes next if she is motivated.  She uses big words like 'vanishing act', and 'horrifying nightmare', seen on Shrek 3 when he is dreaming), asks if I have checked my text messages and expounds on where the living room is in our house (which is atypical) or what today is when you said it yesterday vs tomorrow when you said it today etc... She asks me if the line of water from the top of the windshield means it is cracking or if the antenna is melting because of the ice or if it is the ice melting.  She wonders if things are a boy lunchbox or a girl lunchbox, because boys have this lunchbox and no girls do, and it is not pink.  She pays attention to all sorts of little details I don't realize are important to her until she communicates them - which she does and often...

She reads over my shoulder now, can read most level 1 books and today tried to read the word 'seventeen' as 'Steven', until I covered up the 'teen' and she rethought.  She can grasp the idea of less than zero in subtraction although that makes her little eyebrows wrinkle up and she wonders why... She can compare January to February or March, understanding one is further away than the other,.  She can also read the clock in 'thirty-sevens' and 'twenty-fives' etc... instead of just saying which number the hand is pointing to.  Her sense of tense, pronouns and connecting words is still just a tad bit 'strange' but she has come light years even since leaving her preschool class and sounds fairly normal until she gets into complicated questions or descriptions.  I do know she still 'sees in pictures' especially when remembering... she commented on the antenna on the truck this morning and then got that 'faraway' look saying look its the fat boy he is hitting his head because he was looking at the antenna... I asked her if she was remembering that and she snapped her eyes back to me like 'of course - can't you tell?' but then told me about a boy on the bus who had been trying to look out the window and hit his head on the top of the bus on a bump.  I don't know what that had to do with antennas.. but apparently it did. ;)

I was reading a journal entry from last June, before we went to the zoo, the other day - in my paper journal I write in at work or late at night etc...  and I was remarking on making her dresses for school and how she didn't understand the calendar or read very well.  I read some of her quotes and saw just how far she has progressed in that time.  Her view of the world is so much wider and her questions are so much more complex.  I am proud, and often feel the 'here we go' but by the time I've realized it lately, it seems we're another mile down the road.  And if I had read this, or thought all of this was possible, three years ago I would have been relieved... and when I read this three years from now... how much will have changed?

bits

Christmas is approaching, and we are getting a few things in order for that.  Esme's list to Santa Claus included a 'jackhammer' to do road construction with (pretend, of course), a trapeze/ring bar to strengthen her arms, a My Little Pony (which keeps changing so we just picked what was available today) and a teaset.. which has already been delivered by the tooth fairy but she argues it had to have been Santa because it was on the list.  I saw the note from the tooth fairy ;)  I've got a few surprises and some necessities saved out, too. 

Her reading is getting a lot better, and her guesses are getting better, too.  Her art is much more detailed, the bridge she drew today had blue waves underneath it, two cars and one of them was a 'mouse' car that was tiny with tiny headlights.  She gets in counting moods, still, and she has to count all the pieces of pizza or all the dots on a toy speaker and trying to figure out how to group the pattern etc etc.. to count faster - I wonder if I've encouraged that with her showing her math things on top of her already obsessive nature, or if she just comes by it naturally and it expresses that way.  Her attitude is great at times and awful at others... and our communication is still 'off' at times, we argue or she doesn't tell us about something until it is much too late. 

Today she reminded me at night, while in the bathtub, that she had not had her shirt she needed for her school project today.  She was sure she could bring it tomorrow - but that did not look like what the note said when I read it... so I told her we will decorate it together at home and she can wear it at the party later in the month.  Early this morning she was all up in a tizzy about some drawing of a bridge she needed to bring to school to the 'bridge hall' and lay on the table with the other bridges.  We had no note at all for this - so I think she was trying to break into another class project from 2nd or 3rd grade and add her contribution.  I made her put her name on it and she said I was ruining the plan.  *ha*... she took it in her backpack and it has not come home tonight, so....  some days we just know she's ours, other days, its radiantly obvious.  And at other even rarer times, like tonight, she crawls into bed at 7 pm while I am making up the covers and she usually fights until way after 8.. and settles down to go to bed like it is nothing... and we look at each other and say 'in bed by 7:15... how?'

