Thursday was "I love you day" ... as I like to call it. Around here it is low key, with enough cheesiness to get you through the day. The boys made their construction paper hearts and cards for everyone they could think of. Our neighbor friend "Keegan" brought over cookie hearts, which the boys ate up as soon as I would let them. Michelle brought me a bouquet of flowers and Ry and I did the "more effort" hugs and kisses and the day was through. I had class on Thursday night, so homework was a bit of a priority and class didn't get out till 10 PM, so not much time left.
On Saturday, Ry and I did our little "celebration" of love. Nana and Papa Kelly came up to spend some time with the boys while Ry and I spent a whole 8 hours to ourselves! Its been a while since we had that much time alone (while awake). We went to see a play a friend of mine, Roger Wilson, was in called Sense and Sensibility. It was at the Meydenbauer in Bellevue and the tickets were given to me. Great deal!! It was fun and pleasant to see a play again. I forget how close you are to the actors and the feeling of being in a theatre. It was great!
After that we hung out in downtown Bellevue till our 8:30 pm reservations at McCormick and Schmick. It was a nice time to lounge around and talk. We tried to not talk about kids, because that dominates our conversation alot of the time... BUT it was so hard!! I had to think "what did we talk about before kids??" We are natural around one another and since he knows so much already about me, there really isn't much more to share or reveal... But get us in a coffee house and comfy couches and we do just fine.
We did walk around Lincoln square and seen the new swanky bowling alley. I initially thought it would be a great place to hang out for a minute, but it is definately marketed to a different crowed... Think hip, single, child free night club meet mid America entertainment and you get Lucky Strike. It has a dress code... cost about $60/per hour/per person. Interesting place.
We then went to McCormick and Schmicks around 7:50 pm. Let me tell you, the place is crazy busy and in the future we will make reservations days to a week in advance. We got one of the last ones at 8:30 when I called earlier that day at Noon. We were hoping to get seated early, like at 8:00, but we actually got sat right before 8:30, so not a bad wait to me. We were hoping to get in a closed curtain booth, but I assumed they were for people that requested them or paid extra. Not so, when they sat us, we were put in one of those booths and it was the best thing!!
Ry and I could talk without being distracted by people walking by. It was like our own little room in the midst of a noisy restaurant. The food was good. Not extraordinary. I got sliced sirloin atop of mash potatos and Ry got fish atop of rice pilaf. I forget what kind, but it was a white fish. We both got chowder, which was really good to me. We decided to do desert, since it was our special dinner. It was a trio of creme brule, berry cobbler and chocolate bread pudding. All of it was good.
Oh by the way... McCormick and Schmicks has a $20.00 off coupon in the entertainment book. We used it and our final ticket was $48.00. We also had those gift certificates from Costco, where you pay $80.00 for 2 $50 gift cards. So we only used one of those gift cards. So our great little dinner only cost us $40.00... Nice. But it was well worth the original $70 bucks.
All in all it was a fun and relaxing day. Really it was great just being with Ry and not chasing a small child around. With our lives as it is right now, we don't get these opportunities that much, so it is great to do it and know the boys are safe.
Love all of you!!
Nic
Monday, February 18, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Buggy Batman and his side kick Robin
The fun thing about having children is that the simplest things make them happy and in turn fill me with the greatest joy. Josiah got attanae at church a few weeks ago. They are 2 stars, one red the other blue. Nothing big or flashy about them, but the boys have enjoyed them without fail every day. Little Ry was Batman for Harvest time and he has loved that mask since. Well, Ry likes to be buggy Batman and one day last week, Aunt Michelle caught them sitting around and took some pictures. 
What I absolutely love about Ry is that he doesn't mind loving on his brothers. Josiah doesn't mind either. I plan to encourage this forever and believe they will always respect their relationship with another enough to hug whenever... yeah I'm a female but I know it can happen. :-)
Buggy Batman finally disconnected the stars... Now he actually has some super powers.
