Monday

We went to the pool with Mollie and Carrie today. Emma was all over Carrie and they were singing songs about letter sounds and shapes. Carrie laughed and said they were getting in her school time today. Hey, I'll take it since we didn't get anything else done today.

The weekend

Drew was home this weekend. It was wonderful time for us all, especially the girls to be with Daddy. As far as school goes, we spent about an hour doing stuff on Saturday. I pulled out the Hooked on Phonics and we read through a book of the lower case letters. We also looked through a workbook on numbers. Instead of actually writing in the book we did the pages with our fingers. Each of the girls traced the number with their finger, we did the activity on the page, then the suggested game. Then we laid in the floor with Daddy and played the game to match upper case letters with their lower case partner. Alex was getting tired and got upset about something so Emma played. She actually did very well.

Thursday

The week has gotten away from me somehow. In the last few days we have been to Fayetteville, spent two afternoons at the pool with friends, gone to therapy every day, went to the church for a little while this morning, and enjoyed the weather! School has been pretty informal the last few days. Not sitting down with a workbook or anything, but we work learning into our fun. Example... yesterday at the pool we were having fun splashing and making waves with our hands. The girls were getting a kick out of imitating me making little, medium & big splashes, soft, medium & loud splashes. Medium is something that is hard for them to understand, so that was a fun way to practice. Alex has also started talking about her friends and saying who her favorite friends are. It's really cute. She looks forward to seeing them wherever we go and asks where certain people are if they aren't with us. When we are reading books I have been making a special effort to clarify words she might not know. Example... the book may say 'giggle' instead of 'laugh', so I ask her what that means. She's already picked up on a few new words. Emma' favorite book right now is "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late." I would like to get the other books by this author, they are really cute books. Today when Alex was in therapy and Emma was with me I noticed that she talks a lot more when she is the only kid around. I guess in a group or even just with Alex that she doesn't really have to talk because everybody else does it for her. They are both having a blast at the pool. They can't swim of course, but they are getting pretty comfortable in the water and try to blow bubbles, use the toys to pour water on each other, play ball (great throwing & catching practice), and lay on their bellies and pull themselves along (what they call swimming). It is great exercise, social time, and outside time for all three of us.

Monday

Today has been productive already. This morning we played the letter game and matched uppercase letters to lowercase letters. Alex did even better this time around. Then we sat in the floor and played with play dough. The girls played and made shapes and birthday cakes and pizza, etc. while I made letters with the dough. They would tell me what letter came next and then we would make it. When we got to O I asked Alex what an O looked like and she said, "A circle." I'm so glad she is catching on.
This afternoon Alex has PT & Emma had OT.

Sunday

Today we did school work in the bathtub! The girls played with foam soap (like shaving cream) and Alex & I wrote all the letters on the wall. She did amazingly well. I haven’t purchased the Handwriting Without Tears program, but I am trying to incorporate some of the principles in that program. I bought new play dough and tomorrow we will use it to play (sensory & fine motor skills) and also to form letters. This should help each of the girls with letter recognition and formation without the stress of writing the letters.

We went to Sunday school and church this morning, then home for quiet/nap time. Then we spent about an hour and a half at the pool this afternoon.

I don’t always blog it, but be always read for about 30 minutes in the evening (sometimes more). We read for several reasons. It is party interactive… Alex reading along or repeating what I read, looking at the pictures, me asking questions and trying to incorporate some of the things we have been working on. When I ask questions I encourage them to answer in full sentences instead of just one word answers. It is also a great time to wind down and relax after the day. Sometimes they pick the books; sometimes they want me to pick the books.

Manners are going well. Excuse me, I’m sorry, please, thank you, & you’re welcome are regularly used by both girls. I try to not give Emma what she wants when she yells or whines. I make her say it nicely and use please before she gets what she wants.

We started up the new potty training today. Last night I made the girls each a potty chart. Beginning this morning they used the potty. Alex always goes when she sits on the potty, but can’t usually stay dry between potty trips. Emma sits on the potty but still doesn’t do anything, although she did poop at little in it today! They each get a sticker for sitting on the potty, whether they are able to do anything or not. I’m rewarding the effort right now. And of course they get to wipe, flush, and wash hands with each trip to the potty.

