Last Day

Today is Grace's last day of Little Hearts For His Glory. It's a K-1st program. I consider the next one to be more on par for 2nd grade, and in our minds, since we school year round anyway, Grace is starting 2nd grade work Monday. She'll be 7 in January.

She actually finished yesterday, but we are tying up loose ends today. Some leftover projects we didn't get around to this week. A few workbook pages we missed. A bit of reading to tie it all together.

This is very exciting for many reasons. First of all, Grace is very excited to be done with this book and starting on the next one! She feels very grown up with the prospect of using the next Teacher's Guide herself for some of the work (copywork, but she'll be looking at the GUIDE!)

Secondly, it means that Julianna can start K in a couple of weeks when we get her math and handwriting books. She has been very very consistent in wanting to "do school" every single day. She finished her preschool work about a month ago, but I've been holding her off on K until Grace finished that guide. I didn't want them overlapping... selfish, but in my mind necessary.

So, Monday Grace will start Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory. Whenever the workbooks come in for Julianna she will start Little Hearts For His Glory "half speed". Which means that it will take her two weeks to get through each unit. Julianna doesn't know about this yet :) She will be SO EXCITED!

Today though, we have projects. We have already made a TX flag out of bread. She will make a model of Mt Rushmore out of salt dough. She'll play with oobleck to talk about how before God made the earth it was formless. It's going to be a fun day :)

A Day of School....

Ok.. it's not everything.. we covered a lot, intentionally and unintentionally today :) But here are some pictures to give you an idea.

Evie -- painting and stacking

Julianna -- we read about Jesus' birth and talked about yellow and the letter Q (We'll focus on this all week.

Grace -- We read about the Boston Tea Party

Jayden -- Read about Abe Lincoln (tied in drawing and geometry), cursive, and grammar

Jayden also did math (adding and subtracting money), Biblical meaning of forgiveness, read out of "When We Were Very Young" by A.A. Milne, and started back our reading program with a Mystery book for her to read (Treasure of Pelican Cove)

Three year olds never change!

A friend of mine posted this in a message board. It's a poem written in the early 19th century by Thomas Hood. This goes to show that a three year old is a three year old is a three year old. :)

A Parental Ode to My Son, Aged 3 Years and 5 months

Thou happy, happy elf!
(But stop,—first let me kiss away that tear—)
Thou tiny image of myself!
(My love, he's poking peas into his ear!)
Thou merry, laughing sprite!
With spirits feather-light,
Untouched by sorrow, and unsoiled by sin;
(Good Heavens! the child is swallowing a pin!)

Thou little tricksy Puck!
With antic toys so funnily bestuck,
Light as the singing bird that wings the air;
(The door! the door! he'll tumble down the stair!)
Thou darling of thy sire!
(Why, Jane, he'll set his pinafore afire!)
Thou imp of mirth and joy!
In love's dear chain, so strong and bright a link,
Thou idol of thy parents; (Drat the boy!
There goes my ink!)

Thou cherub—but of earth;
Fit playfellow for Fays, by moonlight pale,
In harmless sport and myrth,
(That dog will bite him if he pulls its tail!)
Thou human hummingbee, extracting honey
From every blossom in the world that blows,
Singing in youth's elysium ever sunny,
(Another tumble!—that's his precious nose!)

Thy father's pride and hope!
(He'll break the mirror with that skipping-rope!)
With pure heart newly stamped from Nature's mint;
(Where did he learn that squint!)
Thou young domestic dove!
(He'll have that jug off with another shove!)
Dear nursling of the Hymeneal nest!
(Are those torn clothes his best?)
Little epitome of man!
(He'll climb upon the table, that's his plan!)
Touched with the beauteous tints of dawning life
(He's got a knife!)

Thou enviable being!
No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing,
Play on, play on,
My elfin John!
Toss the light ball—bestride the stick—
(I knew so many cakes would make him sick!)
With fancies, buoyant as the thistle-down,
Prompting the face grotesque, and antic brisk,
With many a lamb-like frisk,
(He's got the scissors, snipping at your gown!)

Thou pretty opening rose!
(Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!)
Balmy and breathing music like the South,
(He really brings my heart into my mouth!)
Fresh as the morn, and brilliant as its star,
(I wish that window had an iron bar!)
Bold as the hawk, yet gentle as the dove;
(I'll tell you what, my love,
I cannot write unless he's sent above!)

