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!!

Etowah Indian Mounds Field Trip!

Etowah River
Grady, Madison and Andrew at the top of a mound.
I took this on top of the biggest mound, looking at a smaller mound.
Jason and Andrew on the big mound.
Madison enjoying the view.
Grady


After a not so good Wednesday, I was really glad that we had some fun planned :) We have been studying Native Americans in the preschool class I teach, so I thought it would be nice to visit the Indian Mounds. We lived in Cartersville for 5 years and we didn't go once. Our kids were still too small to get anything out of it.

Yesterday was perfect. The weather was beautiful. The kids got to see some of the things we had talked about. Jason was off and got to go too! It was really a lovely day. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Pizza Hut. The kids are participating in the "Book It" program and all 3 had earned a free personal pan pizza. Jason and I enjoyed a yummy spicy pizza. Perfect!

Our first week back.......

We've been home one week now and I would love to be back at the beach. It's been raining pretty much all week. There's so much to do at home. At the beach, we played and relaxed. It was a wonderful time and I'm thankful we were able to enjoy it. I guess it's time to move on.

This week we got back to school. Monday was a very hard day. No one wanted to read or work math problems, including me. Madison had cheer practice Monday night. While we were on vacation, the team learned the second half of the routine and Madison did a fantastic job picking it up! I'm so proud and relived that she was able to get it quickly.

Schoolwork on Tuesday was a bit better and Wednesday, Andrew went to his first homeschool enrichment class. His class is a one hour class with other preschoolers, that I'm teaching. We all had a lot of fun. After class, the kids got to play with friends and I got to chat with some mommy friends. Thursday was more school and Andrew's gymnastics class. He did a great job after being gone a while.

On Friday, the kids had some friends over to play in the afternoon. Then, we had company for dinner. We had a great time catching up with our friends. Saturday morning, Madison had cheer practice at 9am. I really didn't want to wake up for that!! After practice, Madison was invited to play at a friend's house. So, I took her over there and then picked her up on the way to take all the kids to Granny and Papa's house to spend the night. Jason had to work, so I was home all by myself. I don't really enjoy being home by myself, but I did my best to enjoy my time.

I got some sewing in this week as well, Andrew has a new outfit for Fall!! Until next time........

Eco Kayak Tour on the Bay

Jason convinced me to go on a 4 hour kayak tour on the bay. Cape San Blas is a peninsula. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side is the same water, but it's protected by land on 3 sides, so it's called a bay. There's no fresh water running into it. It's calm and pretty shallow, but it has all the same animals in it that the ocean does. We had 2 kayaks for us and the tour guide had one for himself. Grady and I had a tandem kayak and Jason and Madison had a tandem with a middle seat added for Andrew. It was fun and didn't seem like 4 hours to me. I am glad I went.

We got up at 7, to be at the kayak place by 8. The kids all have their own beds, but prefer to sleep together most nights on the sofa bed. So cute :)

Hey, look what I found!!

One island we stopped at to look for some specimens.

lots of grass

following the tour guide

tube worm egg sac
There were a lot of these all around. Kind of like a ball of mucus, pretty gross, but the kids liked to pick them up.

hermit crab in Grady's hand

conch in Andrew's hand

pelican

fiddler crab in Madison's hand

all done!

Madison

beach time at sunset

Pretty Sunset

Best time to play at the beach, not too hot and no sunscreen needed!!

My wish for everyone that I randomly drew in the sand while watching my children play.

Having fun with his new net

Florida Caverns State Park

Last week, we took a 2 hour trip to Marianna, FL. They have a state park there with a cave tour. We have always wanted to go, but we never felt like driving the 4 hours. We are so glad we had the opportunity this time. The cave is awesome. Grady was fascinated and now wants to tour other caves. This cave was discovered by a CCC worker, during the Great Depression. The CCC workers hand dug out the ground of the cave so that the public could tour it. It took about 5 years to do this. Each room of the cave has a different name according to the formations in the room. There's a wedding room, a fracture room a circle room and many more. It's pretty cool and I'd recommend it to anyone in the area.

After the tour, I snapped this pic of the happy and hot foursome.

all white and smooth calcite

The drapery formation, my favorite.

Stalactites and stalagmites

Column where the stalactites and stalagmites joined.

Walking down the stairs into the cave.