Kindergarten Curriculum and Week 1

Well, it's finally happened...Our first baby, who will always be my baby even though he's the oldest of 4, is old enough for kindergarten.  To celebrate, our church had a very special kinder box presentation and prayer over him and his 20+ classmates last Sunday.  At home, we prepared with a pre-school dinner of hot dogs and corn per his request.

All summer, we've been talking up doing kindergarten at home, and we've been counting down the days with a paper chain for the last week.  Initially, he was not excited but really warmed up to the idea once we decorated the room and started the countdown.

Here are my curriculum plans, though I'm already learning that things may need to change:

• Reading/Phonics: lots of library books, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Starfall.com
• Math: a K workbook, followed by Saxon Math 1
• Bible: Grapevine Studies Stick Figuring through the Old Testament, weekly memory verses
• World Geography: Expedition Earth from confessionsofahomeschooler.com

The first couple of days were rough.  I was too focused on the academic side of things and didn't have enough "fun" planned in.  Reef was jealous that his brothers were playing while he was working.  The hardest part for him is the reading.  We were on lesson 67 of 100 EZ lessons but took a long break after Poppy was born.  I think it was just too long, and he's lost some confidence.  I am backing off for awhile.  Wed-Fri were better since I added in library books and lots of fun activities.  He really loves to use the dry erase markers and board!

Here's my big guy, hard at work on Day 1.  He loves math but says his pencil hurts his hand after a few minutes.  Hoping some pencil grippers help!

 The whole gang.  Jonas will sit at the table with us for about 10 minutes with a workbook I picked up at Borders.  He doesn't "do" the book, just traces with his finger.  After the first little bit, he and Lachlan are off to make messes with puzzles, dominoes, and memory cards. 

 Here's Reef with his "favorite things" board.  I thought it would be cute to look back on.  His favorites right now are: sandwiches, ice cream, Ethan, Smurfs, Cars 2, tigers, lions, and cheetahs.  His favorite part of school is crafts and computer time.

 Part of our fun time on Friday made use of our millions of cars.  We played this dice game and it was a huge hit.  They've asked for it a lot since then!

 One surprise with homeschooling is that Jonas, our very stubborn guy, has actually started to let me teach him how to hold a marker/crayon.  Progress!

 We also practiced sorting using our cars.  We have the most black and the least purple.

And this is what this cutie spends the school time doing, when she's not napping.



So far, I think homeschooling has gone really well.  There were bumps in the road last week and even some tears (from both Reef and me), but I think it's going to be great.  I love how much time I get to spend with him, seeing his face light up when he "gets" something, and that we get to control what he's learning.  I am nervous about the social side of things, though.  He has said that he misses his friends.  Hopefully seeing them at church and life group will help.  I am also constantly searching for social things to do with him and have some fun (hopefully) things in the works.

Lachlan is 2!

I can't believe how fast the last year has flown by!  Lachlan changes and learns so much each day that it's hard for me to keep up.  He is so verbal; almost as much as Jonas as this age.  He knows all his colors, 5 shapes, lots of animals with sounds and actions, and lots of body parts.  My favorite right now is that he calls his belly button his "beep" and, when asked what color it is, says "Naken (naked)".  Lachlan is also quite the ham; he's a funny guy and knows how to use that!  His memory amazes me; he can pick up almost any book in the house (and we have TONS), open it, and tell me what is happening on that page.

His best friend is Liam, but he gets along with most kids his age.  He is also a surprisingly good sharer, although he has recently started testing the waters of not sharing.  I know he is going to love preschool, which starts in September.

Some of his favorites right now: fruit (except strawberries), pizza, swinging, cars 2 characters, Mick Mouse, Wiggles, and, of course, his big brothers.  His favorite color is green.  He's also really into puzzles, dominoes, and playing cards.

As far as sleeping goes, he's right on track with where the others were.  2 hour nap each day and 12-13 hours a night.

At the doctor, he weighed in at 27lbs even and was 35 3/4 inches tall.

Here are our bday pictures.  We kicked the day off with a trip to the donut shop.  He loved the chocolate one he picked out and the free one they gave him.

