More Miscellany from The Shoe

"The Shoe" - in case I've not blogged about it in the past - is what a childhood friend of mine calls my home/family.  I am "the old lady" and I "have so many children" (there are days when "she doesn't know what to do" is true of me, too).   John laughingly referred to us as The Shoe and it stuck - with other friends from our school days, with family and with some of my friends from church.  I guess we'll chalk it up to the "power" of Facebook.  Anyway, so here's various stuff from us since I've been pretty much a hit and miss blogger the past month.

Elizabeth is turning into a voracious reader.  She was so excited about reading a "chapter book" that she's already started The Boxcar Children.  She'll read part of it and whatever book is on her lesson plan for the day.  A few of the books on her list we are having to wait on, as they've already been checked out.  She still loves math. She likes history. She's okay with grammar but she hates the vocabulary words and writing in her journal. She has a few more weeks of manuscript handwriting before we begin the transition to cursive.

Katherine continues to improve in reading.  She has a great grasp for sounding out words - thanks in part to her reading curriculum but also The Electric Company. I remember when we first started watching the "new, updated" Electric Company, I did *not* like it.  Now?  Love it!  We've learned the idea of "bossy R" and it helped r-controlled vowels click with her.  She, too, loves math and history. She's not terribly fond of the repetition of handwriting, though.  If she could get through school without doing handwriting, she would. I remember feeling the same way when I was in first grade. 

Annie loves preschool.  We have had initial testing and evaluations performed for speech therapy.  Annie is a  thumb-sucker - and has been since she was in-utero.  As a result, she's a tongue-thruster and struggles being understood with certain sounds.  We have a meeting in a couple of weeks to get their recommendations.  They said her vocabulary is excellent for her age, but has issues with annunciation.  She has a "boyfriend" - something we've never dealt with before. When she gets dressed, "I have to look cute for Drew."  When we fix her hair, "I want Drew to see my hair look like..." {gives hair instructions}  "Drew is my favorite man, but I don't kiss him."  (good girl!!)  Drew is a little pistol - absolutely adorable - and personality-wise is a perfect little friend for Annie.  She's having fun and learning a lot.

Harrison is blowing me away with all he's learning these days.  He recognizes almost all the letters in his name - whether in upper or lower case.  The only letter that causes him to pause is the "a" - he frequently calls it an "e" and then will stop..."No. What letter this is?"   Last year in math, I had to make one of Elizabeth's manipulatives because the masters didn't come with the kit.  This year, Katherine's kit had them.  So, Harrison has taken over the old set. He'll hold up two of the same shape "How these matchy is?"  {how do these match?}  "How different is?" {how are these different?}  While I'm doing school with the big girls, he often wants his "reading book" - which is his folder with the Letter of the Week coloring pages. I am having a blast with him and trying to really enjoy these days while he is still little.  He will now tell me, "I love you moon and back, Mommy."  In the mornings when we wake up (he usually gets in bed with us at about 3a.m.), he stretches, looks at me and smiles a huge smile, throws his arms around me, "I love you, Mommy!" Talk about making me melt!

We've been busy doing school and going to birthday parties and having loads of fun...and sometimes, not so much.  Next weekend is filled with more parties...and a new heat pump for our house (speaking of the "not so much fun" stuff).