Let me try this again!!  I had a post and then it didn't go through so let me see if I can remember what I had said before.

It's getting harder and harder getting school going on Monday's.  Colin said lets have Monday Movie Day...NO!  I did give in and let him watch one of The Land Before Times movies that came on this morning.  But even with that distraction we ended up having a good day of school.  Someone in one of the groups I'm in was looking for a days of the week song that had the spelling of the words.  I have search and can't find anything so I decided it was a good idea and made up some chants.

Monday Monday

M   O   N   D   A   Y

M   O   N   D   A   Y

Marvelous Monday

Colin loved it!  The first couple of times when I said it I had laid out the memory days of the week game I had made up a few months ago and asked him to find Monday for me.  Then we both said it over and over again.  Then we played the memory days of the week.  We sang the Days of the Week song.   We also played Phonics picture bingo.  I read several books and he read Go Go Go and The Hat to me.  I got a mini book from www.kindergarten.com  Time Flies!  from their free section and we worked on telling time.  We read the mini book and then we pulled out our little clocks and practiced with those.  Then we played beat the clock.  I would set the timer and say you have 5 minutes to brush your teeth can you beat the clock?  We did several different things to see if we could beat the clock...make beds...fold a load of laundry...pick up toys...I love it when I can fit some clean up time in during school. lol   He didn't even mind doing these because he was trying to beat the clock. lol  He worked in his pattern early learning kit...this should be done tomorrow.  Practiced coloring...he hates to color.  He is much better than when we started he would only mark on line on the paper and say I'm done now he will color but it's so sloppy.  I had bought a SC coloring book several months ago and I pulled that out and we went over the different things about our state.  I wish I could find coloring books for every state.  That was our Marvelous Monday.

Take Care, Vickie   

Let me try this again!!  I had a post and then it didn't go through so let me see if I can remember what I had said before.

It's getting harder and harder getting school going on Monday's.  Colin said lets have Monday Movie Day...NO!  I did give in and let him watch one of The Land Before Times movies that came on this morning.  But even with that distraction we ended up having a good day of school.  Someone in one of the groups I'm in was looking for a days of the week song that had the spelling of the words.  I have search and can't find anything so I decided it was a good idea and made up some chants.

Monday Monday

M   O   N   D   A   Y

M   O   N   D   A   Y

Marvelous Monday

Colin loved it!  The first couple of times when I said it I had laid out the memory days of the week game I had made up a few months ago and asked him to find Monday for me.  Then we both said it over and over again.  Then we played the memory days of the week.  We sang the Days of the Week song.   We also played Phonics picture bingo.  I read several books and he read Go Go Go and The Hat to me.  I got a mini book from www.kindergarten.com  Time Flies!  from their free section and we worked on telling time.  We read the mini book and then we pulled out our little clocks and practiced with those.  Then we played beat the clock.  I would set the timer and say you have 5 minutes to brush your teeth can you beat the clock?  We did several different things to see if we could beat the clock...make beds...fold a load of laundry...pick up toys...I love it when I can fit some clean up time in during school. lol   He didn't even mind doing these because he was trying to beat the clock. lol  He worked in his pattern early learning kit...this should be done tomorrow.  Practiced coloring...he hates to color.  He is much better than when we started he would only mark on line on the paper and say I'm done now he will color but it's so sloppy.  I had bought a SC coloring book several months ago and I pulled that out and we went over the different things about our state.  I wish I could find coloring books for every state.  That was our Marvelous Monday.

Take Care, Vickie   

Let me try this again!!  I had a post and then it didn't go through so let me see if I can remember what I had said before.

It's getting harder and harder getting school going on Monday's.  Colin said lets have Monday Movie Day...NO!  I did give in and let him watch one of The Land Before Times movies that came on this morning.  But even with that distraction we ended up having a good day of school.  Someone in one of the groups I'm in was looking for a days of the week song that had the spelling of the words.  I have search and can't find anything so I decided it was a good idea and made up some chants.

