Little Things

We're here in N.C. Surprisingly, Aidan is actually getting a few things done. While the cousins sit and do their homework.... she does hers. I also have her do work while Ainsley naps. It's working out great. Tomorrow, I expect to have her use Time4Learning... we will be here for another week at least and I've run out of material. This week she worked on addition facts, money, number placement, plants (again...lol), community workers, and phonics. She also has read a lot of books but I've stopped trying to write them all down because it's just plain impossible.

On another note... I'm really enjoying working with the older kids on their work. I love looking through their school papers and books. I love helping them understand a new concept. Someday, somehow I will go back to college and I'll get a teaching degree. It took me 30 years but I finally found my calling.

Tea Party

 Bridgett is fairly certain she won't be making it to Aidan's party this year... so she decided to throw a tea party as a mini-celebration. Everyone except Russell has a great time with it.

BREAK

School is officially on hold again.... going  back to N.C. .... more chemo for my sister

1st (and Last) Beach Trip of the Year

John and I had so much fun at the beach for our anniversary that we decided to take the girls as well. We haven't made one trip to the beach this year although we are surrounded by many beaches. ~shame shame~  so it was about time. At least I can say we went once this year. Anyway, the day was absolutely wonderful! The only negative of the day was I should not have brought Bennigan. He wasn't as excited to be there as I thought he would be... instead he was a bit of a pain.

Bennigan was "helping"

Yummy!

5th Anniversary

It's becoming a tradition for John and I to drive up to Hilton Head, S.C. to spend our anniversary. It's fun and mostly inexpensive... unless you eat at the Italian restaurant that we did. We started by touring the shops. Although they always have the same stuff we always love looking. We even picked up Christmas presents!

 Then we relaxed on the beach.. what a life!

 

Happy 5th Anniversary Dear!

What Aidan is Reading

*Aidan loves the Annie and Snowball series as well as its cousin series Henry and Mudge. They are cute and have 3 or 4 short chapters.

*The Hickory Chair is a really sweet book. A blind boy's grandmother dies but doesn't leave him a special note like everyone else... or so he thinks.

*Cowgirl Kate & Cocoa: We finally found a little series with a cowgirl in it!

The Many Different Mes

If you had asked me a year ago if I thought turning 30 would be a big deal... I would have shrugged my shoulders and say "Uh.. no.. why should it?" But I would have been wrong. Never before have I been so in tuned with WHO I am and WHOM I wish to be. I am so consciously aware of my thoughts, my feelings, my judgments, my likes and dislikes, my mannerisms, my prejudices, my speech... that it is quite painful. I feel as if I'm standing at that proverbial crossroads and it is now that I am deciding who I really want to be. I'm discovering things about myself that I don't like but yet, also finding things I do like. I have within me characteristics and mannerisms of other people... only some of them would I like to keep. I'm digesting all the little things that are ME and trying to spit out what I do not wish to keep.

I like myself. I'm a good person. But I'm not wholly formed... not in the way I wish to be. There are too many aspects of myself that aren't really mine... they are a copy of other people... people that were influential over me. I am randomly discovering things that I do or partake in but that I... in actual fact... don't like. I've even realized that there are foods which I eat but don't really like. That sounds crazy... I know! How could I not know I don't really like them? LOL But, it's true.

Lately, I've also been thinking about the roads not taken... about who I could have been/could be if just this or that was different. I think about how one single decision could have changed my life drastically. I find myself daydreaming about having a different life. (Not, to say, I actually wish for any life but the one I have!) There are many different Mes in my head. I like to think of all my Mes living in different dimensions.. like the old show Sliders.

There is the ME that is single and left at 18 to work with the Peace Corp. I've spent the last 12 years traveling into all sorts of harsh landscapes and have seen much suffering. It is only now that I would be thinking of settling down into a "normal" life but I would probably be struggling with it because I've spent too many years outside the norm. I also have one child whom I treat as a mini adult. This child was the result of a brief affair with a missionary and he/she travels wherever I go. I'm proud of my kid and pride myself on giving him/her a worldly upbringing.

