Since bringing Calvin home 3.5 weeks ago, we've been doing adapted homeschool. Monk (11) and Twinkle Toes (9) have been so great about keeping up with their independent work and even reading all the extra readers I bought them. Measle (7) and I have been trudging along and her dad has been spending time with her each day on flashcards. We've pretty much put our Language Arts time together on hold which means the kids haven't done any writing lately. I plan to phase this hour back into our day as soon as I start getting decent sleep again- hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Another stumbling block for us has been our read-aloud time. I'm not so great at multi-tasking so we let our read-aloud time slide for the first two weeks Calvin was home. Fortunately, we had gotten ahead before having the baby, so it worked out ok. On a whim, I had purchased the audiobook of Carry on Mr. Bowditch a couple of months ago and we have LOVED listening together each day while I nurse baby. Twinkle Toes and I went to Amazon and found 7 more of our read-aloud books available on CD and ordered them. I know it's kind of a pricey solution, but I'm so excited about our being able to continue with our read-aloud time, not get behind in our Sonlight IG, AND all while I nurse baby boy.
Meanwhile, Prince (4) is making great strides with his reading. We're at lesson 37 in
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and he's taken off with the Bob books now. We continue to enjoy our Five in a Row together as I make time- often on the weekends.
I'm sorry to report that I have NOT been getting the kids up at 6:30 and spending time with them in Bible study. For this season, I'm just making sure that Monk, Twinkle Toes, and Measle work a little each day on their Community Bible Study homework. I do the same lesson each week so I'm trying to initiate discussions in the car while we drive along. I know it's not a long-term solution, but hopefully we can get back on track with our devotional schedule in the near future, too.
So that's our adapted homeschool for now. It's not ideal, but it will work for now. And what better reason to be temporarily derailed than a new baby brother!
I couldn't think of a better way to spend time with your children while nursing Calvin then listening to an audio book. We LOVE audio books and a while back decided that it was worth the investment to join audible.com. Now my children will sometimes ask if they can listen to another audio book instead of watching a movie.
ReplyDeleteBe patient with yourself and enjoy this time precious time as it passes all too quickly. If I could help you by taking your children over to the park on Saturday so that you could get a little sleep please call me. I would love to be a blessing to you.
Also, great picture of Calvin!
We love audiobooks, too! We just finished Across Five Aprils. With the older kids I read it, so it was fun to listen to it this time. We love that book. Also love Carry on Mr. Bowditch. We like to do puzzles, sew, or sort while we listen.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy this time. They grow so fast and there is lots of time to get caught up and back on track later.
Calvin is so cute! Hope you and your hubby are doing well. I think of you missing your father-in-law often.
My friend, Molly, started a website that is a database of free audio content. She charges $15 per year to access the database- compensation for the HOURS of work she has put into developing it. She has several titles from homeschool cur reading lists. www.myaudioschool.com
ReplyDeleteYou can access about 25% of the content for free just to see if it would work for you.
Audio books are a great adaptation. You're doing great...with your weight loss, too. I look forward to my favorite clothes fitting right again, too!! :)
Oh yes, we love audiobooks! I use Audible.com and iTunes. If we have it available on the iPod, the kids will listen over and over. I even found some Five in a Row titles on Audible. I blogged about it recently. It's a great addition to homeschooling.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is a little bit ahead of Sonlight 4, which is what we're doing now, so I supplement her reading with some other Sonlight titles and various books relating to our subject. I downloaded Uncle Tom's Cabin while we were reading about that time period. She enjoyed listening to it while doing artwork and such, and she added to her knowledge base in her free time!