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Friday School

7:40 am- Mama is up- sits in bed to do her devotions. I am still battling an “icky tummy”. But that’s all. I will just have to deal with it.
8:20 am- I’m finally out of bed, dressed, bed made and looking moderately presentable. I wake up the kids (since I forgot to turn their alarm back on from yesterday).
9 am- Everyone is dressed, fed, breakfast dishes are cleaned up, the cat is fed and Mr. Conductor and Sassafras have chased each other through the house a couple of times. Mama has looked over today’s schedule with a sigh of relief- it should be an easy day as the girls worked ahead some of the week.
9:07 am- Maiden leads devotions.
9:20 am- Both girls start their math.
10:10 am- After a few interruptions, Sassafras has finished her math. Once again she started adding when she should have been subtracting. I have her work on the math right beside me and we go over 5 problems together before I let her work on her own again. She gets it done quickly after that and we start her reading assignment for the day. Maiden is still working on her math. She is a slow mover today; the problems she has done are all correct but she is just put-puttering along. I set the timer for her.
10:28 am- Maiden has finally finished math. Sassafras works on her handwriting. Sass doesn’t have spelling today as she finished yesterday and we don’t have a language arts exercise scheduled for today. She is almost done with school for the day. Maiden has gone upstairs to hunt down a book she needs for school.
10:37 am- Maiden has found her book and starts her Wordly Wise (vocabulary). She is answering questions after reading an essay today (she must use her vocab words in her answers) and is sighing about it. This is the part of her Wordly Wise that she really doesn’t like. She doesn’t have a problem narrating answers to me but hates having to stop and figure out what vocab words to use and then write it all in a complete sentence. Sass has moved to the window seat- sun is actually streaming in this morning (praise the Lord!) and continues working on her handwriting. Handwriting assignments are done at the table, sitting properly in a chair, but I make an exception today- the sun has been gone too long. It will take her a bit longer to do it as she is a perfectionist about her final handwriting assignment of the week and likes to add her own flourishes.
10:40 am- I read Sassafras our poetry reading (Favorite Poems of Childhood) for the day as well as our history text (A Child’s History of the World: Ch 26 The Battle of Thermopylae) while she colors her handwriting sheet.
10:57 am- Maiden continues to have a hard time with her Wordly Wise so we decide to do it together (me supervising and prompting her to write down what she narrates to me). It gets very frustrating as she sighs and flips her book back and forth. Mama prays for strength and kindness and we plod through it. Half way through she finally gets a momentum going and finishes well.
11:20 am- Maiden has finished Wordly Wise, reads her poem for the day and goes on to Sequential Spelling. Sassafras has been helping Mr. Conductor with his preschool computer game and I remind (second reminder) her that she still needs to watch two clips of her science DVD (about reflections, light and mirrors).
11:30 am- Sass is done with her Science DVD (I have to stop her from watching more than she needs to- she really enjoys watching the experiments). Her school is finished for the day except for her read-aloud that we will do together as a family this evening. She cleans up her spot at the dining table and then goes off to play with Mr. Conductor.
11:35 am- Maiden works on her Story of the USA Book 3. I can tell she’s not into her work today. She doesn’t complain but she sighs, thumps and slumps and takes waaaaaay too long with each assignment. It has been a long week and she is ready to be done. I understand that but I won’t accept unfinished assignments. I am thinking she will need extra quiet time today- away from everyone else in order to recharge.
12:05 pm- Maiden has finished her history and watches her science DVD clip. She is now finished for the day, except for reading Caddie Woodlawn later during quiet time (she finished Old Yeller yesterday and had a good cry over it. We discussed it together with her daddy yesterday evening).
12:30ish- The kids are all upstairs hooting and hollering and laughing and creating a ton of racket. I am glad. It was time to get the sillies out!
1 pm- Maiden asked if she could make mac and cheese for lunch (since we didn’t have it yesterday). I say yes, so she does.
2 pm- Quiet Time. The girls hop up the stairs (literally). Mr. Conductor digs out his newest train book for me to read, Jingle the Brass. While we’re reading, Mr. Steady calls asking what he can pick up at the little thrifty grocer next to his work. Mr. Conductor converses with Mr. Steady for a bit and then it’s back to finishing our book.
2:25 pm- Mr. C is quietly snoozing. Mama flips through a homeschool magazine after making a couple of phone calls.
It’s a good end to the school week.