Monday Monday

M   O   N   D   A   Y

M   O   N   D   A   Y

Marvelous Monday

Colin loved it!  The first couple of times when I said it I had laid out the memory days of the week game I had made up a few months ago and asked him to find Monday for me.  Then we both said it over and over again.  Then we played the memory days of the week.  We sang the Days of the Week song.   We also played Phonics picture bingo.  I read several books and he read Go Go Go and The Hat to me.  I got a mini book from www.kindergarten.com  Time Flies!  from their free section and we worked on telling time.  We read the mini book and then we pulled out our little clocks and practiced with those.  Then we played beat the clock.  I would set the timer and say you have 5 minutes to brush your teeth can you beat the clock?  We did several different things to see if we could beat the clock...make beds...fold a load of laundry...pick up toys...I love it when I can fit some clean up time in during school. lol   He didn't even mind doing these because he was trying to beat the clock. lol  He worked in his pattern early learning kit...this should be done tomorrow.  Practiced coloring...he hates to color.  He is much better than when we started he would only mark on line on the paper and say I'm done now he will color but it's so sloppy.  I had bought a SC coloring book several months ago and I pulled that out and we went over the different things about our state.  I wish I could find coloring books for every state.  That was our Marvelous Monday.

Take Care, Vickie   

Hey All,

It's been so long since I've posted but with the holidays, getting the kids ready for a wedding, getting one ready for Italy, and homeschooling the youngest there has been no time.  It's starting to calm down around here now with only a couple of birthdays this month and taking one to get her passport started.  She leaves in April for Italy for 10 days and is singing with the Choral Department in three cities. 

We have been doing dinosaurs this week and it's been a rather roaring week. lol  Colin loves this unit and I know when we finally move on I'm going to hear much distress over it.  Of course he associates the dinosaurs with those on The Land Before Time.  This weekend I am going to have the older kids help him make a diorama and we are going to make some dinos from clay.  The sites I used for this unit study are  www.enchantedlearning.com      www.dltk-kids.com              http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/dinosaur/index.asp       and online games  http://www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/dino_playground/     We also have read many dinosaur books and watched The Land Before Time movie. 

Also we have been reading the Level 1 books from Now I'm Reading!  Today was Rat Naps and over the weekend he has to read this book to 4 people.  He already has read to his older brother after he came home from school and to his daddy and has placed 2 stickers in the book.  He loves homework I guess because the older kids always have it and it makes him feel big and he loves the reward of getting a sticker placed in the book after he reads it. 

I better head for bed tomorrow is a busy day and it's going to be nice so hopefully we can get some yard work done.  We still have tons of leaves that need to be raked up. 

Take Care,

Vickie  

Yesterday afternoon we went to the library and Colin said he wanted to get books about space.  We started looking and found some that were a fictional story and he said no not that.  So off we went to the other section and found books on space.  The first book he found was The Children's Space Atlas A Voyage Of Discovery For Young Astronauts.  I heard can I get this one pleeeeeaassssssssssee mommy.  He sat down on the floor and started looking at it while I picked a few others out.  Stars! Stars! Stars!,  I Love Our Earth,  The Moon Seems to Change,  Linking art to the world around us Arty Facts Space & Art Activities.  This morning we needed to go pay bills so while driving I asked him what he knew about the moon?  He said it's big  and sometimes it's small.  It follows me.  It has holes in it and that is where the aliens live.  Then it turned into an alien story about how he was going to go to the moon and rid it of evil.  After we returned home we read The Moon Seems to Change and Stars! Stars! Stars!  We decided to go out and look at the moon every night for a month and chart what we see.  We looked at The Children's Space Atlas and went over the planets and looked at the different constellations.  He was really interested in the space shuttle and the moon buggy and wants to know if he can have them for Christmas so he can go to the moon.  During the next week we will do some of the art projects in the Arty Facts Space book.  I think we will do Fridge Magnets, Sun Catcher, Lunar Collage, Asteroid Belt, and Alien Life Forms.  I also wanted to do something on the Polar Express and had been searching for some different things for this.  I came across these sites...   http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/polarexpress.html

    http://www.kinderthemes.com/thepolarexpress.html

              http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson344.shtml

http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1919.html

      http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/fungames.shtml

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/educators.shtml

                http://www.kinderkorner.com/polarexpress.html

We are also going to discuss what it was like when I was little and we didn't have a computer to play games.  How I had to play board games and card games.  And I'm going to get the grandparents involved in this on what games they used to play. 

