Draw Write Now.

Here are what Marco and Isabella drew using Draw Write Now for the first time. Of course, I helped Isabella a little more than Marco, but they still both needed me to sit next to them and guide them. I imagine that the more you use it, the more independent you get.

Marco decided he wanted to draw a cat.




Isabella chose to draw a girl.

An Evening With Friends.

Last night I hosted a curriculum swap of sorts. I invited moms from our co-op over to my home in order to share the curriculum we use and ideas we have for homeschooling. The evening was fabulous and we all got to preview each other's materials. This was great, since many of them had books I've been wanting to purchase, but was unsure of the content.

Thanks to all the great resources I saw, I am once again revamping my first grade curriculum. I am mostly making a change in our religion and introducing new art materials. It's amazing how much you can learn from others' experiences! I love hearing what has worked for others and what has not. Being Catholic, it's important to me not to present material that might raise red flags in my beliefs. This group of ladies offered so many insights that I came away rejuvinated and refreshed!

And although I know that all children mature their own academic abilities at different rates, I still love seeing what other homeschooling kids are doing. My friend, Katie, had samples of her son's art and I was so impressed with his work that I decided to give that art program another try. Sometimes all those reviews you read about just don't cut it. Sometimes seeing what other children are able to accomplish and hold their work in your hands is the only way to really evaluate what your own kids might be able to do.

So thanks to all my friends who came over and brought their materials to share! I am forever grateful and blessed to have these women in my life. Inspiration often comes from the everyday people in your life who do everyday things.

Upholstery Revival.

Our dining room set was so beautiful when we first received it as a gift from my parents. The table, a beautiful cherry colored wood. The chairs, gorgeous with the seat covers in ivory. Then the reality. We have children. Young children.

The once pristine table has been scratched by an eager writer using a deadly, sharpened pencil. The chairs? Once an almost white, they became scarred with chocolate milk, grape juice and markers. What am I to do? Reupholster them of course! I can't convey to you how badly the pictures are. They do not do the stains justice. But I am pleased with the results. A nice red burgundy color will hide most stains! As for the scratches on the table? No measure by my hands has been able to salvage the once smooth, clean, scratch-free table I once had. But a furniture marker has been working overtime in hiding the evidence.

Recovering.

Well we are finally in the recovering stages of sickness. No one is really sick, but everyone is tired. I am recovering from sleeping only 2-3 hours a night for a week due to a sick baby. The kids are getting over their coughs and achiness. School-wise we are not doing much except reading some fun books.

Hopefully I'll get to sleep more in the days to come.

Monday.

Today has been quite a hectic day. We have all children sick with a cough and the 2 littles with croup. Luckily, we survived the night after a trip to the emergency department. I surely thought that plans for school had been thrown out the window...but then here comes Marco & Isabella.

I have great kids! Although no one wanted to do math or phonics, all our learning issues for insects, handwriting, and religion were covered! School went on without a hitch and the kids had fun making insect crafts.

Luckily, dh was home to tend to the little guys while we schooled. In the afternoon, things got loopy again and I took Anthony and Christian to the doctor. Dinner was a quick turkey burger and some cereal. Hmm.

NY Giants Superbowl Champions!

This year was the BEST in football for my dh. He is a HUGE Giants fan so we were all rooting for the Giants during Super Bowl.

Week in Review.

This week we studied the water cycle, began our Rosary prayers, and continued along with math, phonics, handwriting, and MFW. The highlight, of course, was our water experiments and lapbook.

It was fun to do experiments with the kids. We saw water change into its 3 different states: liquid, gas, and solid. Creating lapbook and posters are usually the favorite around here. I found some great online resources that were fun for the kids to use. Unfortunately, our lapbook didn't turn out to be as great as it could have been. Having to squeeze 2 days work into a morning usually results in sub-par work. Since we had friends visiting us for a few days during school hours, we had to make up the work on Saturday morning. So we had to forgo some of the fun books we were going to make for our lapbook and such. We still got to do some fun "water cycle wheels" and a "types of water" book. The kids had fun learning and I can't complain about that!