New Things

This week we started school up again.
Jasmine's a third grader, Bekah's in first, and Hudson's technically pre-kindergarten.

People always ask about teaching preschoolers. Though this picture makes it look like we're all official and stuff, we're not. Not at all.

To me, being 3 or 4 is all about learning about life. He's learning grammar and pronunciation (he's got it mastered except for those pesky /r/s). He's learning his letters and counting, shapes and colors and rules of the house. He's learning about chores and playing fair. He's learning to sit still while we read the Bible. He's drawing really cute pictures of people. He's coloring better every time he picks up a crayon (something he's practicing on doors and couches).

We're starting to work on reading, but it's very slow. He's interested, but doesn't want it badly enough to sit still for a lesson. It bothers him that he's not mastering it already, so we go a couple weeks between lessons most of the time. And that's fine! He just turned 4!


He's learning that if you ask Jasmine what 10 plus 4 is, she'll give you an answer that's another number.

And that the abacus is involved in that:

Jasmine, on the other hand, is in very formal school these days. She's got  the same spelling and math books as last year, but we're adding in new grammar books (Easy Grammar and their Daily Grams) and new history for the year (Story of the World, vol. 1). A month ago we heard about Reflex Math and I'm sold!! She's mastered 60% of her addition facts in the past month. 

We're starting to learn Spanish as a family (though I think the system we got will work best for Josh and I and I need to find something a little more gradual for the kids).

My spunky little First Grader is continuing to do work above her level, though she's slowing down a bit to being where she belongs. She's nearly halfway done with her first grade math, starting second grade spelling, and I have to get her the second grade phonics book.
It's a little tough for her to get used to the idea that school is less voluntary now, but she's getting there!

Monday Morning

I woke up SO ready to take on the day.
...to re-alphabetize our DVDs and put them on their new shelf
...to wash all the laundry and get it put away
...to help the kids find homes for more of their toys
...to shop online for more storage things for the kitchen
...to have a great day of normal school. (we haven't had a school room for this entire school year, which started in May)

So far, at 9:45, it's had mixed results.

Laundry's going. The kids' games are up in Hudson's closet. I found things that I think should work for the kitchen.
But school...it's off to a very mixed start.
They rocked their math and phonics, but Jasmine decided poetry (something new and different!) was pure torture.
I read them Frost's "A Girl's Garden" and we talked about what the poem said. Then we listened to the Frostiana choir piece while they were supposed to draw a picture from something in that poem.
You would have thought I was asking her to kiss a tarantula.

(She did finally draw the picture, with much kicking and screaming and remininscing on my part on what she was like at 3. I forgot just how much more mellow she is most of the time now!)

Hey, don't you love the way the school room looks?? We went to IKEA yesterday and bought those two white shelves with bins. It's one of two rooms that are now box-free. What a huge step! I'll try to get more pictures soon :)

Second Grader

Even though we started school in the beginning of May, we always do our school pictures in early September.
Probably because it doesn't occur to me until I see others posting pictures of their kids in their new clothes and backpacks, waiting for the bus.

Thankfully, Jasmine doesn't have to wait for the bus. My night owl is thankful daily that she doesn't have to do the early-morning scramble. She's not usually up before the bus has flown past our house (and I seriously mean "flown." That driver thinks it's a race track down our little tiny street. I wouldn't want my kids on that bus!!)

Sorry for the tangent. It's what I do ;)

Here's my beautiful second grader. (my kindergartener needs her own photo shoot. I kinda forgot that she needed pictures too, since I don't record her work like I do Jasmine's. But she's doing her school, and doing beautifully, and I started pictures 2 years ago for Jasmine, so I need to for Boo too!)

Favorites:

Kindergarten....first grade...second grade:

Second grade is off to a good start. Not perfect, but good. We took a chunk of time off in June while we were getting the house on the market, and since most of her craft stuff is packed, it's less exciting stuff she's working on. But she's decided she actually enjoys reading and I usually see her with a book. Her favorites are science-related, though she enjoys beginning chapter books as well. 

She's a blossoming artist. She loves to draw and is very good at it. All of her self-dubbed "masterpieces" are completely different and creative...they all have all five of us in them and we're all doing different things. I'll have to see if I can find some and get them posted here, but here's her very first masterpiece. This one took her three days (tenacity!) but usually they take 20-30 minutes these days. 

(we're at a farm. I don't remember now which is which of us, but there's a sheep, a rooster crowing, birds in the sky, and the sun rising. Thus the orange sky) 

School

This is a cheap cross-post. Charity mentioned that it's nearly impossible to find a link from this blog to the homeschooling one, so I thought I'd mention that one occasionally, especially when I'm planning on continuing this being-online-less thing.

So here are a few new pictures of school this week!

And since this isn't my school blog, here's something else, too!

(an outtake picture from Vivian's senior picture shoot 2 1/2 years ago :) )