Summer Is Wrapping Up . . .

 . . . and we could not be happier!  Summers in Texas are just not happy times for me.  I am allergic to nearly everything outside, and temperatures in the 100's and well over are just, for lack of a more descriptive word, icky.  The temperatures are now more in the 80's than not, and it makes it much nicer to be outside.

In looking back at my last entry, I had to laugh.  We did start our homeschooling curriculum, but were quickly sidelined by illnesses, minor injuries, and a general summer- and heat-induced laziness.  Bethie was potty trained, until she decided she was afraid of the toilet, and now we're back in the struggle.

She still uses a soothie to sleep at night, which doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as it bothers the rest of the world.  I am aware that she is 3.5, but I am also aware that when she does not have that little piece of rubber, she sleeps maybe 5 hours a night as opposed to her normal 10 - 12.  Naps fall away entirely, and my happy little imp turns into a whiny little mess.  People have insisted that I need to "wait it out" and "show her who's boss".  At one point this summer, we waited it out for nearly a month.  I showed her that Mommy and Daddy are in charge.  No one was happy.  This is not the way to show Bethie that this is a safe, secure place where she is loved unconditionally.  When she has her soothie, she is asleep within minutes.  It falls out of her mouth within minutes of that, and she sleeps happily all night long.  I am not worried about her teeth, and I am not worried that she will take her soothie to college.  She is a bright, beautiful, happy, funny, joyous little girl, and that is what matters to me.

I am not as happy with the pull ups.  The potty training is purely a motivation thing.  So far, she just does not want to go, and there is no force on earth that can force a person to evacuate their bowels or bladder, at least not without causing bodily or psychological harm.  We have tried sticker charts, immediate treats, explaining to her what a big girl she is, and every other suggestion we have heard.  We have NOT gone the negative-enforcement route (i.e., punishing her when she goes in her pull up), and we will not start.  What I did tell her was that she has to be a big girl and wear her big girl panties before she starts school.  She is so excited to start school and to be a big girl, and since we are homeschooling, I can start later if need be.  Right now I have 27 weeks of curriculum - with us having school 4 days a week -  to get through in a 37-week year, so we have plenty of leeway.  I am just hoping that this is the motivation she needs.  She loves stories and arts and crafts, and I've been talking up school in a big way. 

Since home schools in Texas are considered private schools, I have taken that to heart.  I named our school after my most-beloved nana, and I have decided to go with a structured preschool kind of day.  I tend to let things slide if I am not organized, so I am going to run a very organized school.  I am also going to be giving Bethie regular grades like she would be getting in school - U, S, N in the lower grades and A - F in the later grades - as that will just make it that much easier when she goes to college.  I am going to put my college degree to use!  I am attaching some pictures of my little Bethie Boo here, along with our school day agenda and my grading rubric just because I am so pleased with them!

Bethie and I are heading to Fargo and to Bemidji between September 29 and October 13, and we are really excited to see everyone.  I made Bethie a chain to help her count down the days til we go, along with pictures of the immediate family so she starts recognizing everyone.  Jeff can't come with us because he has to work, but since I'm tutoring, my summer vacation goes from August - November.  We're also figuring out when Jeff and Bethie can head to Chicago, but it will likely be after I've started tutoring again, so I will not be able to go.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to start coordinating vacation days so we can all go to Fargo and to Chicago.  I miss Chicago in the worst way.  Go, White Sox!

Oh!  Bethie had her first dance class yesterday!  She did really well considering it was her first-ever class and the first place where she was not the star of the show, and she looked really cute in her outfit.  She liked the tap more than the ballet, but I think we made the right choice.  She's attending the 3/4 year old tap and ballet combo class at Miss Jane's Academy for Dance Excellence.  We've decided to hold off on gymnastics for now, and let her just enjoy dance classes.  If she really enjoys it, we can decide to let her go more than once a week, or even take up jazz dancing or some other type as well. 

Now that I've talked your ear off, here are some pictures.  Hope your summer was magnificent!

Betty Lou Locke Catholic School for Academic Excellence

 

Preschool Daily Lesson Plan: Tuesday, September 4, 2012

(the school day will be about 1.5 hours)

Good Morning!

