By, George, I think she's gettin' it!!

I must say that I am super excited I went to Homeschooling works(see last post). Since I bought 20 Boxcar Children, Sassy has been wanting to read them. So today, Little man and I read five chapters and Sassy kept asking to try. She'd read a paragraph every now and then. She did struggle with many of the words, but she wanted to do it. I cannot explain how happy I am because of that. She NEVER asks to read. Then, after I was done reading, she went and got another reader, and continued to try. I am hoping this is a sign that it's finally starting to click.

weekly highlights--Well, we tried.

Another week down the drain. Kinda. We did another week of the basics. I realized that if I don't prepare on Sunday, I bomb the rest of the week. Well, guess what didn't happen on Sunday? So I tried my best to do it on Monday, but that's too late. And another reason I didn't do much was that Hubs was off M-TH. And I don't know about you, but it's very hard to focus when Hubs is home. Not his fault, but we like to see him, so school is hard to focus on.

I did have Sassy read "The Cat in the Hat" a few times. She is almost there. Little man and I have been reading "The Boxcar Children" back and forth all week. He doesn't like reading out loud for a long time, so we went back and forth to make it easier and more enjoyable.

We had our first all boy playdate at one of my friends house this week. There was about 12 moms and 20+boys. It was a blast. Sassy stayed home with daddy cuz she had the sniffles. The Little man got a sore throat, which he gladly shared with me. What a sweet kid. So now I sit here in pain. So no school yesterday or today.

But after reading a few other blogs, I realize that We're not the only ones dealing with this. Remember, next week will be better. :)

Back into the groove

I don't know about you, but I'm soo ready to get back into the groove of school again. We've had the best, less stressful December ever. That is a goal of every year, be done by the first week of December. We had a great Christmas and we are looking forward to a wonderful year. Go to my other blog for my thoughts on this coming year.

My school goals are very simple. Sassy will learn how to read securely by the end of 2010. We will be "caught up" to the other kids out there. By caught up, I mean Little man will be doing math that everyone else is doing. We do math-u-see and he isn't very motivated, so we're farther back than I'd like. But I am determined to rearrange my teaching habits to more of a sit down with him and make sure he understands before I send him to do it by himself. I've just sent him to do it, then when he gets it all wrong he has to do it again with me. I'm hoping if I take the time to work with him, he will understand and be less stressed about it.

I've always loved the fact that we're done by lunch time, but I think they aren't "getting it" in that time period. So we're gonna take our time and have fun, and if it takes til after lunch, that's fine by me.We're gonna be doing Europe, so that will take a while. And, I am NOT gonna stress about them learning where the countries are. As long as they have a general idea to where they are, I'm good. Less stress.

As for Sassy, I need to her to read. She can't go into third grade without secure reading. I refuse to read everything to her next year. So she's gonna have to do it and try a little. She's stubborn and won't even try to sound out a word, she just moves on and forgets about it. Arg!! I need her to read. She is embarrassed when other kids find out, but that's not enough to motivate. Maybe bribery will work. Money always works, right?

Well, here's to 2010. May it bring everyone health and wealth, with a bit of smarts rolled in. :)