Blah!

This has been another busy week.  We had our CC Orientation and it looks like it will be a fun year.  As I said before, I am tutoring, so there is a lot more on my plate than just showing up each week.  I’m sure the first few weeks will be a learning experience, but I’m ready for the challenge.

We also had a meeting for a new homeschool co-op that is starting at our church.  I’m not sure what level of involvement I will have yet, but Nicholas is excited because some of his friends from church will be in it.  He also will be able to make new friends as well.

During all of this homeschool fun, Daniel went and got croup.  He had it when he was 13 months old, but a little worse than he has it now.  He’s basically fine unless he cries or wants to sleep.  Let’s just say that Evan and I have not had a good night’s sleep in days.  Although, last night we did have some longer stretches between him waking up.  We saw the doctor on Wednesday and they prescribed him steroids.  Today is the last day for him to take his medicine, so hopefully, he’ll be better in the next day or so.

Since Daniel seemed to feel fine most of the time we were able to complete a lot of his activities for B week.  First, he decorated the B with various balls.

Nicholas was trying to show Daniel a B on his handwriting sheet, but Daniel was preoccupied.

The finished product

He ate cheddar bunnies for a snack several times this week.  

We also threw in some blueberries too.

He used dot paint to paint a picture of a bear.  This he loved and ended up dot painting a lot of things this week.

Nicholas took a spelling test and Daniel wanted to join in.  We say that when Nicholas is working on reading and spelling, Daniel is working on talking.  He likes to repeat a lot of what is said.

Nicholas took over some teaching duties and played a game or two with Daniel.  He and Daniel looked through the toys to find all the ones that were blue.

Daniel also glued on pieces to make a bear out of the letter B. 

Bob the Tomato helped out.

Finally, B is for Birthdays.  We've celebrated a lot.  Daniel is always trying to figure out who he says “Happy Birthday” to next.  We celebrated Evan’s mom’s birthday last Sunday.  Today is my mom’s and we will celebrate it on Labor Day.

We got her a new book to read.

They had some dog event in the park, so Daniel decided to hug this cat (Go figure!).

Making Nana's birthday cards.

Daniel decided to write all over his arms when I wasn't looking.  It could have been worse.

We are looking forward to a long weekend before moving onto the letter C!

Daniel’s materials were found from various websites, such as:

www.royalbaloo.com

www.1plus1plus1equals1.com

www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

http://ateachingmommy.com/

www.makinglearningfun.com

www.3dinosaurs.com

http://teachingmama.org/

www.homeschoolcreations.com

A – mazing!

So, Daniel is doing the letter of the week activities like Nicholas.  I don’t know that I’ll document every week like I did for Nicholas, but I’m sure I’ll highlight many of the interesting things we do.

But, for the first week he did decorate the letter A with ants.  

We had “ants on a log” with our lunch, as well, as some cut up apples.

The next day we read Ten Apples Up on Top.  Then, we glued 10 apples on top of a picture of Daniel, so he could be just like the characters in the book.  This is an activity that I also did with Nicholas when he was younger.  They both enjoyed it.

Ten Apples on Top of Daniel's Head!

I have been putting some of Daniel’s artwork on the refrigerator.  I notice he goes over there a couple of times a day to look at it.  On Tuesday I heard him saying, “Eight. Nine.  Eight. Nine”.  I looked over and he was counting the apples on his head in the picture.  We don’t have counting to ten down yet, but those two numbers seem to be his favorite.

Daniel did take the time to do some more box stacking.  He is getting more creative.

Finally, we finished up school with coloring an alligator that looked like an A. 

Daniel must be learning because he’s been telling me all week the words that start with an A.   The best is when he tells me that A is for Aunt Amy.  However, he calls her “Mamie”.  So, is he correct?  ;)

I think this school year is going to be fun for him now that I know he is interested in doing the activities.  And, just in case you think we forgot about the big kid.  Here are a couple of pictures of him too:

Taking science notes by himself for the first time.

This week has been full of appointments and “field trips”.  Next week we’ll be at home a little more often.

Daniel’s materials were found from various websites, such as:

www.royalbaloo.com

www.1plus1plus1equals1.com

www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

http://ateachingmommy.com/

www.makinglearningfun.com

www.3dinosaurs.com

http://teachingmama.org/

First Day of School 2014-15

Well, here we go . . . I have been waiting for this day for weeks.  I love the routine that school brings to our day.  That doesn't mean we’re not without issues or bad attitudes (even on the first day), but things do seem to flow better.  Nicholas is in 2^nd grade this year.  

Our curriculum is really interesting this year, so I’m excited to see what we both will learn.  Along with Classical Conversations, which starts after Labor Day, here is this year’s curriculum:

Language Arts:  First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 3 and All About Reading, Level 3

Spelling:  All About Spelling Level 4

Handwriting:  A Reason for Handwriting T (Transition to Cursive)

Math:  Finish Horizons Math 2, Book 2.  Start Horizons Math 3, Books 1 & 2.

Social Studies/History:  This year we are supplementing CC with books from the library about U.S. History

Geography: States and Capitals workbook, mapping the United States

Science:  Apologia Zoology 2 – Water Animals

I have another student this year.  We’re calling Daniel’s school Junior Preschool.  

Remember when Nicholas first came home and I taught him a letter of the alphabet each week? Well, that’s what Daniel is getting to do too.  I’m not sure if it will be quite as involved as it was with Nicholas, but I have a handful of activities for each week to choose from.  Will he want to participate?  We shall see.  Will I make him?  Not really.  But, since he likes to color, he should at least be interested in coloring a few pictures each week. 

Here are some highlights from our first day:

Evan was home, so of course, it started off with a "nutritious" breakfast.  Don't worry I supplemented it with something a little healthier too.

A sneak peak into Daniel's schoolwork:

And Nicholas hard at work .  . .

I can't wait to watch these boys grow and change this school year!

We have a several opportunities for activities this school year.  We almost have to sit and weigh our options so we are not away from home too much.  But, each activity does have a different group of friends for both Nicholas and myself.  So, we shall see.  Onto day two now . . .

A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

We've had a long week here.  We had some fun days, but then Daniel’s “teething illness” kicked in.  He has two molars left and I’m pretty sure they are on their way.  He’s had his fingers in his mouth for over a week now.  Then, he got a runny nose (like he does every time).  Usually, he’ll get a low grade fever too.  But, not this time.  Instead he got a very weird disappearing, reappearing bug bite-looking rash.  I noticed it Wednesday afternoon on his cheek.  I didn't think much of it until it got pink.  But, it soon disappeared and reappeared on his other cheek.

We ended up going to my parents’ house that evening to celebrate Amy’s birthday.  They all saw the rash.  Then they all noticed it disappear and a small little rash appear on the other cheek again.  After a while, this too disappeared and little bug bite-like rashes appeared on his arms, legs and torso.  They too disappeared and reappeared in other places.

I contemplated taking him to the doctor, but the next morning there were only a couple and they disappeared by mid-morning.  However, they reappeared after his nap, but only a couple.  I decided to wash all of his sheets and blankets.  We had used a different detergent recently, so I wondered if that was the culprit.  By the time Evan got home from work that evening, they were gone.  I haven’t really seen any since.  It is just strange.  So, it could have been laundry detergent or a virus, or just some mysterious thing to keep me on my toes for a couple of days.  But, it appears to be over(but, we shall see).

Anyway, other than that, I've been trying to get ready for the first day of school.  On Wednesday morning (before the weird rash dilemma), the boys and I went to a local teachers’ store to get some supplies for CC.  I could have spent a lot of money in that store.  There were so many neat resources.  CC doesn't start until after Labor Day, so we may be back.  I have most of the things I need for our days at home, but I did find some fun blank maps for Nicholas to work on labeling the United States.

