At the End of the Week

It's Friday again. Another big week and a few triumphs worth mentioning.

We had an amazing week at school. I truly saw a transformation in my sweet girl as she went from not wanting to do school work, to wanting more school work, and being very ready for school time. There is no doubt about it...we are definitely a two-kid school now! She is participating in so many more ways.

She and I finished up rowing "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" by Virginia Lee Burton. This was the book my son remembered the most because of "personification". What a great idea to introduce a literary device like that to young kids! I really see how it delights them in so many ways. Son never forgot the meaning and has always been quick to point out examples (over the past 4 years) since he learned about it. Daughter, of course, loved the lessons. I'm also seeing more and more how interested in notebooking she is--particularly using mini books (lapbooking).

I must say, it delighted me to do many of the same activities with daughter, that I did with son! What started out as an uncertain experiment, is now a delightful opportunity. Amazingly, starting our day with FIAR (Five in a Row) has acted as a catalyst to involve her in brothers lessons. He works on his own until she and I are finished. Now she is actively taking an interest in almost all the subjects!

We made another stab at the "Teach Your Child to Read..." book, but I realize now that the Spell to Write and Read (SWR) really is better and all encompassing. I'm going to do a little planning and start her with more of that next week.

She also wants to start her piano lessons (again). The "spirit" is willing, but the "flesh" is weak!! I'm not sure I can manage it all!

My dear boy passed the two week mark after his head injury. He doesn't really know it--I'm keeping it under wraps because of my own anxiousness. I know...."Be anxious for nothing..."--believe me, I'm telling myself that over and over! He'll probably start back with basketball next week.

His schoolwork went well. Egged on by his sister, he joined the mini-book/lapbook craziness of the week and made several lapbook pages on our Tabernacle study, for his notebook. We'll start back with our regular Judah Bible lessons next week. He's still figuring out the flow of his time, as we all are, since his sister is in the fray. I'm resisting the urge to structure every minute, because this seems to be working--"do the next thing".

We went ahead and bumped up his spelling words to 30/week. We'll give it a try and see how he manages. So far so good. He spent yesterday afternoon working at his dad's warehouse and really enjoyed that. He is not allowed to goof around in front of the employees so he gets busy and works diligently. He did a good job and asked for $4000.00 in pay. We had to laugh!

We're still reading a lot (updated list on the sidebar!). And enjoying our selections. Son did ask me if we could do our character studies again. We choose one per week and link it to our Judah Bible lesson. Since our Tabernacle study, we haven't focused on a new trait. He specifically requested we study "holding our tongues". I know that this was started at his kid's church hour, and has been holding strong because of conviction by the Holy Spirit! :)

We finished chapter 3 of our "A Child's Geography". It is soooo wonderful. We especially love the missions emphasis. We had fun learning about mission groups that use the radio worldwide--we had learned in our lesson that the ionosphere (part of our atmosphere) is where radio waves bounce around and back to earth. We checked out a video by twr.org that was really powerful. I about cried. I held my breath hoping it's intensity might not scare the kids--it didn't. Since then, son has been asking about prayer opportunities, journaling, etc. Including these types of things in our school time makes all the hard things worth while!

Overall, our days are longer. It's hard to complain about it though, with so much good coming out of them. It's mostly my adjustmenting that needs to come. I'm wore out! This crumby winter weather isn't helping much. We are also operating with one car which is inconvenient, but not as impossible as I would have thought.

One last thing to mention is our big "milestone". Daughter is now dry all night. This has really put her over into the "big girl" category, in her mind. (She's still our baby!:)) It is amazing to me all that it affects: how she gets up in the morning, how she gets herself ready for bed. I love having that extra $15/month, and no more smelly trash cans! Woohoo!

So today's fun calendar event is celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh's (A.A.Milne's) birthday. We are celebrating with a Pooh movie marathon, reading (of course!) cake (leftover from a restaurant visit) with dinner, & snuggling with our stuffed Poohs (during the movie). That's about all the strength I have left! It's sufficient. Kid's are overjoyed!