Yo Mama's School of Home Day 2: History and Reading Comp

First let me say that Windows 8 sucks.  Maybe if you have a touch screen computer it is fantabulous.  But on a regular PC I just don't get the point.  What was wrong with putting Windows 7 on all non-touch screen computers??    I went to turn on the laptop for Alicia to start her lessons at 8:45am and I see these words:

"Restarting.  Your computer will restart in 2 days with updates."  All while a circle of white dots just went around and around and around and around.  I thought it was joking.  I waited 15 minutes and the screen did not change.  So I hard booted the b-tard and it came up installing updates.  0% installed....................................................(5 min passes)....1% installed.................................................................  You get the picture.  We decided to do our Bible study while waiting.  We checked back with it and 30 min had gone by and it was at....15%!  Wow!  Awesome.  

seriously???  i know i know it isn't supposed to mean that it takes 2 days to restart, but it sure seemed like it would!

I instead had her work at my laptop in my bedroom and we started the Ancient Civilization: Mesopotamia unit that is within her online curriculum. She learned about how to read a physical map, where the Fertile Crescent was and what made it fertile, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the difference between a civilization and an empire. We went over calendars, B.C. vs A.D. (so glad they are not using the pointless "C.E." and "B.C.E." if it ain't broke don't fix it) and how to figure out how old something was if it was earlier than 1 AD vs. if it was later than 1 AD which involved mathematics as well.  I sat beside her the entire time, teaching her, showing her pictures of the hanging gardens and of present day Iraq.  I felt like I had done a pretty thorough job.

Then we did the quiz.  She seemed to forget 80% of what we had just talked about.  She ended up crying because it was stressing her out she said.  I went over the quiz with her and she seemed like she had retained nothing.  Apparently I am going to have to find some other way to teach to her other than sitting down and explaining it.  I think I need a good sized whiteboard.  

I gave her a break, and had her do "Gym Class" on the Wii Fit for 30 minutes.  

Yep, PJs all day!

Meanwhile, I put in the Kettle Worx DVD and did a 20 minute work out.  My Dad came at noon for our Wednesday Pizza Lunch and after we ate I had Alicia draw the chrysalis of the Painted Lady butterfly that we currently have 5 of. 

First she focused on drawing the hook that the chrysalis is hanging from. 

 

I restrung and hung them from the only thing with 5 hooks I could find...my jewelry holder!!

Then I realized that she wasn't understanding what I meant so I drew the outline of the chrysalis very large and had her use a flashlight to see the details and fill in the outline.  I spent a good half hour describing to her where each part of the butterfly was forming under the chrysalis shell and what the parts were called.  I am sort of an expert in this area as I did an extensive photographic study of the Monarchs I raised last year (over 50 of them) and learned SO much by observing and researching.  I realize that this means I DID teach some Science today.  Just not the one in the curriculum.

We finished the day with 2 hours of reading comprehension.  Again, I am seeing a lazy summer's effect on her reading abilities.  She doesn't normally like to read at all, which is something I am going to be focusing on with her as much as possible.  She scored pretty low on the quiz and I'm feeling a little discouraged.  I know, its only day 2.  I need to learn patience and adapt to her needs just like she needs to learn to listen and comprehend.  We are both learning here.  

I find myself excited to start again tomorrow despite feeling a bit overwhelmed by today's marathon sessions and am right now working on finding a way to make our day more realistic.  I'm not sure if I should just do one subject per day or try to mix up several subjects throughout each day in shorter spurts.  Or maybe 1 core subject and 1 "fun" subject (art, gym, photography, etc) per day...I feel like I should have started in August!