There is the ME that ran away at 15, never finished high school, runs from guy to guy, and lives my life as a victim and playing on people's sympathies.

One of my favorite MEs is the single, college educated ME. I have a nice, two bedroom condo with 2 dogs and one ginger cat. I teach for a living. In my spare time I browse book shops, am active in book clubs, and volunteer as a court appointed advocate for needy kids. I go to a gym 3 times a week. I eat in delis and sandwich shops with my laptop in front of me. My aspirations are to write a book and finding THE ONE. I have a small group of friends but often feel lonely... especially late at night.

Then there is the other ME who lives like a gypsy... drifting from place to place... working as a freelance photographer. I engage in brief, passionate affairs but am closed off to having any serious relationship. Secretly I wish to have children but I keep it well hidden... even from myself. As I near my 40's however, I would try to settle down.

I could go on and on...

Does anyone else think like this?

Weekly Review

For someone as obsessed with taking pictures as I usually am... I sure haven't taken any! (I suppose one can only take so many pictures of your kid working in a workbook.) Anyway, this week was full of interruptions and going-ons. Next week we'll have even more. Sooo... school has not been done every day and has been extremely random. Until the 20th... I expect it to continue being so.

In spite of this, things have been going well...

Writing

I've had Aidan working in her D'Nealian workbook because I thought it would be better to reteach her letters at an earlier age than later. The unfortunate side-effect is that she no longer will/can write because she's too worried about properly forming her letters. I believe I have erred here. I'm thinking I should have allowed her to continue writing using ball-and-stick and worry about the "prettier" letters once she was a stronger writer. She has gone from confidently writing full sentences to laboring over writing "dog." So, my plan is to continue with working in the workbook... but outside of the actual workbook... allow her to write as she chooses. I need to back off when it comes to forming the "pretty" letters. I have definitely been pushing too hard and I've made her stressed about it. Bad Mommy!

Math

Since subscribing to T4L Aidan has gone through every subject in the 1st grade curriculum. When she starts Singapore in January... she will have already been doing everything it covers so it will all be review. I'm not sure if I will be able to stretch it out the entire year like I had planned. We may have to just move into 2a in the middle of the year. However, I am hoping I can just continue to add supplementary stuff.

This week Aidan continued with money and using the abacus but also started working on place value and fractions. I will need to review place value more but she likes fractions and "got" them immediately.

Reading

First of all.... Aidan is reading EVERYWHERE. She has a little bag that she fills full of books and takes it whenever we go out. She is also reading everything and anything that comes into her line of sight that has words on it. Unfortunately, she shows off with her reading because she has realized that if she reads in the hearing of adults... they invariably will stop to oooh and ahhh.
(I'm working on correcting this)

A funny anecdote....a man was standing outside a store ... smoking. Aidan loudly asked "Why does that sign say No Smoking?" The man actually took his cigarette and hid it behind him. lol!

Anyway, my gentle reminders are finally seeing progress in that Aidan is slowing down and properly sounding out new words... so her stumbling and skipping has severely lessened. At some point I would think there would be a cap at how amazed I could be about her reading... but there doesn't seem to be. Every week I am shocked at things she is reading, at her proficiency, at her comprehension. Since last January she has gone from sounding out simple words to reading at a 3rd grade level. Also, in just the last week she started reading things closer towards the 4th grade level. By the time she actually turns 4.... ???

Science

We continued with plants and seeds and what all the parts do. I'm really lazy about science. I make great plans for lessons but never get around to it because putting together and implementing actual experiments... well?.... I'm lazy!! I'm working on getting John to help with the Science and perhaps doing the experiments on Fridays... since he's off anyway.   :-D

Other

Next week we will start reading about Benjamin Franklin. I picked up a few library books about him and we also own a few. So, the girls and I will be studying him for a little history lesson.

