We are chugging along here with homeschooling at our house. I will try to remember to do a catch-up post soon, to fill in the biggest blanks of my absence from this blog. For now, I will just blog about where we are at.
Aiden turned seven in September and started his first grade school year at home on July first. Caitlin is five, and started her kindergarten year on July first as well. Declan turned four in August, and he is along for the homeschool fun when he shows interest, and when he does not, he gets to be a little kid, imagining and playing for at least another year (maybe two) until I feel he is ready to begin his formal education.
I am not using a formal curriculum this year (we purchased and tried out an all-encompassing package from Sonlight the year before last, and felt overwhelmed by it.) No, this year, I am piecing things together from here and there, with my handy printouts of the California State Standards for Kindergarten, First, and Second grades as my guides.
I love it this way.
I sketch out a rough lesson plan everyday for the following day, based on what we've accomplished today, and what I think needs repeating/skipping, etc. I do not feel overwhelmed or overscheduled by doing things this way. If someone "gets it," then we move on. If someone needs to take a break from a difficult new concept, then we move on to the next subject, and revisit the former one afresh in the morning.
I have changed things up today by setting up our folding table in the kids' room for school (we usually do school at our kitchen table.) I put a baby gate up in the hallway, and got the Lincoln Logs down for the three littles to play with while the big kids work on their lessons. This way, I can supervise everyone, the toys stay in the kids' bedroom (a house rule), toddlers and babies can't crawl/wander off into parts unknown to rummage through things that they shouldn't, and the big kids can't slack off and book it from the table when I am helping/chasing the littles, because we are all in the same room.
So, Ha.
I am also praying that this helps the house stay tidier. Can you pray for that, too? We need lots of prayer for that.
The littles that I didn't mention in detail yet are Evelyn, who just turned two in September, is sharp as a tack, loves to play "mommy" with her dollies, and is very entertaining besides........and........
Wait for it.........Brianna!
Yes, I've actually been absent from blogland for so long that I've had another baby since my last post.
Wow. (I'm not the only one who's ever done that, right? I mean, has anyone?)
Well, we did have another baby after Evelyn; fifteen months after Evelyn, to be exact. Yep, a plump little cutie pie who ended up being my first "anti-jka" pregnancy (look it up, it's legit...and complicated) which meant lots of extra blood tests, ultrasounds, appointments with various specialists, and sobfests on my part. Such a stressful time full of unknowns. So, we named her Brianna Faith. Brianna is an Irish name meaning "strong", and Faith was something of ours that was stretched and which grew tremendously during that time.
Brianna was also my first c-section baby. When the OB nurse checked my cervical dilation, she decided I was seven centimeters; she also decided that what she felt did not feel like a baby's head, but something of which she was not quite sure! After another nurse checking, and finally my personal OB checking, the latter performed an ultrasound in the delivery room and confirmed that baby's presenting part was, in fact, her bum. Oops! It wasn't that way a few days before at my last check up! Oh well, off to the OR for an emergency c-section. The whole thing was a total miracle, and we're amazed at how blessed we are that she was born perfectly healthy.
Now that we're mostly caught up, here are a few pictures to wrap up this long overdue post:
Caitlin giving a wave.
"See my drawing, it's the Tower of Babel!"
Declan is building his out of Lincoln Logs.
Matching haircuts for the boys.
Brianna banana.
Caitlin Joy.
Beautiful.
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