Classic Academy

School Pictures 2009

2009-08-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

We were at the park yesterday so I thought I would takes some school pictures (sort of)

Belle---age 12, 7th gradePhia--age 10, 5th grade

Bobo--age 8, 3rd grade

My Summer Wood Land Home

2009-04-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

I was barefoot as I stepped on the Summer ground,
with the soft moss underneath my toes.
As I looked up I saw the tall dark Oak trees,
with their limbs swaying as the wind blows.

The wind and the shade cooled me,
from the stalling warm summer air.
Then something startled me.
A rustle in the bushes,
for a minute I thought it was a bear.

I was assured when a rabbit came hopping out.
It's big round eyes looked all about.
When it saw me it turned and hopped away.

I suppose it was looking for someone
smaller to play.

One can hear the sounds and smell the scents,
of my Summer wood land home.
Just by reading word by word,
of this extra-ordinary poem.

Who says our kids don't know us?

2009-03-30T09:07:00.001-07:00

Tonight on the way home from my inlaws I asked hubby to drop me off at Starbucks. Earlier in the evening my friend called me and asked if I could meet her for coffee. Hubby asked me why...such an odd request. I said my friend threw a fit, stormed out the door and needed to talk.

My oldest says..."What? Grown ups don't throw fits."

My youngest pipes up, "Yeah they do, Mommy has thrown thousands of fits!"

Happy Birthday Phi

2009-03-30T09:06:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe it's been 10 years since this little one was placed in my arms. (in the front middle with pink hat) She was so tiny and so perfect. She had tons of black straight hair that would stick straight up when I washed it. I called her my little duckling. I remember her puking all over me after every feeding for the first month. I did so much laundry. She has always been the smallest of our girls, a little feather weight. Hubby would perch her in his hands and lift her up. She is finally getting too big for that now.

She is one smart cookie. I remember pulling out the puzzles when she was about 2 and she would just put them together in no time. It was amazing. At four she was adding numbers in her head. She would evaluate her world through math problems and not even know it. "Mom, if there are eight in the box and I have two and my sisters each have two then there are two left in the box." This from her car seat. Phi definitely sees the world differently and I admit it has taken me a while to understand her. Her daddy is so much better at it. But I love and appreciate her quirkyness and look forward to seeing what God does with her life.

Happy Birthday Phi!
Love, Mom

Motivation

2009-03-30T09:04:00.001-07:00

As Belle has written her second entry to her blog I realized the valuable motivation it will provide to learn to spell and write correctly. I should have done this a long time ago. She is just thrilled to have a blog and when her Aunty left the sweetest comment her face lit up. She is growing up and getting so capable and independent. She is becoming so diligent in her school work and desires to learn. She can be so helpful when she wants. Like today, I got a call from an agent. I had 15 minutes to make my bed, get dressed, pick up and straighten up the kitchen. All I had to do was yell, in the nicest way, "an agent is on her way," and Belle sprung into action making sure all beds were made and dishes were neatly rinsed and stacked. It boggles my mind that I have a daughter so gifted and talented that is nearly 12. She is amazing to me and I am so glad she's mine.
Susan

Blogging and Belle

2009-03-30T09:03:00.001-07:00

I have finally let my oldest Belle start a blog. She is so excited. She wrote her first post here at Renee's Writings

She said her favorite subject is spelling. Made me smile because it is the one subject she struggles in. Her spelling is atrocious. But we are working on it. I bought her an Evan Moor spelling book until I figure out what we will officially do for spelling and guess what? She loves it. What a hoot. She loves to write and is motivated to learn to spell. She said she finally figured out how to study a word to learn it. In the past she has made a notebook and she would write down all the words she wanted to learn to spell; her own dictionary of sorts. These are the words she uses most in her creative writing, which I have hardly read. She won't let me read it until she is finished. She has only let me read short snippets of it. You can see I have definitely taken the relaxed approach to spelling with her. But it is time to be more directed.

My poor daughter

2009-03-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

Belle is enthusiastic. When she grabs a hold of something she doesn't let go for a long time. She works it and works it until she is satisfied that she has done well. Boy, reminds me of someone else I know.

I haven't worried too much about formal writing instruction as of yet (6th) grade. The girl has been working on a story for several months. She started hand writing it in a spiral notebook. It has several chapters, has lots of dialogue in it and is about fairies. That is all I know about it. She won't let me read it. Poor girl, thinks I am going to correct her work or cringe at the mistakes she's made. She's probably not far off the mark, but I promised myself to keep my mouth shut this time.

