first week of first grade

Evalana and I are having a great time with the beginning of our Core B Sonlight curriculum. I took some pictures and videos this week so those of you who are interested can see what we're up to. Our Sonlight is set up to be a five-days-a-week curriculum, but, for me, that's not necessarily a Monday through Friday week. Like this past week we went to the zoo, played with friends, and should have gone to Walmart, although I always seem to find some reason that I can put that trip off a little longer (Walmart and carrying laundry upstairs are two of my least favorite chores). So sometimes we do school that's in our curriculum, and sometimes school is a field trip or some other activities. And we also spend parts of every day with cooking, cleaning, and other normal things that i still consider learning opportunities.
Several of our subjects are just continuing from Evalana's kindergarten-level curriculum, such as music, Spanish, piano, and math.
These are all the books we got to open for our first week of school.
And here are the books we got to use our first day. We were very excited to read them!
So far, her favorite parts of our school are missionary stories, Bible stories, read alouds, science experiments, critical thinking, and learning about and praying for groups of people who maybe haven't heard about Jesus. Here are some pictures and videos of some of her school time, for all the relatives who keep asking her about her school, since she refuses to "perform" for anyone.

 

 
science experiments with magnets and then a game with magnets

dancing to the classical music we're learning about

and plenty of this sort of thing interrupting our school day too

lunch break. lazarus's favorite food these days--cheese sandwiches

Plus our "field trips"


  

    

And here's a little of Lazarus's school

  

playdough creations

awana breakfast hair

Last week at Awana was Crazy Hair Night, so Joshua decided to style their hair with breakfast foods.

 

playdough on the fan

Joshua decided to teach the kids how to throw playdough onto the living room fan. He said it was a good Papa game.

girl faces

My dad gave me his iphone in February, and the kids love using it. I love being able to use it for some easy educational entertainment when i just need a few more minutes at a store or restaurant or whatever, but i almost have to keep it hidden while we're at home and i don't want them to keep asking me if they can play on it. My favorite thing about this phone is that i can very easily share pictures with Joshua or other family who don't get to be with these kids as much as i do. This phone needs charging a lot more than my old phone that i only charged once a week, and every time i plug it into my computer, it loads the pictures onto my computer, and i end up with a whole collection of pictures of the kids' toys, the dogs, videos evalana's made of lazarus or or dolls, and faces like this. This little girl makes me smile.

     

no bake cookie eater

cavity 4

smiling after her appointment

Evalana got her filling with Dr. Nickie this morning, and it went great! Evalana did well when she had cavities when she was two. But, since then, she's had a horrible time with her dental cleanings. I love our family dentist, and i was really really dreading taking evalana for her cleaning with the pediatric dentist, so we decided to switch our whole family to Dr. Nickie after she assured me she doesn't use unnecessary drugs to fill cavities. When evalana had cavities a few years ago, i called around and it seemed that many dentists use general anesthesia or Valium to fill cavities on kids, and joshua and i weren't okay with those options. So a few weeks ago we had a "happy visit" where Dr. Nickie and Miss Sasha showed Evalana and Lazarus all the neat dentist stuff. Evalana clung to me, wouldn't sit in the chair or open her mouth or anything, but she also didn't cry or get upset, and she knew that at the happy visit, she didn't have to have anything done if she didn't want to. Lazarus actually fell asleep (I think he got nervous seeing evalana nervous). I really appreciated that they took the time to show evalana everything and talk with her, and she didn't even charge us for the visit. Then last week we went for her cleaning. She knew she had to get her teeth cleaned this time. I had tried playing dentist before, but it didn't go over well. This time my friend Peggy suggested I let her have a prize after we play pretend dentist, just like she'll get after the real dentist. And her idea worked, so evalana was much more into playing pretend dentist once she knew she'd get a water sticker at the end, and we had fun with it. Grandma Mo was able to keep Lazarus for Evalana's cleaning. Evalana didn't even get upset the morning of her appointment. She was nervous, but she did great getting her teeth cleaned.

