Walking!

 

Teeth!

 

 
These silly children are hiding in mommy and daddy's bed!

 

Isaac loves drawing. He is very good at making "snow" by hitting to tip of the crayon on the paper. He also loves to draw lines and circles.

School for 4 year olds

 

Caroline loves to play with blocks! She makes towers and castles and snakes and elephants and houses for her little dinosaurs.

It's not cute...

When your 2 year REFUSES to go to sleep. He may giggle every time he gets out of bed and runs to greet me, but I'm not giggling with him.

I told a friend of mine that I was teaching Caroline to read. She said "so I guess you are homeschooling, right?" I think this is one of the big problems with the system of education in this country. Teaching a child to read has little to do with homeschooling. Parents either don't think its important to teach their children to read or they don't think they are capable of doing so. They rely on the "experts" in the schools to teach what is perhaps the most important skill children need to learn. You don't need to have a specialized degree in order to teach children to read. I am confident that Ma and Pa Ingalls had no such degree and their children, Laura especially, learned to read just fine.

Miracle on the Hudson

Just a little while ago, a plane crashed into the Hudson River, about 2 miles from our apartment. There were 153 people on board the plane and according to recent reports, all of them are off the plane and there were no major injuries. Praise God for such a miracle!

I know this blog has been kind of pathetic lately, but I am trying to do better!

Anna Sophia is walking all over the place and impressing everybody. She looks so tiny to be walking around! She about the size of a 6 month old, even though she is gaining weight well now. She also can clap her hands and wave to people.

Caroline is continuing to progress on her reading. I was attempting to teach her how to write her letters and it hasn't gone very well. She can make small circles and draw lines on lined paper, but she is very confused at where to start her letters. She likes to start them at the bottom of the line and then she gets confused and the letter ends up going over 4 lines. Did that make any sense at all? I will try and post a pic of her latest writing.

Isaac loves drawing pictures. He exclaimed "I drawed a picture Daddy!" the other day and it was such a pile of cuteness, I wish I had a video of it. He sleeps with his magna doodle too. Just in case he needs to draw a picture, I guess.

Hmmmm....that is all for now. We are still considering the option of school for Caroline, but I feel that she will be too young to start kindergarten in August. (She will not turn 5 until December). Anyway, I'm really excited about homeschooling, which has led to an equal amount of disgust and awe from people in our building.

We have teeth!

 

She won't show them off for the camera, but trust me, they are there!

Learning to read!

Caroline is learning to read! She is only reading small words like Cat and Sam, though she is picking up on the process of sounding words. She is always noticing words that start with CH and letting me know that it sounds like Church or Cheerios. We are using the Bob Books series to teach her reading and so far, everything is going wonderfully. She is so proud of herself when she figures out what words are and then says them correctly.

Choices in education

Caroline is eligible to go to Kindergarten this coming August. Do I send her to school and let the public education system teach her what they feel is important? I really don't like the school environment and I feel it can be harmful to young children.

For example, when I entered kindergarten mid-year at a new school, I was tracked with the "dumb group" as I remember it. We were the group, called the "Apples" (as in bad apples) who couldn't read. I actually could read, but details like that don't matter when teachers don't care enough to find out. I don't know why I remember the name so clearly, but this introduction to my education is something that I will never forget.

I was also left-handed, which meant that I could not write well, as the teachers were always correcting me by putting the pencil in my right hand. And then telling me I was writing badly. Gee, thanks.

Throughout my education, this black mark has followed me as if to remind me that I'm somehow inadequate or belong in the slow group.

I'm constantly encountering the pressure from others to put Caroline in school. I'm considering it, but I have serious reservations because of how something as seemingly innocuous as a group named "The Apples" cast such a shadow over my early education. I have no idea what a teacher might do or say to Caroline that would adversely affect her education. On the other hand, I struggle with being able to teach her everything she needs to know to be successful in life. I'm definitely not a perfect teacher, but I believe that I may be the best teacher for her.
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You can sort of see where Isaac's stitches were in this picture. His mouth has healed completely at this point, so that is good.

Caroline as the Statue of Liberty

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!