It's That Time Again

 Only one more of these first day photos to go. Time moves so quickly!

A Mother's Day Trip to Dierks

 Mother's Day saw us making a trip to Dierks to see this guy graduate on the Monday after.

Although Rugrat was hyped to go, by the end, she was ready to go. Sitting still for long periods is not her strong suit. Nonetheless, she made it through and we got to watch him turn the tassel.

Quickie Last Four Months in Review

So -- I was not abducted or held captive. I haven't been ill or in a coma. I've just been busy. Which is not fun. At all.

But here's what's been happening.

Hubby's Birthday:

Christmas Pics:

Of the WHOLE family:

A Rugrat birthday:

Snowglobe picture for a Girl Scout craft:

Christmas came and went:

Along with a harried drive home from Arkansas hoping and praying to get home before the big storm hit. And we just did although we had to drive in pouring rain the whole way  -- at least it wasn't ice. No power for a day and three quarters then life returned to normal again.


Which included a Chick birthday.  Yikes she's 21 now!!!:

Finished a couple of her school subjects off early. This is her "Art Show" done at the end of the subject's lessons:

 Of course, school has been the main thing. I thought it might take less as she got farther along -- and it will -- but it will be MUCH farther along. For the time being, I'm trying very hard not to push things too fast and be content that we get to bond each day over little things like art projects and history facts and literature stories that are sometimes too dull for both of us and other times capture our attention.

So there it is. A little catch up.

First Day of School 2015

My goofballs -- a second grader and a senior

School Snapshots

Rugrat's completed book report project -- a mobile with all kinds of things about Freddy the Detective.

We "planted" a bean in a bag with a wet paper towel. Who didn't ever do that in school? Well, her bean was some kind of crazy. I had to open a spot in the zip so it could poke it's head out. Currently, it is quite a bit taller (about 4 inches above the zip) with two full spread out leaves.

Still in the baggie. Still hanging in the window. We plan to plant it in a pot if we can manage to do it soon before it dies. I never had one do quite that well.

If You Make A Rugrat Sad...

I thought one of Rugrat's writing prompts this week was particularly sweet.

It may just be that I see her thinking through what she wanted to say at this writing prompt. Often she is just truly concrete. For instance, when her writing prompt was "If I was a raindrop, I would" she finished the sentence with the word "fall."

She is not yet really terribly creative in her writing. Perhaps she will grow into that after all.

Whatcha Doin' In School Lately?

 Well. Let's see.

In Math, Rugrat has been learning her addition and writing 'math sentences.' Math is usually a pretty quick lesson for her. She has had days but it is usually not an issue with the content as much as that she decides to be stubborn.

In Phonics, I am still amazed at how she zooms through the lessons. At the beginning of last year, 50 minute lessons were taking us 2 1/2 hours. By the end of the year, she was tearing through them though and that has continued to be the case. Vocabulary still remains her easiest and fastest subject. And Handwriting is just about where I would expect it to be for her age. If she focuses, she can write quite neatly, however, she likes to zoom through it which means sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. So I usually have to hover some and remind her to slow down.

Literature is probably our toughest subject. I have begun to dread it every day despite fighting that urge. I really don't understand that. All she has to do is listen to the story and answer the comprehension questions. But as soon as I start reading, she kind of zones out into her own little world. She still loves asking us to read to her at night. And if she reads it, she seems to comprehend. But when we read stories in school, forget it. I've been trying some different strategies but none have worked well yet.

It didn't stop her from getting excited when I mentioned she might get to make a paper bag owl like Ramona did though. And now, about halfway through that book, she seems to be picking up a few things a little better. We'll see how the rest goes though.

In the same area, I 'm really excited that she gets to participate in the Book It program. Both Chick and Dude loved this program when they were in elementary. We've set a goal and she gets to start as of today. I can't wait for her to earn her first one and get to use it.

In History right now, we're talking about Egypt and the Nile river. She's enjoying that because for our Bible lesson, we've been talking about Joseph (who is currently in Egypt) so she frequently makes the statement "like we talked about" while doing those lessons.

In Science, we've been covering the states of matter. She seems to have no problems with that. She's even made the jump a few times to making a conclusion that I was sure would take much more prompting and hinting than it did. Her interest in science is probably for the best if she truly wants to be a doctor.

