Oh, the first tiny sign of an interest....

My sweet girl has really broken my gender stereotypes.  I just assumed, as a girl, reading and writing and coloring would be the natural firsts in her schooling.  But, she has a hard time coloring for long. And, while she knows ALL her uppercase letters and almost all her lowercase letters along with their sounds, actually making words out of those letters has been of little interest.  She can write the shorter nickname we often call her for her name, but has had no interest in practicing writing letters, let alone write them in combinations to make words.  Sounding words out when I'm reading?  Puh...leaze!  Just get on with the story!!  (She LOVES to be read to.)  So, imagine my (hidden) beaming face last night! 
Well, let me back up a bit. We've been working on less of a fight; a tantrum filled misery; a tear-filled (not always by the child) test of patience bedtime routine-and with success, a much-desired reward at the end of 30 days of easier bedtimes (not perfect, but oh, so much better).  Part of this has been Mommy not listening to "just one more story" after the limit of nighttime reading has been met.  I haven't given into that, but even still...tantrums galore with the "no more story," even after calmly explaining to her she heard me say the story count for the night, and telling me she understood before I even started to read.  Now, instead of fighting over it, after stories are read, Mommy lays down and closes her eyes because she's so tired.  But, if Princess isn't tired, yet, she can look at as many books by herself as she'd like.  This has been great!  After 5 or 6, she's ready to lie down and sleep. 
Okay- so last night, when she was looking at a picture book of animals, I heard her say "A..A....A....Alligator....wait. Cuh...Cuh..Cuh...Crocodile."  See - she saw the picture of the large scary reptile, assumed it was an alligator, but when she saw the word under the animal, she saw it started with a c, not an a.  !!!!!!  BREAK-THROUGH???

Maybe to other people, this isn't as exciting as it was to me, but WOOHOO!!!!  I was THRILLED! 
(but, didn't want to spoil the illusion that Mommy is sleeping, so couldn't say anything to her directly.  Plus, didn't want her to feel embarrassed for whatever reason this would make her embarrassed...I'm the last person to try to explain a 4-1/2 year old girl's emotions!!)
No, I don't expect her to just sit down and start whipping through novels.  But, hearing her notice the word wasn't the one she was saying....Ahhh.....what a great feeling!

Today, got back into some schoolwork.  We did some songs, which my star pupil is LOVING!  So cute!  She's never been as into singing as other kids her age, but she's loving these cute little songs we're singing at the start of our schoolwork.  A weather one, a calendar one, and today, a couple about the color red. 
Then, a little "A" craft, thanks to Preschool Palace:

After coloring one little picture in a mini book on Red (it has all of 3 pictures, but, like I said above, coloring is not high on my girl's favorite things to do), I handed her a little minibook of Numbers.  Part of each page, there is a section to trace the number of that page.  since she does NOT like tracing letters, I thought this book would be a few days' progress.  but, apparently, tracing numbers is totally different from tracing letters, and she did all 10 pages!  WOW!!

Oh, and I should add, thank you to tlsbooks.com for this numbers book.  It was a wonderful activity for our school day.

After the numbers book, a little cutting practice and some letter matching (lowercase) on a worksheet, we finished up with 3 library books, Princess's choice (I love that she picked and loves 2 classics):

After schoolwork, a quick lunch, and my girl has disappeared into her playroom.  I am sitting here, lusting after some more watermelon.  The previous 2 trips to Costco, they didn't have whole watermelon, so I was able to leave my addiction to that melon behind....or so I thought.  Yesterday - they were BACK!  So, without a second thought, I got one.  This plate of melon you see in the picture:  My second helping after eating a chicken sandwich.  Dare I mention that I had a 3rd helping after I took the picture and inhaled the 2nd?  I already admitted to wanting more....mmmmm......watermelon......

Okay...my waterlogged self is going to get busy with laundry, or cleaning floors, or some kind of activity....then maybe reward my hard work (cough, cough...okay, not so hard) with more watermelon....

'Til Later!