I better get moving we still have a lot to cover this afternoon and then this evening we are going to the Christmas Concert.  I can't wait to see Jene` in her gown! 

Vickie

I have been hearing a lot of this is boring lately from my 5 year old.  It's not because he knows what he is doing it's that he doesn't want to do it.  I felt as if I was in a sinking ship going down fast because I couldn't get him interested in anything other than playing computer games.  Now the computer games are educational but it's all he wanted to do and most have different levels but he wanted to play the same games over and over.  I tried different things and would hear it's boring!  So I started listening to what he wanted.  How do you spell I love you?  So I made up a sentence strip.  Then I made up a few more...I love mom...I love dad...I love mom and dad...I am Colin...I am five...I like to run...I can run...See me run...Look at me run...And they were a hit they were about him.  Then I made up 10 more that said...I have one toy...I have two toys...and so on.  Before I showed him these I first wrote the number, number word and a dot to count.  Then I gave him a box and asked him to go get that number of toys and bring it back.  He did and we would count it as he took it out of the box.  Then I would show him the sentence strip and we would read it.  Lots of excitement it was about toys.  We kept going till he had collected toys all through ten and read each sentence strip.  Then we sat down on the floor with the pile of toys he had brought and we counted them.  Now I'm going to make up another and add a color into them.  Maybe another set using the word car or train.

Break time is over and it's time to get back to work.

Vickie       

We have taken a break from themes for the last couple of weeks.  We have been working on sight words and counting to 100.  I purchased the introductory Scholastic Phonics and now I can't wait for the rest of the shipment to get here.  He loves it!  It came with a bingo game that has pictures and then the word cards.  We take turns calling out the word it gives him practice sounding out words.  The Go! Go! Go! book that came in the offer for the set is about wore out he takes it every place so he can show everyone he can read it.  The other two books that came in the set is a bit tougher but he is catching on to sounding out the words.

Counting was going slowly and we couldn't get past 30 before he lost interest.  At the library we came across Curious George Learns To Count from 1 to 100 and for the past week and half we have practiced with the book and he is doing fabulous!  The cover has the numbers 1 to 52 on the front and 53 to 100 on the back  I am going to renew this book for another 2 weeks.   

We have talked about being a good citizen and how it's getting the time of year of giving and receiving.  I decided to pick out a couple of projects for him to do to give back to our community.  The one we worked on Friday was going through his bookcase and picking out books that he wanted to give to the library.  Then over the weekend he asked his brother and sister if they would like to add to the bag he had gathered.  Tuesday we will be taking them in and letting him give them to the librarian.  Next on our list is to talk to family members who have children and see if anyone has any coats, hats and gloves that are too small and if they would like to donate them to children who need them.

Writing  has been slow there are times when his handwriting is neat and he does a great job and other times when it's so sloppy you can't even read it.  Coloring has been a big improvement since he has always hated to color.  Now it's just working on trying to stay in the lines.

Science is something he can't get enough of.  If he had his way that is all we would do all day every day.  His brother's microscope is used often he loves looking at things with it.  We have looked at dog hair, cat hair, dust, lint, flour, sugar, flea, sand, dirt...and the list goes on.  Since our yard is full of leaves we have played games with these...charting how many different colors fall on the steps...watching to see which way they will blow...made a leaf book with all the different kinds of leaves.  We also have been watching the birds, squirrels, deer and the spiders that have taken a liking to our sliding glass door. 

Tomorrow starts a new week so I guess I had better get to bed.

