The first week!

We had a GREAT first week of school! I am so encouraged!
We did school work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Tuesday was awesome, despite Wesley being awake and active, which I've been anxious about. He happily entertained himself while I worked with the girls and even though the school room was a mess when we were done, everyone was happy and eager to help me clean up. Really all it needed was some tidying and a vacuum.
Thursday was great too, and Friday was even better because we did our work in the afternoon and Wesley was sleeping. Oh sweet peaceful school time...

Caley is a stinkin' rockstar! She is so excited to sit at the table and do her work for the day. She's reading amazingly, complying with her writing exercises, super eager to do her math work (calendar, weather graph and worksheets) and generally agreeable when something doesn't go her way. Believe me, a month ago she was a completely different kid and I didn't see this school thing happening easily. I am amazed and thankful for God's grace.

Amelia is free to come and go during school time. She sometimes likes to sit at the table with us and other times likes to go play with her toys alone. She generally will come play a game or eat snack with us in the school room. I have been doing her reading book with her but if she's not into it, I don't push it. At some point she will need to come work with us, but that's not when she's only 4.

One thing I'm learning about Caley is also to not push things, within reason. We have a hard time during writing. I have her write the current memory verse (usually only half) on her writing paper. She frequently complains that she can't write an "a" or whatever. I know she can. So I've been doing half of it and letting her finish, or she'll do the first half and I'll finish it. The thing is, three hours later when she's into something else, she's writing everything! Today she was copying what was on Sesame Street online. Her penmanship was beautiful! I know she'll come around. That's one thing I like about homeschooling...if something's not working, all we may need to do an environment change and she'll willingly show me her mad skills.

This week we studied seeds and roots, spent some time in the garden, planted grass in a pot inside, and got our rhythm down for how things may go this year. I'm so glad to be homeschooling because I get to spend my day with the three best kids ever, watching them learn, grow, fight, then hug and make-up, and move on.
Love.