SHE IS TOO CUTE!

I finally got the converter that I needed to take the pics off the mini card from my phone so here is the wonderfully talented SC as she learns to balance a spoon on her nose from our day out last week!

Little Girly Time

We had a visit with SC today. I went and picked her up this morning, brought her back to the house and we had a grand old time doing nails....

Eating Lollipops

and playing Mario Cart!

Then we went out for a lunch at their favorite restaurant were we taught SC how to balance a spoon on her nose...now if I could get the pictures off my phone and into my computer you could see how impressive it is for a not yet 3 year old to balance a spoon on her nose! I promise to post them as soon as I manage to figure it out!

Visiting with the Littles

The dust is starting to settle...

...and things are starting to feel like they are getting a bit back to normal around here...or as close to normal as it ever is around here!

We are starting out on a new leg of our adventure and some things have changed a bit ~ mostly for the better.

The biggest change is that I am no longer watching the Littles on a regular basis. They are doing wonderfully on their new adventure and I can feel more like an aunt again! KM misses them, but is really enjoying some of the perks of this change.

One of those perks being a much needed change in sleep schedules - KM had been getting a bit spacey and with all the changes going on with her physically at this age, I thought I would check in with her doctor to see what he thought. His first suggestion was to make sure that she was eating, drinking and sleeping enough! Most kids don't get the benefit of being homeschooled and not HAVING to get up at the crack of dawn, so his first suggestion was to go a few weeks letting her wake up on her own schedule. This at first FRIGHTENED me IMMENSELY - I thought for sure she would sleep til 2 in the afternoon and want to stay up til 3 in the morning, but of course her Dr quickly added, that this should not change her bedtime! She should still try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour and then her body should naturally begin to set its own rhythms. Of course I also began researching on my own as well and found a number of articles that went into great detail to explain the differences in the circadian rhythms of teenagers. - Here is one - and another - and one more!

This really made me think - "Okay yet another INCREDIBLE benefit of homeschooling!" When KM first began homeschooling we had to teach her how to acknowledge the needs of her body that she had suppressed for so long at PS. Simple things like drinking when she is thirsty, eating when she is hungry, etc. rather than waiting for the teacher to say it is time to do those things and you better do them or you may not get a chance to do them again for HOURS!

For the first week there were a LOT of late mornings, but she did seem much more awake and refreshed in the afternoons and evenings, with far fewer "duh" moments - by this I mean, "what did I walk into the kitchen for? oh yeah I need to eat!" sort of thing - I also started to see the natural switch and she is now sleeping wonderfully and awaking refreshed and ready to start at a reasonable time. With this extra time in the morning, I can get more of MY things done like chores and exercise and such, before she even gets up! It also gives her more time in the evening to hang out with CJ and I without feeling so exhausted.

Another benefit is that since we don't have the Littles ~ and all that must be brought along with tiny children ~ to haul around with us, it is so much easier to just up and go whenever the mood hits us! We can go for a snow hike today because it is sooooo pretty out and the weather is just right! We can just pop out to a matinee movie because we put the lessons off until tomorrow. We can scrap the history book for the afternoon and get the grocery shopping done so that we can have friends over in the evening. It is just so freeing! It has felt like we were missing this true freedom aspect of home learning because we were always trying to get the hard core "WORK" done on the days that we didn't have the girls so that when we had them we could play, do art and have fun little kid time. However now we get to have fun "tween" time!

Please don't get me wrong I LOVE my nieces with all my heart and would do anything for them, but it was just time for our paths to split for a while! I will however let everyone know how they are enjoying their new journey.

AS ALWAYS we are also tweaking our curriculum a bit, but we haven't worked the kinks out quite yet so I will have to let you know about that in another post! Anyway, thanks so much for hanging in there while it was quiet and all the great emails of encouragement and concern! My readers are so WONDERFUL!