My hubby got a second computer (a hand me down from my parents) working and now we have this extra at the girls disposal. Because time on my laptop is far and few between. I'm a bit of a computer hog around here.

Belle has decided that she would rather type her story , what she has so far, on the computer and then she can fix and edit as she goes along. Little did she know how poor her spelling skills were. In fact I'm not sure I realized how poor they were. I'd say about every third word is underlined. She's just realizing how bad it is and yet she hangs in there, asking how to spell this and that and we holler from the other room how to spell it. ( The child has been working at this for more than an hour now).

I've made her a small personal dictionary with a list of 1000 most common words and then a page for each letter to list words she uses that are not on the list. That is why I have been doing so much spelling research lately. We've gotta do something about this. Unfortunately the world looks at a poor speller as an uneducated one and I understand that, so we will work hard on it until I am satisfied that she can "look" as brilliant as she is.

Belle is a great reader though and scores high on comprehension tests. She just seemed to get through phonics enough to read and now she flies through books, but I know she skips a lot. In fact when she reads aloud I can tell there are just some words she cannot sound out. Boy, I would have done things a bit differently way back then, had I known what I do now.

By the way, we are going to start using Spelling Plus as soon as she finishes her Evan Moor spelling book.

Susan

The girl who teaches herself

2009-03-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

Sometimes having a Kinesthetic learner can be exhausting. Sometimes I just cannot think of another game to play/make up to reinforce learning.

Sometimes I am given a break when the child thinks up her own learning game. And I am happy to have that break. Especially when I see the brilliance that just came from my child.

First you take egg cartons and turn them upside down. Then you write a letter on each egg section. You will only get to the letter "x" but that is OK. We can do without "y" and "z" for now. Then mom tells you a word and you find the letters and plink on letter/egg like it's a key board.

Then you write that word on your makeshift computer screen. Brilliant, I say!

Susan

She didn't get it from me

2009-03-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks two of my girls have been sick. One with an ear infection and the other a cough/congestion cold. Belle, the oldest had decided that getting sick was not an option. She was going to stay healthy no matter what. She took matters into her own hands. She washed her hands continually. She put antibacterial wash on every five minutes. It sat on the table in front of her during school. The two sick girls got better. The antibiotic was completed.

Then Belle woke up with a stuffy nose. Darn! She was not happy about getting sick.

After a few days of not feeling well, when she felt on the mend and got some energy back she decided that she would not recontaminate herself.

So on Saturday, she stripped the bed and put all her bedding into the laundry. Not only that, she saw it through the entire wash and dry cycle. Then she ironed her pillow shams.

She wiped down her bed and shelves above her bed. She swept and mopped her floor. She remade her bed after everything was clean and aired out.

Amazing huh? I did not tell her to do one of these things she did. Seriously folks, where did this girl come from and who mothered her for 11 years? She certainly did not get this from me.

Susan

Lewis and Clark, Mocasins and more

2009-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

We are starting our study of Lewis and Clark. I love our History Curriculum, My Father's World, but I was a little put out that the study of Lewis and Clark was one days reading. Since we live in the Northwest and my husband grew up in a town where they walked right through, I knew we couldn't leave our study at one day's reading. So I got on line and found a delightful lapbook project at Homeschool Share.

I collected some books from the library and have a few more on hold for me and we will start our reading soon. One delightful book I found is this:
The project we found inside is this:

Now that we are half way done making these, the girls are requesting full American Indian dress up clothes. It won't be long before we have dress ups for every era. I'm sure that making the girls dresses will only add to their experience learning about Lewis and Clark. And we must not forget Sacagawea.
Because you know my two oldest will be doing some fancy bead work on their moccasins.

crafty updates

2009-02-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

Its been far too long since I have updated this blog. I am wondering if it is even reasonable to have it as well as my main blog. Maybe I should combine the two? Except I love this template and blog name and hesitate to trash it.

My girls are busy working on their crafting skills. They rarely need me to help them with their skills. We had acquired quite a few Klutz books for Christmas and they are worth every penny. If you are an uncrafty mom but have children who desire to learn different craft skills these books are a gem.

