Thursday, August 26, 2010

one more

Katie wanted me to add this.

Katie

Katie loves to have her picture take....I mean Katie loves to look at the back of the camera to see herself after she has her picture taken.
She got a haircut this week. It looked so cute with no finger twirls so I had to snap a few shots. She sure has a lot of faces.






Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mama's Mission

Mission of the Month
I got this idea from Mama-Jean's blog.
One good(maybe) thing aobut putting your missions on the internet is you will have loads of accountability.
My goals for September:
(I know it is August still, but hey a headstart never hurts!)
-Finish our Family Vacation book and have it ready to publish on Mixbook
I have already started loading pictures and making pages, but having a deadline will keep me focused.
-Run 3-4 days a week every week
I plan to run my first 5k in October. I am loving Couch to 5k, but with the run for tomorrow the times start to pick up. I know I can do it, but sometimes mentally I try to talk myself out of it.
-Have Katie's birthday party
This is in the works and since I absolutely love to have birthday parties I know it will happen. There is a lot of little things to get done including invites ready for church on Sunday.
-Organize the school room
We are off to our smoothest start of school ever. At the end of each day I seem to have piles of items to put away, organize, hole punch and file. I just feel like there can be a better system. I just need to figure it out.

Now....off to get busy!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

First Day of School

School has started and the kids are thrilled! We opted to start this week with a 1/2 schedule and then next week we will do a full schedule. I thought this would ease us into the routine. So far it has worked beautifully.

Sarah's Curriculum for the year
Bible-Rod and Staff
Spelling-A Reason for Spelling
Math-Horizons 4 and Rod and Staff 4
Writing-Writing Strands
History-Rod and Staff 4
Science-Eagles Wings-Considering God's Creation
Vocabulary-Wordly Wise 4
Penmanship-Rod and Staff
Grammar-Growing with Grammar 4


We also do a Daily Journal for all 4 kids, famous paintings study and art and music activities.
So Sarah is off to a great start. Her favorite subject is Spelling. We used the same curriculum two years ago and was thrilled to be using it again this year.


Ty is a K4 student this year. He misses the cutoff for K by just a few weeks. We opted to use Rod Staff Grade 1 Math and Rod and Staff Beginning Reading. My plan is to take this year and next year to complete these two curriculums. I would add more to next year to make sure he was getting enough 'stuff' in his Kindergarten day.
So far things are going very well. He loves doing school. The first day he snuck out his math book and did 5 additional pages!
I thought the curriculum started out too easy, but it is good for him. He has so much confidence and is taking pride in his work. If we stay on task he will be reading basic cvc words by Christmas. Right now he is working on a page of the letter A that he wants to give to Grandma (Dillehay) because she has apples in her kitchen.
In addition to the curriculum we add in lots of hands on activities and learning centers.
Katie is modeling her bead necklace she made on day 1. She is doing journal activities with us and also begs to do Ty's work. I am including her in as much as she wants to do. I have made a few 'tot school' things for her to do too. She loves being a part of anything the other kids are doing.

Her primary goal for this week is potty training. We started last Monday and let's just say it was a long week. On Saturday something clicked and she started telling us when she had to go. Things are going very well this week. She has had a few accidents, but is doing great! Whew! We will soon be diaper free!
Emily is a GULP middle schooler this year.
Her curriculum:
Bible -Rod and Staff 6
Science-FLVS
History-FLVS World Cultures
Language Arts 1 with FLVS
Math-FLVS Math2
Career Education-FLVS
Vocabulary-Wordly Wise
Grammar-Growing with Grammar 6
Penmanship-A Reason for Writing

We also add in the extras like daily journal, music, art and other activities. This will be an interesting year with her taking 5 FLVS classes. I know she can handle the load, but it shows make her seen so grown up to me. We chatted with all of her teachers on Monday. She is so personable on the phone. That will help as she has to do a phone quiz with them after each chapter. It will be neat to be on the other side of FLVS this year.
I think this is going to be a great school year! We have 4 wonderful students and it is a pleasure to teach them.