Dogs and Hail Storms

The poor moping puppies are having to lay still by the stove and finish drying off after I saved them from the nasty hailstorm that passed through our neighborhood.  Unfortunately, we haven't gotten around to building their doghouse yet, and the weather is turning worse and worse.  The hail started earlier this evening and it was a doozie.  The poor pups didn't have anywhere to hide from it, so I brought them in the house (even though I really don't like dogs in the house).  I ended up giving both of them baths because they were just downright nasty.  Boy was that a chore.  They wouldn't leave each other, so they both ended up in the bathroom with me. Sigh.

After the comedy of washing two nervous dogs and getting mud swiped all over my bathroom, I was able to successfully get them semi-dried and laid down next to the stove.  That's where they've been for the past hour.  They're both asleep now.  However, as you can see in this picture, they weren't too keen on the idea of sitting still at first.

Now to clean the muddy laundry room (which Danner insisted on peeing in) and the nasty muddy tub and cupboards in the bathroom.  Another sigh.  Need that doghouse built ASAP.

Yvonne

Kindergarten Box

I had mentioned a couple of months ago that I had planned on making a fun box for Alexis's special kindergarten items to be stored in.  Well, it has taken me a really long time to get to this project, but it's finally complete.



I went to Borders and purchased one of their big plain brown boxes and used some fantastic scrapbooking paper (and mod podge of course) to create a really fun Kindergarten box.  Now we have a special place to put our favorite pieces from this school year.

Homeschooling: Our New Adventure Begins

Just last week (Thursday to be exact), my 5-year old and I embarked on a new adventure together - Homeschooling. My husband and I had been talking about the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling, where are convictions come into play with our christian faith, and what steps were we going to take. Homeschooling is a MAJOR decision and not one to be taken lightly, so there has been a lot of praying.

We started our lessons last Thursday, and I have to say, it was really nice. The preparation was a lot of work, but the teaching was fun. She was attentive, excited, and eager. It has been this way for the last four school days. It's been wonderful.

We went to visit her old classroom on Monday to pick up her journal and say goodbye officially to her classmates and her teacher. I was afraid there was going to be sadness and crankiness, but it went really well. Alexis got to hang out with the kids for a little while and answer all their questions about what she's been doing and why she's not coming back. I took that opportunity to talk a little with the teacher (wonderful woman) and became enlightened about something. Alexis had been having trouble with some mischeviousness at school (which I knew about). But, I figured out what the cause was. She was bored out of her mind. She already knew the material that was being taught, so she didn't stay focused long. I'm the same way - "Do you really have to go over that again, I already know it?" Now we are able to work at a pace that works for her and with material that is new to her. We're on 1st grade math already and nearly to 1st grade reading. I expect that we'll make quite an advancement by June. I wouldn't be surprised if she's into 3rd grade material by then. She picks stuff up so quickly and it sticks.

I'm learning a lot as well.  I've never had to write out a curriculum and make lesson plans before, so that's been fun.  The subjects we're working with this year are: bible, reading, writing, math, science, american history, local geography, music, and art.  We don't do all of them every day, but we do have daily bible, reading, writing, and math.  For the other subjects, we schedule two to three days of each.  It's been working really well.  We also have daily journaling, where she gets to write/draw in her journal about anything she wants.  Her frog entry is my favorite so far.  She drew a very nice picture of a frog, colored it, and then wrote at the top of the page, "I kot a frog."  I was very impressed how she had sounded every word out and then wrote the letter for that sound. 

I'll be posting more of what we're doing in the days to come.  There are lots of exciting things planned.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Yvonne