Progress

It was a good and productive week.

Kindergarten is flying through addition and subtraction using a number line and I am noticing that he is learning some factors. He started addition with 10's this week and seems to do them without using his number line. He has mastered the pre-primer dolch list and has almost completed the primer list.

3rd grade is back to practicing his phonics daily as he is struggling again with reading. He is not confident in his skill and so will just glance at words instead of trying to break them down. In math, story problems are giving him the blues, but is working hard on multiplication. His pace is very slow, but his grades are all A's.

7th grade did alot of grading this week and improved many of her grades. She had a big poetry lesson from the book of Psalm and really picked up on symmetrical writing. She is planning to  be done with school early again this year which is fine by me. When I first started I aimed for the 180 per year, but soon let that go with the increase of daily living skills.

My other kindergartner is doing well. She likes going to school, but also likes staying home when her school is closed. I sometimes thinks she is torn between wanting to go to PS and staying home. She will often ask what we are going to be doing or where we are going while she is gone. She is bonding so very well....

My toddler is so very funny and extremely entertaining. His new thing is to do bilateral toe touches, but he does not cross over so I guess they are not really bilateral. But he loves to copy the olders and tries jumping jacks as well which is Hi-la-ri-ous!!!! He is very attached and loves my mom most of all.

No plans for the weekend.

Peace!

New Stuff!

My new dishwasher came yesterday and I am very excited. It has been awhile since we had one. My last 1 broke down, cost as much to repair as it would have been to buy new and besides, I had enough kids of dish washing age in the home, so I just delayed buying a new one. But... the time has come and I am excited and so far, have not even let those critters load it yet ( I really don't mind loading it, just unloading is not my favorite.)
The installers asked the typical questions, "You kids don't have school today?" and they explained that they are home schooled and he just said, "Huh!?!" Not one comment about socialization. I was shocked and ready.

OK.. I have a huge family decision to make. Prayers appreciated.

Writing

I have already started looking for curriculum for summer school. I think I want to focus only on writing this summer. I have looked at the "Lea.rn to Wr.ite the No.vel W*y", but I am not sure it will work for all levels. Any other good recommendations? I have a beginning reader, an emerging reader and a fluent reader. I think I want to work on story writing, maybe some character development and definitely sentence/paragraph structuring.

An Emergency Call to Service

We were in class today with plans to have a whole day of staying in and getting lots of school done. This month has been so full of appointments and outings, so today was going to be the one. We were working on Haiku poetry when a call came from our local food bank. 10 orders had come in all at once and the other volunteers were not coming in today. We live literally 100 feet from the church so we were there in under 20 minutes. It was crazy busy and the kids did a great job. They divided the work and really had fun serving.

About 6 months ago I reconnected with a friend who was pregnant and who mentioned that she wished I could provide childcare for her. I told her that we should think about it and left it at that. In the meantime, the 2 new foster children have come and my quiver is full (for me). She called 2 days ago to let me know that she had the baby and really wanted me to provide childcare. I had to tell her that I thought I was at my max. I hung up and felt so sad about it.

So today as I was at the food bank, in walks N (just  a kawinkydink) with the newborn and she hands him right to me. Oh he was beautiful and smelled just like a delicious newborn should and and and... I know it would be too much. But man oh man would I love to have him in my arms everyday. Of course, Jordan was whispering in my ear the whole time, "Mommy we could do it!", "I will help you.", "Oh Mommy, he is so sweet and precious!" I kept swatting her away like a bee buzzing in my ear. LOL!  When it was time to go, I put him back into his carseat with an, "I don't think I can." on my lips, but a "How can I work this out?" on my heart.

Anyway, A good busy day with very little school work completed.

Oh, but James did finish his Haiku:

the rain is splashing
wet drops fall from the gray sky
the ground is soggy

How about that!

Happy Birthday!

Today is James' 10th birthday! He is such a predictable, but easy to please kid. He is very much a child that thrives on routines. It is sometimes hard for him to stray, but at the same time, he can adapt to new situations as long as he has a "base" to go back to. He is very athletic and has been recently trying to teach the kindergartners how to do head and hand stands.

James waiting to whack the pinata on vacation at the big yellow house.

Happy Birthday Kid!

Entertaining Angels

We are needing to restock our personal needs closet again. This whole thing is so cool and Jordan really had fun packing the bags to be handed out. She loves shopping, so she will get to go into the store to restock. The toilet paper goes FAST!

Just FYI: When I made copies of our fliers, I went to the local FedEx Office and used my Teacher Discount Card which allows teachers, even home school teachers, to have a 15% discount in participating locations. You can apply online HERE.

Bowling Party

Had the annual Homeschool bowling party yesterday. The bowling alley was crazy chaotic as they had booked our group of 150 people along with 3 bus loads of 5th and 6th graders from one of the local public schools. They ran out of bowling shoes and most kids only had boots and socks so it was crazy and of course there were not enough light weight balls so you had these little kids trying to lug these 15 lb balls up to the lane. LOL! But it was loads of fun and entertaining. I laughed so hard as once again my youngest out scored the bigger kids. You know how the score board tells how fast your ball is going? Well, the average speed of other balls was between 7 and 9 mph. Jackson's average speed was 2.2 mph and he was hitting strikes and spares like a pro! They bowled 3 games with the final score being:

Jackson - 267
James - 254
Jordan - 262

7th grade was like, "I cannot keep letting my little brothers beat me in bowling!" Funny! There was lots of candy treats and the pizza at the bowling alley was good.