First week of school

Can't believe it's behind us already! But we're praising God for a WONDERFUL week! Things really are going quite well. Nathan LOVES school! Well, really, they all do but Nathan especially does. He found out today that he got 91/100 vocabulary words right on a quiz! Yay, Nathan! He also said that moves him up a level although I can't quite figure out what that means. We go to meet his teachers on Tuesday night. He has 4 teachers -- Mrs. Lomonico is his homeroom teacher and teaches language arts and social studies; Mr. Wallick also teaches language arts and social studies. Ms. Macedonia teaches math and Mrs. Thomas teaches science. From what he says, it sounds like they're really looking out for him. He says he has an "Inexperienced Student" card that he can raise if he has problems with his work. Today was the first day he tried to eat in the cafeteria and they're supposed to punch in this 6 digit code, like a student ID number. It didn't work no matter what he tried but he said they did allow him extra time to eat his lunch afterwards. Some of his first assignments were to be about him and what he likes. For his favorite book, he took in his Bible (yay!). Another assignment was to fill a bag of 5 things -- he chose his DS, a computer (taking a picture of one), a picture of one of his good friends from church, Jonah, a stick to represent playing outside, and a sketch that he drew. The downside is that he's already had to change binders, his first one not big enough, and he left his paper that went along with his bag in the old binder and so he got an incomplete on that one. :( Hopefully things like that won't become habit! I'm thinking it's all part of the adjustment and we're just going to keep moving forward.

Don't really have much to say about Caleb and Elizabeth. They have a friend in their class that we used to go to church with, Isabella. I've heard them sing a song about weather and have seen lots of coloring pictures come home. They've also made a puppet. There nightly homework folder says homework will start next week and that they'll have one piece of homework every night, Monday through Thursday. That should be interesting but at least with them having the same teacher now, they'll have the same homework. That should help a little. They'll also start a color system for next week. Every night, their homework folder will either be marked green (good day), yellow (not-so-great day), or red (very bad day). Since I can't say much for them, how about a picture? This is them in their new glasses. Caleb's glasses really does fit better than they look in the picture -- he was goofing off while I was trying to take the picture.As for everyone else, Timothy's the only one showing real signs of struggling to adjust. He's become quite the screamer and throwing tons of fits. He has been on ear drops since Monday for an ear infection.... Lydia's doing quite well, although she was up at 2 this morning which is something she's not done for a while. And I'm enjoying myself. There's a part of me that really likes being the school mom. Wasn't too much fun today getting drenched while loading the van in a downpour but we knew it'd happen one day sooner or later. I'm sure the cold weather will bring out a different story -- none of us are real fans of the cold. In fact, the kids have already wanted to wear coats to school! But, for now, we're looking forward to week 2....

First day of school!

We've all happily survived! Tomorrow will be another big challenge for several reasons. First of all, Jonathan was home today to "celebrate" with the kids so I had a 2nd set of hands with me while getting everyone ready and out the door (BTW -- if you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I'll let you know that, thankfully, Caleb & Elizabeth got moved to the morning kindergarten class; they are together, now). And, with him here, I didn't have to worry about the fact that Lydia & Timothy both were still asleep when I needed to leave to go get Nathan. Secondly, no one really "had" school today, meaning no one really was taught much of anything. You know how first day of school usually goes, right? Everyone woke up really excited and everyone came home really excited. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that things aren't always going to be this way. Getting up will get harder, especially on Mondays and Thursdays after church the night before and in the winter when it will be so stinkin' cold...school work will get harder, especially for Nathan...and I'm sure a million other things will suck the excitement out of my eager beavers and, if not them, I'm sure John will protest! But, I AM thankful no one came home today scared out of their wits about going back tomorrow.

*Any readers out there not currently doing so who are willing to do so, we are now actively clipping Box Tops for the kids' schools. If you wouldn't mind collecting for us or want to know what in the world I'm talking about, let me know by mouth or email (sing2praisehim@hotmail.com). Thanks!

*Anyone interested in placing MarketDay orders? If you do or want to know what in the world I'm talking about, let me know. Kinda short notice this month but orders are due on Friday.

