Life
We are getting much closer to signing a contract for our new house. Once we sign, we have to pay a non-refundable 5%, and while the building company wanted us to sign before going to the design studio, we refused to do so, as we have heard from a few people that the cost of the house can go up drastically. They weren't kidding! I picked mostly basics with very few upgrades and our price went up by about $13,000, and that is not including a few other things the estimator has not priced out yet. So we will be eliminating a few more things I think, to get closer to our goal price.
As for the children, Bridget has another loose tooth, this time one of her top teeth. It's barely loose at this point, so I do not anticipate another gap in her smile for another couple of weeks.
George (now 4 years old) is quite the handful. Sometimes I don't know if it is because he is the middle child, if this is simply a "boy thing", or if I am just doing something completely wrong in my parenting (he is the polar opposite of his big sister). He is getting in trouble a lot lately, getting into verbal arguments (which escalate into physical ones) with his sister or in a hitting fight with his little brother, who is now learning to hit back. Every time I try to correct his behavior and talk to him about it, he shuts down. He closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep, and is unresponsive. Or he screams so loudly and continuously that there is no way that I can be heard. I hope that I can figure this out soon, as some peace in our household would be nice. His doctor said that this behavior is not too unusual for his age, so I am holding out hope that he will soon grow out of it.
Liam is as cute as ever. The other night after family prayers, I had to take a few extra minutes in our living room to discuss with George that grunting and growling throughout the prayer was unacceptable. Liam, sticking to his routine, took his own teddy bear and blanket to his room and climbed in the rocker. When I got in there, he was rocking himself back and forth while humming one of our lullabies to himself.
I did not intend to vent about my frustrations with George here, but I guess I just needed to get it out. I am one tired and worn out momma. It has certainly been a trying past couple of weeks.
Homeschool
We finished reading Little House in the Big Woods and started and finished The Happy Hollisters at Pony Hill Farm. I had never read or even heard of the Happy Hollisters until reading a couple passages from our Writing With Ease book. We were able to find a couple of the books at the library (even the librarians did not know what they were and had a difficult time finding them on the shelf, as no one had borrowed them for years). They were written in the 1950's, and I have to say, my daughter absolutely loved the book. Our local library has 3 more of the books in the series, which has 33 books total. I don't know what we'll do after we read all that our library has.
We are going back and reviewing what we have learned in history and science, as a couple of months ago I stopped both to focus on writing and reading with Bridget, as she was having a difficult time with both. Now that it has been resolved, we're playing catch up. It is going quickly, as she has retained much of what she had already learned. She is still in no way wanting to talk about mummies. Every time they come up as we study Egyptian history, she refuses to listen to anything I read. That does not stop me from reading it and expecting a narration from her (which she does, mostly unwillingly), though I have promised not to show her any pictures of mummies.
George is learning his alphabet and I am having a hard time getting him to pronounce "L-M-N-O-P" as individual letters and not some jumbled noise. He is also unable to say the letter Q. He pronounces it like "tew". We have done some letter recognition, but not much. With him being only 4, I'm in no rush to get him to read on his own. He loves being read to, and at this age that is more important to me.
I already have been planning for next school year, starting with a schedule for history. We will be studying the Middle Ages, and the Story of the World book has 42 chapters, and there were a couple of other topics I wanted to cover more in depth (like Polynesia and Ireland) so I am just trying to make it all fit. Just like this year, we will also be studying history through the summer, as that is the only way I will have enough time to cover what I want to cover without cramming it all in to a short amount of time. We are also switching over to a 4-day school week, leaving Fridays open for field trips, catch-up days, reading days, and special time with Daddy, so while stories related to what we study in history will be read on Fridays and over the weekend, I only have 2 days a week for a structured history lesson (alternating days with science). That is the plan at least.
We are going back and reviewing what we have learned in history and science, as a couple of months ago I stopped both to focus on writing and reading with Bridget, as she was having a difficult time with both. Now that it has been resolved, we're playing catch up. It is going quickly, as she has retained much of what she had already learned. She is still in no way wanting to talk about mummies. Every time they come up as we study Egyptian history, she refuses to listen to anything I read. That does not stop me from reading it and expecting a narration from her (which she does, mostly unwillingly), though I have promised not to show her any pictures of mummies.
George is learning his alphabet and I am having a hard time getting him to pronounce "L-M-N-O-P" as individual letters and not some jumbled noise. He is also unable to say the letter Q. He pronounces it like "tew". We have done some letter recognition, but not much. With him being only 4, I'm in no rush to get him to read on his own. He loves being read to, and at this age that is more important to me.
I already have been planning for next school year, starting with a schedule for history. We will be studying the Middle Ages, and the Story of the World book has 42 chapters, and there were a couple of other topics I wanted to cover more in depth (like Polynesia and Ireland) so I am just trying to make it all fit. Just like this year, we will also be studying history through the summer, as that is the only way I will have enough time to cover what I want to cover without cramming it all in to a short amount of time. We are also switching over to a 4-day school week, leaving Fridays open for field trips, catch-up days, reading days, and special time with Daddy, so while stories related to what we study in history will be read on Fridays and over the weekend, I only have 2 days a week for a structured history lesson (alternating days with science). That is the plan at least.
Linking up to:
Oh boy, I remember the struggles with little boys. I had one that was quite stubborn and vocal. Hopefully it will pass soon for you all.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too. I don't know how so many mom's are able to keep their young sons in line. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteHave you tried checking out the children's section in David's Used Books on Greenville Boulevard? Their prices are pretty awesome and you might get lucky enough to find one of the books for Bridget.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the place! That is what I get for shopping on Amazon. I will certainly have to check them out. Thanks for letting me know!
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