Well, this is it! The kids are completely finished with their science projects, down to the last wording change and sticker application. The fair begins tomorrow morning at 8:30 am.
Triss altered and redid her experiment from last year. She not only conducted her experiment and documentation without help, but has done all her computer work herself. She drew her diagrams in Paint, typed up her report pages, setting fancy borders around each page and added Word Art to her title board. She even figured out how to load data into Excel and make her graphs. I stood by and said things like, "How'd ya do that?" or "Hey, I didn't know you could just move the tab to make it line up!" I foresee that this will be the child that fixes my Internet and computer problems for me. I am not inclined in that direction.
I was her personal assistant, reminding her of deadlines, making sure she kept her things where she could find them and requiring her to practice her speech at least twice a day as soon as her board was finished. I am working on handing even that responsibility over to her next year.
This is Mariel's first science fair. She is very excited about exhibiting her project. I was her personal assistant, secretary and advisor, helping her stay abreast of requirements, typing down her tellings as she dictated them to me, discussing results, and making board recommendations. We decided against any kind of graph as she is not yet ready to give explanations of them, so she is relying on basic math to explain the results.
I would display pictures, but my camera is in my purse and I will be banished from Fair Mommy-Land if I dare to forget it tomorrow.
Cornflower has not been left out of all this. Our support group is having a Family Science Night in two weeks, where children of any age can share their scientific work. She continues to "swell wisibly" as I encourage her to document the flower she is growing, and today solemnly proclaimed, as she carried home a heavy piece of concrete aggregate for further observation in the backyard, that she was a scientist.
This is so much fun.
The laundry is terribly behind, the dishes have piled up despite my desultory efforts at tidiness, the carpet has not been vacuumed in a week-- but the children are satisfied that their science projects are ready and I feel vindicated in my role of Family Support Specialist/Manager.
(I will be glad to go back to normal, though. I'm a bit tired of looking for socks in the laundry basket and wondering whether anyone else will notice we missed dinner if I say nothing about it.)
Friday, February 02, 2007
Annie Does Not Make Such a Good Elocutionist
Cornflower is a big fan of Annie Oakley, especially the stylized Annie Oakley of "Annie Get Your Gun" fame. But as a result she has unwittingly picked up some Western vernacular.
I recently realized that every time she tries to say "for" it comes out "fer."
The other day she read, "God shows that he loves us by all that he has done fer us."
I pointed and said, "What does that say?"
She said, "Fer."
Well, needless to say, this became a habit with her before I caught it. Not only does she read "for" as "fer", she also says "fer" for "for" in conversation.
Tonight, as we got ready for the older kids' big day tomorrow (science fair, and are they excited/nervous!), Cornflower wanted to know to what time she should set her alarm.
(Yes, they have alarms. Isn't that awful? All three of them have alarms and they set their alarms to seven every school day so we can start at the same time each day. In theory at least. No, we do not take advantage of the homeschoolers' luxury of sleeping in. Call me Too Strict and Not Relaxed Enough, if you like, but there it is. Even the 6 year old has an alarm clock. So she makes it to breakfast on time and I do not feel like a short order cook all morning in between math and history. We also have morning together time which she would not like to miss, as it contains not only Bible lessons but recitation, singing and poetry, all favorites at our house. So we have Our Little Routine and like it very much, except for the getting up on time part. But I digress.)
So she came to me and said, "Mom, what time should I set my alarm fer?"
I said, "For."
"Four?!!" she cried.
"What-time-should-I-set-my-alarm-for," I repeated. "Set your alarm for six. We have to leave at seven-thirty."
I am going to have to pay more attention to her pronunciation. Any and all suggestions on how to get her excited about fixing this word would be much appreciated. Mr. Honey is going to make me a list of enunciation techniques he learned when he was a student at American Conservatory Theater.
I recently realized that every time she tries to say "for" it comes out "fer."
The other day she read, "God shows that he loves us by all that he has done fer us."
I pointed and said, "What does that say?"
She said, "Fer."
Well, needless to say, this became a habit with her before I caught it. Not only does she read "for" as "fer", she also says "fer" for "for" in conversation.
Tonight, as we got ready for the older kids' big day tomorrow (science fair, and are they excited/nervous!), Cornflower wanted to know to what time she should set her alarm.
(Yes, they have alarms. Isn't that awful? All three of them have alarms and they set their alarms to seven every school day so we can start at the same time each day. In theory at least. No, we do not take advantage of the homeschoolers' luxury of sleeping in. Call me Too Strict and Not Relaxed Enough, if you like, but there it is. Even the 6 year old has an alarm clock. So she makes it to breakfast on time and I do not feel like a short order cook all morning in between math and history. We also have morning together time which she would not like to miss, as it contains not only Bible lessons but recitation, singing and poetry, all favorites at our house. So we have Our Little Routine and like it very much, except for the getting up on time part. But I digress.)
So she came to me and said, "Mom, what time should I set my alarm fer?"