I think that's it! Here's some pictures....

Our schedule (although I took this picture when I put up the
schedules when I thought Caleb & Elizabeth were still in afternoon kindergarten)!

Catching up, part 1

Some things I've been meaning to blog about, #1:

Our trip to Ohio Caverns in West Liberty, OH. We've been studying Earth and decided to tour a caverns. Ohio Caverns were a little over an hour away, not quite an hour and a half. They're open year round as opposed to Olentangy Caverns which is closer. Anyway, here's some shots.

What do you think? Does this look like Donkey from Shrek?

Pictures from today

Here's Timothy in his crib for the first time (he's been sleeping in the bassinet/bouncy).

We're studying detectives in school and made "disguises" today. These pictures just cracked me up! Especially Nathan in the "wigs".

1 day down....how many more to go?!?!

Well, it's the first day day of school with the Stevens Clan. So far, so good!! =) My hubby told me my organization was inspiring -- I reminded him it was only day 1!!! We started KONOS today with our friends. Our best friends are homeschoolers and Nathan and Fionna (you've seen her in a few pics already) are the same age so, when I started homeschooling, we decided we'd get together and co-teach a few days a week. We were worried (still are -- like I said, it's only day 1) about how difficult it would be this year since I'm pregnant and Kisha started baby-sitting again and now has a 2-year-old and baby in tow. But, today went smoothly. I think it might actually work. Won't be as easy as last year and won't be as frequent but life changes, families change, and that's one of the many reasons we homeschool -- FLEXIBILITY!! KONOS, in case you're interested, is a unit study based on Godly characteristics. I probably could explain that but I find it easier to give examples. The first characteristic we studied was Attentiveness. With each characteristic, there are units -- with attentiveness, for example, we studied the ear and hearing (you need that to pay attention!) and did a unit on men like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Last year, we finished up Attentiveness and did Obedience and Orderliness and studied things such as who authority figures are in our lives (including the One to whom we should always be obedient to, God), Kings and Queens (thus the Medieval Feast we did on Saturday), horses, alphabetical order, why it's important to put things in order, creation, etc. This year, we're starting Inquisitiveness and are starting this unit off with Ancient Egypt. If you'd like more info, feel free to email me (Sing2PraiseHim@hotmail.com) or visit www.Konos.com (can't get the link thingy to work!). This is also the first year that I'm working with more than one student. The little ones have always joined in with school activities we did during the morning but then I'd put them down to nap and do the bulk of Nathan's school work during nap time. Caleb will be 5 in December which means he's technically not in kindergarten yet but I wanted to go ahead and get started with some basics for him. He's already proficient in his colors and shapes, of course, so we're working on our ABC's and the letter sounds and some basic handwriting and math skills. I dabbled a bit with him last year and he LOVED it but this year, I hope to go full throttle with him all year. Today went very well. Elizabeth and John are just along for the ride at this point but they like pretending that they're doing something real important!! Don't you just love 'em??

Bottom line - first day went off without a hitch! Stuck to the schedule, got all the work accomplished, and feeling optimistic about day 2!! Happy school year!

Labor Day Weekend

How was your holiday weekend? Ours went smoothly. We started off the weekend with soccer and our school year kick-off party, the Medieval Feast. Nathan gave reports on King David from the Bible and Peter the Great. He also played the role of a bard and recounted the story of Robin Hood. His friend, Fionna, gave reports on Jezebel and Queen Elizabeth and played the harp. They pulled "swords" from the stone to assign themselves new names for the day. Nathan was Sir Burger of Bun, Caleb was Sir Sand of Castle, Elizabeth was Lady Apple of Juice, and I can't remember what John was. They designed their own coat of arms and then we played some games. We finished the day with balloon jousting and a game of Catch The Dragon's Tail. Here's some pics -- the cake I made (supposed to look like a shield and has Eph. 6:16 on it for the "sheild of faith"), Nathan and Fionna in their costumes, and then
Jonathan and John in Nathan's masks.




Also this weekend, we went to a church softball game. Jonathan get up to bat 3 or 4 times and actually hit the ball every time!! Check out this action: