i can't believe i thought i used to be busy.

new year!  today was our first day back since, well, since my english class TOOK OVER MY LIFE.  no, seriously.  it got crazy.  we are just settling into our new routine of football practice and new college courses for mommy.  and actually, starting mid-september, we'll be throwing ballet classes for bella into the mix as well.  oh, and we recently acquired a new member to our family...a nine-week-old german shepherd puppy named alice.  we are house-training her as i'm typing this.

whew.  can we do it?  YES, WE CAN!

i hope.

recent circumstances have caused me to need to be more record-take-y, so i completely hijacked my friend rachel's organization system, turned it upside down, tweaked it A LOT, and basically it only barely resembles her method anymore.  i thought it was such a good idea, though, and i figured it would help me out a BUNCH to have written lesson plans.

it's already imploding.

but i am going to keep plugging away at it!  here's a screenshot of our plans for this week (since i am not sooperwoman like some people i know who plan the entire semester at once).  baby steps, people.

still looks kinda impressive, though, right?

 today, we have done everything on our schedule except for the copywork (another gem i stole from rachel...here's hoping she remembers that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) and the second handwriting without tears (HWT) worksheet for today. 

there are two handwriting worksheets per page in the workbook because i take the HWT pages and basically go into paint and create extra practice pages for us.  beau needs extra practice because his handwriting is still mostly illegible at this point.  i know.  i fail.  in my defense, though, most of his education up till this point has been through time4learning.com and TONS of reading.  we did practice handwriting now and then, when he asked, but i'd never made it a major priority until now. 

now it is most DEFINITELY a priority, partially because i am beginning to feel uncomfortable that his handwriting isn't better, and partially because he is starting to become really interested in writing.  the point is, he's ready now to sit at the kitchen table and practice printing for extended periods of time, whereas before, i couldn't PAY him to do worksheets.

something i noticed today: xander has to be tricked into doing schoolwork.  i honestly have no idea how i'm going to manage him this year, especially with everyone harping at me that he's in kindergarten and he needs to be doing work, too, and blah blah blah.  he HATES worksheets.  hates coloring on demand.  he WILL listen to read-aloud stuff, and he particularly enjoys charlie and the chocolate factory at bedtime.  he'll even answer questions about what happened in the previous chapter and be correct about 89% of the time.  so i guess it isn't such a big deal that he isn't into worksheets right now.  he's five.  

it's just hard to document those sorts of things.  and documentation is what the people want.

anywho!  today we learned about two of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the statue of zeus at olympia and the pyramids of giza.  i leave you with a picture of the play dough models we made of the statue of zeus:

mine on the left (which still managed to look crazy even though i took a ridiculous amount of time and trouble trying to make it "authentic"), beau's in the middle (looking quite a bit like alf), and xander's on the end.  bella told me hers "wasn't ready" at the time of this photograph.