As for Ainsley... I ended up buying her a subscription to T4L as well. She has the PreK lessons and LOVES working on the computer. She is becoming a little left-handed master at using the mouse. I am also seeing a lot of interest from her lately with reading and sounding out simpler words. Aidan's interest really seems to influence her.

Day at Home

The Humiliation of Daddy

This is what you get when you only provide girls!

Look at their Smiles!

Like Daddy Like Daughter!

On Order

What Aidan will be receiving for her Birthday!!

Leap Frog's interactive USA map. I was really pleased to find this... I hadn't seen it before and it looks really fun. We love our tag readers!

A very cute book about the states getting tired of their positions and scrambling themselves up only to learn they do indeed like where they were.

A great learning game to go along with the book.

Posing

We missed Ainsley's 2.5 pictures. Usually I get pictures done at the half year mark but financially we just couldn't afford it this year. So, I'm making sure I have lots of random sessions with my camera.

 

Weekly Review

I suppose before this week ends

... I need to review last week!

Well, first of all, Aidan spent a lot of time going through T4L lessons. (She also has been trying out Dreambox.com and when it doesn't freeze up... loves it). I think her o.c.d. tendencies are showing and she will literally sit there for 2 hours or more because she hates leaving lessons/chapters unfinished. I am still impressed with the site because it lets me be lazy. Once the site offers her an introduction to a topic... I no longer have to explain it. Heh Heh! Anyway, I had/have to limit her. I'm not letting her use it every day because she needs a break. Next week I plan to give her time limits. (It'll be good for her to have to stop in the middle of a lesson.)



MATH

Aidan went through number bonds again, worked with the Abacus, practiced addition and subtraction, worked on greater than/equal to/ less than, ordinal numbers, money, and other random things.

LANGUAGE

We honestly really didn't do anything overmuch... no phonics... no worksheets... except what was on the T4L.. there she did a lot of stuff.... reading comprehension, phonics, etc.

READING

Aidan flew through her list of words to read and read a variety of books. This week was somewhat amusing because she knew words I really didn't think she would... but then would stumble on words I didn't think would be a problem. :-D I again worked on slowing her down so that she'd use phonics and kept reminding her to ask about a word and not just stumble and skip. A lot of her reading is from clues in the sentences, the pictures, and because she has a great verbal vocabulary. I'm not sure if that's detrimental to reading or not.. but she still seems to be progressing. This week she slightly jumped in level and started reading Berenstain Books and the like... which level I would place around grade 3. Usually she is more comfortable reading an easier level but lately she seems really dedicated to reading the harder books.

ART

The girls made sun catchers with McMama this week. So I'm claiming that was their art project. *grin* Also, Aidan is now signed up for an art class in which she'll start in a few weeks. Her 1st class!! (I think the hardest thing will be that I don't get to sit in. For an hour a week...~gasp~... my daughter will be with people and be doing things that I won't know about!!!!!)

GEOGRAPHY

After re-reading one of her Fancy Nancy books... Boy from Paris... she started a discussion about states and America and such... so I brought out a map and showed her. She then wanted me to show her all the states and told me that I needed to teach her what all of them were. It was really cute the way she did it too. "Wait a minute... WAIT a minute Mommy...you HAVE to teach me ALL of them"... said with her hands splayed in the air. She was sooo serious. LOL!! Anyway, I put the map on the side of our kitchen counter and so now randomly... I'll tell her a state and she'll find it on the map. I'm thinking of having her put together a state notebook but I need to research to find some really great resources. Oh, and she was really happy to spot Hawaii because the night before we had just watched a show on how Hawaii was formed from Volcanoes and it was a nice add-on.



***I haven't forgotten Ainsley... but she wasn't in the mood to "do school" this week and so she happily played with her toys and colored.

Rainbow Playdate