Take Care,

Vickie  

Today started off with getting up to take the kids to the bus stop, which are at different times, because it was pouring out.  After returning Colin watched his favorite morning shows and ate breakfast.  I got a text message from 14 year old saying mom be at the school and come in the chorus room at 3 instead of 4.  Colin and I started school and got a lot accomplished today.  Morning notebook...then I wrote the 6 colors down that we have been working on and he named them all off without one mistake.  We then did a  P  mini book, colored a pumpkin and leaves and made a pumpkin mosiac picture   He glued one leaf to construction paper and copied leaf at the bottom of it and then glued two leaves to another and copied leaves and we talked about how a word can change.  At first when he was coping the word he was like that is a different word there is no f.  We did the life cycle of a pumpkin with sequencing cards.  We read books and played the number game with flashcards that we had done yesterday.  He practiced counting to 30.  We had to do more leaf rubbings at his request.  And he had time enough to do a maze before we had to leave.

Pouring down rain all day not really a complaint we do need the rain but I had to go to school and pick up the stuff from the fundraiser.  I was soaking wet going into the school and completely drenged after loading those boxes into the van.  All this is frozen food like cheesecake, cookie dough, soft prezels, pizza, eclairs, brownies, and etc.  I decided to go and see if I could unload one of the orders because it was on the way and as I closed the door to the van I started walking away the sky came wide open and the rain fell hard and fast.  I walked into the store where this person worked looking and feeling like a drowned rat.  My hair was stuck to my head...my feet cold from my shoes getting soaked...my jeans up to almost my knees dripping wet and guess what??????   It was her day off!  As I'm getting ready to leave my phone rings and I hear mom where are you?  I asked Did you get on the bus?  No, I'm waiting for you.  No No you said to come to the school an hour early so I thought you knew I wouldn't wait around that long.  So back to the school I went.  Finally getting home we started sorting out the orders.  I fixed leftovers for dinner and then we started making deliveries.  It was after 8 when we got back home.  With the rain I wasn't going into the city those roads are bad during rain they have a bad drainage problem and everytime it rains the roads flood.  So a friend had room in her large freezer to put all those orders and we will go do that this weekend.  Half of it is done! 

Now we are going to be starting another fundraiser I just hope it's not more frozen foods!  This trip to Italy is costly and we need to take advantage of all the fundraisers we can but it's certainly a wear and tare on me.  She is so excited they have been practicing the songs they will be performing and they are picking out who they want for room mates.  Her gown will be coming in next week and that has to be altered and also we need to go get her shoes.  It seems like we have so much still to do but we are making some progress and checking off things completed.  Next on the list is getting her a passport and getting that out of the way.  We still have 4 months to get everything done but the way time has been slipping away I could wake up tomorrow and it be here already. 

Enough of the girl now onto the boy.  He's upset with me because I forget to pick up his clubs today.  I'm sorry I forgot!!!  I wasn't the one who forgot them in the first place. And he didn't need them today it was pouring down rain.  I heard you know I need them for tomorrow... I have to have them... What am I going to do I can't play without them.  OKAY!!  You will have them by the time you get home from school remember you do go to school and your not playing until 4:30 you will have them.  He hasn't played since last week and you would think the world was coming to an end because he hasn't played golf.  He gets very agitated and testy when he goes a few days without playing or going to the driving range.  Once I had grounded him from golf because of grades and I thought I was going to go completely mad before the end of the grounding.  But we haven't had that problem since.  During the winter when it's too cold for him to play he has a putting green that helps.  He first held a club in his hands when he was 4 and it's like he has to do it or life just isn't the same for him. 

Enough rambling on and time to get to bed!

Take care,

Vickie 

Today we went on a nature walk and collected things on the way...leaves, acorns, pinecones, sticks,and stones.  We counted how many items we had and practiced writing leaves, red, yellow, brown and orange.  We made a placemat using the leaves collected making a collage in clear contact paper.  Also today we worked with number flashcards I gave him the numbers from 1 to 20 mixed up and asked him to put them in order and then to pick them up I would ask him for a number if he got it right I took it and if not he put it back and I asked for a different number.  We read books earning toward his pizza prize at the end of the month.  We did the hokey pokey working on left and right.  Oh, we also made leaf rubbings before making the placemat.  That was our day! 