I am pretty convinced at this point that my Belle is a designer by design. I am sure God gave her some pretty amazing gifts in the area of the arts. An example: I showed her a picture on a website of the cutest little crochet cupcake bag. She looked at it for all of about 30 seconds. By the next day her creation was made. This is what she came up with. She has made several since this first one and given them away.

This doll below is wearing a poodle skirt. Belle made this one too. The girls had an opportunity to sing in church worship this weekend and I helped the leader make poodle skirts for all the girls. When we got home she decided her doll needed one too. I noticed that the bottom edge of the skirt was so finished. It turns out that she took a t-shirt she had and cut the bottom off and made it into a skirt. I am thinking I need to collect a few items from Goodwill so that she can practice redesigning clothes.

The photo of fabric scraps is the beginning of her latest creation. I'm not exactly sure what it is yet, but she said something about a quilted camera strap. She never ceases to amaze me.

Kid Quote

2009-01-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Bobo: I want to be a vegetarian when I grow up!

Dad: What will you do when you are a vegetarian?

Bob0: I will help sick animals.

Apple Picking

2008-09-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about the area we live in is the abundance of farms and u-pick locations. This time around we were blessed to be able to pick apples for free. I have boxes of apples in which to turn into applesauce, apple pies and cobblers. Here are a few pictures of the girls.

Bobo Turns 7

2008-08-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

My little monkey girl getting so big, so tall and so independent. She is such a ham, the clown of the family. She makes us all laugh with her antics and expressions. My she has many expressions and they can change by the second. I love the watch her play, how she can make a little cubby or fort out of pillows, bring in a few toys and play for a long time. She doesn't need her sisters to entertain her. Her toys can do that just fine. She is friendly and confident and hasn't a care in the world. It seems she isn't paying any attention to what's going on around her until she pipes up with a comment that makes it clear that she is. She has a quick wit that often surprises me. Bobo is a busy girl, moving and shaking and touching everything. She learns through touch and movement. Anything that is wet and gooey call for her attention. She is growing fast like her sisters and I pray I can pay attention and enjoy each moment.

Belle turns 11

2008-08-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

Oh why oh why do my little girls have to grow up. Belle is such a character. Her sense of humor gets me all the time. She love nothing better than to push my buttons, tease and see if she can get me all riled up. And when she does I laugh. She got me again. She is such a mix of little girl needing a hug from her mom, to independent spirit, pulling away, doing things on her own. I love the way she plays. She gets a character in her mind and becomes it for a day or two, dressing in character, creating, leading her sisters. She is a drama queen. She is creative and gifted in so many areas. I feel so blessed to see her grow and see how the Lord has gifted her and to be a part of helping her develop those gifts. Belle and her best friend Jo celebrating with their first professional pedicure. Oh my what I have started?

Tree climbing

2008-07-08T21:12:00.001-07:00

There is nothing better than having at your disposal a girl climbing tree right in your backyard. It's not too big so as to scare mommy but big enough to make one feel like they have conquered the natural world.

Max

2008-07-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I will throw in a post or photos of our pets. After all, they are a part of the family too!

Good Dog--
Bad Dog---

More Etch - a - art by Belle (6-08)

2008-07-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the family Moondance

2008-07-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

I rented a movie at the video store called Moondance Alexander. It's a sweet story about a girl and a horse. Love those. The girls watched it last night while hubby and I were out celebrating our anniversary. When we came home and I tucked Belle in she told me that tomorrow (today) she was going to be Moondance. She woke up at 6:30, was dressed in rainboots, shorts and cowgirl shirt. She went outside and swept the large patio. She picked up after Max, picked up and bagged fir cones, watered the lawn in several places. She was out for a couple of hours at least. I love it when she gets in these pretend roles. She often times does it alone and it will last for several hours to a day or two even. I also love that these creative roles tend to be helpful to me. After all, if she isn't pretending to muck out the stalls, she is surely doing chores just like Laura Ingalls.
Susan

Tap/Tumbling Recital---Bobo

2008-06-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

This scrapbook page is from Scrapblogs. It is a fun website, that is user friendly for the non scrapper.
Susan

Etch-a-sketch and creative reading

2008-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have never been able to do something like this with an etch a sketch.

By Belle

This is creative reading by my Bobo who constantly comes up with unique positions in which to do her school.

Phi's first violin recital

2008-06-08T20:01:00.001-07:00

kid art

2008-06-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is Belle's gift to me this year for my birthday. I just love it.

