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.