Beach Trip 2011

Last week we took our annual beach trip to Hunting Island, South Carolina. It is a beautiful state park. It's quiet and calm and perfect for families with small children.

We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets....

Had fun in the ocean and on the beach....

Even with Hurricane Irene knocking at our door!

Saw awesome sand (mud actually) sculptures created on the driftwood...

The two who were tall enough went up into the lighthouse and saw the view....

And took a walk on the marsh boardwalk and saw millions of crabs...

We also rode around at night looking for all the animals that call Hunting Island home... A special species of white tail deer, raccoons, a fox, and many many cats. This was maybe everyone's favorite part of the day. We all had a lot of fun... it's amazing to look at the pictures year after year and see how everyone and everything has grown and changed!

Kings Mountain National Military Park

Last week the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go somewhere. We got started late and we didn't want to go too far away so we chose to go to Kings Mountain. It took about an hour or so to walk around the short Battlefield Trail.

There were many side trails leading to memorials.

And quite a few fallen trees as well!

Some interesting sights to see...

Even if little legs were getting tired!

About halfway through (at least it seemed) was a monument "in Memory of the patriotic Americans who participated in the Battle of Kings Mountain"

We also saw a siamese twin tree!

Almost to the end was another monument... This one was commemorating the victory at King's Mountain.

We were all pretty tired by this point. But it didn't slow us down much.

The kids had a really good time pretending to be "Whigs" and "Tories" and "British-ish-men" along the trails. When we got to the end of the trail, we enjoyed some cool drinks of water and nice crisp apples.

Meal Plan

I just thought I'd post my meal plan for the next week. I've had a lot of people ask me how I spend so little each month on groceries, and this is how! One meal per day is sandwiches or cereal, mostly sandwiches.

Breakfast is:

Monday - Muffins

Tuesday - Muffin Tin Meals

Wednesday - Whatever Day (We'll pick whatever we have a consensus on from the kids)

Thursday - Smoothies

Friday - French Toast

Saturday - Big Breakfast

Sunday - Cinnamon Rolls

Now, for the rest of the time...

Saturday, May 14

Hamburgers

French Fries

Sunday, May 15

Spaghetti

Garlic Bread

Salad

Monday, May 16

Pot Roast

Tuesday, May 17

Leftovers

Wednesday, May 18

Kat's Slow Chicken (Crock Pot Cookbook)

Mashed Potatoes

Thursday, May 19

Sausage and Saurkraut

Friday, May 20

BBQ Chicken

Green Beans

Mac and Cheese (Deceptively Delicious Cookbook)

Saturday, May 21

Hotdogs

Baked Beans

Chips

Sunday, May 22

Chicken Parmesan

Salad

Monday, May 23

Ham

Black eyed peas

Sweet Potatoes

Tuesday, May 24

Leftovers

Wednesday, May 25

Meatloaf

Peas

Corn

Thursday, May 26

Vegetarian Lasagna (Crock Pot)

Friday, May 27

Leftovers

Chances are in that time we will have way more food than we can handle, so one of those meals will likely be put off for the next week and we'll have another meal of leftovers. Like, we already know that tomorrow we will be eating with our Sunday School Class, so the spaghetti will be postponed for another day.

Jayden's Poetry

We are taking the month of April off from school.... my children apparently prefer those times to blossom ;) Evie is naming colors, Julianna is swinging herself (thanks to some friends!) and Grace's imagination is just out the roof (and she's reading too!).

Jayden has decided to take up writing poetry. She's been reading some short poems and limericks and today took a stab at her own. I think they are very good! Here are two she wrote today copied as she wrote them on her paper.

away

away in the winter

away in the fall

away in the summer

away at all

Fall

Fall is when the leaves turn brown

Fall is when they swirl around

Fall is when they go past by

Fall is when they drop by.

I thought she did well for her first attempt at poetry!

Laundry Room Makeover

Really, it's basically spring cleaning :) but we tried something with the laundry room that I think is my best idea in a long time. You'll have to pardon the piles of stuff in the pictures... I've put all the stuff to go to Goodwill in piles on the freezer and table.

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Here is the wide view...

you can see the washer and dryer on the left

and the freezer and table on the right

A closer look at the shelves...

And the area under the table...