Morning Prayer

“Jesus Loves Me”

Story:   If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Letter of the Week:  A

Saint of the Week:  Saint Anne

ABC Song

Grab Bag

Math

Bible Story:   God Makes a Beautiful World

Bible Verse of the Week:   Matthew 7:7

Story:   From Head to Toe

Handwriting

Craft:   Angel Handprint

Song of the Week:  Mairzy Doats

Sensory Activity:   “A” Treasure Hunt (rice)

Snack Time

Story:   Goodnight Moon

“This Little Light of Mine”

Ending Prayer – Rosary

 

Elizabeth Grob                        Grade: Preschool                                             School Year: 2012 – 2013

 Betty Lou Locke Catholic School for Academic Excellence

Attendance                                                                                                        Progress Key

Days in School Year

                                                                         S = Satisfactory

                                                                                                                                                  N = Needs Improvement

                                                                         U = Unsatisfactory

                                                                                                                                                               

PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	1st Trimester	2nd Trimester	3rd Trimester	Yearly Average
Demonstrates self-confidence
Demonstrates self-control
Contributes to class activities
Follows school and class rules
Notes

 

LEARNING SKILLS	1st Trimester	2nd Trimester	3rd Trimester	Yearly Average
Understands and follows directions
Completes activities in appropriate time
Works independently when appropriate
Demonstrates adequate attention span for activities
Notes

 

MATH SKILLS	1st Trimester	2nd Trimester	3rd Trimester	Yearly Average
Recognizes basic shapes
Creates and extends patterns
Demonstrates skill in ordering and classifying
Understands concepts of more, less, equal
Demonstrates ability to count to and identify numbers to 20
Notes

 

READING AND WRITING SKILLS	1st Trimester	2nd Trimester	3rd Trimester	Yearly Average
Demonstrates ability to recognize all letters of alphabet and their sounds
Demonstrates ability to sound out words
Demonstrates ability to draw basic shapes
Demonstrates ability to write letters
Notes

 

Homeschooling and Potty Training

We have decided to homeschool Bethie for a variety of reasons, the main one being that we feel very strongly that there is too much standardized testing and not enough learning in the local schools.  There are several tests each year, and for 2 - 4 weeks before EACH test, learning stops to review for the test.  That, to me, is not education.  After careful consideration and research over the last several months, we made the choice to homeschool and chose a curriculum.  We'll be using Sonlight, which is a Christian, literature-based curriculum, although I plan to tailor it more to be a Catholic curriculum. 

We bought the preschool curriculum and are working through that.  It is mainly reading right now, so we read lots of stories and then do activities and crafts, not a lot different from what we were already doing.  We've also joined a local homeschooling group that meets several times a month, which Bethie enjoys, and next week she will have her first gymnastics class!  I've also signed her up for a combination ballet and tap class that starts this fall, because I didn't want to overwhelm her with too much all at once. 

Other than that, we're just enjoying our house, our yard, and our weekends!  We took Bethie to see her first movie yesterday, and in case she wasn't able to make it through the whole thing we chose to see a showing of Toy Story 3 instead of something new.  Before it started she said, "This is going to be AWESOME!"  We bought a medium-sized popcorn to share, and darned if she didn't finish the whole bag and ask for more.  We got more, of course, and it was indeed awesome. 

We're heading to Fossil Rim in a few weeks, which is an animal sanctuary that you can drive through and feed the animals.  I cannot wait to go!  We're spending an entire week in the area, and are looking forward to a dinosaur park as well.

I was looking at this independent, bright, creative little girl the other day, and it hit me that I did it: I raised her from that tiny, helpless little baby into this beautiful little person.  I spent her first two years in a constant state of panic, sure that I would make a decision that would lead her to some terrible fate, and now I can relax and just enjoy my sweet little girl. 

Oh!  She has also potty trained herself!  After months of struggling, I stopped forcing the issue.  I didn't like that it felt like a battleground around here, so I backed off.  That was a few months ago, and about two weeks ago, she decided she wanted to wear her "big girl panties", and that was it.  Now she wears a Pull-Up if she's sleeping or if we're going to be out for a long time, and life is beautiful!

This is the first time she wrote her name:

Bethie and I:

My little tomboy is now all about pretty dresses!

Happy Spring!

Wow, I did not mean for so much time to pass between posts!  My only excuse is that we have been crazy busy ever since the move.  This last weekend was the first weekend since we moved that we did not have a thousand things to do.  I'll try to sum up the last few months here and catch you all up to speed.

We moved into our house on February 22, and since then it has been a blur of unpacking, organizing, and cleaning.  The house sat vacant for several months before we moved in and the former tenants did not take good care of the place before they moved, so we have a lot of work to do.  There are also unfortunate paint colors in nearly every room, so it will be a while before we have things looking the way we want them.  Still, we love this house!

My sister, Savannah, came for a visit in March, and while she was here we had Bethie's third birthday party.  I still cannot believe that my Little Bird is 3!  We had a Toy Story party with a bounce house, and it was so much fun. 