Esme's science experiment

We bought food coloring today, new shiny bottles for her.  Then I had her get the writing journal and a marker, and write down 'in code' the experiments she was going to do.  We wrote a 'key' of the colors so she could write just letters (and reduce the stress of the writing) and make 'equations' to record the 'findings'.  We talked  about a 'hypothesis' but she didn't get that - maybe next time.  She did guess once what she thought something would make, red and green would make black - but then she saw it was brown, so there was a moment of interest there. 

We put one drop of each color into the small container of water and used a white spoon to mix and tell what the color was.  Then she carefully wiped the spoon on paper towel (like a true scientist, not messing up her results!) and recorded the result in her book.  If she wasn't sure what the color was, I had her drop some on to the paper towel to double-check.. she decided blue plus green food coloring was 'light blue' because the mixture was lighter on the paper towel than the blue looked like by itself.  I had to agree that was what it looked like... 

After we had gone through as many of the variations as she thought were important (I reminded her to check the equations and see which ones we had not done - she did well!)  Mark had made a container of oil, and we tested what the color did in the oil.  It made 'dots', she said.  We put some water in the mix, and it made bubbles AND dots.  Then we put some of the oil on top of a container of water, and dropped food coloring into it.  It made dots - but the spoon pushed the food coloring deeper into the water, and it made a 'whoosh' and colored the water underneath. 

After we cleaned up I had her come upstairs and 'explain her findings' to Daddy.  We answered a few questions and made a sheet about it to send to her teacher.

We also did a sheet of 'find the missing numbers' and her one sheet of homework from school.  She did measuring and length worksheets last night and this morning before school.  I am trying to do 'extension' without going too deep into the subtraction and multiplication they will be doing in the next grades... there is a lot we can do in science and math that will help her use better language - bigger, smaller, above, below, longer, taller etc etc... 

Her behavior was MUCH better today, and that continued when she was home, as well.  I got her to bed at 8 pm again to be up at 5:30 am...

Kindergarten math...

I am starting to work with Esme on subtraction, and carrying over larger addition numbers... began a little bit of length, measurement and halves vs. quarters.  Her behavior in school is still getting her in trouble... not too many of the things serious, but most of them indicate boredom with what they are teaching.  She has been going and listening at other doorways of classes instead of going back to class - and that gets her in trouble... and a few other things that just indicate she wants to find out where 'the action is.'  Her handwriting and cutting skills are a bit better, but she finds them laborious at the best.  We were practicing the sewing and cutting out a pattern tonight, again, and she showed some good perseverance.   Someone had been telling her that she could do 'good enough'...when what she was doing was really only a half-effort on her handwriting.  Trying to backtrack to get rid of that idea.  She really thought there was no school this month because I had not written it on her calendar... we talked about school being a place to see kids, but it doesn't mean the kids will be friends, and learning to make good decisions while she is at school is the big thing.

I will continue the extension of math at home, because she doesn't get it at school, they have just barely started addition as a concept.  I hope it will help her to feel she is learning something if she does this at home before and after school when I'm available? 

bits of advocacy

We had the parent teacher conference the other night.  I wasn't unhappy with the results, but still think they don't see the real Esme... and it is my job to help with that - so she is treated like a smart child by all of the instructors - and then they will see improvement all around.  I think her speech teacher can be an ally with this.  I followed up with an email about what she had said the other day - about (someone, children, teachers maybe both) thinking she is the child that does not understand, when she does understand, and it makes it hard to learn when they put her with the children who do not understand. I also sent them Minecraft screenshots of her world to show her creative side, and more home drawings and math work in her folder.

She said yesterday to Daddy off the school bus that she was not a baby, and that it was a sweet thing.  She didn't say much more... but I hope that is true.  She told me this morning about not getting in trouble for something the day before because she did the right thing, even though the other child did not do the right thing, and she knew they would cry when they did get the timeout - and they did, but she didn't.  She said that was a hard decision, whether to have them cry alone or be in timeout with them.  I agreed it was tough - but she had to show she knew what to do and maybe the child would understand better then, too.  She said maybe.

She drew a mama mouse with a baby inside, and told me the baby would be small and pink and eyes not there (because they are closed), and would have a small tail when it came out.  She then remembered she wanted a pink crayon for her pouch at school, because she didn't have one.  I said that was a great idea and put it in her bag to take to school.  I put the mouse drawing and wrote down what she had said so the teacher can see her thought process there.  She said they are doing some spelling of the words in the ABC book and she likes it but it is hard - and she has to read their book 'apple, bear, camel' sometimes and not hers, but ok...  She read a pretty long book with me for bedtime.  I ordered her another pack of reading club books that were a good price.

