March1-5, 2010

This week we had more snow. No one was excited. I think we are all ready for Spring. We watched the snow fall, but we didn't go outside to play in it. The snow was really wet and it had been raining before the snow started, so it was really not good snow to play in. Jason took this picture of a bird sitting in a tree outside of the window while the snow fell. It was the only picture we took of that snowfall. I guess we are over the snow this year!


We had the week off from Robert's school and it was nice to not have to get out in the cold and snow on Wednesday morning :) On Thursday, we took a field trip to a rock quarry. It was pretty entertaining. We even got to be there while they blasted some rock. This only happens 3 times a week so we got really lucky. This quarry mines granite mainly for landscaping. Here are some pics of that:

Just the tires on this truck were taller that any of the dads!


A huge pile of rocks!

All the children got to collect rocks!

A look into the quarry.

Friday, we had a productive school day. Grady and Madison are finishing up their math books. Thankfully, I ordered the next books for them already! We finished up a unit study on the human body today as well. G&M know a lot about this subject! They really enjoyed it and are looking forward to our study of cells :) We press on in Spanish. They are doing awesome. I didn't know how it would go, but so far so good! Andrew is working on finishing up his Kindergarten work. He is waiting on his next math book to arrive and we are going over the letters he still doesn't know. At this point he's not missing many, so that's good. He's even starting to read 3 and 4 letter words! Grady and Madison also did a lesson in their LLATL 2 and 4 language arts books. Grady's new reading book, "Wilbur and Orville Wright," made it here today, so we will get started on it soon.

After our schooltime, Madison had her horse riding lesson. This was her thrid lesson and she is improving. She did a lot of trotting today and learned how to clean the horse's hooves. She was looking forward to the nail part, so we were both glad she got to do that!

Tomorrow is Grady's first swim meet!! We are all excited, despite having to get up very early :)

Feb 20- Feb 27, 2010

On Monday we went to Fernbank. They have a new exhibit about natural disasters. It was the perfect day to go. There was hardly anyone there and the exhibit was great. We all enjoyed it and learned a lot!

On Tuesday, Jason was TDY'd to DC. That means he had to fly to DC and sit in a hotel until they needed him. He was gone for 5 days. Thankfully, he had a trip assigned so that he could get out of the hotel. Our life went on as normal, but we all missed Daddy.

Wednesday was our last class of session 3 at the Roberts school. Grady's class will continue into session 4. Madison and Andrew will take a clay class together after our Pre-K/K class.

Saturday, Madison had a cookie booth sale. It was an adventure getting her there. After a week on my own, I guess my brain was a little tired. I drove to the wrong place and then couldn't find the right one for a while. We finally got there about 10 minutes late. I really dislike being late! After the cookie sale we went home and Daddy called and said he was on his way home :) Madison had a sleepover at the zoo that night, so we left the boys at home and I drove Madison to the zoo. On Sunday, we picked Madison up and walked around the zoo for about 2 hours. Madison told us what she learned and we saw lots of animals.

We have been doing well in our school lessons. I ordered some curriculum to finish out the year. Now, we just wait on it and finish up what we are working on. Everything's going well and the kids are learning lots :)

Feb 13 - Feb 19, 2010

Last week, Grady started on a swim team. He loves it. He went to practice 4 times this week! It's amazing to Jason and me how much he enjoys the water :) His first meet is on March 6 in Anniston, AL. We are all excited!!

On the 14th, I woke up to a heart shaped breakfast made by my wonderful husband. He also made the same breakfast for Madison when she woke up. Madison and I woke up early to attend my sister, Savannah's cheer competition. After the competition we came home and we made a Valentine's dinner together. We tried to make it special for everyone with candle and China plates. The kids love when we eat on our wedding China!

Most of last week was dedicated to Grady and Madison's first science fair projects. Grady tested whether or not the number of folds affect a paper airplane's flight. Madison tested the best shipping material for crackers. They both did awesome and we are super proud of them:)

Grady's display
Grady presenting his project.

Madison's displayMadison presenting her project.

On Saturday, Madison and I went to International Thinking Day with her Brownie Troop. Each troop in the service unit presents a different country. The Girl Scouts get to travel the world in 2 hours. Each country has food to try, facts to learn and swaps to collect. We had a lot of fun! Madison's troop had China. All the girl's wore chopsticks in the hair and had Chinese fans to use during the day. I have pictures, but need to upload them. I'll do that soon, but for now, it's time for life science!

Feb 6- Feb 12

This week we went to the Smyrna Recycling Center.The kids learned how important recycling is. They watched a demonstration on how paper is recycled. We also got to see a big truck big up a dumpster and then return it. Each child got to peek into the recycling bins. Then, we had Mexican for lunch with some of our friends.


In school, we dissected a cow eyeball. We learned about the human eye last week in life science and we watched a dissection online. Grady wasn't all that interested in doing the dissection when I ordered the eyeball, but he ended up enjoying it. Andrew even got into it. Madison loved it. It was very educational for us!

On Friday, Atlanta was lucky enough to get about 4 inches of snow. It was really nice, snowman making snow. We all enjoyed how beautiful it was. The kids were able to play in the snow both Friday and Saturday!

