Friday and Saturday, Mat took the trip to Germany. It was a fast trip but it was an important one. He Received his 4th Degree in the Knights of Columbus. For those that do not know what that is, it is the male service fraternity for the Catholic Church. They hold different fundraising events for charities as well as serving throughout the communities volunteering their time and services. For not growing up Catholic, he has sure jumped in and gotten involved in the church as much as he has time for. I am very proud of him and he sets a great example to our kids.
On Sunday we went to church meeting Mat there. He had flown early in the morning and made it back to base an hour before Mass started. We attended Mass, took the kids to Sunday School, stopped at Mat's work since the Commissary did not open until 11 and then went to the commissary. We picked the kids up and headed home. We did not do much that day as Mat was exhausted from his trip.
Monday the kiddos went to school. A typical week started. I did some cleaning and picking up from the weekend. Got all the laundry done, cleaned kids rooms and made beds, and cleaned the bathrooms. I then started working on a blanket for Paige. I am going to try to finish it by Christmas but I am going to have to figure out how to get more yarn in the colors I need. I am not sure if I can find a store here or if I will have to order it from Joann's and have it delivered to me... in that case I am not sure if it will make it in time for me to finish the blanket before christmas. I want to also make one for Mathew but I ll have to work on one at a time. His will be Ohio state colors to match his room. I can't wait to make that one! Paige had girl scouts that night so Mat took her because gas was low in my car and he was going to fill it up on base. Well on the way there, he hit 2 pheasants with my car. UGH!!! The gas station was closed and to top it off... he hit a badger on the way home! HELLO... the Silver bullet was out to kill that night!
Tuesday I did my daily checklist of cleaning. Kitchen and dining room scrub down! Luckily it does not always take me that long to do these things because I have made it a habit to do the kitchen and dining room wipe down after dinner. It is more of getting the floors scrubbed up and looking nice that takes a bit more time. Also a bit of dusting and a scrubbing of the fixtures and cabinets. I worked more on the blanket but it seems that I do not have much time to get it done especially when it is a big blanket. If it were for a baby it would not take so long but it has to be big enough for a grown girl to cover up with it and I would like for it to fit her bed if possible.
Wednesday, School and then Office clean up. A bit more crocheting. Nothing fabulous.
Thursday, Took the kiddos to school (had copies of my passport, visa, and DL made at the school so we could start the background check process so I could help out at the school) and then cleaned up the living room... DVD and bluerays put in their proper spots.. dusting, sweeping, floor cleaning, and getting the couches all put together where they belong. With wood floors these couches travel easily.. and they split apart when they are not supposed to. Thursday night I had a conference with Mathew's teacher. She gave him a great report and said that he has melted into the classroom wonderfully. He is working hard at school and trying his best with reading and writing. His blending of sounds are going well... She said here in the UK they teach the alphabet more as sounds and not so much as letters so when they start writing and reading they associate the letters to the sounds and it helps them to do it much easier... HELLO AMERICA... we need to do this! We focus so much on what each letter is that when learning to read it is not as easy. If we focused on the sounds from the start the kids would be reading much faster! She also said that after half term, the kids would start having spelling tests... EEEEKKKKK... 5 words a week. I think this momma and boy are going to be a bit stressed for a while. She did say that she thinks by the end of the year, he will be at the same level as the other kids and not be behind at all. That is a great thing. He is picking up things fast there.
This morning I was woken up by Mat at 3:30 and again at 6. He left for work and on his way to work he hit a deer. Those little dog type deer that they have here hide in the bushes and jump out when they get startled. He has to yank it from under the truck because it had gotten stuck under there. YUCK! So he was home at 6 to take a shower and wash off all the yuckies! NICE! Mathew heard him home and woke up and after Mat left out the door, Paige woke up and came down saying she saw dad leave. After getting dressed and ready for school, Mathew was telling me about how he was learning about the ear and that there is a cochlea inside of our ear... he ran to the conservatory and grabbed his snail shell, brought it to me, and said this is what the cochlea looks like in your inner ear and there is a nerve that takes the sound to your brain. What a smarty pants. I can not believe they are going that in depth with 5 and 6 yr olds. I do not believe we learned that under we were a lot older.. if we did, I do not remember it!! After taking the kids to school, I went and grabbed a movie for tonights movie night and headed to lunch with Mat. It was nice to sit and chat and then guess who shows up, Father from church. I think we run into him all the time. He is a very nice guy and enjoys hunting so of course Mat had to tell him about his week. He is headed back to the states soon to hunt and is really looking forward to it. He is also pinning Major on and having a party at his house with home brewed beer. LOL.
Tomorrow we will probably head to Lakenheath since Mat has a Knights meeting and the kids and I will stay with Erin and let the kids play. I will be searching for a pumpkin patch to take the kids to hopefully so they can enjoy the holiday coming up.
Okay- #1 since you are coming to Lakenheath tomorrow- there is a rather big craft store on Lakenheath. See if they have your yarn there. #2- I think the DoDDS schools have taken into account a lot of the local teaching customs here too. Zoe started school a week after Noah because the first week of school was reserved for teacher home visits. The teachers went to each child's home (or in our case, TLF) to met them and talk about what school would be like. I told the teacher I thought it was a wonderful idea, because the first meeting is on the kid's turf. She and the aide even sat and played a game that Zoe brought out of her room. Someone told me that the English teachers do that here- home visit before their first year of school too! Also- as for the letters- Zoe is doing something similar. They have an animal and a sound with each letter... for example, "Allie Alligator.... a (short a) a (short a sound)" and they do little hand movements with it too. The other day, I said something and I heard here saying "guh, guh..." and so I told her very good and asked her what it started with. I was expecting her to say, "gee" and instead she said, "gordo gorilla, guh, guh. It starts with guh!!" And since then, she has been telling me the sound things start with rather than the letter."
ReplyDeleteJennifer, we had letter people when I was in school and it worked for us. Mr. T with the Tall Teeth and Ms M and the Munching mouth... I am not sure we did the whole sounds thing but I remember those and they helped us to learn the Letters. His teacher told me to start breaking down words into their sounds when I talk to him and that will help him with learning how to read and spell. When I ask Mathew to spell cat he does all the sounds. He does not say the letters..unless I continue to push for the letters. I guess they associate the sounds to the written letter which seems odd to me but if it works it works and Im ok with that. If I were a teacher in the states, I would use this method. What does the letter name really have to do with anything unless you are in a spelling bee? We now sing the alphabet in the letter sounds.
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