This morning we went to Olin, NC to go to Baa Moo Farm.  We had such a good time and even the older kids admitted it wasn't as boring as they thought it would be.  Colin and Brendon loved it!  So many hands on activities for them to do like milk a cow, get eggs from the henhouse and feed the chickens.  Bottle feed the calves and get a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.  Went on a wagon ride and saw so many cows and sheep.  Go here to see our pictures.  Click on larger view and they will show up better.

               http://journals.aol.com/scpepccee/our-lapbooks/

Take Care,

Vickie

We have been doing a farm unit for the past week and half.  Does anyone have a problem with ending a unit?  Next week we are going to make butter and when I got on here tonight I was reading the most recent blogs and saw one that just made butter so I went to it to read and also found another experiment to add for next week.  It's done with yeast and if you would like to look at it go here    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Jenneve/207477/   she has some wonderful pictures.  We have made just about every kind of farm animal paper bag puppet, talked about what the animals eat, what the adult animal and baby animals are called, the jobs that the animals do, the seasons and what happens on the farm during those times, we made Old MacDonald stick puppets, played a farm game, an animal memory game, I made a days of the week game using barns as the mats and then animals for a matching game.  Sheep that have numbers on them so we can count the sheep.  A couple mini books, practiced writing the animals...cat, cow and pig he can recognize now.  Dot to dots, mazes and shapes...made a tractor using different shapes.  Next week we will finish up this unit, hopefully, other than when we go to a farm in October. 

Has anyone used Scholastics Phonics?  I got a thing in the mail the other day to order this and it had a free book in with it.  Colin loves this book and is actually reading it.  He caught on so quickly with this book and loves it.  I'm just leary about ordering the whole set because it's rather expensive but not as expensive as hooked on phonics.  If anyone has used this I would love to hear your opinion.

Well, that is what we have been up to this week.

Take Care,

Vickie

We have gotten side tracked on farm animals so we have taken a break from our letter of the week.  We are going to a farm in October where you can gather eggs, milk cows and feed the animals.  My sister went yesterday with her preschool class and said it was wonderful.  I had been searching for a farm where we could go and could only come up with one that was a goat farm and another that had all animals but they were both so far away.  This one will take about an hour an half but we can go visit with family members on the way back.  The older kids are less than thrilled about going to a farm but it won't hurt them to take time out for their little brother.  We will also stop and pick up our grandson and nephew along the way and take them also I'm sure Colin will have a blast having someone more his age with him.  Now I just have to find someone to come and sit with the animals while we are gone. 

Time to get our day started.

Take Care,

Vickie   

How many glue sticks can you use up in a week?  Our average has been 4 and that's not including the bottle glue.  I should have bought more while they were on sale!!

Take Care,

Vickie

It didn't go exactly like I had planned this morning but we did manage to do a few of the experiments I had written down.  Last night I had ordered a few things from  http://store.atozteacherstuff.com/  and hadn't gone through everything yet.  One was a science book so while waiting for Franklin to end I decided to see what was in it.  Colin had come over to give me a hug and saw what I was looking at and then it was on.  He couldn't wait to get some of it printed and start working.  Most everything we have done so far has been in lapbooks so I decided to make a science notebook to help keep track of everything.  The ebook I got was Starting Science 1: Animals, Matter, Plants  Colin picked out several animal sheets to work on and he did fantastic!  We also did a few of the other projects I had planned for the day like how many pom poms are in the jar and then counting and making a graph of how many of each color.  We saw how long it took to melt an ice cube and what would noodles do if we put some in hot water and some in cold water.  Everything has gone into the science notebook and now Colin is waiting for daddy to get home so he can show him. 

Time to figure out something for dinner.