What I absolutely love about Ry is that he doesn't mind loving on his brothers. Josiah doesn't mind either. I plan to encourage this forever and believe they will always respect their relationship with another enough to hug whenever... yeah I'm a female but I know it can happen. :-)Buggy Batman finally disconnected the stars... Now he actually has some super powers.Thursday, January 31, 2008
Touched my heart
Yesterday, Ryan and I had our ultrasound appointment. We found out the little blessing is going to be our 4th little boy. He looks healthy and active! He appears to weigh 12 oz at the moment and is lining up with the 50 percentale... so we'll see if he turns out to be in the 95th percentale when he is born like his brothers.
Well we broke the news to the boys and they were a little disappointed. Well except Quinny, he just wanted a baby, so he's getting what he wants! Ry and Jo were like "we wanted a sister though" But after I let them see the ultrasound photos of his little "peter" they giggled and laughed.
For the rest of the evening the thought about names, what they would do with him etc... Well what really touched my heart was what little Ry did later that night...
We sent them up to their room to watch a movie before bed time. Ry and I watched another one downstairs. Once we started to hear movement up there, he went up to put them to sleep. When he came back down, he brought Quinny's magnadoodle down with him and showed me what Ry had drawn. I surprised and asked if he helped ry think this through... and he said no.
Well little Ry decided to draw a family portrait. Please note that in his mind, mommy is shorter than daddy and Josiah is taller than him. :-) What Ry and I laughed about was that he drew the baby in my belly. Don't be alarmed there are no other "manly" parts drawn. He did make all the boys have belly buttons. This stems from our talks about "Where is your belly button, mom?" He has realized that he can see all of their belly buttons but not mine. I assured him, I do have one. And thanks for pointing out that mine is hidden! The boys also all have dots for nipples and mommy has boobs. Toooooo funny to me! I was like hey, why do they have to be sagging!!!
What is also special is that he even had mommy and daddy holding hands. He's such a sweet kid!!
Anyway, I was too touched by this and had to share. I may be emotional right now, but it is a good thing sometimes!!
till later, Nic
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
My Boys
This is to update the boys picture...
They are Ryan Jr. (6), Josiah (5) and Quinlan (3)
The one on the right is from 2006, but it matches my color scheme the best (smile).
Till later... Nic
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Moore Family Pictures
Ok... so every November my side of family gets together for what I personally call "our family holiday." THANKSGIVING. Yeah great food, silly stories, games and our time for the "official" family picture.
But we didn't rest on our laurels... no not the Moores. I of course announced I was pregnant late spring 2004 and Celeste had the same announcement! So once again we grew (our belly buttons and this family). Isaiah was born in October (the same day as little Miles) and Quinlan was born in December. With his due date being December 8th... I missed my first Thanksgiving. We had a great time with Big Ry's family, but there wasn't a family picture in 2004
But in 2005 we all gathered together to make a stand for our teams. Yes, the majority of us were born in California and should by default like Cali teams, but Loyalties are split between 4 teams. Mom technically should be an Eagles fan, due to the fact that she actually was raised in Philly. But Miles has taken on that mantle for her. Mom is actually welcoming to a few teams, but she partnered with her girls and honored the 49ers... My husband influenced my boys to go across the bay to the Raiders, but Quinny was still being nursed, so he was a 49er by default. Josh and his family are the odd man out. (he he he) He is a Cowboys fan. No one is from Texas...Why? Yeah my thoughts exactly.
So from 1989 to 2007, The Moore family Picture has changed drastically. We call it a blessing, a miracle, really. And this is just one branch off of a larger Moore Family Tree.
Till Later... Nic
Now, over the years we have grown. What started with "Gail and her 4" has definitely multiplied. What a lovely pic from Christmas 1989 Please note Josh was at one point shorter than his mother, Miles and myself... (Gail 'aka' Mom is in the green dress, My older brother, Miles, is sporting the pink shirt...go 80s, I am in the middle, Baby brother, Josh is in the bow tie and the baby, Michelle, is workin' the beads.
We grew year by year (almost 10 years later from the above shot, 11/2000). I actually have little Ry in the belly.
... till we realized, we are going to need a little more coordination to get that official family shot. 2000 launched us into extended family-hood land. I got married to Ryan and moved 800 miles away to Washington. But he fit right in...
