Day 2 of 180

The second day of school was a bit slower. I got bogged down checking all my important websites' passwords after my email was hacked.  :/

It's also terribly hot here. I know we've had it easy all summer but it picked a bad week to warm up. :D It's supposed to be cooler next week so hopefully it will be easier to concentrate.  I haven't been sleeping at all. Last night I couldn't even force myself to finish grading papers and putting the grades in the grade book I was so tired from lack of sleep. So I slept for a bit, but was up far too early again. It's been a two-cuppa kinda week. :)

Babycakes officially, finally started the Mommy & Me class at the same community center HF has his preschool & reading classes. The first month we tried it was cancelled due to low enrollment. Then, last week, the teacher forgot it started. But now we are in and he had a great time.  It's easier to do a Mommy & Me class with Babycakes than HF. HF was easily bored with just sitting & singing songs. He always had to have his hands on something, exploring, etc.  Babycakes loves to sit and watch people sing and play. He likes toys too, but he doesn't mind the sitting, especially if I'm sitting with him.

Finger painting from the first day of class. Babycakes preferred to paint with the q-tip, though. :)

On Thursday, HF takes a reading class at his preschool. It's just an hour but he's already impressed his teacher with his reading skills. ;) I credit Signing Time with that. He learned to finger spell when he was three so it's really helped his reading already.

The only other really exciting news is that we received our Emerson String Quartet tickets (I originally typed "stickers." Go figure. :D) in the mail. Thing 1 absolutely loves them. I took him to see them in LA earlier this year at Disney Concert Hall.  Sir James Galway was with them so I got to fulfill a nearly lifelong dream myself, to see Sir James in concert, at the same time. 

1 Down, 179 More to Go

We finally had our first day of school here.  Most everyone else we know has already started, even if they just started Tuesday. I intended to start Tuesday, but a few weeks ago I finally found a homeschool friendly, daytime women's Bible study on Tuesdays about 35 minutes from the house.  Couldn't pass that one up. :)  It's been great. We met some other homeschoolers, one who is around The Teenagers age and a boy to boot. :D They hit it off great.  My poor Teenager hasn't had a homeschool friend his age in years.

Our first day went pretty good considering the 109 temp and lack of a/c. I sat between our two fans in the kitchen and anytime I had to get up I was reminded that, yes, it is hot. XO! (Anyone else think Blogger needs to input smileys?) Everyone was able to get all their scheduled work done except HF for whom I will be scheduling less work on Wednesdays. He has preschool in the morning so he was only able to complete Art and Bible.  We had to race off to Ballet at 3:30 coz there was no class on Monday. Normally that won't have to happen & we'll be able to work up to dinner if need be coz we won't have to be anywhere until 6 when The Teenager's AWANA club starts. (The other kids start at 6:45 which I'll get into next Wednesday when it actually starts.)

As I've previously mentioned (I'm sure, and too lazy to go look) we are switching almost entirely to Christian Light this year. Thing 1 and Thing 2 really love it. HF is just getting used to the math and art. He likes his math book so much though that he took it for Share & Tell last week for school. :) The Teenager is still out on whether he likes it or not.  He chose to stay with Saxon Math, which I would have found surprising if it wasn't just like him to complain about the difficulty of something but to actually love it.  (The mind of the child, who can understand it, for it is full of fluff & stuff...or something that makes no sense to adults. ;))

This is a pic of the Middles practicing their blending skills. You can't see it but I colored too.  I don't get the cool pitures from the Artpac, though. I had to use an old Power Rangers' coloring book.  Now I understand why the kids don't like coloring books much. It's nicer to color on the white paper than that nasty, cheap newsprint. Bleh!