A Look Back over the last couple of weeks.,,

PreK: Triple H has been learning the letters D and E. He seems to be catching on to his letter sounds with relative ease and enjoying his school time. We read many books on dinosaurs and elephants which any three year old boy would love and we treated ourselves to doughnuts!

Princess Poodle:

Math: We have been working on our skip counting with a bit more intensity. She is trading pennies for dimes. Right now the math lessons are a little easy for her and so we have combined some or skipped some lessons. We are also drilling our math facts. She was introduced to adding two digit number with regrouping and this threw her for a loop. She is a bright child that catches on easily but struggles with perfectionism and is way too hard on herself. In time we will understand this new concept.

LA: She read another Nate the Great book to me as well as The Golly Sisters Go West. We continue to work in our phonics program as well. We picked our next read aloud: THe Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. She is completely enthrolled and now lives half of her day in Narnia whether attempting to read the book herself or just in her make believe time.

History: Studying ancient Rome and all the good and bad things that come with it. We had a long discussion about the sinfullness and brutality of the gladiator fights and the cheering on of such sadness. We made and decorated chariots but have yet to race them...too little time.

Art: Papa Bear took us on a fieldtrip to Chickfilet to see the Frederic Remington replicas. His wild west statues and paintings adorn a local Dwarf House. Princess Poodle is studying Remington in her art class at Crosspointe. Enjoy the pics.

Life: Papa Bear has been away for work and we miss him so much. Aunt Melissa and Luke came for a two day visit which was wonderful. A day of Chucky Cheese which is a HUGE treat for my kids and some shopping wore us out and we all slept hard last night.

Homeschooling: I have been doing alot of reading by other homeschoolers on their journeys and changes they are making in the heart of how they homeschool. I have been revisiting some curriculum choices and have been introduced to some new "friends". The list for next years school is almost complete and I have a couple of things on their way in the mail. Hopefully we will finish out our 180 days by May and have 8 weeks off before starting back in July. The plan is to ease into first grade and PreK with 3 days a week of school and work up to our full schedule by the end of August.

Life with a Three year old Boy

I now know what Sudden Impact and GraveDigger are. I have a new found understanding of the beautiful sound of crashing cars and trucks into things. I realize that anything related to pee pee or poo poo is the most hilarious thing ever spoken although I still don't see why pulling ones pants down and flashing your Diego underwear at your sister is amusing. I realize that no means yes and yes means not really. I also understand that mops were truly meant to be used 3 times a day and brooms every hour. Everything is a gun or weapon of some sort...a stick, a tennis racket, even a broken piece of the too often used mop can be made into a laser gun to fight off the "bad guys" and no matter how hard one tries in this fighting someone always gets hurt.

But then...

There are the nightime kisses he requires of me and in this order: butterfly kiss, fishy kiss, bear hug, and plain kiss. Everynight.. without fail. My heart melts. There are the out of the blue...for no reason "I love you Mommy"'s..My heart melts.
Then there are the snuggles upon my chest that I relish especially since I long for a baby again. And when I hear him exclaim and even argue with his sister that he will marry her because he loves her and they are supposed to protect each other. My heart melts.

And so I send a big thank you out to my "little man" ...Thank you sweet son for being who you are, for coming into my life and most especially for making my heart melt.
Mommy Loves you
!

A Look Back: Silly clowns, Rome and More Paint

We are back in the swing of things with our second semester. I haven't gotten back to my weekly reports but here is an update of this week and last week combined.

Math: Princess Poodle is learning about line segments, double plus one facts and many other things. I truly like Saxon. So at this point I will stick with what is working for her. Today we pretended to be math detectives complete with magnifying glasses and found clues to locate and answer our doubles plus one facts. Triple H is now counting past twenty and can count objects up to 20 without missing a beat or skipping an object.

