Penny Lane & School Update

I meant to post these pictures of our new family member awhile back when she joined our family in July. The little one saw her at church in a giveaway box of kittens and wept, wailed and sobbed to bring her home. Okay, not that bad but she convinced her pushover dad that its 'the only thing' she wanted for her August birthday. (Likely story. lol) These are pics from August. When we got her around July 1st she was a small wisp of a thing, barely 5 weeks old.

Now she is 4 1/2 month old, 7 1/2 lbs fatty. Today we found her stuffed in the Halloween candy bucket. We attempted to 'rescue' her only to have her jump back in. She likes it apparently.

School is progressing with minimal hiccups. Always changing, never ceasing. The teen is taking college classes. Not so much enjoying them (after all, they're not art classes) but enduring none-the-less. The little one is keeping caught up on schoolwork, amidst much strife sometimes. But then I take her to the library and she brings home a pile and I mean a huge PILE of books to read and she's content. How to make English and Mathematics studying as fun as reading is a battle I haven't conquered yet. We're still enjoying Sonlight Core 5. Some of the books are not to our liking and take forever to read. I should be more flexible and let them go but haven't done so, so far.

The teen is starting once again to study for the ACT testing. I picked up a few grammar books at the library to help. English is her strong suit but it doesn't hurt to brush up.
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Writing in 15 Minutes a Day
Great books for refreshing your memory of grammar as well as writing skills. I really need to find some great books to help her with the math studying. We have an ACT book but I would like to see some 'fun' math learning math books to help her know everything she needs to know. She won't be taking the written portion of the ACT until she retests in February. December's test will just be the standard.

It's time to start figuring out how to apply for scholarships for the teen. Next year will be full time college (I can't believe she will graduate this year!) With DH being in a new job, any help we can get towards the college fees will be wonderful. I would rather not saddle the teen with debt right out of college, kwim? Also been talking to a financial adviser about saving for college for the small one. We're so behind on that eight ball. Why didn't my mom/dad ever tell me life would be hard? I distinctly do NOT remember any such conversation. I do, however, remember them laughing at me and saying 'just wait until you have kids'. They weren't kidding!

Thursday Ramblings

(lush green backyard pic from last summer)

Spring is here. It makes me want to take walks, pick up leaves and flowers, pull out the bug/flower/tree identifier books and have a picnic. Instead we spent yesterday indoors doing our normal list of schoolwork. I wonder which way we would actually have learned more. It's so easy for me to just stick to our lists, and textbooks and videos so I can visually see what we are learning by the amount of papers piling up. But are we retaining anything? I wonder. I think I need to loosen up and stop worrying about hours and courses, and daily logs so much and live a little.

The teen received her ACT scores back. We're so proud. While it isn't the 30 she wants, its higher than a 20 so we're very proud for her first time taking it. She was convinced she would receive a 10 or 15 so she was overjoyed and didn't believe us until we showed her the official print out from ACT. I think she is beginning to study for the next one in June. We were looking at the requirements for getting into KCAI school and they only require a 20 ACT score. She needs to work on 20+ pieces of art to include in a portfolio that has to be evaluated by any art school she might attend. I'm a bit selfish. I'd love to have her nearby at KCAI, plus its a fabulous school. I want to attend there after we have finished paying for her.

Am I the only homeschooling mom that changes plans mid stream? I can't seem to stop doing that. It's just that when I see something going downhill and the kids eyes glazing over, I want to change it all up to make it more interesting. I think sometimes that can be a bad thing. I don't know. Half way through the teen's World History course we realized she was retaining nothing through the textbook and bored out of her mind. So I sat down, made a list according to history subject and ordered videos covering all aspects of World History through the library. They were glad to see DH this week when he went to pick up our pile; 60 videos, to last us the month. It's kind of an exciting way to learn history. She's a visual learner and picks up so much through the videos. We're taking notes and discussing them as well.

I think today we made go outside to draw. It's too beautiful a day given to us by God, to waste it.