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So, this week Kaylee and I both have picked up whatever bug seems to be going around and I've been spending a lot of time on the couch.  Eric has been helping out so much with school!  He's awesome!  I try to think up little things I can tell Adalyn to do during naptime for "school."  Using an idea from a friend,  I had Adalyn pick out 10 words that she wanted to learn how to spell and write them down as best as she could....  I don't know what I really expected but, I never expected her to come up with these ten words!  Later she informed me that she didn't know what they meant, but just remembered reading them somewhere.  The spelling is atrocious, but I was impressed with the phonetics and her word choices!  Later, I found that she did understand what most of the words meant in context.  Are these words to big for her?  Should I teach them?  I had her write down the correct spellings and explained the words, but I'm unsure where to go with these words from here. 1. etukcathan = education 2. donashin = donation 3. eqwatit = equate 4. oger = ogre 5. eguqwat = educate 6. folasolfy = philosophy 7. qwarel = quarrel 8. moril = moral 9. lazly = lazily 10.  a-courting = courting

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Adalyn has taken a sudden interest in the states and geography in general.  This is a bit scary to me because i've never been good at memorizing that type of thing.  It's even hard for me to read a map!  If I am holding a map in the car giving the driver directions (which I'm usually NOT), I must turn the map every time we turn the car to be able to read it correctly.  I've only memorized the compass rose (why is it called that?) a few years ago and the only way i can remember which way is west or east to remember that it spells "we."  Needless to say, we have not formally started any type of geography work. aaaaagh!  Adalyn was so proud of herself yesterday.  She said, "Momma, I know what the capitol of New York is!!!!"  I said, "You do?!?  What?"  She said, "New York City!!!"  To which I replied........"That's great, Adalyn!"  Thinking to myself, maybe she'll just teach herself!  Then she told me that she also knew the capitol of Texas.  I thought, wow, I can handle this!   "It's Texas City!" she says.  Then, I, being the smart homeschooling mother that I am, explained to her that every state doesn't have their capitol as that states name with "city" attached to the end.  I told her that Austin is Texas' capitol and she was very excited because she knows that her cousin lives there.  She found a children's atlas and I showed her how to find the capitol of each state (I DO know how to do that).  She spent the rest of the afternoon reading the atlas.  Is she my child?  It wasn't until later that evening when telling my sweet husband who did not even make fun of me *very much* that I realized (with his help) that New York CIty is not the capitol of New York.  yikes!  I knew that...really I did!  I guess we'll be learning all this map stuff together!

