Homeschool Highlights of the Day....

1. Julia finished the final pages of her dreaded phonics workbook and we were told yesterday that she does not need to complete any more of these workbooks. She took a reading test yesterday and tested between the 2nd and 3rd grade level (she tested at the 1st grade level last November). As long as we continue with her structured reading lessons she does not need an additional phonics program and we are both delighted since it has been one source of major conflict between us.

2. Julia took the Chapter 1 Test this morning in the new math book (1st grade) we have been working in the past few weeks. This is not the fun math that we had been doing, but the boring workbooky math that is published by the same company that produces the California state exam (she won't take this until 2nd grade). The great things about this is: SHE DID IT WITHOUT COMPLAINING ABOUT IT, SHE DID IT WITHOUT ASKING FOR HELP (beforehand
I told her I could not help her on a test), SHE DID BOTH PAGES WITHOUT ERASING ONE TIME!, SHE DID IT WITHOUT A SINGLE MISTAKE!!!!!

3. AND..........drumroll.........

We saw a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis right before our very eyes!

That's right. Our tiny caterpillars got big and fat, formed cocoons (don't know if chrysalises is a word), and today they are beginning to emerge into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies (two made it so far, three left to go!)

And considering that this is Friday and that summer vacation is on the near horizon, I would say that today has been a great day!

Aquarium of the Bay

Both girls really wanted to touch the rays and sharks. Karley INSISTED on touching the sharks, even though they settled in the middle of the pool and I had to lift her OVER the water so she could reach down and touch a shark, getting her sleeve dripping wet in the process.

Field Trip!

This seems like old news now, but two or three weeks ago we went on a field trip with school to Pier 39. We drove to Vallejo, boarded the ferry, and spent the day at Pier 39 with our friends. We took a tour of the Aquarium of the Bay, ate lunch on Pier 39 and then walked to Ghiradelli Square. It was a fantastic day!

Greek Mythology

Recently I purchased a few of Jim Weiss' story-tellings on CD (http://www.greathall.com/). Julia has loved audiobooks for some time now and she insists she needs them to fall asleep at night. Jim Weiss has dozens of CDs from Aesop's Fables to Shakespeare for kids to American folktales, etc, etc. One of the CDs I bought was Greek Mythology partly because we were about to begin learning about ancient Greece. She listened to that particular CD several times, but one night last week as I was tucking her in at night she came alive telling me how wonderful the Greek myths were. She told me that I really should listen to them myself. She said, "They're like history." So I asked her to retell some of the myths to me and her eyes came alive. She told me (and later John too) detail after detail about the Greek Gods and Godesses. She has a good idea of who is married to who and who is the child of who and that sort of thing. She was buzzing with excitement and amazement.

So, playing up on her new interest in Greece I reminded her that she and I have some Greek ancestry. And I also told her that Gma's name is Athena. She was hugely impressed with that. So next week we jump into studying Greece. Looking ahead I see some fun activities to finish up our school year. We may even end with she and I trying out some of Gma's famous Greek recipes. I love it when I get to see her so excited over something (other than cats!). Now, if only I could foster this much enthusiasm for math....

Changing Plans....again

Ok, so the whole North America unit study thing just isn't doing it for me. I have spent two or three weeks (perhaps more) trying to make it work, and it just isn't, so yesterday morning I changed gears....again. Now, Julia is working on a Butterfly unit. This one should be much less intimidating for both of us and we only have 3 weeks left before the project is on display at the PACT Extravaganza. I have been toying with the idea of purchasing a butterfly habitat thing and watch caterpillars grow and turn into butterflies. I had decided to wait until summer to do this, but now that we are going ahead with butterflies now, I went ahead and ordered the thing. I know that we won't be able to complete the life cycle before the Extravaganza, but, OH WELL!

So, now I'm in high gear trying to plan these activites for the project, keep up with our regular school work, plan a birthday party, prepare myself and Julia for our first piano recital, am I missing anything???? Oh yes, clean up after my messy kids and occassioanlly do a load of laundry!

Blog Blues

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with this blog. My days and weeks are busy and it is difficult to find the time to sit down and update how our schooling is going. This was our first week back at school after our 2-week spring break. Julia was ready to start up again, as shown through the school to-do list she left on our dry erase board last week. But, we have had a busy week with more doctor appointments, birthday parties, etc and it has left us at the end of the week, slightly behind. Sigh.

On May 8th PACT is putting on a big show. An open house of sorts with a BBQ, students projects on display, student musical performances, silent auction, kids games, sundae bar, etc. Julia and I are working on (ok, so we haven't offically began yet, its still all in my head really) a unit study of North America. It will include some geography, some demography, some plants and animals endemic to the area, etc. I think it will be a fun project, and someday I think it would be wonderful to make one for each continent, but we (mostly I) are (am) having a hard time getting it started. And then there are other things like math, phonics, reading, etc to keep up with too. Not to mention a certain little girl's birthday party to plan.

The good news of the past week is that I finally accomplished what I set out at the beginning of the school year to do. I took advantage of the girls both being busy in their classes on Tuesday morning and took a pilates class at our brand new gym. And, I went back yesterday and took a second class. I'm really enjoying both the instructor as well as the class itself. I think I can feel a difference already. So, my goal will be to keep up with the pilates classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (on Thursdays Karley is at preschool, but Julia gets to hang out at the club in the kid club area---she loves it).

I know I have not posted photos in a long time. Next week I'll try to put some photos up of our progress on our North America project. That's wishful thinking if I ever heard it!

Big Girl Teeth!

I took both girls to the pediatric dentist a couple of days ago. As usual, Julia freaked out and was a nervous wreck. And, as usual, Karley was there to save the day and calm her sister and show her that what the dental assistant was asking them to do was no big deal. Julia's greatest source of anxiety is the dental xray machine. She hates that thing, and there have been many, many times when they simply have not been able to xray her teeth, but have been able to do a cleaning or limited cleaning and exam.

But after watching her little sister go through xrays like a champ and being befriended by a young, good-looking male assistant who coaxed her into xrays, she bravely (or not) climbed up into the xray chair, held still (amazing for Julia!), and bit down on the film casings as instructed. The result:


JULIA HAS GREAT BIG TEETH READY TO COME IN!!!!!


We are talking all 6-year molars ready to break through the gum line AND both her upper and lower center incisors! These teeth look HUGE! Julia has a tiny, little jaw and her teeth, although straight now, are crammed in her mouth real tight. I realize that her mouth and jaw will grow, but by the looks of things, not nearly enough to accomodate some huge changes that will take place very soon.

Yes, soon is right because after seeing the xrays of these monster-sized teeth in my little girl's mouth I blurted out the question, "Are any of her teeth loose now?" Upon completion of the dentist's exam, she took her little probe and gave each baby tooth in question a wiggle and you know what.....


one moved!


So, you better believe we will be taking lots of smiley pictures of our girl before that smile changes forever.