This August has been a true joy to us--spending our time away from the sweltering heat, and instead enjoying our lessons--though we have had our many moments of summer fun besides.

This month dear son lost his two front teeth and daughter began using the potty.  Son has mastered whistling (pre-tooth loss!) and daughter dresses herself.  Son and daughter both would rather have their heads under the water at the pool, than above!  It's been a big time!

Our Bible lessons using the Judah Bible scope and sequence have been awesome.  This month we began Theme II: The Plan of Redemption Begins.  We've read and studied Abraham and Moses.  Memory verses included:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  John 10:27

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  John 8:58

In history (Truthquest), we finished off our study of the early explorers and moved on to the Lost Colony--Roanoke, Jamestown, John Smith, and Pocahontas.  Highlights included "A Carving On The Tree," by Elizabeth Campbell, "John Smith," a Junior World Explorer book by Charles Graves.  We also read our first Childhood of Famous Americans book, "Pocahontas".  Pretty good, though I highly recommend adult supervision for younger children.  We added the D'Aulaire biography of "Pocahontas" for our literature study. 

We continue to see progress in our RightStart Math.  Son is actually enjoying timed tests!  I was in such shock the first time he took one and got all excited and giggly.  Imagine that!  He still enjoys the "thinking" process from the floor, rather than the chair, but he has moved out from under the table!! :)

We've doubled up on our spelling lists in the Wise Guide, having finished list F, by the end of the month.  We are also incorporating further grammar lessons.  We are putting the Word Bank (breaking apart each word by it's phonograms) exercise to good use and it is a great compliment to solidifying the phonograms in the spelling words.  

We've nearly completed our "Paddle To The Sea" and have so completely enjoyed it.  Though we haven't done the science part of the Beautiful Feet guide, just the map activities have been so much fun!  It's definately one of those things that will stay with us forever.  We're excited to see if the other H.C. Holling books are as good!

We continue to enjoy our study in the History of Classical Music (Beautiful Feet).  This month we studied Vivaldi and Bach.  We really like the Classical Kids series, thus far.   We have also resumed piano lessons--yippee!! 

In Astronomy (Exploring Creation with Astronomy) we completed studies of Venus and the Earth.  We only wish we were in an area where we could see the night sky better.  City lights do ruin that enjoyment.  But it has been a great study. 

We continued our evening reading time with "Mister Poppers Penquins".  What a great book!  We had so much fun reading it, we had to rush out and get it on tape to listen to again! 

Daughter is also enjoying hearing more books.  She is soaking everything in!  I handed her a Kumon workbook of beginning tracing and she went wild.  She completed the whole book, entirely on her own, in a week.  It's fun to watch how she does things different from her brother.  She is very precise with a pencil in hand and I see brain surgeon in her future! 

She has always been interested, and very good at puzzles.  The more complicated I get them, the faster she seems to master them.  I've noticed that she memorizes the picture and places the pieces according to that rather than the shape.  It's baffling and hilarious to me! 

Son has inherited his grandmother's ability to speed read.  He goes through a stack of books like lightening.  When I first realized it, I began quizzing him on content and he's retaining it, understanding it and thoroughly enjoying all the stories.  This is just another giddy delight of motherhood.  As my daughter says, "Thank you, Loorrd"!!