Once again we come to the end of a month and I wonder what happened to all the time!  Will this ever NOT be a mystery?!

With March, we said farewell to head colds, and hello to the puke-y-dos.  Thankfully, that didn't last long, but it's still a highlight as it was baby girls "first time" and she keeps talking about it!  Ahhh, youth!

Christopher Columbus is a thing of the past--pun intended!  I've said before, what a blessing this study was.  We look forward to the "next level" of Christopher Columbus study.  That is something I truly feel blessed with using the Principle Approach and the Chain of Christianity.  To get to cover each link in the chain of the westward movement of the gospel (also known as history/his-story!), every year!

Here is our Chain of Christianity: 

We have taken up the study of Abilgail and John Adams and absolutely love the Sowers series book, Abigail Adams, by Evelyn  Witter.  It is inspiring, and has incredible teaching opportunities in it.  Particularly, and this is at the beginning, etiquette for young ladies.  Though our little Princess is not participating yet, son has learned quite a bit from this as well.  There are many more worthwhile gems in this little book, but you'll have to read it yourself!  It's great getting to combine history and literature.  I believe we will be doing this more and more.

Math is almost a favorite subject!  (See below picture where he labels a picture of himself doing math as "easy"!)  Son can now make change and can't wait to get his hands on Grandpa's cash register at the music store!  Sorry, Dad!  We are sooo close to the end of RightStart Level B.  This will be greatly celebrated.  We're ready for a little math break!

Son informed me last night that spelling is now his official favorite subject.  This SWR (Spell to Write and Read) program is so wonderful.  It's amazing what we are experiencing from this "spelling" program (which is much more than a spelling program!)  Just making up sentences for his words has shown me the things on his heart. 

For instance, this week we had the word "shut".  He immediately said, "Do not shut your mouth when sharing the Lord with others".  The things of God are becoming more and more a part of his heart.  Thank you, Lord! 

We also had an exercise involving drawing pictures for the words.  Now, he doesn't really enjoy drawing, but he got into this!  Here is what he came up with:

Notice, he is shutting the door on Satan!  As in, "Shut 'de door, keep out 'de devil.  Shut 'de door, keep 'de devil in the night".  Hopefully, you know this little Sunday school song!

Here is Jesus OUT of the grave! 

In Bible we studied Daniel and his faithfulness and obedience.  Following our yearly theme of "conscience is the most sacred of property" we saw an awesome example of this in Daniel!  We used an unusual resource for the lion's den story, which you may have read about here.  We also really enjoyed our lessons on I John 3:15--

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear"

And, as we have begun our studies of the early church in Acts, and Pentecost,   Acts 2:21--

"And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Son was very interested in the strange languages that the disciples spoke after the Spirit descended upon them.  As we compared this to the Tower of Babel, we talked about how it was evident that without the power of God, there is no understanding. 

Another thing I enjoy about Principle Approach is that Bible "studies" are not just Bible "stories"! 

I dropped the ball, this month, with geography.  Part of the reason, I think, is that lapbooks are not for us at this time!  Boy doesn't want to do them, and I don't want to do them for him, so we will move on in April with our continent studies and return to our regularly scheduled notebooking.  Whew!

We are continuing with our reading of The Chronicles of Narnia.  We are on our 3rd book, The Horse and His Boy.  I've said before, this is not my favorite Chronicle and is not the easiest to read aloud, but we are getting there.  We have enjoyed the tradition, so far, of finishing a Chronicle and then listening to the Focus on the Family Radio Theater presentation of the book.  These are sooo awesome.  It makes the book come to life, where my reading aloud may have failed!  (By the way, all reading now requires reading glasses!  I'm OLD! :)

So, that about covers the school activities! 

Son is eagerly reading everything he can get his hands on.  Often five or six books a day.  This is so exciting, but I can't keep up with him!  I keep wanting to make lists, etc.  I imagine this will slow down a bit as summer approaches, but we'll see to it, that it doesn't stop completely!

My sweet girl enjoys pretending she is reading.  She is singing her alphabet song and counting to 12, which we get so tickled at!  She thoroughly enjoys singing her heart out at every opportunity.  She loves to draw/color and has play-doh coming out her ears--yeah, well...

Both kids are enjoying some educational computer game time.  It's still weird for me to see the baby doing this! 

We are eagerly anticipating our upcoming Florida trip..."are we there yet?"  We had a brief preview yesterday with 72 degree temps.  My girl is peddling away on the big wheel, and boy couldn't wait to get on his bike!  Sweet girl also tried her hand at T-ball, holding the biggest end of the bat!  This was quite humorous!!  It's cold again today--yuck!

Boy is about to lose another tooth and my girl is finally growing some hair.  All is good!