Wednesday Write-Up

(This post was composed Wednesday June 2 after Memorial Day weekend, and I guess I never published it!  So here it is, and stay tuned for today's updates which I'll probably publish tomorrow :)

Hello Readers!

I'm coming to you after a very restful weekend-- I think the universe just knew we needed that long weekend!  There was a lot of sleeping in and we were able to have "playdates" with two different families who are good friends for all of us, so that was very restorative.  Feeling pretty good this week!

Last Friday our new range was FINALLY installed properly and hooked up to gas, and so I enjoyed a cold, rainy weekend of lots of indoor baking and cooking on my fabulous new stove (after three weeks of camp stove cooking!).

Saturday AM pancakes on the built-in griddle!

Did I mention that we have found the library in town, and although it’s small, it’s a beautiful building with a new selection of books we haven’t read, so the girls ask to go pretty much every day?

Last Thursday on our library trip they sported their matching dance recital tees!

On a completely different topic, we got a Schrute Farms pencil in a bag of coloring stuff from our Auntie, and J has declared it her “favorite pencil” which I think is hilarious. 

Speaking of J and writing, she has been journaling up a storm lately! When we unpacked the big girls’ rooms at the new house, they found all their old journals and had a hilarious read-aloud session of old entries from when they were first learning to write. There were endless giggles over all the cute misspellings and the funny events that were recorded. Miss J, ever needing to keep up with the big kids, but only just being old enough to write, didn’t have any “old” journal entries to contribute during these reading sessions. So her solution was to furiously scribble down something funny while the older girls were taking their turns reading, and then share the freshly written journal entry when it was her turn, as if it were “old”.  Pretty cute.

All of this inspired her to write some stories as well, the cutest of which I just have to share!

“Chapter 3: He met Penelope and he loved her”

Chapter 4: Hopki went home and he was sad because Penelope’s captured. He was very sad.”

“He went on a journey to find Penelope.”

“He finded Penelope but the guards had the keys. Oh no!”

“Hopki: Oh no, how are we going to get out of here? Penelope: I don’t know.”

“Hopki: There must be a way to get out of here. Penelope: Yeah there must be a way to get out of here.”

“Let’s find a way!”

“I see a way out!”

“I’m scared. Don’t worry.”

“Narrator: and........ they’re gone”

“They’re on land.”

“Chapter 10: The Journey Home. They’re walking and walking till they get home.”

“Chapter 11: they got home. They’re nice and cozy now.”

Pretty awesome, right?

A cozy reading sesh on a rainy night...

I'll have to keep you all updated on how kindergarten goes with Miss J.  Academically she has covered everything there is to kindergarten already... having homeschooled kindergarten three times now I am pretty sure she has checked off all the boxes, or at least about 90% of them.  (You can tell by looking at her writing above!)  This sounds like a Mom Brag but I don't really take any credit for that at all-- it is all about keeping up with the big kids for her.  She sees her sisters doing school every day and simply insists on having "school" to do as well... so I have just been printing out kindergarten worksheets and giving her 15 minutes a day or so on literacy and math apps.  If I'm honest, her big sisters have done more this year to "teach" her than I have... she just learns by watching them and absorbing it all.  She is already reading short chapter books... so I think the phonics and letter recognition that usually starts off the kindergarten year might be boring for her?  I don't know; we'll see!  She might not mind repeating some stuff.  She is definitely at a kindergarten level socially... with the pandemic she hasn't had very much interaction with kids her own age at all in the past year and a half.  She gets quite anxious and shy these days in social situations with new people.  So even if the academic piece of it might be less of a challenge for her, the daily practice with social skills will be good.  Although I do anticipate some anxiety surrounding it, so I'm readying myself to support her through all that.  Anyway, I'll keep you updated!  I'm working on her kindergarten registration packet so it won't be long now!  I'm feeling all the feels about sending my youngest to school, but that's another post for another day.

We had ice cream and met the cows at a beautiful dairy farm nearby the other day.  We sure are loving exploring new rural places around our new rural home, when we have the free time between finishing up school and activities.  It's going to be a fun summer for that!

That's all for today... hope you all enjoyed the weekend and I'll see you again soon!