some of the supplies they sent home
for us to practice dentist with

They again took lots of time to talk with her and show her everything before they got started. And i sat with her in the chair for the whole cleaning. Evalana was worried about leaning against the baby, but we got it worked out. At the end of that appointment, they showed her all the things they'd be using for this morning's filling, and they sent home a baggie of all sorts of supplies to practice with. We did practice, but there were so many things in there that i couldn't remember much about what did what. Evalana thought it was pretty funny. And, putting on the gloves and mask, i have a new appreciation for dentists. i thought i was going to suffocate breathing behind that mask and having those sweaty gloves on. This morning Joshua was working from home, so he was able to keep Lazarus, and I took Evalana to her appointment. They were running a little behind, but the receptionist is so friendly, and, when it was Evalana's turn, they still took all the time in the world with her. Dr. Nickie showed evalana every tool that they might even possibly need so that if they did end up needing to use Novocaine or whatever, she wouldn't be surprised by it. And evalana was so comfortable with everything, they were able to work very quickly when they were actually in her mouth. They demonstrated each tool on her hand so she could see and and feel it and hear it. When they showed her Mr. Speedy and Mr. Bumpy, Evalana said "That sounds like a drill." They gave her choices about all sorts of little things. And they let her push some of the buttons, like to adjust her chair. They also gave her breaks every eight seconds or so. I sat right beside Evalana, and for me, it was interesting to watch the whole thing. The cavity turned out to be fairly shallow, which was wonderful. I wasn't watching the time, but they probably did the drilling and filling in about ten minutes.

Evalana loves the guacamole.
Lazarus likes to dance to the music.

Evalana did great, and she talked me into taking her to Chipotle as a reward. Dr. Nickie also let Evalana pick two prizes out of the prize box, and she chose one of those to take to Lazarus. Evalana was disappointed to hear that she didn't need to go back again until the end of summer now. I'm so thankful she's had such great experiences with the dentist this month.

core a

On Wednesday Evalana finished her Core A (kindergarten) curriculum, which included reading through that whole Bible (one of her favorite parts of school time).
 

We learned some great stuff during our school time this past year. Core A is Sonlight's kindergarten curriculum. I guess Evalana would be the age to start kindergarten either this August or next, but, since we're homeschooling, we just get to do what's at her interest and level. She was really wanting to learn to read and write, so we started Sonlight's Core A this past June. Evalana really loved reading her Bible. We got to do a quick overview of all history and geography. Evalana liked the history, especially Ancient Egypt and around 1900 America. And we both liked the stories of Christians sharing Jesus. We read some great books together. A few of her favorites this year were the Little House on the Prairie books, Boxcar Children, and stories about animals. For her language arts we worked on learning the letters' sounds and writing each letter, along with some creative writing. And she got to read 27 books all on her own.
Here she is in her first read through of book #23 about a month ago. She usually won't let me record her reading, so i don't have any more recent ones, even though i can tell her reading's even improved quite a bit in the last month. Reading was challenging for her just because she wanted to be able to read like she does now when she first started out. She would read the same book for a full week, so by the end of each week, she had it down, but, to start with, she worked so hard on sounding out the words that she didn't get to catch much of the story.

For her handwriting, we just practiced on how to write the letters. I don't expect a four-year-old to have great handwriting, but i'd rather she learn how to write them correctly, and we'll work on making them look nice as she keeps practicing. And she loved her Explode the Code workbooks.
For science we learned about biology, Earth science, and physics. Evalana really liked her encyclopedia that includes internet links for some additional online learning for each topic. She loves that part. Daddy was in charge of science experiments with her, and they still have quite a few more to go, but they have fun with those, too.
Evalana flew through her Primer math book and finished it in November since she enjoyed doing it so much, so she's already started on her Alpha Math-U-See book. Most recently she's learned how to add 8s and 9s. Here's a video of her working on math a month ago--not the greatest video, but it's the most recent I have of her math time.

Evalana uses Rosetta Stone to do her Spanish, and she enjoys that, too. I know I have a video of her doing Spanish for a couple months ago, but i'm not sure where it is right now. She likes to let Lazarus help her with Spanish, too. We also continue to use Signing Time videos, but we don't really make sign language part of our school time.
Both kids love our music time, too. We use Piano Wizard for learning piano. And we also read about composers and instruments and listen to classical music, which they have a lot of fun with.
For our art appreciation, we're using the Come Look With Me books, which i think work well. Evalana likes them. And Joshua does art with the kids. They have a lot of lessons left to go, but they have a great time with it. Here's evalana learning a new piano song about a month ago.

I think that's all the school stuff we did for the past 36 weeks of lessons. We really had a lot of fun. Today we got all our next 36 weeks worth of stuff all set up, and we're ready and excited to get started.
Our 3/9 celebration at Fritz's


And then we stopped by Aunt Michelle's to say hi to her and wish her happy birthday, and she always sends stuffed animals home with the kids.

good dentist visit!