I'm very excited to see this:

This movie looks so good - even before I read about this movie on this blog:  http://www.itakejoy.com/giveaway-calling-all-moms-families-and-homeschooling-leaders-to-help-with-dolphin-tale/, I was intrigued, just by the trailer.  Now that I know more about it, and the goal to let Hollywood know this type of movie is desired, I'm even more excited to go see it.  A wholesome, TRUE family-values type of movie I can take my daughter to?  Hmm...reckons (do I really  mean harkens?  guess I should not use wordsof which  I'm not 100% of the proper meaning) back to when I was a kid and my parents never had to worry about what they were taking us to see. 
Now, I am no prude. And, I am a strong Christian, but I go see many types of movies.  But...I'm an adult.  As a parent, I do feel strongly that it is MY job to protect what my daughter sees - to keep things appropriate for her age, not for what the world thinks is okay for her.  She needs to be a child for as long as possible, innocent and happy and as worry free as possible.  If I can actually take her to a movie without fearing what she'll be exposed to, I'd be thrilled :)
Please read the link, and go see the movie - on the requested day if possible, to send a message!  If I remember, I'll try to write up what I thought of the movie, after seeing it.

'Til Later!

They won't all be golden...

Well, since we didn't get to do any school last Friday, since my girl came down with her little bug, I had great intentions to pick things back up, today. But, first, we had to run out in the morning. We're going to participate in a homeschool group Bible memory verse club - W.O.W., which stands for Warriors of Wisdom. Last Friday was the first meeting - getting t-shirts, meeting all the other kids, doing a craft and, oh yes, getting our list of verses.  Well, we had to miss that, too, of course.  So we went to the leader's house, today, to meet her and her kids, and to get our things from her.  It was nice - got a good little get-to-know-you visit and Isabella immediately ran upstairs with the lady's daughter (who is a few years older) and youngest son (who is 30 days younger than my girl). We didn't stay long. And when we got home and settled, we went right into school work. And I realized that we are similar in our need to do tasks first thing before any distractions.  Neither of us was truly into it. The Pledge of Allegiance, Lord's Prayer, a worksheet, several short books, and we were done!  I felt we really didn't do anything that was truly learning. But we went through the motions, and that has merit too, right?  Gets us into a habit?  Right?  I knew going in there'd be days like this, so I'm not truly beating myself up.  It's more that I'm thinking "why did I waste that time?" 

Then, we had a few mini melt-downs, and work crept in so I had to push my girl into the playroom for a while to entertain herself.  I did make up for that by playing a few rounds of Hello, Kitty Bingo with her.  That was actually quite fun. It was just given to her from her aunt, last night, and for the first time, I saw her grasping the total concept of a game, and didn't try to manipulate anything so that she had things go her way (ie: cheat).  It was fascinating to just sit and watch her look at her cards, and see if the right picture was under the letter rolled.  What a grown-up girl she is getting to be.

Feeling like our simple preschool work was a little too much for us, today; listening and dealing with attitude and meltdowns; watching her play a game the right way all the way through and accepting loss as well as win...all of this made me a little nostalgic for the sleep-deprived but much simpler time in our lives with our girl.  And, since I had no photos to add to this post (and I feel strongly that pictures need to be part of almost all my posts, but I've failed that the last couple), here's a little "blast from the past" photo....from exactly 4 years ago today (give or take one or two days...so, yes, not truly "exactly"):

'Til Later!

Plans are Made for Breaking, Right?

Well, today was supposed to be day 2 of our official preschool work. But, baby girl went to bed, last night, stuffy nosed, with a bit of a cough. The stuffy nose was upsettign her so much, and I couldn't figure out how to help her, really.  It made me feel so inadequate as a Mommy. But, with just 2 wake ups for a little comfort before I went to bed, and one at 4:00 am, it really was an easier night than I expected.  Unfortunately, she woke with a bit of a fever.  Not enough to call the doctor, but enought hat I knew we had to lay low.  Her voice sounds so weak...poor thing.  But, her energy level, though quieter, was still pretty healthy all day.  In spite of that, I decided to not do school, today. Ah, well. We're not in any competition or race. Next week is a quieter week in general, so we'll maybe do a little more, throughout.

