Friday, October 27, 2006

Poetry reading

This afternoon we attended a poetry reading at a local cafe. Our home school group took over the microphone and the stage for about 45 minutes. The kids sounded awesome.

Here is a clip from my digital camera of both of my kids reciting poems. (Click on the arrow inside the box and it should start playing).

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Pumpkin carving

We finally got around to carving out our pumpkins yesterday. The youngest has been asking since we picked the pumpkins at the end of September. Things go so smoothly when they get along with one another. We made it through all of the pumpkin carving without any sibling bickering. It was so nice and peaceful for that hour.


The youngest started a Math program this week. He's been feeling a bit left out of the schooling action and has been asking to do "work" too. His reading is coming along nicely as well.
The oldest has completed 7 lessons in his new Math book since starting on Monday. It's amazing how his negative attitude towards math has completely changed.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

8 weeks down

We've made it through 8 weeks of schooling and it's going pretty well. I ordered the next Math book as Chance is finishing up the first one this week. I thought he'd finish the first book around the New Year but I'm letting him go at his own pace spending an hour a day on Math. He had a miserable Math year last year not grasping the concepts and forced to go ahead with the rest of the class. He finally understands multiplication. YAY!! At lunch yesterday while we were waiting on our food he wanted to practice triple digit times quadruple digit problems. He asked to practice it? Awesome! I'm so proud of him.
Finn's look has changed some in this past week. Over the past few weeks he's struggled with his reading and writing. He visited the eye doctor on Tuesday and found out he is far-sighted. Everything he would try to read or write up close was blurry. He's so proud of his new glasses. I think he's excited to have something his big brother doesn't have.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A whole hand!

That's how old the baby is today-5! He's so proud he wore his "I'm 5 years old today" button wherever we went. He shared snacks with his swim class this morning then hung out with a couple of friends to go bowling. Later we're going out to dinner with Dad.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Beautiful weather!

We took advantage of the great weather we've been having by getting outside. On Friday we headed up to a forest preserve with our homeschool group for a day of learning outside. The kids each headed to their separate groups for the day. I went with the younger group in the morning where they had a scavenger hunt and then headed to a pond to look for creatures living in the muck. What kid doesn't like gooey mud to sift through?


In the afternoon I went along with the older kids where they successfully caught a snake which they observed for qutie some time.

This group had the best time playing a game called "predator and prey" in the prarie. The prey would go out into the prarie and try to hide from the predator in the tall grass.
Yesterday we headed to Starved Rock State Park. According to Wikipedia "Starved Rock State Park is one of the busiest State Parks in Illinois with yearly attendance over 1 million visitors each year." It felt like it yesterday. The trails were very crowded. So much for escaping the noise and crowding of the city eh? Despite this I had a great time enjoying the fall colors and hiking up and down the hills and bluffs.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Lewis & Clark

The one thing I knew my oldest would miss by home schooling is the special assemblies the school would have for the kids a few times a year. At the September homeschool group meeting I found out about a local Opera House that hosts shows for kids and adults for $3 per person. I signed us up for 6 shows.
Today was our first show-"Lewis and Clark's Journey into the Unknown".


It was so much fun. These two guys that put on the production absolutely love history. The story was presented almost in a musical format which kept the boys entertained for an hour. We're looking forward to the next show-"Ultimate Science Show" in November.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Happy Birthday!


Can you believe it's been a decade? Yep he's a bit melancholy about having to tell people he's now in the double digits. Yesterday we went roller skating which was a hoot. He had a great time.
This morning we headed to breakfast at a local diner before Dad headed off to work for the day. The hot chocolate was the favorite I think. We cozied up on the couch in the morning and watched a great movie, Akeelah and the bee. Next, we headed out for a bike ride before the rain started. We're having pizza for dinner and then cake and ice cream for dessert.