First Day of School

Today we had our first day of school, and though it was a slower day where much of the material was review, I'd say it was a very successful first day back.

In preparation for "back to school", we had a movie night last night and let the boys watch Star Wars for the first time (Amy was in our room watching Noggin'). We popped popcorn and Bill watched with them so he could fast forward through any scenes we felt might still be a little inappropriate. And as expected, they loved the movie!

For the most part, I just listened to their excitement as I worked to clean out and set up the sunroom as our new home-school room. After the kids went to bed - a challenging task now that they were pumped up and having light saber battles - I set out their new backpacks and school supplies. It was almost 1am before I finally got to bed, and even later before I could fall asleep... A little anxious about the first day, I guess.

The morning went well. I got up at 6:15am and made coffee and finished preparing before the kiddos got up. Once they were all awake, I served them a nutritious and I'm sure brain enhancing meal of powdered sugar and chocolate donuts. Then we got started...

We're trying out My Father's World (MFW) this year. I'm using the First Grade level for Alex. Nathan will still learn from the Bible, science and art lessons included. To supplement the Reading lessons we're still using the Explode the Code books. We're also using Math-U-See and I have Nathan starting the Primer (Kindergarten level). He did fantastic with the first lesson today. Alex is now in the Alpha book (1st Grade level) and did great today, too. On Mondays we're doing history, so today we read about Davy Crockett and colored pictures of the Alamo. Tomorrow instead of history, we'll do poetry and music appreciation. Wednesday is science and Thursday is art. Fridays we have co-op, but we'll do the Science Exploration Day from MFW in the afternoons. Exploration Day is really for getting outside and experiencing the world around us, something we like to do anyway. There is also a science experiment to be done each Friday. I think the kids will really like that!

All we have left to do today is our read-aloud, which we'll do during lunch. I'm going to start reading Mr. Popper's Penguins to them. I feel certain they'll like it.

Right now their all taking a break. Alex is at the craft table drawing characters from Star Wars... naturally. :)

Today's success has me even more anxious to do it again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to another fun year of teaching and learning with my children!

Change is in the Air

I wish I was talking about the temperature outside!

I'm actually talking about life in general. Next Sunday is my last day to teach at church, other than the occasional substituting. I made the decision that I do not have time to plan out lessons beyond what I am already having to do for home-schooling. Our local home school co-op starts up in a couple of weeks and there I will be teaching intermediate and high school classes that of course will take quite a bit of time to plan for. Alex is also starting his 1st grade year, and we have a whole lot more to cover than we did last year. I also have plans to start Nathan on some Kindergarten level work, even though he is not old enough for public school Kindergarten.

I am looking forward to all of these things, but it's going to mean some big changes around here. The original plan had been to continue our schooling all summer by simply reviewing once the actual curriculum was completed. But with such a busy summer, we have not held to that too well. And, as I stated in a previous post, it's been way too easy to just leave the TV on all day and work around the new house. So this more leisure way of life is about to change. There will be no more television. There will be no more sleeping in until 7am. There will be no more relaxful "coffee-sipping time" and there will be no more hanging out in our pajamas for half the day. Okay, did I just admit that?!?

Seriously, we will have to get a lot more disciplined with our time. But I am looking forward to it. I think we have a lot of fun things planned out for this year, and I'm anxious to get started! Look for my post about our curriculum choices for this year - coming soon!!!

Too Good To Be True

I've always heard that little girls mature faster than boys. They talk sooner, walk sooner, potty-train easier... Sure enough, Amy started talking a lot sooner than either of the boys, and she was speaking in clear sentences in no time. She was walking before she turned one. As for potty-training, she's been showing signs of being ready for probably a year now. But we've had too many other things going on and I just didn't think she could really be ready. Afterall, the boys didn't learn until they were 4. But in the past week, she has potty trained herself. I've only had to give the usual assistance, but she doesn't need to be asked or reminded. She just goes. Amazing!

The other thing we've always struggled with is transitioning the kids to sleep in their own beds. With each of them, Bill and I kept them in our bed while they were babies. They were well over a year before we'd take the transitioning challenge. And challenge it was. We'd have to start out every night with them in their bed and once they were asleep, we'd sneak out. Of course, they'd notice and we'd have to come back in several more times before the night was over. Eventually, we learned the method taught by The Nanny where you sit on the floor near their bed and continue to move farther and farther away until eventually, you don't stay in the room anymore. It sort of worked. We dealt with them coming out of the room a lot and quite a bit of crying. Nathan did a little better than Alex, but he was also in the same room as Alex so he was never totally alone.