She came back from the bathroom this morning and said in a very small voice to me that she was scared of all of the hair ties on the sink because she thought they were bugs and then she was a brave and looked at them and they were not bugs.

I am glad she is advocating a little for herself, even on tiny things like the crayon - and talking to me about the things that are hard for her at school, so I have insight and can help.   I relayed a little of it to the teacher in email - because once they see what is going on inside her head, they might interpret things differently than just 'she is copying' etc etc.. with the timeouts.

bit by bit and science

I've sent Esme off to school today with her dinosaur book, and two extra Biscuit books we got in the mail.  I think she is really glad she can read them - and that is the reason I got them.  It will give her confidence that yes, she really can read well enough for some books.  In the meantime, she wants me to teach her science - because they don't teach it in school.  I didn't get far into that one yet - told her I would but would have to think about the best way to do it. She has been doubling numbers, so I started a tiny bit of multiplication this morning.  I haven't done subtraction with her, yet... and I think that needs to be another book for her to start on. 

She surprised me wonderfully on Saturday with several things at the store I work at - she told me what a shutoff valve was for after examining it and opening and closing it.  She knew what to do with a male and female part after looking at them, and remembered the word 'male' from somewhere deep in the past when we had looked at them.  She knew the plug that threaded in was for stopping the water on that side etc... we walked to the electrical switches and I told her the basic idea of the power goes into it on the side.  She said it was like the water and the lightning and the switch made it stop and go.  She has some brain in there... I've always known that, and it is showing so much now. 

I started laying out the science book - following the suit of the 1950s one we had gotten for her back when I was considering fullblown homeschooling.  It will take a while to lay that one out for her...

I am still fighting a cold - again - the day at the park on Saturday was not the best for me.

The other thing she cried about was not having a cheerleading dress like the other girls on the same team.. but I don't think that is going to come to pass.  We don't need Kindergarten cheerleaders in our house... science majors, maybe... but not cheerleaders.  I might make her a dress with the blue and gold fabric the next time I get a chance - but if it looks 'like' the cheerleading dress but isn't... I'm not sure how she will take that.  We had made a decision a while back not to buy the school merchandise when it comes to clothing -- too high of a cliff to fall of there. In her own way she told me I was dooming her to be unpopular... teen angst in a five year old body.  I am glad she is getting better at expressing herself - and telling me what is important to her. 

kick me in the pants - err.. I need to get some things done this weekend, including pants

Esme has been asking me two weeks now where her gold pants and blue shirt are - not in a mean way, which is good.. but I haven't gotten to them.  I know that means she wears one of two or three coordinating items each week for Blue and Gold day....  And I've had days off - we've just been focusing on other things, like her behavior, reading and math.  I have the blue and gold fabric ready to lay out.  But, the chair I was making for her is also taking up the table and I haven't dove back into it yet.  I also promised a playground trip and 'fun things' this weekend if she brings home a moderately good report 5-10 minute timeouts per day etc.. I think she is there - and I will take her out and spend time with her regardless. 

She is making so much progress.  Her words still turn inside-out sometimes and she will pick the wrong one and not even notice it still.  Sometimes she corrects herself, other times I have to choose if it is a good time to correct her.   She is also picking up lots of other phrases from school she wouldn't get at home, and trying to use them, and when I ask her about a word I am not sure she knows she often gives me a good definition of it.  We talked about 'obstacle' the other day and 'reception' today.  We've been talking about 'the rest of'', 'since' and the topic of verbs vs. nouns and nouns becoming verbs vice-versa. She keeps surprising me, which is excellent.

This is also the weekend before the 'full week on', so if I don't accomplish some things in the next few days it will have to wait a long time to get a moment.

I have been wrapping my brain around the math course I am taking online and I think it is coming along very well - it is not for credit - although it could be if I arranged to get into one of the study groups and really participate... with clothes to make and work and other homeworks, I think my efforts are pretty good. 