Jan 30 thru Feb 5, 2010

On Monday we did our school work and Madison went to tumbling practice in the evening. She had not been to practice in 3 weeks due to the evil stomach virus that ripped thru our family. She had fun and did a great job. While we were there another girl was practicing her individual routine. Madison saw this and asked if she could compete in individual too. So, now she is going to work on an individual routine. I'm really proud that she wants to get up in front of thousands of people and compete!

On Tuesday, Madison went to Brownies. Her troop is collecting pennies for Haiti. She has been very good about collecting the pennies. She loves to help others :)

Wednesday is our Robert's school day. Grady LOVES his computer game design class. He gets so excited about it!! Madison is enjoying her fashion illustration class. We all love the social time.

The kids have been doing really well with their school work. Grady has been writing!! I can't believe how well he is doing. I really thought, that given his dyslexia, he would hate writing. He does it without complaint and enjoys learning the rules.

This week, I found a swim team for Grady. I have to schedule an evaluation for him and then hopefully, he will be on the team! He is a good swimmer so, I don't think it'll be a problem. We are excited about it as he isn't really into sports, but we feel it's important to be active. Swim team will definitely be active!

Andrew continues his gymnastics class on Thursdays. He is doing Kindergarten work and I realized it isn't challenging enough for him. This lead to me looking for more curriculum for him. I believe that I will use Moving Beyond the Page ages 5-7 for him next year. He seems to be very intelligent and ready for most anything! We will continue to work on letter sounds this year and maybe some adding.

Grady and Madison studied eyes and seeing on Friday. We watched a cow eye dissection online and Madison really wanted to do it herself, so I ordered one! I dissected one in high school, along with a few other things :) I'm so excited to share this with them. I LOVE science!

They continue to do well learning Spanish. I've been really impressed with the program and how useful it it. We are using MochaLive, completely free and online, prefect!

While looking for curriculum for Andrew I found a terrific math program called Teaching Textbooks. It starts with 4th grade and continues thru high school. I am not terrific at Math and this curriculum has cds that teach the student. It's interactive, funny and educational. It's also great for dyslexics as the teacher speaks all the written words. Although Grady has improved his reading by leaps and bounds this year, it's nice to focus on the math for math and not to have to read so much. We are going to use this for Grady next year and maybe Madison. It's such a relief to me to have found this!!

This weekend, we will make our Valentine's and get ready for our class on Wed. And of course, Jason will be smoking some yummy food for the Super Bowl!

Jan 22-29, 2010

The last couple of weeks, one of us has been sick with a stomach flu. This week was been no different. I have been spared so far, but I have a horrible allergic reaction to clothes detergent. I have been an itchy mess for the past 2 weeks. It seems to be getting better, but I"m going insane! However, we did manage to get a lot done this week :)

Last Friday, Madison had her first horse riding lesson. She loved it! Not much happened during the weekend. School went good. I started teaching each child individually instead of all 3 together. They seem to like the individual attention better. I thought it would take longer, but so far it hasn't. Madison and Grady do thier math and language arts with me. Andrew works on his Kindergarten workbook, one subject at a time, with me. Together we do biology and spanish.

Wednesday we went to our homeschool classes. Madison is loving her fashion illustration class. Grady can't wait for Wednesday to come. He's taking a computer game design class. I teach Andrew's pre-k class. This week we studied the polar regions and learned about polar bears.

On Thursday, Andrew went to his gymnastics class. He loves his Coach Haley!! I love watching him have so much fun!

I decided on Friday that after we finish up biology, we will study spelling. Neither Grady nor Madison has had a formal spelling curriculum yet. They have spelling lists that they memorize for the week, but I want them to know how to spell words. We will be using AVKO Sequential Spelling. I think the multi-sensory lessons will work well for us.

Today is lots of laundry and tomorrow we ar going to a cousin's 2nd bday party. Have a good weekend!

It's been awhile.....

Sometimes life gets in the way, you know? I'm going to do weekly updates from now on, mostly for myself, but you are welcome to read :)

First, we have to catch up. My last post was just before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving this year was it's usual crazy self. We had 2 dinners. One at Jason's parents and one at my parents. Then, Andrew has his 5th bday on December 6th. We had his party at home and it was a car/plane/trains theme. He had a blast, of course! Then on Dec 18th, I celebrated my 33rd birthday. I had a lovely day with lots of thoughtful gifts and yummy food. The kids spent the night at Granny and Papa's and Jason and I spent the night at a lovely hotel :) Christmas came and went. Right after Christmas, the kids and I took a trip to Gainesville, Fl to see Dad, Denise, Ian, Aunt Susan and Nanny. It was a short trip, but we are all glad we went. Then it was on to Grady's 10th birthday! I really can't believe he's 10! We held his party at home as well. It was a science party and the kids had great fun making messy experiments!All the while, we have been homeschooling and attending classes at the Robert's school. I have been teaching a pre-k class that Andrew attends. Grady and Madison have enjoyed Lego class, Fashion Design, game design and acting. The kids are doing fantastic and Grady's reading is coming along by leaps and bounds!!

That's it, all caught up. I'll see you soon. Look out for my weekly update!!