Weekly Wrap-Up

Just like previous weeks, we had some ups and downs, but for the most part, it was a productive school week.  The highlight of the week is the progress in reading by both kids.  On Tuesday, I seriously doubted my ability to teach Katie to read.  God knew exactly what I needed and provided it on Wednesday.  Both children were reasonably cooperative, attentive, and reading on their own!!!  Katie was grabbing one book after another, and Emily found a book that is enjoyable for her and doesn't even need us to remind her to spend time reading.  She's just been doing it.  That thrills me to pieces!  And to celebrate, I took them to the zoo on Thursday!

A highlight was getting to pet a 2-year-old alligator!  Alligators grow very slowly, so this little guy is only 18 inches long at age 2.  Although he seemed well behaved, I wouldn't want to take him home!

He is kinda cute...

...and he walks with a leash!

No trip to the zoo is complete without a visit to the gift shop.  So this was our last stop for the day.

It was a great day to visit the zoo with perfect weather.  I'm so glad we took the time to go.

My Father's World - Creation to the Greeks

Emily and I are both enjoying ancient history, learning about the Great Flood, Babylon & how different languages came into existence, and the Ice Age.  Learning about the architecture, pictographs and cuneiform writing, and civilization in that day is fascinating.  So far, we've enjoyed the activities, although we haven't celebrated any of the Jewish feasts yet.  But we finally got our timeline up!

My Father's World - First Grade

Katie isn't as crazy about this as she was in the beginning.  I don't think it's the curriculum.  She just gets frustrated with phonics.  But she loves the book she's making with it and does very well reading & writing the sentences and drawing pictures that appropriately depict the writing.  She has such a strong and vivid imagination!

RightStart Math

This is going very well with both the kids.  We quickly breezed through some of Katie's lessons because they were too easy for her.  Emily is sailing through hers as well.  I'm proud of both of them and am ever so grateful for effortlessly finding this program.  *A note to those just starting RightStart, or considering it: it is different than many math programs and takes some time to adjust.  But once you are through the adjustment period, it's so worth it!  Se keep plugging away!

Spectrum Spelling

Katie is already on page 52!  She loves her grade 1 book!  Emily is struggling a bit with hers this year.  But we're persevering.  There seems to be a big jump from grade 3 to 4.

On the home front, we are decluttering and reorganizing.  Hubs took off work on Friday so that he and his dad could finish the drywall in the garage and clean it out.  It looks much better and is much more functional.  My father-in-law has really great organizational ideas and was very helpful.

I've been working on the basement, trying to clean out the old toys and unnecessary things that have accumulated down there.  I really want to toss the old couch that's down there but I have nothing to replace it with.  Any inexpensive ideas out there?  We live near an Ikea but I'm not looking to spend much, if anything.  Hum...I'll have to think about this. :)

I'm curious.  Does anyone else have any household projects in the works?  And how was your school week?

Dare I Get Excited???

Guess who's been reading all day?  Katie!  And she's actually excited about it!  While waiting on dinner, Katie spent a considerable amount of time reading the short story books she made at the end of Kindergarten.  Then, she read them again tonight before going to bed, with much excitement!

As if that's not enough, my almost always reluctant reader, Emily, found a new love in a Pathway Reader book!  She even said that it is the "best book ever!"  Kudos to the Amish for creating a masterpiece in the eyes of a skeptic!  Usually, Emily will read for five or ten minutes and ask if that was enough.  We send her back to read more and she comes back five minutes later, once again asking if that was enough.  This usually goes on for a good half hour to 40 minutes.  This time, we sent her to her to read and she never came back.  Honestly, I thought the child had fallen asleep!  Eventually, she came back with a welcoming smile on her face, excited to tell us all about what she had read.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me!  It's gives me a warm, fuzzy, calming feeling, especially after having such a strange beginning to the week.  I think we'll celebrate with a field trip tomorrow!  And I'm not even packing lunch!

Silly Names

Just a quick post before I forget it.  During our snack time today, we each ate something different, which resulted in giving each other a silly name or phrase that went along with our snack.

     Me:  Banana - The kids said that I've "gone bananas!"

     Emily: Cheese Stick - I told her she was "cheesy."

     Katie: Applesauce - As I was thinking up
     something, Emily says "Katie's saucy!"

Perfect!

My "strange" Update

If you're reading this now but haven't read my previous post, you might want to go back and read that first.  Then, this will make more sense.

Although I still welcome advice (as always), I found the MFW message board very helpful with regards to reading (1st grade).  If anyone struggles with MFW curriculum, I highly encourage visiting their message board.  I feel like I can get some sleep now!  Maybe my week isn't so strange after all.  Ahh, who am I kidding?  It truly has been!

Strange Beginnings

So far, this week has been odd.  The barking dog next door kept me up two consecutive nights and I was so tired today that it was hard to focus.  The kids picked up on that (of course, why wouldn't they?), so their motivation was lacking as well.  Emily told me the dog kept her up too, so I'm sure that impacted her focus as well.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has taught a child to read.  I'm struggling, I think.  I don't really know.  I feel like Katie should be able to fluently read beginner books.  But she's isn't.  We started 1st grade and have followed MFW curriculum from day one with her.  She is learning long vowel sounds and how words are spelled with them.  I'm looking for ideas on easing her frustration when she incorrectly says a word.  Any ideas???  I've never taught a child to read until now and I'm feeling very incompetant.  Maybe MFW just moves a little slower.  Or maybe it's just that I'm not experienced here.

Then, there's Emily's curriculum that recommends celebrating Jewish feasts when scheduled.  I want to do them.  Really, I do.  But it's just not working out.  So we talk about them.  And we make some of the projects that go along with the feast.  Is that good enough?

The cooler weather is throwing me off too. I just want to lay in bed a little longer in the morning! It's a good thing we do our morning Bible lessons in my bedroom!

Maybe I'll feel better about things tomorrow.  And maybe the rest of the week will not be so strange.

The Quest for the Missing Puzzle Pieces

Friday Night Fun!!! 
In an effort to part with things we no longer need/use, we came across our puzzle collection.  It truly is a collection!  Over the years, we've gotten rid of many puzzles and this is part of what's left.  And yes, we do have some missing pieces. :(

Katie was never big on puzzles and I never pushed her to do them.  She was the second child and didn't get the one-on-one attention that Emily got.  Poor thing!  In my defense, her birth was very traumatic and was followed by many many doctor and hospital visits, for years.  We did the best we could!  Maybe I'll do more puzzles with her now. :)

Emily, on the other hand, loves puzzles and enjoyed every minute of this!

At some point, we developed a system to at least keep puzzle pieces in their respective box.  We marked the back of each piece with a number or letter.  If/when they got mixed up (as they inevidably did), we could quickly organize them by simply looking at the back of the pieces rather than assembling each puzzle to figure it out.  I only wish we had thought of that much sooner!  Better late than never. 

The Great Outdoors

We took advantage of the nice weather one day by schooling on the patio:

 I'm not sure which one has the more ornery face!