September Update

We ended up not having school for the first two weeks of September. The first week because of schedule, and the second week because the kids were sick.

Last weeks our theme was apples, apples and more apples. On Monday we took the kids to the apple orchard to pick apples. Tuesday I taught the girls how to make applesauce.
Wednesday we learned how to make apple butter. Thursday and Friday we enjoyed drawing pictures of our trip to the apple orchard. To See Pictures click here

This week because both Kara and Lydia had dentist appointments (click here for pictures), our theme for the week was Visiting the Dentist. We started by going to the Library on Monday. We checked out three books about going to the dentist -- My First Dentist Visit, Show Me Your Smile (a Dora the Explorer Book), and At the Dentist. Of the three books, both girls seemed to respond best to the Dora Explorer book. Kara also had her violin lesson with Miss Abigayel on Monday. She did a fantastic job reading her music and getting her fingering correct. Now we need to work on her bowing on the correct string.

Tuesday we started school with the usual violin practice. Kara did lessons 12 and 13 in Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons. Tuesday began working on actually reading sentences and picture comprehension -- being able to relate the picture with the words she read. We also had art class on Tuesday with their friend Noah. They each had to cut out a picture of a sheep, and then they glued cotton balls to the sheep body. Again we read the dentist books and talked about what the dentist was going to do.

Wednesday was our trip to the dentist. So once again we read the dentist books, and both girls did amazingly with the dentist.

Thursday and Friday were typical school days Kara completed lessons 15 - 18 in Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons. We have been doing two lessons a day since Kara has been catching on so quickly. This week Kara was learning to write the letters /d/ and /i/. She has also been reviewing writing the letters /a/, /s/, /e/, /r/, and /t/

I have also come to the conclusion that Lydia is not quite ready to begin reading lessons, so I have discontinued working on reading with Lydia and will probably wait until next January to try again. Instead, I have Lydia working on tracing circles and lines, coloring in the lines, and learning how to cut with scissors. I am also working on basic counting and number identification.

Homeschooling begins

Monday began our first day of school. While I had endeavored to begin homeschooling Kara last year, I was neither disciplined enough to continue or motivated to begin teaching her academics. This past May, JA and I both attended the state homeschool convention where we purchased both preschool and kindergarten materials from My Father's World. I am combining the preschool and kindergarten curriculum's so that I can teach both Kara and Lydia at their appropriate levels.

Here is what we are working on this week:

We begin each day with the daily lessons from "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." So this week we have been working on perfecting /s/,/m/,/a/. Kara is working on writing "s," "m," and "a;"Kara has also enjoyed lacing shapes (a skill she has already mastered but still enjoys doing); she really enjoys learning to cut following the lines -- especially working on cutting out circles. Kara has been begging me to let her cut with scissors so now she is thrilled.We are integrating classical music into our lessons, so Kara is listening to Debussy's "Clair de Lune" while she works on coloring in the lines. Kara has never really enjoyed coloring, so this is a hard lesson for her to stick with because she wants to quit and go on to whatever is next. For math we have been working on number identification and association.Kara's memory verse for the week is Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it shall be given you, Seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."

Lydia's schooling is very similar to Kara's as we are doing the same subject as Kara at the same time. However, my expectations are very different.

Lydia's memory verse is also Matthew 7:7 , but I have shortened it so we can also work on enunciation and order. "Ask and it shall be given you, Seek, and ye shall find."

Like Kara, Lydia is also learning to read (she has been able to identify her letters and sounds since she was 2, so I know she is ready to put them together into words). So Lydia is also doing the lessons from "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." But Lydia's writing lessons are very different from Kara. I am having Lydia work on tracing lines and circles and drawing her own lines and circles. Lydia is also learning to lace shapes, but we are having to focus her on lacing each hole in the order that it is placed around the shape.(sorry the picture is sideways, I couldn't get it to turn)

In order to teach Lydia how to hold the scissors properly I placed a sticker on the side of the scissors that should be facing up. Now she knows that she always needs to keep the sticker facing the ceiling as she cuts the paper.Lydia is also listening to the classical music, and learning to color in the lines. For Math, Lydia is learning to count from 1-10.

More Great Giveaways

Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies


Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Pregnancy Update Week 35

Well, we are almost there. Today I went in for my Week 35 appointment. The results came back on my Group B Strep test -- Negative (no doubt for me). Currently the baby appears to be in the posterier position (head down). Baby's heart beat is once again 150. My weight stayed the same (amazing since I've been eating a chocolate bar every day), and my blood pressure is still great.

I am having some difficulty staying hydrated in this heat. So, I have resigned myself to staying inside with the air conditioning during majority of the day. Right now my doctor seems to believe this baby is going to come early. If baby follows the same pattern as the other three we will get to meet him/her on August 15 (exactly 10 days early -- just like Kara, Lydia, and Andy). However, I think the odds of having four children in five years all come exactly 10 days early is rather unlikely. Of course I thought the same thing when Andy was born.