Tonight I made another set of letter cards with uppercase and lowercase letters. Tomorrow we will play the game where they try to match each letter with its partner letter.

Thursday & Friday

Thursday (yesterday) we had a great day. We spent about an hour in the morning doing school work. Practicing more/less & first/second/third. Then spent some time in the floor with blocks. Alex loves to see how tall he can build her tower. While she did that I worked with Emma. We got out two bags and put a princess figure in one. Then I would ask her which bag had NO princess. We are trying to concentrate on the NOT & NO instead of just the word she hears. Then groups of 4 items and she had to pick the one that was NOT a block, etc. She is getting better with this.
Later in the morning the Green girls came over to play for a few hours. Nap/quiet time and then therapy at 2:15. Alex had ST, OT & PT and Emma had PT & ST.
Today, Friday, we went to Gene Eddleman's funeral at the church. The girls went along and were very good. Lunch at Mama Z's and then home. Not much else to speak of. Bedtime is approaching and I'm ready!

New resource

We are still trying to readjust to our routine after our Texas trip, so no real school work today. Emma slept in until 9:30 (yeah!) and then we went to Fayetteville to see Grandma & Grandpa Whimpy. PT for Alex & OT for Emma this afternoon. They were really so tired tonight and ready for bed... and I was ready for them to be ready!
On the school front... I have discovered the Rainbow Resource Center. I sent for a catalog a few weeks ago and it has arrived. It is an amazingly huge catalog with tens of thousands of books & products for Christian schools & Christian homeschoolers. I already have a list about a mile long that I'd like to have. So far I mostly want books for me. Things to give me ideas, perspective, motivation, information, etc. Once I get further into the catalog you can be sure the list will grow.
Tomorrow we may have a play date with the Green girls and will definitely try to get in some school work.

3 month recap

I have just realized that we started homeschooling the girls just over 3 months ago. I feel the need to review and evaluate for myself. Although I post on our school work almost every day, I think that doing this every few months will help me to see what we have accomplished and what we can improve on. And of course to set new goals to work towards.
On a personal and emotional level I couldn't be happier with our decision. I really love having the girls with me all day and experiencing life with them. We have a pretty good mix of staying busy as well as down days and we can schedule these as needed. I love the freedom that comes with homeschooling. Sometimes we wind up learning things just because the girls are interested and the opportunity arises. I love to be with them when they catch onto things and see the looks of accomplishment when they do something they didn't know they could do. Drew and I feel like we made the right decision. Of course we can't tell the future and there may come a time when we feel like traditional school would be a better option, but for now we will continue as we are.
We have done lots of hands on learning and 'field trips'. We have been to the Waco Zoo, the wildlife safari in Gentry, the wildlife refuge in Lawton, and the Butterfly Palace in Branson. In addition to these big trips the girls learn from more simple activities and outings. We went to vote together, they help me grocery shop, we care for my grandparents, go to church, have playgroups, go to birthday parties, etc. Let's not forget the things around the house... picking up toys, helping with chores, taking care of the puppy, helping cook, etc. I think that all of these things have been wonderful.
A typical week for us looks something like this:
-4-8 hours of 'school work' (including workbook pages, writing, flash cards, games, puzzles, etc.)
-listening to and singing songs during free play and down time
-1 or 2 play dates
-1 or 2 visits to my grandparents (where the girls like to encourage grandma to eat her lunch and give her hugs and kisses to make her feel better)
-Alex receives 6 hours of therapy a week (including physical, occupational, and speech therapies)
-Emma receives 4 hours of therapy a week (also including PT, OT & ST)
-lots of time for free play and some time to play outside almost every day
-LOTS of reading (at least 20 minutes a night in addition to anything during the day)
-daily nap/quiet time (invaluable for all 3 of us)