So, a question for fellow homeschoolers...when you were making your decision to homeschool, or maybe when you were having to defend your decision, or maybe you still do this - Did you make little lists in your head of things that a person experiences in regular school that he or she won't necessarily experience in homeschool, and you can't think of a time in grown-up life where that experience from regular school ever presented itself again?  (Okay, was that a confusing question?)  I do, at times.  I guess because I think through things I don't want my girl to miss out on....and I think of the things I hope she never has to go through.
This is today's thought.  When, once you're finished with school and are in the working world, do you ever have to sit or stand on the sidelines, hoping you won't be picked last for a team? 
It's not something I have thought of for many years, really, but that thought popped in my head, today, and I remember all the times, in elementary school PE, waiting and waiting to be picked for kickball teams.  I wore glasses, and I'm sure I was quite awkward and dorky.  Being picked close to last, if not last, was a fact of my young life.  And it was AWFUL!!  So, then I asked myself, once I was grown and out on my own in the working world, did I ever have to experience that again?
The answer was - NO!  BUT....I also realized that I probably held myself back from trying new things, because I figured no one would think I was good enough.  For a couple of seasons, I was the "coach" of our co-ed softball team at work. Not because I played, but because I could keep score, and make a line up.  And, the players wanted a team, but no one wanted to coach. So I did it.  But, with my love of baseball, no one understood why I wouldn't play, too.  I always just figured I wasn't good enough, though I never, ever tried.  If I hadn't been one of those kids who was always picked last (or close to) for sports in elementary school, would I have been so reluctant to play softball?  I wonder.....
So, I'm thinking (hoping) one thing my girl may not have to experience, if we're able to homeschool all the years of school, is the constant humiliation and tearing down of any self confidence that comes with being picked last. 
Of course, I think she's amazing, and just can't picture her being one of the dorky, picked last kids.  But, still....the idea of that not even being a possibility, because of our choice to homeschool, gives me a little sense of relief for her.

'Til Later!

A to Z of me....

I saw this on the blog C.R.A.F.T., today, and thought (while my sweet girl is watching Blues Clues - it's  "Joe" one, not "Steve," so I really don't care to watch it with her.....) how fun!  Okay - the first question isn't fun, as I have to reveal my true age...but I will.  I don't feel it, so I'm not really upset about it.  I just don't normally offer it up, you know?  Okay, so here goes....

A.  Age - 47 (gulp, I'm 20 years older than the C.R.A.F.T. blogger, whose real name I don't know...I'm sorry about that...but I could be your mama.  ugh...what was I saying about not feeling my age?)

B.  Bed Size - Queen

C.  Chore you hate - dishes...it was my first real chore as a kid, and I've NEVER learned to not hate it...

D.  Dogs - 2...Josie and Nemo

E.  Essential start to your day - Breakfast, for sure.  I'd eat in bed before opening my eyes, if that was a possibility.  Husband and Daughter are neither that way....both have to be up a while before food sounds good.  I just don't get that.  Oh, and coffee.  Must must must have my coffee with its miniscule splash of milk.

F.  Favorite color - RED!!

G.  Gold or silver - both...I can't pick.  It depends on the actual piece of jewelry

H.  Height - 5'5"

I.  Instruments you play - piano (but not well)

J.  Job title - Mom, Wife, Housecleaner (my own, and I really do clean houses...twice a month regularly for a couple, and then whenever referred for one time cleans for move out/move in/house listing), Loan Processor (a new part time job...just working on my first ones, now...so we'll see how it goes)

K.  Kids - one, our dear sweet princess.  Would've liked more, but it just wasn't meant to be. 

L.  Live - Austin, TX (well, just south of Austin in a fast growing former country town, now suburb.  for over 3 years, already...formerly from Seattle, WA area)

M.  Maiden Name - Francis

N.  Nicknames - My dad, while I was growing up, called me Fritz.  Hubby has a few silly ones that I won't share.  Not embarrassing or should be censored.  They're just his names for me, and I dont' feel like publishing them. 

O.   Overnight hospital stays - when I was 6, when my tonsils were removed, but I don't really remember that.  And then for 2 nights when our daughter was born. Even though I didn't actually give birth, we were given our own hospital room and since her birthmom opted to not have her room with her until the required 48 hours before she was legally ours was up, we had her with us - okay, if we hadn't, I'm sure the hospital wouldn't have given us our own room...haha!  I guess they aren't a hotel, right?)

P.  Pet Peeve - well, I hate it when people don't show common courtesy or manners, such as holding a door open (especially when you are coming in a building right behind them, they see you, and they let the door close so it practically hits you) or say thank you.  I KNOW I could list other pet peeves, but I'm not in a complaining mood, so I'll be kind.

Q.  Quotes - "It is what it is."  I don't know who first said that, and I know some people get tired of it, but it's gotten me through frustrations and irritations.

R.  Righty or lefty - Righty, but...haha!!  I, too, consider myself left footed (see C.R.A.F.T. blog to see her "R")

S.  Siblings - 2 younger brothers.

T.  Time you wake up - if left to no alarm and my own body waking me up, 7:30....on hubby's workdays, 5:30.

U.  University attended - Pacific Lutheran University (but only for a year...then I went to work for 20 years at one company and was educated on the job)

V.  Vegetables you dislike - I love most, but will NOT touch Brussels Sprouts.  I know everyone says they taste different roasted, but my experience of being forced to eat them boiled growing up....I will never know the roasted ones' taste.

W.  What makes you run late - my own refusal to ever admit things take longer to accomplish than I allow while budgeting my time.  Would love to blame anyone but me, but almost always, it's myself.

X.  X-rays you've had - my thumb when I split it open and broke it in a heavy safe drawer at work; on my ankle when I had a stupid minor accident at work (just lightly sprained it); on my calf when I pulled a tendon while playing with our then-puppy. that one came close to needing surgery.  Whew, didn't have to happen.  and  yes - all my x-ray needs were from stupid, careless accidents or just dumb luck....

Y.  Yummy food - oh, boy....I love food...so...well, our local grocery chain has marinated chicken thighs or breasts (or beef or pork). Usually we get the fajitas.  But, we just bought the BBQ chicken thighs to try, and hubby made that for dinner, tonight.  YUM!!  I love Thai food, sushi, some Indian food, Teriyaki (which we cannot find - at least not decent - here in TX...in Seattle, every strip mall had Teriyaki restaurants.  kinda like Tex-Mex here); Pho, especially on cold days, so needless to say, I haven't had Pho in a long, long time.  Well, I could keep listing.  I just love to try different types of food!!

Z.  Zoo animal favorites - the lions have to be my favorite (though getting a whole show of a male/female getting....uh....."friendly"......twice in one showing.....made me a little leary of spending too much time at their exhibit at the Austin Zoo, especially with my 4-1/2 year old with me...and why else would I be at the zoo, if she wasn't with me?)

Okay - That's 26 items about me....bored, yet?  :)  If you, too want to do this, I'd love to see your answers.  and I know the writer at C.R.A.F.T. would, too, so make sure you go to her post and leave a message in her comments, linking her up to your blog/answers!!

'Til Later!

First official day....

Our first official day of At-Home Preschool is done.  Now, I must be honest - we've done "school days" before, complete with the pledge of allegiance and a Bible reading.  But, since the first day of public school here was yesterday, I decided to get us back into our learning time by making it OUR first day of school, too.  I thought I had way too many things on our calendar, after I did lesson planning for yesterday and this coming Friday (we have a busy week, so am easing us into schooling by just planning for the two days we're home all day).  But, we did all but a couple of little things.  My plan was to fill any empty time the middle three days with those things we didn't accomplish. But I've been plagued with a sinus headache for a few days, and today, at least, I just don't feel like doing anything.  Worse comes to worse, we just add those things to Friday, and either accomplish them along with Friday's already planned lessons, or just shift things into next week.  I haven't sat down to write out lesson plans beyond Friday, yet, anyway.

Here are some pictures of our first day:

 The pledge of allegiance picture just brings a tear to my eye....

She looks so big....4-1/2 still sounds so young, but 5, which is still 4 months away, sounds so much older. Gulp.  My baby girl is just NOT a baby at all....

'Til Later!

Trying something....

A few years ago, I made a paperpieced black and white quilt.  (I'll have to dig it out out of the closet and take a picture.)  My husband loves it, and it's his winter time blanket, whether when watching tv, or at night in bed.  It was fun collecting the fabrics for it.  I only used black or white printed fabrics that had cats on them.  (Not fair to describe, but not post a picture...I will do it, I promise!)

Well, I haven't been feeling overly crafty, lately. I've been over-consumed (is that even a proper use of a word?) with homeschool research and wiped out from the horribly hot summer.  And, twice a month, I clean for someone for money, so cleaning my own house for free (without the added bonus of getting to do it start to finish with no interruptions, and knowing any little cleaning I accomplish will be destroyed within hours, if not moments) has been more difficult to face.  So...no crafting, a horribly filthy house, a demanding bored 4-1/2 year old who is tired of being so cooped up from the heat, a body that is screaming for heat relief (not to mention weight gain from lack of exercise because of the...well, my complaining makes that obvious...horrible heat). 
BUT - last Sunday (already a week ago?), I pulled out my sewing basket.  Ignored the clothing that needs repairs, and pulled out fabric and paper patterns to work on another paper pieced quilt.  The difference - since I don't have a working sewing machine right now - is that I'm (gulp) attempting this by hand sewing it.