I would love to get your opinions on when you think Baby Hall will decide to join us on the outside world. Please share with me when you think Baby Hall will come by leaving a comment in the comment box. I will tell you both JA and my dad are saying sometime next week. But we still have four weeks until Baby's due date (August 25)

Fantastic Giveaway

Are you interested in cloth diapering? Sign up for this fantastic giveaway of 12 Free Bum-Genius Diapers. These are fantastic diapers!

Homeschooling Hump Day

Okay, I had intended to post this last week, but never got around to typing it up. My friend Carrie is posting about Homeschooling every Wednesday. Since Kara is only three, we are only beginning to enter the realm of Homeschooling. Here are a couple of my favorite resources.

The Well-Trained Mind is a book that can give every parent the confidence to know he/she is capable of homeschooling. This book also gives you many (and I mean many) tips and resources to begin using.

Phonics Pathways This is the book I am using to teach Kara to read. This book includes games and ideas to use to help teach your child to read. It is geared towards helping older children learn how to read, but since Kara already knows her letters and sounds (thanks to Leap Frogs Letter Factory DVD), she is ready to begin learning to read.

Here is our typical 1 Hour of preschool each day -- we have "school" after lunch when Andy and Lydia are down for their naps.

1:00 -- practice her violin -- Kara is beginning Suzuki Violin 1 -- a teenager in the church is giving her lessons. Right now until we officially start lessons, Kara is naming the parts of the violin and listening to the Suzuki 1 CD

1:20 -- we play reading games and work on the lesson in Phonics Pathways.

1:40 -- We read a Bible Story together and I ask her questions about previous stories and the current story for the day.

After the Bible story I'll read her a book of her choice.

Occasionally we work on writing, but I'm not pushing her very much in this area because I don't want to spend more than 1 hour a day on school. When she works on writing though, I write out all of the vowels several times on writing paper. Then, I give her a gel pen (there is something special about being able to use a pen to trace b/c she's usually not allowed to touch pens) and she can trace the vowels.

Hope this gives you some good ideas! If anyone else has good ideas on how to teach preschoolers to use scissors, or other things we should be working on, please let me know.

For today, I wanted to tell everyone about a homeschooling giveaway that's going on over at HsKubes' Haven at Home blog.

Books we would like for Homeschooling our Children

Below is a list of books and music we would like to own for the purpose of homeschooling our children.

Toddlers
Handa's Surprise
The Edible Pyramid
The Lunch Box Surprise
We're Making Breakfast for Mother
Feast for Ten
Yoko
Too Many Tamales
Oh, the Things You Can Do That are Good for You

Preschool/Kindergarten
Books
The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West by Barbara Brenner
Famous Children: Michelangelo by Tony Hart
Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors
Leonardo and the Flying Boy by Laurence Aholt

Music
Wee Sing by Beal/Nipp CD and Songbook
Math Memory Songs: Addition Songs CD by Kathy Troxel
Math Memory Songs: Subtraction Songs CD by Kathy Troxel

First Grade

Books
Discovering Great Artistsby MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga
The Lightlings by RC Sproul
Legends & Leagues or, Mr. Tardy Goes From Here to There by Ned Bustard
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
The Biggest Bear by Lynd Kendall Ward
Billy and Blaze by CW Anderson
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys by H.A. Rey (This is the original Curious George book)
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Curious George by H.A> Rey
The Egg by M.P. Robertson
The Emperor's New CLothes by Ned Bustard
Floss by Kim Lewis
Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman
Harry and the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Henry and Mudge: The First Book by Cynthia Rylant
How I Became a Pirateby Melinda Long
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter Roup
Little Bearby Else Homelund Minarik
Little Bear's Friends by Else Homelund Minarik
The Little Engine that Couldby Watty Piper
The Little Houseby Virginia Lee Burton
The Lonely Dollby Dare Wright
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Magic Fish by Freya Littledale
Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard
Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Teaby Cynthia Rylant
Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
A New Coat for Annaby Harriet Ziefert
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
A Puppy for Annieby Kim Lewis
The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles by Maud and Miska Petersham
Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
The Velveteen Rabbitby Marjery Williams
The Canada Geese Quilt
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Gold Rush Winter
Hannah
Next Spring an Oriole
Pioneer Cat
Balto and the Great Race
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster
Ice Wreck
Tall Tales: Wingin' It with the Wright Brothers
A Taste of Blackberries
Bach's Goldberg Variationsby Anna Harwell Celenza
Bellerophon Music Coloring Books
Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes
The Heroic Symphony and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and The Farewell Symphony by Anna Harwell Celenza

Music
Geography Songs: Sing Around the World CD and Songbook
States & Capitals Songs and Maps CD
Classical Kids