Day 33

I usually wait until bedtime to post, but I know I'm going to be up late and forget to do it til 11:30 or something; and I just don't want to do that tonight. So here I am. Still with the migraine. Rachel has had a headache for a while too. We both felt great out west but have been feeling terrible since we got back. Maybe we always feel like this and just hadn't realized how bad it was until we spent time feeling good. I think it's time to move!

Today, I had Sam and Sarah working on subtracting negative numbers again. This time I gave them a procedure--Sarah's life saver. She was able to whoosh through several problems after that. Sam too. He did the procedure even though his actual problem solving was still in his head. Now to do that about 5,000 more times. Jeff always wants them to do hundreds of problems, but I think he wants them to do that all in the same day! He talks about taking timed tests with math facts when he was little, and he says there were 100 on the page. I wonder if that's just his child memory. Everything was so much bigger when we were kids.

I have mixed emotions about giving them so many problems at once. I had them do 10 or 15 after they got it. I didn't want them to stress out about having to do too many. I know they need to do a number of problems after getting it, but I also like just doing a few a day. It's a good idea to do a few later in the day too. I think doing problems twice in a day is as effective as having two days worth of practice.

That's what Jeff and Wilson say about piano practice too. I believe it. I've mentioned Sarah started learning piano just a few months ago. She has progressed much farther than I'd expect, and I think part of the reason is that she plays several times a day. I don't even know how many times. It has to be at least 10. There might be a little genetics at play too if that's possible--Jeff and Wilson were both like that. Here's a picture of Wilson giving Sarah a piano lesson--in their pajamas!

I have Sam and Sarah reading Uncle Eric books to start them off on their American History credit. We're going to study the Constitution too. And probably read parts of biographies of the founding fathers. Sam's reading Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, and Sarah's reading Whatever Happened to Justice?.  I think they'll like them. We also read another chapter of The Mysterious Island today. They found the missing person, but the chapter ended before they said whether he was alive or not. Obviously, he's going to be alive, right?

Tonight, if I can drive with this headache, the kids are going to church youth activities. Sam is going to hear a guy talk, that climbed Mount Everest (not all the way to the top, though). And the girls are doing art projects--Rachel is drawing and Sarah is painting. Yay for other people teaching my kids things! Jeff drove my car to work and left his, because it was low on gas and he was in a hurry when he left. His is a stick. Maybe it's time to teach Rachel to drive it. She started a long time ago, but we dropped the ball. I'm sure she can do it. Not tonight though, all that whipping my head back and forth! Ugh.

See you tomorrow!