Thinking about school

One room is painted! Hooray! I didn't actually paint it, my husband did, I seem to get grumpy when I paint. Hmmmm. But, I peel wall paper really well, put up painter's tape (don't buy the cheap brand, it falls down) and help clean up when we are done. So, except for the baseboards, my son's room is basically done. We moved him back, along with his sister, and her room will be next. She needs a new carpet, and so does the master bedroom, the current rugs are yucky, faded and ugly colors. So, we are actually making progress towards putting the house on the market!

My fridge is full of healthy stuff. I made a bland asian salad, oh well. But, I made really good pizza last night : ) Barbacue chicken pizza. My husband thinks its weird with slaw on it (you know the cabbage mix, not cole slaw itself), but it cuts out some to the cheese and it was great! I have a new blender, thanks to a big sale at the Coast Guard Exchange, and it purees frozen fruit, unlike my first blender, which pureed nothing. Hooray for Smoothies!

Our vacation is over. DH goes back to work tomorrow, and school resumes. I think my daughter missed it this past week. Our next break is the first week of June. It will be a long haul. 2 1/2 months. But, that will bring us to 180 days of school, my goal for Kindergarten. She is barely missed a day for sickness. Its awesome! We will actually begin First Grade Math, Bible Lessons, Science, Social Studies and Handwriting in May. Umm, and we are in the First grade reading materials sort of. Expode the Code teaches beginning consonants in Kindergarten, and then Books 1, 1 1/2, 2, and 2 1/2 are First Grade books, but I think it all evens out eventually. I think public schools get into the vowels and sounding out words in Kindergarten. (Since we began Explode the Code book 1 in February, we are on the same page as the State of Michigan, except my daughter has over 100 sight words! I think the state guidelines suggest about 24 sight words. I would hope that the kids learn more than two dozen in public school. So, technically we start First Grade in May, but I'll be telling her that its still Kindergarten. I don't know why, I'm just stuck on an abstract number of 180 days. Dumb, probably. But, I am still going to stick to it.

I am going to try some new materials in June. There is a reading curriculum, theme/book based, called 5 in a Row. I plan to use some of this to extend our reading program and include my son who will start preschool in June, at home. I ordered his writing workbook today. He has been asking for one all month. I won't start it with him until June, however.

Ok, that's my rambling for the evening : )