Back to School!

We finally started back up this week! We had done one week in June and ended up taking the summer off. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and so are the kids. Here's there's first day of school pics. I officially have a 4th grader kindergartner, preschooler and of course the new addition who is 1 month old! 

Exploring Countries and Cultures  

We had started week two back in June so we spread the other 3 days out over the week. In science we read about plants and trees and Chelsea started her leaf collection. We have a flower press so that will eventually be used to press the leaves. 

For the history/geography portion we read from Maps and Globes about different types of maps and she got to use a map I drew of our yard to find her "treasure" which was the cake mix for our world cake which she made on Friday

Treasure hunt

World cake! 

Chelsea baked the cake and frosted it on her own with just a little supervision from mom! She's quite the little baker! Instead of blue and green frosting we used colored sugar from the store. Everyone enjoyed the cake for dessert after dinner! 

Math

In her Saxon book it's still a lot of review but much needed since we took the summer off. We worked on odd/even, adding several numbers, finding missing numbers and more. She is enjoying the DIVE program but the homework part not so much. She can do the work but that's the problem, it's work and she's not a big fan of math. We worked out way through though and she did well on her first test. 

Reading/English/Spelling

For reading this year we are using A Beka third grade reading. This week we used their Handbook for Reading to practice and review phonics skills. 

We worked on reading poetry and sentence structure for English lessons and completed the first unit of the spelling program which is also from A Beka. Chelsea seems to like the workbook style spelling program but I do think we will need to use some of the word study skills used last year with Spelling Power. Many of the mistakes made on Friday's test were one letter mistakes so she's close on the couple she missed.

Bible

Bible lessons this week were readings in Window on the World about different religions around the world, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. I've learned about the other religions in college courses but it was a first for my kids other than just a quick mention and we had a few questions about why people believed or did certain things. 

Kindergarten

Our unit this week was Oo Octopus! We have had a lot of fun making octopus pictures with our hands, octopus hot dogs for lunch and a BIG ocean mural that friends helped Hunter and Natalie make. 

In reading we continued practicing the blend ladder and reading simple words. Hunter is doing a good job with it. The blend ladder he likes to try to add his own ending sounds to the sounds when we just have two. He's full of energy so getting him to focus is a challenge sometimes too! 

In math we worked on the 100 chart and calendar skills. Hunter had a fun page with an octopus where he wrote the numbers 1-8 to number the octopus arms. He then cut out rectangles and we practiced using a ruler for the first time to measure one rectangle and then put them all in a line and measured the line. He used the rectangles to make one big square and one big rectangle. 

Octopus hot dog. They all got a big kick out of these! 

Hunter Natalie and their friends Audrey and Bre helping with the ocean mural

The finished project! 

Preschool

Natalie has a workbook from Rod and Staff that we have been working on but for the majority of the time she follows along with Hunter's activities like the mural painting or other activities. In her book she practiced tracing lines and making X's as well as coloring, cutting and sorting shapes.

It's been a fun week and we're excited to start our country studies with ECC and continue working through our K and preschool stuff! Any fun ideas for our next kindergarten unit W for water? 

Summer Update #3: Allison's Arrival!

Last summer update before I start posting about our school year. Miss Allison Nicole made her big appearance on July 22nd at 8:38 pm! Here's our birth story.

Saturday and Sunday I had contractions off and on, not painful, just braxton hicks type. Monday afternoon I went to the store with my grandma and they started again. I figured they were just more of the practice contractions. 

After dinner they started getting more regular, about ten minutes apart. They gradually got closer together. Around 7 my grandma walks into the kitchen and spots me mid contraction. By this time they are five minutes apart and getting rather uncomfortable. I still think I have plenty of time. We walk in our bedroom of our new house where my husband and mom are "trying" to hang curtain rods. "Jacqueline's in labor." Grandma announces. I get some surprised looks from my mom and Wayne but tell them "oh we have plenty of time" 

At 7:30 we call my friend to come get her kids who were over to play. She comes and gets them and takes our 3 to my dad's house. By now it's 8 pm and contractions are 3 minutes apart and not fun. We leave and get to the hospital at 8:10. I have to stop walking when they come. We get to a room and I change while Wayne parks the car. I had 3 contractions in those few minutes. The nurse finally comes to check me and says that she "thinks" I'm 8 but my water hadn't broken and was right there so she was afraid of breaking it without the doctor there and baby coming. She calls the doctor and Wayne calls his mom and mine telling them to get to the hospital quick. 