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The kids' clothes were all in our bedroom, in these baskets on a broken changing table. Needless to say it was very very messy in there ALL the time, even if everything was put away neatly, it still looked junky. And I was CONSTANTLY bringing dirty clothes down to wash.... multiple times a day normally. So, I decided that I wanted to put their clothes in the laundry room so that they could change in there and put their dirty clothes directly in the washer.

The freezer used to be where the shelves are now, and it was almost impossible to get into. Now I can easily reach into it to get anything I need.

The basket for shoes is also a new addition. We kick our shoes off in the laundry room when we come inside to try to cut down on the amount of dirt on the floor. Our laundry room floor was covered in shoes. Even if we just had one pair per person in there that was 12 shoes! And typically there were at least two pair, if not more. At least the basket will give me a place to throw the shoes when I walk into the laundry room.

My next organizing attempt will be for our pantry turned game closet.....

Life Goes On...

An update:

Jayden is almost through Unit 3 in Bigger Hearts For His Glory. She's really picked up dictation well and is flying through the passages. In math she's working on adding and subtracting three digit numbers. In history she's learning all about explorers who found America (and didn't know it). She's also learning how to look things up in the dictionary (apparently something I'm really not good at teaching!) and how to form good sentences. She's really loving science this year so far. Right now it's One Small Square: Seashore. She has one science notebook entry per week and one experiment where she has to follow the scientific method each week. She also has art once a week that is starting to get pretty advanced.... at least I think so, but then again I can't draw or paint for anything. And her story time book is a biography about Philis Wheatley. Even I am enjoying that book.... very well written!

She will finish up her second (of nine) sections in her reading program this week. She chose to read The Littles for her fantasy genre and really really loved it. She's working on her project that she has to present tomorrow. I believe she might be making a model showing that the Littles lived inside the Biggs walls like mice, but it's supposed to be a surprise.

We have one more week of school before we will take a one week break. We will have been schooling 6 weeks straight, so we thought a break was in order. Plus we are taking a vacation that I will blog about when we get back ;) We will take a couple of weeks off from the reading program and start with the next genre (she will choose between adventure - Stone Fox and historical fiction - Hannah) the 7th of February with everything else.

Grace is absolutely flying through her curriculum. She is starting Unit 7 this week. She gets about 6 or 7 days worth of school done per week. Her history is focused on Bible history right now. She just learned about Joshua and Caleb leading the Israelites into the promised land and the battle of Jericho. We also just finished reading Thornton Burgess' Reddy Fox and started Peter Rabbit... she thinks it's pretty cool that all the characters are in all the different books. She's doing first grade math and doing well with it, although the names of the signs are confusing to her (plus/minus, add/subtract, etc.) But that's ok, because she understands the concepts..... it'll come. She's also beginning to have beautiful handwriting!

Julianna is having the hardest time with school because she wants more more more! I'm making her take her preschool book slowly because I want there to be some space between Grace finishing Little Hearts For His Glory and her starting it. So we get through with her work in about 15 minutes and she just wants more.... and she can do more. So I feel badly for her. We have added in some workbooks on letters, numbers, comparing/contrasting, but even with that it doesn't add much to her day. She will be beyond happy when she starts doing more work each day.

Evie is doing the most changing right now though. She's a little ham, and always wants us to see what she's doing.... but she doesn't have the words for that yet. So she does this cute little laugh when she wants us to watch her :)

We are also night weaning her. I realized that the only time I didn't like nursing her was during the night. I was getting grumpy with her; she was crying and unhappy and not sleeping well; she was wanting me to stay in one position in the bed with her all night long, so I wasn't sleeping much at all! So I decided that it was better for both of us to just night wean. Back in November we got her to where she could/would go to sleep without nursing initially, so I just took that a little farther this week and made the rule that she wouldn't nurse in her bed. Every night has gotten better and she's actually been sleeping better, and therefore I am too :) (SIDENOTE HERE: Night weaning will not solve all sleep issues... it will ONLY help if the child has NO OTHER ISSUES and the child is READY.... teething and separation anxiety are both valid issues that will interrupt sleep) Even when she does wake up at night now, I'm not dreading her being demanding and making me not be able to roll over if I want to. I love cuddling with her :D It will also allow me to enjoy nursing her during the day more because we'll both be well rested and happy!

Grace's Birthday

Grace turned 6 today! My second child is 6.... how is that possible? Here's Grace from her first birthday until now...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRACE!