School Days, School Days!

We found a kitten last night. After getting her more used to us I gave her a bath. She still does not want anyone touching her tail so I haven't been able to verify if she is, indeed a girl cat. We are looking for her owners but would gladly keep her if we can't find who she belongs to.

Today was the first day of our sixth semester of Commonwealth Leadership Academy of Clarksville. It is a new commonwealth school that I started with the help of some friends and a great mentor.
And we are growing! Twelve families with 42 kids total this semester.

Being in charge of something like this is more than I ever thought I would do. It is a stretch for me to be in a leadership position and I have learned so much through it all. Unfortunately, I am still having to learn time management and delegation.

But overall, things went really well.

The good: everyone was early today and everyone we expected showed up! It was so exciting to see the other families committed, as we have had issues with that in the past. All of the classes gave a good report and we are all learning and growing together.

The bad: The last week of each month we follow a different schedule. Since it is the first day of class, I forgot that it is also the last week of the month. I forgot about the training I was supposed to offer at the end and had to be reminded (by one of our new families, nonetheless). Training went fine but we were off schedule. Actually, I was off schedule all day. Time was flying by and my responsibilities weren't fitting in with the schedule. My goal for CLAC is to do better at keeping to the schedule.

And the UGLY: I was so busy I didn't even tend to my own toileting needs from 9-5, which means I definitely forgot about the twins needs. Luckily they wear diapers when we leave the house. But it is no help to learning to use the toilet when you are stuck in a diaper all day. Poor Corey was in a dirty diaper for a couple hours because we didn't even remember to bring spares. Luckily, as soon as we were home they got right back to using the toilet. We'll keep working on improving in that too.

Oh and the best part of today: I got to take back to school pictures with a cute sign my friend gave me when she moved. Enjoy! 

School wore him out! Corey fell asleep in the car later too.

Alexis is in Practice Scholar class this year. They are doing Shakespeare Conquest. She gets to be a queen if she reads, watches or listens to 17 plays. She wants to be an empress by doing 34. In May she will be in a Shakespeare play. For now they are studying Hamlet. She is thrilled!

Emi is in the girls' book club. They are reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. She is also in my class for unit study. This year we are doing a fun class I made up. We call it "show and tell" and they get to share what they love and we will dig deeper into answering their questions. Emi isn't sure yet what she wants to share for her turn at show and tell.

Johnny is new to the Love of Learning classes. He is in the boys' book club. They voted for us to read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I am teaching that class and there are NINE boys in it. I am still thinking of ways to keep them quiet while we read. I have a couple ideas to try out. He also gets to do the Show and Tell unit study. He recently began reading and is excited to finish some series. He really wants the kitten we found to be his and since he is in Love of Learning phase now he is old enough for a pet.

William has a hard time being in my class at school, so we made sure he had a different mentor. She is going to be GREAT for him. He is one of the oldest in his class now and I think that will be good too. In class today his teacher taught him that there are two ways to read; reading the words and "reading" the pictures. He is excited to learn about reading words because he can already read pictures. Each week when we go over what we want to learn that week William always wants to give four of five ideas (I ask for three). He is definitely falling in love with learning.

Joseph moved up to the Older Core class this year. He gets to be in class with William and is now also very excited to learn about reading. He is my kid that always asks how things are made or how they work. He still loves telling jokes and making people happy. He worked hard to write his name on the board. Usually he writes JOJO, but he wanted to be official here with his full name.

Corey talks so quietly it is hard for me to hear and understand him. I think that was the problem today. I asked what he wanted to learn about and thought he said aminals, but then he broke down in major tears declaring that he did NOT want animals. He loves going to friends' houses and I could hear clearly that he wants to keep going to the Montagues. (We go there each week after school for the school leaders to meet and discuss school things). Corey loves to try new things and talk his brother into misbehaving.

Sammy was so excited to fill out his board. He wrote his name and was naming letters as he wrote. If I remember right his name is spelled, "that, that, w, s, d, x" He loves to try and get his own food and drinks even though he is supposed to have help. He is doing a great job learning to use the toilet and now HATES being called a baby. "We not baby we big boys." Anytime he asks for something and is told no he says, "but its my faybit!" (favorite). He loves having his picture taken and then running to the camera to see himself.

 And now for a few bloopers pictures:

Farewell Summer 2019

 Today is the last day of our "summer break". We don't really take much of a break because learning is so much a part of our lives. We do, however, have a break from our Commonwealth. So we consider the Commonwealth school year to be our official school year. So I figured I would share a bit of what we did this summer.

May came first:

sprinkler and the slide

Always reading

Corey and Sammy have fallen in love with Dinosaurs and dino books!

One of the first steps to learning to read is to play at reading.

Corey in the tree. Lexi is holding him up for now.

 But he'll be climbing them on his own in no time.

We had a few school meetings at the park. These boys love to climb!

And swing

The girls get to play too.

Card games at the park.

Shooting sticks.

Sliding.

Throwing rocks into the creek. These two love to throw rocks.

Johnny loves to run the trail at this park.

More reading.

Someone stole my phone at church and took pictures during singing time.

We made a track for dad's R.C. car. This may be why so many of my books end up broken.

The insect whisperer caught a dragonfly. Or Damselfly. I'll have to ask Lexi what the difference is.

I love that my kids get hands on experiences with nature.

It fascinates them. They were watching ants. Oh to see the world through a child's eyes!

June Came Next:

Boys and scissors leads to new hair cuts.

Krispy Kreme for doughnut day.

Watching TV

They turned 3! We went to the grocery store and a man gave them both a dollar. They bought themselves doughnuts.

Saw somewhere that shaving cream helps remove "boy smell" from bathrooms. So we sprayed it everywhere and the boys scrubbed away. Not sure if the shaving cream itself helped, or if it just meant they didn't miss spots.

Buddy feeling patriotic.

Park party for the twins' birthday.

Almost all of the kids listed playing with Dad's R.C. cars as one of their favorite things to play as a family. So they get to play more often now.

Syndi made the twins a cake each and one for the family. All the red was removable because she love me. She made a peanut butter cake with nutella frosting because my boys are peanut butter obsessed and she loves them too.

Their puzzles

Museum on post.

Back of the Army truck.

Buddy decided to finish my salad for me. I caught him.

Then there was July:

Found a skink and her eggs.

William got bit by a spider and had an ER visit and got antibiotics.

The Twins weren't listening at church so they got buckled into a friend's stroller.

The gear on the RC car caught Joseph's finger and chewed it up pretty badly.

Setting up their binders (paper and writing utensils)

Climbing trees and ropes

He is getting better at staying in the yard when he isn't tied up.

We dressed up for pioneer day dinner. Dressing up for events was another of our top fun things to do as a family.

We decided to dig a pond for the turtle to live outdoors.

Proof that Buddy helped

The boys love helping too.

When they come down from the trees.

Collecting cicada shells.

Swim lessons for the older boys.

We painted story stones.

Our annual circle picture.

Frogs in the pool

William made himself a quiver.

Joey had a birthday too.

More park fun.

Playing in dad's ruck sack.

Cow appreciation day is one of our favorite days!

The twins spent their birthday money mostly on dinosaurs.

Numb from the dentist. I had two teeth extracted. So much more work to do, after 7 years of not seeing a dentist.

Shooting and s'mores with friends.

Piewhacket our cat comes in wanting loves.

The boys watched the Wiggles for the first time. I made them dance along.

Our turtle balancing a rock on his nose. Unfortunately he left the pond we tried making for him.

Listening to music with dad.

 And finally, August:

William's ear getting better.

Our pond held water for about a day. Too rocky- ripped the liner.

William requested a cake from Syndi.

We had friends visit for a week or so. We did so much while they were here. Splash park, back to school event, museum, library, beach, and lots of hanging out. It was the best!

And then we started potty training.

William made himself a bow.

And that's a wrap. We loved our summer and we are excited for our new school year to start.