"Mus exit"

That is my youngest's favorite line from Minimus Latin, chapter one. You see in chapter 1, the mouse, Minimus, goes around to the people at Vindolanda asking who they are, and they answer in turn. At last, Minimus makes it to the cat, and asks "quis es" in a tiny, shakey little voice. The cat answers, and the final scene has Minimus wasting no time getting away, with the words "mus exit". Little Luke Skywalker thinks it is hysterical, and whenever we practice asking "quis es?", he will answer "mus exit". 

Tonight we were sitting on the couch; the older two were taking turns reading to me from their HOP workbooks. The youngest was sitting there with us. Suddenly I heard his little voice say, "mus exit." I look over and he is "reading" through the Minimus book - every time he turned the page to a new dialogue, he would say, "mus exit." I'm glad to see he is enjoying Latin so much. :) If he's not going around saying "mus exit", then he can usually be found singing the Vale song from Song School Latin. Who knew that the Latin programs I bought for the older two would enchant the youngest so much.

Mondays ... maybe we need to just jump right to Tuesdays ;)

Today seemed to start well; I was able to be up alone for about 30 minutes before someone joined me. Once Nomar woke, he and I sat on the couch with Luke Skywalker and read a couple library books. Then, we read a couple sections from Our Island Story. I'm not sure quite what happened between then and Nomar's long exile in his bedroom, but I'm blaming it on Mondays. He suddenly decided he wasn't going to cooperate and instead thought grunting at me was going to be the appropriate response. Actually, ever since fall baseball began, he's been much shorter on the fuse - his tantrums have increased quite a bit. I'm wondering if as much as he loves playing baseball and really likes his coach, he's feeling a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. He's the youngest on the team and the coach does have high expectations - not in terms of ability, but in terms of putting all one's effort into learning; I actually really like his coach, and don't want to pull Nomar out, but I do think we need to figure out how to be a bit more proactive about the whole thing with him. With Vlad being so obviously sensitive to everything (physical, emotional, spiritual), and Nomar's evolving maturity, I forget how sensitive he can be also. At least we made up and had a better afternoon.

On a positive side, the boys are loving Monkey Match memory with the Song School Latin cards. We are working on the vocabulary from Chapter Two this week - quid est tuum praenomen? and meum praenomen est ..., so we were able to add two more sets to our memory game. 

Vlad has his first "big" book to read today for Hooked on Phonics - he started the Orange workbook in level 1, and the books are longer and more "book" like than the beginning readers in the Kindergarden level (which are more like BOB books). I was thinking of splitting the book into two sessions, but I think we'll take it as it comes. 

A very busy week almost done

There is definitely a benefit to being busy, especially with three boys who like to do things all. the. time. It's probably also beneficial, even if it doesn't make sense, to be busy when you aren't feeling to well since it means we are out of the house more (and less likely to deal with behavior issues stemming from being "bored"). So, this week was a blessing. 

We have been to the dentist, the library, the park, PE class, the park again, grocery shopping, and Fed-Ex Office to laminate ID cards so far this week. Tonight there's baseball practice. I think tomorrow is free of anything scheduled outside the home. Even so, we have had a some-what productive week (it started out less than productive as I was not feeling well). Today was probably the best day thus far. I swear, making sure I am up well before anyone else wakes and getting ready is a huge factor for determining how our days go. 

We started our morning with "Monkey Match" - we played memory with the vocabulary cards from Song School Latin. Though we have only technically done chapter 1 in SSL, we have a bit more vocabulary under our belts from Minimus, so we were able to play with about 10-12 pairs of cards. The boys had a blast (except Vlad when Nomar kept getting all the pairs first). Even Luke Skywalker (3 y.o.) is learning a fair amount of Latin. We also sung our songs (I'm skipping the alphabet song - young Luke is still learning his English alphabet and I don't need to confuse him with missing W's and such). We'll start chapter 2 in both Song School Latin and Minimus on Monday.

I also pulled out our Explode the Code books that were sitting on the shelf - level 3 for Nomar and level 2 for Vlad. Wednesdays are short mornings due to PE, so we don't get spelling done. I figured spelling 3x a week and then ETC 2x a week would be good practice for them, and with the novelty of the ETC workbooks, they are loving it. ;)

A very non-school "first" day of school ;)

So, for some reason, we just did not get our act together this morning. The boys were all up by 8:30, but I think because my youngest was up not long after me, I was slow in doing what I normally like to do in the morning when they are all sleeping (play on-line on my favorite bulletin boards, read up on Facebook, and eventually making it to the couch to read a real book), that I didn't get going with them when they were first getting up. I don't know ... maybe the stars were just not aligned quite right. I was hoping to have my oldest (I so need nicknames for them all ... I think I'll name them after baseball players or Star Wars characters!) actually get through all his core subjects before PE (minus spelling - we don't do spelling on Wednesdays as we just don't have the time before we have to leave). As it is, no one got much of anything done. 

