This week was kind of a let down. We are so used to having something to do every afternoon/night and those things are coming to an end. We find ourselves with nothing to do and it takes some adjustment to get into a new routine.
As far as school goes, the kids are doing great. We realized this week, after Grady's 5th quiz in teaching Textbooks 7, that he has scored an A on all 5 quizzes. He has an A in math. We are super proud, especially since he's 10 and in the 5th grade doing level 7 math. Madison is doing fantastic with multiplying and dividing. That was a hard on to teach Grady since he's dyslexic and he finds memorizing nearly impossible. It's a relief for me that Madison is doing well with it. Andrew continues to amaze me. Evey time I turn the page in his Singapore 1A math book I think it might be hard for him. I explain it and he does it and gets it right. He is nearing the end of 1A and he's 5. My kids aren't geniuses, just allowed to move ahead or stay behind when needed. Grady really didn't read until 4th grade. Now he's reading at or above his grade level. Another reason we love homeschooling! The kids get the education they need on an individual level.
We are studying Chemistry this year. Right now, we are learning about the elements and the periodic table. In history, we read about India during the middle ages. We learned about the Ajanta Caves where Buddhist Monks used to live. It's a beautiful place and amazing that all of the work was done by hand.
Tuesday, Madison had both Brownies and cheer practice. Jason was home so the boys didn't have to come. Wednesday, we went swimming after school and after swimming, we stopped by the homeschool co-op to pick up the food drive donations and that night both boys had karate and Jason took them. Madison and I stayed home. Thursday we went on a field trip to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History to see their new exhibit, Water. It was well done and informative. Too bad the school kids on field trips made the trip quite annoying. They were loud, rude and ran thru the place like it was an amusement park. I doubt they learned one thing that day. After Fernbank, we ate lunch at The Flying Biscuit Cafe where Andrew said they were the best biscuits he had had in his life!! The food was good and we had a nice lunch :) Thursday night we were expecting to go to cheer practice, but it was canceled at the last minute. I went bday shopping for Andrew by myself that night. On Friday, we usually have Grady's outdoor adventure class, but his last class was last week.
The kids ask everyday, "Where we are going today?". We are used to going and after our last cheer competition today our schedule will change and be more relaxed. We will only have karate and tumbling class every week. I'm sure that with bdays and Christmas we will be busy.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Cheer Fest 2010
Madison's Cheer Video
Madison's team won 1st place yesterday and here's a video I made for those who were not there!
Madison's team won 1st place yesterday and here's a video I made for those who were not there!
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.
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!
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!
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!
Friday, August 13, 2010
August 9-13, 2010
We've had a good week here. Since we school year around we are finishing up with some stuff and starting some new stuff.
Grady started reading, The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare. It's his last book of LLATL 4th. He has come such a long way in a year. He has gone from almost not reading at all to reading at or above grade level! Children really do read on their own time. Grady started Teaching Textbooks 7 this week. He completed lessons 1-5. So far, we are all liking it. It's our first time with TT. We have been using Singapore. Singapore's great and we will continuw using it through 4th grade with Andrew and Madison. Math is not my strong suit, so I decided to use TT since it involves little help from me.
Madison is finishing up 2nd grade. She's doing great with LLATL 2nd. She started fractions today in Singapore. Thankfully, she seems to get it. The rest of 2B should go by quickly. I checked out the rest of the lessons and they look pretty easy.
Andrew finished Kindergarten sometime last month. He is waiting on his first grade math to get here. I ordered it, but it hasn't arrived. I need to get his LLATL student workbook ordered. He is enjoying some time off right now.
Both Andrew and Grady started karate classes on Wednesday. I was really impressed with what they were taught. They enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next class. Madison is cheering and we are all looking forward to the first game.
I have been reading out loud the last Harry Potter book in anticipation of the movie coming out in November. We are almost done! Also, we have all been enjoying the last days of summer. We are usually in the pool as we hear the school bus go by. Life is good:)
Grady started reading, The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare. It's his last book of LLATL 4th. He has come such a long way in a year. He has gone from almost not reading at all to reading at or above grade level! Children really do read on their own time. Grady started Teaching Textbooks 7 this week. He completed lessons 1-5. So far, we are all liking it. It's our first time with TT. We have been using Singapore. Singapore's great and we will continuw using it through 4th grade with Andrew and Madison. Math is not my strong suit, so I decided to use TT since it involves little help from me.