Take Care,

Vickie   

This week has gone by so quickly it doesn't seem like it's Friday.  This week we took a break from making lapbooks so we could finish up those we had already started and review what we have done so far.  We played with the puppets we had made, played with the games like number memory...sorting anglefish...and the movement game that is a favorite.  Practiced cutting out shapes and coloring.  Played computer games  www.noggin.com  

This morning he wanted to watch TV so it's Little Bear and Franklin.  They are educational and it doesn't hurt every so often.  We really have finished up everything I had planned for the week so I decided today was going to be a science day.  So after he watches a couple of shows we will begin.  It's a rainy day so we will be working inside today.  Going to make a chart to see how many times a day the dog's water dish needs to be filled.  Put an ice cube in a bowl and see how long it takes to melt and about every 15 minutes check it and draw a picture of what it looks like.  Make molds from foil and see if we can guess what they are.  I filled a jar with large pom poms for a guessing game.  Put noodles in a bowl of hot water and some in a bowl of cold water to see what happens.  Make a magnify glass from a clear plastic bag and water.  Make a fingerprint chart of each of our fingers and use a magniying glass to see how each print is different.  Now for the last two things I really need to clean out the pots and pans cabinet so I am going to have him help me and he can bang the lids together...bang on the bottom of the pots, pans and cookie sheets to hear the different sounds they make.  And the dogs really need to be brushed and he can see the difference between how much hair that comes from each dog.  One is short-haired and one is long-haired.  Maybe I can even find Dale's microscope that he hasn't used in a long time and he can look at the hairs under it.  That will be our day of random science experiments.  If the batteries are still charged in my camera I will take pictures of some of this.  Colin loves doing science projects and it's been a long time since we have had a whole day to do nothing but experiments.

Well, I'm off to get our day started.

Take Care,

Vickie 

Hey All,

We were busy this week with the letter "T".   Colin has had a blast this week painting, making a treasure chest and making trees.  We also made up several little books and still have a few to finish up.  His favorite is the Touch book, I traced his hand and made a few cutouts of it and then on each finger I wrote soft, hard, smooth, rough and bumpy.  Then we glued a piece of flannel on one hand, a piece of bubble wrap on one, and sandpaper on another.  And did you guess he likes the bubble wrap?? 

He's getting the hang of counting and can go up to 30 with only one missing number.  I say you forgot number 17 and he says I don't like that one.  We have done a little adding with stickers or pictures and he loves it. 

We will be having school tomorrow because I was sick on Wednesday and I have promised to go on a treasure hunt.  He wants to find the perfect rocks to paint gold to go inside his treasure chest.

I have been taking mini breaks when he shows signs of boredom and we have been making musical instruments.  Different size shakers using different items inside to hear a different tone (popcorn, beans and rice).  A tambourine, paper plate maracus and next on the list is a rainstick.  He also got a keyboard for his birthday which is just a cheap one and of course you can tell but he likes it just the same.  We have been playing with this learning how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb. 

Other happenings...

Monday will be the last swim class and I'm not sure if I'm going to sign him up for the next one.  I was disappointed with the instructors and I think I'm going to check into this other place that does them. 

Jene` has been practicing to try out for a Do Whop Girl in the school play...The Little Shop.  Tryouts are Monday so maybe after that I will hear some other songs.  Dale had heard on the announcements they could tryout for Cross Country with the high school and was so excited.  He said it was next Thursday but didn't know any other details so I emailed the coach and found out they gave out the wrong day and it was today at 4 and by the time I read my email and he got home from school it was already 4:30.  He's disappointed!  Track is out because that is in the spring and he has golf.  He wouldn't ever give up golf for another sport.  Colin has informed me he wants to do Karate and I'm still thinking about it.  I need to check with his doctor before making a decision we have discussed which sports he can and cannot play but this one has never been brought up. 

Our new dog has adjusted so well with the family.  His name should be Shadow because everytime I turn around he is there.  I can't even go to the bathroom without him sitting by the door.  He loves to go for car rides so when I pick up my purse he rushes to the door.  I have taken him a couple of times and he is very well mannered.  Hmmm...maybe some of that will rub off onto the kids!  The cat even likes him!!!  That is saying a lot because with our other dog or the little witch as I often call her the cat and her don't get along and we have to keep them apart. 

