End of October Notes

These months are flying by! I cannot believe it's already almost November!!! I feel so behind in everything!

School is progressing. The kids are begging for more science. I haven't been faithful with driving them to all of their various classes all over two counties because of recent gas prices. But now that isn't an excuse anymore!

We are getting through Greek mythology and minor versions of the Iliad and Odyssey. The kids, at times, remember which character is a greek or a trojan more often than me! Elizabeth still loves her Junie B. Jones but will actually now consider a different type and a more challenging book! Marie is reading some of the "Star Wars" books. She's way ahead in her other reading so I've let her pick what she wanted to read next. Josiah is coming along... slowly. His artistic skills are becoming very refined! I have hope that maybe that will lead to proficient writing soon! Reading is slow with him but not as frustrating. He's excellent at critical thinking and is very good at putting things together relationally.

Math and grammar are coming along. Elizabeth loves personal application in terms of math and analyzes, computes, and measures about the house. She is learning measuring systems and is getting quite independent. What I love so much is that she is beginning to think for herself and have personal application in her studies and applies a certain flair.

Marie continues flying through school books and work books. Sometimes I feel I am dealing with a fifth grader and not a third grader in terms of her reading.

Pizza HUT coupons are a GREAT REWARD! Thank you Pizza Hut!

Where Did September GO???

I blinked and then it's October. Where did September go? All in all, it was a good learning month. Josiah is progressing on reading and math. The girls are doing outstanding with reading. Pizza Hut has a monthly rewards program that we are utilizing. If the children complete their monthly reading, they get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza. It's great. My kids were thrilled. Marie has finished the Narnia Series and is now reading, "An Ordinary Princess." Elizabeth is still stuck in the Junie B. Jones books and has even been spending her hard-earned money buying them. I have been able to add the Jigsaw Jones books and she likes those but not quite as much as Junie B. Jones. If they ever make a tv series, Elizabeth qualifies for the part. Josiah can sound out the basic words if he's agreeable. If he's not... well... I'll get back to you. The kids are LOVING the Iliad and Odyssey and I am really enjoying reading them. I am adapting a curriculum for K-3 graders so they can be familiar with the idea of "epics," although so many are so familiar in our society (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, etc.). All three have created their own epics. I am using the curriculum I have been developing in our newly founded church's homeschool cooperative and it's gone over well. The kids and I should be moving on to ancient Roman history but learning all the Greek history is so fascinating. A plus for homeschool, I guess, is we can pause and enjoy.

Josiah turns seven this month. We have (outside the home) science classes, Nutcracker rehearsals (Marie is a Polchinelles in the Mother Gigone and her children scene - one of my favorite scenes! Elizabeth is a little party girl in the party scene, a big mouse in the battle scene, and a baker in the Mother Gigone scene. Josiah is a little party boy and a soldier!), soccer practices, soccer games, and dance. We've really worked hard to cut down our busy-ness and our budget. It seems to be working well for us!

Our goal for the month is: Daily spelling tests through AVKO. I have kind of not picked up a routine yet for this.