Random spewings forth...

There are so many things I have wanted to blog about. Now if I can just remember what they were. We have successfully completed (as of tomorrow, that is) the first 2 weeks of our year round homeschooling. I lesson planned 185 days. I meant to lesson plan 180 days, but I accidentally went 5 days too far, so the poor kiddo gets 5 extra days of edjumacation. We take vacations during the year at very random times, so the year round (July-June) schedule will work so nicely for us. Analese is doing so well with her school. She has been reading for awhile now, and this week she has learned simple addition and subtraction. I am letting her do a small drawing/art project once a week, and I was very impressed with her drawing of this cat today. She was following the step by step instructions on how to draw the "copy cat." I got her started and then went to change Mariele's diaper. When I came back, this is what was on her paper! I added her name and the date at the bottom, because this one was a keeper! I don't keep every single thing that she does, because it would just be way too much. But I do like to keep certain ones.



I really am trying not to push her too hard. We are operating well within her ability doing this homeschooling. I think we are both having a lot of fun with it, and Mariele really wants to be involved too. She likes to color all over Analese's discarded papers. Analese really does have an amazing attention span for the school work. But after school is over, sometimes she even seems to regress to almost infantile behavior - crying over little things, wanting to be held, etc. I am trying hard to balance her school day with lots of playtime and downtime. I have to remind myself sometimes that she is only four. Also, she has been eating like a horse the past week or so. I think she is just burning so much glucose in her brain cells!

I feel blessed to be able to enjoy a weekly play date with another homeschooling family that lives right in my neighborhood. We have been friends for awhile, and I love bouncing homeschool ideas off of her and exchanging stories and sharing experiences. It is nice to know that there are many families in my area that have chosen this educational path.

Analese officially started piano lessons today! We are using the piano teacher of our good friends' kids. She is really wonderful, and today was a trial lesson to assess Analese's readiness for beginning the lessons. Analese was so excited about the piano teacher coming to our house. When she arrived, I just left the room and let them have the lesson. I could tell that Analese was being still and paying attention and really enjoying herself. Every once and awhile I would hear her giggle a little at something that Miss Shirley said. Miss Shirley said that she is ready for lessons and we set up a weekly time. Now I just need to guide her practice a little each day. Analese said, "I like my teacher. She is a girl just like I am!"

Which brings me to my next funny story. Analese missed a few sessions of The Little gym this summer because she was sick and we were traveling. I scheduled her first make-up class a couple of weeks ago. I put her in the sports skills class. She had done that one before and really enjoyed it. The class she was in before had a few girls, but this class was ALL boys except for her. She still seemed to enjoy herself, but after the class I asked her how she liked being in an all boy class. Her response: "Well, those boys were just running around and not listening to the teacher. Girls are nicer than boys." I had to inwardly giggle a little at that. So for the second make-up class, I put her in the dance class this week. She loved it, and it turns out that she misses dance class. She is doing gymnastics for the summer and fall. I may have to put her back in the dance class eventually. No boys in that one!

Mariele spent two days in a row wearing this:



And she was imitating all of her Sissy's dance moves. That is her Sissy's old dance leotard that is too small for her now, but fits Mariele perfectly. Every time I would have to change her diaper, I would try to put her shorts back on her, but she would grab the leotard and start fussing. She is only 18 months old and she already has a definite opinion about what she wants to wear!

I'm excited about the school year and I am proud of all my lesson plans. I love having days when I feel like I can accomplish it all. However, I am getting pretty deficient in "me" time. My poor Kindle seems to be sitting on the table unread:( I hope I can manage my time in such a way to find myself some "me" time. And some couple time with Lee would be nice too. Next week we are going to dinner with a couple WITHOUT our kids. That will be nice....and weird. But mostly nice, I think.

In conclusion, I need to go read my Kindle now. I have to be a little nocturnal to get some "me" time.