Cultivation in the process....

I'm laughing while posting this latest cartoon because this is SO me on any day with my three girls when I'm trying to read to them at the same time.

It's been a while since my last post. We have had a busy week, productive yes, much more relaxed and enjoyable. I believe we are getting into the swing of things, but still have a few tweaks to make. Kali is moving along nicely in her school work. We had a few talks with her this past week because of the comments she kept making about missing her old school. I was afraid that she was not enjoying this new experience and that she would end up not enjoying learning. Joe had a heart to heart with her and found that she just misses her kindergarten teacher,Mrs. Brown, and her friend Mikaela. So we told her we would go back to her old school and take a visit one of these days. This was a relief for me because I was getting worried that she wouldn't enjoy being schooled at home. I really believe she enjoys the structure of her old classroom. I believe once we get more settled into our system that she'll start to feel like this is more school than she realizes. It's hard for us because I have the other two who are not into that structure and so I try to give that to Kali as much as possible while still trying to keep things free for the other girls.  Not an easy mix.

I am incorporating more games into Kali's learning. She really likes this, what kid wouldn't right? She's doing great with her math, and I believe we are ready to start on her phonics next week. I just wanted to make sure she knew all her letters and a few sounds before starting her on vertical phonics.  Her writing is great. She normally copies words in this bible color book I got for her at CBS(LOVE these booksColour-bible-book-genesis-2-chronicles). I have also been also printing off the lower-case alphabet for her to practice every day, along with the day of the week, month of the year, and number of the day from Handwriting for kids (another AWESOME site). Anyssa and I are still trying to find what works for her. She really likes matching, counting and coloring. We did a really cool cut, color and paste project for the letter A together at the library. She seemed to enjoy working "with" me on this and she did a GREAT job (although I think it would have went better if we weren't at the library b/c she kept wanting to get up and go play with the books and puzzles, which is a good thing too). I'm going to start doing playdough letters with her next week and some cool counting games that I'm sure she'll enjoy. All fun stuff.

Nia, let me just tell you...this little one amazes me constantly. She is NOW the teacher. She has been "teaching" her sisters lately. She plays the roll very well. All prim and instructional (hmm, sounds like me) with her pencil in her hand gently directing the girls in their school work. It's SO cute to watch.  It's going be great to see where this all leads her. She's going to be one step ahead I believe because she watches and models well her sisters and I.