Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Happy Birthday Grandma!

This week my Grandma turned 86!  I'm trying to make it a point to bring all the kids to see her at least once every 6 weeks. She lives 2 1/2 hours away so I feel that there is no excuse in not doing so. The kids need to know their Great-Grandmother. They're so very lucky to have her. 


BEAU


So aptly named

Our Newest Homeschooling Toy.... I mean Tool!




 Yes, a digital piano. I've always wanted to learn how to play and so will be self-teaching myself as well as the girls. Of course, if they retain interest and show willingness to learn, the girls will have actual lessons... with an actual teacher. (Aidan perhaps this Summer... after baseball??) I do, however, feel competent enough to teach them the very basics myself.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

No wonder....

.... why sometimes people tell Carly she looks just like her (supposed) Mom...i.e.... me. Sometimes, she does indeed look like she could be my kid. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Our First Daddy/Girls Science Experiment

Since we're studying Ancient Egypt, John started an experiment with the girls today about mummifying objects. Using different mixtures of baking soda, table salt, and epsom salt... they are burying parts of an apple and then will wait 7 days (until he comes back home) to see which mixture dried out the apple the most. It's a silly experiment but the girls are having fun. 


The full experiment was found  HERE

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Happy Dogs!

How can anyone claim that dogs don't smile?

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Aidan's Humor

 Aidan definitely has very normal 5 year old humor. I recently bought her a tablet of story paper and this week she sat down and wrote one. The following is an exact copy...

"Once upon a time, a Panda lived in a castle with butterflies and fleas. He was very very sad. So, he wet his pants."


She found this extremely hilarious. 

Oh, how proud I am! LOL


Thursday, February 09, 2012

Why I can't imagine...

having another baby at this point....

I'm sitting on my bed, typing this, while the girls are in the tub. Aidan, at this point, is entirely self-sufficient when it comes to baths. She is more thorough than most adults I know. Ainsley still needs help but she's half way there. There is little, with most things now, that I have to do for them. They clean, they vacuum, they straighten, they take care of animals, they fold and hang up their own clothes, they brush their own hair, they *almost* brush their own teeth, etc etc etc.

Sometimes, like now, it just hits me how easy things are with them. My main job is just checking to make sure they do it... which usually isn't a problem too much because they've known nothing else.  Their much older cousins, on the other hand, I have to spend hours with... teaching them and trying to get them to do things for themselves. They weren't raised like mine so far have been. I wanted to raise independent, self-reliant children and I have done so.

But... sometimes I feel unneeded... which saddens me. Perhaps I've raised them to be too independent? Yes, I know there are many important things that they do and will need me for but lately I find myself helping when it's unnecessary. Aidan, invariably, will call me on it. "Mommy, I can do this by myself you know."

"I know, but sometimes Mommy wants to help," I'll usually answer.

Which is why...

I still brush their hair every night

I still play your-turn, my-turn game with teethbrushing

I still enjoy helping Ainsley dress (when she lets me)

I still get a ridiculous kick out of making up their lunch or supper plates

I still..... bleh.... you get the point

So, the idea of another little being who relies entirely upon me for everything, I can't even imagine. I'm used to a whole night to myself... whether I sleep or not. I'm used to being able to just dictate who does what... not having to do it all. What if I'm too selfish to want to go back to all that?

Then again, maybe all that I've said is why it would be great having another little one. I'd only have to look after ONE without having to worry about the older two. In fact, they'd be very helpful in many ways.

Why am I even thinking about all this?

I've never stopped.

Yes, after 3 and half years, 5 miscarriages, Cancer, death, and all the other DRAMA of my life.... I still haven't lost the wanting for another.

I still plan where the crib will go.
I still stop myself from buying cute decorative items for a nursery.
I still feel that pang when I see a little baby.
I still....

lol

yeah, you get the picture

Busy Busy.... FINALLY!

In spite of illness and running back and forth between two houses.... we've been steadily doing school. Almost EVERY day we're getting something done... some days more than others. 

