Hard to believe the 2nd week of school is over and done with. A few highlights:
1- Lil Princess has decided that snack time is her favorite part of the school day. Her second favorite time is when school is over so that she can "do what I want to do"! Not too good for a K4 student to already have such strong feelings about school, huh?
2- On a good note, however, Lil Princess "read" her first book this week and really did sound out/read a few 3 letter words with the short A in them. That was very exciting for me to see that she really will be able to do this! :)
3- Sunshine Girl actually got excited to practice her Flashmaster. (An electronic flash card "game") Math has not been her favorite subject EVER, but we changed math curriculum's yet again this year and she says it is her favorite so far! That's a good sign ... just hope it lasts.
4- Been trying some new projects/art ideas with the kids. Amazing how long it takes them to do these! It is a test of my patience ... I know that I need to be teaching more than the academics, and they LOVE these projects ... I just have to endure it and enjoy the moments/minutes/hours it takes them to complete them! :)
5- Sunshine Girl decided that we need to visit Mount Vernon on our trip to Williamsburg in October after reading about it in her Heritage book. This trip is turning into more than what I thought ... I'll need a vacation from the vacation by the time I get back home!
6- Pictures soon! :) This mama's too tired right now to get it all together.
7- Planning a back to school bash for the end of this week with some of our homeschooling friends. Time to get my creative juices flowing again!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
1st Week of (Home)School
Dear Sunshine Girl decorating large 2 for 2nd grade
Lil Princess working hard on her K4
Lil Princess working on A and a by matching apples on the tree.
Sunshine Girl working in her spelling workbook.
Lil Princess loved making her A and a out of playdough "worms"
Lil Princess working on the number 1
My beautiful girls, given to me by God, to love and to teach!
By Thursday, we were back home and could really jump into
setting the schedule the way it should be. This is our circle time and
Sunshine Girl is doing some "math" during our calendar time.
Figuring out what coins would make up the date. For example:
It was August 19 and she had to come up with a way to make 19 cents.
Lil Princess going on an Aa hunt. She cut A's and a's from a newspaper
and glued them to her paper.
Sunshine Girl hard at work in her reading workbook.
Oops! How to fix a sideways picture? Maybe one day I'll figure it out. Anyway, Lil Princess formed the A and a with pattern block squares.
Making A and a with Do-a-Dot Markers. Cool stuff!
Of course, with learning the A, we had to have apple snacks this week.
On this day, the girls made apple smiles (but we only had green apples to use!)
Oh well, they still had lots of fun doing this!
Our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree to which we will add
Lil Princess's letter of the week. We LOVE this book at our house!
(Home)school Begins Again!
I am amazed at how fast the summer ended up flying by. We finished last year quite early (first week of May) and the time seemed to tick by slowing - until everyone else got out of school, that is! Our summer was filled with trips to Nana's, swimming in the pool, playing with friends, a visit to the beach, trips to the lake, visiting cousins in VA, and the list goes on.
As I planned for school to begin again, I knew that this year would be different from last because our youngest would be joining us full time. I think I planned all summer. Amazing how I feel I spent more time getting a curriculum together for my K4-er than my 2nd grader! To my credit, I came up with my own (borrowed ideas, of course) for her, but am using various premade curricula for the other. It has been fun this week to watch Lil Princess enjoy doing her school work with us!
A lot happened just before school started this year ... and I know that is why I feel so out of sorts as we end our first week back. My girls had been at their Nana and PopPop's house for a week. They wanted to go to VBS with them since our church has children's revival instead of the traditional VBS. My husband and I went down at the end of the week for Family Day and the VBS graduation service/program. Arrived home around 10 that Sunday night. On Monday, I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and made it home around 3:15 that day. Of course, I was in the middle of unpacking everyone, doing laundry, planning dinner, etc. My husband came home just 5 minutes after we did and had a grim look on his face. He proceeded to tell me that my dad had just had a heart attack and was at the hospital in Columbia. After a time of tears, I sprung into action and re-packed the bags that I'd just begun to unpack and we left to go back home. To make a long story short, my dad had a heart cath and they found the need to place 2 stints in one artery. He also had a blood clot dangerously close to his heart. I spent the week in Columbia and my girls spent that week with their Granny (my husband's mom). We came back home on Friday. The girls had a birthday party on Saturday and on Sunday we left again for Columbia to stay with my dad for a couple of days while my mom went back to work.
