Good to Have Around...

 

An older sister is good to have around. Besides walking me up the hill while I have blood streaming down my face after I managed to face plummet straight into the sidewalk, she also makes me laugh.

 

And she holds my hand while crossing the street to see our favorite neighbors.

 

And she wets my hair...over and over again...just to give me the perfect hairstyle.

 

And she's willing to put me in a "swim soup" just for the heck of it.

And she shares her dolls with me. I think she's even allowed me to adopt one of them.

And she entertains me in my crib in the mornings when Mommy is a little slow to come and get me.

She even gets me water in a big girl cup and doesn't care if I manage to spill it all over the floor.

All in all, she's a great sister. Sure, we have our moments, but I think we're going to have a beautiful friendship.

 

Kate's Prayer

Dear Lord,

Please help me be good today.

Help me to stay out of trouble.

You know what I mean, no making messes, no screaming, "No Mommy!" at Mommy. No hitting. No spreading toothpaste across the walls and carpet (that was a bad one wasn't it?). No throwing crayons. No pouring water/juice all over the floor. Or spitting it out of my mouth for that matter. And help me to have the self control to NOT color on the carpet. Oh, and one more thing, help me not to dig in my dirty diaper to give Mommy proof that I did, indeed, poo poo in my pants. Apparently she doesn't need evidence.

And while you're at it, please give Mommy an extra measure of patience.

Amen.

What I'm Good At

I'm a young buck.

I have little experience in which to provide any helpful insight on anything.

But there are two things I'm really good at.

1) Eating

2) Making Messes

The latter is my strongest attribute.

I prefer all sorts of food, but, if it's a combo of sweet and um, (and I do say "um" a lot when asked a question) grain, well, let's just say, I ain't skeerd to go after the sweet. Like this Nutella toast for example. Why worry about the wheat toast when you can just lick off the chocolately goodness?

And what does that produce? An Olympic sized mess.

Write me down for a gold medal. I'll even throw in an Olympic pose.

And yes, it looks like someone else is also posing for an Olympic medal in messing eating. Perhaps there will be some stiff competition in this event after all.

We look a lot alike.

As for other gold medal messes I've competed in, I'd say I'm sure to be the winner.

While eating yogurt, I managed to smear it all over my body in a matter of a few short minutes while Mommy went to go check her email. Mommy chose not to post those award winning photos because well, I was just in my diaper.

Modesty ladies, modesty.

And you just never know who's lurking around the internet.

We'll make sure my next mess is fully clothed.

Homeschool Diaries: First Day 2012

Yesterday was our first day of school. So, in an attempt to document the day we took some photos. Surprised? Hannah is an aspiring mommy who is most excited about learning to read because she wants to read the Bible(however this did not jive well with her attitude when it actually came time to read, funny. And when reminding her why she said she wanted to read she replied, "I don't want to read the Bible." This is a typical homeschool day).

And what's a first day photo shoot without some pizazz, like those Senior pictures you take in high school, you know, the one you take after the all serious ones? Where you "let your hair down." I think my consisted of showing off my yellow fingernail polish. Oh the rebel I was. Hannah is well beyond her years.

 

Our first "real" math lesson was, well, easy. But easy is good. However, easy or hard, Hannah must have her tongue sticking out.

Hannah has come a long way in her handwriting over the past year.

A typical Hannah face. However, had I had the camera out a short bit later, the face would look dramatically different...picture Makayla Maroney. Hannah wasn't impressed.

And here's my Grant, eager to start school. He announced yesterday he would like to be a "cooker," and that he would "be in the Olympics" when he grows up. As for "playing on the slide," well he is thinking of the old church we used to meet at for Classical Conversations. It had an indoor playground. Awesome. We don't meet there anymore. Not awesome. Looks like he best be finding a new favorite thing to do at "school," like read or do math.

Typical of most boys, Grant loves math and joined in the lesson as best he could.

I know, I know, his pencil grip is all wrong. We're still working on it. But we've made some improvement. However, tracing numbers with a poor pencil grip results in this...

Thankfully we recovered quickly and his excitement returned with the promise of dry erase markers and reading pages.

As for Kate, well, like in everything else, she's too eager to grow up and do what Hannah and Grant do. As we left for Classical Conversations this morning she insisted on wearing "my backpack."

All in all, I'd say our first day of school and Classical Conversations today was a success. Tears were shed. Excitement was had. Expectations were real. And because of that, tomorrow we'll do it all again.

Homeschool Diaries: A New Year

While I've been seeing "back to school" pictures and posts on Facebook, I am suddenly compelled to face my children's own "back to school" status in a week.

But our "back to school" is different of course.

While most kids will be filing onto buses next Monday, mine will be filing into the kitchen, then the den, then the "school room."

I've been busy the past several weeks in the director role of Classical Conversations. I've been making sure all is in place for our community to start again this year.

And now this week I am focusing on what needs to get done for our beginning of the year here at home.

I'm excited that Grant is eager to get back to our calendar time and enthusiastic about his new Kumon math workbook.

And it's always a plus when Hannah says, "we need to get back to my letters," also known as our reading time.

This year Hannah will be delving into a real math curriculum, Saxon. As well as continuing with "The Writing Road to Reading."

I plan to start our day with the calendar while we eat, followed by our morning devotions. Then we'll break and do our morning chores (for me this will be getting the laundry running, getting ready, making the bed and for the kids, getting dressed, teeth brushed, beds made, room tidied). Afterwards we'll do our math for thirty minutes followed by thirty minutes of review time for Classical Conversations. Then it's lunch time followed by play time while I clean up. Before Kate's nap we'll have our read aloud time. Have I ever mentioned that Kate LOVES to read? During Kate's nap Hannah will do her reading/writing for thirty minutes or so. I plan to work on Grant's letter/sound recognition also during this time and I am still working on what that will look like.

And that's it.

That's my school plan for 2012-2013. It's simple. It's doable. The beauty of homeschooling is that so much more can get done in a smaller amount of time than in a traditional school...less kids, less behavior problems, less questions to answer. It's a treat coming from a previous public school teacher who taught 23 kids.

And of course, every Tuesday we'll be joining other homeschool families at our Classical Conversations community. It's a fun time for the kids to be in a "classroom" and see their friends.

So, here we go....let another year of homeschooling begin!

Wiggles Groupies

John and I are still cool. Sure, we have our disagreements, but it seems we agree on a couple of things for sure.

1. The Wiggles are pretty darn awesome.

2. The best way to celebrate the Wiggles is by jumping on the couch (which got nixed as soon as Mommy saw us and therefore there is no documentation of our AWESOME dance moves).

I'm glad I have someone to share in my new found passion, someone who appreciates the finer things in life...because everything is finer with an Aussie accent.





On a different note, Hannah, Grant, and I are all enjoying wearing Mommy's t-shirts. Here I am modeling Mommy's third grade shirt.

I make it look goooood.