Josh Jr and Ry Jr were born in 2001 and Josh got married in September 2001, adding 4 more to the count. By the time we took the family picture in 2002, I was pregnant yet again, but so was Miles... uh not him personally, but you know what I mean.
2003 we truly did attempt to take a picture, however we never made it to the studio. So we took a casual pic in mom's living room. Wasn't the best pic, but it was definitely the easiest one to take. The family grew a lot between the two pictures, Josiah, Miles Jr and Jonathan were born. Miles also got married December 2002. So this is the first pic with all the spouses in it too.
But we didn't rest on our laurels... no not the Moores. I of course announced I was pregnant late spring 2004 and Celeste had the same announcement! So once again we grew (our belly buttons and this family). Isaiah was born in October (the same day as little Miles) and Quinlan was born in December. With his due date being December 8th... I missed my first Thanksgiving. We had a great time with Big Ry's family, but there wasn't a family picture in 2004
But in 2005 we all gathered together to make a stand for our teams. Yes, the majority of us were born in California and should by default like Cali teams, but Loyalties are split between 4 teams. Mom technically should be an Eagles fan, due to the fact that she actually was raised in Philly. But Miles has taken on that mantle for her. Mom is actually welcoming to a few teams, but she partnered with her girls and honored the 49ers... My husband influenced my boys to go across the bay to the Raiders, but Quinny was still being nursed, so he was a 49er by default. Josh and his family are the odd man out. (he he he) He is a Cowboys fan. No one is from Texas...Why? Yeah my thoughts exactly.
2005 was an interesting year... it was the "transition year" where our traditional holiday was non-existent. We still gathered and loved on each other at different houses and times. We just didn't have the time to get pictures done.
2006 was another year we didn't make it down. Sad for us all... but we had our first Thanksgiving by ourselves. I cooked and baked and we had our little meal together with the boys. The twins Anthony and Christopher were born in August 2006, so none-the-less our family continued to grow.
2007 we finally got together again. It was a small logistical nightmare to get the pictures done. Mainly because our family was too big for a studio. Celeste and I researched and called around to find a place to hold 20 people. Finally we found a JCPennys in Modesto who could do it reasonably. To sum up, it was a long, long, long day... No picture turned out the way we would like. There were a few that were decent though. Oh of course I am yet again pregnant so next year the picture will have 21 people in it.... Well maybe 22 depending on if Michelle decides to start her expansion... :-)
So from 1989 to 2007, The Moore family Picture has changed drastically. We call it a blessing, a miracle, really. And this is just one branch off of a larger Moore Family Tree.
Till Later... Nic
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Time for new undies
OK this one is for the frugal mommies out there...
Josiah has spurted an inch or two in length and width since I last checked before Christmas. I'm telling you, my Jo amazes me sometimes. He was wearing size 4 in underwear just fine a month ago and a little over a week ago he started complaining about red marks on his hips. Sure enough, he has expanded. So, since we started the whole "Jo, just get a pair of Ry's underwear" thing we figured we'd just go ahead and graduate them up to the next size (size 6). Which means for an older sibling... time to give up your stash of stuff (which included some of his new ones from Christmas). Ry is getting bigger too, but he could have probably lasted another month or two in size 6. But he will be rewarded for his generosity as he moves to size 8.
As many parents know, this is a momentous occasion... the purging of one whole size and welcoming the new roomier size. So this last weekend we went shopping to buy little Ry new under clothing. Although I am particular to Hanes, we decided to use an Osh Kosh coupon I had to maximize the budget. I planned on spending about $50 since he needed a full set of undies, socks and undershirts.
So once we got into the store, I found that they had their underclothing all on sale. Which I sort of expected some type of sale, since they were advertising a huge clearance sale. Though the underclothing wasn't on clearance, they were priced decently. Not as inexpensive as Hanes at a Fred Meyer sale, but good for OshKosh. OshKosh makes quality clothing so I don't mind spending a little extra to get well made, lasting items. Plus they have a great replacement warranty in place (sort of what you spend the extra duckets for).
But I was really happy this time around, because everything except for the socks ($6) were marked as $5.00. Yes, their $15.00 pack of 3 pairs of undies was $5.00. Nice! So I bought 3 packs of undies, 2 packs of undershirts and 3 packs of socks. For those counting... 9 undies, 9 socks and 6 undershirts...which should have been $43.00. Not too bad, a little under $2 for each item. (Yes, this is how my mind works). Which was right within my budget. But I had a coupon that required a $50.00 purchase to get $10.00 off, so I needed to buy something for $7.00.
Well the clearance stuff was all marked down to 3.99 or 7.99 with an additional 30% off. So I got some PJs for $2.80 and Josiah's replacement "Boo Boo" (a soft cuddly dog he lost months ago and has been searching for relentlessly) for $5.00. So basically after using my coupon, I walked out spending a total of $44.00 after taxes. I was happy because I stayed within budget!! WoooHooo!!! And in my mind... got the dog, PJs and some tax relief for free.
But a small little plus to this story (and only mom's would understand this) was while I was reviewing the receipt(which all good moms do), I noticed they charged the wrong amount for the socks and they were marked a different price on the socks themselves. So I went back in and the manager said they should have been marked down more. So she gave me that difference back with the coupon price. (Which if anyone is counting would have put me under the $50.00 to begin with...) But she didn't mind, so she gave me a little over $3.00 back.
So all in all for $41.00 including taxes, I got Ry a full set of under clothing, made Josiah one happy little guy with a reunion with his long lost friend and got a little something for our baby cousin Ayden. And for those counting... that is about $1.50 for each item including the tax.
Oh and about that amazing sale. They had tons of stuff marked down to 3.99 or 7.99 with an additional 30% off. And you can use that coupon with it! They said it would be going on for a few days, so maybe someone out there will appreciate my ramblings about this and get some things for their little blessings too.
Till later... Nic
Josiah has spurted an inch or two in length and width since I last checked before Christmas. I'm telling you, my Jo amazes me sometimes. He was wearing size 4 in underwear just fine a month ago and a little over a week ago he started complaining about red marks on his hips. Sure enough, he has expanded. So, since we started the whole "Jo, just get a pair of Ry's underwear" thing we figured we'd just go ahead and graduate them up to the next size (size 6). Which means for an older sibling... time to give up your stash of stuff (which included some of his new ones from Christmas). Ry is getting bigger too, but he could have probably lasted another month or two in size 6. But he will be rewarded for his generosity as he moves to size 8.
As many parents know, this is a momentous occasion... the purging of one whole size and welcoming the new roomier size. So this last weekend we went shopping to buy little Ry new under clothing. Although I am particular to Hanes, we decided to use an Osh Kosh coupon I had to maximize the budget. I planned on spending about $50 since he needed a full set of undies, socks and undershirts.
So once we got into the store, I found that they had their underclothing all on sale. Which I sort of expected some type of sale, since they were advertising a huge clearance sale. Though the underclothing wasn't on clearance, they were priced decently. Not as inexpensive as Hanes at a Fred Meyer sale, but good for OshKosh. OshKosh makes quality clothing so I don't mind spending a little extra to get well made, lasting items. Plus they have a great replacement warranty in place (sort of what you spend the extra duckets for).
But I was really happy this time around, because everything except for the socks ($6) were marked as $5.00. Yes, their $15.00 pack of 3 pairs of undies was $5.00. Nice! So I bought 3 packs of undies, 2 packs of undershirts and 3 packs of socks. For those counting... 9 undies, 9 socks and 6 undershirts...which should have been $43.00. Not too bad, a little under $2 for each item. (Yes, this is how my mind works). Which was right within my budget. But I had a coupon that required a $50.00 purchase to get $10.00 off, so I needed to buy something for $7.00.
Well the clearance stuff was all marked down to 3.99 or 7.99 with an additional 30% off. So I got some PJs for $2.80 and Josiah's replacement "Boo Boo" (a soft cuddly dog he lost months ago and has been searching for relentlessly) for $5.00. So basically after using my coupon, I walked out spending a total of $44.00 after taxes. I was happy because I stayed within budget!! WoooHooo!!! And in my mind... got the dog, PJs and some tax relief for free.
