Recovering

Our Holiday recovery has seemed slower than normal this year. I think many factors are involved, but we were hit with a stomach virus and several of the kids and myself just haven't felt well. Buster tried to make me feel better by cooking me up a snack, but I just wasn't hungry. Our new family room really is great in the aspect that we are able to have so many toys in there without feeling crowded. That wasn't true in the old house.

I can't believe it is already Wednesday! I am glad we still have a few days of vacation left before we are back to the grind!

Merry Christmas!

Final Stretch

We are definitely in the Christmas home stretch now. We had a great day today. We went out to eat and to the mall. The kids got to see Santa. Only Boo was afraid and she got outta there as quickly as possible. Of course not before placing her order. Tonight we have a dress rehearsal for the Christmas Eve service and then hopefully will have time to watch a movie. I just want to pump the brakes, this is going way too fast!

So Handsome!

Getting Our Party On

Please excuse my poor quality cell phone pics! The last couple of days we have been really enjoying the season. We celebrated at Youth Group with reindeer cupcakes which were really cute. The kids also practiced for their Saturday performance. It's going to be so cute!

The older girls also had a Christmas Party here at the house. They made gingerbread houses, enjoyed snacks, listened to Christmas music, and watched Christmas movies. There were 10 kids in the house, but it wasn't too crazy. They had a lot of fun!

If the roads clear up we are going to look at lights tonight. If not, then tomorrow night after our dress rehearsal we will. I can't believe how fast this month has gone!

Cleaning

It's important to tackle little things like dentist appointments over the break, so today I took Tea to have her teeth cleaned and examined. She did wonderfully. She has one small cavity in a baby tooth, but it is sensitive so we'll go back after Christmas to have it filled. She will also be having her molars sealed that day. It feels good to get these things out of the way.

Week in Review XV

What a busy week we had. It seemed incredibly long for several reasons I am sure, but mostly because we were so excited to finish up the week and enjoy our two week vacation.

Language Arts was fun this week. Midge read the book The Snowy Day and did several related crafts. She improved even more this week, remembering all of her sight words and such. She also knows her numbers from 0-100 and can identify them when reading. Tea finished Forest Fables and did a poster project about the characters. She also took her 3rd assessment and is ready to move on. We will work on alphabetizing. She understands the concept, but I think practice will improve her speed. Chiggie finished her unit and took assessment 3 as well. She can identify all parts of speech and parts of a letter. She will move onto a poetry unit after the break. She wrote a descriptive paragraph about her best friend this week and her writing is really improving. No more Dick and Jane style for her.

Our Church program is coming along well. If the girls don't know the Christmas story by heart, they never will. Chiggie is the narrator, Tea is an angel, and the little girls are sheep.

Math was just same 'ol this week. Midge learned how to figure the perimeter of an object using counters. She likes to do this a lot. We are working on money and will play around with that even during the break. Tea is moving onto more geometric concepts. She has mastered working with money. We will continue to cement those addition and subtraction facts over the break. Chiggie moved on to division with a double digit divisor and has no trouble. She will be working on division and multiplication facts.

We finished the moon in science. We will continue with our moon charts throughout the month. We didn't get the chance to watch the lunar eclipse when it happened, but we were able to watch a video. The girls really thought it was neat. After the break we will be moving on to Mars.

Pirates were interesting in History. We read Pirate Diary, drew pirates, made pirate flags, and drew a treasure map. We all enjoyed this.

I am so happy that we have come so far and we are able to take a break. It will be so nice to sleep in and get more done around the house! We are also having a Christmas Party/Slumber party for the big kids. I can't wait for the King to be home so the fun can begin!

Week in Review XIV

Wow! Only 5 more school days until we are out for Christmas Vacation! We are counting down the days. We are having a party for the older girls over the break so that should be fun! Things went very smoothly this past week.

In Language arts Chiggie learned about prepositions. This is the last part of speech she will cover this year. The program we are using covers them each year getting more and more in depth over time. I like this a lot. Tea read the Ox Cart Man and we did a special little mini unit on seasons, both literal and figurative. She made a picture of a tree through all 4 seasons. Midge really cranked it up this week. We worked a lot with sounds. I would say a sound and she would write the corresponding letter. We also read several books that she enjoyed including I Love Chocolate Cake.

Math was a breeze for Tea and Midge with more practice on concepts they have already mastered. Midge really understands the number line and we're working on money. Tea needs to finish this book so we can move on. I want to make sure we don't miss anything important but she needs something more challenging. A couple of days last week she did three lessons and we may do the same this week. Chiggie is doing great, but her work takes longer and keeping her focused is a challenge. We've played around a bit with timing, but the truth is if it's not your favorite than there is no great time for math.

Science was more on the moon. This has been fun. The girls learned about gravity and lack thereof and how much they would weigh on the moon. Next week we will be charting the phases and observing the moon in the sky.

In history we learned about two more colonies, The Carolina's and New Jersey. We have begun our study of pirates. They had to make a list of what they know and when we are done they'll fill it what changed. Their lists were cute!

They have also been doing several holiday related activities I have printed off of Enchanted Learning. This is a great tool for especially Tea. She loves puzzles and most worksheets. It keeps her entertained for sure!

Buster is a Belieber

More Snow!

The kids keep peeking out the window to see if it's still snowing. We are supposed to get a decent amount this time. We have had a snowy Fall so far. I love it when it's seasonal. After New Year's....not so much.

Parade of Lights 2011

Practicing

Buster has spent all of his bath time lately practicing swimming. I, of course, am always right there watching. He's quite a good little swimmer though...

Week in Review XII and XIII

Ideas, ideas, and more ideas. The past couple of weeks have left me with so many ideas to ponder. Last week we immensely enjoyed a small break for Thanksgiving. We took three days off which were spent with the King, and we loved every minute of it. The two days that we did school were spent on reading, math facts, and holiday crafting. It was a lot of fun!

This week was back to the grind. In language arts Chiggie is still really liking her writing book. We are seeing progress already. I love the step by step approach. Tea is learning about comma placement and use of quotations. She is reading up a storm and almost finished with Nim's Island. Midge is still pounding away at her phonics. From the beginning of the year she has really progressed.

We are handling Bible a little different for the holiday season. We are focusing on the birth of Christ, music, and their church Christmas pageant. They are enjoying this and so am I.

Chiggie is working with division of decimals in math. Tea is adding 3 digit numbers, learning different measurements, and identifying more complex geometric shapes. Midge is adding with the number line and reading graphs. Things are smooth for now.

We began our study of the moon this week in science. We all love science. I think it's definitely a favorite!

In history we finished up our study of the discovery of the Mississippi River, Peter Stuyvesant and New Amsterdam, and some mapping.

I'm not entirely sure yet, but we have made the decision to go to a 4 day school week. We really need that extra day to schedule things that come up. There are a lot more of those than I had anticipated when we started. We will also probably move towards a more year aroundish type schedule. I'd like to take at least 8 weeks in the summer!