I said, "For."
"Four?!!" she cried.
"What-time-should-I-set-my-alarm-for," I repeated. "Set your alarm for six. We have to leave at seven-thirty."
I am going to have to pay more attention to her pronunciation. Any and all suggestions on how to get her excited about fixing this word would be much appreciated. Mr. Honey is going to make me a list of enunciation techniques he learned when he was a student at American Conservatory Theater.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Authority
"Mothers owe a thinking love to their children." --Charlotte Mason
"Authority is alert; she knows all that is going on and is aware of tendencies. She fulfils the apostolic precept––'He that ruleth (let him do it), with diligence.' But she is strong enough to fulfil that other precept also, 'He that showeth mercy (let him do it), with cheerfulness'; timely clemency, timely yielding, is a great secret of strong government. It sometimes happens that children, and not their parents, have right on their side: a claim may be made or an injunction resisted, and the children are in opposition to parent or teacher. It is well for the latter to get the habit of swiftly and imperceptibly reviewing the situation; possibly, the children may be in the right, and the parent may gather up his wits in time to yield the point graciously and send the little rebels away in a glow of love and loyalty. Nobody understood this better than Queen Elizabeth, who contrived to make a curious division of her personality and be, at the same time, a model ruler and, as a woman, full of the weaknesses of her sex. It has been well said that she knew when to yield and how to yield. Her adroitness in getting over many a dangerous crisis has been much praised by historians; but, possibly, this saving grace was not adroitness so much as the tact born of qualities proper to all who are set in authority––the meekness of one who has been given an appointed work, the readiness to take counsel with herself and with others, the perception that she herself was not the be-all and the end-all of her functions as a queen, but that she existed for her people, and the quick and tender open-minded sympathy which enabled her to see their side of every question as well as her own––indeed, in preference to her own. These are the qualities proper to every ruler of a household, a school, or a kingdom. With these, parents will be able to order and control a fiery young brood full of energy and vitality, as Elizabeth was, to manage the kingdom when the minds of men were in a ferment of new thought, and life was intoxicating in the delightfulness of the possibilities it offered. " (CM Series Vol. 3 p. 17-18)
Ouch. No comment. Please, Lord, help me not be autocratic, but an authority under Your authority. Help me, in meekness, to think and notice and imperceptibly evaluate things. Help me to stay on my toes and be gentle and cheerful as well as diligent. Amen.
I have thought of a new title for myself. It is Family Support Specialist. Mr. Honey said I should be called the Family Support Manager, as that sounds more professional. Maybe. I am training up future Family Support Specialists. Not that I have any problem with the titles of Homemaker, Housewife or Mother. But in this day and age when professional sounding titles are all the thing, it helps me understand better one of the functions of my office.
"Authority is alert; she knows all that is going on and is aware of tendencies. She fulfils the apostolic precept––'He that ruleth (let him do it), with diligence.' But she is strong enough to fulfil that other precept also, 'He that showeth mercy (let him do it), with cheerfulness'; timely clemency, timely yielding, is a great secret of strong government. It sometimes happens that children, and not their parents, have right on their side: a claim may be made or an injunction resisted, and the children are in opposition to parent or teacher. It is well for the latter to get the habit of swiftly and imperceptibly reviewing the situation; possibly, the children may be in the right, and the parent may gather up his wits in time to yield the point graciously and send the little rebels away in a glow of love and loyalty. Nobody understood this better than Queen Elizabeth, who contrived to make a curious division of her personality and be, at the same time, a model ruler and, as a woman, full of the weaknesses of her sex. It has been well said that she knew when to yield and how to yield. Her adroitness in getting over many a dangerous crisis has been much praised by historians; but, possibly, this saving grace was not adroitness so much as the tact born of qualities proper to all who are set in authority––the meekness of one who has been given an appointed work, the readiness to take counsel with herself and with others, the perception that she herself was not the be-all and the end-all of her functions as a queen, but that she existed for her people, and the quick and tender open-minded sympathy which enabled her to see their side of every question as well as her own––indeed, in preference to her own. These are the qualities proper to every ruler of a household, a school, or a kingdom. With these, parents will be able to order and control a fiery young brood full of energy and vitality, as Elizabeth was, to manage the kingdom when the minds of men were in a ferment of new thought, and life was intoxicating in the delightfulness of the possibilities it offered. " (CM Series Vol. 3 p. 17-18)
Ouch. No comment. Please, Lord, help me not be autocratic, but an authority under Your authority. Help me, in meekness, to think and notice and imperceptibly evaluate things. Help me to stay on my toes and be gentle and cheerful as well as diligent. Amen.
I have thought of a new title for myself. It is Family Support Specialist. Mr. Honey said I should be called the Family Support Manager, as that sounds more professional. Maybe. I am training up future Family Support Specialists. Not that I have any problem with the titles of Homemaker, Housewife or Mother. But in this day and age when professional sounding titles are all the thing, it helps me understand better one of the functions of my office.
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