Week 3: April 13-17
Monday, April 13
Note the "Gas" section...(face palm)
Seb is fighting every step of the way with his school work. All he wants to do is play Transformers and do his own thing. He breaks down and cries and/or gets angry with math. We'll get through it, but he's fighting it right now.
Karate tonight and then math facts and Little House (On the Bank of Plum Creek).
Tuesday, April 14
Journal
Math
Doing the Chrome Music Lab for Music today
Writing
Happy numbers
An after dinner walk, just the two of us!
Karate! Then math facts and reading.
Wednesday, April 15
Boy, I am not happy with the quality of the work these boys are doing. But it's been a struggle to get them to do anything at all. There have been days with huge meltdowns, and I wish it didn't have to be done on my timeline, but that's the only way it will get done. It HAS to be in the morning and in between my meetings. They ARE making improvements at coin counting and time telling. We continue to practice math facts every night and I read to them every night. I am trying to make sure they do silent reading on their own every day because I'm hoping it will stick as a habit. I wish they'd do typing but they have lost interest in all but the stupid games that really only teach you if you already know where the keys are. Seb is doing pretty well with his Portuguese, but as a language teacher I know that the only thing he's really doing is training his ear and learning how languages work. Which is valuable! But he's not really learning Portuguese. Still worth his time, though. I'm also happy that their karate is greatly improving--zoom is a great medium for karate because it allows us to do it M-Th vs. the 2X a week we were doing when we had to travel to the dojo in Bridgewater. Sensei is old school and a great tag-team disciplinarian. He keeps them in line. They have also gotten better at soccer and baseball/throwing, and I consider those good skills to have. Even if you're not interested in sports, it's helpful to have basic knowledge of sports so you can jump in at social outings or playing with kids. At least that's what I think! It should help Seb have more options at recess, too, if he has a clue how to play some sports. Unfortunately, he's still pretty lousy at soccer--baseball came more naturally to him. (and Adrian, always the mirror image, took naturally to soccer but not to baseball!)
Today Seb attended a birthday parade for Colin W. He made this sign. He enjoyed trying to make Colin's day a bit brighter. I hope those two boys are on better terms now. It seems like it, but I never can tell.
Both boys continue to sleep together. I figure why not...at first I was worried that they'd forget how to sleep alone. But I don't think there is any danger of pre-teen boys sleeping together. So they will go back to "normal." But for now, they are lucky enough to have a twin and feel safe sleeping. So I think that's pretty special.
Time for karate!
Thursday, 4/16
Another day of shoddy written work. I don't know what to say anymore other than I'm trying...
They liked the balloon experiment but didn't have straws or balloons so we couldn't do it ourselves.
Seb did his SEL assignment from yesterday and wrote and typed an email to my mom (his Mini) to thank her for the Lego set she had shipped to the house. She calls him Buster or Sebby...he loves that. And she wrote him back, of course, which he loved.
His email:
Hi mini
The answer:
Hi Buster!
Seb had his show and tell with your class, and then right after at 11 both he and Adrian joined lunch bunch with Mrs. Fine and Mrs. Anderson. They learned about listening online in Zoom calls and what that looks like. That was a much needed lesson!
For art we did Play-Doh. This was his attempt at a sugar skull (calavera)...
Now the boys are just mixing different colors to see what colors the combination makes. So far they've succeeded in making "vomit" color... very productive use of materials.
We took another soccer walk after dinner. Now Karate at 7.
Friday, April 17
Google Doc for the week
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPLcxF-SYqWAtkWBnex-cG0mpQ0c0WQ-7J8J0UCn8mU/edit?usp=sharing
Making the hat for science
Racing Lego cars
Note the "Gas" section...(face palm)
Seb is fighting every step of the way with his school work. All he wants to do is play Transformers and do his own thing. He breaks down and cries and/or gets angry with math. We'll get through it, but he's fighting it right now.
Karate tonight and then math facts and Little House (On the Bank of Plum Creek).
Tuesday, April 14
Journal
Math
Writing
Happy numbers
An after dinner walk, just the two of us!
Karate! Then math facts and reading.
