We are using for history/Geography - The Story of the world, but I change some things as I need to. Under second grade, it will tell you what we are using for all the subjects, and the same is under first grade, and for kindergarten too. I just haven't updated the books that she has read so far in second grade. Some of the books recoommended by the story of the world are on to much of a grown up level, some I have trouble reading myself, much less a second grader, and she is younger than most second graders too, as she hasn't turned 6 yet. Some things as far as religions go, when studying other cultures, you would need to explain that that is not what we believe, and explain why. I add books and projects that they don't have or changed the projects they have listed somehow, like for the treasure box we did for France, they wanted us to make a cape with the same design and colors, but I never learned how to sew, so i changed it to a treasure box that we could paint instead. Haley still isn't to pleased with the idea of being an aunt. So far, Danielle has the name of Cadence, picked out. We have been busy, getting our house fixed up and repaired, and cleaned for the holidays. Caleb is doing ok with the potty training so far, at least he is willing to sit on it with his diaper on now, and he seems to understand what he is doing when he dirties his diaper now, or at least is aware that he is doing something, so that is a big step forward. That video is great. We are going to fill out paperwork for Caleb to start in a ESE Pre-K classs at the school down the road on monday. He won't actually start till after the children come back from the winter holidays though. We will see how it goes and pull him out if we need to for some reason. I am worried about it, but his therapist keeps insisting that he needs to go, and that he will benefit from it a great deal, and my husband says that maybe they can teach him better than I can, as he hasn't really learned all that much in the last year from me, which is true, but he is doing so much better than last year, the therapy has helped him a lot, he is just a slow learner is all. But maybe this school can get him to the point where i will be able to teach him at home after awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope ya'll had a great day! We had a generally great day. We went out to see my Mom and brother and his wife at thier house. The kids thinks she lives on a farm in a forest, as there is a lot of trees all down the street and on her property and she has chickens, she used to have pigs too, but not anymore, also a horse lives next door. So the kids like to go there. There was lots of people there and lots of food of course. It was a little too much for Caleb, but he did well, as he didn't have a meltdown for 5 hours, so that was terrrific. On the potty traing, I was going to give up for awhile, but I got Caleb a video called "Once Upon a Potty for Him" and he loves it! He has watched about 6 times today, and is singing the song already. After the 3rd time of watching it he went and got his potty out of the bathroom and brought it out to the living room and sat on it while he watched the video again 3 more times, he kept his diaper on the for the 4th time of watching it but did go "number one" in his diaper! Then the 5th and 6th time he took his diaper off all by himself and sat on his potty while watching and singing the song. Then it was time for bed, so he put it back in the bathroom and told it night night new potty! We couldn't even get him to sit on it clothed before, so this is just wonderful! Big Boy Pants here we come! Well, hopefully anyway, I know I should be patient, but it is exciting to see progress like that.

Haley finished with her Australia/New Zealand section of history now, and so next we are doing the Franks and Medival Paris, which will be a lot of fun and will go well with her French Lessons too. We are making a Fleur De Lis Treasure box that she gets to keep to put her stuff in, basically got a wooden box from the craft store in a shape she liked, it was only 3.99 for a pretty large size box, then we will paint it with Acrylic Paint in Royal Blue color and then draw Fluer De Lis pattern over it with a gold leaf pen(those you can get for 2.99 at Walmart), We will talk about how the Fleur De Lis representing the 3 parts of God(Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and how religion affected the various rulers of France, We will be reading some books about St. Therese of Lisieux and do some coloring pages of Saints, read some French Fairytales, listen to books on tape in French of some children's stories, make a Charlgemane(not spelled right?) crown mask, read some books on  Clovis and on Paris, look at pictures on the web about paris, and maybe some other stuff besides doing her reading in her history book, doing her map work, and coloring pages that is part of her history class already. Oh yeah, and we will also discuss how this relates to her own family, as my Grandmother's ancestors came from France, so we will do a little work on that section of our family tree. All in all , it sounds exciting to me anyway, hopefully she will be excited too by the time we are thru. She is doing real well with her spelling, but I tried to trick her on her last Post test, when she was on number 8, I told her the word was supercalifragilisticexpealadocious, you should of seen the look on her face, then she told me she didn't know how to spell that, and I told her I was just joking, the word was really frog.  She got a 100% on her test. Haley is not happy at all about being an aunt. She has told her sister not to bring "That Baby" to her house, only Danielle is allowed over. She is very jealous about it, she thinks Danielle won't have anytime for her anymore when the baby comes and that she is not going to want to play with Haley because of the baby. I have tried to tell her that isn't true, and I will gladly watch the baby so Danielle can play with Haley. Danielle has told her too. Hopefully she will change her mind after she sees her. Well, I think that is all for now, I hope everyone had a great holiday with your families!

Not much happening at our house lately. Caleb has been going to therapy every week, and that is going fine. He still isn't having any sucess with potty training. He is still scared of it. he only likes the flushing part, that he could do all day long, if it was up to him. Haley is making good progress with her second grade work. We just got finished with a section on medeival Japan for History. For projects we did origami, made a kite, made pictures of girls in Kimonos from cut origami paper, read a biography on Issa, a poet who wrote Haiku, wrote and illustrated a Haiku, did some coloring pages, and some map work, read the chapter in the history book, and wrote a narration page. It was fun. Next we will learn about the Maoris in Australia, and make a boomerang. We found out my oldest daughter is having a girl, that is exciting.