Easter was so much fun this year, too.  Not only because we have a whole house for Easter egg hunting, but because Bethie totally understands what is going on.  She was thrilled to color eggs, and then when she saw that the Easter Bunny had been here, she was beside herself.  Every time she saw an egg she'd yell, "LOOK!"  It was great!  The only bad thing is that my camera battery isn't holding a charge anymore and so it kept dying on me.  As a result, I have 5 short videos of the egg hunt instead of one long one.

Now, onto the pictures!














We have since painted Bethie's room, and gotten our new bedroom set:

Happy 2012!

First off, I don't know why half of my pictures are no longer working, but hopefully that does not continue.

Christmas was wonderful for us this year, as Bethie really understood what was going on.  Between learning about Baby Jesus and Santa Claus, she was one excited Little Bird!

The new year has been uneventful so far, except for one tiny thing . . .

WE FINALLY BOUGHT A HOUSE!! 

We found a buyer for our condo after several months of being on the market, and we found a wonderful house.  It is a little smaller and a little older than we'd have liked, but it is in a terrific neighborhood and literally around the corner from an elementary school.  We signed all the agreements last night after some last-minute negotiating with the sellers before the option period ran out, and now we close on both places on February 20!  That is just over 3 weeks away, and we are beside ourselves with excitement. 

The house has 3 bedrooms and a fenced-in yard, and French doors.  I've always wanted French doors!  It will need a lot of cosmetic work, mainly repainting, but we have plenty of time to work on things like that.  The bedrooms were painted for little boys so we'll be repainting those first, and I believe Bethie's room will be pink and yellow.  I want to paint the master bedroom purple, and I only got Jeff to agree to that by letting him decorate the main rooms. :-)

This is our new house:
   

 

We'll have plenty of room for visitors now!

It's Not Looking at All Like Christmas

We're finally into the Christmas season, and for the first time, Bethie is really aware of what's going on.  It is so exciting!  We have our tree up and a plethora of presents beneath, our stockings are hung over the mantle, and red and green accents are all over the condo.  We have talked endlessly about Santa Claus and Jesus, and while Bethie still sometimes gets confused between Christmas and Santa (she sometimes calls him "Christmas", as in, "Oh, look, Christmas has a red hat!") she seems to understand Jesus with no problem.  In the car the other day after I unwrapped half her candy cane and handed it to her, I could hear her struggling with the rest of the wrapper.  I couldn't help her, but it wasn't long til I heard her say, "Help me with my candy cane, Jesus!"  I love this kid.

There is no snow in the foreseeable future here, but Bethie loves to pick up pine cones.  This week, we're working on pine cone elf ornaments:

We finally have all the pieces created and cut out (salt dough heads, felt clothes, pipe cleaner appendages, and flannel scarves), and tomorrow we're going to start putting everything together.  I'm not sure who is more excited!

A friend of mine started a charitable organization that gives pajamas, books, and toiletries to orphans in Kenya.  It's called the Sweet Dreams Project and was created to give these kids a warm, comforting bedtime routine like we have for our kids.  Bethie chose two pairs of pajamas for kids her age, and she'll be sending her Giving Tree money there this year as well.

This is Bethie's Giving Tree.  I found it online and modified it to be more toddler friendly.  The original one would have had her giving about $40, but that's a little much for a two year old.  This way she will give about $6, and she gets to take the money out of her piggy bank each morning.  She was really excited to put her two nickles in this morning!

1. 5¢ for every hot water tap in your house
2. 10¢ for every vehicle your family owns
3. 10¢ for every pair of jeans you own
4. 25¢ if your family has email
5. 5¢ for every bed in your house
6. 1¢ for every /beauty makeup item Mommy owns
7. 1¢ for every pair of footwear 
8. 5¢ for every light switch in your house
9. 10¢ for every bathtub 10. 10¢ for every toilet
11. 5¢ for each bottle of soap
12. 15¢ if you have dishes to eat off of
13. 15¢ if you have cooking pots in your cupboards
14. 10¢ for every window in your house
15. 10¢ for every outside door
16. 20¢ for every television in your house
17. 10¢ for every magazine subscription
18. 25¢ if your family has more than 25 games
19. 25¢ if you had meat this past week
20. 5¢ for every juice you drank yesterday
21. 10¢ if you have a DVD player
22. 5¢ for every hair care product
23. 15¢ for every bedroom in your house
24. 1¢ for every blanket in your house
25. 1¢ for every gift you received this Christmas

I hope you all have a blessed, joyous Christmas!