But a small little plus to this story (and only mom's would understand this) was while I was reviewing the receipt(which all good moms do), I noticed they charged the wrong amount for the socks and they were marked a different price on the socks themselves. So I went back in and the manager said they should have been marked down more. So she gave me that difference back with the coupon price. (Which if anyone is counting would have put me under the $50.00 to begin with...) But she didn't mind, so she gave me a little over $3.00 back.
So all in all for $41.00 including taxes, I got Ry a full set of under clothing, made Josiah one happy little guy with a reunion with his long lost friend and got a little something for our baby cousin Ayden. And for those counting... that is about $1.50 for each item including the tax.
Oh and about that amazing sale. They had tons of stuff marked down to 3.99 or 7.99 with an additional 30% off. And you can use that coupon with it! They said it would be going on for a few days, so maybe someone out there will appreciate my ramblings about this and get some things for their little blessings too.
Till later... Nic
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Christmas 2007
The boys are heading to nap land and I wanted to get more info on this site...
Well Christmas was a blessing. First off... I did good! I shopped for big Ry earlier in October and November and hid his stuff, so when we were doing the budget split for shopping in December, I didn't have to designate funds towards big things for Ry. So I was able to get my California family gifts out before Christmas this time!! I was excited about that.
On Ry's side of the family we pull names. Our list was:
Ryan Sr. - Breeann
Nicole - Keegan Sr.
Ry Jr. - Keegan Jr.
Josiah - Judah
Quinny - Connor
We had fun shopping and letting the boys pick out things for their cousins. Josiah and Quin needed some help, but they made the final executive decisions.
On Christmas Eve we traveled down to Ry's family home in Glenoma. It is a rural area with lots of trees, mountains and space. They have a family dinner with Ryan's paternal immediate family that include his grandparents, aunt and uncle's family. Everyone is invited, but its usually this same group every year. We normally have it at Uncle Tim's house, but they are remodeling. So Jodee and Terry (Ry's parents) hosted this year. We eat lots of food, play games and share time together. As the kids grow older it is obvious that the family is busting at the seams in Jodee's house. Next Christmas 2 new babies will be there to add to the excitement. I believe we'll be back to Ryan's uncle Tim's house though and they have 2 living rooms.
At the end of the night, I tried to do our little tradition of new PJs and reading the account of the Birth of Christ. The boys are still a little young and we had to make them sit still for the entire story... but it was fun still. All the lights were down and the twinkling lights from the tree and all of Jodee's decorations made for a great backdrop. I look forward to the time the boys will be able to read the story themselves to us.
The next day we got up early... or at least I did. It was 9:00 AM so it wasn't that early. I was excited to wake the boys up with "Carol of the bells" playing loudly through the house, which is their favorite Christmas song. They however were exhausted from the night before and I had to go shake them to get them to come out. They sat on the couch, eyes glazed over and finally asked "can we open our presents yet?"
I don't think they actually woke up till their 2nd or 3rd gift, but it was still fun for me to watch them do it.
Everyone received great gifts and felt love all around. We ate brunch and vegged the rest of the day. We headed home the next day because Ry had to be at work Thursday and Friday. I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, so me and the boys continued our vacation at our house. I honestly didn't check e-mail for over 4 days. I was so happy!!
Our newsletter was printed but I didn't get them mailed out. At this point they'll be New Year's letters... Which is fine with me. I'll post it on here if I can and they mail them out this week.
till later... Nic
Well Christmas was a blessing. First off... I did good! I shopped for big Ry earlier in October and November and hid his stuff, so when we were doing the budget split for shopping in December, I didn't have to designate funds towards big things for Ry. So I was able to get my California family gifts out before Christmas this time!! I was excited about that.
On Ry's side of the family we pull names. Our list was:
Ryan Sr. - Breeann
Nicole - Keegan Sr.
Ry Jr. - Keegan Jr.
Josiah - Judah
Quinny - Connor
We had fun shopping and letting the boys pick out things for their cousins. Josiah and Quin needed some help, but they made the final executive decisions.
