Week in Review VIII

We officially completed our first quarter this week. It ended up being a week later than I had planned, but at least we finished.

In Language Arts Chiggie is doing a unit on Tall Tales. She read the story of Paul Bunyan this week and learned all about exaggeration and the such. Over the next two weeks she will be writing a tall tale of her own. Tea finished another story in her series and is continuing to breeze right through. Midge has turned a corner. She is reading phonetically very well. She knows all of the letters both upper and lower case and their sounds. She knows many sight words as well. We just need to work on fluency. All three are doing very well with their handwriting books and seem to like them.

In Bible we started a unit on the Holy Trinity. This concept is difficult to grasp but they are doing well with it.

Math continues to surprise me as an all around wonderful subject for all. Tea is still doing two lessons per day and should finish up book 1 this month. Chiggie is mastering all of her math facts and that is making the entire subject easier and more enjoyable for her. Midge is moving on to basic addition on the number line. She likes math a lot.

In history we are still studying the Indians. We are mostly reading right now, but we did try our hands at making clay pots.

We have almost completed our study of Venus in science. I am definitely ready to move on to Earth. We will do an experiment with radar to wrap it up and move on by Tuesday.

Not having any power for a day and a half was definitely an obstacle this week. We also had a Halloween party to go to on Friday. I was surprised at how focused the girls stayed that day. I am proud to say we stayed on track and even made up for lost time. We are still taking Monday off for Halloween. The King will be home 1/2 day and it will be nice not to feel rushed. We'll extend the other four days a bit to make up for hours lost. We are still on track, I just don't know what illnesses make come this winter and want to have some time stockpiled!

Crazy as Always

We got our first snow storm of the season on Wednesday. Is was predicted to snow all day with an accumulation of around 4". The problem is the weather forecast is so rarely accurate. When we woke up that morning is was already snowing pretty heavily. It continued all morning and at 11 am we lost power. I figured it would come back fairly soon so we just continued on about our business. At around 1pm it came back on but was back out again by 4pm. I assumed it would be a bit but we would be back up before bed time. We waited and waited. We ate our dinner of takeout pizzas by lantern night. The girls were really getting anxious. It was very dark outside and still snowing heavily. At 7:3o pm I decided to load up some stuff and head over to my mom's house. I was still figuring the power would come on soon, but it was getting really cold and the girls were getting scared.

I kept calling our house throughout the evening hoping the answering machine would pick up and I would know that we had power. Finally around 11pm I gave up calling and we spent the night. When I woke up we called first thing and still no power. We came home anyway and tried to do school the best we could. It was cold in the house and we were really starting to wonder how much longer we would be without heat. All over town we saw the many downed limbs and trees. Even our own yard was littered with twigs and branches. Finally at 2pm the power kicked back on to stay. It took what seemed like forever for things to warm up, but we were just so glad to have lights. I was thrilled to be able to start a load of laundry! There is another storm predicted this Wednesday and I am praying we will not have to go through all of that again!

Sinking In

The last couple of days have been so much better. After a couple of weeks of complete chaos, I'm finally starting to feel like I have a handle on things. I have been cooking regularly and even baking again. I love my new kitchen. It's a lot bigger than the old one so I enjoy being in there. Things are still pretty crazy around here, but it's definitely coming along. The kids have really enjoyed being outside here. In just 9 days Chiggie has learned to roller blade and Midge to ride a bike without training wheels. There is only one other house on our lane so there is hardly any traffic. Buster is able to play out back on the patio while we do school and he is much happier as well. Just as soon as I find my cables I will upload pictures!

Update

We moved! I am very excited about our new house. I have taken some pictures but am not able to upload them right now. We ended up taking all of last week off. It was just too much to try and get moved in and home school. The girls have enjoyed their "vacation" immensely but I think they are pretty ready to have their routine back.

Today we went to Colorado Springs for an awesome birthday at It'z for my little sisters. We all had tons of fun. Afterwards we stopped off at Party City and finished up our Halloween costume shopping. This is the latest I have ever been scrambling but the whole move thing really has thrown me off. Then we stopped by some friends new house. They just moved here from GA and it was so nice to see them in their new home all set up. I am excited to have them living nearby!

I hope to post an entry devoted entirely to the move/house very soon!

Week in review VII

This was a short week as we are taking a fall break. We did school Monday-Thursday and will resume on Tuesday.

