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.

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. 

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

Happy Dogs!

How can anyone claim that dogs don't smile?

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

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.

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!

GOODBYE SAGE

July 2001- February 2012

I hope, Sage, you are with Calli.

We'll miss you.

School is in Session!!

We've been schooling all week.... randomly and in a very relaxed manner. The girls keep asking for it. I was 100% wrong about Ainsley regressing. In fact, I have the suspicion that she secretly has been reading for awhile now. Her personality is such that it's hard to tell with her. This week she read me two books and then, while we were playing with bananagrams, she spelled simple words without any help. At first, she played around and joked when I asked her to do so. Ainsley is a natural wit and she knows it. But, when she realized I was going to keep asking her she bam...bam...bam...bam took the tiles and spelled out the words without a problem...then looked up at me and grinned. I just sat there, confused, wondering how much more does she know that she doesn't tell me.  I have this vague impression she can do anything already and she only humors me.

 My girls are too smart for me.

 Ainsley is now starting Explode the Code books 1 and 1 1/2. She has definitely moved beyond the primers.

Aidan, this week, worked on a big assortment of math problems... place value, fractions, solving for x, etc. I've looked up the state standards of what elementary students are supposed to complete by the end of 5th grade (in math) and realized that I could have Aidan done with them all within the next year. Scary.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AINSLEY!!!

Today, Ainsley turned 4! As a treat, Mom and I took the girls downtown for lunch and to shop. We were lucky in that it wasn't raining... in fact...it was quite beautiful.

I got her to look at the camera by asking her if she could see my nose through the window. Ainsley is really bad about not looking.

"Take a Picture of this, Mommy!"

Downtown has a cat shelter so of course we had to peek. Aidan really wants another cat.

The Bistro we stopped at had wonderful food. I'm already looking forward to returning.

Happy Birthday my sweet, passionate, imaginative Girl!

New Address

We've moved into the new house and are officially North Carolinians now! What's that I hear?.... the computer firing up to download pictures? O M G  I do think I'll be blogging again!!!

Hello World

We are officially moved into the new house. This week I'll be working on perfecting the placement of everything. Originally, we were to make the spare bedroom their playroom/schoolroom but I realized quickly it wasn't big enough so their schoolroom is now located in the corner of the kitchen and a large, double closet will hold all the supplies and materials.

The girls are thrilled to be here with all their stuff. It's been a long time since they've seen their things all together.

I'm thrilled because we can finally get back to our regularly scheduled program.

AnyWay....

I've been checking with both girls to see how they're doing and what we'll need to start with for school.

Ainsley's math skills have grown and they're quite impressive. She adds and "takes away" up to 10 in her head without using any props, etc. She also apparently knows and understands fractions. (I just discovered this) She has, however, regressed a little with reading. I suppose I've unintentionally done an experiment on her. She hasn't had anyone reading to her for over a year now (should I even admit this neglect?) and so has forgotten much of what she knew since it was never reinforced. I have proven right all the "experts" who say to read to your kids. In keeping with the whole experimenting thing... I'm really curious to see how she does when I start reading to her every day and practising with her. She is almost 4. I know she's more than ready. As for writing, Ainsley seems to have the same incredible control Aidan had. Because she's left handed and early writers are rare, I thought she would take a lot longer, but I guess not.

Aidan's reading skills are, of course, high. Just as an amusement, I'll pick up a book and try to find a word to stump her on but I'm not overly successfull. She's currently reading the Little House series. She had read some a while ago but started over and is now reading them all in order. She also has about another 4-6 books going at the same time (how does she do that?) and of course, picks up storybooks wherever and whenever. As for math... she can still do anything her youngest cousin brings home. (3rd grade)  Like always, I'm a little uncertain about what to do about math... just keep reviewing everything all the time until she's older or move on and on?? As for writing, she stopped doing it. What she does output now is messy and preschoolish looking. (talk about regression!) Once, after she wrote this scribbly, messy card to someone, I asked her about it. She answered that the cousins told her she wasn't "supposed" to write nicely at her age. Aye yi yi. Obviously, we'll have to work on this.

It will be awhile before they have a full schedule of schooling. We'll be concentrating on the main 3 things... reading, writing, and math. I'm going to give us a full month of getting used to our new life, new schedule. Besides, baseball will be starting soon and Aidan is now starting to take gymnastics 2 days a week. Also, Ainsley is actually in a drama class now and I'm thinking of her taking an art class as well. So, we need an adjustment period.

Hopefully, the next post will be about us actually schooling!