On Christmas Eve we traveled down to Ry's family home in Glenoma. It is a rural area with lots of trees, mountains and space. They have a family dinner with Ryan's paternal immediate family that include his grandparents, aunt and uncle's family. Everyone is invited, but its usually this same group every year. We normally have it at Uncle Tim's house, but they are remodeling. So Jodee and Terry (Ry's parents) hosted this year. We eat lots of food, play games and share time together. As the kids grow older it is obvious that the family is busting at the seams in Jodee's house. Next Christmas 2 new babies will be there to add to the excitement. I believe we'll be back to Ryan's uncle Tim's house though and they have 2 living rooms.
At the end of the night, I tried to do our little tradition of new PJs and reading the account of the Birth of Christ. The boys are still a little young and we had to make them sit still for the entire story... but it was fun still. All the lights were down and the twinkling lights from the tree and all of Jodee's decorations made for a great backdrop. I look forward to the time the boys will be able to read the story themselves to us.
The next day we got up early... or at least I did. It was 9:00 AM so it wasn't that early. I was excited to wake the boys up with "Carol of the bells" playing loudly through the house, which is their favorite Christmas song. They however were exhausted from the night before and I had to go shake them to get them to come out. They sat on the couch, eyes glazed over and finally asked "can we open our presents yet?"
I don't think they actually woke up till their 2nd or 3rd gift, but it was still fun for me to watch them do it.
Everyone received great gifts and felt love all around. We ate brunch and vegged the rest of the day. We headed home the next day because Ry had to be at work Thursday and Friday. I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, so me and the boys continued our vacation at our house. I honestly didn't check e-mail for over 4 days. I was so happy!!
Our newsletter was printed but I didn't get them mailed out. At this point they'll be New Year's letters... Which is fine with me. I'll post it on here if I can and they mail them out this week.
till later... Nic
School Time
Ok... so we are all in school except daddy. Mommy has homework mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I work from home (which still needs to be done today, but I'm not thinking about that) and the boys are doing their lessons one at a time because they tend to distract each other. So instead of school time taking 2 hours. It runs me about 5 hours to complete all three of them. I'm sure I need to be more disciplined with them and make them concentrate on their own subjects at the same time, but it isn't all that easy. We use various tools to accomplish their educational goals. Our main tools are Hooked on Phonics, Kumon books and Mommy's self made blend of curriculum based in Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) principles.
Just in case you wanted to know... School time is laid back around these parts. They get up around 9:00 AM, eat, watch a couple of shows and school time starts around 10 or 11 depending on how much e-mail I'm answering . I try to switch up who goes first usually. Quinny is the shortest session so sometimes its nice to get his stuff out of the way, but he is still my late sleeper, so sometimes he still groggy from sleep. Since Ry is the oldest and has more subjects to cover he usually goes first because it takes about 3 hours for him alone. However 50% of this is work he does on his own. Josiah is usually 2nd. His school time is mostly phonics and counting, proper order of things, discussion on stories. He's a thinker and wants to know cause and effect more than the others it seems. So he likes to put all the pieces together in a story till he understands it.
Little Ry is doing well with word recognition. He is working on confidence in his knowledge when he is away from his books, but he's getting there. It makes me happy when he cognitively understands the meaning of a word and how it interacts with other words, applications and uses. He really is a bright little boy. One of the words he seems to struggle with is "The". Though he knows the word, he can't pronounce it like me. I think it is a carry over concern from when his 4 front teeth were gone and it was really difficult for him to sound it out. So now he just says "Da" but he doesn't like to say that because to him "Da" begins with a "d" and obviously this word begins with a "T". And with his little perfectionist attitude, he doesn't like to give up. With math he is building on his addition. Subtraction is obvious when using objects, but as soon as the problem is set before him in print, he draws a blank. I'm hoping to move past this next week. We've been doing symbol recognition this week to reinforce what a "-" really means.
Science is a different thing for me. Understanding the world around us is a daily discussion topic. I initially started on obvious things like directions, space and movement. Animals, days of the week, weather and seasons etc... are things we talk about daily. I'm leaning towards using ACE science books for him since they are strategic in nature. We also got a membership at the children's museum in Bellevue because they have a great science program and a homeschooling session for science too.