 After donuts and a trip to the grocery, we opened presents.  He loved them all, but..

 these Apple Grove friends were by far his favorite.  Thanks Gigi! 

 There was no question that these green frog cupcakes would be a big hit.

 We had the Ingrams over for dinner since they were in town from Brazil.  Lachlan wasn't sure what to think about David and the portugese version of Happy Birthday.

 Loving the cupcake and still checking David out.

We love you Lachlan and can't wait to see how much you grow and learn this year!

Pirates

I had FOUR baby showers to attend while Daphne was here.  This is what I left them doing:

Never a dull moment when Oma's in the house!

Poppy's 2 months!

Time is just flying by!  Our Poppy is already 2 months old!  She has outgrown her newborn clothes and is rapidly approaching the weight limit in size 1 diapers.  I love watching her grow and do new things, but part of me is sad that she's not teeny tiny anymore.  It feels like that phase was just too short!

This picture was taken in early July, so closer to 1 month.  Compare it to the last ones in this post and you'll see how much bigger she is. 

I was trying to get a smile.  Instead I got a yawn...

Attempting a roll

Look at this curly bath hair!  Hard to believe it dries so straight.  She has really started to love the bath, especially when she can watch TV at the same time.

She doesn't love tummy time but is really very strong.  In the week since this picture, she can lift her head so much higher.

She doesn't usually love the swing but spent a good chunk of time in there one day.  She's admiring herself in the mirror abover her.

We went to the doctor on the 3rd for the first round of shots.  She weighed in at 12lb 13oz!  That's the 92nd percentile.  I don't remember her length but it was the 75th percentile.  Since Lachlan was a baby, they've combined several vaccines into one, so she got 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine.  The oral one was the worst; she thought the nurse was trying to kill her, I think. 

Here she is passed out on the couch after her appointment.  She was so tired that she never knew her life was in danger (brothers!) several times!

I wish I could report that Poppy has gotten on a great schedule, but I can't.  We've struggled getting her reflux under control but are finally seeing some improvement with an increase in her meds and my dairy free diet. 

She is still eating every 3 hours during the day but has lengthened the time between night feedings, going up to 6 hours.  Mommy has really enjoyed those longer stretches of sleep!

The hardest part right now is getting Poppy to bed at night.  She gets tired around 7:30 most nights but cries instantly when we put her down.  This goes on for about an hour and a half.  Luckily she's usually pretty easy to put back down after a dream feed at 10.  We are looking forward to her going to bed easier and having our evenings back.  She still loves to be swaddled.

In other news, she is definitely smiling a ton now.  She is also really responding to people talking to her instead of just smiling randomly.  She is also rolling from belly to back pretty consistently and holding her head up really well.

Poppy, we love you and can't wait to see how you grown and change in the next month!

Sea World

While Oma was here, we decided to conquer a trip to Sea World.  This was Lachlan's first visit ever!  It was super hot, but we still had a great time.  The only pictures we took were at the dolphins, but we also enjoyed the carousel, shamu coaster, Elmo (Lachlan's favorite), climbing in the nets, and some time at the water park.

We had planned to stay all day, but it was just too hot for Lachlan and Poppy.  Oma and Daddy took the big boys again later in the visit.  They got to skip nap and stay all day.  They sure were tired that night!

Third Times a Charm

After 2 failed attempts at room-sharing, we think this 3rd time is going to stick!  They look pretty excited, right?

 Even this guy is excited, even though he still has a room of his own.  Maybe that's why so excited...

Notice all that junk under there?  They use it as their club house and love going under there with flashlights!

Rain, rain, come and stay!

A couple of weeks ago, we were having dinner at the Craftons house.  Because there are 8 kids between us, the kids ate in one room while we ate in another.  An unexpected thunderstorm rolled through, and, next thing we knew, the kids were out in rain.  Then Stacia was out in the rain, with her camera!

Anyway, the next day, we were blessed with another bout of rain.  The immediate response from our kids was, " We're going out to play in the rain now!"

As you can see, they had a blast!

 I was surprised at Lachlan; he usually hates having water in his face!

Who needs a bath when you can pour rain water on your head with a bucket?