Aidan

Math... We concentrated on charts and graphs. I'm compiling a list of "all that your child should know when graduating 5th grade" that corresponds to the state standards. So, all that I haven't actually covered, I'm going to systematically go through and cover. We haven't really covered graphing and charts yet... so that's what we worked on. Next week, we're going to brush up on time and then go into reducing fractions.

Writing... I've restarted copywork. My plan is for her to do copywork pages to get back into the habit of writing right and then, when she's writing on her own, the hope is that she'll go back to writing nicely instead of the scribble she decided was more "appropriate."  (Seriously, I need to post a picture of the scribbles she's done in the last few months.) Happily, after the very first copywork piece... a writing from the Little House series... I've already seen an improvement. Yay!

Reading... I've let Aidan free read. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to teach her at this point except more vocabulary... which we work with as she comes across new words. Her comprehension is just fine and I see no reason to bore her with reading comprehension worksheets. We will, however, be starting Language Arts next week. She's ready to start grammar lessons.

Spelling... We've only practiced spelling when she was writing something this week. I'm thinking of starting Sequential Spelling the right way. So far, I've used it as a reading practice list... but I think Aidan will do well with it as it's meant to be used. I still have to think about it though. I don't want to have too many things going on.

Ainsley


Reading... Little Bit has really taken off with reading this week. At this point we're skipping the Bob book stage and have moved straight into early readers. I suppose that's what happens when you put it off until she turns 4! Her first real book was the same as Aidan's....  HOT DOG. She is extremely pleased with herself. I am very proud of her and happy that she can now enjoy reading with the rest of us. John has been disappointed that she wasn't as advanced as Aidan (Aidan first read HOT DOG right after turning 3) but I think that's crazy and slightly maddening. It's natural to compare a little... how could you not?... but how could you be "disappointed"? ... she just turned 4 on January 25th!!  Besides, I didn't work with her or even read to her last year....  so she's doing great!!!  Daddies are so silly sometimes.

Math...  we only do mental math right now. "What is 10 plus 2, Ainsley?" I have ordered her the Horizons workbooks. She wants a math book "like Aidan"  (Aidan has Singapore) but Ainsley is not ready to go into Singapore 1.. so ... therefore...Horizons. We should get them sometime next week. Hopefully, she'll like them.

Phonics and Writing... Ainsley started with Explode the Code book 1 this week. I didn't actually expect her to like it.. she's just so active... but she wanted to keep doing more and more pages. Huh! Anyway, she is doing all the writing parts so it's working as both phonics and writing right now.



as for....

Science and History.... nothing yet. We're still getting into the groove. We will be combining these two into unit studies for both girls. We also will be using things such as the Magic Tree House series, Sid the Science Kid, Magic School Bus, etc as reinforcement. John travels up here 3 weekends out of the month so he's planning on doing the Science parts with them.

 Our first subject? EGYPT and MUMMIES  There is a mummy exhibit down in Charlotte and so we're going to study all about them and then go see it. I found this cool.... but slightly revolting (pour brains out of nose anyone?) game about mummies... at the Discover kids site....

http://kids.discovery.com/games/just-for-fun/mummy-maker

I haven't shown it to the girls yet but I know they'll love it.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Musings ...

.... of my 5 year old.... (actual)

"What if everything in the world was called something different? Like this car would be a book and this car seat would be a store or something? If they had different names do you think we'd think they sounded weird or would we think they sounded normal?"

"How do we know that we are really real? What if we're all a dream and we just think we're real?"

"If God exists then why doesn't he just let everyone know for sure? Why does he have to be so mysterious?"

.... of my 4 year old...  (I'm guessing)

"How long can I pretend to be busy while everyone else is cleaning/picking up so that I don't have to help at all?"

"Let's see... if Mommy was patient with me the day before for an hour and half and was patient with me yesterday for an hour ... then, today, I'll allow myself 30 minutes of messing with her."


"I wonder when Mommy will finally figure out that I can, in fact, run circles around her?"


LOL. I LOVE MY GIRLS!



Monday, February 06, 2012

GOODBYE SAGE


July 2001- February 2012
I hope, Sage, you are with Calli.
We'll miss you.