Madison is finishing up 2nd grade. She's doing great with LLATL 2nd. She started fractions today in Singapore. Thankfully, she seems to get it. The rest of 2B should go by quickly. I checked out the rest of the lessons and they look pretty easy.
Andrew finished Kindergarten sometime last month. He is waiting on his first grade math to get here. I ordered it, but it hasn't arrived. I need to get his LLATL student workbook ordered. He is enjoying some time off right now.
Both Andrew and Grady started karate classes on Wednesday. I was really impressed with what they were taught. They enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next class. Madison is cheering and we are all looking forward to the first game.
I have been reading out loud the last Harry Potter book in anticipation of the movie coming out in November. We are almost done! Also, we have all been enjoying the last days of summer. We are usually in the pool as we hear the school bus go by. Life is good:)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Our First Alone Vacation
Last weekend Jason and I went on our first vacation without kids, ever. We went to a small town, close to St. Simmons called Darien. Here's a pic of the cottage we stayed at.
We visited downtown Darien, which took about 2 minutes :) It's a small fishing village on the intercoastal waterway.
That evening, we went to St. Simmons Island. We went to the beach and ate dinner there before heading back to the cottage. We were amazed at the amount of sand. It was low tide and the beach was huge.
The next day was spent on Jekyll Island. We first visited Driftwood Beach. I read about it online and it sounded nice. We were surprised to find rocks instead of sand! We did see a lot of dolphins following a shrimp boat. That was nice and the view was certainly beautiful!
We then moved further down the beach and set up for the day. We spent about 4 hours there enjoying the warm, calm water. It was nice to not have to watch 3 kids in the ocean for a change. Who knows when or if we will take a trip without the kids again. We missed them a lot and kept saying. "The kids would love this" and, "We should bring the kids here".
We visited downtown Darien, which took about 2 minutes :) It's a small fishing village on the intercoastal waterway.
That evening, we went to St. Simmons Island. We went to the beach and ate dinner there before heading back to the cottage. We were amazed at the amount of sand. It was low tide and the beach was huge.
The next day was spent on Jekyll Island. We first visited Driftwood Beach. I read about it online and it sounded nice. We were surprised to find rocks instead of sand! We did see a lot of dolphins following a shrimp boat. That was nice and the view was certainly beautiful!
We then moved further down the beach and set up for the day. We spent about 4 hours there enjoying the warm, calm water. It was nice to not have to watch 3 kids in the ocean for a change. Who knows when or if we will take a trip without the kids again. We missed them a lot and kept saying. "The kids would love this" and, "We should bring the kids here".
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Future Plans
We are still plugging along. Grady and Andrew finished up their math books last week. That makes Andrew officially a 1st grader. He's a full year ahead of where he would be in public school. He picks up everything I show him. Grady finished Singapore 4 and since we are switching curriculum to Teaching Textbooks, I had him take the placement test for it. He placed into TT 7. That's exciting because he can finish all the TT by the end of 10th grade and be ready for college math at 11th grade. Since our plan is to send the kids to college for joint enrollment in 11th, that works out. Madison is working hard and is on schedule to finish by September.
We have vacation next week. We have a lot of local things planned to do like Six Flags and Stone Mountain. Jason and I are going to a cute little cottage in Savannah for 3 days at the end of the week, by OURSELVES! It'll be our first trip without kids. I think we are all ready for it. Jason's bday is July 31 and our anniversary is Aug 8, so it's a nice gift to ourselves :)
At this point, I am planning on taking all of September off from school. We have another week of vacation where we are planning to rent an RV and do some road-tripping. The rest of the time we be full of house projects, maybe a yard sale and just down time. We all could use some. In October, we will be full swing into 1st, 3rd and 5th grades!!
I'm looking forward to it :)
We have vacation next week. We have a lot of local things planned to do like Six Flags and Stone Mountain. Jason and I are going to a cute little cottage in Savannah for 3 days at the end of the week, by OURSELVES! It'll be our first trip without kids. I think we are all ready for it. Jason's bday is July 31 and our anniversary is Aug 8, so it's a nice gift to ourselves :)
At this point, I am planning on taking all of September off from school. We have another week of vacation where we are planning to rent an RV and do some road-tripping. The rest of the time we be full of house projects, maybe a yard sale and just down time. We all could use some. In October, we will be full swing into 1st, 3rd and 5th grades!!
I'm looking forward to it :)
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