Locals

Two local business women and a local soccer star

New Visitors!

We just enjoyed a visit from Aunt Karen and Uncle Tony and Cousin Josh. Karen brought Charlotte a silver set with cup, picture frame, and piggy bank which was quickly scooped up by Mary. Naomi loved the Squanto book she brought. We all had a great evening together.

The Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks have been a fun blur of activity and excitement. One BIG change to homeschooling is that Charlotte is now crawling and climbing. She can move around the house in no time at all. She has been practicing early self-control with some designated time in the pack-n-play while we do some math and has a big snack while we do reading. Pictured below is her first experience with a blueberry muffin.

We have been to a Renaissance Fair, a Reformation Day Co-Op, karate classes, gymnastics, the last remaining days of fall soccer, and a few more days at Sea World. The change of weather (well, kind of it, is still in the 80s) has inspired lots of outdoorsy things like climbing trees in our backyard, walks, and bike rides.

As the end of the first semester approaches, I have to say there are alot of great things about homeschooling. I like not rushing out the door in the morning, but enjoying family reading time on the back porch while the kids swing. I enjoying being able to read an entire Magic Tree House novel with Naomi in one sitting. I love seeing the girls have inside jokes or go off and create a boat out of a box complete with a paper towel role for a telescope. I really love seeing Naomi read for the first time, watching both Naomi and Mary's character being formed, and building a relationship with each of them.

Williamsburg

Just drove 12 hours there and 12 hours back for a long weekend in Williamsburg, VA. It was worth it just to see LOTS of family in Toano and friends at William and Mary homecoming. The girls said their favorite part was seeing the show Disney on Ice in Richmond with my parents. Funny, since we haven't done a Disney thing since we moved to Orlando.

First Prize

Circle School recently had a sand castle building day. We took the challenge and won! We had some help from friends, but Charlotte really won the contest for us. It was fun to take a break from school and hang out at New Smyrna beach.

Artwork

Naomi's first work with pastels. It is a reproduction of a piece from the book "Mountain Dance" by Thomas Locker.

Firestorm Hair

We painted our hair today in honor of Mary's soccer team.

Orlando Philharmonic

We went to the symphony today ( all three girls!). It was wonderful and perfect for children. They did familiar songs and explained everything. The cellist did an "elephant's waltz" and the Grand Canyon songs sounded exactly like a donkey clopping down to the the canyon floor. For the Swan Lake piece they had ballet dancers from Orlando ballet. It was the only song that Mary sat still for. They were beautiful swans. Two Opera singers closed the program with Beethoven's Ode to Joy and we all sang along (unfortunately).

Holy Land Experience

The Holy Land was an experience today. Naomi has wanted to visit this place since we first drove by it on I-4 on our way to the theme parks. We decided to go for the one free day they offer every year. We waited for a while in line, but we finally got in. Our favorite was the Tabernacle show were they replicated what the Day of Atonement would have looked like (Holy of Holies, glory cloud, and all). I think Mary's favorite was the miniature replicas of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Weezy

Weezy, the stuffed class pet from Circle School, came home with us this week. Naomi is making a photo documentary of her days with Weezy.

#1 and #82

Although hard to tell from this photo, Naomi lost her first tooth. And...

Mary got her soccer uniform today. Go Firestorm!!!

Babysitter BB

BB and Nonna let Mommy have a few hours to herself today. While I was gone, Charlotte did some standing and stretching workouts with BB, Naomi set up a "garage sale" with stickers and paper money, and Mary enjoyed a book about a dog and took a long nap herself.

Butterfly Encounter

We went on a field trip to the Butterfly Encounter. I thought it would be a quick tour around the gardens to look at the butterflies, a little snack, and maybe a free plant. It was actually 2 hours long and packed with information. Naomi and Mary sat through each lecture in different areas of the nursery and learned the difference between a host plant and a nectar plant, a chrysalis and a cocoon and the different parts of an insect. There wasn't a snack for the kids, but they did get to dip their hand in Gatorade and feed the butterflies. We will go back soon and maybe get some plants to make our own butterfly habitat.

Congo River Mini-Golf

Melé

Mary had her first soccer practice today. Her coach (whose name happens to be Naomi!) has two twin daughters on the team. Mary got right out on the field when Coach Naomi called everyone and did the warm ups and then played a semi-real game. It was semi-real because four of the dads were the goal posts and most of the time was spent pointing the children in the right direction. She was really great and enjoyed it the whole time. She has games every Saturday until December. It was a fun family time too.

No More Training Wheels

Grammy and Papa

Medieval Ball

Circle School had a Medieval Ball last night to celebrate their summer reading. Everyone was dressed up including Naomi and Mary (princesses of course). We saw jesters, lots of knights and princesses, Robin Hood, dragons, and a few monks. We made an edible book report (Viking Crunch Krispies) and ate some of what others brought too. Naomi's favorite dessert was the Lord of the Rings Cake and Mary liked the ring pop cup cakes (courtesy of Robin Hood). They did some dancing and Naomi won a prize for her summer reading and book reports: a girl's set of armor (pictured below when she won). She is thrilled with the sword, helmet, breast plate, and shin guards. Mary danced, ate, talked in the microphone twice(to tell her favorite dessert in front of everyone) and was given a set of shrinky-dink pirates from a little boy who won them. I guess she was looking so longingly at the prizes he felt for her. Thank you Ethan!

