Gearing Up for Year #2

Andy let me take the morning to myself. He and the girls had a date with the park in our neighborhood.

I drove to a brand new bookstore in town to shop, ended up finding a wonderful preschool book for Liv that was just what I wanted!

Then it was on to Starbucks for a frappachino and a blessed 1 hour of quiet thought and internet searching to finish up my school planning for this year.

1st Grade & Preschool!

Exciting!!

This Fall will present a new experience for us, adding a newborn to our school routine. Truly it probably won't effect much of anything except the time we get going in the morning till he

's 2 or 3 months old. But, I'm still trying to be realistic and know that we may not cover all of our school days. We'll be hitting our books hard from Aug-Oct in preparation for a quieter Nov-Dec.

I truly have 2 very different little girls to guide and instruct. Emma is self-driven and motivated to learn all she can. Livy is happy to be involved, but just as happy to go play toys which I don't want to steal from her. There's PLENTY of time for book learning, and never enough for imagination.

I have to share something I'm excited about, and you have to bear in mind who I'm talking about...This is Emma, who seems to have an internal age of about 9 years old. :)

I gave her her very first internet-based reading test this week, just to know myself where she was functioning at. She whizzed through all the 1st grade reading words, and knew about half of the 2nd grade list. She's FIVE and should only be starting Kindergarten. It's very thrilling, and yet I don't brag that it's any of my doing....Emma herself is determined to push all boundaries of learning.

I still have a 2nd born who struggles with even letter comprehension so I know my experiences per child with differ greatly, and that's ok. I'll enjoy each for their strengths and battle with them through the weaknesses.

I am thankful for another year of home schooling.

-The Mom