Kindergarten:

A. Math:

         1. Dora the Explorer: Kindergarten: Addition and Subtraction Decoder Workbook

         2. McGraw Hill: Numbers 1-20: Color, Cut, Paste, & Trace

         3. Eagle’s Wings Kinder-Math

         4. Miquon Math: The Orange Book: First Grade

         5. Miquon Math: The Red Book: First Grade

B. English:

        1. Homework Helpers: School Skills: Grades Pre K-1

        2. Parents Magazine Play and Learn Workbook: Skills for Preschool

        3. Parents Magazine Play and Learn Workbook: Skills for Kindergarten

        4. Parents Magazine Play and Learn Workbook: Sounds and Letters

        5. Brighter Child Workbook: Daily Learning Drills: Kindergarten

        6. A Reason for Handwriting: Book K: Kindergarten

        7. Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons

        8. Essential Learning Products: Spelling Workbook: Book A

        9. Kindergarten Copybook

      10. Jumpstart Preschool Computer Program: Various Skills

      11. Starfall.com: Language Arts Website

      12. Video: Miracle of Mozart: Teaching Your Child the ABC's

C. Science:

         1. Christian Liberty Press: The World God Made: Kindergarten

D. Logic:

        1. Educators Publishing Service: Primary Analogies: Book 1: Grades K-1

E. Art:

        1. Pencils, Colored Pencils, Crayons

        2. Jackson Paints: Watercolors

        3. Various Papers and Glues

        4. Glitter, Feathers. Sequins, Pipe Cleaners, Paper Bags and Clay

        5. Book: Arts and Crafts Projects with Amber Lamb

F. Music:

        1. Various Artists: Children’s, Classical, and Gospel, etc.

G. Foreign Languages:

        1. Prima Latina – Workbook and Audio Cd: Recitation only

        2. Transparent Language: KidSpeak Immersion Computer Program – French

        3. Transparent Language: KidSpeak Immersion Computer Program – Spanish

        4. Baby Bilingual Videos – French

        5. Baby Bilingual Videos – Spanish

H. Physical Education:

       1. Swings, Slide, See Saw, Climbing, Running, Baseball, Basketball, Swimming, Walking, etc.

I. Bible Studies:

      1. King James Bible

      2. Catholic Prayer Book for Children

      3. Prayer For A Child

      4. A Catholic Children's Bible

      5. Studying God's Word: Book A(split between Kindergarten and First Grade)

Reading Book List:

1. My First Word Book

2. 1 to One by Tasha Tudor

3. The Bear That Heard Crying

4. If You Love A Bear

5. Eye Spy - A Mysterious Alphabet

6. I Spy a Freight Train - Transportation In Art

7. I Spy: Treasure Hunt

8. How Many? How Much? A Math Skills Book

9. How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?

10. Thy Friend, Obadiah

11. Little Rabbits Number Book

12. The War Between The Vowels and The Consanants

13. The Clown of God by Tomie De Paola

14. Ask Mr. Bear

15. Blueberries for Sal

16. Around The Year by Tasha Tudor

17. The Adventures of Obadiah

18. Children of the NorthLights by D'Aulaire

19. Mother Goose illustrated by Tasha Tudor

20. First Prayers by Tasha Tudor

21. I Love You The Purplest

22. What Do You Say, Dear?

23. Let's Go Dear Dragon

24. And God Created Squash

25. Give Us This Day by Tasha Tudor

26. Obadiah The Bold

27. In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

28. A Was Once Apple Pie by Edward Lear

29. The Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel

30. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear

31. The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women by ?

32. Roxaboxen

33. Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak

34. The Little House

35. Ivy Cottage

36. When I Was Young In The Mountains

37. The Story About Ping

38. The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear

39. Le Hibou et La Poussiquette (Owl and the Pussycat in French)

40. The Rose In My Garden

41. My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson

42. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

43. Yellow and Pink by William Steig

44. Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Leonni

45. One, Two, Skip a Few: First Number Rhymes

46. Allison's Zinnia by Arnold Lobel

47. Leif the Lucky

48. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

49. There's An Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer

50. I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

51. It's Time For School, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

52. The Dumb Bunnies Go to the Zoo

53. Make Way for the Dumb Bunnies

54. If You Give A Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

55. If You Give A Pig A Pancake by Laura Numeroff

56. Mary, The Mother of Jesus by Tomie De Paola

57. Frederick by Leo Leonni

58. If You Take A Mouse To School

59. Cinderella

60. Flossie and the Fox

61. How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear

62. The Legend of the Three Trees

63. Goldilocks and the Three Bears

64. Fish Is Fish by Leo Leonni

65. Alexander and the Wind- Up Mouse by Leo Leonni

66. The Biggest House in the World by Leo Leonni

67. The Boy and The Goats

68. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: Los Animales

69. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: En Casa

70. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: La Ropa

71. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: Los Animales Savajes

72. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: La Familia

73. Barron's Bilingual First Books: English/Spanish: El Tiempo

74. My One Book: My First Steps to Math

75. My Two Book: My First Steps to Math

76. My Five Book: My First Steps to Math

77. My Eight Book: My First Steps to Math

78. My Nine Book: My First Steps to Math

79. My Ten Book: My First Steps to Math

80. Not I, Not I

81. Nelly and Caesar

82. Crazy Alphabet

83. Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola

84. Seven Brave Women

85. Read With Dick and Jane - We Look

86. The Crack of Dawn Walkers

87. Corduroy

88. A Pocket for Corduroy

89. I wish My Brother Was A Dog

90. Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

91. Gertrude McFuzz by Dr. Seuss

92. The Big Brag by Dr. Seuss

93. Cleo and Leo

94. A Flea Story by Leo Leonni

95. Peter Period

96. Christopher Comma

97. Quincy Question Mark

98. Emma Exclamation Point

99. Noah and The Ark by Michael McCarthy

100. Il Etait Une Fois (Once Upon A Time in French)

101. Walt Disney's Jungle Book

102. First Woman and The Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend

103. Aesop's Fox

104. Buffalo Husband: A Northern Plains Blackfeet Legend

105. Playtime Rhymes for Little People

106. Glooscap the Teacher: A Micmac Legend

107. Strega Nona Takes a Vacation by Tomie De Paola

108. Strega Nona Meets Her Match by Tomie De Paola

109. Spot's Windy Day

110. Spot Goes Splash

111. The Toy Brother by William Steig

112. The Donkey and The Golden Light

113. Swine Lake

114. The Runaway Bunny

115. Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros by Shel Silverstein

116. I Had A Lot of Wishes by James Stevenson

117. The Stupids Have a Ball

118. The Stupids Step Out

119. Remember The Ladies: 100 Great American Women

120. Book Of The Old Testament by Tomie De Paola

121. Find Nat

122. Henry And Mudge

123. The Best Nest

124. Ten Apples On Top

125. Flap Your Wings

126. A Boy Onced Lived In Nazareth by Florence M. Taylor

127. Young Jesus of Nazareth by Marianna Mayer

128. The Miracles of Jesus by Tomie De Paola

129. Grownups Get to Do All the Driving by William Steig

130. Doctor Desoto by William Steig

131. The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka

132. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

133. Clifford's Birthday Party by Norman Bridwell

134. The Three Sillies by Stephen Kellog

135. Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers

136. The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie De paola

137. The Holy Twins: Benedicte and Scholastique by Tomie De Paola

138. Amos and Boris by William Steig

139. Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon

140. Wizzil by William Steig

141. The Lost Children by Paul Goble

142. Funny Bunny

143. Crab Apple

144. Big Anthony: His Story by Tomie De Paola

145. Big Anthony and The Magic Ring by Tomie De Paola

146. The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone by Timothy Basil Ering

147. To Root, To Toot, To parachute - What Is A Verb?

148. Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

149. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

150. Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan

151. Paradise by Fiona French

152. Wonder Worm

153. Mother Goose Math by Emily Bolam

154. Sunshine, The Dog

155. The Mole Sisters and The Busy Bees

156. The Mole Sisters and The Rainy Day

157. My Dolly

158. The Funny Farmhouse

159. Sampson The Horse

160. Telling Time With Goofy

161. Bill and Pete to the Rescue by Tomie De Paola

162. Bill and Pete Go Down The Nile by Tomie De Paola

163. The Hunter and The Animals by Tomie De Paola

164. A Squash and A Squeeze by Julia Donaldson

165. Jam Berry by Bruce Degen

166. Holga's Dowry: A Troll Love Story by Tomie De Paola

167. Now One Foot, Then The Other by Tomie De Paola

168. Jamie O'Rourke and The Pooka by Tomie De Paola

169. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

170. Baby Einstein- The ABC's of Art

171. Peedie by Oliver Dunrea

172. Miss Suzy by Miriam Young

173. If Dogs Had Wings

174. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

175. Green Wilma

176. Tom The Kitten

Videos Watched:

