Aug. 29, 2009 - Trying again!
I am trying this blog again. I have a laptop once again. Dalton dropped mine at the beach last year... and I tried getting a new hard drive but that didn't last long. And using the computer in the basement was not a good idea. The PC is old and slow. I had to wait for it to catch up when I typed. The Big Mac is in Dan's office. So, I had to bug him while he was working. And once, while I was checking email Jessica went outside. She was out in the driveway playing with her car. So, that put a stop to email during the day.
Homeschool went well last year. We love Tapestry of Grace. The jury is still out on Math-u-see for Dalton. The kids love anything related to science. And they both know more than I knew when I graduated from high school. Sad, but true. I love learning right along with them.
We are going into our 3rd week this year. Year 2 of Tapestry will take us from the fall of Rome to the signing of the U.S. Constitution. http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/year2/ I am looking forward to the Medieval feast at the end of Unit 1.
Once I get all my software on my laptop, I will try to update more often and add more photos.
The only real news... Jessica is potty trained. Day and night. We are on day 4 of no accidents. Well, she had one yesterday, but I think it was more "on purpose" than an accident. And I don't thins she will do that again. She is even dry at night. So, the Charlson household is now a diaper-free zone! YAY!!! She is really obsessed with where her poop goes. I told her it goes through the pipes and into the septic tank in the backyard. She keeps saying, "Poop underground, see it?" as she points to the floor. But it sounds more like "poop on the ground". So, I hope she doesn't say that around others! LOL!
In May, we had a flood in the garage from the bathroom above it. Dan, is finally getting the last coat of mud sanded today and hopefully he will get it all painted this weekend. Then, we can put all the JUNK back into the garage and I can clean the house before the newlyweds visit next week. We are very excited to see Brenton and Katie. Wish me luck! They are going to keep the kids while we go see a movie or something!
We are about to get even more busy than our summer. Dalton starts soccer twice per week and Cub Scouts every other week. Lexie starts gymnastics weekly. And I start my Bible study weekly. And all the kids are doing classes at a local church homeschool co-op weekly. I did give up teaching Sunday school, for now. I need to get used to teaching 2 kids. And I really want to take a class on Sunday on Revelation. Mrs. Steimke wrote a book that I read that is really good and I can't wait for the class. So, I will try to update weekly from now on but there are no promises.
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Oct. 9, 2008 - Beach 2008
We came down with a cold at the beach and mommy is finally feeling a little better. Here is a picture from the beach. I have a knack for not getting them all to look at the camera at the same time.
We are busy trying to catch up in school. We have had a lot of fun making a map of Egypt from dough. Egypt was a lot of fun. We could have stayed on Egypt for weeks. But we moved to Creation. We made Creation books. And we learned about Noah and the flood. Then we made a ziggurat after learning about the Tower of Babel. We are finishing Genesis. And we will make outfits and have our end of unit party soon with food from the time period.
Dalton has also learned the Lord's Prayer and Lexie can almost say it all by herself. Dalton is taking a "God and Country" class for Cub Scouts, he is also playing soccer. Lexie is taking tap and ballet and will dance to Suzy Snowflake in the Christmas program in early December.
Stay tuned!!
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Sep. 9, 2008 - Button Baby
Jessica loves buttons. She is constantly after the remote, telephone, my keyboard. (She took the shift key off my laptop again. It has been fun trying to type capitals.) She recently found the light switches. She is constantly pointing and saying "light" except she doesn't say L and kind of puts an h at the beginning, so it sounds like "height". And she whispers it. I guess she wants to sneak up on it. We have tried the play phones, and remotes without batteries and I even recently gave her a real switch. But she only wants the real thing. I am going to design a toy with switches and buttons and such that will be more fun than the real thing.
