School days

So week 4 of the school year is officially under way. After a 3 day weekend and a full day of co op, I was terrified that today would be a disaster. Not so - actually, not even close! It was rainy and gray outside, a perfect day to hide under the covers. Well, we did just that. Every book we are in the middle of right now, we took to my bed. Four children, five pillows, six books and one very cramped mama snuggled in and enjoyed some excellent literature. We stayed that way for over an hour. Awesome! We couldn't stay there all day, but it was nice while it lasted. :D

I'm pleased with how the year is going. I will admit, I was pretty anxious about this school year, more so than in the past. I didn't know how I would possibly balance all 3 kids' workloads AND keep a very busy toddler occupied. I didn't see how I could even hope to keep up with housework - not that I've ever been good at that, but still! Amazingly enough, we're doing well. Sure, the floor needs mopped. Yes, there are still a few grumbles and even a few tears every once in a while. But for the most part, we are balancing it all pretty well.

Canon is the one who is shocking me daily. I honestly didn't intend to do a full kindergarten curriculum with him this year. I figured he'd protest having to sit and do deskwork, and I didn't expect him to really be interested in learning to read yet. Boy, am I glad to say he has proved me wrong! He's a machine! Every new thing I introduce him to, he loves. He is excited to learn, and he wants more! He always asks to do another page, even when I told him only one was necessary. The only thing he balks at is coloring - go figure! :D

Chloe and Connor are doing great, too. Connor had a little setback with one of his language arts workbooks (which I didn't realize was listed as a 4th grade workbook - oops!), but we're working through that. One thing I was hoping for this year was for him to set aside a quiet time for bible reading on his own. Let's just say we are still working on it! He's really enjoying math this year, multiplication is going well. He has mastered the 0's, 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. Pretty good for 3 weeks, I thought. And of course he is dying to have some science projects - I promised I wouldn't put those off like I did last year. ;P

Chloe is just a great student. As long as I can keep her focused, she is wonderful. She would much rather take her notebook and go write songs and poems all day, but she does get down to work when I insist on it. I'm trying hard to encourage the writing she loves to do, but it's so very hard for me not to critique! Her phonetic spelling is just glaring at me when I read her songs, and I'm biting my tongue for all I'm worth so I don't start making corrections immediately. She loves to write, and made me feel bad this summer when she made me promise not to "grade" her poem before she would let me read it! :D

All in all, off to a good start. Keep us in your prayers, and I'll keep you posted! Blessings!