1. Bonnie The Black Bear

2. Wildlife Preservation Group: Baby Bears

3. Jumpstart: Kindergarten

4. VeggieTales: Dave and The Giant Pickle

5. VeggieTales: Queen Esther

6. Dora the Explorer: Egg Hunt

7. Baby Ballet

8. Bear in The Big Blue House: Story Telling with Bear

9. Dora the Explorer: Rhymes and Riddles

10. Dora the Explorer: Dora's Backpack Adventure

11. Angelina Ballerina

12. Bear in The Big Blue House: Heroes

13. Bear in The Big Blue House: Healthy and Happy

14. VeggieTales: Lyle the Kindly Viking

15. Pooh's Heffalump Movie

16. Bear in The Big Blue House: Dance Party

17. Little Kicks for Little Kids

18. Bear in The Big Blue House: The Five Senses

19. VeggieTales: Madame Blueberry

20. 101 Dalmations

21. Stuart Little

22. Ella Enchanted

23. Underdog Cartoons

24. Bear in The Big Blue House: Friends

25. VeggieTales: Larry Boy and The Rumor Weed

26. Peep and The Big Wide World: The Real Decoy & Peep's Lost Leaf

27. Peep and The Big Wide World: Quack and the Very Big Rock & Shadow Play

28. VeggieTales: Larry Boy - The Good, The Bad, and The Eggly

29. VeggieTales: Are You My Neighbor?

30. VeggieTales: King George and His Ducky

31. VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke and Sampson's Hairbrush

32. VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm Scared?

33. Bear in The Big Blue House: Mail & Homes

35. Snow Queen

36. Alice and Wonderland

37. Brain Candy: My Five Senses

38. Baby Einstein - Neighborhood Animals

39. Peep and The Big Wide World: Peep Finds

40. Peep and The Big Wide World: Peep Floats

41. Peep and The Big Wide World: Peep's New Friends

42. Bear in The Big Blue House: Working With Bear

43. The Prince of Egypt

Games Played:

1. Candyland

2. Chutes and Ladders

3. Dominos

4. Mah Jong

Guess what? I am going to be a grandma! My oldest, is expecting in about March or April. My very first grandchild, I can hardly wait. She said if it is a boy, they will name it Edward Alexander, but doesn't know about a girl's name yet. So I am putting forward the name Mina. I love that name, but I can't think of a middle name to go with it at all. Any suggestions for girls names? It would need to go well with Havermill.

I finally got Caleb's test results back from the neurologist. Everything else has been ruled out, and she said he has autism. So no surprises there. She said just to continue his therapy and to use ABA training with him, and watch him for seizures, and bring him in for a check up with her every year.

I got Caleb's appt. with the neurologist moved up from November to 14th of August, so I can find out the results of his test a whole lot sooner. Hope that goes well.

Today, was another speech therapy day for Caleb. It did not go well. His therapist, said she wasn't going to try and teach him anything today, as he was so upset, she was just going to try and calm him down for me. He had woken up very upset this morning, and had been screaming, crying, throwing things, and banging his head on me and other things, and had been doing this from the time he got up and thru his whole appt at the therapy, which was around 4 hours at this point, and he would not respond to me at all. His therapist put his weights on his ankles and his weighted vest on him and finally managed to pry his movie boxes out of his hands(3 of them, he doesn't want to watch them, he just wants to carry them everywhere for the last 3 days, he has been eating with them, sleeping with them, won't let go of them till he falls asleep with him lined up next to him on the bed) and got out a big drum and some drumsticks and finally coaxed him into banging on it instead of me. Yippee! He banged on it for a good 5 minutes, while we talked and tried to figure out what was the matter with him today. She asked if anything had changed at home, and I said the only thing new is we got a kitten for Haley yesterday, but it was real small and he mostly ignored it last night. The only thing that happened with the kitten and Caleb, was the kitten batted his leg playing, and he climbed up on the couch and said bad cat, and that was it, he ignored the cat till bedtime. So, she asked Caleb if there was kitten at his house, and he said Stripes! Why!, and started having another tantrum again. The kittens' name is Stripes.

So the therapist thinks that Caleb is upset at the kitten being in his house, and wants to know why it is there. She said that so far, his house has been his safe place, and everything has its routine, and he knows who is coming and going, and what is going to happen, and then we went and brought in a change, and he is upset, and doesn't know how to deal with it, and so is acting out. Caleb seemed to agree with her, as the more we talked about thecat, the more upset he got. She did say however, that it is a good thing, because in the real world, Caleb will have to learn how to deal with change, and learn more appropiate ways of dealing with it.

So, though he didn't do any speech therapy, at least, I have some idea of what was the matter with him. He did finally calm down after we got home, and he spent some time in his quiet place(we made him a little hidey hole place in his closet, with blankets and pillows, and hung up some sheets all around his area, like a tent, whenever he has had too much, he goes in there and sits for awhile, sometimes now he even goes in it by himself when he is upset, but there was no time this morning, as he had to get ready for his appt. , then my mother came over too). He was calm when he came out, but the kitten was sleeping then and he didn't see it, so all was going well till Stripes woke up and wanted to play.

Well, tomorrow is another day, and hopefully, the longer the cat is here, Caleb will get used to her presence in his house, and things will get back to normal.

On the up side, everybody else likes the kitten just fine. Even Father, who trys to act hard and is really soft inside, and says we are going to be like Dr. Doolittle soon, if the animals keep coming. (We have a cat that we keep outdoors named Lucy, but Caleb never really "sees" her(If he sees her at all it is usually just a glimpse of her running away as we are coming out the door) and Haley already has a rabbit named Tiger, but she is kept out in the garage, so Caleb never sees it, and my oldest, Danielle, has asked me if I would mind watching her dog for a month while she moves and gets settled into her new place, and I said sure, she hasn't brought it yet, and now I am not sure if it will be such a good idea after all, what with Caleb and all, but what's a mother to do?)Anyway, Stripes, is real cute, grey with black stripes(hence the name) and has grey eyes, and she is 7 weeks old and very playful. Today, I got a picture of her coming thru the tunnel bridge on the kids train set, she is so tiny, she fit right in there, she was just walking along the tracks, and when she came to the bridge she just stuck her head in, and kept on going, out the other side, it was so cute. I will post it, when I get a chance.