Another nurse check me and says I'm complete. Doctor walks in and I start pushing. As I'm in between pushes another nurse is trying to get an IV in my hand for precautionary measures which I'm about ready to tell her to forget it but can't get the words out. She's holding it in my hand as Allison Nicole makes her arrival at 8:38. One small tear and no major issues. Allison is on my chest when my mom walks in the room and sees here there. I will never forget the look on her face of pure shock! Shortly after Wayne's mom walks in and had seen the doctor leaving as she was coming in and says "I missed it didn't I?" Doctor confirms and says "I almost missed it!."

Allison weighed in at 8lbs 0.6 oz and 19.5 inches! She's already a month old and at her checkup yesterday she had gained almost 2 lbs! The kids love her to pieces and she's another wonderful blessing for our family! 

The night she was born 

Natalie and Allison

Summer update 2013 Part 2

This past July got quite stressful for us. My husband was out of work again after having worked very hard for 3 weeks for an Amish construction crew and unemployment wasn't coming in for whatever reason. We had been behind on our rent and and out landlord was tired of working with us and waiting for his money. At the end of June we got a letter from Metro housing saying that our wait was up and we'd be getting assistance after 3 years on the waiting list! The problem though was that most people don't want to rent to a family with 3 kids, one on the way, husband not working and pending eviction.

God truly had His plan in the works though! My mom was on the hunt for a rental house. I get a call at 7 am saying that she found a house in a nice neighborhood and the owner is super nice. We went the next night to meet her and see the house. We fell in love with the house and she seemed to really like us. We asked her if she would be willing to accept payment from Metro and she reluctantly accepted.

I was very doubtful that this would work out though. After filling out the paper work and waiting and waiting for metro to do their end of the bargain we finally got in touch with them and they came to do the inspection on July 17th which happened to be our 9th wedding anniversary.

A little before lunch the home owner was at our door with the keys to the house! She said "It's all yours!"  We were thrilled but I still had a feeling like this was all too good to be true! Finally out of our tiny 3 bedroom apartment town house in a not so great neighborhood and into a beautiful neighborhood and pretty big house! We started moving things over to our new house a little at a time. A week and a half later several men from our church came and helped move the bigger furniture from our apartment and we were officially moved into our new rental home!

God's provision has amazed me! On the same day that we got the keys we found out that Wayne had gotten hired at a job he never thought he'd have! He is now working with high functioning handicapped people and loving his job!

I will post pictures of our new home once I get my phone back but wanted to get this posted. God is good and HE WILL PROVIDE IN HIS TIMING! I wanted things done my way and in my timeline but His was exactly right on time and even better than I could have imagined!

Summer Recap 2013 Part 1

Hello there strangers! It has been a crazy, fun, stressful, blessing filled summer all within the past few months! I thought I'd update on what's been going on in our family

. In June we had planned to start 4th grade work for Chelsea and continue kindergarten with Hunter. Well, we got about a week done and then that plan went out the window. Friends moved back closer to us and the kids went to VBS 2 weeks in a row. One VBS picks up kids on a bus and takes them to the church for the morning. The other was at my in law's church. Both had a western theme which they all had a blast with! I loved the fact that they related and compared Moses' story to Jesus. I had never thought of that before. For example the first day talked about how Jesus came to save us while Moses was sent to free the Israelites from Egypt. I really enjoyed seeing the kids all so excited about Jesus and learning about Him! It was a crazy two weeks and they were all exhausted by the end of it but so worth it to plant those seeds and light the fire inside of them for Jesus! 

Chelsea and my best friend's son with their horse crafts after one night at VBS

So there you have part one of our summer! July brought a whole range of emotions and activity. I will fill you all in on the events here soon!