Updates galore!!!

Wow, it has been such a long time since I've done a real update!!  Things are going great around our house.  We've found a routine, chores are getting done (pretty much), school is in session, spirits are high, and we are loving life!!

Our summer was wonderful.  We enjoyed getting used to being a family of four.  We thoroughly enjoyed our pool (still are), and love to soak up the sun.  BabyGirl was more than ready to start school last week, and so was I.  We're doing a lot of fun, new things this year that we are super excited about.  First of all, we changed our history and geography program.  Last year we used Core Knowledge, and we loved it.  But, it gets a little wordy and somewhat boring at points.  BabyGirl would rather do the exploring and learning on her own, so we decided to go with http://www.kidsdiscover.com/ this time.  We are absolutely loving it!!  I found one magazine for each topic we are covering, and even ended up ordering some science ones that BabyGirl was really interested in.  We highly recommend this source.  Not only are they affordable, but they are full of information presented in an engaging manner.  Cannot say how much we LOVE IT!!!  The first topic we are covering in history is Ancient India.  BabyGirl is very much into learning about ancient cultures.  She cannot get enough of them.  We've also found some great books at the library to go along with our magazine.  We will be covering Ancient India for 3 weeks.  Then, it's onto Ancient China!!

For science, we are covering Planet Earth for the whole month of September.  Again, we are using the magazine as well as a ton of sources we found through our library online catalog.  So far, we've covered the layers of the Earth.  Not only what they are, but why we have them in the first place.  We did an experiment using green colored salt water, warm water, cooking oil and tacks.

We're also covering Earth long ago. She loves this as much as ancient cultures. She will sit and read books about the geologic time scale forever! The interesting creatures, dinosaurs and fossils just amaze her and we are having so much fun with it! We may have to take more than a month on Earth!

Another new introduction this year is cursive writing, and I'm thinking I should have introduced this form of writing first!  She gets so frustrated with print!  But, cursive seems to come so much more naturally for her.  She can have the most beautiful print and cursive you have ever seen.  Like an adult. But, she can also be in a huge hurry and print all over the place in huge and small letters.  Cursive is allowing her to write faster and more neatly.  She also loves to practice it!  Yay for that!

Also new this year...we have slowed down on the phonics.  We still do *some* but she is such a great speller, reader and writer that it just seems silly to sit her down doing mindless worksheets that frankly she could have done in preschool.  So, we've introduced forms of writing. We're going to cover many things including how to write stories, poems, letters, book reports, newspaper articles and books.  We have lots of fun things in store, so stay tuned!!

Right now for math, we are just reviewing what we learned last year.  Her favorite thing to do is play our math games.  Among her favorites are dominoes or Addition Top-It.

This year we are adding more Social Studies as well.  We've touched on it every year so far, but this year we are taking a more in-depth approach. First, we are starting to study the American Government...eeewww.. LOL.  She actually loves this, and asks every school day if we are doing any Social Studies!!

For the arts, we will continue our monthly art lesson that we share with our besties.  We take turns going to each other's house and working on a particular topic.  This month we talked about lines and drew 2 different pictures.  One with only straight lines, and one with only curvy lines.  Next month will be sculptures.  I'm planning a trip to the museum, and (of course) making a sculpture!!  We've also started our music school!!!!  BabyGirl auditioned for a local music conservatory scholarship program this summer and was accepted to study the piano!  So, we are going twice weekly to not only private lessons, but also 2 hours of music theory classes.  She is sooooooooo passionate about this, and I can just see her eyes light up when she talks about it.  Here is a picture of her first day.

So, that pretty much sums up the beginning of our school year!  I'm sure there are some things I've left out...and I'm trying to get used to this new blog format...so, forgive me if it's not perfect! :)

Now, here are a few updates from the end of summer.....

The cast has come off!!!  Yay!! Here is a pic before....

Coming off....

It's off!!!!!

Here are a couple of pics from the "Elebration" at our local zoo.  We got there early in the morning before the crowds, and enjoyed a beautiful morning outside!!!

Touching an elephant skull...

Picking the statue's nose (as usual)

In the rain forest...

Here are a couple of random pics. 

My 2 boys...

Mommy and my Little Man...

Two cute twinkie cousins...

A long-overdue afternoon at Nanny's house...

Remembering old times with Josh...

After playing beauty shop with BabyGirl during Little Man's nap..

My favorite flower in our yard....the Spider Lily...

The flower is almost as pretty....

My babies....

Me and my babies...

The next American Idol...

My happy little guy....