By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge
the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ~Proverbs 24:3-4
• Jan. 8, 2010 - Start of Second Semester!
So we start the new year! We are doing a few things differently.
1) We finished the Sea part of Sea & Sky, so we are on to Sky now.
2) Mark finished algebra and has started geometry. So far so good!
3) Mei started Total Language Plus in addition to her other LA. She is liking it so far.
4) Kids got new Bibles right before Christmas, so now they each have their own to follow along in and we all have the same version to read from. We are enjoying our reading in Genesis.
5) Of course, I have good intentions as always about getting everything done. Seems some things didn't make it this week, but I guess we are doing some school tomorrow :)
Pictures from this week:
The kids enjoyed learning first hand what makes a plane fly. We have a whole book of paper airplanes in different styles to make. We are on the Sky part now :) A Gusta Wheezer - a classic plane flier.
In other news, no snow here - just cold and more cold.
I was thinking how sad it was my kids never get "2 hour delay"s for ice, etc. However, they do get 2 hour delays when mom is busy on Facebook, etc. Unfortunately that happens more times than I care to admit!
We have a new family member. She was rescued from a remote woods when pregnant. The family kept one kitten, gave away the other kittens, and gave the mamma to us. Her name was a mystery for awhile.
Prior to the family meeting, she was "Snowflake" or "Sugar". Of course, all kinds of suggestions were made - from crazy stuff like "popcorn", "taffy", "pretzel", and "salt" == to names like "Tammy" and "Stephanie" == to weird like "Green Eyed Lady Princess of Darkness" and "Aqualung". We had finally narrowed it down to "Sierra" and "Sprite" with 2 votes each and 1 vote undecided, when Paul suggested "Zoey". Everyone went "yup, I can live with that" and so she became Zoey.
She is about 1 year old and loves to play. In fact, she wakes us up most mornings so we can play with her. She wants you out of bed as soon as she hears the alarm - no snooze button for her. She is very friendly, but not a lap kitty. Maybe when she grows older, she will be come one.
I haven't forgotten my blog, just been busy hanging out on Facebook instead.
Change is in the air ----
Mark has finished Algebra! He ended up with a high B. I am going to have him spend the rest of 2009 reviewing word problems. We will start Jacob's Geometry in January.
Mei finds her LA to be very easy. So we are going to add to it by doing the Total Language Plus study on Courage of Sarah Noble. The spelling is much harder than what she is doing now. It uses some of the kinesthetic methods of learning spelling, so I am curious to see how she does. She will still do the basic grammar, writing, and cursive handwriting from WP's LA3.
We have pretty much dropped Mei's science but will pick it back up in January. She will be learning about weather. Mark has asked to sit in on it.
We will also be finishing the Sea portion of Sea & Sky by Christmas, so the new year will start with Sky.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I am doing the ABCs of Thanksgiving on FaceBook. I may post them here after Thanksgiving.
• Oct. 24, 2009 - State Fair and Pirates and The Flu
Last week the state fair opened and we went on Preview Day. We got the kids wristbands that allowed them unlimited rides, which was a good deal. We usually go with a friend of mine and her daughter. The girls have been friends for over 5 years. We had a great time and yes, we ate some of that yummy fair food!
Mei and her friend Jamie at the fair, waiting in line for the ride wristbands. The girls loved milking the cow. We went back on can day for a few hours and they milked the cow again!
The next day I woke up feeling horrible. I felt even worse when I realized I probably exposed my friends to the flu. Turns out she was already sick, but had just thought it was a head cold. Then James got sick, followed by Mei. Mark waited until Tuesday to get sick. He is missing his Boy Scouts Court of Honor tonight since his fever spiked back up last night. We didn't get tested, so we don't know which flu we had. Paul has escaped so far. We saw him for only a few hours last weekend and he has been hiding in his room this weekend.
Mei got well just in time for me to take her on the field trip to the Pirate Exhibit. Mark had to stay at home. It was pretty cool. Very good mixture of facts and artifacts with interactive items for the kids - like computer quizzes, a cannon game, dress-up clothes, and a pirate play ship. Our state science museum is next to the history museum, so we popped in there for lunch and a quick visit. We decided to go back the week of Thanksgiving and spend a whole day visiting the IMAX, the pirate exhibit, the history museum, and the science museum.
They had many recovered pieces from Queen Anne's Revenge - Blackbeard's ship. They also had a skull that some claim was Blackbeard's. (Sorry no pictures of the skull were allowed.)
Seat of ease - made of lead with a wooden seat cover. This one is collapsed. Wanta guess what this was used for?
A Gusta Wheezer - a classic plane flier.
The girls loved milking the cow. We went back on can day for a few hours and they milked the cow again!
Seat of ease - made of lead with a wooden seat cover. This one is collapsed. Wanta guess what this was used for?
