First Test!

T reading while Isaiah works on Math after his morning of lessons!

Isaiah started Story Problems yesterday!

Hannah is such a trooper!  It is tough for her while the boys get one on one instruction.  She has a 'letters' book that she pulls out and we work on!

So tomorrow is Isaiah's first test!  He has his math test in the morning.  I have complete confidence in his ability to ROCK it.  He is great at math, he loves it.  He flies through his 1-5 addition family flashcards (makes his Daddy SO proud!)  We end the day with math, so he ends on quite the high.  Turner is working on number recognition 1-8...academics aren't as important to T so it is a bit of a struggle. 

Isaiah's reading is exceeding my expectations every day!!!  Yesterday he was able to read a simply sentence to me!  It was so wonderful to sit and rejoice with him over his accomplishment!  It is so encouraging to see him apply what he is learning in reading to environmental print.  Pure BLISS!!  Today I challenged him by reading some 4-letter words that have 2 constants in them (ie. lamp, dump, etc)  He is also working on the long vowel sounds and the one/two vowel rules.  He is working on special combos like -ck -ay and the sounds -e -o and -y make at the end of short words.  When you throw it all together and then apply it to reading you can see his brain working to know when to apply certain rules to what word.  Turner is working on Aa, Ee, Ii, and Uu.  Isaiah's first phonics test is on Friday.  I think he will do fine, but this isn't a strong area (for either of us!) so of course I'm naturally nervous for him.  I do expect he will rock it!

We have also decided to ditch the Story of the World Ancient Egypt right now.  We will see about adding it back in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The kids weren't enjoying it, and neither were we.  We are focusing on the A Beka 1 history book "My America and My World" and with that we are learning the States and Capitals songs.  A lot LESS stress for everyone!  They are LOVING the AIG God's Design for Life science!  Wonderful stuff and I'm amazed at what they kids are absorbing.  We are also working through Creation for our bible time, with memory verses. 

So school, well according to my kids "REAL" school, started this week.  It IS a big deal in our home since my husband is a teacher, so there is no avoiding it with the kiddos.  And yes, I totally missed the excitement with the kiddos this year.  Sam moved with his class so he'll have the same group of students, so the hype wasn't there for him also.  I celebrated with the kids by having not our first day of school sundaes at McDonald's.  Can I be perfectly honest?  I'll admit it, there are things that I miss not sending my kids to public school.  Like, drum roll please, free babysitting.  I have a baby doctors appointment next week and taking 3 kids isn't 'fun'...  Also, I knew homeschooling was going to be more of a financial burden since we buy our own curriculum, but we go through more toilet paper and eat a lot more food.  I imagine our electricity bill will be higher since we need more light to work on these rainy days.  This afternoon I trekked to the grocery store with three kids instead of one, it was more of a challenge.  These are all small adjustments that I am happy to make, but still...they are adjustments.  However, I do love the fact that my dinning room looks more like a classroom rather than a place meant just for family eating!! 

I also can't toss the responsibility of educating my children off on someone else.  I feel that weight.  For them to grow and develop and to be on target, and at the end of the day there is no one else to blame but me.  The weight of having social adjusted children is there, especially when I have such social children.  Last night was the first flag football practice for the boys, and they loved it! 

Lots of emotions swirling around in my head this week for the first week of 'real' school...and the reality of our very real 3rd week of homeschooling! :)