 Social Studies this year seems to be more of a good citizenship course. We only are required to do one lesson per week so it hasn't made much of an impression yet.

Art is the subject she truly gets excited about. She always expects to have a project to do and usually isn't disappointed. (That's another one that I like to get done and out of the way for the week though. Is that terrible of me? It has more to do with time, I think, than anything else. I like to get as much done in the morning before I leave for work as we can. I can't really tell how much time Art will take so it's hard to plan for.)

Also, I still think the Art lessons are awfully advanced for her age. I felt the same last year. And I just don't feel like she gets much out of it other than getting to do the project. But I suppose that's okay.

Really, I try to remember that a lot of the course work she does at this age is intended to be introductory. Phonics and Math are the big focus. She definitely remembers a lot from other subjects, both this year and last, but I try not to get to concerned about the finer details. We work towards the big ideas -- like I've been encouraged to do.

School this year has been much more enjoyable than last year's beginning.We are doing better and were able to step right back into the groove of things. She was excited to begin and seems to look forward getting started each day. There are still good days and bad but I truly feel like we've made the right decision for her schooling for the time being. And I think it shows in all she's learned.

School has definitely begun!

I haven't posted for over a week. And now that I am, it's only an apology for not posting for over a week.

Can you tell school has begun?

We are finally starting to get back into a rhythm. The requirements for Rugrat's school have become a bit more flexible so I won't have as much stress as last year, I think. Once she started to catch on last year, we ran right through her lessons most of the time and only had the occasional snag with a stubborn mood or something that didn't stick. By the end, we were finding anything and everything to fill up the time requirement. The time requirement is gone this year. She needs only to demonstrate progress and be in touch with her teacher on a regular basis (classes) so my main stress-er is gone.

Dude's have also loosened up in one way and tightened up in another. His school work usually doesn't affect me too much at this point. It's mostly him and his teachers. I'm just the bouncer -- making sure he's doing what he's supposed to and keeping him in line and on track. His time has never been an issue but it's no longer a requirement. Now he has to get his work done and attend his classes regularly. The classes are probably going to be an adjustment for him. He didn't usually go to as many as he will have to now. But most teachers have adjusted their work load to fit with the classes so that he isn't working all night after attending 5 hours of classes one day. They've also shortened the classes since they are doing them more frequently. So it is actually much easier than we initially thought.

I think this year will be much better than last year. I could be fooling myself but it seems like some pretty positive changes are taking place.

I hope your school year has begun well.

1st Day of School 2014

Dude was not happy with me about the whole picture taking thing. Nonetheless, this was their first day of school pic for the year.

We actually got to start about a week later than the locals. The virtual school wanted to give time for those who decided to switch after realizing that the local school might not work out -- sound familiar to our kindergarten woes? -- so they purposely set a start date that was a little later.

Dude definitely wasn't complaining any about that. Rugrat, on the other hand, has been ready to go since her supplies arrived. And we even started on Monday by getting our introductory lessons done so she could do some school.

But the official start date was today. So, here's to a brand new school year and lots of learning all year long!

The Difference between an Elementary School Student and a Teen

Last night, the books and supplies arrived from the virtual school. Rugrat was beside herself! With each box I opened, she 'ooh-ed' and 'aah-ed,' often finding something every few books that she wanted to look at and check out. She was even excited about the few books that arrived for Dude.

She was particularly pumped to see a whole new set of readers for Phonics.

She was very excited!

Dude, on the other hand, was not the least bit interested in the contents of his box. Nor has he looked in it yet. He has been steadfastly ignoring it, determined to forget that the beginning of school is on the horizon.

He is not excited at all!

A Big Hole

Rugrat lost another tooth on Monday. Yesterday she did a journal entry about it. I thought it was very cute.

Translation:  My tooth was wiggly. My tooth fell out. 

There is a big hole. I got money under my pillow.

 

I especially like her pink and green money under her pillow. She tried to replicate the multi-colored quilt Hubby's grandmother made, which is one of her favorites.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Schoolwork is so taxing!

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

It must be school for fairies. Glad to know they get Phonics tests too. :)