Roca, Papel, Tijeras!
The kids are all done with one quarter of the school year. (I'm not rushing it along because I don't want time to go too quickly, but I do live for school breaks.) Most made honor roll (Seth missed it by 1 point in his AP class.)
SETH
Seth enjoys early morning seminary class. I hear he participates, and of course, we never have trouble getting him up; he's usually up before we are. (Maybe he can be in charge of waking up Carolyn in 2 years when sleeping beauty starts seminary?)
His classes are a mixture of hard and laid back. His favorite, if I had to guess, is probably guitar. He's so naturally good at picking up instruments. He also has received an ocarina for his birthday and is learning how to play that. His hardest class is human geography (because it's AP!) He'll manage, but it's a lot of work. Chinese interests him, but the teacher is very serious, so I think he's considering switching to Spanish next year? He's back to algebra (thankfully), so math is good again. And physical science should have been named physics. (He's already beyond what I remember.)
He also packs his own lunch, but it's not too hard - grab an Uncrustable, a fruit, and a snack!
BETH
ALEE
Alee is loving school. She does well and is learning fast. Her teacher took it as a personal challenge when I told her Alee doesn't like to read. (This surprised her because she reads in class when she should. Alee is good at conforming to expectations in school though.)
Within 2 weeks of our conference, her teacher had found several chapter books she enjoys! (The Junie B Jones series I worried about my girls reading because she's a sassy little snot, but Alee's a little sassy herself already, so I don't worry so much about its influence, and I assume she probably relates to the main character. I'm just glad she's reading without me nagging. Baby mouse, comic style graphic novel, is her other top choice.)
Alee is loving school. She does well and is learning fast. Her teacher took it as a personal challenge when I told her Alee doesn't like to read. (This surprised her because she reads in class when she should. Alee is good at conforming to expectations in school though.)
Within 2 weeks of our conference, her teacher had found several chapter books she enjoys! (The Junie B Jones series I worried about my girls reading because she's a sassy little snot, but Alee's a little sassy herself already, so I don't worry so much about its influence, and I assume she probably relates to the main character. I'm just glad she's reading without me nagging. Baby mouse, comic style graphic novel, is her other top choice.)
She's good at math, but hasn't enjoyed the topics so far (patterns, place value, and comparing); she really just wants to learn multiplication!
But her favorite class this year is Spanish! They have a new teacher and he must be doing a good job. Her pronunciation in Spanish is about as good as in English, so Rob is constantly correcting her. But she's so cute and comes home singing little things every Friday. My favorite is her chant: "Roca, papel, tijeras!" (Rock, paper, scissors.)
She struggled with spelling tests at first, but once I realized I actually need to study with her, she's made perfect scores. We've invented some little cheers to help with that.
(O-U-G-H! Uff! Uff-Uff! Uff!
O-U-G-H! Oo! Oo-Oo! Oo!
O-U-G-H! Oh! Oh-oh! Oh!
O-U-G-H! Ow! Ow-ow! Ow!...
She got "enough" and "through" and others like it.)
KAITLYN & NATALIE
The twins are doing great in 5th grade. I can't believe this is their last year in elementary school! :( Next year they'll all be too busy to play except for Alee.
They are both in the same class and both are helping out in the school news show. Initially it was just Kaitlyn. (She's one of the main newscasters for their morning news show.) Natalie was elected to be on student council. (Kaitlyn was super sad about not being elected at first since she has been wanting to do that since last year, but we talked about it, and she's ok now.) They each had one job.
But her favorite class this year is Spanish! They have a new teacher and he must be doing a good job. Her pronunciation in Spanish is about as good as in English, so Rob is constantly correcting her. But she's so cute and comes home singing little things every Friday. My favorite is her chant: "Roca, papel, tijeras!" (Rock, paper, scissors.)
She struggled with spelling tests at first, but once I realized I actually need to study with her, she's made perfect scores. We've invented some little cheers to help with that.
(O-U-G-H! Uff! Uff-Uff! Uff!
O-U-G-H! Oo! Oo-Oo! Oo!
O-U-G-H! Oh! Oh-oh! Oh!
O-U-G-H! Ow! Ow-ow! Ow!...
She got "enough" and "through" and others like it.)
KAITLYN & NATALIE
The twins are doing great in 5th grade. I can't believe this is their last year in elementary school! :( Next year they'll all be too busy to play except for Alee.
They are both in the same class and both are helping out in the school news show. Initially it was just Kaitlyn. (She's one of the main newscasters for their morning news show.) Natalie was elected to be on student council. (Kaitlyn was super sad about not being elected at first since she has been wanting to do that since last year, but we talked about it, and she's ok now.) They each had one job.
So far student council doesn't do much, it seems, so Natalie hasn't had as much to be involved with (despite having the job Kaitlyn wanted). However, they needed additional help with the news show, so Natalie has joined that, doing mostly behind the scenes stuff. She's good at learning a job and staying focused. And they like being involved together in different ways.
I've gotten to help the youngest 3 with math homework. (They rarely need help, but I like to be the one to help when they do. It's like teaching math.) Seth's need help once this year, and I really just directed him to the formula in his notes. Physics is hard!
