Getting ready for Christmas

We have had a pretty busy week.  The weather has been BEAUTIFUL here.  Wednesday and Thursday it was 70.  Today it is supposed to get up to 78.  It is perfect.  We did our school work in the morning and then I gave the girls a chance to play outside all three days in the afternoon.  They LOVE being outside. 

On Saturday the girls had fun raking leaves.  The neighbor kids came out and raked their leaves also.  The girls really enjoyed jumping in the piles.

 

On Monday we got our Christmas tree.  It sure was a crazy sight with us driving it home in the camaro!  We had fun decorating it though.  We can't wait for Christmas!

  

  On Tuesday the girls, Chad, and I made a bird feeder.  We found the kit at Lowe's so we kind of cheated so we didn't have to cut the wood.  The girls used wood glue and the drill to screw it together.  They then painted it.  We allowed it to dry over night and hung it up on Wednesday.  We haven't seen very many birds eating from it but hopefully in the spring we will see more.

  The girls learned about mummies online this week.  We read many books.  Lorel continues to get better with sounding out words.  Both of the girls are doing really well in math.  We are studying poems this week.  The girls are in the process of memorizing a poem.  It's called One Sister for Sale by Shel Silverstein.  It fits the girls perfectly!  It's about a sibling who is trying to put their sister up for sale in an auction.  They almost have it down.

This week we started a little reward system with tickets.  The girls receive a ticket for positive behavior such as helping me, helping their sister, picking up, getting their work done, etc.  They get a ticket taken away for negative behavior such as fighting, back talking, arguing, etc.  Then every Saturday the girls will count how many tickets that they collected during the week and choose if they would like to use them or keep saving.  We made a list of rewards and how many tickets each one is worth.  For example, an ice cream cone, a new book, a small toy are all 15 tickets.  Then we have big rewards like a new outfit,  a big toy, a movie, and a day out alone with mom or dad.  These, of course, are all 50 tickets and above.  It really seems to be helping!

I am really enjoying homeschooling and the more we do it the more I feel that it is working for us.  I really feel that the girls are right where they need to be.  Am I preparing them for standardized tests? Well, no.  But I do feel like I am preparing them for life.  I have never really agreed with standardized testing anyway.  How can one test determine what a child knows and how smart they are?  Homeschooling educates a child in a completely different way than the public education system.  I really do believe that homeschooling was a positive decision for us.  

It was a good week!  I am REALLY looking forward to next week!  We are going to try some new ideas with homeschooling!  I can't wait!