What we've been up to...

Since Maggie has joined our family I've been a little off my game.  I had all these great plans for kindergarten - cool science projects and experiments lined up, music lessons, art plans, you name it - but this third child has been a game changer for me.  This last month has been so much better than the previous months, as Maggie cries way less now and is happy to be in her swing a bit more.  Needless to say, I've had to reevaluate my school plans and simplify a bit.  William is doing great with his phonics and reading skills, I've switched our math curriculum to Singapore math (which I love!), and we are taking Story of the World  (history) waaay slower than I had originally planned.  We are doing these fun unit studies for science and currently we are learning about weather.

The kids are just sponges when it comes to memorizing!  They memorize large chunks of scripture in a matter of a few days.  I have to admit that memorizing doesn't come easy to me, but I figure if they can do it so can I. 

Here is Abby reciting our 2012 homeschool theme verses.  Keep in mind she's barely three years old!

And here is William reciting another excellent verse kids everyone should know. 

Well, that will have to do for now. 

You're welcome, Jared. 

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World!

I started this post several weeks ago but never finished it.  Life keeps getting in the way of my blogging.  I've determined that something has to give because I can't do it all...and my poor blog is the thing that is giving.  Maggie has not been an easy baby.  She is very fussy unless she is held and typing with one hand just isn't my thing.  The last week or so she has gotten much better - sleeping by herself for at least an hour or so, being content in her swing for a few minutes, and overall just being a more happy baby.  She still nurses every 3-4 hours, but being able to say that sometimes she can go 4 hours makes me happy.

We officially started kindergarten, although we are homeschoolers that school year round.  We have way too much company during the year and we like visit family out of state for extended periods of time, so going year round just works for now.

Our second Five In A Row book for this weeks was How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman.  It was such a fun book!  The girl wants to make an apple pie, but when she goes to the market to pick up her ingredients the market is closed.  So, logically, she travels all over the world to pick up her needed supplies.

We did a few activities with the book, including learning about the flags of the countries she visits, learning some new vocabulary words, and doing a salt water evaporation experiment.

For history we are on chapter 2 of Story of the World.  We are learning about the ancient Egyptians!  William colored a map, did cave paintings with some friends who are also doing the same history curriculum, made paddle dolls (see crooked picture below), and watched a video on the Egyptians.

I have to be honest.  I do NOT like the math program I picked out.  I thought I would love it but sadly I do not.  It's very visual/hands on, so maybe in the future I'll love it, but right now I don't.  William doesn't seem to get it, and I have to spend way too much time gathering supplies and actually reading how the heck to teach the material.  Gimme a break.  It's kindergarten math.  I'm fairly confident in my math skills and having to spend so much time figuring out how to teach this wonderful curriculum is sapping the life out of me.  Mom gave me Math-It to use and we LOVE it.  So for now we will use that and supplement as needed.  I'll rethink the math for 1st grade.

Frustration levels are lifting in the reading/writing department.  He can read simple CVC words with the short and .  We are working through a simple phonics book by Modern Curriculum Press as well.

Our Latin is progressing nicely as well.  The kids love the Latin songs so they are learning the vocabulary quickly.

With every new Latin word they get a coloring sheet.  They just love these sheets!  When they are finished with them we put them on the wall in the school room and review them during calendar time.

 A few random shots of cuteness...

The Legos William got for his birthday

Taken Sept. 20

The Story About Ping

We've been rowing The Story About Ping.  It's such a cute story about a duck, Ping, who lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China.

The kids made "the wise-eyed boat" and then added a few duck puppets in for effect.  We used the puppets with our poem "Five Little Ducks". 

We did a science experiment on sinking or floating.  They had to make a prediction on whether certain items would sink or float, and record their findings on their charts. 

 They colored a map of China.

William really enjoys dot-to-dot activities so I found a duck for him.


Something that I'm planning on doing with William this kindergarten year is narrations - he tells me the story in his own words and I type it out.  Here's his first narration.  Pretty good if you ask me!

The Story About Ping, as told by William, age 4.5

He lived with his 42 uncles.  They all marched over the little bridge one by one.  They all catched snails and little fishes and other things to eat.  They all marched over the little bridge, one by one.  Ping did not want to be the last.  So he was being very careful because the last duck on the bridge always got a spank on the back.  He did not see his uncles marching because he was catching a little fish to eat.  When he was upside right he saw his 42 cousins he did not want to be last because the last always got a spank on the back.  So he hid behind the grasses and slowly watched the wise-eyed boat go carefully down the river.  He put his head underneath his wing and he no aunts and uncles and no sisters or brothers to go fishing with Ping.  In the meantime he found little boats – houseboats, rafts boats and big boats but he didn’t know which boat was his.  Closer and closer the fishing boats came.  He could see shiny rings and down he ducked.  He swished under the water to catch a little fish.  When he was front up he saw little crumbs he saw little crumbs.  Closer and closer he came near the houseboat.  Splash!  There was a little boy in the water with a barrel in the water and he snapped at the rice cake.  Closer and closer the boy and ping made a splash at the mother and father came running.  And the mother said I’ll cook him tonight.  So they pulled him up by his back and up came Ping on the houseboat.  A little basket with holes came down and he cannot hear the sound of his boat.  He carefully lifted the basket off and carefully slipped Ping into the water.  And when he was back he floated and floated.  He was late AGAIN!  So he came up and SPANK on the back.  At last he was back with his uncles and 42 cousins.  The end.

