We are blessed to have two birthdays within 2 days of each other, I love that! I know some would not but I think it's rather fun. The children both enjoy their day and since we only do birthday parties for ages 5, 8, 13, and 18 (theoretically) then it shouldn't be a problem as they're just 2 days shy of being 2 years apart. When I came home from the hospital with our 4th child we stopped and picked up a cake for our 2 year old's birthday celebration for our little family at home. Since this was her 5th birthday we decided to have a celebration. I consider 5 years old a "coming of age" in some respects. It was very busy as most birthday parties are but it still went well. I was blessed that a few of the children prayed for Olivia. A friends daughter Hannah prayed for Olivia and said, "We love you Jesus and Olivia loves you" I think (correct me if I'm wrong) but it was the sincerity in her voice and in her heart that really touched me. There is nothing more important than their spiritual well-being. You're teaching her well Sarah, what a great example she set for the rest of the children. Two other children from our fellowship also prayed. I believe we're going to have some prayer warriors on our hands? :)
An imperfect cake made by this imperfect mom, I wasn't too worried :) The face needed more icing but I ran out...you can't really make more either or the color would be off! Tasted great just the same. More pictures to come. Notice the spin-wheels? I got the idea for a face/chest from "The Super Baby Food Book" a great read for anyone who doesn't mind a lot of info that is somewhat disorganized and packed into one book. I've about worn my copy out.The kids all seemed to like watching her open her presents. Here a friend bought her a nice cup just for her, a ring that says, "Happy Birthday, God Loves you" and a tape measure. So many great ideas.

There are several new freebies listed, including Thanksgiving copywork pages!

We have had a busy weekend. We were able to visit some friends out in the country and had a wonderful time. :) We then had a fall retreat at church. A sister from out of town is staying with us for a few days. We've all enjoyed having her here. She's full of wisdom and is a joy to be around. The retreat was very refreshing. I really enjoyed it and I'm sure everyone else did too. Our children especially liked the prospect of having a bonfire.

One of the girls took the initiative to gather some of the girls and practice a song to bless us with. They all did a great job.

Craft time. What kid doesn't love crafts that involve glue?!

A snow scene! The kids had more fun decorating his cake than I ever would have and I like decorating cakes. The animal crackers were my addition. Almost 5 months. It's plain whip cream (no sweetener)Sams had this book a few months ago. We thought it was a nice gift. My mom brought over gifts yesterday. Paul got a shopping cart-a big hit! Olivia got a doll stroller.

A great find at church about 1 month ago. My MIL tells me that puffball mushrooms are edible if you eat them prior to their spores drying out. It was a big one!

Highlights of Homeschooling is offering 25 seasonal unit studies for $35. The total retail value for all of these units if purchased separately is $120.  So if you are a big unit study fan, check it out!

 Also, this week's freebie at Currclick is  Politics and Art published by Visual Manna.  This is a 6-page unit study on the historical use of art in politics. 

This homeschool mom could use a little pick me up, so if you are in the market for some books, check out her Usborne site:

Rosemary's

I have used various resources to help DS learn to read and he's doing his part as best he can, but I sometimes lack in the consistency department.  So I'm trying yet another resource in hopes that it is simple enough that I will follow through and we can get this thing done. 

I thought I'd share a little about what we are doing and why it has or hasn't worked for us:

Reading Rescue 1-2-3    (Amazon affiliate link to book)

This book made a huge difference in how I taught and really benefited my son in the process.  The book offers practical daily steps to take to teach reading and improve fluency as well as offering a summary of some of the common problems kids have and mistakes teachers make in teaching reading.  The negative to this program is that I don't have the willpower to follow through with the teaching exercises.  They involve a series of steps to be taken daily that are intended to engage the student while teaching reading and I am just not an "engaging" type teacher.    But, I have taken the "don't" advice to heart and do use many of the techniques in my own way.   For anyone who is struggle with teaching reading to their child, I would consider this book to be a very worthwhile acquisition.

Click N' Read   This online program uses a cartoon character and interactive lessons to teach your child many of the fundamentals of phonics. The program also introduces various sight words to the new reader.  I really appreciate that the program offers many of the lessons and uses the techniques recommended by other sources, including Reading Rescue 1-2-3.  I feel comfortable that all the "bases" are being covered.  It is also a program that I can start and then allow my child to work through independently so that he can learn to work through some of these issues by himself without my having to be right by his side.  Sometimes he seems to do better if I just leave him alone to concentrate. 

The negatives of this program are that the character's "jokes" never change and he repeats the instructions for each lesson.  After 30 times, we pretty much know what we are supposed to do and my son would really like to fast-forward through the introduction.  The instructions and jokes don't take a lot of time but they are still boring after you've heard them over and over again.  Also, since it's a computer program there are limits to how much adjustment in speed you can make. For instance, my son had already learned most of the sight words (once) but still struggled with them on the program.  I can only imagine how much trouble he would have had if he'd never seen any of the sight words before.  Meanwhile, having to identify the consonant sounds can get a little boring for him. 

But, as we progress things are levelling out and this program is a very useful resource for me as it allows me to provide him with some extra phonics practice time in a different format.  If you are interested in this program, but sure to use my e-mail address: mom@hwtk.net in the promotion code line to receive a $10 discount.  If you are a member of homeschool buyers' co-op be sure to check there first to see if they are still offering this program at a discount. 

Finally, the newest addition to our program, Sequential Spelling! This appeals to my "just the facts" type personality and it has a certain order to it that I like.  But besides that, it does seem to be actually working- a little bit.  This program builds on what has been learned on day to the next (if your little one remembers what he has learned) so consistency is necessary.  But it's fast and easy and takes very little prep time, so consistency is easier to achieve.  I have had to modify the program a little bit as the goal is to eventually build up to spelling 25 words each day and my son tends to wear out after about 8 words.  I am splitting the lessons in half for him right now.  The lessons do move quickly so I can anticipate that we may need to do some review work rather than forging straight ahead.  But I can also see that the theory of putting pieces of sound together to make words is one that works for DS.  So while I can't say that this program standing alone would solve all our problems, I can say that as one component of our plan it is a great addition.   

We have tried many other great resources and I'm not going to mention them simply because they are good resources- they just didn't work for this particular student and teacher.  Something as simple as a font that was difficult for DS to read or words that were too unfamilar have bogged him down.  Other books were simply too boring to keep his interest or mine and didn't lead to anything rewarding.  DS does not do well learning words that form boring stories- "The cat sat.")  He's much happier working out the language in simple book that he already enjoys such as the "Thingy Thing" or "Little Critter" series.  So I choose books from our collection that I think he can read for our practice time and keep an eye out to avoid fonts or word placements that might be confusing.  He has success and neither of us gets bored.