Language Arts: Princess Poodle's reading is taking off. I am amazed. She is reading, reading, reading. Her latest find is Nate The Great books. She read an entire book to me before bed one night.I swear this girl loves a mystery and practically jumps into the books we read. We continue to plug along in our Sing, Spell, Read and Write program now with less singing and alot less writing than required. I am giving Spelling Workout A a try to see if I like this format. I figure it will give Princess Poodle a review of her phonics rules and ease us into spelling. I have found her to be one of those kids that loves to write (stories etc. ) but insist that every word be spelled correctly. This makes it hard and I was hoping to add some journal time next year and I want her to just spell the best she can.
Triple H is learning his letter sounds with a new letter each week. This week we are studying the letter C. He loves having his own work. We are reading books about cows and clowns this week. The kids found it fasinating how milk was taken and made from cows. And we decorated our faces to look like clown faces. I can already see that he will be ready for handwriting next year as he is already forming his letters without instruction and doing ok on his own.



History: Story of the World...Alexander the Great was fun and the kids enjoyed making the Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria. This week we are on to Ancient Rome. Along with our maps, coloring pages and copywork we hope to do chariot races, read Magic Tree House: Vacation Under the Volcanoe, and anything else we can find time for. Princess Poodle is intrigued by all of this history but I can see concern in her eyes when things are unjust or unfair. As we edge closer to Christian persecution I pray God gives me wisdom on how to teach her and guide her in understanding and seeing His hand in all of this. His redemptive story woven through history..still something that amazes me.

And the really good stuff :LIFE: We enjoyed a wonderful trip to the N. Georgia Mountains to spend time with my family and play a bit in the snow. The kids enjoyed making snowballs and riding a 4 wheeeler with Papa while the snow came down. I enjoyed a brief walk alone through the field with falling snow. There is the quietness when the snow falls that I can't quite put into words other than a beautiful silence. It was good for my soul.
Now with life back to normal we juggle school, activites and painting. Yes I am painting. I am trying to finish up my kitchen renovation project. THe cabinets I refinished are done but the new floors and cabinets called for a more dramatic paint color and so I am applying 3 coats of a brick red color and I love it. Still alot of work to be done but I find painting somewhat cathartic and so I press on.

All in all school is going well. Reading, math, history and PreK3 are flowing nicely. And I continue to look forward to next year and what curriculum and path I will take with the kids. Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by.

First Day of Second Semester/First Day of PreK

Today was our first day back to school after a much needed break. Its funny..I thought the long break would make it hard for the kids to get back into the swing of things but they were truly excited and ready to go. I think we all long for some structure and each of us found it to be a means of peace this morning.

The day did not go perfect of course. I slept horribly last night (long story) and so my 7:00 rise, shower and prayer time didn't pan out. So I was sluggishly up at 7:30 when Triple H came asking for breakfast. But we did manage to start school on time. Triple H loved having his own things to do. He colored his A apple sheet and did a good job for a 3 year old boy. He completed his Kumon tracing and cutting pages. Then we read a nonfiction wonder book on Apples and also read The Apple Pie Tree. For snack we ate apples with peanut butter. He also worked on counting to 20 and counting items like pennies.

Princess Poodle worked on ow/ou words and read in her reader. She also caught on very quickly to reversing the double facts and turning them into subtraction facts ie : 6+6= 12 so 12-6=6. She completed her math sheets with skill and is looking forward to learning about Alexander the Great this afternoon.

A good day back and now we gear up for the second semester of this school year. Alot has changed in the last few days with our family. My husband learned of a potential lay off with his company..stress he didn't need. So we have decided not to put our house on the market which does take a lot of stress off me. Please pray for God to open just the right door for him and his career. With a degree in engineering, 6 years experience in pharma sales, and a masters of divinity it will be a God-sized task in finding the right job for him. But I will not let fear take over...I will not let Satan win this battle. I will trust in God's provision and timing. And I will pray that if we are jobless and the job hunting is slow that God will help me continue to trust in Him and will be our strength when we are weak.

I love Christmas with a childlike passion and I have enjoyed our pajama days but I welcome in this new year and even though it has started off rocky with this job situation I still feel this will be a great year of growth..spiritually, emotionally, and physcically for our family. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2008.
Now its off to finish up this first week of the new semester.
Thanks for stopping by.