What are their equivalent grade levels??? Quinny is 3 so he started his official school time last month after his birthday. Josiah is 5, and is working through kindergarten subjects. He sort of started this back in October. He is ahead of where he should be because he listened to do what Ry was doing last year, so he picked it up early. Technically he should be entering Kindergarten next October. I don't mind him being early though. Ry is working on 1st grade lessons. He has had to do some brush up on word blends and penmanship seems to be our constant little battle. I'm determined to get him out of the stereotype of "writing like a boy." I firmly believe everyone has the ability to write neatly.
All in all it is hard and challenging to home school three active little boys. None-the-less, I get great joy seeing them "get it" in various areas of learning. It's like I have a personal front row seat to their discovery of the world.
Till later.... Nic
Just in case you wanted to know... School time is laid back around these parts. They get up around 9:00 AM, eat, watch a couple of shows and school time starts around 10 or 11 depending on how much e-mail I'm answering . I try to switch up who goes first usually. Quinny is the shortest session so sometimes its nice to get his stuff out of the way, but he is still my late sleeper, so sometimes he still groggy from sleep. Since Ry is the oldest and has more subjects to cover he usually goes first because it takes about 3 hours for him alone. However 50% of this is work he does on his own. Josiah is usually 2nd. His school time is mostly phonics and counting, proper order of things, discussion on stories. He's a thinker and wants to know cause and effect more than the others it seems. So he likes to put all the pieces together in a story till he understands it.
Little Ry is doing well with word recognition. He is working on confidence in his knowledge when he is away from his books, but he's getting there. It makes me happy when he cognitively understands the meaning of a word and how it interacts with other words, applications and uses. He really is a bright little boy. One of the words he seems to struggle with is "The". Though he knows the word, he can't pronounce it like me. I think it is a carry over concern from when his 4 front teeth were gone and it was really difficult for him to sound it out. So now he just says "Da" but he doesn't like to say that because to him "Da" begins with a "d" and obviously this word begins with a "T". And with his little perfectionist attitude, he doesn't like to give up. With math he is building on his addition. Subtraction is obvious when using objects, but as soon as the problem is set before him in print, he draws a blank. I'm hoping to move past this next week. We've been doing symbol recognition this week to reinforce what a "-" really means.
Science is a different thing for me. Understanding the world around us is a daily discussion topic. I initially started on obvious things like directions, space and movement. Animals, days of the week, weather and seasons etc... are things we talk about daily. I'm leaning towards using ACE science books for him since they are strategic in nature. We also got a membership at the children's museum in Bellevue because they have a great science program and a homeschooling session for science too.
What are their equivalent grade levels??? Quinny is 3 so he started his official school time last month after his birthday. Josiah is 5, and is working through kindergarten subjects. He sort of started this back in October. He is ahead of where he should be because he listened to do what Ry was doing last year, so he picked it up early. Technically he should be entering Kindergarten next October. I don't mind him being early though. Ry is working on 1st grade lessons. He has had to do some brush up on word blends and penmanship seems to be our constant little battle. I'm determined to get him out of the stereotype of "writing like a boy." I firmly believe everyone has the ability to write neatly.
All in all it is hard and challenging to home school three active little boys. None-the-less, I get great joy seeing them "get it" in various areas of learning. It's like I have a personal front row seat to their discovery of the world.
Till later.... Nic
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First time for everything...
Well, I've decided to join the blogging craze... I don't think I'll be as great about this as my little sis has been, but this is a great way to jornal our little lives over here in Kirkland. As I find time between classes, work, being super mommy and the proverbs 31 wife, I'll get on here to let you know what is interesting in our lives and post lots of pics of the boys and maybe some of Ry and myself.
Loving all of you... oh yeah get a blog going so I can link up to yours too!! It actually is easy as pie or poundcake in my case (smile).
Love, Nic
Loving all of you... oh yeah get a blog going so I can link up to yours too!! It actually is easy as pie or poundcake in my case (smile).
Love, Nic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)