What we've been doing...

Brooke: Overwhelmed...that about sums it up. I was a bit relieved to hear from another homeschool mom that her daughter is feeling very overwhelmed with her freshman year, too. It seems like Brooke is constantly doing her school work. She is also spending a lot of time at the high school for drama. Her classes are much harder this year and besides the four basic classes, she is taking home ec. and phy ed. Phy Ed is an online class that consists of weekly lessons, quizzes, and logging three hours of exercise a week. Home Ec requires a lot of projects beyond the daily work, quizzes, and tests. So her housecleaning job is on hold for now and so is any babysitting. Oh and violin practice is almost nonexistent. Her drama meet is the first week of November and I hope that after that is over things will get easier.

Emily: School is going good for Emily right now. We had a tough time for a bit there with failing quizzes and tests. Josh has helped her with some of her studying and note taking and it has helped. She still retakes a lot of quizzes, but I think she is finally getting what she is supposed to study. She is really enjoying her history right now. She is learning about the thirteen colonies.

Grace: School is pretty much a piece of cake for Grace this year. I think I probably could have started her in the middle of third grade. But it is so nice to see her like doing her school. She is getting great grades and she feels so good about it. I was just thinking the other day how nice it is to see her happy about school. What a relief. Another homeschool mom made a good point the other day that she has never heard anyone regret holding a student back, but many that regret not holding them back.

Sophia: We are almost done with our capital letters workbook! I am so excited about that. Then it is on to the lowercase letters workbook. Not bad considering I'm lucky to work with her twice a week on her letters. But I have been really dedicated to reading for twenty minutes a day to Sophia and Allison, five days a week that is. They just love it. Sophia's favorite book right now is called "My New Toy" and it is so funny! It is great to hear her in her room at rest time"reading" it out loud. We have made it to all but one storytime I think. That is our Friday outing. I guess sophia has been busy lately drawing people. They are so cute. I'll have to see if I can get a picture and put it up here.

Allison: Not doing much with Allison, other than the reading aloud to her and Sophia. Allison loves storytime at the library. She actually loves anything that consists of leaving the house! Potty training is still a work in progress here, but it does seem to be getting better. She is back in whining and screaming mode again. Oh and crying and screaming at bed time. I really need to get on top of that again. It sure makes bedtime miserable!

Lydia: I swear this baby gets cuter every day. I am just so in love with her. Even when she is crying it is so cute. Oh, she just has been melting my heart these last couple days. Being so cute and funny. She is rolling all over the living room and getting so close to crawling. It won't be long. She is finally eating food now, both baby food and table food. She loves graham crackers and bread.