Once again, Natalie just amazes me.  I can’t say it enough, I wish I had T4L when Emily was just learning to read, 8 years ago.  Anyway, Natalie is reading on her own now.  This week she went through about 10 small lessons mostly in the Language Arts curriculum for 1st grade and then a few others in the Language Arts Extention for 1st grade.  In these lessons there are sections where the story is read to her, then it asks her to identify different words and finally it makes her read the story back as each word is highlighted with a click of the mouse.  She did great and really enjoyed reading the stories.  As hard as it is at night (because I’m usually very sleepy) I let her read to me or we share the story.  She also reads to her dad when he’s working in the garage.

I am proud of her progress and her dedication to keep learning and to even go on T4L after being in school all day.  She doesn’t go on everyday, usually on Wednesday because she has a half day and Friday’s because she goes to bed a little later than usual.  The other days are optional.  She also goes one if she is reviewing something in particular that she may be struggling with. We just find one of the lessons to help her through that and so far we’ve been able to find something on T4L to match what they have been doing in class.

We are over our colds, still holding on to a little sinus or allergy issues but otherwise everyone is feeling pretty good and looking forward to our family vacation over the holidays.

Everyone, have safe and healthy week.

Terie

AAHHHH  the last several weeks have been insane!!!  I am sure that I am not the only one….

As if the holiday season is not busy enough I have been chosen for Jury Duty for the month of December.  We have to meet several times a week, and I have not been chosen yet….  we will see…  I am nervous but I know that the Lord will not give me more than I can handle. 

The blessing is that I know that the kids school will be taken care of thanks to T4L, they can log on at grandma’s.The cool thing also is that I was able to tell another lady on Jury duty about T4L.  Her daughter was struggling in public school and she was looking into after school help, maybe this will be the answer for her…I know we have been blessed. 

I hope that all of your holiday preparations are going well.  We are going to try and make a Jesse tree next week….around Jury Duty, Play dress rehearsals, choir and Lego club…..  I will post pictures when we are done.

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to class.  It sure has been a season of colds and stomach bugs, sleepless nights and exhausting days, visits with the doctors—WOW!  I really feel like “super mom.”

Anyway, that’s all done now and we are ready to catch up and get back in gear.  Natalie is looking forward to doing her work online starting today.  She actually told me that she missed not going on her “homework page on t4l”–I guess she can’t get enough.

The one thing I have to say to everyone here is that it is amazing to me how quickly Natalie is learning to read.  I am just amazed and proud to see how well she progressing through letter sounds and words and her ability to read her books to me instead, although I have to admit that she wants to read to me at night and that usually means I fall asleep before she does.

I know that the time she spends on time4learning has been a tremendous help in her learning.  I now I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again, I’m so glad I found this program.

Terie

Hello Everyone,

Well it’s been a while since I felt this crummy, along with my kids. Usually I’m the last one to get the cold. First Natalie, then the baby and finally me. My older children have a perpetual sinus cold through the winter months which I think keeps things at bay for them. Fortunately there is one adult in the house who has not been sick so we still have someone in the right state of mind around here. The good thing is that the baby and Natalie are recovering so that means that this wont go on too long.

We did a couple of lessons on Wednesday and then took the rest of the week off to just enjoy family. It’s been a fun week, despite the cold, sinus pressures and headaches that come with it. I hope everyone is recovering as well in your homes.

By the way, I visited the website about the mayflower history and I really enjoyed the details about the passengers. It’s like taking a ride through history. My older kids will enjoy reading bout it as well. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Until next time, stay safe and continue to enjoy the season of giving thanks.

Terie

For Natalie, learning how to read a calendar has proved more challenging then we expected. Obviously learning to read would have to come first in order for her to identify the words which describe the days and months so we are skipping this section to work on more language arts. Another challenge she’s working on is yesterday, today and tomorrow. It’s sort of funny I guess and in a way I see the little girl I’m having a hard time letting go of but she’ll soon get that too and move on. We have abandoned math for a little while because for the most part, the Kindergarten math is too easy for her and she wants to move to the 1st grade level, however, until she can master the calendar and the money we’re going to hang out here a little longer. The money is a little difficult as well so we got her a coin collection book which encourages her to find different types of coins, the state quarters, buffalo nickels and coins from different years, like her birthdate. Hopefully, having them physically in her hands will help her to remember the names and characteristics of the coins.

This whole learning process at home is really new to me. In the past my kids came home and told me what they learned in school, we did homework and reading, etc. but never to this level of detail and actually realizing when they finally got it. Mostly I’m really glad that I have the opportunity to relive these early learning years with both a boy and a girl. It is exciting when they finally “get it.”

Natalie was home sick on Friday, however she managed to go online and master 2 of her Math lessons and this week she’ll move ahead with language arts while we’re on vacation. To me it’s quiet time for her is nothing but pure fun on the computer. I hope everyone begins to get better soon. Stay hydrated and keep those germies out of the house!

Terie