Week of Jan 31 to Feb 6, 2011

I keep meaning to blog and then I get sidetracked and now I have so much to write about. I'm going to stick with last week and leave the rest for another time.

Monday, we stayed home. It was fabulous! We did our school work and then I don't remember what we did :) Tuesday, Madison had Brownies and daddy took her so I could stay home and exercise. Wednesday, we went to a local jumpy place with our homeschool group for social day. That night, all 3 kiddos had karate class and I got a whole hour to myself, at home alone. What did I do? Exercise! Are you sensing a theme here? I'm trying to defeat this hypothyroidism weight gain. It seems to be working :) Thursday night, I took Andrew and Madison to their tumbling class and Jason took Grady to Tellus where they listened to a lecture from an archeologist. Grady has expressed an interest in archeology and I was thrilled that Jason was off that day and could take him. The weather was iffy and they did have to deal with some ice on the drive. I was glad when they returned home and that Grady had a good time! Friday, we stayed home and daddy went to work. We did our school work and played all afternoon. the weekend was full of me painting our living room ceiling and making new curtains while the kids played happily outside. I was crazy tired last night and my neck and arms hurt like crazy, but our ceiling looks fantastic. I'll share pics later!

On the education front, mostly we are just continuing on through our curriculum. Madison finished her Singapore 3A math book and so I ordered her the next one. While we wait for it she is playing multiplication games online to help her memorize it all. Andrew is almost finished with his first grade math book. This has led to me to think a lot about what to do next. He's already advanced a grade level and the work is easy for him. I didn't know if I should move him into 2nd grade math or what. I have decided to get the Singapore word problems and extensive practice for him before moving on to second grade math. I have no clue why, but I have a hang up on moving him to second grade right now. He's super smart, but I don't want to move him too fast. Grady is plugging along as well, he just hasn't finished anything recently, so there's not much to report!

Grady's Bday and Lots of Snow!

So, it snowed last week, with ice. We were stuck inside our house for a solid week. Thankfully, I had prepared and we didn't lose power. Also, Jason was home until Thursday. There is still snow/ice on the ground at my house, 8 days after it snowed. This is crazy for Georgia, but I fear it will become commonplace. The kids had a lot of fun and played outside most of the days we were stuck at home. We also continued with our schoolwork while the public school kids had the entire week off.

When we finally went out of the house and drove on the roads on Saturday I was amazed at how much ice/snow/slush was still on the ground. It really is time that the DOT invest in some snow removal equipment.

our front yard

Our front porch/side yard

Grady turned 11 on Jan 3. We had a family party that day and we all had a great time! Here's Grady blowing out the candles!

His cake, made by me. It was vanilla and mint and it was pretty good :)

Opening gifts with his bday glasses his Grandma gave him!

Andrew Turns 6!!

On December 6, Andrew turned 6! We had a small family gathering at our home. We had cake and ice cream and opened his gifts. It was great, quick and no stress for mommy!! Andrew and Grady will have a big friend party complete with bonfire later in January. I'm sure there will be ample stress then :)

Now, a few words about how awesome Andrew is! Andrew is the sweetest little boy. He loves his family and loves to help around the house. He is our baby and always will be. We are very glad to have him in our family.

Week of Nov 15-20, 2010

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.

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!

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!

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!