Another good thing that happened today is, that all this morning, the therapist and I had been telling Caleb to use his inside voice and to whisper, and later tonight, when he was acting up again, Haley started yelling at him to be quiet, and he calmed down long enough to say in a quiet voice "Whisper" to her! He used the word in context! :) Little does he realize, that now I know he definetly knows what it means when I am telling him to whisper, now he has no excuse not to. Haha.

And yet another thing to be happy about, is that amidst all the turmoil of today, I did manage to teach Haley to count to 1000, by hundreds, and even had dinner ready for my husband when he came home! No, I didn't get the living room picked up, nor any laundry done, or even clean up the school area, but tomorrow is another day, and is full of possibilities, so maybe tomorrow I can get all that done, plus organize the kids rooms, clean out the garage, and back porch, type up Haley's lesson plans for 2cnd grade, have dinner for hubby, and still have some quiet time for myself! No! Don't wake me up, it is such a nice dream, leave me a little longer, Mom!

Have a nice week, everyone, if I haven't already stopped in your site to tell you so, and good luck on your homefronts.

It has been so busy at our house lately. Haley, Caleb and I went on a field trip to Lowry Park Zoo. We wound up staying almost 8 hours there, as we had to go there on a day my husband was working, cause the zoo is in the same city he works in, and gas is just too high right now to make a separate trip. The kids had a wonderful time. Haley rode a pony 4 times in a row, for the first time in her life. Last year she was too scared to ride them, now she has had a ride, she thinks she needs a pony as a pet. I told her she can have a kitten instead, and she already has a rabbit to take care of, so she doesn't need to one right now anyway, besides where would it sleep? She says in her room with her, lol.

Caleb loved the merry go round, I guess he liked the spinning around the most, as that is favorite pastime. I myself got quite dizzy after the 3rd go around, and needed to stop. They saw a lot of animals, and Caleb said elephant, and called all the different kinds of monkeys and apes that they had, Baboons. So that was good talking, Caleb.

Caleb had his yearly evaluation for his therapies. I got the Speech Therapy report back, and it said he has made a lot of progress since last year. Last year he was completely non-verbal, and now he has a working vocabulary of a 22 month old. He can say lots more words because of the echolalia, but he isn't using them in context, or displaying understanding of what he is repeating. But he is learning alot, since he has been in therapy, and doing alot of work at home too. The occupational and Physical Therapies still haven't given me their reports yet, but he should have made some progress. He has finally learned how to put on shorts by his self, this week, and he held his spoon at dinner tonight. He didn't use it, but at least he is willing to put it in his hand now. Turns out, he wasn't wanting to hold my regular spoons, as they were made out of metal, and so now I got him a spoon with a plastic coated handle, and he held it. I should have thought of it earlier, knowing how he doesn't like to touch cold smooth things like metal, it just never occured to me about the spoon being metal, at all. Oh well, now I know. We also went and saw a nuerologist, and she was very encouraging, and had a lot of tests done, and hopefully they will give us the results soon. She had set up the next appt. for November, but I really don't want to wait that long before finding out what the tests said, so I will call and try to reshedule for sooner. Day before yesterday, I had to keep Caleb all night with no food or drink, so that the next morning he could go have a Baer test and a sleep deprived EEG. That was just loads of fun. He didn't get to go to sleep till 11 yesterday morning, after we got home from the hospital. So we mostly slept yesterday after that.

Today was another Speech therapy day, and then my mother came over, and we all went out to lunch and then some shopping at the walmart. Decided to get a potty chair and some big boy underpants for Caleb, and see if he would like to try potty training. He did sit on it twice, as long as I left his clothes on, but otherwise he seemed scared of it. And he wanted nothing to do with the big boy pants, he said "want diaper" so we will have to see how well this works out, he might not be ready yet. But as he is going on 4, it sure would make my day, in one way, and in another way, it would probably make me sad, as it would mean my little baby is growing up.

Also, yesterday, my oldest daughter, Danielle, turned 21. Boy that makes me feel old. She didn't want a party, or gifts either. Said she was to old for that now, it was just another day. Not much fun.

I finally got all the books and supplies for Haley's 2cnd grade, now I just need her to finish up the first grade stuff. My plan is to be finished by September, but stuff keeps interfering. I finished making some pictures of my uncle who had died earlier this year for my mother, and my aunts, and got them back from the printers and they turned out pretty well, so got them mailed out. I still have to work on pictures of my husband's brother's children and get them printed and mailed, but that will have to wait, as I am still tired from staying up so much.

Well, I guess that is about it for now, as I can't think of anything else to write about, so everyone have a great week.