Wednesday, April 15
Boy, I am not happy with the quality of the work these boys are doing. But it's been a struggle to get them to do anything at all. There have been days with huge meltdowns, and I wish it didn't have to be done on my timeline, but that's the only way it will get done. It HAS to be in the morning and in between my meetings. They ARE making improvements at coin counting and time telling. We continue to practice math facts every night and I read to them every night. I am trying to make sure they do silent reading on their own every day because I'm hoping it will stick as a habit. I wish they'd do typing but they have lost interest in all but the stupid games that really only teach you if you already know where the keys are. Seb is doing pretty well with his Portuguese, but as a language teacher I know that the only thing he's really doing is training his ear and learning how languages work. Which is valuable! But he's not really learning Portuguese. Still worth his time, though. I'm also happy that their karate is greatly improving--zoom is a great medium for karate because it allows us to do it M-Th vs. the 2X a week we were doing when we had to travel to the dojo in Bridgewater. Sensei is old school and a great tag-team disciplinarian. He keeps them in line. They have also gotten better at soccer and baseball/throwing, and I consider those good skills to have. Even if you're not interested in sports, it's helpful to have basic knowledge of sports so you can jump in at social outings or playing with kids. At least that's what I think! It should help Seb have more options at recess, too, if he has a clue how to play some sports. Unfortunately, he's still pretty lousy at soccer--baseball came more naturally to him. (and Adrian, always the mirror image, took naturally to soccer but not to baseball!)
Today Seb attended a birthday parade for Colin W. He made this sign. He enjoyed trying to make Colin's day a bit brighter. I hope those two boys are on better terms now. It seems like it, but I never can tell.
Both boys continue to sleep together. I figure why not...at first I was worried that they'd forget how to sleep alone. But I don't think there is any danger of pre-teen boys sleeping together. So they will go back to "normal." But for now, they are lucky enough to have a twin and feel safe sleeping. So I think that's pretty special.
Time for karate!
Thursday, 4/16
Another day of shoddy written work. I don't know what to say anymore other than I'm trying...
They liked the balloon experiment but didn't have straws or balloons so we couldn't do it ourselves.
Seb did his SEL assignment from yesterday and wrote and typed an email to my mom (his Mini) to thank her for the Lego set she had shipped to the house. She calls him Buster or Sebby...he loves that. And she wrote him back, of course, which he loved.
His email:
Hi mini
me and papa built my lamborghini
set.I let adi have the one that looks like a jeep.
Adi and papa built the el fuego set.I love you mini
and i miss you with all this coronavirus stuff. 
LOVE,
SEBBY OR BUSTER
The answer:
Hi Buster!
I love you and miss you and can't wait for a sleep over with you both. I want to play the clock game with you and color and bake cookies and all kinds of things. You make me very happy when you are here with me. I have not seen a bat in this house yet. Let's hope we don't.
Love,
Mini
Seb had his show and tell with your class, and then right after at 11 both he and Adrian joined lunch bunch with Mrs. Fine and Mrs. Anderson. They learned about listening online in Zoom calls and what that looks like. That was a much needed lesson!
For art we did Play-Doh. This was his attempt at a sugar skull (calavera)...
Now the boys are just mixing different colors to see what colors the combination makes. So far they've succeeded in making "vomit" color... very productive use of materials.
We took another soccer walk after dinner. Now Karate at 7.
Friday, April 17
Google Doc for the week
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPLcxF-SYqWAtkWBnex-cG0mpQ0c0WQ-7J8J0UCn8mU/edit?usp=sharing
Racing Lego cars
Wow, Seb! I love your acrostic poem about Papa!! Great job!
ReplyDeleteYour email to your Mini was so nice! What a kind thing you did! I'm sure it made her feel so special to get that note from you!
Your hat for science is super cool! You have the best smile in that picture! I miss that smile so much!
I'm glad to hear you had lunch bunch with Ms. Fine and Mrs. Anderson! That's great!
Your clock book came out awesome! You are doing such an amazing job! You should be so proud of yourself! Keep up the hard work!
I miss you!
Love, Mrs. Sanpietro