Fun week in Feb

it has been a cold, cold, snowy month!! There's not much to do outside and when it's above freezing.. it's raining. (does it sound like i'm complaining??? i am).  I'm trying hard to get out of the house and do fun stuff... So these first two pics are from the teddy bear picnic the library hosted as part of their winter reading program. 

 

 Last week we worked on K and Q. As you can see. Miss Alex is a master tracer and has near perfect upper case lettering skills. I wrote out this sentence and she had to illustrate it. The king and the queen are held up in their castle, watching their dog and cow on the other hill. :)

 this here is child labor at it's best. 

Disney ON ICE!!!

Princess and Princess! 

 Alex had a blast at Disney on Ice! We went to DC on Sunday afternoon, just her and I. We had middle good seats, but she was so disappointed that we were not at the ice (it didn't help the performers came out to meet the kids in the first rows:/). She got over it once the show started. She picked a flashing snow cone cup as her souvenir.

Yesterday we went down to Richmond to the Nature Center. They have classes for homeschoolers in February and September. This class was about Owls and birds. She had a great time and even got to bring along some good friends (KG snow day, school cancelled... again). I dropped the ball on taking pictures because Ward was not impressed by the bird demonstration. But there was a real screech owl, super cute AND the kids got to go through owl pellets. Its what the owls cough up after they eat. So basically a hairy ball of bones. Lucky us, we got to keep that. Happy to take pictures of that upon request.

sick week

Wednesday Ward got sick :( I knew something was wrong because he refused to eat lunch and went straight down for a nap at 12:30pm and had to be woken up at 5. He woke up with a fever of 103. It quickly went down with tylenol but he continued to be pitiful the rest of the night. The crud hit me thursday. I was so achey, Lane had to stay home from work (he's been fantastic). So far, its just been Ward and I down. Its Saturday morning and we are still snotty and tired. 

The only accomplishment this week was reading the original Winnie the Pooh chapter book. Last night we got to watch the Pooh movie which had Alex in stitches. I was hoping to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next.. BUT someone bought the Frozen book for her and it's all she talks about. So we have another book to read, and she's excited to do it. 

We signed up for the Winter Reading Program at our local library. We have to read 50 books by the end of the month. At this point we are halfway done (pat on the back). Its fun incentive to keep a reading log and attend fun library functions with friends. 

okay i'm going to go lay back down on the couch and be miserable. cheers! 

First Post

so i'm not anti-facebook... i'm not going to stop posting. I just wanted to post a bit more for those interested, and not for the whole world. We're doing things a little differently. We're aiming to homeschool. Aiming to anywhere school. I'm excited and intimidated all at the same time. 

Since last September we have been meeting weekly with a friend and going through the alphabet. Learning how to write letters and doing crafty things to coincide with the topics. Next week we will finish the alphabet and our plan is to move on to learn about different topics: Earths Layers, Continents, Oceans, the United States, the parts of a plant, simple math... 

oh wow, this makes me miss summer -->

Every Saturday Alex takes a gymnastics class where she has become a lot more physically daring. We are currently looking into putting her into soccer in the spring. Swimming in the summer...

beginning in January I've been working with Alex with memory work. Learning the days of the week, months of the year, the solar system. Its amazing how quickly she picks up on things if its put to music. She's catching on to phonics quickly and swears she can read whenever she finishes the reading leapfrog video.

I also hope to start going on more field trips. I've been discouraged with the freezing weather and am looking for a partner in crime to travel with. Last Tuesday we had our visitors. Karyn, Aaron and Suzie spent three whole, wonderful days with us. That friday, Lane was able to take work off and go to DC with all of us. We visited the National Children's Museum with our friends and the Air and Space Smithsonian in VA with Daddy! The planes were cool the space shuttle was AWEsome. Its hard to imagine the size of it until you stand in the same room with it.

We have found good friends to help with childcare so we can go to a three day homeschooling convention in June in Richmond. I have found out there is a smaller convention in March i may try to check-out. There is a huge homeschooling community, each family with their own philosophy. I'm looking forward to growing more in my understanding of those approaches and intentions to keep Alex home.