2cnd Grade:

Math:

   Texts Used:

       1. Saxon Math 2

Spelling:

    Texts Used:

       1. A Reason for Spelling: Book B

Handwriting:

   Texts Used:

        1. A Reason For Handwriting: Book B

Grammar:

    Texts Used:

       1. First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind: Lessons 101-200

       2. Merriam-Webster's Children's Dictionary

       3. Roget's Children's Thesaurus

Reading Comprehension:

    Texts Used:

        A. Pathway Readers

            1. Busy Times: 2cnd Grade Reader and Workbook 

            2. More Busy Times: 2cnd Grade Reader and Workbook

            3. Climbing Higher: 2cnd Grade Reader and Workbook

        B. Suppose the Wolf were an Octopus: K to 2: A Guide to Creative   

            Questioning for Primary Grade Literature

Science:

    A. Astronomy:

           Texts Used:

               1. The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space

               2. Glow-in-the-Dark Constellations: A Field Guide for Young Stargazers

               3. The Moon Book

               4. Science Action Labs: Astronomy

               5. Mudpies to Magnets

               6. More Mudpies to Magnets

           Projects:

               1. Glow-in-the-Dark Solar System Mobile

               2. Glow-in-the-Dark Phases of the Moon

               3. Glow-in-the-Dark Stars

               4. GeoSafari: Solar Graphics

               5. Star Theater 2: Home Planetarium with Meteor Maker

            Field Trips:

                1. Planetarium

    B. Earth Science:

           Texts Used:

              1. The Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of Our World

              2. Science Action Labs: Earth Science

              3. Planet Earth: Inside and Out

              4. Day Light, Night Light

              5. The Reason for the Seasons

              6. Why Do Leaves Change Colors?

              7. Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

              8. Dirt

              9. How Mountains Are Made

            10. Caves and Caverns

            11. Mudpies to Magnets

            12. More Mudpies to Magnets

           Projects:

              1. Volcano Model

              2. Earthquest Computer Program(simulate Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and 

                  study Rocks, Gems, Fossils, formation of Earth, etc.) 

History/Geography:

   Texts used:

        1. The Story of the World: Volume 2: The Middle Ages

        2. The Story of the World: Volume 2: The Middle Ages: Activity Book

        3. The Story of the World: Volume 2: The Middle Ages: Tests

Bible:

  Texts Used:

     1. Bible

     2. Catholic Prayer Book for Children

     3. Studying God's Word

Art:

   Texts Used:

       1. Let's Meet Famous Artists

       2. Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the   

           Great Masters

       3. Using Art to Create Art: Creative Activities Using Masterpieces

       4. Drawing with Children

       5. Doing Art Together

       6. Dover Art Cards: Degas Paintings

       7. Dover Art Cards: Monet Paintings

       8. Dover Art Cards: Hudson River School Paintings

       9. Dover Art Cards: Manet Paintings

     10. Dover Art Cards: Cezanne Paintings

     11. Dover Art Cards: Sargent Paintings

     12. Dover Art Cards: Renoir Paintings

     13. Dover Art Cards: Leonardo Da Vinci Paintings and Drawings

     14. Look What I Did with a Leaf!(ties in with Earth Science)

    Mediums Used:

        1. Drawing Pencils

        2. Colored Pencils

        3. Crayons

        4. Markers

        5. Watercolor Markers

        6. Watercolors

        7. Goache Watercolors

        8. Acrylics

        9. Oils

       10. Oil Pastels

       11. Clay

       12. Chalks

       13. Various Papers

       14. Leaves

       15. Glues

Foriegn Language:

  Texts Used:

     1. Spanish: Kidspeak Computer Program and Bilingual Baby Video

     2. French: Kidspeak Computer Program and Bilingual Baby Video

     3. Latin: Prima Latina: Introduction to Christian Latin workbook and audio cd

         (this was split between 3 years, recitation for the first 2 years, recitation and 

          workbook excercises for this year)

Logic:

   Text Used:

      1. Primarily Logic

Physical Education:

    No Texts Used:

        1. Nature Walks

        2. Bicycling

        3. Swimming

        4. Swings, Slide, SeeSaw, etc.

        5. Ball Games

Music:

   No Texts Used.

Cds' to listen to.

       1. Various types: Classical, Kids songs, Christian songs

       2. Father will give Guitar Lessons

Reading Book List:

A. Reading:

B. History/Geography:

(Will have to fill these lists in as the books are read thruout the year)

1st Grade:

Math:

   Texts Used:

       1. Saxon Math 1

Spelling:

    Texts Used:

       1. A Reason for Spelling: Book A

Handwriting:

   Texts Used:

        1. A Reason For Handwriting: Book A

Grammar:

    Texts Used:

       1. First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind: Lessons 1-100

Reading Comprehension:

    Texts Used:

        A. Pathway Readers

            1. First Steps: 1st Grade Preprimer and workbook 

            2. Days Go By: 1st Grade Primer and workbook

            3. More Days Go By: 1st Grade Reader and workbook

        B. Suppose the Wolf were an Octopus: K to 2: A guide to Creative   

            Questioning for Primary Grade Literature

Science:

    A. Botany:

           Texts Used:

               1. Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor

                   Gardening

               2. Dover Coloring Book: Medicinal Plants

               3. Dover Coloring Book: Common Weeds

               4. Dover Coloring Book: Garden Flowers

           Projects:

               1. Build and Maintain Compost Pile

               2. Made a Watering Can from recycled material

               3. Bought and Studied Earthworms (A garden helper)

               4. Built and Painted a Birdhouse (a garden helper)

               5. Learned how to make leaf cuttings of African Violets

               6. Sprouted bean seeds in a plastic sack, then planted in garden

               7. Planted and maintained garden from seed: carrots, beans, sunflowers

               8. Planted and maintained a Butterfly Garden(plants Butterflys are

                   attracted too, another garden helper)  

            Field Trips:

                1. Nature Walks

                2. Grocery Store

                3. Florist

    B. Biology:

          Text Used:

             1. The Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia

             2. My Body

          Projects:

             1. Made life size outline of Body, and cut, colored, and pasted various

                 bones, muscles, nerves, organs, etc. as we studied them in the

                 encyclopedia.

           Field Trips:

             1. Doctor's Office

             2. Hospital

             3. Fire Station(talk with the Firefighters and the EMTs about thier jobs,  

                 and about safety) 

    C. Zoology:

           Texts Used:

              1. The Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia

              2. Dover Coloring Book: Dogs

              3. Dover Coloring Book: Butterflies

              4. From Caterpillar to Butterfly

              5. What's It Like to Be a Fish?

              6. Dover Coloring Book: Insects

              7. Dover Coloring Book: Reptiles and Amphibians

              8. Dover Coloring Book: Birds

              9. Dinosaurs and the Bible: DVD

           Projects:

              1. Built and Painted a Birdhouse(also for Botany)

              2. Bought and Studied Earthworms(also for Botany)

              3. Planted and maintained a Butterfly Garden(also for Botany)

              4. Bought and take care of Rabbit as a pet   

           Field Trips:

              1. Veternarian's Office

              2. Dog Groomer

              3. Mounted Butterflys and looked up thier names and species

              4. Daytona Beach

              5. Sea World

              6. Zoo

              7. Dinosaur World   

History/Geography:

   Texts used:

        1. The Story of the World: Volume 1: The Ancients

        2. The Story of the World: Volume 1: The Ancients: Activity Book

(Projects are too many to list, they all came from the activity book)

Bible:

  Texts Used:

     1. Bible

     2. Catholic Prayer Book for Children

     3. Studying God's Word

Art:

   Texts Used:

       1. Drawing with Children

       2. Doing Art Together

       3. Dover Art Cards: Degas Paintings

       4. Dover Art Cards: Monet Paintings

       5. Dover Art Cards: Hudson River School Paintings

       6. Dover Art Cards: Manet Paintings

       7. Dover Art Cards: Cezanne Paintings

       8. Dover Art Cards: Sargent Paintings

       9. Dover Art Cards: Renoir Paintings

     10. Dover Art Cards: Leonardo Da Vinci Paintings and Drawings

    Mediums Used:

        1. Drawing Pencils

        2. Colored Pencils

        3. Crayons

        4. Markers

        5. Watercolor Markers

        6. Watercolors

        7. Goache Watercolors

        8. Acrylics

        9. Oil Pastels

       10. Clay

       11. Chalks

       12. Various Papers

Foriegn Language:

  Texts Used:

     1. Spanish: Kidspeak Computer Program and Bilingual Baby Video

     2. French: Kidspeak Computer Program and Bilingual Baby Video

     3. Latin: Prima Latina: Introduction to Christian Latin workbook and audio cd

Logic:

   Text Used:

      1. Lollipop Logic

Physical Education:

    No Texts Used:

        1. Nature Walks

        2. Bicycling

        3. Swimming

        4. Swings, Slide, SeeSaw, etc.

        5. Ball Games

Music:

   No Texts Used.

Cds' listened to.

       1. Various types: Classical, Kids songs, Christian songs

Reading Book List:

    Subject: Reading

        1. Cinderella- The Dog and her little glass slipper by Diane Goode

        2. The Mightiest Heart by Lynn Cullen

        3. Petite Rouge- A Cajun Red Riding Hood by Mike Artell

        4. The Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel  

        5. The Rabbit's Bride by The Brother's Grimm

        6. Little Bunny on the Move by Peter McCarty

        7. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

        8. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

        9. If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

      10. If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff

      11. If You Dream a Dragon by Mercer Mayer

      12. Little Red Riding Hood by Margaret Hillert

      13. Henny Penny by Jane Wattenberg

      14. Guess How Much I love You by Sam McBratney

      15. Teeny, Tiny House: A Book About Colors by Laura Leuck

      16. The 14 Forest Mice and the Spring Meadow Picnic by Kazuo Iwamura

      17. The 14 Forest Mice and the Winter Sledding Day by Kazuo Iwamura

      18. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

      19. The Dumb Bunnie's Easter by Sue Denim

      20. Helga's Dowry- A Troll Love Story by Tomie De Paola

      21. The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Stephen Carpenter

      22. Stone Soup by Heather Frost

      23. The Baby Sister by Tomie De Paola

      24. The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola

      25. Four Friends in Autumn by Tomie De Paola

      26. Night Rabbits by Monica Wellington

      27. Pat and The Magic Hat by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins

      28. The Song of Celestine by James Redfield

      29. Ms. MacDonald had a Class by Jan Ormerod

      30. Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban

      31. Fair, Brown, and Trembling- An Irish Cinderella Story by Jude Daly

      32. Mr. Maxwell's Mouse by Frank Asch and Devin Asch

      33. Cinderella by K. Y. Craft

      34. Where are You Going? To See My Friend! by Eric Carle

      35. 1, 2, 3, to the Zoo: A counting Book by Eric Carle

      36.  The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman

      37. The Secret Stars by Joseph Slate

      38. Tinker, Tom, and the Star Baby by David McPhail

      39. All Night Near the Water by Jim Arnosky

      40. The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

      41. The Story of Babar the Elephant by Jean De Brunhoff

      42. Six Foolish Fisherman by Robert D. San Souci

      43. Cupid and Psyche by M. Charlotte Craft

    Subject: Science

        1. An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman

        2. There's a Hair in My Dirt: A Worm's Story by Gary Larson

        3. Rabbits by Eileen Everett

        4. Rabbits as a pet by Barry Martin

        5. Becoming Best Friends with your Hamster, Guinea Pig, or Rabbit by Bill

            Gutman

        6. We are Wolves by Melinda Julietta and Lucia Guarnotta

        7. This is My Body by Gina and Mercer Meyer

        8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

        9. The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

      10. Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

      11. A House Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

      12. The Very Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle

      13. The Very Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

      14. The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle

  Subject: History/Geography

       1. Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie De Paola

       2. Croco'nile by Roy Gerrard

       3. I am the Mummy, Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting

       4. The Golden Sandal- A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story by Rebecca

           Hickox

       5. Dance, Sing, Remember- A Celebration of Jewish Holidays by Leslie

           Kimmelman

       6. Joseph and His Magnificent Coat of Many Colors by Marcia Williams

       7. A Golden Treasury of Jewish Tales by Asher Barash

       8. Gilgamesh, The King by Ludmilla Zeman

       9. The Revenge of Ishtar by Ludmilla Zeman

     10. The Last Quest of Gilgamesh by Ludmilla Zeman

     11. One Grain of Rice by Demi

     12. Once a Mouse by Marcia Brown

     13. The King's Choice by K. Shirkumar

     14. The Five Fingered Family by Shakta Kaur Khalsa

     15. Look What We've Brought You from India by Phyllis Shalant

     16. Tikki Tikki Tembo

     17. The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Bishop

     18. Too Much Talk by Angela Shelf Medearis

     19. Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermont

     20. Temple Cat by Andrew Clements

     21. Rimonah of the Flashing Sword by Eric A. Kimmel

     22. Tutankhamen's Gift by Robert Sabuda

     23. Hatsheput, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine Andronik

     24. Moses by Leonard Everett Fisher

     25. In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aenid by Penelope Lively

     26. The Aenid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church

     27. The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring by Ruth Sanderson

     28. The Trojan Horse by Emily Little

     29. How the Greeks Won the War by Emily Little

     30. The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie De Paola

     31. Queen Esther: The Morning Star by Mordecai Gersein

     32. Esther's Story by Diane Wolkenstein

     33. The Eggs: A Greek Folktale by Aliki

     34. Alexander the Great: The Life of a King and Conqueror by Rob Shone and

           Anita Ganeri

     35. Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth by Virginia Driving

           Hawk Sneve

     36. Anasazi by Leonard Everett Fisher

     37. Eastern Woodland Indians by Mir Tamin Ansary

     38. Blackfoot by Barbara A Gray-Kanatiiosh

     39. The Two Maountains- An Aztec Legend by Eric A. Kimmel

     40. If You Lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma

General Weekly Field Trips:

    1. Childrens Exploration Museum (Imaginative Play, year round)

    2. Library(year round)

    3. Water Park (Late Spring/Summer Months)

Caleb drew his first picture that wasn't just scribbling. For about a week or so he had been rubbing his hand along the wall till he would come to the end of the wall, then he would say red, then he would do it again, then say orange, yellow, green, blue and purple each in turn when he would come to the end of the wall, and say rainbow when he was finished, then he would do it all over again, over and over. Then the last few days he started putting his hand in the air and he pretended to draw in the air, saying colors and and then naming what he was drawing, rainbow, tree, leaf, sun. After three days of this I gave him some paper and crayons to draw on (I was out of paper before) and he drew this picture and named each thing as he was finished drawing it. There is 2 trees on the left, and a sun over top of the rainbow. I am so proud of him. Not only has he drawn his first picture, but he named colors and objects without copying me, all by himself. He has echolalia, (alot), so it is very hard to know if he really understands things that are said, or is just copying you. This is the first indication that he really knows his colors and what some objects are.

This is my daughter Haley. She is 5 years old. She is being homeschooled in the Classical method and is doing very well with it. She will be starting 2cnd grade this year.

This is my son Caleb. He will turning 4 years in a couple of months. He is Autistic.

As of yet, I am undecided about how to teach him, what the best method would be for him, or if I will be capable of  teaching him.