Over the last week, with Caleb being sick, I have spent quite a few hours reading. Reading aloud to Caleb while he is resting has given us some really sweet times together. One of the best books we read this week was The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Caleb and I laughed out loud several times while reading this book together. I absolutely love good juvenile fiction. I make a point of reading whatever my son is reading and also to, sort of, direct his reading by making selections for him when I am at the library. It is just another way to make memories together and also gives us things to talk about and share.
Caleb is getting to the age, he is 11, where children begin to break away from their parents. I know that this is normal, but I hope that, somehow, by making a habit of sharing things NOW, it will seem normal to continue in this manner LATER.
On that note, we were spending an afternoon together just window shopping, a few weeks ago and he said, "I love getting to spend time just with you, Mom!" I said, "I enjoy it so much, too. Do you think when you are 15 you will still want to spend time with your old Mom?" He said he was pretty sure he would because we have so much fun together. I certainly hope he will want to spend time with me, then. I am doing everything that I can to make sure that he does, now!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
In the Sickroom
Well, the best laid plans often get derailed. That has happened at our house in the last week. Our oldest son, Caleb, came home from school on the 20th with a high fever. He is STILL running a temperature 8 days later! He has either asthmatic bronchitis or walking pneumonia. I have been up and down with him all week doing the Mommy thing: bringing him his medicines, checking his temperature, coaxing him to eat and drink. He has lost five pounds since Thursday because he doesn't have an appetite and feels sick when he does try to eat. Whatever he has, it is horrible!
Because of his sickness, everything else has come to a screeching halt. That includes school, home management etc. We are basically just hanging in until he gets better. It is hard on the whole family when one of the children is sick because it changes the rhythm of the household. I have enjoyed taking care of my oldest though. He is eleven going on 25 and so does not like for me to "mother" him too much. :o)
I am so thankful for our extended family and our church family. We have had numerous people praying for Caleb and asking how they can help. The outpouring has touched my heart. Many people pitching in to help out..my husband's parents, a Sunday school member who brought us a meal... it has been a real blessing to me and to our house. So, thanks everyone! I hope I can return the favor really soon.
Because of his sickness, everything else has come to a screeching halt. That includes school, home management etc. We are basically just hanging in until he gets better. It is hard on the whole family when one of the children is sick because it changes the rhythm of the household. I have enjoyed taking care of my oldest though. He is eleven going on 25 and so does not like for me to "mother" him too much. :o)
I am so thankful for our extended family and our church family. We have had numerous people praying for Caleb and asking how they can help. The outpouring has touched my heart. Many people pitching in to help out..my husband's parents, a Sunday school member who brought us a meal... it has been a real blessing to me and to our house. So, thanks everyone! I hope I can return the favor really soon.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Okay, okay a new post already!
Well, I have taken a little (okay, LONG) break from my blog. I have been hunkered down at home doing school with Sam.
(Because of our busy school schedule. I will begin updating my blog every Friday, starting next week.)
He is doing really well this year! We started the year reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?" by Eric Carle. We did a lot of fun things with this story. Sam learned all his color words and the names of all the animals in the book. We made a "baggie book" called "I see a Brown Bear." I used pictures of the animals from the book that I found online. I pasted them to cards and I wrote "I see a brown bear (or whatever animal and color.)" under the pictures. I then slid the completed cards into quart sized baggies back to back (2 per baggie.) Stapled the baggies together and made a cover out of construction paper. If you would like to see pictures of this idea, you can check it out at www.thevirtualvine.com under her Brown Bear unit. Sam really liked reading his story.
We are now on our apple unit. Sam has been reading his own personal book about apples that I made using clip art that I found online. I found a simple poem, "How Many Apples Do You See?" with lots of great sight words and some other simple words related to apples. I used Microsoft Publisher to make the book. We did a "cold probe" of this book and I realized that he needed help with discriminating between words like "how" and "now." We are also learning number words. I made a file folder game where you match leaves with the number on them to apples with the number word. We did it without any prior instruction and he picked it up really fast! I think he already knew some of the number words and so this was a great expansion. We are also focusing on the short a sound during this unit. Learning about ants and alligators and other things that start with a.
Anway, as you can see, we have been super busy in the Marshall house with homeschool fun. Check back next week and I will have some pictures up of some of the activities we have been doing.
(Because of our busy school schedule. I will begin updating my blog every Friday, starting next week.)
He is doing really well this year! We started the year reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?" by Eric Carle. We did a lot of fun things with this story. Sam learned all his color words and the names of all the animals in the book. We made a "baggie book" called "I see a Brown Bear." I used pictures of the animals from the book that I found online. I pasted them to cards and I wrote "I see a brown bear (or whatever animal and color.)" under the pictures. I then slid the completed cards into quart sized baggies back to back (2 per baggie.) Stapled the baggies together and made a cover out of construction paper. If you would like to see pictures of this idea, you can check it out at www.thevirtualvine.com under her Brown Bear unit. Sam really liked reading his story.
We are now on our apple unit. Sam has been reading his own personal book about apples that I made using clip art that I found online. I found a simple poem, "How Many Apples Do You See?" with lots of great sight words and some other simple words related to apples. I used Microsoft Publisher to make the book. We did a "cold probe" of this book and I realized that he needed help with discriminating between words like "how" and "now." We are also learning number words. I made a file folder game where you match leaves with the number on them to apples with the number word. We did it without any prior instruction and he picked it up really fast! I think he already knew some of the number words and so this was a great expansion. We are also focusing on the short a sound during this unit. Learning about ants and alligators and other things that start with a.
Anway, as you can see, we have been super busy in the Marshall house with homeschool fun. Check back next week and I will have some pictures up of some of the activities we have been doing.
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