January and February Happenings

Well, it has been a crazy two months so far this year. In January Mallory broke her leg and has been in either a cast or walking boot since then... It has been rather difficult for her since she is so very active. She is currently in a boot and will wear that throughout the month of March. The good thing is that it can be removed to bath and sleep, so it is better than the casts she had on previously.

Daniel is doing great! He is so much fun to be around. He's the entertainer! Keeping everyone in stitches. His reading is improving slowly, and I've discovered a few things by watching him read... Once he learns a "rule" he memorizes it instantly, and then DOES NOT veer from it! Which of course is a problem because phonics rules don't always apply. For instance he recently was reviewing the R modified vowels and got very confused because he said the when he sees AR he THINKS RA and says "ra" as in "rat" So we've stopped any extra reading of books (gasp!!!) and are strictly working on phonics. I had noticed this phenomenon with him and wondered why he said sounds that were opposite of what was written. It will be back to read aloud for him, and daily phonics. I am so glad the we waited to introduce reading to him until he was 8. I know that this puts him "behind" his level, but I can see now that the maturity he has gained in the last year is allowing him to communicate to me the problems that he could not explain at 6 or 7. It is helping us to pinpoint his weaknesses and teach to those. I also see him advancing rapidly now that he is ready to learn. His Sunday school teachers say that he is not appearing behind to them at all, which is a good thing I guess! Now math on the other hand.... the kids loves math... but don't ask him to do his problems orally, it puts him on the spot. Give him a pencil and paper and he is good to go!

Sarah is growing very much these last two months. She has really grown out of the whiny stage that has been plaguing her for years, these last few months. She still cries at the drop of a hat but if you know me very well, then you know that she comes by this naturally! Her schooling is going well, she is the only one of the three kids who seemed to really be ready for "schooling" at 6... Of course she is more of a traditional learner I guess in her learning style and is truly enjoying her language arts curriculum. In February we changed her math program to a mastery program with LOTS of review and it seems to be a good fit for her.... It has a lot of busy work that drives me nuts but she is truly enjoying it!

Both of the older two have switched math curriculum as well. Mallory switched last week to Teaching textbooks 5 and jumped into it about a third of the way through. Daniel will start 5 this week, even though he is technically in 4Th grade. He is chomping at the bit to do this new curriculum! He asked me last week to just switch "today!" It doesn't really seem to bother Mallory that they are going into the same curriculum.. I hope I have given her enough feedback to understand that their strengths are in different places, where she excels at language related school issues and he in math. I am so thankful because of these things that I home school.


Yesterday I was discussing a new charter school that our parish is beginning with someone, Mallory would be able to go into the drawing for admission (it is a lottery system) and I was asked if I would consider it. I didn't hesitate to say no, and thinking back to how I felt when we started homeschooling I have come a long way in my confidence in homeschooling. I would not have passed an opportunity like that up the first year or two that we started... But now, unless she wants to go back to regular school (which she adamantly does NOT) she's home for good! I am so thankful for all of the resources that make this possible, because I could never teach chemistry or even higher levels of language arts on my own. I am also thankful for God's grace and goodness because I could not have gotten through that first year realizing that Mallory came out of first grade at a private school with NO knowledge in math, and I mean NONE!!
But more than that I am so thankful for the relationship that we have, my three kids and I! And the opportunity to see them learn new things and grow every day.

Well, this was suppose to be an update for January and February but I guess these issues have been on my heart, since this is what all poured out! We'll see what the rest of the year brings since God's plans are always different than mine!