Swimming in the Sea of Homeschool

Just wanted to poke my head above water for a bit and give a brief update on what my life has been like lately!  First of all, we found out that we are expecting baby #3 on March 30th, 2011, by scheduled C-Section.  I am 14 weeks pregnant as of yesterday, and the pregnancy is progressing nicely, if my growing waistline and penchant for pizza (poor Mike, he is SO tired of pizza!) are any indication.  We should find out what we are having around Thanksgiving.  It's so hard to wait!   (I think it is a boy, that is my official guess.)

We are in full swing with our little homeschool now.  Some days are a challenge, but we work past it and I can see that the boys are learning SO much every day!  Griffin generally spends about 1-2 hours working on his schoolwork, not counting the time I spend with him going over his assignments for the day.  His 1st grade subjects are Math (his favorite subject by far), Phonics and Reading, Bible, Science (he just can't wait to mix chemicals together and blow stuff up), History and Geography, Spelling and Vocabulary, and Penmanship.

I am working through the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Sammy, and he is doing well and really enjoys the lessons.  Granted, we are only on Lesson 3 (we just started the book this week).  Time will tell!  He loves to use his scissors and glue and construction paper, so right now, preschool is just one big art project!  We have a curriculum for preschool, and he really enjoys matching, coloring, finding shapes, etc. but he doesn't do seatwork every day.  He's still a little wiggle-worm! 

I don't believe that preschool is a prerequisite for Kindergarten, and I also don't believe that Kindergarten is a prerequisite for 1st grade.  Controversial, I know, but my main focus in "Kindergarten" is teaching them how to read well and do basic math.  Everything else is optional, in my opinion.  They learn so much by just living at that age that trying to force a curriculum on them can be a burdensome chore.  Some kids love curriculums!  Kids who like to sit for longer periods of time than a few minutes.  Mine don't.  So we adapt to their needs (for now... yes, they will have to sit for longer periods of time as they get older!) and work with what God has given us.

This has been a short update, because I do have a lot going on right now; I just don't have time to talk about all of it!  I haven't been scrapbooking or card-making much recently (although I do have a big "secret" project that I'm working on!), and I miss it, but I'll be attending the Creating Keepsakes Convention this weekend, and I'm hoping to be refreshed and have my scrapping appetite renewed!

Speaking of appetites... I wonder if we have any pizza in the fridge....?!