Friday Flower Day

After school we took a trip to a local nursery.

Orlando Science Center

Orlando Science Center was free for homeschoolers yesterday. Favorite things: a large tree that you could climb up into and crawl under to explore the roots, the dinosaur skeletons, and a car driving simulator.

Circle School

Naomi had a wonderful first day at Circle Christian School. She came home with a princess cap decorated with "twenty jewels", a map of the world (complete with compass), a mosaic cross, and lots of fun stories. They helped the kids dress up to go on the play ground and imagine that they were knights and princesses with the swings as their horses and the slide as their castle. She met some friends that she wants to have over to play and bought her own lunch of pizza, chips, and water (the "only choice for a drink!") Mary, Charlotte, and I had a little girls playdate at the the park and did some dusting at home which is Mary's favorite chore.

Scott finished his second day of teaching and a almost a full week of duties as Dean of Students. We are celebrating the pleasing, sweet gifts the Lord has given our family.

Here is the report from Naomi's teacher:

We had a WONDERFUL day in K-1 Foundations! I pray that you’ve heard many stories of new friends made and fun projects created, but most of all I pray that each child felt “at home” and loved. It was a joy to spend the day with each and every one, and I know that I speak for everyone when I say THANK YOU for letting us partner with you this year. We count it a privilege!

Today we:

1. Exercised to demonstrate the 7 continents; pointed out where we live and the continents of Europe and Asia where the events we will study this year took place.

We identified north, south, east and west, and demonstrated longitude and latitude on a map (and on a child!).

2. Began our History lap book/timeline with Justinian The GGRRREEEAAAT (!). We learned that he was a very important ruler of the Byzantine Empire, that he was a Christian and wanted others in his kingdom to be Christian also, and that he had a beautiful church called the Haggai Sophia built. KiKi’s mom even made and brought in an EDIBLE model!

3. Created our own K-1 Laws, just like Justinian created his code of law.

4. Designed the most beautiful medieval hats in drama.

5. Discussed mosaics and glued many, many square pieces of paper to make a mosaic cross.

6. Used our bodies to sing the scale, and began learning hand motions (solfege) to represent each of the seven notes. They enjoyed watching a portion of The Sound of Music where Maria is teaching the children “Do, A Deer….”.

The children gobbled up our medieval snack of soft cheese, hard melba toasts, and apples during snack time. Some of them thought it would have been pretty cool to live back then because in one of the books we read it said that people back then didn’t eat many veggies!

Thank you again for sharing your children with us. We look forward to spending this year with you!

Math Creations

Our math curriculum came with a box of things to learn to count, tell time, and also to make really fun pictures with.

1st Day of School

(Mary took this picture)

We started home school today. It is going to be a really fun year. Except for a few glitches (i.e. counting noodles EVERYWHERE in the house and jello jiggler letters spelling out SCHOOL for our snack looked more like Hebrew) we had a successful day.

We had a great start with a Psalm devotion and guitar singing with Scott before he left for work. We then plugged right in.

Here is our schedule Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday(subject to change):

8:00 Devotion

8:30 Breakfast, get dressed , make bed

9:00 Math

9:30 Phonics

10:00 Copy Work

10:30 Snack

In between we had swinging time on the porch and Catechism memorization (thanks to our friend Bruce's cd he recorded singing each question). We are also going to do some Hebrew, plant a garden in the fall, and do some unit studies on cities Naomi wants to visit (NY, Paris, etc.).

Tuesday is our library day and Thursday is the day Naomi is at Circle Christian School from 9-3. She will be studying Science and Social Studies concentrating on the Middle Ages-Renaissance periods all year. We have signed up for their field trips which include a medieval lunch and jousting tournament as well as some social outings such as putt putt (the one we went to Mom!) and ceramic making.

We have lots of supplies. The best thing I got were individual magnetic white boards for each girl. I can write the numbers or letters I am talking about and teach each child to their level. Naomi's even has the lines for kindergarten writing to practise getting the letters to the top of the line, middle dotted line, and bottom red line (remember that paper?) We also have the old fashioned paper and pencils for copy work. As I predicted when I was preparing today's lesson, Naomi would rather do her copy work slowly and perfectly one time rather than practise over and over for several lines.

After each subject (see our schedule below) each girl got a smelling sticker to put in their assignment notebook (found the assignment book in the dollar bin at Target!). They really liked seeing the sticker in their book as they completed each thing. The Saxon math manipulative kit was a hit as well. It has lots of little things to count and measure.

I love the family dynamic that it has already created. Naomi offered to help Mary learn her letters while "I took a break."

Here are the books I am using for each daughter:

Naomi:

Saxon Math One (meeting book and workbook)

How to Teach Your Child to Read in One Hundred Easy Lessons

Exploded the Code (to supplement the reading book)

my own copy work that I pick from Bible, poems, favorite books

Mary

First Book of Cutting (Kumon)

magnetic letters

Get Ready, Get Set for the Code