I think they're related...

William - 40 weeks

Abby - 32 weeks

Maggie - 34 weeks

I'm sensing a trend here, with the gavage tubes...

                                  Abby                                            Maggie

4 Weeks

Since I'm doing this one-handed, it's going to be quick - our little gal is 4 weeks today (and I'm still 2+ weeks from my official due date).  Hard to believe that she's been around for so long already.  Things at home have literally been a blur.  Days and nights all meld into one big blob that I'm never really sure what day it is until I check the calendar on my phone.  Anyway, I leave you with some 4 week cuteness. 

Snoozing in Abby's doll cradle...but just for the photo shoot.

And then there were FIVE

On June 9 John and I welcomed our third child into our family!  Little Margaret Victoria, (we will call her Maggie) entered the world roughly six weeks early, weighing in at 4lb. 15 oz., and 17.25 in. 

The Saturday that she was born I went to my baby shower not feeling the greatest and not having felt much movement.  I was pretty much in a panic, but after drinking some cold orange juice I felt a small kick and was reassured that she was still okay.  After getting home from the shower I dropped all the gifts off at the door and bee-lined it for the couch.  Thirty or so minutes later I downloaded a nifty contraction app for my phone.  Two hours later I announced that we should probably go to the hospital.  To make a quick story even quicker, Maggie wasn't tolerating labor at all, so my doctor said a c-section was necessary.  I was hoping for another vbac, but was more concerned for the baby's health.  All in all, we arrived at the hospital at 6pm, and by 7:45 Maggie had been born.  I was completely relieved to hear her cry!  She was rushed to the newly opened NICU (we found out later that Maggie was their very first premie!) and I to recovery.   

I was a bit panicked, since we really hadn't settled on a name yet (we knew it was going to be Maggie, but we weren't sure if we were going with Margaret or simply Maggie, and we didn't have a middle name at all).  As I was wheeled out of recovery two hours later John met me in the hall.  He had texted me (yes, texted me while in recovery!) with the middle name of Victoria, and I loved it.

Maggie stayed 18 long days in the NICU.  Since the NICU had just opened the Monday prior to her birth things were a bit "off"...nurses from all sorts of hospitals were taking shifts, doctors from various hospitals were also around.  Since Maggie was their only baby, every time an alarm went off on one of her monitors three nurses, two doctors, a respiratory therapist, and a janitor would rush in to declare her still alive. 

On the 18th day of her captivity, just as I was about to drive down to the hospital (a 50 minute drive, I might add) and go bizerk and demand her release, the nurse called me to announce that the doctor had discharged her.  For her to be discharged she had to have been eating all her feeds by nipple for 24 hours.  That morning had been 24 hours.  John and I dropped off the older two at a friend's house and several hours later we were back home. 

Here she is, for the first time without her gavage tube in!  Such a pretty face!

The last week since we've been home with her has been a huge blur.  I'd write more, but lack of sleep and energy (and weird shoulder pain thanks to surgery) have me pretty sapped. 

Pencil Grips

I *may* be over analyzing this.  Or it may be that because I'm very pregnant I'm extra irritable lately, but either way, I'm going crazy over William's pencil grip. 

I know.  Pencil grip. 

There are lots of things to agonize over so I'm not sure why this issue has to be such a big deal, but it is.  I can't stand it.  He's long past the Palmar-Supinate grip, skipped the Digital-Pronate grip (grasp?  Can't remember) and is now using the quadropod grip.  When, oh when will he remember to follow my instructions for the tripod grip?  I'm not sure if I'm going overboard here, but he holds his pencil with his thumb bent (yah!) but then grips the pencil with BOTH his index and middle finger, instead of resting the pencil on the middle finger.  He's going into Kindergarten this fall...is this something I should be concerned with?  I want him to develop a love for learning, and that includes writing, but it seems the more I bicker with him over this the more frustrated he gets. 

I may be the one who needs an intervention. 

It should be noted that I am not focused on teaching him writing or handwriting or proper letter formation or anything of that sort.  That can come later.  He's a typical boy who simply doesn't have those motor skills yet.  But when he colors I'd like him to hold the crayon properly. 

I know there are tools out there to help with proper grip, but those triangle crayons and pencil grips still allow for a wrong grip.  Trust me, I've tried them.  I've done Internet searches regarding pencil grips, and it seems like most "experts" say either the quad or the tripod grip is okay.  But I don't agree.  

Am I being unreasonable?  Other teachers please help me out!