Academically I feel like we are doing great. Alex has gone from getting overwhelmed and upset at tracing slanted and curved lines to happily tracing letters. While she is still shaky, she can now write with her right hand for longer periods of time before getting tired and switching to her left. She needs my hand over hers less and less while she is tracing letters. She now understands that there are upper case and lower case letters and can match some of them to their partner letters. Counting is great, she no longer gets tripped up when she gets to 12 and can count to at least 20 by herself. She is very good at counting objects and seems to understand more/less now. Alex is doing awesome with puzzles. She can do a 4-6 piece puzzle where the pieces fit together, not just in their own spot. Alex has also begun to ask 'why' questions. She is also greatly improving on naming the function of objects. Emma is doing great with counting and getting a little better with one to one correspondence. She can now identify square, circle, and triangle whereas before everything was a circle. She is also getting pretty good at finding hidden objects in a big picture. She is also much better with spatial terms such as top/bottom, front/back, in/out, on/off. Three months ago she couldn't do that. She is also beginning to understand what does NOT belong in a group of like objects. They both know the beginning and end of a book and will sit with a book and tell their own version of the story that we have read before. They can also both identify correctly boy/girl.
Things to work on the next few months:
Alex
-speak in complete sentences
-improve fine motor control (in writing and tracing letters, numbers, and objects & coloring)
-letter recognition
-number recognition
-make simple predictions about a story being read (right now she just says 'I don't know')
-sequence 3 pictures in the correct order
-work on using scissors
Emma
-name colors accurately
-improve fine motor control (in drawing, coloring and tracing)
-continue work on spatial terms
-work on asking for things in a nice voice instead of crying or fussing
-provide first and last name (right now she only says Emma)
-work on using scissors

Fun (and important) things to do with both the girls:
-play with play dough
-spend plenty of time outside (I imagine this will mainly be at the pool for next few months)
-spend more time doing physical therapy exercises at home
-continue to work on manners (although they both already say please, thank you & you're welcome)

There are also things that I want to work on:
-balancing both of the girls during school time (helping Emma stay occupied without distracting Alex)
-helping the girls with activity transitions (I know we need to stop when she starts getting tired or frustrated, but sometimes she still gets upset at stopping. I need to have a transition time between school work and taking a break.)
-make a point to do more hands on crafts and activities, even if they are messy! (painting, play dough, etc)

One more thing I intend to re-tackle is potty training. We have tried this numerous times for months at a time and the last time Alex began to get frustrated and upset at my suggestion to go potty. I realize she has physical motor control issues that prevent her abilities, but I would like to try again since it has been several months since our last attempt. I also think that Emma might be able to pick up on pottying during the day even though she can't stay dry at night. I plan to make a potty chart with stickers to motivate them and track progress.

Good morning

We got a lot done today. First Alex did workbook pages on numbers 1-10. There was an activity for each number (ex. color 3 toys, etc.) and then she traced and wrote the numeral. We also worked on more/less. This is hard but it's getting better. After this we took a break because Emma was fussy and Alex was losing focus.
Later this morning Alex was laying in the floor with a pen and paper pad and writing her name. She was saying, "A if for Alex." Then she looked at me and said, "A is for mommy?" So we took it from there and she asked lots of questions concerning what people's names start with. We did this forever. Then she wanted me to write so I got in the floor with her and we started writing. I recalled that level 1 reading involves sentences like, "I see the duck" etc. So I wrote, "I see the ..." We did this about a million times with whatever we could end the sentence with. I know she probably isn't to this level yet, but introducing sight words can't hurt and she was loving it.
All in all is was a good school day.
Alex has PT, OT, & ST today. Emma had PT & ST.

Monday

Alex went to the dentist this morning. She did amazing, but there is a lot of work to be done and she will have surgery sometime in the next few months to repair the cavities and possibly remove some teeth. Emma stayed with Nonnie during Alex's appointment.
Emma had OT this afternoon, Alex's PT was canceled. We went to visit Alissa after therapy and the girls played with Caden and Caleigh.

