We started school today. Madelyn is in 4th grade, Emma in 2nd, Gloria will be in Kindergarten but her curriculum has yet to arrive and baby Audrey is, well, a baby. So try to get a visual here. I did not take a picture! Gloria is standing on the chair at the computer desk making a video of herself dancing with fish with the mac webcam, Emma is working on something. I don't remember what, but I use the term "working" very loosely. She is hardly paying attention. She keeps making the awful boo/monster sounds at the baby, who is by the way sitting in the floor in a pile of toys not very happy with the situation. Madelyn is sitting next to me going over her science lesson. It was a disaster. All day long we hoped from one subject to the next haphazardly. I did school almost nonstop from 8:15-3:30. Which to most may seem normal. But when you homeschool things generally go much quicker because of the student to teacher ratio. I am going to rework things tomorrow so they will run smoother. I am going to try doing the same subject at the same time even though they are working on different levels. At least that way when some one askes me what is the difference between a biosphere and an ecosystem I won't answer "long vowels." I also printed off some little games and crafts for a mini unit about the olympics for Gloria to give her something to do until her boxes arrive. Wow...this was the worst home school day ever!!! I love our new curriculum...I just hope it gets better than this!
Yesterday we took the girls to see the birthplace of Helen Keller. It was so beautiful. I was so excited to see my kids enjoying learning about history. I taught them about Helen Keller at the beginning of last school year and they were really looking forward to seeing her home. I was so proud of them. They could have easily complained about it saying they didn't care or that it was too hot, but instead they went from room to room excitedly asking questions and pointing out different things. It was really cool. I will post pictures when I can.
Audrey, like all my babies, is having a lot of firsts during this week away from daddy. Much to his dismay. So this is what she has done in the last week.
I have to be honest, I don't really know how to put pictures on my computer. Ok I said it. I know I know it isn't that difficult. And since we are being honest, I haven't actually tried. I never have the time to try. So with that said..pictures of my trip will be posted when I get home and my honey can do it for me.
Well I made the great adventure across 5 states...Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and into Alabama, with my 4 little girls. I think I deserve some kind of mommy award for traveling alone with my kids like that. So right now I am sitting in my mom and dad's house in Harvest, AL, with Jon and Kate plus 8 playing silently in the back ground as my 4 little angels snooze away a hard day's play in their beds. My folks have spent many years living on a military salary. My dad has been retired for 8 or 9 years now and they finally can see the fruits of their labor. Their home is beautiful and there is plenty of room for me and my brother to come at Christmas with our families. Together we have 6 kids plus his wife and my husband. It will be a bustling house full, but I am really looking forward to it. Our babies our just three weeks apart and his 7 year old is 8 weeks older than my 7 year old. So they are great friends.
Our friends Tom and Shannan have 2 month old triplets. They live in Independence, MO, so we don't see them as often as we would like. The babies are all home and doing well. We stayed for only about 3 hours and I have to tell you it was pretty non stop baby care for them. Shannan even said it was a calm 3 hours. I think they are doing a great job. They seem to be very calm and in control. I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to care for 3 little people 24 hours a day, but they seem to be pros at it already. The babies are all adorable. I am so excited to watch them grow. It will be really cool to get to know their personalities and find out who they really are!
I am excited to say that we will be starting Lawrence Virtual School on August 11th. I am both excited and nervous about the school. I am excited because I will know the kids are doing every thing they need to and then some. They will be doing more lessons each day. The curriculum sets its pace with the child. Though we will have to finish the entirety of each subject in order to be accepted into the next grade, mastery is the key. They must master each individual lesson to go to the next. I am nervous because I am not famous for being a good time manager. I know we can do it, but teaching kids at home is a full time job. Some hard core home schoolers say that virtual school students aren't being home schooled. I don't think they know that you have to teach every lesson. I will still view myself as a home school mom. I am just choosing a high tech curriculum that happens to be provided by a public school.