State Fair of Texas 2013

Howdy Folks!  Big Tex is back and we went to the Fair along with way too many other people but we still had lots of fun.  Amity rode her first roller coaster and *mostly* loved it.  Dennis said she did an authentic roller coaster scream and he was smiling and laughing the whole time.

Each girl rode two rides.  We ate free ice cream and bought corn dogs for the parents, cotton candy for Amity, brownies for Vivien, and a funnel cake to be shared with everyone.

It was a fun day but I think we had enough fair until next year!

2013 Home School WEEK SIX

I can't believe that the first six weeks of school is already over!  This week, Amity attended art class and Carol Choir and both girls attended gymnastics.  We continued reading Little House in the Big Woods, picture books by Shirley Hughes, and lots of books about leaves and trees.  This week, Vivien began working on actual letter formation in her HWT workbook and Amity's math included more work in place value and basic addition. 

2013 Home School WEEK FIVE

 What a fun week!  We are enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the opportunity to hang out at the Arboretum on Tuesday afternoon.  Amity suggested they take their science journals so they could sketch some flowers.  We had Picture Day at Chapel School on Wednesday.  It is always a funny experience and we look forward to seeing the results.  Vivien is working on reading the beginner BOB books and Amity is working her way through the third collection.  This was our first week to begin working on digraphs in word study and Amity has been noticing ch words everywhere we go.  She even wanted to take a "chair" for Show and Tell on letter C day at Chapel School and was excited to tell her friends about the tricky ch at the beginning of the word.

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.