Teacher Notes

Last night Knut came home from work around 9pm, and said he had to go straight to bed because he was due back at work at midnight.  I heard him get up then, and finally heard from him just before 9 this morning that he got to come home for a nap in an hour or so.  I’m glad at least they’re able to plant.  The rain has pushed them out uncomfortably long.

Last winter I bought this package of stackable pencils.  The kids somehow found my stash, and Elias has been taking them apart and putting them back together.  Don’t tell the kids, but the moment these lose interest, I’m throwing them away.  The little pieces are ending up everywhere.  For the moment, though, it’s keeping Elias busy during school, so they get to stay.

Solveig has been given her own notebook to color in and she’s been loving it.  It’s just a cheap ruled notebook, but she likes to do school now too, so she gets to rip out pages or scribble over it as much as she wants.  She feels very important doing this.  She also likes to carry her blanket around and “make the rounds” seeing what each kid is doing.  Currently, she’s pulling Elias’ hair.

Silje is on her last reader of the year “Toothpaste Millionaire.”  So far she’s liking it.

David is improving, and learning the tough lesson that school needs to get done when he’d rather do something else.  He spends a significant amount of time each day trying to tell me that he’d rather do something else.  It’s starting to sink in that he can either spend the day arguing and being punished, then doing school, doing chores, and have no time left to play.  Or he can just do his jobs in a few hours and have the whole day to play.  He doesn’t like the “everyday” aspect of school, and the novelty is certainly gone.

I wouldn’t say he didn’t like school, though.  His interests have turned from math and onto reading as he’s really getting traction in that area.  He’s starting to read during his free time, and he really enjoyed our last read aloud “Gooney Bird Greene.”

This week we started a new read aloud, which is one of my favorites: “Mountain Born.”  Even though I personally think this is a beautiful book, I have some reservations with it.  I think the reading level is almost above what I would normally be reading to him.  Each time I’ve read this, I’ve wondered why Sonlight has put it in a core for such young kids.

Silje had a tough time with this book last year, and she was a stronger reader than David is right now.  The vocabulary is just so high.  Not only that, but it takes many chapters to really get into it.  I debated about skipping this one for now, but then I decided to push ahead.  This was for 2 reasons.  First, I really like the idea of exposing the kids to new vocabulary.  I have to read it with a lot of feeling so they can get it, but I really think it’s a great way to learn vocabulary: in context.

Second, we do our read aloud as a staying-up-late privilege.  The 2 older kids get to stay up late as the “little kids” go to bed.  However, it’s not a crazy time when they’re awake with me.  The rules are that if they stay up late their behavior has to be pristine.  If they start running around, interrupt often, or just can’t seem to sit still they have to go to bed.  I’m really strict on this because it’s the time of day where I’m d.o.n.e. and my tolerance is just not there.

The chapters are not long, so far.  Maybe 6 pages.  However, it’s really hard for David to sit through it, and it’s a good exercise for him, because he wants to stay up late so badly.  Last night he interrupted 4 times (within about 1 minute) and I immediately sent him to bed.  (The interruptions were: “How many more pages?”  “Is it almost done?” “Is this the last page?” “How much longer?” If he would have asked about the story that would have been fine.)  He was so disappointed to go to bed, because if he does a good job for his book, I allow him to stay up even later for Silje’s book.

I’ve learned that I have to be consistent or it all falls apart.  I have to stand by my words, or they question them even more.  I’m sure when we sit down and read it next, he’ll control his tongue a bit more.  I’ve sent him to bed while reading twice before, and each time was followed by about a month of pristine behavior at bedtime.

David has always struggled with sitting during church as well, and we normally have to take him out at least three times as much as Elias.  Lately he’s gotten better at sitting still, but every 30 seconds he asks either of us, “is it done yet?  How many more minutes?”  It’s extremely distracting.

I’m sad, as always, when my kids don’t like a good piece of literature, and I hate that I’m using this one as extra practice for sitting still without interrupting and an exercise in patience.  He knows he doesn’t have to read it.  He can choose to go to bed at any time.  I think that lessons like this sometimes are the most important.  More than a great handle on literature, I would like my kids to have a great handle on patience and self control.  If a piece of great literature is the avenue for it this time, then so be it.  Normally the books have him so much in a trance that it’s no struggle to get him to sit still.  This one is slower, and that’s ok.  It requires more attention than some others.

By the way, Silje is loving going through “Mountain Born” again.  She said she didn’t like it at first, but now it’s one of her favorites.  She was very excited to get to sit there and listen in as I read it to her once again. 

For those wondering, Silje made “Connecticut Supper” for her meal-making-chore this week.  It’s just a basic, yummy casserole.  She didn’t have the ingredients for the dessert this week because she forgot to put a few things on her grocery list.  It was her first time browning ground beef and for some reason she was really nervous about it, and wanted me to check it about every other minute.  It turned out delicious.