Rivendell, WIS

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Friday, May 26, 2006

National Spelling Bee, May 31 and June 1

What will our family be doing next Wednesday and Thursday? Following the National Spelling Bee. Results of the beginning rounds, May 31, will be posted at the Scripps website word-by-word. The final rounds, June 1, are live on TV.


Final rounds of Scripps National Spelling Bee to be broadcast live on ABC during primetime

For
immediate
release
(NYSE: SSP)
April 27, 2006

CINCINNATI – Live television coverage of the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be moving to primetime this year on the ABC Television Network.

ABC will broadcast the final championship rounds of the bee in high definition from
8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 1. Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts will host the ABC broadcast.

Preliminary championship rounds of the bee will air live earlier in the day on ESPN, which has televised the final rounds of the bee in their entirety since 1994. The ESPN broadcast is scheduled for noon to 3 p.m., EDT. SportsCenter anchor Chris McKendry will host the ESPN broadcast.

More Here


Saturday, May 20, 2006

A Typical Week, or Something Like

I kept a rough log of our learning-related activities the first week of May. A typical week at our house looks something like the following.

Monday

6:15 am - Up, coffee, Bible, shower
8:00 - Try to rouse kids--with the emphasis on the word try! It is Monday, after all.
9:00 - Finishing up breakfast (E - Bible reading, book of Job)
Mom - email and blog updates

Note: Activities in parentheses indicate students working independently of Mom. You may assume I was in on the other activities.

9:30 - Mom and E - kitchen cleanup (B - shower, then independent work; C and D - Bible reading, then independent work)

Note: Our children were born in alphabetical order. Their ages are: A 19; B 17; C 14; D 12; E 10; F 6. Grades in school: A senior; B junior; C freshman; D 7th; E 5th; F kindergarten.

10:00 - F - Bible and phonics
10:20 - E - This Country of Ours
10:45 - Mom - housework
11:00 - B and C - How to Read a Book (E - math and handwriting)
11:45 - E - piano practice/instruction
12:00 - Mom checked D’s and E’s math work (E - independent reading)
E - narrated readings to Mom

Note: A slept until noon--not uncommon for her this year. I didn’t try to log her learning activities. Suffice it to say that she met my requirements. Her courses this year are geometry, biology, U. S. history, and literature. For the 3 latter classes, she is basically finishing up several living books for each, narrating to me orally or in writing for reporting purposes.

12:30 pm - Lunch, cleanup; Mom - email check
1:30 - (B - independent work)
1:45 - (C, D, E, F - chore time) Mom and A - prayer time
2:00 - (B - Spanish class at high school)
2:30 - Mom - financial paperwork
2:45 - (E - math; D - piano)
3:00 - (A - geometry; B - reading) Mom - geometry study
3:30 - C, D - discussion w/Mom; narrations
3:45 - (C - piano)
4:00 - Mom - errand
4:15 - (B - violin)
4:30 - Mom - reading
4:45 - Mom - supper preps
5:20 - C - narrating
10:00 - Our cat, Peter Pan, came home with an arrow through his front leg and chest!

Tuesday

6:00 am - Up, coffee, Bible, breakfast
8:00 - Kids up
9:00 - Extracted arrow from our tomcat’s front right leg and chest
9:30 - Mom - tea (needed after above activity!), shower, kitchen cleanup
(B, C - reading; E - Bible, math)

Note: I’m failing miserably at keeping track of the independent work of B, C, D and E. Suffice it to say that they are meeting our requirements. They spend much of their schooltime reading a wide range of books, then reporting to me in oral narrations. Written narrations are called for once a week. They are doing their math lessons pretty much independently.

10:15 - Mom - email check
10:40 - F - Bible and math
11:10 - E - spelling (C - algebra)
11:35 - Mom - lunch preps
12:30 pm - Mom - checking A’s geometry
1:00 - Lunch - discussed geometry (prisms) with all
1:30 - 5:00 - (B to Spanish and then weight room, errands; A to weight room, errands)
1:45 - Mom - rest (C, D, E, F - finish lunch, cleanup)
2:15 - Mom - make bread; cleanup; listen to E’s piano (C, D, E, F - work in yard)
2:50 - E - narrations

Note: Afternoons often include 30-60 minutes of computer time for each student, which may be games, email, blogging, or educational work like spelling bee work or ACT practice

3:00 - Mom - geometry study
3:30 - Mom - checking B’s geometry, C’s algebra
4:00 - 5:30 - Mom - caring for cat, discussing with neighbor; C, D - narrations; B - geometry discussion
5:30 - 7:00 - B, C, D, E, F - helped prepare supper
After supper - All sang and studied Bible with Dad

Wednesday

6:00 am - Up, shower, coffee, online stuff
7:00 - Wake kids
8:00 - Leave for music lessons (D - Bible memory work in car)

Note: Music lessons are an hour away. We listen to music or a book-on-tape about 50% of the time. This week, we are taking a break from listening to anything…

9:00 - Mom, B, C, D, E - read or work on other educational pursuits while D and C take piano lessons, B takes violin lesson; lessons end 10:45
9:30 - E - science reading (then math); F - Bible, phonics

Note: These two youngsters prefer to work in the car during music lessons--the music teacher’s home is a bit noisy for reading and narrating.

10:00 - Mom, E, F - errands
10:45 - 12:30 - Drive home, errands
1:00 pm - Lunch
1:30 - Mom and E - Library to seek books about the ancient Romans (C and D - cleanup; B - Spanish at the high school)
3:45 - 4:30 - A - geometry w/Mom
4:30 - B, C, D, E - narrations

Thursday

7:30 am - Up, coffee, Bible
8:00 - Breakfast; Mom - email check, online research
8:45 - F - Bible
9:15 - Mom - shower (B, C, D, E - cleanup; start independent work)
9:50 - Mom - help neighbor
10:00 - F - math
10:45 - E - This Country of Ours; narrations
11:15 - Mom check math for B, D, E; discuss geometry with B
11:45 - A - geometry
12:40 pm - Lunch, quick email check
1:30 - Mom, E, F - cleanup, work time (C, D - biology lab together with Mom overseeing)
2:30 - E - piano practice; more math (C, D - work time)
2:45 - Mom - reading
3:20 - Mom - online work (B, C - continue independent work; A to job at 2:45)
B, C, D - narrations

Friday - This will not be a typical day at all…

??? - Mom up
8:00 am - Kids up, breakfast
9:00 - F - Bible; read-aloud book about the underground railroad (B, C, D, E - independent schoolwork )
10:00 - Mom - Get ready for expedition; check map
10:30 - Kids help pack lunches and car
11:15 - Leave for expedition

Note: A and B stayed home to carry on their normal activities, including their evening jobs.

12:00 - Stop for lunch in a parking lot, downtown Elroy, Wisconsin
1:00 - Arrive at Bob and Laura’s rustic homestead; meet others and chat
1:30 - Get organized and begin our Underground Railroad Experience, in which we played at being slaves running away through the woods!

2:30 - Most slaves arrive safely in Canada; some Moms, like me, were caught by bounty hunters.

"I’ll never see my children again! Lord, protect them."

3:00 - Drive home; stop at grocery store for roasted chicken
4:00 - Home; prepare supper and eat
6:00 - Mom takes a nap--wery unusual, as Samuel Weller said when his step-mother had a kind word and a glass of pineapple rum for Mr. Weller, Senior.

Note: I’m reading The Pickwick Papers by Dickens now, often late at night, which may explain the last journal entry in more ways than one.