She's READING!!!

Am I a little excited? YES!

7yo has been able to read consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) ("cat") words for awhile, but she wasn't able to read sentences. Last month I bought some sight word readers which she memorized. The past two weeks she has been reading longer passages in her Rod & Staff "We Learn About God" reader. Again, these are sight word stories, but they are much longer which showed me that she is actually reading not merely reciting memorized passages.

BTW, we are working through the accompanying phonics workbook too. I like this approach of using both types of reading instruction (phonics and sight words). Using sight words means she is able to start reading quickly and phonics instruction helps her to build future reading skills.

Now, if we can get her to count from 11-20 without leaving out numbers.... c:

Kudzu Vacation

Kudzu or "the vine that ate the south."

Our family lived in North Carolina from the time I was six until I was 14. I don't remember seeing Kudzu in FL, but it was definitely in NC. It covered everything on the ground and then grew up the nearby trees. It was like a green tidal wave. It was beautiful and could be useful, but it had become an invasive species smothering the native flora.

This week has been a kudzu week. All of those little "good" things on my schedule are like kudzu. They are beautiful and mostly good, but together they are overtaking me. They are making it hard to do the things that I feel should come first.

And so, I'm declaring a kudzu vacation starting Monday. I am going to choose carefully what I'm going to allow to creep into my life. Because we all know that those little creepers can become dense walls that block our view of the beautiful and important forest underneath it.

The Blues

Back when we were living on Bluebell (+ 4 yrs ago), I started to recognize a pattern. Every February I had a day where I was so blue that I had to make myself move. I can remember sitting on the couch watching everyone move around the room while I felt like I didn't have the energy to get up. And, I didn't want to. I would have this mental argument where I would tell myself that I had to get up and start moving or I was going to go deeper into the funk I was in. I wasn't grouchy. I had no energy. I was blah.

Last year it hit me particularly hard. I felt like a zombie. The worst part only lasted for about 24 hours, but it took me a couple of weeks to finally feel normal again. It scared me!

February came and went this year with no trace of the blues. Then March passed by too. Yeah! I thought I was safe.

Not so. Of all days, why April 1st? I don't know. I stayed in bed with the covers over my head. I didn't answer the phone. When I finally forced myself out of bed into the shower, it was like watching a movie in slow motion. After awhile I realized I was standing under the shower with my mouth hanging open. I had to think about what to do. At the grocery store, I wrote the amount for the groceries on the "pay to the order of" line. I stood there dumbly looking at the check. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't figure it out until I had studied the check for a few seconds. (Are you wondering why I was out driving? Me too!)

I did something different this time which I think helped. I told my husband. Knowing that someone else was aware helped me to fight back. And, forcing myself to get out the house helped too. I was still in slow mo but it helped to be around other people. It was like a distraction that helped me stay bobbing at the surface rather than sinking down deeper.

I feel much better but also on guard. I don't enjoy feeling like someone has sucked the energy out of me.

If you've ever watched the movie "The Dark Crystal" you'll understand what I'm afraid of. I don't want to be a Podling whose life essence has been drained.

Fablehaven

I bought the newest book in the Fablehaven series, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. I would read it to the girls all day except our resident teenager thinks she has better things to do with her time. The nerve!

You know what surprised me? When we went to Borders at noon on the release date, there were only three copies. I guess they didn't expect many buyers? The next evening we couldn't find any copies. Hopefully that's good news for Brandon Mull.

BTW, we'll try not to post any spoilers. It will be hard...but...we'll....try!

Homeschool update

When folks ask me how homeschool is going I tend to give a general answer like fine. Personally, I doubt they want the nitty gritty details, but maybe they do want to know a little more than "fine."

If you are interested here it is...

13 yodd is preparing for standardized testing. Think mom shoving lots of worksheets off on her.

10 yodd is learning about fractions (finding lowest common denominator), the future tense in Latin, Australia, and mollusks, etc. Soon we'll be starting a unit on astronomy.

7 yodd is learning to read. That is her job. She does a couple of workbook pages pertaining to phonics or reading skills each day. She is also working in a 1st grade math workbook.