New Preschooler

For the first time since Mary was 4, one of my kids is attending an outside school. We found a play preschool for Robbie that was just what we had been looking for. Three mornings a week of relaxed, educational fun. Plus, the class is full of boys for Robbie to run around with. I think he gets enough of us females at home.

Wednesday was his first day...very excited and up extra early. He helped me make his lunch and pack his school bag.

He loves going and every morning since then the first thing he asks is whether it is a school day.

Having 3 hours, 3 mornings a week is working out well here at the house also. We are using that time to focus on projects for the girls' various unit studies. Activities and books that he always wanted to be in the middle of, but really wasn't ready for.

I'm amazed at how quiet it can get in the morning when all of the girls are busy working and Robbie isn't here. This is my first experience at homeschooling and not having a preschooler/toddler in tow.

Other than getting used to a new routine on M,W,F; everything else is moving along normally. Fall is coming, we've had the AC off for nearly a week and have been comfortable. I can smell the difference in the air and it is making me more interested in fall cleaning, preparing for winter and doing more knitting/crocheting. I have a pork loin in the freezer that I am just waiting for cooler weather so I can use the leftovers to make a Brunswick Stew.

After almost two weeks off from soccer, Mary was back on the pitch playing. So happy to be back out there instead of watching.

Next week looks to be another busy week. The calendar is filled with activities & practices and Katie will be celebrating her 8th birthday. Wow!

Peace,

Amy

September!!!

Wow! I shouldn't have blinked during August because it just disappeared.

We came back from the trip to the beach, picked up Mary in the mountains from camp and promptly became sick for nearly a week. The joys of a stomach bug running through a home of six. I think it took me extra days to just mentally recover from that experience. Thankfully everyone was well enough by the weekend so that we could make it to all the games.

This past weekend was Mary's first soccer tournament of the year, a home tournament. Her team has looked really good in practice so far, but came out to the games looking a little flat. It was a good warm-up to the season which starts after Labor Day.

Mary hurt her knee early on Saturday, so her play was limited Saturday afternoon and Sunday. She played goalie the first half of the first game and looked good. She volunteered to be part of the goalie rotation this year and is doing extra goalie training.

As far as her knee goes everyday it is getting better and we don't believe it is a severe injury. Her knee collided with another's knee. Her coach has limited her practice time this past week and on Tuesday told her that he wanted Mary to take the whole week off from training (Tuesday-Tuesday after Labor Day).

Katie also had a softball game on Saturday. The schedules worked perfectly so that we could see Katie's game in-between Mary's games. Katie's team is doing really well and having lots of fun.

As far as the two little ones go, we are getting used to our go..go..go lifestyle. The back of the van is filled with lots of trucks for moving piles of dirt around, because every field seems to have a playable pile of dirt right next to it. Of course there are trees to climb.

And facilities to explore.

Schoolwork amazingly is still moving along. After six years of homeschooling it appears the children have finally adapted to the ebbs and flows of life and can do schoolwork even with everything else that is going on.

I've finally scored on curriculum choices, as there have been no complaints so far this year about our schoolwork. The biggest hits have been the unit studies. I'm using a couple from Intelligo right now that are so easy to use. Literally click and go.

After Labor Day, Robbie will begin attending a play preschool three mornings a week. The first time one of my children has attended a 'school' outside our home since Mary was in preschool six years ago. It was an opportunity I didn't feel like I could turn down and something that will benefit all of us. I've just got to get used to getting the kids up and ready to leave the house in the morning again. Robbie is very excited and keeps talking about 'his' school.

Right now, we are watching the weather and waiting. We are supposed to head back to the beach for one last summertime visit with the family tomorrow. Hoping that Hurricane Earl speeds on up and moves out as quickly as possible. DH has taken off Friday-Tuesday and we are looking forward to a long, family weekend by the pool.

Have a great holiday!

Peace,

Amy

Back at the beach and Pics for Hubby

I'm at the beach with Katie, Emily and Robbie. Mary is enjoying her second week of camp in the mountains for the summer. I took some pictures today of the kids swimming and playing at the sound to share with DH, who is back home working and holding down the fort.

Peace,

Amy

Three weeks of school down

I can't believe we are already on the fourth week of school for this year. It is going really well so far. We have managed to stay on task for the most part and gradually introducing more work as each week begins. The fact that we continued Time4Learning, informally, during May & June, allowed us to get our groove back faster than normal.

This week I went ahead and formally moved Katie and Emily up a level on T4L. We had been floating back and forth between levels since July trying to find the right spot for both of them. Now, Emily is working at the 1st grade level for both Math and LA, and is excited to have access to the new Integrated Literature Studies at the 1st grade level. Katie is doing the 3rd grade level for all of her subjects, which she finds challenging but more interesting than 2nd.

In addition to T4L we've also been working through our unit studies. Currently, we've got three going: Weather, Whales, and Money and Banking. Although, each have their own assigned unit studies they seem to enjoy taking part in each other's studies. Mary is also doing a formal literature study for the first time while reading "Frindle" by Andrew Clements. Katie is reading the Classic Starts version of "Moby Dick" as part of her Whale study. I'm amazed that she is enjoying the book so much as I never personally cared for the story and she is only 7. Not something I would have thought she would be interested in. I offered to read it aloud to her, but she wanted to read it herself.

Our evening read aloud has been "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin. Since we have been reading about the impoverished areas of Pakistan, the news about the catastrophic flooding has been very important to us. We've followed it on the BBC site as American news is very lacking when it comes to international news. We wonder how many of the villages CAI has helped over the years have been destroyed by the floods and how sad for the people.

Outside of school we have already started fall sports. Katie has had softball practices for a couple of weeks now and they have their first game this weekend. Mary's soccer team is having their team camp this week in the evenings. They will start formal practices next week and the first games will be the end of August at the kick-off tournament.

Next week, Mary will be attending camp in the mountains again while the rest of us head to the beach so Emily can go to her first day camp. Katie and I will be taking the week to focus on her whale unit study. We'll cover the history of whale hunting and in particular the little known history of whaling in NC. Carteret County/Beaufort started off as a whaling port in the late 1600s. In fact, my first ancestors to settle there were whalers originally from Massachusetts. We'll look through some of the family history books my mom has and also visit the Maritime Museum while we are there. Unfortunately, DH has to stay behind and hold down the fort for us.

We'll also take off the next week from school lessons. The public schools will be starting that week, and as a reward to the girls for working so hard we are going to take the week to visit some museums in the area and hopefully do some nature walks. It will be nice to be out and about when everyone else is in school.

Peace,

Amy

Speaking of Weather...

Look what mother nature brought us tonight while we are studying weather...

Peace,

Amy