Wow the wind is whipping outside today! Sun's shining though and school is underway and progressing nicely. Derikkah is asleep in her chair thankfully because she cat-naps preferring to be in YOUR arms or on the breast for her entire nap and whne laid down, she suddenly is awake and perky. What do you do with a smiling lil bundle who is definitely NOT going to sleep any longer.
Anyway, Autumn-Rose is doing well in Reading, starting to pick it up finally at least a little. Ember, is not really interested in looking at the book rather she looks at everything else going on first. Zach is pretty much the same way but HE just turned 5 on November 14th and the twins will be 7 tomorrow so...
They are all pretty close in school levels though and so I've held the twins back and now am teaching the three of them together. Once I get past this hurdle of teaching not one, but THREE kids to read at the same time, then we'll be good for a few years until Derikkah is ready and hopefully she'll be like her older sisters and Michael who just began to read one day.
Jenaya got 100% on her PRE-TEST yesterday and so I said she didn't have to do any more of that lesson and she got a dollar. Michael got 100% on his final for the week previous so he got a dollar. Now, Jenaya is ahead of the rest of them but she's an awesome speller.
As for school, this year we are doing mystery of history which we're starting today. I think it will be a good program, biblically based and takes the kids through history from creation onward. We also are studying Canadian history using the Story of Canada. We are also watching DVDs of Canadian History put together by the CBC. They actually go better with another Canadian History book, but it was a bit too immature for some of the kids and MOH goes for all grade levels depending on what you add or take away from it all. So after lunch we shall see!
SOS 4 is our grammer program this year. The girls like it and I like the fact that some of their school is pre-planned and on the computer in case of emergencies or illness or trips. At least then, there is some work mom doesn't need to teach and they can do on their own.
We are also trying Life of Fred math. So far the kids are bulldozing their way through the first book as we had some problems with fractions going on and the entire book adresses that topic. It's cheap too. I paid under $23 for it and I can get it from my local supplier which is awesome. We may go back to Saxon or we may not, we will wait and see how this helps us first.
I'm pretty burned out since I've been teaching my children since Kyla-Dawn was 3 almost 4 yrs old and we had Jade who was 9 at that time. So that means I've been teaching since 1993 which comes out to 13/14 yrs this year. So far, two are graduated and this year, I have Michael in grade 10/11; Larissa in grade 7, Jenaya grade 4, Autumn-Rose, Ember & Zachary in Kindergarten - Grade 1 levels so I'm pretty busy and then there's my sweet lil 28 wk old princess.
My kids are watching a science video online from science kids. It's actually interesting and real. It's also keeping the kids in once place and seated so that's a plus for their mama right now although I don't believe in allowing things like this to babysit my children, but I will take anything as a bonus.
My little orange daisy is just spinning outside. I'm really surprised since we got it in early summer, I thought it'd be toast by now, but despite the storms we've gone through and rain and snow, it's still standing in my window box and it helps us figure out if it's windy or not and even tips us off to storms!
We are a very weather oriented family. We always go by the flags on Main St. which we can see from our home to tell us if the wind is a north or south wind (sometimes east or west and then we really worry) and we watch the sky for signs of weather activity. We've had lightening hit in front of our van, driven (with Josh driving as a newbie driver) through the edges of a tornado spawning bunch of weather even though we found that out after the fact. We've been through a lot of weather and rain or snow, tornadoes or blizzards, it's all been interesting.
Derk and I and baby Derikah are getting ready to get ready to head to New Brunswick on the 14th to pick up Kyla-Dawn and some of her friends for Christmas. It's going to be a long but fun trip and we're just crazy enough to do it and enjoy the whole thing. We'll be returning her at the end of the holiday. Haven't quite decided on the return date yet, but she has to be back by the 3rd or 4th.
Well time for lunch. Hubby made it and it's time to set the table.
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