2013 Home School WEEK FOUR

It was so good to have more home time after the busyness of last week!  We started reading Little House in the Big Woods at breakfast and the girls are way more into it now than they were when I tried it last year.  I think some of it has to do with us having watched some episodes of the show. 

Vivien joined us more at the school table this week.  When she wasn't doing her Handwriting Without Tears lesson, "writing" during Writing Workshop, or practicing writing her name, she was sitting in my lap.  Her coloring is definitely improving!  She also read her very first BOB book and has since read three more.  I think we are going to stick with those four for a while longer until she is really comfortable with them.

I love how Amity is finding lots of reasons to write on her own.  She made a map one day of our neighborhood (loose representation!) and included a compass rose and several key landmarks.  She also leaves me notes around the house like one that said "Thank you for making brefast for dinr!"

We have also fallen in love Shirley Hughes's Alfie books this week and love read about his adventures that are very real life.

On Friday, we experienced the first rain in a long time along with cooler temperatures.  The girls spent some time exploring the backyard which has not happened in a long time due to the crazy heat.

2013 Home School WEEK THREE

This was a BUSY week!  Amity had her second art class and both girls went to gymnastics on Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday, I worked my last day in Stephenville and a friend from church stayed with the girls.  Wednesday was our first day of Chapel School and Vivien is now officially a Chapel School kid and no longer in the nursery!  She is in the Snail class (youngest class) and Amity is the youngest one in the oldest class which is the Frogs.  On Wednesday afternoon, Amity went to her first Carol Choir rehearsal at PCPC and she LOVED it.  On Thursday, we went to Arturo's Art and Me with Ms. Leah at the Dallas Museum of Art.  The girls got to make designs and dye fabric in the art studio.  On Friday, we had our first morning of MOPS/Moppets and then drove to Denton for a ReadyRosie meeting and playtime with Rosie.  It was a crazy week but we still we able to fit in a lot of learning in and through all of our outings.

2013 Home School WEEK TWO

We enjoyed having Labor Day off with Dennis at home.  The rest of the week was spent learning how to use the abacus and geoboard, spell words that end with og, ock, or ob, doing a science experiment with flowers and colored water, and lots of reading and writing. 

Vivien - 3.5 years

Vivien Leigh, there really are no words to describe the force of nature that you are!  Being three has brought forth quite a bit more sass than we had ever seen in your twos but there is still a lot of sweetness in you as well.

• You are a champion zerberter and there is nothing you enjoy more than declaring a "Zerbert Party".  You really are quite good but we have had to ban zerberting at restaurants, the dinner table, prayer time in any context, and various other circumstances. 
• You are starting to write your name.  Your letters are still more lucky than planned and your Es have many extra lines but I love that you love making your mark.
• You still love Sucking Monkey and we are not sure how we are going to ever bid him goodbye.  He is usually relegated to your bed but you often make requests for special circumstances to bring him out.  He is still your best buddy and you do prefer him more than anything or anyone else, even Mom and Dad.
• Chores are NOT your favorite thing.  You are really good and very capable at doing them BUT you like to procrastinate as long as possible and can often be heard saying "There's just too much!"  I sympathize with the feeling but hope that someday you will learn that it is usually better to just get it done with as fast as possible!
• You love to watch Angelina Ballerina and Doc McStuffins.  You really love to watch just about anything on a screen.  If we did not limit it, you would be happy to watch something all day long.  Don't worry!  We don't let you! 
• You love to dress up and you love to pick out your own outfits as often as I'll let you.  I try to let you almost every day but Sunday.  You come up with some really interesting combinations and your favorite dress up outfit is Wonder Woman.  We think you're pretty wonderful too!
• You don't stutter anymore and you say all of your words pretty clearly with the exception of ones with r-controlled vowels (girl, squirrel, world).  We love it though and are happy to hear you talk about the gors (girls) for as long as you want! 
• You are quite the social butterfly and love to tell us about all the new friends you made at church, gymnastics, the playground, etc.  I love seeing others enjoy your fun personality as much as we do.

Amity - 5.25 years

Sweet Amity, at 5 years and a quarter, you are truly a jewel!  This is what I want to remember about you: 

• You love playing pretend, more so than when you were younger.  I love that you are not growing up too fast and still enjoy using your imagination to play mommy, teacher, big sister, etc.
• You are becoming such a good reader.  This is that magical time when you are reading street signs and store signs and pretty much everything you see.  So much fun and reminds me of when I first learned to read!
• At the library, you still pick out books based on whether the general color scheme is pink or purple OR if there is a ballerina or princess on the cover.  Fancy Nancy, Louise the Cheese, Princess Peepers, and Pinkalicous are your current favorites.
• You desperately want to do a cartwheel but you just can't get your feet more than three inches off the floor.  I look forward to the day I can write about you doing it!
• You are such a great and willing helper!  I just need to give you a task and you (typically) are more than happy to help:  dusting, vacuuming, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning your room, getting the newspaper/mail.  You really want to start helping wash the dishes so maybe we will work on that soon.
• Your favorite show right now is Wild Kratts and watching super hero shows with Daddy on Saturday mornings.  You have also enjoyed watching Little House on the Prairie episodes. 
• You can be heard singing throughout the day and you are really starting to remember the lyrics to songs.  I love singing next to you at church.  I can't wait for you to start Carol Choir with Mrs. Fray soon.
• You tend to get nervous about new situations but once you have experience something, you REALLY love it and love to tell everyone we meet about it.  You like to go up to adults and say, "Excuse me?" and then proceed to tell them about one of our latest adventures.  I love that you can carry on a conversation! :)

 

2013 Home School WEEK ONE

We had a wonderful first week of home school!  On Monday, Amity went to her first art class with Mrs. Kunkel.  Later that day, we went on a field trip to Frisco Safety Town with some friends and learned about calling 911 and Amity got to ride a bike around the miniature town.  We stayed close to home the rest of the week while we kept a friend's little girl and watched our new window get installed.   We are loving reading James Herriot's Treasury for Children at breakfast and lots of Carl books.  Amity started working on writing capital letters with Handwriting Without Tearsand representing numbers with tally marks in Right Start Math.  She also wrote about several special moments in Writing Workshop including the story about Uncle Dylan rescuing her this summer from the river in Colorado.

Visit from Papa Barr

We were so excited to return from Colorado just in time for a visit from Glendall on his way back from a motorcycle trip.  We all took rides with him in the evening and the girls asked for more rides the next morning.  The girls loved reading with him and talking his ear off.  We can't wait for him to come back again soon and bring Linda with him next time!