snake bites and an interview

Cailey LOVES asking questions and talking about snakes! Especially about getting bit by a snake. Last Thursday I was getting questions like, "What does it feel like when you get bit by a snake? How long does it hurt? Do you have to get a shot too? How long does it stay in?" The list goes ON and ON! Now's the time I should probably say that those of you who don't know me well should understand how much I FEAR snakes!!! I mean...this is my BIGGEST phobia and it happens to be Cailey's obsession. It was a great opportunity for her to learn so we headed to the computer to look up things on snake bites. There wasn't really that much except for pictures of venomous snake bites..NOT PRETTY! Then I thought I'd head to YouTube and let her see some video of people getting bit by snakes. I know it sounds terrible, but she's fascinated and wanted to watch (while I turned the computer AWAY from my eyes) so I let her. UGH! Well...again...most of her questions weren't answered, but after all that snake talk and glimpses of the video I told her that if she had anymore questions to ask her daddy. I wouldn't talk to her about it ANYMORE! I did tell her that we could study some snakes in Science the following week though.

Fast forward to that evening when I went to a dinner with ladies from my Sunday School class. My friend, Sonja, came in with a bandage on her hand and a hospital bracelet on her wrist. She was BIT by a SNAKE that very day! I could not believe this...my biggest fear! I felt TERRIBLE for her and the pain she had to go through! After hearing her story I asked her if she would be willing to talk to Cailey about the experience. She was SO gracious to come over the next day and let Cailey 'interview' her! I had Cailey write down all of her 'interview' questions that morning so she would be all ready when Sonja came. Oh Boy...she asked her SO many questions! Poor Sonja probably felt like she was re-living the whole thing! Cailey hasn't asked me anymore questions about it though..and is looking forward to learning more about them next week! Thanks so much, Sonja!

'interviewing'

checking out the bite...see Cailey's hand on her head? she ONLY
does that when she's really tired or nervous. I'm guessing
she was nervous about the snake stuff because she did that the
WHOLE time Sonja was talking about it

Archaeological Dig

We studied historians and archaeologists this week in History. Today Brian set up an archaeological dig for the kids! He squared off a section of the yard and buried some 'artifacts' for the kids to find. We used our new words (artifacts, excavate, awls, etc.) and the kids got to work. They used a small rake, shovels, a sieve, and toothbrushes so they didn't 'disturb or break' any of the artifacts. They put the objects in bags, we labeled them, and then made a list of all of the finds. Afterwards we came up with ideas for what someone might have used each item for a long time ago. Ahhh...the love of homeschooling:)! OH...and we LOVE our History Curriculum (History of the World) that has all these wonderful ideas for fun projects.

the artifacts

kinsey had fun playing in the yard too:)

my little monet's

The kids painted some artwork for our guest/playroom and had a blast! I bought watercolor safe canvas because there is a pale color on the wall (plus the kids LOVE water colors) and they turned out really nice! They are so excited everytime they go in and see their art on the walls:)!

week 1

I can honestly say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE homeschooling! I know it's only been a week...but so far it's going great. With each day came more confidence, ease, and know how. Monday I felt like I was in a hurry and trying to live exactly to the schedule. Things seemed to be taking longer than they "should" (or so I thought). Tuesday I didn't look at the clock at all and ended much earlier..and it got better and better each day. I do follow the ORDER of the schedule, just not the times. Some things take longer and some are shorter, it just depends on the day. I feel like they learned SO much and it's only been a week!

I still don't have my math curriculum (because I changed it at the LAST minute) but I've been coming up with games and math activities. Cailey is really working hard on the nickel and dime...for some reason they are very confusing to her...both identifying them and their worth. We've played adding games with them, war, sorted, a dice game, and a few others. My favorite quote of the week came this morning. I said, "Cailey, you sure do seem to love math!" Her response was, "what is math?" I said, "every morning we do math first!" She said, "oh...I thought we were playing games and spending time together:)!!" I'm trying to make it 'fun' for them:). Braden's been making things with pattern blocks, learning the penny, playing war (learning about value), and my favorite was today. I have two foam dice with numbers 1-6. We rolled BOTH dice and had to add the numbers by making peg towers. To him we were 'trying to not let the tower fall down'! He didn't even know he was learning to add:).

In Science they learned ALL about Cheetah's! They can tell you a ton about them and loved studying them.

History was tricky for me on day one. We talked about Historians....with a 4 and 6 year old. They didn't really get it, but I went through it a BUNCH and by the end they understood. We also talked about families and timelines. They started learning about archaeologists and we got some fun books from the library on it. They LOVE the History library books! Today we made timelines of their lives that we'll continue each year until they are 10. They LOVED this project too! They had to figure out what year they were born and count up to ten years later. Then I gave them pictures of themselves at each age and they had to figure out where to put them. That was a hoot! Both of them mixed up a couple, but loved it. Then they helped come up with things that happened for each year. This stuff is right up my alley! I actually feel like a TEACHER again!

Kinsey has had some great learning time with me as well. She has built in time with me BY HERSELF two times during the day. The first time we read books..LOTS of books. I also go back and read the same ones later in the day and then Brian reads them to her at night. She is REALLY learning songs, rhymes, and books! She saw Five Little Monkey's Jumping On The Bed at the doctor's office on Wednesday and IMMEDIATELY started recited it! The second time with her is spent learning a preschool skill..colors, numbers, counting, turn taking, letters, etc.