We haven't rushed this process with Amy so much because we've had a lot going on and felt like the move would just cause new problems. So we contined to stay with her each night until she'd fall asleep. But now that we've been in our new house for a couple of months, we decided it was time. We explained to her that we were not going to lie down with her anymore; we would surround her with her stuffed animals, tuck her in, say prayers, kiss her goodnight... and leave. Surprisingly, she was excited by this idea. She talked about it all day. And when it was finally time for bed, we followed these steps exactly. She smiled as we left and said goodnight to us. And that was the last we heard of her all night. We've done this for two nights now. We are so very proud of her. But I'm starting to wonder if it's just a little too good to be true!

** Please note: This is not to say that girls are necessarily easier than boys. Yes, it would appear they do mature faster, but I've learned, at least where Amy is concerned, girls are quite a bit more temperamental and the term "drama queen" almost always applies. :) **

Amy's Ballet

In a couple of weeks, Amy will begin her first ballet class. I don't know who is more excited - me or her! She loves to dance and I was so proud of her at her audition. I didn't know what to expect. Would she even step into the room with all of those strangers, without me? Would she actually attempt the steps being shown to her or just sit shyly in a corner? Would she start crying because I wasn't there? Those were my fears, and none of them came true. She tried everything and even when it was a teacher and just her and one other girl, with the other approx. 20 girls and teachers onlooking, she did her best to mimic the dance moves of her instructor. You could see the bright, anxious look in her eyes, the happy smile on her face - she was loving it! I hope to see that look for many years to come as she continues on this new journey.

Alex and Nathan's Day Out

Cody did not forget about the boys... I'm just slow to blog about it. :) About a week ago, he took them out for a special "guy's day out". They went to The Aquarium for lunch where they got to feed the stingrays, and then they went to the Lego store where he let them each pick something out. Alex chose a Lego set and Nathan chose a Bionicle toy gun that shoots balls (of course!!).

Cody even stayed for awhile after they got home to help them with their new Lego toys. Thanks for giving them such a fun day, Cody!!!

Just a Passing Storm

Thankfully, tropical storm Edouard missed us, for the most part. We did get some rain from it, even slightly heavy at times, but it didn't last all that long. It was just enough to confirm that we do need a french drain on the one side of our yard because should a really big storm come our way, we will most definitely have a problem! We also never fully lost power. It flickered off a number of times, though, but that was really more of an annoyance than anything else. Overall, Edouard felt like any other passing thunderstorm. I am so grateful for that.

So now we'll just set aside our store of water and batteries and consider ourself prepared for whatever else might come our way. :)

Getting Ready

For Edouard, that is.

This morning my wonderful mom went to the store and picked up supplies for not only her household, but mine and my sister's as well. We are now well supplied with water, food, and batteries.

Bill came home early today and has been working to prepare the outside of our house. Since this is a "new" house, we don't quite know what to expect. We have learned that it's common for our neighborhood to lose power, so we're expecting that. And we know that one side of our yard doesn't drain well, which is why my sweet husband spent hours this afternoon digging a trench to help drain water towards the street. He's also brought in or secured down any loose items outside, caulked a few cracks in our gutters and helped a neighbor down the street trim a large, unstable branch from their tree. Impressive, isn't he? :)

I'm not overly concerned since I know that this is only a tropical storm and not even a terribly big one. But of course, you never know what can happen and it's always better to be safe than sorry. A prayer or two wouldn't hurt, either!

Carpet Woes

Our old house had dark green carpet. When it was freshly vacuumed, I thought it was rather pretty, as long as you ignored my blue couch and loveseat (bit of a color clash). Of course, the carpet needed to be vacuumed at least once a day to look okay (more when we were trying to sell the house) because every string, piece of lint, or white dog hair stuck out like a sore thumb. Bill didn't like it because he thought it made our house look dark.

Fast forward to the new house. Light beige carpet. Bright, cheery? Most definitely. Hides the white dog hair and pieces of lint, etc? For the most part, yes. Crayola marks? Shows every one.

Yes, I did say crayola marks. I never realized that drawings left lying around could result in colorful crayon smearings on the carpet. The cluttering of little drawings and cutouts is not greater in this house than the old one, but you couldn't see what was happening on the old carpet. Argh! And here I was just worried about dog messes and other mishaps staining this light colored carpet. I never imagined this crayon problem.

Thank goodness for this stuff. It's not just for pet stains. Works like a charm!