Evan wrote a narration today about some of what we read about Martin Luther. I was pleased that he did it with minimal complaining. In fact, he seemed happy with it when he was done and read it back to me:
"...church door to say that the church was wrong."(on back side of paper)
P.S. I sat with him to help him with spelling.
We began school this week. I haven't added every subject in, yet but we did: Bible, Math, Handwriting, Reading, History, Science and, of course, music practice and swimming lessons.
I began a program called Cursive First with the kids. Admittedly, it isn't cursive FIRST for Evan and Matthew. Evan learned cursive last year and Matthew started last year with manuscript, but Evan can benefit from more practice and Matthew will transition into cursive. It is cursive first for Sophie. She has such good small motor coordination that she can handle it. I'm hoping to work on handwriting solely with the kids, as far as Language Arts goes, for the next two or three weeks and then move on into spelling, and grammar and composition for Evan as well.
Actually we began with just numeral formation this week which isn't exactly cursive, but see how well Sophie even can write...
NEWSFLASH! All three kids earned "ICEES" today for doing all that their teachers told them to do at swimming lessons!
Last night, James and I asked his mom to babysit Evan and Sophie, and we took Matthew to the rec center. We had him do torpedoes to Jms off of the side, over-and-over. At first he fussed and refused, but I nudged him off the side and he had to float/splash/paddle to Jms. After a little nudging, he started doing it on his own. When we left, he thanked us for taking him (I think it made him feel special) and said that he'd do the torpedoes for his teacher. He did it! He admitted that he was still a little afraid, but I pointed out that he was brave, because being brave means doing what you need to do in spite of being afraid. I also consoled him that it would get less scary the more he did it.
If you prayed for him: Thanks!
Sophie enjoyed her "Squishy" as she called her drink!
Matthew is a geography buff. He requested that we decorate the boys' room with maps. That was easy to accomplish! I have a slew of maps from my National Geographic subscription in the 90's. The boys and I took down the bunk beds yesterday for a change. Evan chose a political world map to hang above his bed and Matthew chose a political map of the United States. Matthew asked me this morning if we could switch the maps after he has memorized the states and capitols (his idea). We are going to hang more maps around the room as well. Matthew told me that he spent some time this morning when he woke up looking at his map.
Please pray that Matthew will be able to be brave in spite of his fear and learn how to swim. At swimming lessons, he puts up a mental block and decides that when his teacher moves a certain distance away, that it is too far and too risky for him to try to "torpedo" and swim a little to her. I even offered him a slurpy at 7-Eleven if he would just try and say "I think I can" instead of "I can't", but even a SLURPY is not incentive enough. James and I are going to take just him over to the rec center tonight, hopefully, and have him try swimming to James while I stand right beside him (but I won't touch him. If he needs help; I'll let Jms do the helping to reinforce to Matthew that his teacher would be able to help him in that similar situation if he has problems.) ...Sophie says that at her next lesson she'll bob and put her face in the water without fussing for a Slurpy. We'll see!
We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from Martha and Jennifer and Randy and family on their way home from a visit to the mountains. The kids got along famously. After they left, I noticed Sophie sitting very subdued on the couch. I asked her if she was okay and she replied that she missed Tori and wished that they lived here.
I wonder if Martha will be able to resist the urge to go out and buy a guinea pig after meeting ours? Hmmmm...
Anyway, here are some pictures that we just got developed...
This is our former house in Hays. The picture isn't that great, but it is painted a nice beige color and the shutters and front door are a wine color. Very nice. The garage door is a new white one with windows and the fence is painted white now.
The kids playing at a water pump at a rest area on our recent trip
On a recent hike:
Classic Sophie:
