Long Weekend with Aunt Karin

So last week on Thursday afternoon, Anna, Sam and I were cleaning up the kitchen when my cell phone rang. My cell phone rarely works, so no one calls me on it, they use the house phone instead. I was surprised to see Karin's number on the screen. She was planning on flying to St Louis on Friday afternoon at 2pm. She was going to call me from the airport, where I would be waiting down the road all set to pick her up. I couldn't answer the phone, so I went to my house phone to call her back. I noticed that it was 2pm, and started to get a strange feeling. While the phone was dialing I checked my old emails where I had her itinerary that she sent me about 2 months ago. Oops. She's arriving on Thursday, not Friday! Big oops.

Karin answered the phone with "I'm here!"

"Umm, here's the thing, Kar. I'm not actually at the airport yet. I'm actually still at home. You don't mind hanging out at the airport an extra hour or so, do you??"

She told me she didn't mind at all- it would give her a chance to finish her book (isn't she the greatest!). We quick woke up Henry and headed to the airport. Luckily we spend a good hour earlier in the day and got Karin's room all ready, but the house itself resembled a toy explosion. I was hoping to have it all cleaned up when Karin got here, but I guess she now knows how we really live most of the time :) I told Marianna that I felt like such a fool- and she replied that she felt like a fool also because she thought Karin wasn't coming until Friday. So we felt pretty foolish together.

Despite a rocky start to the weekend, we were all thrilled that we got Karin for an extra day! Karin was such a good sport about it- she even still gave me chocolate and coffee even though I messed up so much!! We really had a wonderful weekend with Karin. The kids are now going through withdrawal- they really miss having her to play with and indulge them in every whim. Did I mention that she bought them all foam swords while she was here? That gives her the "best aunt in the world" award, at least until they are broken (I give it about 2 weeks).

We spent Friday hanging out at home- playing outside, baking a really unusual double decked deep dish apple pie (it was delicious), playing games (I killed Karin in Scrabble), and watching movies. It was a great relaxing day and so much fun to hang out with my little sister.

On Saturday we headed into St Louis to visit the Science Center. This was a really fun trip- there was so much to see there and we all had a blast. There was a life-sized T-rex that was moving around, growling and looking pretty scary. Next to the T-rex, lying wounded on the ground was a Triceratops. It was pretty neat to see- especially for our resident dino-enthusiast Anna (once she got over her initial fright and shock at seeing the T-rex moving). After the Science Center we went over the Zoo to eat lunch and hang out for the afternoon. This was really fun- we usually try to work in naptime to the kids' days so we don't do all day activities, but we decided to skip naps and just make a whole day of it! The kids saw some animals (not a lot, though, since it was hot and most of the animals seemed to be napping in shady spots), riding the carousel and the train, and eating lots of junkfood. Anna and Sam fell asleep leaning on each other on they way home, and everyone got to bed early that night!

Sunday was low key- Karin and I went and did some shopping in the morning and had Panera for lunch. I can't remember what else we did on Sunday- so it must not have been that memorable!! Monday was a school day, although we took it easy and only did a little bit so we could spend time with Karin. I am so lucky to have such a great sister- she is so good with the kids and it was so nice to spend time with her. I wish we lived closer so we could do it more often- but it will be a lot of fun to visit her in NM!

We are getting ready for a weekend in Wisconsin with Grammy and Grampy next!

Ready, Set, Go!

Welcome to my blog! I really want to try to document what our lives are like for family and friends to stay updated on our family, as well as try to focus on the positive a little more. I tend to get bogged down in negative thinking, and my goal for myself this year is to change that! There is a song by Point of Grace called "Blue Skies" that really sums up the attitude I would like to have. This past year has brought us many challenges- the biggest being the loss of our baby boy, Daniel. This is quite honestly the worst thing that has ever happened to me and has truly shaken my faith. I want to believe that there is a reason for everything and that God knows what He is doing with my life. I don't understand why He took Daniel from us before we could know him, but I trust in God to bring us peace. My blessings are also many- I have a wonderful home and family. I couldn't love anyone more than I love my wonderful, patient, amazing husband Geoff. He puts up with me and centers me and reminds me of what is really important. I can not imagine life without him. Anna is the oldest (5). If I had to describe her in one word- I would use "bright." She is curious, inquisitive, sensitive, imaginative, and sweet. Sam, 3, is "intense." He is my crazy, challenging, sweet, beautiful boy. He can be wild, disobedient, more aggressive than I'd like, but he is also fun, smart, adorable and funny. Henry is almost 2 and is "sweet." He has the sweetest nature of any child I've ever seen, although he has recently discovered a temper and gets very angry on occassion. He talks and talks and talks- and sometimes I can understand him. He makes me smile every day- and he makes me feel like I am losing my mind at least once every day also. That's life with a two year old, I guess! I love them all more than anything- even though there are days when I don't feel all that lucky :)

The biggest change this year for us is that Anna is officially starting school! We are now three weeks into our first school year! Anna is now a kindergartner! It has been very exciting to officially begin our homeschooling adventure. Here is a list of the subjects she is doing for school this year:

Math- Saxon Level 1
Reading- Veritas Press First Favorites and plenty of independent reading
Writing- Writing With Ease Level 1 (copywork/narration, and 1 letter per week), New American Cursive Level 2
Grammar- First Language Lessons Level 1
Geography- Veritas Press Legends and Leagues and geography memory songs
Bible- Veritas Press Old Testament study
Spelling- All About Spelling Level 2
Science- Easy Classical Life Science

So far everything is going great! Anna really catches on to things quickly, and in some ways it feels too easy... She is flying through a lot of her work, so we might finish a lot of it earlier than I had planned, but it seems ok for now. I am happy with most of the curriculum to far. Here are my first impressions:

Math seems a little too easy at the moment, but we are doing multiple lessons per day to get to the more challenging work that is coming.

Reading is Anna's strongest thing right now. She loves to read and stays up late at night to finish a book. I love that she loves to read, but I find myself telling her she is only allowed to read 1 chapter at night so she will get some sleep! In just the past 3 weeks she has read "Henry Huggins," "Ramona Quimby, age 8," "Betsy and Tacy," and three "Littles" books. These are only the chapter books she has read, she has also read countless "Mr Putter and Tabby" books and "Nate the Great" books as well. She will correct Geoff and I if we make a mistake reading a book to the kids... The First Favorites books seem a little easy in relation to her current abilities, but again, I think that is okay for kindergarten. She has no problem with any of the comprehension worksheets and activities, but sometimes it just feels like busy work. We are moving quickly through this workbook and I plan to do one of the Little House primers once we finish First Favorites.

Writing turns Anna into a stinker many days. This is the only thing she gets whiny about. It is strange, because she writes with no problem and she does it really well. She really doesn't like the copywork for some reason. I think she thinks it is boring- I hear a lot of "Mom, I already know how to write!" She has to write both WWE sentences- she can decide which one to do in cursive and which to do in printing. When I ask her to write a narration sentence she does it very easily and with very little resistance. I try to just stay calm and tell her the work needs to get done, but this subject is one that creates the most clashes between us. I think copywork is very important, and I like the WWE workbook that is all layed out for us and ready to go, so we are definitely continuing with it. She definitely prefers printing, but she can write in cursive pretty well also.

Grammar also seems a little too easy- but I think we will continue with FLL and switch to Shurley for next year. The lessons are super short, so that's a plus, and I do like the narrations and picture studies. I think she is getting something out of it, but I feel like we could easily do more than one lesson a day and finish the book in about a month. I am continuing with the slower pace for now, but I think Anna is capable of doing more.

Geography is a big time favorite around here. Sam is enjoying this subject as well. So far, Anna can identify and recite the states along the norther border, the southern border and the pacific states easily. She is working on the eastern border and the middle states and has them almost down as well. She really has a phenomenal memory and both she and Sam have really taken to learning things in song. It is funny to hear Sam sing along with these songs as well and see him find the state puzzle pieces and know what they are. I am surprised by how much they like memory songs- for some reason I really didn't expect that.

Bible is another subject both Anna and Sam like. The lessons are generally short and Anna has always enjoyed being read to. I am also learning a lot, which is pretty fun. Anna has memorized the order of the days of creation and both Anna and Sam have the books of the Old Testament memorized. Again, it's funny to hear Sam singing "Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy..." They really like the songs- but they get stuck in my head!!

Spelling is great- I love AAS! I thought I would hate all the parts to this program, but it's really neat how it all comes together. It did take a few days to get the hang of it, but now it is going really well. Anna does great with spelling- she seems to be getting a lot out of it already. I am amazed to see how it has applied to her writing in general. She will stop in the middle of a sentence and recite a spelling rule to explain to me how she is going to write a word. It's really neat to see. We are moving quickly through AAS2- I might have to start the next level before the end of the year.

Science is Easy Classical Life Science and so far I like it. We have run into a few problems with experiments that are not related to the program- we have had such a dry summer that our soil is rock hard and dry and we can't find any worms! I have been supplementing the life science study with lots of fun experiments that aren't necessarily related to our studies. We did one experiment that tested which objects float or sink in water, an experiment testing the way food coloring moves to the leaves of celery, and a taste test. The kids (Henry too) all love the experiments.

Well, I think that's everything. It looks like a lot, but it's really pretty simple. We get most of the desk work done first thing in the morning, do plenty of reading and read-alouds during the day and most of the hands-on activities in the afternoon. Some days it feels like we finish in about an hour, some days it lasts longer. I love having Anna home- I can't imagine sending her off on a school bus and not seeing her until the afternoon! I won't pretend our days are perfect, we have our share of meltdowns, tantrum and fights, but overall things are great and I think we are all learning a lot.

Check back for more updates!