Update!

 The first week of January we'll be closing on a house... right down the street from my nephews and nieces' house. Aidan and Ainsley will have their own place, own room, own stuff again. Once we are established in this new home... we'll have more time to ourselves. The extra bedroom will be their schoolroom/ playroom. Here's hoping that I'll be posting again by January's end!

Halloween

We stayed in GA for Halloween. Although I missed the big kids and the usual excitement at their house... I also really enjoyed just being with John and the girls. We only trick-or-treated for an hour... as opposed to the 2-3 hours we usually do in NC but A & A were happy and they had a lot of fun. John and I kept smiling at each other... we were enjoying them.

Bumblebee... to the rescue!

All night, people kept asking if she was a nurse. "No, I'm a Doctor." or "Actually, I'm a surgeon." she'd reply. LOL! I love my little nerd.

It usually went something like this...

"TrickorTreatHappyHalloweenThankYouTrickorTreatHaveaGoodNight"  Aidan would yell this all out in one breath and Ainsley would quietly echo her.

Where've you been?

Why haven't I been writing? Well, that's easy .... because the only schooling done was 2 weeks of it in late July/ early August. I don't know when we'll start back... if we'll start back. LOL  You know what the proverbial "they" say about God and plans and such....

Guess what I got!

A Nikon D300s!!

Bridgett left me with instructions that I was to buy my real camera with some money she left me. I'm glad she made me promise because I almost talked myself out of the expense. I'm so happy to finally have a real camera. But, oh, I have a lot to learn about it!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!

5 years old today!!!!  

Happy Wonderful Birthday Aidan McKenna!!!

5

5

5

Revving the engines..

Older 4 are back in school.... scouts, sports, lessons have resumed. Life is busy. I'll be ordering Singapore 2a and 2b this week for Aidan. I'm also adding Yoga to our homeschooling schedule. Watching A & A do Yoga is great fun.

New Beginnings is right

I'm resuming blogging. When I feel like it... I'll try to back post pictures at least... but for now....we'll just move forward. I now have 6 kids to blog about.

An ending and a beginning

My sister's battle is over. We buried her this Saturday. A & A will start their fall semester September 5. We're here in N.C. for good, I think. Aidan will also be starting gymnastics next week.

Cool Link

While playing on the computer, I came across this neat website for kids...

www.ABCya.com

It's great! There are a lot of engaging, free games for young kids.

On another note: We're here in N.C. The older cousins will be starting school next week. I'm planning on starting school with A & A a week later. My Mother is living here as well so she will be helping me out in the mornings so that we can get some work done.

Crossing fingers here

My sister's battle is ending. School is again on hold for now. We're moving to N.C. this week.

What we're watching..

A new favorite! 

I put about 14 of these on hold at the library. A & A are sick this week so they've been hanging out on the couch watching them. Aidan especially likes them.
 "Science is cool!" she says.

Teaching Ainsley

Keeping it fun: Reading a home-made book.

        

Keeping her engaged: Circling the words as they're played on Meet the Sight Words.

Keeping her active: I call out a word and she must be the detective and find it.

Our Schedule

(well, at least for a few weeks....)

Monday- Thursday

Aidan

 9:00-9:15           Brainteaser

9:15- 10:15         Math

10:15- 10:45      History

10:45- 11:00      Writing/Copywork

11:00- 11:15       Spelling

11:15- 12:00       Language Arts

12:00- 12:30      Art (drawing)

12:30- 1:00        LUNCH

1:00- 2:00         Computer

2:00- 3:00         Reading

Ainsley

9:00- 9:30         Video

9:30- 10:00       Math

10:00-10:30      FREE

10:30-11:00      Reading

11:00-12:00      FREE

12:00-12:30     Art (drawing)

12:30-1:00       LUNCH

1:00- 3:00        NAP

**Science is on Fridays with Daddy**

Some of My Favorite Things......

I LOVE these velcro coins! I have found them to be super useful with many things.

This is a little folder game I made for the girls. (well... I guess really for Ainsley) The time cards are removable with the velcro coins. I can either set the clocks to a time and they have to match the card to the time showing or I can show them the card and they have to make the clock reflect it.

The calendar on our school wall uses them.
 Each number is detachable.

 I also use them for various other things like this poster that Aidan helped to make. When we change our subject, we just replace the paper strip.

(The mini clocks, the paper strips, and the calendar were all found at Dollar Tree. They carry a lot of good stuff.)

Now YOU post some of your favorite things!

Summer Break

Well, it looks like we had a Summer break after all. My sister's illness has put a lot of life on hold. We have 3 maybe 4 weeks until we'll have to move permanently to N.C. I've given up on elaborate plans. There is no point to them. Everything will be done one day at a time.

Presently....

Aidan is reading through at least 5 different series concurrently. (Much to my ocd induced consternation) I've started collecting books on cd for her to read along with since I don't have the time to always read with her anymore. As I type this, she's listening and reading along with another Magic Tree House book. I've allowed her to stop taking naps so while Ainsley sleeps, she reads. She also uses T4L and Dreambox sporadically. However, she is still on track with the goals I set for her so that she'll finish 1st grade in December. On her own she's advanced in math and in language. I'm quite confident she'll be ready for second grade in January. Really, I'm wondering why I ever buy curriculum. A piece of paper and a pencil seems to be all she needs.

Ainsley has finished half of her reading chart. I haven't sat down with her to read in 3 weeks so it's been slow going. She is, however, with her imagination, humor, observations, and general logical sense showing me that when we really do get down to schooling with her... she's going to be a fast learner.