2009 Closes (almost)

I can not quite believe another year has come and gone. I remember when I was young Mom would always tell me to enjoy being a child, because "when you are older times goes by much faster". She was right. It hadn't dawned on me, until I was listening to the news the other day, an entire decade has passed since the "Y2K" scare (not that I was scared, or worried). Really? Ten years? Wow! Of course Jesse had to pipe it, "It hasn't been ten years for me." That's my girl.

This year will be more challenging for us. Many things are changing in our household, but I know we will make it through this year as well as we have in the past. That sounds like we are having problems. We're not. Just John's job and the issues and struggles it brings. He is adjusting, but there are some things happening we have NO control over that will make this year more difficult.

Anyway. On to what I can control. John and I have been doing a lot of talking about the girls lately. Socially, that is. For some reason over the past year, our homeschool group meetings/outings have slacked off to where they are, well, non-existent. I know others are still getting together, but the group we were with has...died. So, my objective this next semester is to make, or find, a new one. I really want to the girls back out there with their friends. So, I'm trying to figure out the how and when. Wish me luck; I'm going to need it.

School is going quite well. Both girls did very well this past semester. Warning: I AM going to brag (it is my blog ya know). LOL  Jesse made a 101 in spelling and a 97 in math. Chloe made 102 in spelling and 96 in math. I still have not figured out their history grades and everything else is excellant or satisfactory. Their reading skills have improved a lot too this year. Not just the ability, but the understanding so they can use info from one subject and relate it to another. Jesse is really improved on this and amazes me with her recall. Chloe will get, I mean she is just in first grade. I'm proud of both of them.

Rosie, the puppy, is not so much a puppy anymore, but she is still a bit nuts. She loves to play! And she will finally bark. She'll knock something over, it will make a loud sound, then she'll turn and bark at it. See...she will bark! She whimpers too (like right now while I'm tyring to type).

I hope all of you (especially the lurkers here) have a happy, and safe, New Year's.

Math, OMG...

Jesse and I sat down this afternoon to do her math and to say I was shocked would be the understatement of the year! Pre-Algebra! In a third grade math book! Yes, there we were facing down the "unknown" in an equation. So, I had to stop. The book had not even mentioned negative numbers yet, so we went over those first. She did well, but still a bit confused on "what you do to one side you have to do to the other side". We'll get there I'm sure, but really I was not prepared for that one. I'd heard ABeka is advanced but that is seriously advanced. Jesse said she "started pre-chemistry".

I want to mention a new website I was recently told about, SpellingCity.com. It is a very cool site. You can go in and enter your own spelling list. Then the kids go in and choose a game they want to play and all the words are used in the games. Jesse is really enjoying it. I actually changed her spelling schedule to add another day per lesson for her to use it as part of school. She was actually going to finish her spelling book early so extending each lesson by a day helped out my schedule.

I can't leave until I say, "Happy Birthday! To (my) Mom and Tyler! We hope you both had a wonderful day full of surprises, love and laughter! We love you both."