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Sep. 4, 2008 - The budding artist
When Lexie finished painting this morning, I saved the paint for Jessica.
check out the video:
http://pixelwiz.com/jessica/ART101.mp4
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Aug. 27, 2008 - Glasses
As 2 nearsighted parents, we knew the probability was high that at least one of the kids would need glasses. Dalton won the lottery (so far). He had trouble with the eye chart at his 6-year check-up. So, I made him an appointment for last Monday. He is slightly nearsighted and has an astigmatism. So, we ordered his glasses and they came in today. He got the lenses that change to sunglasses outside. It is rainy and overcast still today, so we don't know how that works yet. But he really likes them. And he looks cute!
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Aug. 26, 2008 - Tapestry of Grace
We started school last week. Dalton is beginning 1st grade. And Lexie is beginning Pre-school. Lexie can really do almost as much as Dalton except her reading level. So, she will join us most of the time. Right now, Jessica still sleeps 4-5 hours per day. So, we do school while she is asleep. It was a little hectic last week because we got home from vacation Sunday night about midnight. The curriculum we bought came with the pile of mail Monday afternoon. Dalton had an appointment with the eye doctor Monday. He flunked, and gets his glasses tomorrow. And Dalton and Lexie had a dentist appointment Thursday. Add to this trying to unpack and do laundry. All things considered, we did most of what we were to do last week. We are adding math this week. We did a math lesson before vacation. Dalton was telling Aunt Karen something about his math school. I finally figured out he was talking about watching the Math-U-See video. After prayerfully searching for curriculum for this year. I finally choseTapestry of Grace. I was drawn to Charlotte Mason, but I knew the planning part would hinder my effort. After researching TOG, we knew that it was the path we wanted to take. Here is an excerpt from their website: "Tapestry of Grace is a homeschool curriculum: a plan of study that helps parents provide a Christian, classical education using a guided unit study approach, with the history of the world as the core organizational theme. From Grades K–12, all students cycle through world history every four years, with all ages studying the same slice of history each week, each at their own learning level. Detailed lesson plans and discussion outlines enable parents to be their children’s primary teachers and mentors and shape their students’ biblical worldviews. Tapestry covers the humanities: history, church history, literature, geography, fine arts, government, philosophy, and writing & composition. Philosophy of Education Tapestry of Grace exists to help parents discern the threads and patterns in the tapestry of time woven by God in ages past. Through the study and discussion of chronological history, we teach our children the facts, thoughts, and experiences of humankind as they unfolded. This organizational framework encompasses most of what our children need to learn. After all, everything we want to teach them happened in history! Using components of Classical Education, resources are arranged for learning levels — stages, not ages. This method moves busy teaching parents from solely administering their homeschools to becoming their children’s teachers; the crucial Christian worldview training, for which most parents embark on homeschool journeys, is put back where it always belonged — in their hands! All subjects are interrelated (since they all come from the hand of God), but they need not all be studied at the same level at all times. God’s story is simultaneously simple and complex. Parents can successfully teach humanities subjects to all of their children simultaneously because the content has been well organized. Also, remember that content is not the only thing — not even the primary thing — being taught. Parents are primarily seeking to make disciples of their children and secondarily to give them skills that will enable them to succeed at whatever God may call them to do in His service." If you want to learn more,here are a couple of links: Tapestry of Grace Math-U-See We are continuing with ancient Egypt this week. I'll add pictures when I can empty my hard drives and download some more pictures. I have a lot of vacation pictures to download too. First, I must tackle the last of the vacation laundry and what's for dinner.
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Jan. 25, 2008 - My Little Chef
Dalton gets to pick a recipe from his cookbooks to make for the family each week. This week he picked Fishy Fruit Dip out of Mom and Me cookbook by Anabel Karmel. I wasn't so keen on the idea until I saw, thankfully, there was no fish in it. By putting the stuff around the dip, it looks like a fish. He is going to make it when friends come over this weekend. He made a list of what we need to buy at the store. He needs to practice his writing, but you'll get the idea.  
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