Friday

Yesterday morning we worked more on letter writing & tracing. Then I made a game. I cut up construction paper to make cards and put A-Z on one color and a-z on the other color. We spread the lowercase letters on the floor and put the uppercase letters in a pile. The girls took turns picking an uppercase letter and then they had to find the lowercase partner letter. I wasn't sure how well this would go, but Alex actually got more right than I had anticipated. The letters that were the easiest are the letters that look similar, but Alex even got a few that look different. The hardest were U & N because their lowercase letters look the same only upside down. We played that game twice through and then called it quits because they were starting to lose focus and attention.

Today

We did Alex's speech homework this morning. She has gotten much better at pronouncing words that begin with a 'y', now we are on to words that have the 'y' sound in the middle. Like... lawyer, ambulance, etc. Then we worked more on identifying the function of objects... still encouraging her to answer in full sentences as opposed to one word answers. Then grouping objects with similar functions. Ex. the stove & a pan are both for cooking. A car and a stoplight are both for driving. etc.
The girls played with their learning laptops today. They think it's fun and all the ABC's can't hurt anything.

Yesterday

Yesterday morning we did some school work together. We played with the flash cards that the girls love and I asked different questions. We are trying to make analogies. For example... Doggies have fur but people have skin. Elephants have big ears but Emma has little ears. etc. I would start it and they would finish it. They did pretty well and I think we added some extra knowledge to the familiar flash cards. I pulled out the wipe off boards and Alex practiced writing her letters again. We also spent some time writing her name. She has been able to do that for quite some time, but we haven't really worked on it in a while and the letters in her name were getting a little jumbled and random. Then we worked on what is NOT. ex. Which leaf is NOT green? etc.
Then we got a phone call that an agent wanted to show our house in 2 hours, so we spent the next 2 hours cleaning house. I can ask Alex to clean her room and she really does a pretty good job. She puts toys where they belong and straightens out her bed. Sometimes she even does this without being asked. Then she comes to get me and says, "Mommy, I clean my room. You come look." We aren't just talking about chores, we are doing them. The biggest problems usually come when Emma tries to pull out something that Alex already put away. Ahhh... sisters.
Alex has her first dentist appointment next Monday so we are going to read books about it for the next few days and talk about it a lot. Once Alex's first visit is out of the way then we will make an appointment for Emma.
The other day Alex was looking at her speech homework in the car and said, "I want Nonnie to do this with me." I forgot to tell Dottie about that, I'll have to remember that next time I see her.
The girls still ask about Daddy every day. When Alex asks where Daddy is I say, "You know where Daddy is." She replies, "Daddy in the Army. Why Daddy in the Army?" My response, "You know why Daddy is in the Army." Her answer, "Daddy help the soldiers."
Yesterday we drove by the armory here in Siloam. They have an old tank in the front and she asked me again what that was. I answered, "That is an Army tank." Her response, "Daddy fix it in the Army." Close enough. Technically he doesn't work on tanks, but he does work on military vehicles and that is close enough as far her her five year old mind is concerned. I was proud of her for remembering what Daddy does.
Alex had PT yesterday and Emma had OT. This afternoon Alex has ST, OT, PT and Emma had PT.

The last few days

I started to only post on the school stuff we did today, but learning is about more than ABC's and 123's... so I will include our weekend. Saturday we went to garage sales. Am I teaching the girls to find a bargain? That afternoon we picked up my grandparents (teaching compassion and service?) and took them to Kayla's birthday party (teaching the importance of family). Sunday we went to church (make time for worship), went shopping for Benjamin's birthday gift (choosing a gift that your friend will like), and then to Benjamin's birthday party at Durham Gymnastics. That is important social time of course, for all those home school naysayers that think we don't socialize. Ha ha. The gym time was great also. I'm going to look into a gymnastics class for the girls, I think that they would love it and it would be good for them.
So today Alex had PT and Emma had OT. Each of the girls got a place mat at Walmart this morning. Alex's is abc's and Emma's is shapes. This afternoon we sat in the floor with dry erase markers and Alex traced all of her letters, they are all lowercase. She really did very well. Then she practiced writing her name. I tried to work on shapes with Emma and we did go over shape names. She gets the circle and triangle, but we are working on the rest. Other than that she mainly colored on the place mat. We read books this evening as usual. One number book. They both count very well, but number recognition is still not there. We are working on it though.