According to Webster's 1828 dictionary...

COMPLETE, a.
          1. Having no deficiency; perfect. And ye are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Col. 2.  (italics mine!)
          2. Finished; ended; concluded; as, the edifice is complete. This course of vanity almost complete. In strict propriety, this word admits of no comparison; for that which is complete, cannot be more or less so.

COMPLETE, v.t.
           1. To finish; to end; to perfect; as, to complete a bridge, or an edifice; to complete an education.
          2. To fill to accomplish; as, to complete hopes or desires. 3. To fulfil; to accomplish; to perform; as, the prophecy of Daniel is completed.    
I was blog-hopping and came upon the idea for each child to have a monthly newsletter.  I thought this a great idea to keep track of dear son as well as review, refresh and inspire ourselves regarding our daily pursuits.  So "COMPLETE" came to mind and being the good Principle Approach protege, I looked it up!  Wow!  So much is communicated in one word!  We rarely think of the words we use--we just USE them, but this truly struck me! 

Now, onto "The Complete October".... October blew in like a lion.  Lots of vim and vigor as we tackled month two of schooling.  School has taken on many changes this month, as have the family.  The thing that stands out foremost in my mind is that we decided to celebrate each day by having "the joy of the Lord" upon our faces!  Have you ever sat in church listening to a sermon on some profound Biblical topic such as the second coming, or the power of the Almighty, only to look around and see stern, serious faces.  No joy!  So often there is NO excitement about the second coming of Jesus or the power of the Almighty! No bouncing up and down on the seats that He's coming back for ME! Too often we forget that our joy is complete in Him--why not, then, express it?!  Show it to each other daily.  Rejoice in the hard daily tasks, the stresses, and the discomfort of learning something new.

So, that experiment has gone well.  We are having fun reminding each other to "show our joy"!  Such a simple thing.  It reminds me of the saying that laughter is contagious! We have transformed our schedule, this month, as well.  We took on the task of preparing our home to be used by the Lord for us, daily, and for those we might greet at the door.  In order to do this we have adapted a day for cleaning, organizing, and preparing our home to be a light to the world--just as we are preparing ourselves.  My sweet boy is learning how to do chores correctly and we are trying to teach excellence in all things.  He got to bake just this week and he loved it.  We are planning and praying up a plan for adding an allowance to the mix, but that will be for November.  This has been an interesting challenge, as it called upon us to "recycle"--"reduce" our subject matter just a bit--and "re-use" our time for a higher calling!  Once again, God supernaturally provided (there's that providence again!) the time we needed to get everything done (well, maybe not ALL the housework, but close!).  Of course, with our improved (work in progress) attitudes, we are "complete".

On to the subjects:  This month we tackled the introduction to the first three links on the Chain of Christianity:  Creation, Moses and the Law, and Jesus Christ-the focal point of History.  We most enjoyed the Mighty Works of God book, but also enjoyed incorporating new ways of handling our memory verse each week.  We have begun "sharing" God's Word by copying our verse for the week and choosing a friend to send the decorated page to (A Reason for Handwriting).  I'm now a totally "cool" mom because we are making tatoos in school.  We use scotch tape to draw or write a word from our verse to dwell on, and stick it on our hands!
We established our Grandma Kathleen Holden Memorial Art Gallery this month, with a picture of Grandma and our first art work neatly framed in poster frames (to be changed out as we "grow" in our talents!) and floating frames.  Grandma was quite the art fan, as well as an art "experimenter".

Grandpa and new Grandma got their first piano concert, which speaks highly of son's desire to learn.  So far, so good! We studied poetry and hymns and put Isaac Watts on our Chain of Christianity.  We particularly enjoyed his lyrical version of the Ten Commandments:

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt have no more Gods but me.

Before no idol bow thy knee

Take not the Name of God in vain:

Nor dare the Sabbath—day profane.

Give both thy parents honour due.

Take heed that thou no murder do.

Abstain from words and deeds unclean:

Nor steal, though thou art poor and mean.

Nor make a wilful lie, nor love it.

What is thy neighbor’s dare not covet.

Isaac Watts

Son memorized the Lord's Prayer, which truly blessed me as I believe this to be a milestone in Biblical memorization. Math has been an up and down struggle this month.  Not being a math wiz at all, I am a bit baffled by some of the concepts, but have a great method (Right Start), so we are perservering.  This is probably the subject we most wanted to drop this month!

We introduced the spelling test this month and are having fun with it.  I'm thrilled that my son so enjoys coming up with stories from his spelling words. I'm enjoying using the 101 ways to re-enforce spelling words (posted separately) which keeps things fresh.  Son most enjoys making compound words.  He believes this is as fun as telling jokes!  We are beginning to go through the Ruth Heller books on grammar.  They are awesome, but I think I'm going to have to take notes--yikes!  I'm definately having to watch that I don't convey my confusion and horror at my poor education, to my son.  I'm the smartest person he knows--for a while longer!

I tempted my boy with science experiments, in the kitchen, over the past couple of weeks.  He starts out with an "ohhh, do we have to?"  then begs for more.  (Mama does know something!!)  Today, we blew up a balloon using baking soda and lime juice (yea, I know.  Lime juice!  No lemon juice to be found in the house--disgraceful!).  I was so pleased it worked--as you can imagine. A friend introduced us to Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We had it already, but after reading Little House in the Big Woods, we were not anxious about another big read.  We have thoroughly enjoyed it, though--good boy stuff!

Other interesting stuff WE learned:
The "Thirty Days Has September" poem
Counting in French
Sword drills (as in find Exodus 24)
How to add four digit numbers on the abacus
All 70 phonograms
The silent final e rules--all five!
The elements of design All about matter & compounds

On a more personal note, sweet son is learning that baby sister wants what he wants.  This lesson has been rather costly, as he has had to let her play with him when he is so afraid she'll destroy his toys.  Being two, she thinks everything is hers (mine, mine!) and he believes she means it.  I have to remind him, she's a baby that doesn't quite understand everything he does yet.

Being four years apart, they share their milestones quite well.  Both are getting sets of molars and sucking on fingers--constantly!  I hope they get over this by flu season!  Both got mini bedroom makeovers this month.  Baby girl is now out of the crib and into a twin with beautiful butterfly decorations and quilt.  Baby boy got new mattress set and loves his cowboy blanket on it. 

Baby girl is saying her first AND last name, which shocked the tar out of us!  Our last name is not that easy to say, but she got it!  She says a lot of interesting things:  "Alright" is her favorite, followed by "What is it, Mommy?" and "What was that noise, Mommy?"  And how she loves to sing!

Book Reading Sam (as in book worm) is growing.  We started him in August and he is half way up the stairs.  My little reader is doing very well.  I believe it is just now occuring to him that he IS reading by himself!  Yeah!  Of course, he reminds me he still wants me to read to him the rest of his life--well, sure!  When we started Sam, we had the goal of reaching the top of the stairs.  Now, son wants him to not only go all the way to his room, but around the whole house.  Maybe not such a lofty goal!  I may hold him to it. 

Dear boy began basketball this month--his first team sport.  He is very excited and we are anxious to see how fitting practices and games into our lives is going to work.  As I sat through his first game, it occured to me that this was the first of about a zillion to come!  

So that about covers it.  October is complete!