crazy hair and jelly bean math

The kids had fun at co-op last week as it was declared crazy hair and hat day! All of my kids of course wanted to spray paint their hair...not simply wear a crazy hat! Graham actually said he'd really like to keep his hair this color! Uh...Aleena's hair was red, white and blue and you could see it better in person.Dru chose to just put black stripes in his hair but it was a little harder for everyone to see. Later in the week we did Jelly Bean Math. This is always a hit with the kids...

What ever gets the job done!

This is the way we do our school work, do our school work , do our school work...
You may be seriously wondering if Veda posed for this picture...NOPE! This is how she was doing her school work the other day! Don't all 7 year old girls do school this way???

What a gift time is.

Time. It is something that seems to be on our side. This year the gift of time to my children has been such a blessing to me. Let me explain. My oldest son Graham is a good student but it doesn't come easily for him. Reading, spelling and sometimes math have at one time or another caused him much stress. But I have given him time or rather Jesus has suggested it and I have ran with it. Time has let me not feel so stressed out with schooling Graham and has helped me let go of expectations that he just isn't capable of meeting...today. With time he will. Graham has had a great year and just this past week I gave him a book to read on his own (this is the first time I haven't sat with him and had him read it out loud to me) and then he'll answer some questions. He is reading the Magic Tree house series. Yeah, it's probably a book kids a few years younger than my son can read but today my son is reading it. Something he could not do last year. Math is another area, esp. memorizing his times facts that he just could not commit to his permanent memory. So this year I put off division and any other new math concepts and we have only worked on our multiplication and reviewing adding and subtracting hundreds and thousands. Some days he does a whole math sheet of adding the basics. It is easy for him and gives him a great attitude to finish the rest of his school day. Once I took the pressure off of myself (and SOLD Delta -MUS) and the pressure off of Graham he has excelled. Now this isn't to say that I put off things that Graham is capable of doing. For example we are moving through the I.E.W. curriculum which is a TON of work for Graham but he has the skills to complete the assignments and so he is required to do them. It has been a good year and I'm glad I feel the freedom to meet my children's where they are at.

Piano Recital

Graham and Veda were in their first piano recital a few weekends back and had a blast! Check them out... Veda was the very first performance of the afternoon and loved it!Graham said he was really nervous but said it was a lot of fun to play for everyone. This is their piano teacher Jon Anderson from Music-Cisum in Davison. The kids just love Jon and he is a homeschool grad!These boys are some of Graham's best friends. They are brothers that are also homeschooled and really great kids!

So proud of you Wednesday

So proud of Veda today. Last evening she came into the living room while I was on the couch....YES on the couch I was! I really wasn't feeling well and was fighting the voices in my head that said, "Get up! You need to be doing SOMETHING!" and I said, "Nope. It is OK to rest. I am going to rest." Anyway, Veda walked in and asked what side the soap went in the washer (there are about three options to dump the soap). I thought she must be doing laundry but didn't pay anymore attention to it until this morning. Veda folded the dry clothes, put the wet ones in the dryer and did a load of jeans! All by herself! How cool is that. You've got to feel good when your 7 year old volunteers to do the laundry and it's done right! Way to go Veda Rene!!

So proud of you two!!!

My littlest two made it through a whole dentist app't with no tears! I am so proud of them! First, Major Cutie has been to the dentist. This is her third visit and she does well except when they try to get x-rays of her teeth. Her jaw is just so small she gags on those bite wings. The first time they tried so much she started crying and I said again, that I think it's not going to work. Well today I told her we weren't doing it and that we would wait until our summer visit. Well they asked her if they could try and she bravely said yes, and it worked beautifully! They even printed off two pictures for MC to take home! She is very proud of herself and so am I! And my Boo, well this is his first visit after one year of preparing him and he was a bit squeamish but he did great! It was funny though because as he watched his sister get her teeth done he would turn away and say, "That is so gross!" He didn't like watching that!! LOL!

Yep, this pretty much sums up how Boo felt and acted at the dentist's office! LOL!

Once again...

...I am so proud of Graham! I don't have favorites among my kiddos,really! but wanted to share another "So proud of you" moment. Last Saturday we celebrated Christmas on my mom's side of the family. Every year we raise money for a family. We usually bring items to auction off but this year decided to bake goodies instead. We had prepared smaller plates for the children to "buy" from and big plates for us adults. I had reminded my kids to bring a quarter or two so that they could buy a plate of goodies and they did. Later that evening my sister gave me the money and said it was for a family that use to come to our church. Graham knew this family and asked, "Are you talking about Wes' family?" to which I causally replied yes and continued with my conversation with my cousin. Moments later Graham pulled out his wallet and reached inside so that he could offer more. Our church has always been big into relationship and what it means to be in relationship with not only Christ but with one another. Graham understood that message somewhere along the way and because of his relationship with this family wanted to, without hesitation, give all that he could. How cool is that? I am so very proud of him.