Language Arts seemed a bit lighter this week. It worked out because we were able to complete the lesson in only 4 days. Chiggie memorized Psalm 23 for her oral presentation. Tea finished another short story unit and Midge made her own book and learned several new words.
In Bible we finished Who is God part II. I think the girls had some very important questions answered in this unit.

Math is becoming more advanced for all of the girls. We are done with review and introducing new concepts very regularly now. They are all doing great!

In history we began our study of the Indians. We barely scratched the surface with a pretty basic overview, but will go into much more detail next week after our break. The activities that go along with this topic should be a lot of fun.

In science we are still studying Venus. We did a demonstration with flour and butter to show how the hot lava effects the surface of the planet.

I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago we added Handwriting Without Tears for all three girls. They have some handwriting in their other subjects but I just didn't feel like it was enough. I am so glad I thought it through and decided to do more. They are enjoying it and I'm noticing better handwriting already!

One Little Monkey

One little Monkey jumping on my bed.He fell down and bumped his head!

I love this baby!

Week in Review VI

Week number 7 is now behind us. It's amazing how fast things are going and how much everyone, including myself, is learning. We survived this week with two kids getting a stomach bug and other random craziness.

In Language Arts Chiggie wrote and typed her first researched report. After several weeks of studying Mr. Popper's Penguins she wrapped up with a report on Penguins. She enjoyed this very much. Next up is a fun unit of Tall Tales. Tea read through another book in her series, aced her spelling test, and really enjoyed reading Balto. Her reading is advancing very quickly along with her vocabulary. Midge also read another book in her series and worked on a new set of sight words and new phonetic sounds. She really reacts to the stories we read and that makes things fun.

In Bible the girls made Mobius Strips to reinforce that God has no beginning and no end. We also discussed the attributes of God.

In Typing Chiggie is really gaining proficiency. Tea is moving slowly but I think the practice is good for her.

Math is probably the easiest subject we do. I feared it the most, but it hasn't been bad at all. All three girls have a strong grasp and I love the program we're using. Tea took her unit 5 test with no problems and can add double digit numbers, identify geometric shapes, shade fractions, and count different amounts of money. Midge is beginning basic addition and likes doing "real math."

We started our study of Venus in Science and the girls were fascinated with the facts. Next week we get to do some really neat experiments and that should be fun!

History was very dry with a basic overview of each of the 13 colonies. We didn't really get in to daily life or any of that just location, founders, and landscape. We sucked it up and got it done, but not anything like some of the more interesting topics we have covered. Next week we move on to the Indians of the region. I am very excited for this!

I think for the most part we have found our groove. I like to say we have a "routine" more than a "schedule." We could use to get started a bit sooner in the morning. I don't like when things carry on to the late afternoon.
After baths tonight I cut Boo's bangs. She was Very happy to have them out of her face and she looks so much better.

After that Midge wanted hers done. I ended up cutting 3 or 4 inches off of the back of hers as well. She looks much better as well. Her hair will be much easier to comb and maintain this way.

This boy keeps me on my toes. He is so darn cute. He walks around the house giving us all kisses and asking to go bye, bye. It can be difficult to keep him entertained in the mornings, but I know this will pass. We sure love him to bits!

Laundry Marathon

We finally got the new dryer today. Amazingly I have not done any laundry since last Sunday! I don't know how we made it but we did. Now tonight after the kids go to bed I'm going to have myself a bit of a laundry party. I don't mind doing laundry nearly as much as I mind folding it and putting it away. I'm actually just relieved to have the dryer and be able to do it at home though.

Today was crazy busy but got in a really good day of school with plenty of extras. It was nice not to have anything we had to do early in the afternoon that made us feel rushed. We were done by 2 so we still went swimming! The weather us supposed to be cooler this week too so I'm hoping we are able to just stay home and get caught up on the house!

October 1st

I am very happy to see October! The promise of cooler temperatures and the coming holidays is very refreshing. Today was beautiful outside. It could have been a little cooler I suppose, but still very nice. I took the girls to the Apple Days parade and events in a neighboring town and while I can't say it's something we'll do again it was a fun way to get out. Afterwards we went to one of our favorite burger joints and ate outside. When we got home we were all exhausted. Buster took a nap and we all lounged around until he woke up.

This evening we went grocery shopping and then the girls watched a movie while I cleaned and organized the school room. It feels good to have everything under control again. It was a really nice Saturday, especially considering I have a double ear infection. It seems whenever I get congested now my ears don't drain right. I'm feeling better though and will be doing even better when we get our dryer on Monday!