I think it'll be cute - it's going to be a baby quilt, whenever I finally am motivated enough to finish it. 
Here is one finished block:

'Til Later!

School Starts Monday!

The schools in the area we live in start on Monday, August 22nd.  A couple of our friends start kindergarten this year.  And, for the first time, my daughter has asked if she'll be going to the big schools like they are, when she goes to school.  Obviously my talks with her about homeschooling haven't really sunk in. Good to know, so we can continue the conversation about it.
For the past many many months, I've been researching curriculum for when we do start Kindergarten. I've finally decided - we will do My Father's World.  I was able to look through a binder of student kindergarten work at the homeschool convention I went to earlier in the summer.  LOVE IT!  I don't know if we'll keep that curriculum going, after kinder, but I'm excited to try it out. 
After I made that decision, I did a lot of researching online for preschool worksheets and learning how to make lapbooks, as you can see in the previous blogpost.  That moved onto some worksheet packets I downloaded from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ and http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/.  I put each themed packet into envelopes:

After I got all of these organized, I tried to figure out how best to make a lesson plan.  My brain pretty much froze, until I stumbled across http://www.preschoolpalace.org/.  That got me over my planning block, and I was able to use the curriculum on this website to help with the lesson plan for us.  I'll be using some of the things from preschool palace as well as workbooks we already have, worksheets I've printed, and the worksheet packets I organized into those envelopes.  Also, being a big reader, making our lessons very literature driven and literature rich, I am using the Grade 0 reading list from http://www.amblesideonline.org/.  We went to the library, today, and came home with books to start our school year off, based on the ambleside list:

While we were at the library, Izzy picked out her bedtime storybooks.  Can you tell her favorite topic, still?

Now, I do realize that as ambitious as I feel about what we'll accomplish with preschool work, the best thing for Izzy's age is learning through play.  So there is no pressure for her, and I'll keep the pressure on myself to a minimum.  I want learning to be a fun and life-long pursuit for my sweet girl!

'Til Later!

Children's Museum

Thursday, we went to the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels, TX. We went with friends, who were treating us for my belated b/day celebration.  It was very fun. I hadn't gone there with my girl since she was a toddler and could play in the 3 and under area. She's gone with her aunt, but I just haven't made the trip with her a priority.  We had a lot of fun, though.  She will be too old for it, probably, in another year or two.  But, it's still a fun and imagination boosting excursion, for now. We'll have to go back.

unfortunately, after this, my camera battery died.  Ah, well....just know it was a really fun time :)  A nice way to close out summer.  School starts here on Monday. 

'Til Later!

Long Time No See

Yes, yes....while I love to read blogs, writing them is obviously a difficult thing for me.  Ah, well....
So, to catch up anyone who cares:
Our beautiful garden - a total bust due to our drought and water restrictions.  We were skipping showers and baths and only washing laundry once a week...but we were getting very stinky, and with as little as the garden was producing, I decided better to smell good and not have people avoiding us.  I got tired of fighting the birds for my few cherry tomatoes, anyway.
But it sure was pretty when it started, wasn't it?

This summer has been super hot here in Central Texas, as it has been in so much of the country.  Triple digits for weeks in a row, and no relief in sight, per the weather forecast tonight.  yay....

We were unable to take a vacation, yet again, this year. And my husband has been working a lot, this summer.  But, Isabella and I have kept busy with friends, some swim dates, a new discovery of a craft day on Saturdays at an education store in north Austin.  We don't go every Saturday - too much gas for us to use.  But, we've been able to go whenever the craft was a theme Isabella is into.  First a jelly fish craft, then an under-the-sea collage (didn't get a picture).  And now she's very excited about an upcoming dinosaur craft.

Here is the jellyfish craft.


Oh, dinosaurs.....wow does my kiddo LOVE dinosaurs!  She can pronounce the most difficult dino names.  She loves to teach anything and everything she knows.  I love listening to her.

A new thing I am trying this summer:

I decided to make some lapbooks to use in our homeschooling.  Thanks to http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ for the ideas/printouts.  I started with Good Night Moon:

Then, of course, my next one had to be about dinosaurs!

Well, that's been about it, in addition to work and just regular lifestuff.  Will try to be better aboug taking more pictures and keeping our blog more current.  In the meantime, stay cool!

'Til next time.