Thursday update

Well, I stayed home from my volunteer gig today since several of the teachers/kids are gone for UIL today. I said my silent prayer for Angie that she stays calm. I am so proud of her. She had 600 spelling words to learn (she took that test Monday) and I know that she could spell all but 36 of them without any problem. I bought her a pocket dictionary so that she also knows the definitions of all 600 and the part of speech. Brian and Pam will both admit that they are terrible spellers so Angie and I had lots of mommy/daughter time working on this. We tried lots of learning styles, but the method that worked the best was letting her quiz me first and then I'd quiz her 10 words at a time. She would closely study the words trying to catch me getting one wrong. SO, now and then I'd misspell one on purpose, especially if it was a tricky one. But, I will admit that I did misspell emperor wrong the first time. Today is music memory and oral reading. She says she's struggling with the oral reading because she has to remember to read and not recite, AKA she has the thing memorized. I'm pretty proud of the music memory as well. She can now site 16 classical pieces my name and composer.

It got my wheels turning on what to memorize next. The month of December is going to be christmas story classics. We already listened to and audioversion of the Dickens classic, and I bought a book bundle which I plan to start after we read through the original Christmas story from the bible. In January the kids have asked that we study instruments so we are going to work through a study of the orchestra which will hopefully be followed by a trip to the symphony, and in GT the oldest two are to pick and artist to study. Tony has picked da Vinci and he told me he plans to paint the Angie Lisa. Angie is still thinking about it. She has to think and analyze. Everything is a major decision. So, we'll see. If the weather permits, maybe we can squeeze in an art museum trip. That's something I've never done either.

Pam is getting in to the swing of things with her girl scout troop. She will admit she has no organizational skills, but she is really creative. We talked yesterday about not focusing on what she or I might like or even what the girls might like, but rather what they need. So, we are planning for January, a first aid class (Mom, Pam and I are all basic life support instructors) and then we are going to do a safety day, which will include an intro to self defense. We decided that when we look at workshops etc that are offered, we shouldn't look at wow Austin sure does alot, but rather we should try to figure out how to give our girls here the same opportunities. Next year is going to rock. This year is the testing the waters year.

I signed up to be a member of the schools health advisory council. So, tonight as part of our first meeting, I will be attending a seminar offered at the school to parents. This one is on kids and technology and includes keeping kids safe in areas such as the internet. Should be interesting. I think this committee could do great things, so I am curious to see how this goes.

I'll post more about the kids later. I need to go get Zach from school and then we are off to buy some bookshelves. I'm getting all the books out of the closet and putting the toys in!