So, our start to our school year was not even at our own home, but I have to remember that this is the beauty of homeschooling. You can take it with you wherever you need to be! :) I love the fact that God is in control of everything and that He knew ahead of time that my "organized obsessed mind" would be completely scrambled this first week. I still feel behind and that things are not going just like I desire them to, but I am remembering that it is OK! My children's education will not suffer because of one week that is so out of sorts. My life will not fall apart because the suitcases from this week's travel are not yet unpacked and my house is not in "company ready" order.
God wants me to trust Him. I have to trust Him to take care of my dad as he is home alone and still recovering from all that happened last week. I have to trust Him to lead us as we homeschool our girls. I have to trust Him to meet our every need. I have to trust Him to give me a calmness in the midst of chaos. The Lord is good and He does not change. No matter the circumstances of my life, He is good. "O, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Ps. 34:8 God IS good. He has given me the opportunity to be close enough to my parents to help them when needed. He has spared my dad's life from what could have been potentially fatal. He has given me the privilege of being able to be home with my girls and to homeschool them. He has given me a husband who is understanding of my needs to be with my dad and mom during this time of health needs. He has given me a home where I can place all of those unpacked suitcases full of clothes needing to be washed, where toys can be strewn across the floor, and "stuff" be scattered around everywhere. It's God's nature to be good, and His nature does not change. God truly has been good!!!
As I planned for school to begin again, I knew that this year would be different from last because our youngest would be joining us full time. I think I planned all summer. Amazing how I feel I spent more time getting a curriculum together for my K4-er than my 2nd grader! To my credit, I came up with my own (borrowed ideas, of course) for her, but am using various premade curricula for the other. It has been fun this week to watch Lil Princess enjoy doing her school work with us!
A lot happened just before school started this year ... and I know that is why I feel so out of sorts as we end our first week back. My girls had been at their Nana and PopPop's house for a week. They wanted to go to VBS with them since our church has children's revival instead of the traditional VBS. My husband and I went down at the end of the week for Family Day and the VBS graduation service/program. Arrived home around 10 that Sunday night. On Monday, I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and made it home around 3:15 that day. Of course, I was in the middle of unpacking everyone, doing laundry, planning dinner, etc. My husband came home just 5 minutes after we did and had a grim look on his face. He proceeded to tell me that my dad had just had a heart attack and was at the hospital in Columbia. After a time of tears, I sprung into action and re-packed the bags that I'd just begun to unpack and we left to go back home. To make a long story short, my dad had a heart cath and they found the need to place 2 stints in one artery. He also had a blood clot dangerously close to his heart. I spent the week in Columbia and my girls spent that week with their Granny (my husband's mom). We came back home on Friday. The girls had a birthday party on Saturday and on Sunday we left again for Columbia to stay with my dad for a couple of days while my mom went back to work.
So, our start to our school year was not even at our own home, but I have to remember that this is the beauty of homeschooling. You can take it with you wherever you need to be! :) I love the fact that God is in control of everything and that He knew ahead of time that my "organized obsessed mind" would be completely scrambled this first week. I still feel behind and that things are not going just like I desire them to, but I am remembering that it is OK! My children's education will not suffer because of one week that is so out of sorts. My life will not fall apart because the suitcases from this week's travel are not yet unpacked and my house is not in "company ready" order.
God wants me to trust Him. I have to trust Him to take care of my dad as he is home alone and still recovering from all that happened last week. I have to trust Him to lead us as we homeschool our girls. I have to trust Him to meet our every need. I have to trust Him to give me a calmness in the midst of chaos. The Lord is good and He does not change. No matter the circumstances of my life, He is good. "O, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Ps. 34:8 God IS good. He has given me the opportunity to be close enough to my parents to help them when needed. He has spared my dad's life from what could have been potentially fatal. He has given me the privilege of being able to be home with my girls and to homeschool them. He has given me a husband who is understanding of my needs to be with my dad and mom during this time of health needs. He has given me a home where I can place all of those unpacked suitcases full of clothes needing to be washed, where toys can be strewn across the floor, and "stuff" be scattered around everywhere. It's God's nature to be good, and His nature does not change. God truly has been good!!!
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