CAROLYN
Carolyn continues to have more homework than I think is legal. (She does drag it out, so it's her own doing, but I really think most homework should be nonexistent.) She likes her classes and teachers and has friends. Sometimes the less refined students get to her, and she wishes I would just come pick her up for the day, but she has a lot of supportive kind adults at the school who really like her. She's pretty good at working on things in pieces and doesn't procrastinate. (Who has time to procrastinate when you want everything to be perfect?)
She packs her own lunch this year. (Mostly out of necessity; I'm not as on top of things as I was before Gideon.)
I've gotten to help the youngest 3 with math homework. (They rarely need help, but I like to be the one to help when they do. It's like teaching math.) Seth's need help once this year, and I really just directed him to the formula in his notes. Physics is hard!
CAROLYN
Carolyn continues to have more homework than I think is legal. (She does drag it out, so it's her own doing, but I really think most homework should be nonexistent.) She likes her classes and teachers and has friends. Sometimes the less refined students get to her, and she wishes I would just come pick her up for the day, but she has a lot of supportive kind adults at the school who really like her. She's pretty good at working on things in pieces and doesn't procrastinate. (Who has time to procrastinate when you want everything to be perfect?)
She packs her own lunch this year. (Mostly out of necessity; I'm not as on top of things as I was before Gideon.)
SETH
Seth enjoys early morning seminary class. I hear he participates, and of course, we never have trouble getting him up; he's usually up before we are. (Maybe he can be in charge of waking up Carolyn in 2 years when sleeping beauty starts seminary?)
His classes are a mixture of hard and laid back. His favorite, if I had to guess, is probably guitar. He's so naturally good at picking up instruments. He also has received an ocarina for his birthday and is learning how to play that. His hardest class is human geography (because it's AP!) He'll manage, but it's a lot of work. Chinese interests him, but the teacher is very serious, so I think he's considering switching to Spanish next year? He's back to algebra (thankfully), so math is good again. And physical science should have been named physics. (He's already beyond what I remember.)
He also packs his own lunch, but it's not too hard - grab an Uncrustable, a fruit, and a snack!
BETH
It's been an adjustment to get used to having a baby and everyone else at school, but I'm getting better and finding routine.
I'm really getting more done than I give myself credit for (given Gideon thinks I should hold him every waking moment), but I'm still barely keeping up. I have to get some non-chores done for myself (like projects or organizing or service or friends) or life feels so mundane, so the chores are mostly top priority, but some days, I put them off for something else. (As long as we don't run out of clean spoons or underwear, the kids don't seem to notice whether I'm keeping up or not.)
They've all learned to do their own laundry and they help out with other chores (when reminded).
I've never been good at multitasking or multi-project-ing. I just get distracted and have a bunch of partially finished tasks! But I do like to do things that accomplish more than one purpose at a time. So it is with my exercise these days.
Exercise either involves taking Gideon on a walk in the stroller (all babies seem to love outside) or I do floor exercises with him as my resistance, or with him lying beside me. He usually likes it and smiles like I'm playing a game with him. I'm still not really consistent with exercise. But I'm trying.
I'm really getting more done than I give myself credit for (given Gideon thinks I should hold him every waking moment), but I'm still barely keeping up. I have to get some non-chores done for myself (like projects or organizing or service or friends) or life feels so mundane, so the chores are mostly top priority, but some days, I put them off for something else. (As long as we don't run out of clean spoons or underwear, the kids don't seem to notice whether I'm keeping up or not.)
They've all learned to do their own laundry and they help out with other chores (when reminded).
I've never been good at multitasking or multi-project-ing. I just get distracted and have a bunch of partially finished tasks! But I do like to do things that accomplish more than one purpose at a time. So it is with my exercise these days.
Exercise either involves taking Gideon on a walk in the stroller (all babies seem to love outside) or I do floor exercises with him as my resistance, or with him lying beside me. He usually likes it and smiles like I'm playing a game with him. I'm still not really consistent with exercise. But I'm trying.
ROB
Rob's had work changes and is always busy there. He takes Seth to seminary, and because Seth has been doing a much better job of keeping up with school assignments this year, Rob has only had to "be Seth's brain" a little bit this year.
We have to make more effort to have time together to talk and keep up with each other (with no one interrupting us with something to say).
We had a family picnic at the temple today after we walked around and talked with the kids. The youngest few aren't old enough to go yet and Gideon is still attached to his lunch box, which I carry, so I haven't gone in a few months. I wanted to go, so we had a family temple visit to walk around the grounds.
My mom and dad worked there today so they joined us for our picnic.
It was lovely quiet. (Seth had a birthday party last night and 8 teenage boys are louder than I had anticipated. They had fun and I was so glad they all got along having a mixture of kids from school and church. However, I appreciated the quiet this morning.) :)
*I didn't forget Gideon, but he just got his weekly email, so no need to update you on him, and he doesn't go to school yet!
We set up several video game consoles for the party that rarely get played anymore, and the kids are all playing some games together tonight with Rob. (Band Hero and MarioKart)
Ready for holidays (birthday & baptism, Thanksgiving, Christmas) - to see extended family, to take a break from school, to enjoy the time with each other!
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