It's one of those nights that sleep just doesn't seem possible.  I'm a night owl and have to force myself to go to bed.  My little munchkin has a lot of his mother in him because he is still awake also.  He knows it's Friday and for some reason he just won't give up.  The rest of the week he goes to bed by 9 without complaining but on Friday's he is a little night owl and could stay up to see the sunrise.  I guess I had better head for bed tomorrow is going to be a busy day with school, grocery shopping, dollar store, target and petsmart.  I know I'm forgetting something!!!!  I will have to remember to check the planner in the morning. 

Take Care,

Vickie           

It's Monday already the weekend went by too quickly!  Today we started the letter "T" and by the looks I will  have to pull a few more things together because he has gone through them quickly.  We started off with painting today...the letter T, a truck, and a triangle.  Worked on some cut and paste worksheets and practiced writing the letter T.  Math we practiced counting to 20 and he is still determined there is no 17.  And also a couple math worksheets and a sizing and sorting game. 

We did finish up our "A" lapbook and I will be taking pictures of it in the next few days. 

Now for other things that have been going on.  The kids started school last Wednesday.  The only major problems we have had has been with the bus.  They have changed the pickup and drop off point and I'm not happy with that.  Jene` has also been late for school so far everyday the bus just can't seem to get here on time.  I am waiting for a call from the bus operations manager to try to change their stop back to where it was.  I wasn't wanting to drive the kids to school this year they go to different schools and they aren't close to each other.  But it looks as if until this driver can get it together I may have to take her for the next couple of weeks. 

Colin started swimming lessons last week.  So far he has liked it but they have only had them in the kiddie pool and that changes tonight.  Hopefully he will do okay.  Jene` starts dance Thursday night and also whenever they have practice for the Choral Group at school she will be staying for that.  We need to go to David's Bridal and get her gown fitted for concerts and also the dress she needs for her Aunts wedding 3 days after Christmas.  Dale was so happy that yesterday was much cooler than it has been he was able to spend the afternoon at the driving range and got a lot of practice in. 

We have a new dog!!  Our Collie came up missing about 6 weeks ago.  We have searched high and low for him and had everyone we know searching and keeping an eye out.  Called the animal shelters and the pound almost everyday but he hasn't turned up.  The neighbor's dog whom our collie was always by his side was very old and losing his hearing and sight passed away Thursday.  Everyone took this hard because it was as if he was part of our family also.  Dear hubby couldn't stand it without our beloved collie anymore and saw an add in the paper Saturday morning.  He must have called because the phone had rang and I heard him say let me talk to my wife and I will call you back.  He said there is a 4 year old collie that needs a home can we have him?  I was getting ready to take Jene` to dance registration and said take the boys and see how he does around them.  When we got back home we were greeted at the door by our new addition to the family.  He looks a lot like our beloved Rudy but his nose is longer he's a bit taller and he's not as broad.  This woman had adopted him he was a Katrina victim but after a while she had a hard time taking him for walks because of arthritis in her hands.  The papers she sent from where she had adopted him said he came from Gulfport, MS.  He has blended well into the family as if he has been here since a pup.  He loves to play and keeps our other dog busy chasing after her.  The kids it's as if he has always known them and seems to know which ones he can play harder with than others. 

I guess I had better get moving and get things together.  The kids should be coming home anytime and we will have to leave soon for swimming.

Take Care,

Vickie

I've been busy making things for the felt board.  I got a few ideas from...

    http://www.childcareland.com/feltboard.html

Colin helped me with this project and loves this game it has a shark in it. lol   I also made up the at word family and made up some pictures to go along with some of the words.  Humpty Dumpty I made so we could read it from the felt board...      http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Humptyrhyme.html   and I found some sequencing color pages that we use with this.  As I read it Colin puts them in order.     http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/seq/humpty.shtml    Jene` has been a big help with helping me make all this. 