On a positive note, we did read through Minimus chapter 1 again this morning. The boys want to just keep reading the book, but I'm trying to go slowly just because I need to learn the vocabulary as we read. We also listened to the Salve/Vale song from Song School Latin on the way to PE. I had them "help" me remember all the Latin words I know so far (great way to actually see how much they remember without them feeling "tested") and we realized that combined, "I" know about 15 words in Latin so far. 

PE went well. I chatted a bit with a couple other moms I know; one will be involved with our once a month art coop and one have only met through PE. But, afterwards, I realized I need to help my boys navigate "free play" with the other kids - otherwise it turns a bit into Lord of the Flies out there. I think that maybe as hs'ing parents, we think our kids are able to figure out how to play in a fun, yet nice and safe way, without a lot of intervention. But, I learned today that I need to teach mine the difference between play "fighting" and actual fighting - that it crosses the line when stick "swords" actually make contact with another body and pinecone "bombs" actually injure someone. I also realized mine did not yet really know how to handle older kids who are playing too rough (apparently my oldest threw a pinecone at an older boy who was playing harshly with them all ... we talked about what to do in that situation that does not involve bodily harm). 

So, I can't say we didn't learn anything today. We just didn't get done much of what I wanted to get done. This evening/tonight I plan on having the older two practice their reading - it's been too many days and they get very rusty. I also hope to read some more from the Burgess Bird Book and What Makes a Bird. We might throw in there a little of Our Island Story. As for the rest, there's always tomorrow. ;)  

Edited to add their new nicknames. :) My oldest is Nomar (he loves Nomar Garciaparra, formerly of the Dodgers and now with the A's). My middle son is Vlad (he loves Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels), and the youngest decided he wanted to be Luke Skywalker. :) 

Weekly Wrap-Up

Well, we definitely had our up and downs this week. It was our first full week without dad home to help (poor guy had to go off and resume teaching math to high schoolers). I have to say I am happy we are all getting to bed earlier, which means we are all getting up earlier, which means we can actually get through the different things I want to accomplish. The boys are very much enjoying learning about birds. My oldest is loving Our Island Story, and both my 5 year old and 8 year old love to listen to The Burgess Bird Book. 

My 3 year old is having fun doing "school" things. This week, I hand-wrote two pages (one on one day and one on another) with a big A and little a, and a picture/word that starts with a (the first day was ant; the second day he wanted pie, so I wrote apple pie). His coloring is getting better - he's developing his hand-eye coordination (it's very apparent when we play catch outside - he likes grounders and he's starting to move his glove to the on-coming ball). 

I'm also impressed with how much my middle son (5) has matured school-wise. I can tell he's making some big leaps mentally; maybe that is why he's been having more issues behavior-wise - his brain is just too busy right now integrating all he's been learning to bother with impulse control and following directions. ;) 

We had our first real art day today. I got out both the regular pastels and the oil pastels for the boys to use. I can tell that we need more practice with art, and also more exposure to art. I am excited to begin our coop with our friends next week with Meet the Masters. I also am taking one Friday a month to study Medieval art history (using the book Art in Story and any pictures I can find on-line). Eventually I'd like to invest in a good "coffee table" art book for all of us to look through. I have a couple books published by Usborne for kids, but I'd like one of those thick books of prints. 

I'm eagerly awaiting our Song School Latin order. I'm already thinking it might be good for me to order the next level of Latin (I'm leaning towards either Latin for Children A or Lively Latin. I'm not sure yet, and I have not yet broached the subject of spending money on yet more curriculum with my husband (though he tends to tell me to go ahead and buy whatever). For now, though, I'll stick with learning with the boys through Song School Latin and reading Minimus together. 

Next week I'd like to get an actual history activity done (either a map or a "Book of Centuries" type page with copywork and a picture). We also need to finish up our "compost" science experiment and make paper. It's a short week though; dad will be home on Monday, I hope to get to the library and/or nature center on Tuesday, and we have art coop on Friday. We'll see what we get done.