Thank you so much for the prayers for evalana. She had a great visit at the dentist this morning. Dr. Nickie Perry took time to explain everything to evalana and did a great job of letting evalana be as comfortable as possible. I'm so thankful Sarah Beth recommended her to us. Evalana did everything the dentist asked her to (so we're going to Peachwave this afternoon), and evalana didn't cry at all until the end, when she had to sit in the chair by herself to get x-rays of her front teeth. Dr. Nickie said that evalana does a great job of brushing. Her front bottom tooth is starting to get loose, and her six-year molars are ready to start coming in soon. She has a cavity on her bottom right front molar that will be filled next Wednesday. And she probably has cavities on two other molars (one on the left and one on the top), but Dr. Nickie said she wanted to gain evalana's trust before she pushed doing anything else. Then they took time to explain everything that they'll do with the filling, and they sent home a bag of all their stuff they'll use next week, so we can play more pretend dentist. Evalana's appointment for her cavity is 10:30 Wednesday, so we'd love prayers for that. Thank you!
Had to add these cute Peachwave pictures :-)

   

sickies

I'm hoping we're near the end of all of our winter sickness. Thankfully we haven't had anything worse than ear infections, sinus infections, vomiting, and diarrhea, but i'd love to be all done with that too. This is our first winter in four years without breastmilk, and i'm going to blame that and my being pregnant for our extra sickness. And thank Jesus (and also vitamins and clean hands) for our lack of any flu or anything serious. In the middle of January, i got a cold and then the kids got my cold. Lazarus's turned into a sinus infection, so he had a sad few days but then got over that. Evalana's seemed to get better but then turned into an ear infection. She was in enough pain that she was having a lot of trouble sleeping, and she even threw up during the night once. I tried all our regular tricks, but the infection was still there after four days, and she was pretty uncomfortable, even with all the tylanol and advil i could give her, so we went to the doctor and got antibiotics. those made her tummy hurt for a couple of days, and it took about five more days before she stopped complaining about her ear, so i don't really know if the antibiotics or time did the trick, but i'm glad she's better. the kids had diarrhea at the beginning of february. then i got another cold, which somehow everyone else avoided, but mine turned into a sinus infection that made my jaw so painful that i couldn't even open my mouth wide enough to eat a banana, and i couldn't chew anything without a lot of pain, so i resorted to smoothies for a little bit. Once i realized that my jaw pain was a sinus infection, i started trying some natural ways to clear that up, and i did get enough relief that i was able to open my mouth again. it's now been a couple of weeks, and i just have a little pain left in my teeth. hopefully that will all go away soon. At the end of last week, evalana started having diarrhea, and i was blaming the antibiotics still, until she threw up during the night. This time i didn't get lazarus out of the way fast enough, and he got covered in vomit, although only on his jammies. I was pretty much able to change the bed and change him without him waking up, until i put his new jammies on, but then he went right back to sleep. Then the next evening Lazarus started throwing up, and he probably threw up 30 times Saturday night. Sunday during the day he only threw up several times, so i was so thankful for that. and, when both kids were throwing up, it also made me thankful that this baby is still in the belly. i'm thinking next time we deal with this, it's going to be a little more difficult having more kids than parents. So, as of tonight, Lazarus still has a fever, but Joshua and I have, so far, avoided this virus. After almost two months of no healthy days, i'm ready for us to be hopefully icky germ free and able to hang out with some friends soon!

 

My cute non-napping 4yo taking naps while she had her ear infection.

3/6 update: Joshua and I were able to stay healthy this time! Lazarus is still throwing up.
3/7 afternoon: Lazarus slept all night last night and seems to be feeling great today! he's eaten a ton and hasn't thrown up at all today! 3/7 evening: No one threw up today! Everyone's feeling good!!!!

just playing

The kids love playing trains and dolls and building together.

They've also started making up some great Thomas stories. here's one of their first attempts.

brother

Lazarus likes to kiss my belly and talk about holding the baby after the baby's born. The baby has two great siblings.

school B

I don't know what "grade" evalana is, but i love that we just get to do school at her level and speed. She's going to finish her Core A curriculum in another week, so i wanted to get started on her next stuff before we take a bit of a break with the new baby this summer. I got everthing ordered, and, once it all arrived, evalana asked if she could open it the weekend that Gigi was here. Gigi had hoped to come on the 22nd, but she wasn't feeling great, so that didn't work out. So on Sunday the 24th we decided to open our new school stuff. Here's the list of stuff we picked out for evalana http://pinterest.com/rachelkarleen/first-grade/. And Lazarus is working on his two-year-old school with Hubbard's Cupboard.


Lazarus playing with the new science supplies