Is the Honeymoon Over???

The last couple of days have gone more the way I thought most homeschooling days would go. Julia has been more like the Julia we all know. She is less agreeable and she is doing things in the morning that set the tone for the rest of the day. Today it was waking up way too early and then proceeding to make a HUGE mess in the bathroom. Its really hard to "forget" her earlier "mistakes" and be easy going and encouraging the rest of the morning. Her work has also been a bit rushed and sloppy. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with how hot it has been and the fact that we have not been going for our morning walks/bike rides/park playtime. Anyhow, she did take a math review test and scored a 96% (although I'm not assigning grades to her). We have also finished all the capital letters and the numbers in her handwriting book. Her reading skills are improving and she is reading more, and liking it. We have been putting quarters in our wall quarter map. I've been surprised by how many states she remembers. She knows California because she knows it is where we live. She knows that her cousins, Emma and Andrew, live in Oregon. For some reason she knows that Washington is north of Oregon. That Sam Beaver in Trumpet of the Swan spends his summers in Montana. She knows that E.B. White lived on a farm in Maine. She knows that her cousins, Isaac, Grace and Hayden live in New York now. She knows that her cousins Austin and Kielyn live in Florida. And then she remembers that Daddy went to Georgia last year on a business trip. She just seems to have her way of knowing and remembering many, many states (more than I've listed here).

Karley's school has a field trip to Apple Hill next Friday. I told Julia today that if she works hard so that we feel we can afford to take a morning off next Friday that we can go on the field trip. Always good to have a little leverage....

Art Lesson: Artists Imagine

So this afternoon Julia and I worked on her second art lesson from our book, Artistic Pursuits. This lesson talked about artists using things they know and that are familiar to them and incorporating their imagination when making a picture. The assignment was to make a painting using water color crayons. This was our first time using water color crayons, and they are really pretty cool. First you draw your picture with a drawing pencil, then color it in using the crayons, and finally use a paint brush and water to let the colors swirl and mix. It was cool watching the pigment become liquified and fill in all the white gaps of her coloring.

So she was to pick something that was familiar to her. Of course that meant that she wanted to do a tabby cat. The book suggested going for a walk around the neighborhood to get some ideas. We were not able to do this since Karely was "napping" in her room. So I suggested that maybe she could think about the park down the street. She thought it was a great idea, but of course, she managed to squeeze that cat in there too! Here are some photos of our art time.

This is how it looked before adding the water with the brush. I am told Karley is on the yellow slide, Julia is on the swing, and the tabby cat is waiting at the bottom of the slide. Not sure why she made the skin color so dark for herself and her sister, but in all fairness there was no good flesh color, her choices were either brown or orange.

Hard at work.....

The finished product! Julia is quite pleased with herself! I am too!

The Outside of Julia's Bedroom Door...

The inside of Julia's room......

Great First Week

Well, here we are at the end of our first week. I have to say that so far I am presently surprised. Mildly surprised at how bright Julia is....this I have known from the day she was born it seems. Happily surprised that Karley is so far able to keep herself busy and not need too much interaction for good 30-45 minute chunks of time. And so far I am most surprised that I am able to keep my own sanity!!! Today I realized that I was being a little less patient. How many times does one really need to say, "sit in your chair" or "stop fidgeting" or "please open your eyes when you are writing?" But we are at the end of our week and tomorrow I go to my "real job." Sunday will probably be spent catching up on shopping and cleaning up the house and then we will be at it all over again next week. So far, so good.

Julia's First Art Lesson

So, here is the budding artist hard at work on her first art lesson. We read a few pages in her art book about artists composing their work, looked at a print and talked about its composition, and then she was all set to break out her new art supplies and compose her own picture. The assignment was to draw about something she likes. It suggested drawing something that she had seen earlier that day or the previous day. She could not think of what to draw so she fell back on drawing what she liked. Of course, that means she drew a cat.

Karley's First Day at Creative Kids Preschool!

