Two Kids and a Baby

OK, she is not a baby anymore, but she is my baby, and I cannot believe she is old enough for kindergarten this year!

This is my first year formally schooling all three kids. Becca is in kindergarten, Ben is in second grade, and Hannah is in third grade. When I first began this homeschooling adventure two years ago, my oldest was in first grade. Now, somehow, my baby is old enough for school. How does the time pass so quickly? Some days seem so long and frustrating. Then, I blink, and the kids are older, and I wonder how the baby I cradled in my arms could be the lovely child standing in front of me.

I found the photo I took of the kids on our very first "not back to school" day, and I am amazed at how much they have grown in just two short years:

School has been interesting so far this year. Hannah has matured quite a bit since last year. She works independently, does beautiful work, and complains very little. She especially loves our language arts curriculum, and her work shows her love for writing. For example, she had to fill in a blank to make a fragment a complete sentence: "________ is funny." My answer key suggested "He" as a possible answer. Hannah wrote, "The clown dance at the circus." I actually have fun reading the sentences she creates!

Ben still wiggles and sings and fools around, but he is doing better than last year. He finishes all of his work, in spite of the fooling around and complaining. I am hoping that he will continue maturing, like Hannah, and eventually have a bit more focus. I think his biggest struggle is not wanting to work hard at anything, but he is learning the benefits of hard work in soccer this year, and I think that may carry over into his school work as well.

Becca has been a bit of a challenge so far. She loves the idea of school, but she does not like me choosing the activities. I know she loves cutting and gluing and reading and workbooks, but she complains about every activity. I think once she settles into a routine with the other two, she will enjoy school a bit more. And I am sure I will find what methods work for her personality, just as I discovered for Hannah and Ben. Becca's biggest challenge, however, is her desire to use the chairs and desks as her own personal jungle gym instead of simply sitting in them. I struggle teaching a little monkey who swings and leaps all around the school room. Again, I think with discipline and practice, she will adjust to this as well.

I am excited about this school year! I have a lot of fun ideas and I cannot wait to learn and explore new things with the kids. Truthfully, even though I love summer vacation and appreciate the rest, and in spite of all of the challenges, school time is my favorite part of the year.

Speaking of Graduations...

As I wrote about Hannah's graduation, I realized that I never mentioned Ben's preschool graduation, which happened last month. I cannot believe that all three of my kids are now old enough for some sort of school - preschool, kindergarten, and first grade! Of course, they have all been learning and "doing school" with me for a long time. Their ages just make it more official.

The preschool graduation was held at a local church. I have always loved that this preschool teaches faith as much as it teaches academics. The kids memorize sight words and learn letter sounds, but they also memorize Bible verses each month as well.

Before the ceremony, all of the kids prayed together on stage with their teacher.

Each child had a turn to display something he or she had learned that year. Some kids said Bible verses, and other kids said the sight words. Because Ben reads so well, he read a Thomas book aloud for everyone, accurately pronouncing words like "miserable."

I am very proud of how he has matured as a reader this year, reading Magic Tree House books as voraciously as Hannah once did.

In spite of his academic skills, however, he remains all boy - full of mischief and wiggles. About halfway through the program, he discovered that he could pull his graduation cap down over his face, and he amused himself with that new skill for quite a while.

As part of the program, each of the kids received a different award, along with their graduation certificates.

Ben, of course, became obsessed with removing the CD from the book he won, and spent the remaining half of the program concentrating on that task.

This year, the graduation had an extra touch of sadness, since the teacher will not continue teaching next year. Hannah and Ben each attended the school for two years, so we have grown to love her and the school very much. As I mentioned before, Ben was all boy and definitely kept his teacher on her toes, but she had a soft place in her heart for him. At the end of the program, Ben read a poem for his teacher, as a way of saying goodbye and thanking her for her love for the students.

Ben loved his teacher very much and will miss her a lot next year. She always loved him and worked well with him, in spite of his occasional ornery attitude and his more-than-occasional wiggles.


My two big kids, preschool graduate and kindergarten graduate...

I am so proud of them, and I look forward to seeing them grow into bright, confident, and godly adults someday. But, they can stay small for a while longer, if that is ok...

Another Lost Tooth

Yesterday I received an email from Hannah's teacher entitled "Tooth." In it, she wrote, "Major wiggly tooth for Hannah! Pretty much had her attention most of the day! She is trying to be so brave to pull it out---but must be ready!!! Hope it comes out tonight so she doesn’t have to worry!"

Now, Hannah's top tooth has been just slightly loose for about six months, and, occasionally, she imagines that it is looser than before and fills the whole day with dramatic wiggling and excitement. Because of this, I hoped that her tooth would be coming out for real this time, so the drama could finally end, but I confess that I suspected the tooth would still wiggle the same tiny amount as always. However, when I picked Hannah up at school, her tooth definitely moved more than it had previously.

When we got home, I tried to encourage her to wiggle the tooth and loosen it more so it would fall out before bed. It looked pretty loose and I didn't want to worry about her swallowing it. She vehemently refused, though, because she desperately wanted it to come out at school. Apparently, when a child looses a tooth at school, he or she gets a special tooth necklace, and Hannah has been longing for that opportunity all year. I chuckled, remembering the email I had received earlier, and told Hannah that I thought her teacher would probably appreciate the tooth coming out before school the next day. "Yeah," she replied, "I disrupted the whole class! That's why I got a one."

"Oh, Hannah," I responded, "that's not a good thing. Even if this tooth is still in your mouth tomorrow, you need to listen to your teacher and pay attention in class."

"I know," she said cheerfully.

"I hope so," I replied, raising my eyebrows a bit.

Later that evening, I gently brushed Hannah's teeth, and cringed, squeamishly, as the tooth crossed oddly in front of the tooth next to it. "Hannah," I said, "This tooth has to come out. Why don't you pull on it a little."

"No!" she exclaimed. "I'll just bang it out like I did before."

"No," I told her. "That hurts a lot worse than pulling it. Here, let me just pull very gently and see what happens."

I pulled ever so slightly, and out came the tooth!

Excitedly, she ran to tell her daddy and put the tooth in an envelope for the Tooth Fairy. This time, she decided to write the Tooth Fairy a note. Of course, I had to take a picture!

Side one:

"dear tooth Fairy at Lunch today at school I tryed to Bite my apple my tooth riped half way out"

Side two:

"At Bedtime mom pulled it gently out. I Love you"

And of course, the Tooth Fairy wrote a nice note in reply, included a pack of gum wrapped in a dollar bill, and placed them all under her pillow. And, I am pretty sure the Tooth Fairy whispered a little, "I love you, too..."