Dance Year 5

It's been a busy month!  Logan started her FIFTH year of dance this year.  I can't believe she's old enough to even be uttering that.  But, here we are.  She actually is starting leveled dance this year, which is an exciting, but sad transition for us.  She's been with the same teacher now for the last two (maybe three?) years and I am so sad that she's old enough to transition out of Miss Cori's classes.  This teacher sees hundreds of students a week and she still knows the name of every dancer's siblings.  We walk in and she knows both of my boys, their interests, etc.  It's amazing.  And I'm sad to see Logan moving away from her!

But, they said she was doing well enough that we could go ahead and advance her into the leveled classes a year early, and she's been dying to take acro (gymnastics/dance together) and a focused ballet class so we're taking the plunge.  She'll be doing two full hours of dance Monday nights and she's thrilled!

How big does she look in this picture?  Sniff.

And the five year comparison:

Lincoln doesn't quite enjoy being left out of a picture session, so Logan obliged and posed with him for one right before we ran out the door!

I love watching this little girl develop into such a precious dancer.  It makes my heart happy to watch her do something she is so passionate about.

Water Country USA

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is deciding, on a whim, to take a day off and go do something fun.  To celebrate the start of school, Mike and I took the kids to Water Country USA up in Williamsburg.  They have a great program for the military that allows you one free trip a year!

The weather was perfect, it was in the mid-high 80's and there were no crowds.  The longest Mike and Logan waited for a ride was maybe 10 minutes.  It was the perfect time to go!

We told the kids we were going to drive a couple hours to check out a new pool somewhere.  This may be the last year we're able to get away with saying something like that and getting Logan to believe it.  But, they all bought it and so when we pulled in and they saw all of the slides, and water falls, etc, they were THRILLED!!

Little miss fearless went on every single ride she had time for and then when we started running out of time she asked which ones were the most daring and just started going on those.  I'm thankful for her fantastic dad who never hesitated to take her on anything!

Lincoln and I hung back at the kiddie pools most of the day.  Brody would occasionally join us when he couldn't ride one of the rides.  It was nice, but it does make me look forward to a day when the kids will all be tall enough to ride those rides together and enjoy them so we don't have to spend so much time split up.

Had to get a picture of him conquering the gator.  Go Noles!

Homeschool 2015-2016

 It's August in the Kayle household and that means we're starting a new year of school right in our home.  This year, Logan is of first grade age but working through some 2nd and 3rd grade curriculum.  Brody is right on pace in K4 with his age!  And Lincoln?  Well, he's still getting into everything.

This year, Brody's curriculum is really geared at getting him reading.  He's got a lot of three letter words down so we're going to work on getting him reading short stories.  We'll be working through the Explode the Code books with him as well as Alpha-Phonics.  He's so excited!!

Logan's curriculum is a bit more....intense.  :)  We don't have to start reporting to the state for another year, but I'm making a conscious effort this year to try and lay out all of our plans, grade several of her items, keep a portfolio going and keep a good attendance record so that it's just second nature next year when it's required.  My lesson planner is massive, but I've got the first several months of school planned so I think it will make things much easier than last year when we kind of just went with whatever.

This year we have these fun things in store:

All About Reading Level 2 (spelling will come from this, as well): We loved this curriculum last year.  It can go as quickly or as slowly as you want it to and it really gives a fabulous foundation for reading.  It goes through every grammar rule you could ever think of and teaches them in fun, easy to understand language for the kids.

Handwriting with a Purpose Level B: We did the first two levels of this one last year.  Logan hates handwriting-- but what kid truly truly enjoys having to sit and do copywork?  I guess some do.  But these lessons are typically short and painless.  They write out different words from Bible verses throughout the week and then put them all together on Friday to write the full verse.  It's a great way to get them hiding the word in their hearts while doing school work.

Exploring Creation: Botany: We finished our Space book this summer and had such a great time with it we stuck with the curriculum.  Upon the suggestion of several we went ahead and purchased the "Notebook" to go with it (their junior version).  I thought it would be just money we didn't need to spend but it has turned out to be a fantastic resource.  It goes through every lesson, gives all kinds of activities and coloring sheets, etc.  It's great!  It takes the added planning I had to do with the Space book out, which I LOVE.  Logan chose the Botany theme this year.  We'll let both kiddos decide together what we do next year since Brody will be in Kindergarten!

The Story of the World: We started this when Logan was in K for history and it was just too much.  I couldn't keep up while trying to figure out a good school rhythm and figure out what life was going to look like.  But, again, on suggestion of others, we purchased the workbook that goes with it to try this year and it's made all the difference.  It lays out lessons, gives you several activities for each lesson that you can pick and choose from.  Coloring pages, mapping activities, the works!  It's fantastic.  

Math U See: When you find a good math curriculum- stick with it!  This is, by far, the best math curriculum I've ever encountered.  This year Logan will learn to do 3 digit addition and subtraction (with carrying and borrowing), multiplication, money, all kinds of crazy things you normally don't see until you get a little further into elementary school.  But the crazy thing is that when I'm going through the planning, it's just logical to do those things in the sequence that they have planned for you and the way they have you teach it makes it so simple to understand.  

Both older kids will also be using Rosetta Stone for Spanish, ABC Mouse and Always Ice Cream for technology/computer time and will be doing some form of music.  It's going to be a great year!!

Four is Hard.

For some reason, with both older kids, age 4 has been hard.  2 was tough, learning to hear the word no and obey.  3 was exhausting because all of the sudden the discipline seemed less cut and dry-- they knew the word no and started to use arguing to help their cases.  But four.  Mercy.  

Some days it's explaining why all day long.  Some days it's disciplining for the same irritating behavior (that they now know is irritating and try and use to their benefit).  Some days it's loving on a child who is needy but doesn't know how to express it without whining and being in a bad mood all day.  It's hard.  When logic starts to enter the picture and they're able to question why things happen but are still too young to truly "get it" sometimes.

But for moments like these.....

I'd bottle up the age and hold onto it.  It 100% personifies who this little boy is right now and I love everything about it-- right down to the fact that he has on a pair of play clothes for bed instead of pajamas.

It's that crazy feeling you get when you're a mom.  You know-- the one where all you can do some days is get to bedtime because it's been so long and frustrating and then you walk in and see them like this and can't stop staring and thanking the Lord for his sweet grace.