So, here is Karley before her first day of big girl preschool. She is going to Creative Kids Preschool (the preschool that Julia graduated from last June) Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I was afraid that she might be nervous about going, but as you can see she and Frogalina were all smiles! She got through the 3 hour period just fine with no tears I'm told. Her teachers told me today that she is quiet (we all know that), but that once she gets going she has a lot to say (this we also know). They also told me what a great dancer she is! Dancing at preschool on her first day?!? Guess she is not as shy as we thought!

Our First Week

So here we are on our first day. I wanted a photo of all three of us, but I never took the time to figure out if our new camera has a timer or how to use it. So, I took a photo of the girls together and I let each of them take turns taking photos of their sister and I. As you can imagine, there are many, many images with heads chopped off, or of the floor, or of mom's rear end trying to get back in place before the junior photographer gets trigger happy. So these are probably the best photos of Day 1.

I have to say now that we are four days into it, things are going better than I had hoped for...so far. Julia is paying close attention. Karley is a dream little sister who entertains herself quietly and well for long stretches of time. I have only had to put my foot down with Julia over something (i.e. "Julia, I want you to open your eyes when you are practicing your handwriting." "Oh mom!" she says) a handful of times. Our lesson time is intense time, but we are not arguing during that time. She is more attentive and respectful than other periods of the day. She is going through mostly review stuff, but I can see such a big improvement from when we first went through these lessons, months ago. She doesn't need time to "get it". Its already there. Julia tells me that homeschooling is easier than she thought it would be. I told her that I was happy to hear that, but that we would be adding in some things. "Like what," she says. "Well, like history and some science, but we will add one new thing at a time" I tell her. She comes back with, "Oh mom, can't we just do it all?"

So overall, I feel relieved. I feel like we spend a good amount of time on math, phonics, and handwriting each day. In addition she reads to me, I read to her, and she works on art and/or craft stuff each day (much of the time it is during her free time and she does her own thing). Even with all this though, I am still working really hard for us to meet our weekly minimum amount of time. Our time spent is real, solid chunks of time which I do not believe you can duplicate in a larger environment. I can also really see how well this learning style fits her. Even with Karley as well behaved and quiet as she is, anytime Karley speaks Julia is distracted from what she is doing. She has to stop and turn around and see what is going on. I can't imagine her in a room with 20 other students. She would be all over the place! Anyway, so far so good.....

The Eve of Homeschooling

Here it is; the night before we officially begin. Here is how the room looks now. We still have some other pieces of furniture to add, but this will do it for now. Eventually I want another bookcase or cabinet to store our art supplies in, a CD tower, a couple of filing/storage cabinets, and a couple of lower cabinets on the other side of the room to store educational games and toys. Julia is still excited, but nervous about taking classes on campus. I know that virtually all Kindergarteners feel this way, so I'm not worried about it. I anticipate most of the time the girls, or at least Julia, will sit at this larger table with me. For messy things and craft projects they will use their faithful, broken in bug table.


I think we are ready to go. I have a game plan for tomorrow. Actually it is an idea of what I would like to do and in order of priority, but I'm trying to keep things loose and allow for meltdowns, tantrums, or diversions because we are having a good time. I expect this to be a hectic week since Karley will be starting preschool on Tuesday (going both Tuesday and Thursday) and I am going to give it my best effort to make an aerobics class twice a week (also Tuesday and Thursday mornings).


Yesterday we received a copy of the class schedule. There are quite a few different possibilities, but right now we are considering the Kindergarten class (lots of writing), P.E., computer skills, Spanish, and Hip Hop dance class. I think we will sign up for no more than 4 classes, so it will probably come down to either computers or Spanish. Julia can use all the excercise she can get!

Anyway, good night! Wish us luck!!!!