Progress at school and "The Cat and the Bird" book

A happy report.  I sent one of our Mama-made books to school today, one that we had made six months ago or more - and that Esme proved to me she could read most of this morning.  I wrote the three words she had trouble with on the front of a postit note and a request to return the book.  Esme said she got to read the book to the class and the teacher and children liked it :)  That was unexpected but excellent for her confidence.  I sent the book mainly because I wanted her library choice to not be limited below her level - and it wasn't, the library book is a very good match.  Her math worksheet today was decent for her level, as well - and something we haven't specifically covered yet.  I think they might be really getting to know her now, and especially because her behavior has improved.  She got 5 minute timeout (by her report) today, and 5 and 10 minutes the other days of the week - we see the real results tomorrow.

I said I was waiting to teach her half?  She has an idea of it, not quiet spot on - but I have a color half of it worksheet printed out she is ready for.  She also told me they are going over the 'fewer than', 'greater than', 'more', 'less' that I had put in earlier in the week.. she got about 80% of those right when we were talking, and was happy to work on it, ask questions etc etc...  This is what she needs to work on, and if they are really working with her real needs I am very happy and feeling like she is more understood. 

original story 'The Cat and the Bird', copyright Marie Lamb, 2012.

bit by more

I remember this day twelve years ago.. and I am very different than I was then.  I know who I am better than I did then... maybe not always still where I am going.  I know we have a bright future but we have to work for it.

Esme was bubbly this morning, she wanted to do so much we had to run for the schoolbus.  Those extra 15 minutes I've been trying to incorporate every morning have been setting her up well - she thinks about rules, what she should do and not do, and has time to do some brain stretching exercises/worksheets so she can think about that when she is bored later.

She had a dream she wanted to make a drawing of.  Then she wanted to do the math sheets I had put out\ first.  She tried to draw the dream but looked at the clock and said she would finish it later (impressive, for her.. she hasn't done that often).  Then she really wanted me to write a story in her notebook to take to class and read during naptime.  I don't know what the teacher will think about that.  I sent her an email with an explanation and that I had laid out the rules for it if the teacher agreed.  1.) It comes out of the backpack during naptime - and then back in before snacktime.  2.) she does not bug the teacher(s) to write in it for more to read   3.) if they say no drawing/writing in it she has to just read and look at it.  We'll see what happens with it.  She wanted to read it on the bus this morning, too - so hope she does not lose it.

She was telling me all about the rules for books from the library.  They went over those last week - and she is excited to get to check out a book tomorrow.  She is a little upset some children are calling her ZipZip at school, for talking out of turn?  I'm not sure.  She didn't seem to know why they are saying it, but she says they lose their stickers for talking.  That could be one of those disconnect things where she knows what happens but not one happens because of the other etc..  We still get a lot of those.

Homeschool : We did 'more' on her worksheet for school.. it said to read all of the sentences and had pictures of words the kids did not know yet.  I had Esme tell me the word, write the word and color the pictures besides just reading it.  Then for morning I gave her a sheet of addition and a sheet of more vs. less.  She had trouble with the word 'less'... we will work more on it.  She understood 'more' but did have to think about it.  She had to think about 'more vs. less' much MORE than 2+2=4.. I want to introduce 'half' to her soon, but not until we have more and less worked out better.  Not to self : talk about 'equal' as well before we go to 'half'... more, less, equal.. two equal halves etc.

Esme watched a Minecraft video made by another child yesterday - and one of the things they had done was make an iron golem.  Esme was immediately in her Minecraft and making them, having them wander around in a glass cage (I did not help her find materials, I went to get coffee.. so she solved the cage problem on her own).  After a while she wandered outside to play with the garden hose and I saw this on my screen and took a screenshot.

She wanted to play checkers last night with her magnetic calendar.  She set up the board, and had half the rules right.. but then she was cheating.  I haven't brought up the rules to her before for this - she couldn't say where she learned them...kept interachanging 'chess' for 'checkers' and switching back.  So, I brought up internet checkers (no cheating, rules hardset) and she decided 3/4 of the way through the game against a HUMAN without cheating it was hard.  She had played the computer and won, but was still saying it felt hard.  Having a human block her moves she was more upset, and frustrated... which in this case is probably a good lesson.   I will look into making or buying a cheap gameset for her (we had one once don't know where it is) because it seems like something that is 'in line' with her way of thinking, as long as she follows the ruleset.