Chit Chat Saturday

It's Saturday night and we are enjoying a relaxing weekend... how 'bout you?  Here are a few things we've been up to in the recent days and weeks...

We're wrapping up our homeschool year.  We are pretty much done with all subjects-- there are just a few math concepts that I'm giving N some extra practice with, and we're doing a few final writing projects.  We should be done with first grade by the end of next week!

I'm hoping to write about our homeschool year-- what I learned, what worked for us and what didn't, our challenges and struggles and triumphs, etc.-- hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be able to get that post written!  I have learned SO much and N has really been my guinea pig but I feel like we're finishing the year in a really happy place.

I'll just share a couple of our biggest triumphs...

I think probably my biggest challenge this year with N was writing. If you remember, we didn't use a writing curriculum. Her ideas and creativity and narrative ability were so spot-on, I just sort of assumed she wouldn't have any trouble getting those ideas on paper... just shows how much I knew about what is developmentally appropriate. For the first part of the year she really struggled with the more open-ended projects I was giving her, and grew to sort of dread writing. So I went on a search for a more step-by-step approach, and I found this Write From the Start set of activities on Teachers Pay Teachers.  We have been working through these exercises for about 8 weeks and she has loved every minute. It has been way less overwhelming for her and her writing has improved so much in a matter of weeks!

Here's a project we did earlier in the year... around December I think?

And here's the final draft of her latest writing project, completed last week:

You can see that the great creative ideas were always there, she just needed some help with the mechanics.  It's a testament to her hard work that she's come so far this year, and (more importantly) I'm so relieved that she now genuinely enjoys writing.

In the past months we've also been including L in all of our homeschool times since she finished away-from-home preschool in the middle of May.  We've done some work correcting her pencil grip and applying the work we've done with phonemes this year to some early reading.  It's amazing to me how far she has come in just a few short weeks.  Her finger dexterity and handwriting is already improving, and I'm pretty sure she'll be reading some easy readers by the end of the summer if we can keep practicing.  She is very eager and like a little sponge.

What a privilege to do the rewarding work of teaching my own kiddos!  It's a satisfying feeling like no other!

We have been planning a few trips for the summer and I'm getting excited about spending some time with friends and loved ones.  Quite a bit of this week was spent getting our summer schedule ironed out.  We'll be traveling some in late June and July, and then August will be quiet again while we probably start some school up and wait for new baby girl!

Speaking of baby, she's growing quite nicely:

I don't think I'll fit in the mirror much longer!

I had a period of really bad eating throughout May and early June as we were finishing up all of our activities and the schedule was so crazy and I was so exhausted and craving sugar like nobody's business.  I always worry when I'm pregnant and eating tons of sugar that the baby will get really big and labor will be terrible and hard.  So we're trying to clean up the eating a bit now, also for the sake of everyone's mood and temperament and skin and digestion.  Sugar overdoses affect us all adversely and I was not setting a good example for the girls for a while there. 

So in attempt to cut down on refined carbs we've been eating black bean pasta... it's really good!

The nutritional profile is so awesome-- they're loaded with fiber, iron, and tons of vitamins and minerals-- and black beans are the only ingredient!  The girls will also shovel down many bowlfuls of it, and that's a major plus, I think, where they can be very wary of most health foods.  The major con: it's suuuuper expensive and only available at our local health food store.  So I'm looking into bulk buying on the internet or other cheap alternatives.  Our health food store also carries red lentil pasta and other varieties; I'd like to give them all a try!

We are also trying to go detergent-free in our house to give our poor little C some relief from the eczema that has plagued her since she was a baby.  I've recently discovered soap nuts and we're going to give them a try for laundry and dish washing... I'll let you know how it goes!  I've heard really great things!

So those are all of the hippie things I've been trying lately :)

Lastly, a sweet pic of little C in a new handmade dress from Aunt Beth:

And the girls reading together at the Old Sturbridge Village book store:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!