Fall Curriculum

So after much thought and deliberation I have come up with our curriculum, at least for awhile. We will continue (and actually start over ) our math with ShillerMath, Book 1. I anticipate that Julia will fly through the first 100 lessons or so that we have done previously, but it should be a good review for her. Next we will continue with Explode the Code for phonics. She has done some of this in the past, and we will probably just talk about what she has already done and then go from there. We are starting with Book 1 (although she is reading beyond this level now, so it should go quickly). After Book 1 we will continue with Book 1 1/2 (review of Book 1) and Books 2 and 2 1/2. I'm not sure how long this will take. I think the work is not too hard for her, but she has resisted phonics instruction in the past (she just wants to do it, i.e. READ.....but only when SHE wants to). We will also continue using Handwriting Without Tears. For some reason we did all but a few of the capital letters last year so we will review those and then start in on lowercase. Julia really enjoys writing, she does not, however, enjoy holding her pencil the correct way. We will also begin an art program called Artisitic Pursuits. It is part art instruction, part art appreciation, and part hands-on art fun. I expect that this will be her favorite lesson of the week. As far as lapbooks go we plan to do about one per month. She is currently doing one on Charlotte's Web. Those in the works include Spiders (she is obsessed with Charlotte these days), The Girl in the Ragcoat (based on a children's book with a similar title), Turkey Time, and a fun Christmas one.

Karley is currently working on an Ants Go Marching lapbook, with Wheels on the Bus, 5 Little Pumpkins, Turkey Time, and Christmas on the way.

My plan is that after we get all of this worked into our daily lives then we will start adding in Science and some History too. Whew!

Hang On....Here We Go!

Well, this has definitely been an eventful week. Monday started with a New Family Orientation at the school. Although I have spent quite a bit of time there already, I left there with my head spinning with details about field trips, classes, etc. The next day Julia and I met with our advisor, Shari, for the first time. We also came home with most of our books and materials. Yesterday (Wednesday) I took the girls to the Outlet Mall and we shopped for some new shoes and school clothes. Today we took a break and met Sarah and her girls at Fairytale Town to celebrate our birthdays. This weekend we plan to have one more fun family outing and then on Monday we start school!!!! Its really cute how excited Julia is about all this. John hung a whiteboard on the wall for me and on Sunday I saw that it said "8 DAYS LEFT! (smiley face) IM YEY ASKTDID JULIA". For those who need an interpretation it says "8 DAYS LEFT! (smiley face) I'M VERY EXCITED. JULIA" I sure hope she doesn't feel letdown after the first day or week. When I ask her what she is expecting she tells me that she is expecting a "celebration." Good grief! Wish me luck!

Karley's Frog Lapbook

As you can see, Karley has been hard at work on her 5 Speckled Frog lapbook. Like her sister, Karley is really enjoying lapbooking. I find that it does take more of my time because I have to sit right with her and help her cut or encourage her to color, but she seems to enjoy the activities and seems real happy when it comes all together at the end. My thought was to complete one lapbook for each girl each month, but for August both girls have a longer, more complicated project and since I have been so busy, we have not accomplished much on them yet. Perhaps we will do one for the months of August and September since school starts real soon.

Our "School Room", AKA "The Loft"

So here it is as it currently stands! We have put a lot of work into the room and there is still quite a bit to do as you can see. So far we have moved everything out of the room, painted, installed crown moulding, added new light fixtures, and started bringing in new furniture. Now I'm in the process of organizing our things and moving them into the room. As you can see I have my work cut out for me, and I only have a few days left! Tonight we are off to IKEA for tables! More photos to come....

Blogging Again!

Ok, this blog thing is really getting to me. I have tried so many different blogging sites and I seem to get frustrated that they either don't let me do what I want to do or they are just too cumbersome to manage. So, here I go again starting yet another blog. Hopefully this one will work out. I may just start off here on the 10th day of August, 2007, just 10 days before school starts. I had wanted to move older posts over to here, but I'm finding that it just isn't going to happen. So, here we go with a fresh start! Welcome to our newest blog!