What we have done this week?  We worked on taste and did a couple of experiments.  The first one I blind folded him and gave him different drinks to identify and the second one I gave him different fruits.  We also have been working on family and this week was homes.  We made up a mini book and also he made a picture of a house using shapes and then drew trees, sky and sun on it and then put stickers of a cat and dogs on it.  We have played alphabet lotto and I highly recommend this game.  Oh and we had started doing a postcard exchange and as the postcards come in we look up the state on the map to see where it come from.  Then we get on the computer and see how long it would take to get there.  And we played the great big book of everything using the Wildlife Fact File.  This week we did two animals that start with the letter A and they are going into our A lapbook.  And of course the boring stuff as Colin calls it when he has to practice writing. 

Time to get busy it's already in the afternoon and I need to finish up some chores I've started but haven't finished.  And then this evening it's off to do some school shopping for the older kids.  They have less than a month and will be back into school.  Where has our summer gone?  This is going to be a year of firsts...first year of highschool for one and also she will be going to Italy in the spring.  Yikes!  I'm still nervous about this.         

My little munchkin has a wild imagination and it doesn't take much to trigger it.  He has many brothers and sisters but they are all much older than he is so he does play alone a lot of times.  Maybe that is why his imagination is always running wild.  Today he came running out of the bedroom with his Disney Enchanted Book, a rather thick book, saying I have my Big Book Of Everything.  Do you know Stanley on the Disney Channel?  He hadn't watched this show in some time and he saw it the other day.  Anyway back to the story.  He had placed the book on the floor and said Z for Zebra and opened the book.  He started saying 5  4  3  2  1  into the book to have some fun.  And jumped over the book and this meant he was now in the book.  Then he realized he forgot his "goldfish" he ran over to the counter and pretended to pick up a bowl with a goldfish in it and back to the book he went and said over again 5 4 3 2 1 into the book to have some fun.  He did this for hours getting mommy and daddy involved with his search for chickens...turkeys...horses and so on.  He is now sound asleep and his Big Book of Everything is next to him. 

This only got my mind whirling on how I can use this to our advantage for schooling.  Geesh since I have decided to homeschool my mind never rests.  I found a Wild Life Fact File book that when the older kids were younger we had collected.  He could use this book and maybe once a week pick out an animal and we could study about it.  I'm just winging it this year for kindergarten.  Just trying to find fun and interesting things to do.  Attention Grabbers!

Let me know if you have any ideas on this.         

We are already into our 3rd week of kindergarten and it just doesn't seem possible.  Time flies when your having fun!  So far we are off to a great start and it's just amazing the little things I'm noticing like when he sees a    j    he will start sounding out the letter   j   j   j   and then say jump.  He is recognizing more letters in capital and lower case.  He could only write Colin but now he is writing red with all lower case letters.  Counting he is up to 25 and with only one number he is having problems with for some reason there shouldn't be a number 17.  I am going to be using the felt board more he really likes this.  I had made up color cards and wrote the names of the colors on them.  I made up small circles so far for the color red 25 of them and on some of the circles I put the letters  r    e   d    on them.  First I asked him to guess how many circles there were and then we counted them.  Next I asked him to pick out a   r     then an   e    and then a  d.  Then he got his chalkboard and started practicing writing red and did this many times.  Then I asked him to go around the house and find things that were red and put them into a pile and he had a blast running and finding things.  This evening he had to show daddy the felt board and then he got out the chalkboard and wrote red over and over again.  After about 20 times he looked up at daddy and said now do you think you can do it?  He just laughed and said I think I might be able to now.  

The only thing we have left to do is put a lapbook together on our ant unit.  He loved doing all the projects for this.  I guess I need to find another bug to study. I don't like bugs!!!!  But I guess if that will get him motivated that is what we will do.  Maybe ladybugs I can handle those.   

Another thing that is happening that I think is kind of strange but maybe some of you can shed some light on this.  He has always favored his left hand and no matter how many times we tried to get him to use his right he wouldn't.  Now that he is writing more I've noticed he will start out with his left and then switch to his right.  He has also been doing this with scissors.  He has more control with his right I can tell by the way he cuts or the neatness of his writing.  Well, that is as neat as a 4 year old for writing. lol 

I guess I've rambled enough!