Day Two . . .

This morning we, correction I got up at 9:00 so we got a little bit of a late start.  Not a big problem as Kira whisked through boxes 1, 2, 3, and 4 before lunch.  While she was busy working on her activities for the morning, I was busy printing items that I didn't print prior to our starting school.

This afternoon was not as productive.  After lunch my happy little princess went to grumpy in 2.2 seconds.  BUT I did not lose my cool.  I remained calm, didn't raise my voice and remained positive about the entire situation.  I decided to reach into my tactics bag.
Tactic #1:  Take a nap.  I advised Princess Grumpy that she was tired, and needed to go lay down for 30 minutes.  There was no reason for me to fight with her if she was that sleepy but that did not mean she was getting out of her schoolwork!  When the 30 minutes were up, she came back to 'class,' otherwise known as the kitchen, and grabbed box #5 -- language arts and writing!  Oh no!  Now for language arts we were talking about proper nouns.  Not so hard right?  But she did not want to have to write.  So with my tactical bag in hand , it was time for Tactic #2:  School House Rock!  Did I mention YouTube is fantastic?  So we looked up School House Rock (even though I have their entire collection) and found 'A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing.'  After it was done, we talked about nouns and I asked if she was ready to start writing.  After all she only had to write 3 sentences!  She was ready but still in protest.  She wrote her sentences and then it was on to writing.  Writing is not a favorite either.  She complains of her finger hurting (well if she wouldn't hold the pencil like it was going to run away, it wouldn't!)  Writing today was about finding the main idea.  Due to her already frustrated self, I decided to read the directions and sentences to her -- at this point I just wanted to get it done.  Within 15 minutes she was done with both pages!  I told her not to get used to me reading for her because that will not help her learn to read.  Next was science.  Ah, plants.  Now I do not have a green thumb.  Give me a plant and I will make sure it dies.  I don't do it on purpose.  It just happens.  I think the only plant I was able to keep alive was a peace lily I had in college.  I gave it to my mom and she killed it!  Back to plants, we talked about how plants grow, and how their leaves are like solar cells.  I used the solar cells as an example she would understand.  This child is a reduce, reuse, recycle promoter.  If I throw something in trash she scolds me!  Each week we fill up probably 3 blue recycle bins if not more.  Don't get me wrong I am very proud of her but this going green thing sometimes really kills me.  Next was reading.  This is a subject we really need to work on so next week it will come in the morning, but right now it is at the very end.  My Mom got a subscription for the Little Princess to Highlights High-Five magazine.  She has really enjoyed the activities in it and it is also something she can read on own (for the most part.)  Today she read one story out of it to me without any help.  She also finished her book report from last night's 'Read to Daddy' book.  I was shocked.  After an afternoon full of whining and a phone call she made to Daddy telling him we would not be having Family Game Night, that she had to do school work, she finished up!  Now she still has to do her evening ritual of 'Read to Daddy' but that is it!  Family Game Nite is a go!

Now tomorrow we get our new AC unit so I am not planning for a full day of school -- I guess we can count it as an Early Release day?  I do have planned the start of a lapbook on the growth of plants, parts of plants, etc.