Homeschooling has truly been a blessing to us and we are off to a great start!

birthday suit

Out of all our kids Kinsey has always been the one who LOVES to be naked! She'll be dressed and come down for dinner and be naked! We think it's pretty funny and usually don't say anything (except for laughing)! She's also known to come down in nothing but jewelry:). We went swimming with friends a couple of weeks ago and were leaving to go home and change. Next thing I knew...Kinsey was BUCKLED in her carseat NAKED!! My dear, sweet, blue bottomed girl...you are going to kill me for posting this when you are a teenager!

i know Korean!

Cailey came home from Tae Kwon DO and said, "mommy, I know how to speak Korean!" me-"really, what can you say?" C-"chimbee (which means attention), "gip" (bow), "high block," and "low block." How funny is that?? SO cute but really...why would she think high and low block aren't Korean if she only ever heard them in Tae Kwon Do mixed in with the other words?

first game

Cailey had to miss her soccer practice on Friday night because she was sick...but was much better and able to make it to her first game at 8:00 Saturday morning! Unfortunately they taught the kids how to play on Friday night so Cailey didn't really know what she was supposed to be doing, but Coach Rick was AWESOME and helped her along. The kids switch out a bunch and each get a turn to play different positions. Cailey hasn't been goalie yet...and didn't really like the 'defending' position. (Sorry to all you soccer players who know the real positions-we have NO clue, so I'm gonna have to describe them). Basically it involved her standing around a lot and not going after the ball. SO funny because the coach pointed to the line and said, "don't go past it...stay RIGHT where you are." My sweet Cailey Bedelia had the ball RIGHT IN FRONT of her but didn't go after it because she was told to stay where she was:)! Coach Rick saw it and quickly told her it was okay to kick the ball once it was close to her. Her favorite times were when she was running and kicking the ball...again...sorry about the lack of lingo. It was apparent that she didn't know what to do, but she was still a GREAT sport! When the game was over we told her she did a great job and asked her if she liked it. Her response went something like this: "I liked it, but I didn't really know what I was supposed to do:)!" We reassured her that she would learn on Friday night at practice.

going after the ball...and digging in the dirt:)
(i dug in the dirt pretty much every game when i
played softball..so I just had to get a pic of her doing
it! She was only digging for a few seconds and then went
right back to playing!)

time to start

It's official! Seoul of Hamilton Academy (the name of our homeschool) starts tomorrow. I've spent most of today gathering materials, making copies, and organizing. We are pretty much sticking to the curriculum I posted previously except for one change. Instead of Saxon Math we are using Right Start Math. Oh..and Braden is doing Math, Reading, and Handwriting. (I'm sure he'll sit in on History as well). Thanks to Anne and Brian for helping make my type A life easier with the color coded schedule!

The kids have a super busy social life this fall!

Monday: Cailey has gymnastics 4:45-5:40

Tuesday: Both have Tae Kwon Do 6:00-7:00

Wednesday: Both have Awana 6:30-800

Thursday: Cailey has art and gym classes 2:30-4:30

Friday: All have Legacy co op 9:00-12:00 (Braden and Kinsey will be in the preschool and Cailey will take a critical thinking class (games, etc.) and a Science class on weather)

Cailey has girl scouts 1:00-3:00

Cailey has soccer practice 5:30

Saturday: Cailey has soccer games

Sunday: Both have Tae Kwon Do 4:00-5:00

Both have Kidz Praise (music) 6:00-7:15

party on!

Cailey felt MUCH better after a nap yesterday around noon and for the rest of the day. This morning she was still feeling great..so the party was ON! She asked all day, "how many more hours until they get here?" and could hardly wait:). Cailey decided that SHE wanted to decorate her cake this year with a Snow White figurine and candy...to make it fancy. After SEARCHING and SEARCHING she couldn't find Snow White and decided it would be fine to just get LOTS of candy and make it fancy. (I was THRILLED to let HER decorate the cake...much less stress!:) The girls came in the early evening and made their own pizzas, decorated cups, got their nails painted, decorated candy bags, played a FUN candy pot game, ate cake & opened gifts, went on a CUTE scavenger hunt, watched Snow White, ate snacks, read Snow White, and went to bed. I am not sure what time they are going to fall asleep, but as of now they are still up (10:40) whispering in bed. Cailey was bummed about Suzy not being able to come...but thrilled that Rebecca and Lindsey could come! (AND now she gets another sleepover with Suzy sometime soon.) It was so fun to have the girls over and truly a blessing to host them! I must say though...we had SO much fun; it'll be HARD to top this one!

blank cake...pretty cake...SOUR candy

although mom doesn't remember it, i used to play this at my
parties when i was a kid. the kids were SO encouraging to each other
and just as excited when someone else found the candy...they were screaming,
cheering, spinning, and jumping up and down!

auntie anne went to the store to get the candles...
we decided to trick Cailey and put one trick candle!
the girls were SO confused but thought it was funny:)

ring around the rosy while waiting

the hunt...auntie anne came up with the AWESOME
clues..and the girls had a BLAST!!

at the end of the scavenger
hunt they each found night gowns!
(and yes...there is one for Suzy too:)

movie, snacks, and bedtime