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For all of you who are wondering, here's the lowdown on our first day of 1 1/2 grade:  Kaylee (1 yr. old) stayed up veeeerrrry late last night and woke up veeeerrrrry early this morning.  so naturally, i woke up tired and behind "schedule."  (* note to self:  ask flylady if it's even possible to have a schedule with 3 children under the age of 6.)  I'll try to make a long story short and just list the highlights of our day... ~  The girls were both very excited to start school today.  We made them Good Morning Sheets (Chore Charts) of things they need to get done before school starts at 9:30.  They fairly flew through all the chores!  ~ I was a little frazzled because I usually get most of my routine done before they wake up (except for my early morning riser, Emma - she's usually with me). ~ We actually did start school 'on time.'  We took 1st day of school pictures, put away our new school supplies, sat down at the table to start our work, and THEN the electricity goes out for about 45 mins. ~ I got out the oil lamp and opened all the shades and we did writing in the half light....that was kind of fun until the smell started making me dizzy and Adalyn thirsty.  ~  Poopy diaper. ~  Open fridge to put away Kaylee's juice, close fridge real fast so as not to let out all the cool air, spill leftover peach smoothie inside fridge, decide to clean it later so everything in fridge won't ruin. ~ Finish writing lessons. ~ Convince Emma that she CAN write a letter "B." ~ Spat Kaylee for throwing chalk. ~ Start Math with Adalyn. ~ "Look, Mommy, I did it!"  Congratulate Emma for writing a whole row of "B"s.  ~ We were starting to get a little warm so, I was about to pack up a few things and head elsewhere... ~ Electricity back on! ~ Potty break.  Need drinks. ~ Start back on math lessons. ~ adalyn:  when do we get to do all the fun reading? ~ Spank Kaylee for eating dried beans off of bean counting sticks. ~  me: how many cents are in one dollar?  adalyn:  100.  me:  which is more?  one dollar or 78 cents?  adalyn:  78 cents!  me:  how many cents are in 78 cents?  adalyn:  i don't know....  me:  how many cents are in one dollar?  adalyn:  100?  me:  how many cents are in 78 cents?  adalyn:  i don't know.  i can't figure that out!  me:  how many cents are in one penny?  adalyn:  (rolling eyes) one.  me:  how many in 2 pennies?  adalyn (rolling eyes) two.  me:  how many cents are in one quarter?  adalyn:  25.  me:  how many in one dollar?  adalyn:  100.  how many in 78 cents?  adalyn: (pause, thinking, lightbulb!) 78!  me: so which is more? one dollar or 78 cents?  adalyn:  one dollar!  ~ Back to lessons. ~ adalyn:  when are we going to do art? ~ emma:  what can i do now mommy? ~ Finish lessons while Kaylee tears up the rest of the room. ~ adalyn:  when are we going to have science? ~ Clean up from Kaylee's tornado. ~ Clean up peach smoothie out of fridge. ~ For lunch we got out all the leftovers from last week and warmed it in the microwave. ~ Kaylee still had a few bites left so, I left her at the table alone.  I heard her fussing and by the time I got in there (just a few seconds later), her eyes were closed and her head was rolling.   It really scared me (I even checked her pulse) until I remembered that she didn't get much sleep last night.  Poor baby. Whew!  Now I need some chocolate or a coke or maybe a nap! Hopefully the rest of our week will seem humdrum compared to today!  I'll post pictures later!

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Myspace Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com We're ready for school to start (almost).  I still haven't completely decided if we are going to continue with  the curriculum we started last year...or go with something totally different.  The "Type A" in me wants to finish what we started, but the need for change is also there...  I'm leaning towards completing what we started, but adding to/changing some of the particulars.  Here are some pictures of our freshly cleaned and rearranged school room for your viewing pleasure! Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

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almost time to get busy again!!!

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Hi friends & family!  After what seemed like an endless "school break," we're finally back to our normal schedule!  I still don't have a handle on what "unschooling" means, but I think that's just what we've been doing.  We weren't in the schoolroom much at the table doing the set curriculum, but we've been learning together so much.  The girls have enjoyed baking bread with me, reading Anne of Green Gables (the revised version) together, and  exploring creation!  I guess there's a little bit of that type A personality in me though, because my heart sang when we got out our organized curriculum this week! So, Adalyn has been learning how to tell time and she loves it.  Yesterday we wrote down a daily schedule together so she can look at it and look at the clocks and have a general awareness of what (might......I'm more spontaneous than I am type A!) be going on at certain times of the day.  When we were finished, we decided to put a green star beside every time slot that could also be filled with serving God.  "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord!"  She was excited to see that we can serve Him all day long no matter what we're doing! We had a really fun (and EASY) science experiment following our reading of "Rebekah at the Well."  We looked at pictures of camels and talked about how God made their feet in special ways.  Then we took pencils and quarters outside to the sandbox.  The pencils represent an animals leg with small feet; you push the pencil down into the sand and observe how easily it sinks.  The quarters represent the camels large foot; you put the quarter on the bottom of the pencil and try to push the quarter into the sand with the pencil.  The quarter does not sink so easily!  They thought that was amazing and we praised God for his wisdom in making the camels foot special so that the camels can survive in their sandy habitats! Fun times!  Looking forward to next week!

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