Getting into the Groove

With sweat and tears, we have come through the past two weeks. Routine, my dear friend, has started to come around again, and that is the ticket that moves the homeschool family to sanity.

We suffer through the boring and somewhat painful Zaner-Bloser writing handbook, but it is good for us. I'm seeing a lot fewer mistakes this year compared to last year. The goal is to finish Zaner-Bloser by November/December, so that we can begin in the copybook by January.

I under-estimated CuCu again! Taking the advice in the OPGTR, I moved through the silent e section slowly and repetitively. Finally on Monday, Amy said, "Mommy, this is so boring!" So we moved on, and phonics has once again become fun.

I am in search of math songs on CD, so that we can more easily learn skip counting, especially the 2's. I hear her counting from 1 - 100 almost perfectly! This is progress.

We continue to read through the wonderful book of Heidi.

Ballet is not going as well this year as last. In part because 2:30 in the afternoon is not the brightest or sharpest time for anyone, but also because the class really ought to have 1 more instructor/helper. I am going to mention this in the office. 9 girls working at the barre with Christine alone really doesn't give enough attention to detail, which I notice as Katie and I observe through the window.

Friday afternoon soccer is a fun and exciting break, to which we ALL look forward.

Science is nature study and we do that outdoors on Fridays. Amy is using her sketch book to make drawings of her observations. So far we have done wildflowers.

Piano: working in Piano Adventures. very simple, basic instructions. We are including discussions about different types of music - Pavorotti is a popular favorite right now.

I am holding off on History and Latin until the new year, basically because I want her to get grounded in reading and writing, which I see happening. I feel like we are on the crest of another spurt of reading fluency.

Katie is learning her colors!! Smart little baby - she learns stuff before I get a chance to teach her. Amy designs "color games" for her to play.