Rolling Along...School Year Update

First Day of School Ziggy wasn't so sure about this school Business...It just means Mama and sisters are distracted from playing with him!

Last week wrapped up our 6th week of school! I've decided to make every 6th week an "easy" week, we don't do History, we do a fun audio book for language arts, and we take it easy.

We're trucking along with Brain Integration Therapy exercises I'm struggling with these, it's really hard to balance the fact that "if we're going to do this, we need to do it right!" and "we're just going to do the best we can and hopefully any thing we do is benefitting and helping to integrate and resolve midline issues."

The positive is that dd1 is doing her computer-based vision therapy every day.  The writing 8 exercises have improved their handwriting and are resolving reversals and issues they have in that regard.

It's just hard to balance my desire to be delight-driven in our school days, and our need to make progress and give them the best foot forward educationally. It has been really challenging and a bit intimidating.

Where have we landed?

Each year I go in with lots of big ideas and then life happens and things get sifted down to reality.  I end up finding a sweet spot of what is enjoyable and working, and what is not.

Reality...

Roo is completing her vision therapy, BIT exercises, A section of History and Timeline work, Two Miqon Math lab sheets, and alternate days of Science reading and a Journal page (a paragraph and optional illustration) daily. This is not with out some complaints and whining. I've come up with a reward situation where she gets 30 minutes of coveted time playing with a friend (it's an online server and she emails her friend to set up a time, yay for practice writing, spelling, online safety and communication- learning on several levels!) on a Star Stables game if she gets every thing done with a positive (or at least neutral) attitude.

So far that is working well. She also whips through books like nobodies business, she's reading 4-5 chapter books a month at this point, I can't say what a joy it is to see her taking off with reading. I also can't believe how reading has improved her spelling skills! She has jumped from phonetic spelling to rarely misspelling words in the last month. Again, I'm thrilled...It means so much, 3 years into this homeschooling thing to finally be seeing that she's getting it! And older homeschool Mom told me that usually homeschooled kids will often be behind grade level until 3rd or 4th grade and then ZIP they get it and jump well ahead of their peers on almost every  level, I am starting to see the truth in this statement. Not that I care if the kids are academically ahead, I just want them to enjoy learning, but it is rewarding to see I'm not stunting them by keeping them home, ya know? I was wondering there for a while...It's been quite a journey of faith.

Ziggy gets in on Miqon Math Labs too!

Friendly.. Friendly really enjoys school, most days we don't have a bit of trouble with her attitude. The only problem is when it takes longer to get to actually doing school because the baby is having a rough day. She completes her BIT exercises, a page of reading out loud (to me), two Miquon Math lab sheets,  and a journal writing page daily. She also listens to History and completes the timeline work and other assignments along side Roo. She is passionate writer and very interested in literature. She spends much of her days outside with her kindle listening to audio books or playing with Pip. 

 Pip...
I had lofty goals with Pip when we went into the school year, but it's landed where it always does...Enjoying reading things together and busy work. She's really a lot more academically focused than her sisters were at this age, and it's been a lot of fun to see her work at things. I bought her a bunch of these amazing busy books at the start of the school year and she just whips through at least 4 pages a day, she loves cutting and pasting and problem solving. We've been enjoying a daily chapter of Milly Molly Mandy together and a Bible story from this curriculum  (it has a coloring book to work on as well), it's been really quite perfect..Depending on the Bible story I'll throw in some Heart of Dakota finger play as well- she really just didn't like the stories from Heart of Dakota and it's not like she's my only student- there's too much going on to try to push through any thing she's not loving! I love the Finger plays though and the Bible Memory songs so it isn't all a waste. :D

Ziggy...
He's 1, enough said. Oh my goodness! Some days are awful. He's climbing every thing, into every thing, and often melting down because I'm not playing with him. Some days are awesome though, he's happy to play with whatever sibling isn't doing school, he enjoys watching Sesame Street with Pip...He discovered how crayons, markers, and pens work and we've taken to laying down big pieces of paper for him to scribble on...

He really is very much a little scientist and loves to try to figure stuff out, he will sit for quite some time just studying some thing, he spent a good 10 minutes (an eternity for a 1 year old) trying to get this hole punch tool to work on his paper.

 He also loves to take part in the BIT exercises, he finds his spot and does his lunges like his big sisters! :)

 And His Magic Yellow Stroller, it's so funny how different every baby has been!!! This little ones loves his stroller, it is many days the only way I get any sort of nap out of him at all. He prefers to nap in the middle of it all, he doesn't want to miss a thing and he seems to sleep best with a lot of noise in the background, some thing his sisters are happy to supply!
As far as milestones go, he's climbing everything in sight, pretty much walking now, taking as many steps as necessary, but still mostly prefers to crawl- it's faster and he's less likely to get knocked down by older siblings. He is the sweetest snuggliest....I could go on and on about what a sweet little joy he is. I can't say what he's added to our family and we're quite in love.

He fell asleep during read aloud time!

The rest of school has been outside, frankly I'm feeling a bit exhausted from all the Going we've been enjoying! We bought a pass to a local zoo and we've been taking advantage of a gorgeous and warm autumn, spending several days a week at parks and playgrounds. And Hubby Joy's work schedule has been crazy, so some times when he doesn't have a pressing deadline he takes a weekday morning off and joins us a the park.

Lots of sunshine and fun at home and around..

Pip teaching Ziggy how to use a shovel to put mulch in a bucket, he got it right away and has been filing buckets with dirt and mulch ever since! Homeschooling, starts at birth- they learn so much from their siblings!

Some Pip and Mama snuggles, she is growing so much my little snuggle bug is outgrowing my lap. :(

playing in the garden, it turned into a jungle but they don't mind!

An afternoon picnic reading our language arts assignments at the park bring back so many happy memories for me!

Visiting a replica of a Teepee at the the local Native American grounds near our home.

It's been a good school year so far, onwards towards The Holidays!

Field Trip to the Fire Station

It was several weeks back now, but I couldn't find the camera cord!

We went on a field trip to the fire station and had so much fun learning about fire safety and exploring the fire trucks.

Since M isn't my kiddo, and I don't think her parents are online much at all , I try to put a sticker over her face. She's a cutie and her expression in this picture was awesome, but I'll let her parents have a copy and enjoy it. Pip and M did amazing during the presentation. They asked questions and listened really well!

Roo was really into heat sensor so they could find people in the dark.

Friendly is into awkward expressions apparently, must be a "5" thing. :0D

They had so much fun climbing through the trucks.

Checking out all the things!

When I remember her at 5, I will remember The Hair. The Hair that *never* stays back and always gets quickly undone when I fasten it back. Five is the Year of The Hair Waterfall. In.her.face.all.the.time. :0D

Pippy has the same issue. ;0) Such beautiful hair hiding such beautiful faces. childhood.

This trip was fantastic, we can't wait to go back next year!

Easter 2014

Easter this year... The younger two got some strange (thankfully) short lived virus that involved a high fever, and ended with an ear infection for Pip and a doctor trip because she was inconsolable.

We had some of my Mom's family over in the afternoon and I'm really trying to remember much of the day. I was quite sleep deprived from 3 rough nights with a sickie little Pip.

Sunday morning Pip and I stayed home from church and took a walk,

This is actually from the next weekend but I didn't take a picture of our Easter walk...She loves to take walks and talk, it's one of her most frequent requests in life!

then there was some cleaning...Lots of visiting with family....An Easter Egg hunt...And an afternoon crash.

The day before we dyed Easter Eggs...

 All of the kids are sensitive to food dyes. We don't eat any thing with food dye in it, and haven't for a few years. Red Dye 40 is like ...No words describe what it does to my children. So we avoid all dyes..And haven't felt safe enough to allow Easter egg dye because of how messy it is (and your skin is an organ of your body, getting dye on your skin is almost as bad as eating it!). This year we chanced it and they all did great!

Aren't they pretty? Next year we'll use a different kind of dye, this kind was a little too hard core and soaked through the egg shells!
The easter egg hunt was fun! It was funny to watch how intense and FAST the kids aged 4+ were

Roo hunting!

Pip Hunting

Friendly off to hunt!

It was a great Easter...And after the company went home...

We crashed. Ryan napped, Pip and I snuggled. :D

I don't think I got a picture of the Easter Baskets or of them opening them. My Mom might have taken some...

Oh here are a few from breakfast that morning...We had Donuts, OJ, and Berries with Easter Eggs

So 7! <3

So many things to blog! FIVE!!

Oh this summer has been so busy, I have a lot to share, going to work on catching up this weekend.

Some one turned FIVE!!!! More about the Birthday girl soon!

Family Time...Spring is Park...ing!!

It's been a crazy few weeks, Ryan's parents were in town and we had a really great visit with them. They helped us with some outdoor projects and the girls had a blast with them. And now we dive into SPRING- it's going to be a busy one!But first, some snap shots of life...

Pip and Mommy cheesing.

Pip really prefers to choose all of her own clothing. One night she chose a pair of Pj's that were 18-24mos.They were just a smidge too small. So we took a picture.

see how tight the feet were?

Adorable. Sad she's outgrown them.:(

This morning, the girls before church.

The sweetest and the best.

Today was GORGEOUS and we've been trying to soak up every second we can together as the next several weeks are going to be really busy. This afternoon we took a trip to the park to spend some much needed family time together...

Roo dances while she waits to go around to her side of the car.

Tag!

Pip and Daddy are "it".

Climbing walls

Another picture.

 Roo and I have recently gotten into hula hooping. We made some really pretty ones this past week using irrigation tubing, connectors, and tape or fabric. We both hula hooped for a bit at the park...But Roo wanted to scooter and climb more- so I didn't get a picture of her...yet. Ryan snapped on of me though!

goofing on the train tracks

yes...goof.

She wasn't so sure about being up off the ground with no railings!

Roo can jump up and hit that circle there!! These kids have been amazing us with their "big kid" skills lately!

These are from yesterday...

Friendly can climb to the top of the spider web!

We've been trying to get into pictures more too- we exist- see?

And this child! She's becoming quite independent and adventurous on the playground!

 Back to our fun time today at hte park...More chase...

And then we got out the skooters and Pip's balance bike and went for a walk..

She is so so proud of being able to ride a REAL big kid bike. She calls it "My new Bite!" and she is so unbelievably SLOW. The 1/4 mile walk took about an 45 minutes- and that was with lots us us giving her breaks..encouraging her to walk a bit.

She loves to off road on it!

Being silly.

A picture by Roo

A picture by Friendly

A picture by Daddy! Ha!!!

Sweetie

We've been busy busy busy! There's been lots of exciting stuff happening for the Joys...Roo is learning to whistle, and Pip is talking in 4-6 word sentences!!! Friendly is a Lego Maniac, and we're all extremely happy spring is on the way!