I'm feeling much better - I had the wives of the men Andy deployed with over for Labor Day. There are only 3 of us, but it was a nice common bond knowing that our husbands are together. Spending the "holiday" together made it seem less lonely.
I do, however, feel incredibly old after spending time with them - they are both younger, with tiny little children! My boys seemed like little giants.
Speaking of my giants, they had their sport's physicals last week, with an official "school year" measurement. Canaan is 55.5 inches tall, getting very close to the 100 lb mark, and in desperate need of new glasses.
Zion is 51.5 inches, 64lbs, and might be needing glasses too. I have an official appt for that tomorrow, but if the wall chart is any sign we are going to need some help seeing.
Soccer season is off to a decent start, and the school year is going fabulously so far, with today already being our 22 day. I want to get as much done before Andy gets home so we can relax with him come May.
They both lost a tooth, within 30 minutes of each other, last week. That was a first, for the tooth fairy to visit both beds in the same night.
Canaan has recently started "
Teaching Textbooks" math 5 and loves it. He was not a fan of Saxon, but so far finds it very exciting to be "in charge" while doing math on the computer.
Zion seems to have finally had something click with reading. He still has to work through things, but his sight words tripled overnight recently. Don't know why, but I'm not complaining! I guess he was just ready. Or, "
Explode the Code" this summer worked even more then I thought!
I have had him doing some random workbooks for math and we are reading the "
Life of Fred" books together. They fit my style of learning perfectly! Check them out.
I have finally buckled down and started a spelling program -
Sequential Spelling. I started on the first book and have Canaan doing several lessons at a time in hopes that he might start the second book this year also. I am not good at doing something "Every Day", which it asks. I like change entirely too much to do the same thing every day! As long as we do it twice a week I am satisfied. Zion is on lesson 3, and we are good with that. One thing at a time.
For history we are sticking with a literature based program. I have so many fabulous children's books - why in the world would I pick a text book? We have done Leif Ericson, Columbus, Jamestown and Pocahontas, and are in Plymouth now. My favorite subject is easy for me to teach. Drop me a line if you ever want to talk children's lit and history!
Canaan is writing a story, expanding his vocabulary and working on sentence structure. Our co-op will have a creative writing class this fall also. I am sure he will enjoy that. Zion, on the other hand might hate it... but he is taking it anyway.
I somehow got talked into teaching PE for the 5-6 year olds at our co-op. Still not sure how that happened! I will be assisting in art for that age also. Seriously, the two subjects I like the least? I guess God wants me to get out of my comfort zone! Never too old to learn, right?
One last curriculum shout-out. My boys are upstairs on the computer right now with "
dance mat" typing. Totally free and really fun set-up.
Guess that sums up our first few weeks of school. We travelled to four different states, learned about their capitals, and enjoyed several episodes of "
How the states got their shapes" on Amazon Prime. The flashcards that my father used to memorize the states and capitals, and then were used by my sisters and I, are doing a wonderful job for Canaan also. The population is "slightly" outdated, but neither the capitol or the shape of the states has changed in 50 years. I really need to write my grandmother a thank you note for saving everything! (and my mom too, since they survived multiple moves with her) My family rocks!
Hope your school year is off to a good start.
Blessings,
