Monday, October 25, 2010

A little of what we've been up to

Cheerleading continues to take up a lot of our time here. Last week, we had 16 hours of practice. I am not kidding. Yes, I think it's too much. I am way too stressed out about the whole thing. No, we will not be doing this again next year. The problem is is that Madison loves cheering. I love watching her work so hard and the competitions are fun. We will have to come up with a solution.

We had our first competition yesterday. Madison did great. The other girls did great. They placed 4th out of 4 teams. Our routine has it's issues and that is all on the coaches. The girls did the best they could do with what they were given. Another reason why we won't do this team next year.

Madison all ready for competition!



We all went on a field trip to Carrollton Agriculture Days last Thursday. We got to see a huge Ox, a old schoolhouse, Native Americans and a bunch of other old things. I have decided that we have been to way too many of these things as we didn't really see anything new. We walked a lot and left early so we could go swim laps. We bought a pass to our local indoor pool to get the kids ready for swim season. The kids and Jason are doing great. I'm doing great for me. I have actually put my head under the water and am swimming the freestyle! I'm pretty good at the backstroke. I don't have to put my head under the water! It's been fun and it's great exercise.

The boys continue on with karate. This week they both are testing. It's Grady first test and Andrew's second. They both have gotten a bit bored waiting to test. Hopefully, they will get a little more excited after they get their new belts!

They are all doing fantastic with their school work. Moving along quite nicely. Today, we are working on a Halloween History project for our patch club meeting tomorrow!

As for me, I will be crazy busy making Halloween costumes. One is almost done, two more to go!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Before this week, we had 2 weeks off from school. My husband had vacation from work and technically it was our end of the school year. We took many trips and just relaxed. The kids all have sports and activities that still had to be done, but we managed to enjoy our time off. We rented a boat and enjoyed a day on the lake. We took a trip to Amicalola Falls and climbed 604 stairs to the top of the falls. We went to an apple orchard while we were in Northern Ga. We bought lots of yummy apples, some ice cream and apple pies! We hiked at our favorite local place, Sweetwater Creek State Park. It was a lovely "staycation" :)

This week it was back to work! Madison finished up her LLATL 2 and worked and the last bit of her Singapore math book. Grady continued to work on his TT7. Andrew is progressing nicely through his Singapore 1A and he his reading some first grade readers while we await a huge curriculum order. Both Grady and Madison worked through some spelling lessons. All 3 kids worked on Spanish and Chemistry. In chemistry, we made rubber eggs, super fun!

Tuesday, we went hiking at Red Top Mountain with our new homeschool badge club! We meet with at least 20 other homeschool kids and their families. We took a small hike, observed living things in the lake, did a scavenger hunt and had a lovely picnic lunch. We have known most of these families for 2 years at least and enjoy spending time with them! Now, my boys have the opportunity to earn badges/patches without having to join Boy Scouts. Madison has been in Girl Scouts for 4 years now and I am elated that my boys can have similar experiences without prejudice.

On Fridays, Grady has an Outdoor Adventure Class that he loves. It's with our homeschool group and it's just for him. He gets time away from his siblings and a lot of great knowledge! He also gets to spend time with Sam, a new good friend of his :)

As usual, there was lots of cheerleading and a little karate this week. Next week, Grady tests for his yellow belt!