Artwork by Phi

Artwork by Bobo

Birds---A Poem

2008-06-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

See the bird
up very high,

Flying around in
the big blue sky.

The bird is lovely,
the bird is nice.

It stays away
from nasty mice.

Up high in a tree
it makes it's nest,

It is one
of the very best.

by Belle

An early present

2008-05-29T20:17:00.001-07:00

perfume
Originally uploaded by mamaduso

Phi wanted to give me my birthday present a little early, before it goes bad. She made this by herself this week. It's a sweet smelling product. It is creative and thoughtful. What is it? Why it is perfume made from all natural ingredients from our backyard. It has all manner of leaves, herbs, flowers and such. I love the thought, the effort, however I'm just a little hesitant to spray this on me.
Susan

Kid Quotes and Peer Influence

2008-05-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Belle has a sweet little girlfriend who has Turrets. Although it is mild, when you pay attention you will notice odd little sounds and squeaks that she makes. One thing in particular that she is doing right now (sounds and quirks change and evolve periodically) is a loud swallowing sound.

Here is an example of peer influence. I have noticed that Belle has started making the same swallowing sounds. Last night at the dinner table she was doing it and her sister Phi pipes up and says "will you knock it off, you do not have Turrets"!

We all roared with laughter. We were not laughing at Turrets, but the peer influence Jo had on Belle and the fact that Phi was the one to point it out.

Susan

Learning to read

2008-05-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

My youngest, Bobo is a kinesthetic learner. She is social, interactive, joyful, easy going and just plain cannot sit still. It has been a challenge getting her to sit long enough to go through a reading lesson. She interrupts herself and other things interrupt her and take her focus off the page. I have noticed in the past, and keep forgetting that she works this way, that if I create a learning game in which she is moving, she stays focused for much longer and has so much fun. The simplest things can excite her. To help her count and with her numbers I would throw large dice across the room and she would run and then count the dots and tell me the number. She would do this much longer than she would sit at the table doing math on paper. A friend reminded me today to put her reading words on cards and throw them on the floor. I call out a word and she has to find it and turn the card over. When we get to the last card she needs to read it to me. We did this game 4 times in a row with the same words. When I was done, she wanted to keep going. Guess what we are doing tomorrow?
Susan

Restaurant

2008-05-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about my life with three girls is seeing their creativity. I grew up as an only child and while I know I used my imagination, there was no one to share it with. As usual, it is Belle who instigates the creative play and the other two follow along and contribute to the fun.

Yesterday, I told Belle she needed to make lunch for her sisters and herself. She took her job seriously as she drew up menus and activity sheets, much like kids get in restaurants. It was so cute I just had to share.She also did the waitressing and cooking. I am sure there will be plenty more posts such as this as creativity abounds in this family.

Susan

Introduction

2008-05-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

I think I will introduce my family. Hubby likes to be anonymous and you may not ever see a photo of him, but just know that he is a great dad and husband and each year we are married I am more and more convinced that he has been hand picked by God to be my soul mate. I feel very blessed to be his wife.

We have three beautiful daughters whom I am very proud of. They are so unique and I am continually amazed at their gifts. I hope that as parents we do a good job in raising them to be Godly women. I also hope in homeschooling them that we take every opportunity to discover their God given gifts and develop them so that they may use them to glorify the Lord.

Our oldest is Belle. (All my girls will have blog names as to protect their identity). She is 10 1/2. She is all girl. She is creative, bright, artistic, and musical. She has a great sense of humor. In fact it is quite dry and she takes after her father in that way.

Our middle daughter is 9. Yes they are only 17 months apart. She is intelligent, serious, analytical, truth oriented and quirky. She is small in stature, but big in presence. We call her Phi (fee).

Our third daughter, the baby is 6. She is happy, fun loving, affectionate, goofy and definitely the comedian in the family. She is the lowest maintenance child in the family. We call her Bobo.

That is my human family. My pet family consists of 2 cats, Lucy and Bella, and our Labradoodle, Max.

Susan

Welcome

2008-05-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Classic Academy. This is the blog in which I talk about my kids, share our homeschool life, and keep a record of their growth and development, talents and gifts, creations and antics. My goal is to make books from this blog so that I have a beautiful hard copy of our life together, a record of our school and learning, a memento of their childhood.

I love comments and welcome them. Thanks for visiting.

Susan