Daniel is definitely ready to start the school year (more on that in the future).  He is a coloring machine lately.  In fact, the last week or so, he has spent time lining all of his “masterpieces” on our couch.  We lovingly nicknamed it his “gallery”.  He colored every picture in his last coloring book, so we bought him a new one at the dollar store today. 

Early stages of the gallery

Daniel has conquered a new skill today.  He can now open his bedroom door when it is closed.  Nicholas was up there with the door closed and Daniel didn't want to be left out, so he let himself in.  I thought the door might have not been closed all the way, so I took him out and made sure the door was tightly closed.  He did it again!  Either we’ll have to pull out those safety door knob things or Daniel will be letting himself into every closed door in the house.

Nicholas doesn't have any new skills, but he’s received a lot of nice compliments lately.  We do our best to teach good manners around here, but sometimes it seems like it falls on deaf ears.  But, lately, I've had a few people tell me that he was well-mannered.  He can be a very sweet boy.

Finally, we went to a baptism last Sunday.  It was a nice time to catch up with family and both boys were well-behaved.  Nicholas got a real nice spot next to the priest when the baby was actually being baptized.  Daniel, on the other hand, was our master prayer.  He said “amen” out loud a couple of times when the priest was done praying.  We spent a lot of time chuckling during the baptism.  Not because it was funny, but because our kids were just being cute.  

After it was over, there were plenty of opportunities for pictures.  I thought that maybe we would try and get a family picture, since I’m barely in any of them.  Well, tell that to a two-year-old.  I have some pictures, but none worthy of a frame.  Maybe when he’s closer to three we’ll have some cooperation.

We have the world’s busiest first week of school coming up.  We’ll get our school work in, but there will be plenty of field trips too!

I'm here.

So, I've kind of been away from the blog for a couple of weeks (as you have noticed).  We've been pretty busy.  Sorry.

Evan celebrated his birthday at the end of last month.  We went over to his parents’ house and had a fun time celebrating there.  Here are a few pictures from that morning.   We had Evan open his presents before church.

We had to throw in something sweet for him.

We also found Buckeye socks.

Lately, the boys have been pretending to be super heroes.  They both have an outfit that they like to wear.  It is nice that we found something that Daniel could wear since he wants to do everything that Nicholas does.

He was happy to pose.

He was not.

I caught him!

Nicholas and I spent Wednesday through Friday at an all-day Parent Practicum for CC.  Nicholas was actually in a GeoDrawing Camp, while I was at the Practicum.  Each morning Nana or Poppy would come and pick up Daniel.  I didn't want to have him be in the nursery for three days, so he had his own “camp” with my parents.  Daniel had a lot of fun and was as easy as an active 2-year-old can be.  I think he was surprised when he actually stayed home with us today.

This parent practicum was to teach parents more about the classical model of education.  In the afternoon, was my tutor training.  Yes, this is my “job” for the school year.  I am the tutor for Nicholas’ class this school year.  Our new campus director asked me to be one.  I've been having a lot of fun planning, but I’m a little nervous at the same time.  I know most of my class though, so I hope that helps knowing just how to present the information.

Nicholas’ GeoDrawing camp was fun.  The topic was the United States since that is what we are studying at CC this year.  He traced the world; learned the capitals; learned fun facts about the different states.  There was also recess and games.  Finally, they did so well with their states game that they earned a donut party on Friday afternoon.  That definitely was one of the highlights for Nicholas.

Nicholas and I had a lot of time to bond on the car rides there and back each day.  Parents also ate lunch with their children each day.  We were able to eat with some of the families that we know.  The practicum was pretty good, but we were pretty tired each night.  It should be a good year at CC though.

Finally, Evan has a long weekend.  He’s a trainer for his company now, so occasionally his schedule changes.  This week was good change.  We’re thankful for the extra time with him, especially since we were all going in different directions the last few days.  We have a lot of activities ahead, so I’ll try not to fall off the face of the earth – at least not for that long.