Children's Museum -

I had some extra help this week, with CJ home, so I thought we would venture into the city with the Littles! We hadn't gone to the Children's Museum in over a year, so I thought that would be the perfect place to go. Looking back at those pics really hit me how much they have changed in the past year! Here are some fun shots from this trip -


KM was off with CJ most of the time, which great for her to not have to be tied to SC. GC was very content just looking at everything and playing with her dog/blankie in the stroller.
The next time we go it will be interesting to see what she will be getting into!

New Traditions!

Over the last few years, as our family lifestyle has changed and shifted, we have moved our holiday focus from Christmas to Yule. We have always celebrated Yule, but now it is more about OUR family and celebrating what is important to the three of us. Then we spend Christmas with our extended family. We had the Littles so SC and I made pancakes, bacon and sausage for breakfast and let KM & CJ stay snuggled in bed a bit later than usual. Then SC and KM opened up some presents for the classroom...

then played with the Moon Sand before heading out to the SNOW!!!

I have to clarify that SC is walking on about 18 inches, it was just so cold that she didn't sink... here is a picture of what CJ spent most of the day doing....
After the Littles went home KM and I made a cake to call back the sun:
and finished off a braid loaf - three strands coming together to make one - just like us!
Then we finished up with presents!!!
CJ's favorite gift was his Stewie shirt from KM....
KM's was her MP4 with touch screen...
and mine was my new phone for the classroom!
We had a fantastic day! It was so nice to all be together and have fun! Hope you are all enjoying your holidays as well!

Update on the Littles

Our lesson schedule has changed around a bit lately so I realized - after quite a few emails - that I hadn't mentioned much about the Littles lately.

SC is doing very well - she is working on her alphabet, can count to 10 and is working her way through the teens at the moment and LOVES to color. She has started to color more of the actual picture - of course she still scribbles, but if you ask her color the pumpkin orange, she can - which is helping with her color recognition as well.

GC is really getting a hang of sitting, rolling and scooting. She has also started eating a bit here and there.

Our biggest challenge recently has been that GC is grabbing EVERYTHING which is causing SC to have to really learn to share more than ever! She loves her sister though and seems to be okay as long as she doesn't take her BINKY!!!

Blocks

KM left out her Jenga blocks the other night and SC was very excited to find them on the floor the next morning...

She played with them for nearly an HOUR!!! She built them up to 19 and then counted them when they fell! She made a track for Thomas, a pen for the crazy kitty and a sculpture of what she said was Turkey! I love when they can get creative with such simple things!

A wonderful autumn day...

was had by all here at GCK Homeschool!

We started out this morning making some super easy baby food!

We took four apples and a nearly bad banana, cooked them up with a little bit of lemon juice and put them in the bullet...SC was soooo excited to help!...

We got 26 oz. of baby food for less than the cost of one 5 oz. package! When we put them on the window sill so they could cool we realized how beautiful out it was!
So we popped GC in the stroller with her new favorite toy and I decided to rake a bit

then the girls decided they would benefit from my hard work, but really it was worth it to see their faces!


For lunch they decided to dine al fresco...

After lunch the littles went down for naps and KM got a bit of work done. She has started using Brain Pop and is truly loving it, but more about some of our schedule changes in a later post.....
When the littles awoke all the girls decided that we needed to head back outside again!

All and all it was a fantastic fall day. These are the days that we would be missing if KM wasn't home with us! I am starting to come to the realization that we do truly need to enjoy, cherish and be completely grateful for all the time that we have together as a family! Things are changing up again around here, but as I said before, that is for another post!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Well in case you couldn't tell Halloween is THE holiday around here...second only to Yule!

The Littles were here today - so we had some fun reading books and watching the It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

GC was in a very festive outfit and happy to act as our great pumpkin all day!

The purple hairspray did not go over the night before as well as we thought it would so KM and I got a little inventive for her fairy hair!

After more tweaking to the costume, KM headed out with a friend to go trick or treating this evening


----- and then back for a movie marathon!