It feels like Christmas Eve...

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for for about 3 years, the first day of school! I'm so excited. I remember being so excited for school when I was a kid. I would always set out my clothes the night before on the floor in the way I wanted to wear them. I remember the day before freshman year in high school, I watched "The Wedding Singer" with my parents and brother, just contemplating how the next morning I would be an official high schooler and all the excitement and nervousness that came with it.

Looking at Caley's school I am excited that I will get to see her grow and learn over the coming year. I don't know how long God will have us teach her at home, and I am thankful I get at least this coming year to spend the days with her. Although part of me is sad she will have a different kindergarten experience than many of her peers, I kind of hope she won't know what she's missing because intermixed in the fun there can be a lot of scary times too.

I loved kindergarten, actually I loved school, so it surprises me that God called me to homeschooling, at least at this point. But I figure now, it's worth a shot.

Tomorrow's first day will not be a typical school day, since we have women's group in the morning. Actually, with just a few exceptions, we won't even do school on Tuesdays. But I guess that's why homeschooling is great, it's flexible. I planned some games and other activities for this week, knowing we have some commitments already. We will do math and reading as well.

You can be praying for my heart as we go into this year, that I would keep my eyes on Jesus throughout the homeschooling process. Also that I would have discernment to say "no" when I should and "yes" when I should to outside activities. Some opportunities have already come up which I feel torn about accepting responsibility for.

Here we go, woohoo!

Trip to the Locks

We went to the Ballard Locks in June but there were very few fish and I felt jipped...so we made another trip in late July. It was just me and the kids and we had a great time!


My favorite part was watching this huge fishing vessel rise up in the locks. Caley took pictures with her (non-working) phone and got some great shots of salmon.

Counting Down

School is scheduled to begin in 3.5 weeks! I have a start date of September 7, the Tuesday after Labor Day. I am planning on making our primary instruction days Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On weeks in which Monday is a holiday, however, I'm planning on squeezing in instruction (math and reading) on Tuesday afternoons. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days we are usually out of the house with women's group and groceries/errands. Tuesdays and Thursdays will also become the day we will most likely do playgroup/playdates, storytime, and reading at the retirement home.

I caught the homeschooling bug yesterday at the Mukilteo District Surplus sale. Imagine if you will a gym full of boxes and boxes of textbooks and library books. Most items were 5/$1. It was like Disneyland for me! Here is our stash, which we got for a grand total of $10!!

If you look closely you'll see 3 or 4 Little House books, which makes our collection complete, 2 Roald Dahl books, several biographies, several literature study guides, some fun "kid" books, some DISTAR method reading books like the phonics book we've been using, and a Husker Du board game!

Bring on the school year!

What we have been doing

Although it's summer break we're doing a lot o' learning here at the Gerlach house. I'm trying to focus on just having fun with the kids, visiting friends, playing outside, and reading reading reading. I enrolled the girls in the Half Price Books summer reading program which rewards them each week with a $3 shopping card for reading or being read to for at least 30 minutes for 5 days. We've had a lot of fun getting to spend their money at the clearance rack. We've picked out several $0.25 books and a few chapter books to read together. We haven't been doing the reading book or any work pages, but we have been coloring, playing with playdough and just having a good old time.It's been really nice to have a break and have more time to see friends we haven't seen in a while. We have taken a trip to the Ballard Locks, Green Lake, the library carnival, Great Grandma's house for her birthday via the ferry, and a few new parks in the area.

We have also been working on daily life skills and teaching the girls to be kind, share, and take responsibility for their things. I can't believe the summer is half over already. The second half of the summer should be a lot of fun too.

Amelia's Goals 2010-2011

Amelia is, of course, part of homeschooling as well and now that she will be 3, next school year I will "officially" do school with her. Which really means we will be doing the reading book. I have already done a few lessons with her and she really enjoys it. She's a bright kiddo and picks up on a lot already. So here are some goals specifically for Amelia.

• Learn Bible stories and memorize Bible verses (shorter than ones Caley's learning)
• Work through "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," repeating lessons as necessary
• Show knowledge of counting and shapes
• Show interest in writing her name
• Learn conflict resolution with her siblings
• Potty Training