September in Review

How did October get here so fast?  While many of you are delighting in autumn leaves, pumpkins, bonfires, hot cocoa, and fall decor, we are finally turning off the air conditioner!  My DH put an extra blanket on his side of the bed last night.  Two of the girls had hot chocolate for breakfast.  Emily grabbed a jacket for her bike ride this morning.  After all, it is only 70° out so far.  As for me, I think they are all crazy -- I am finally cooling down!  Emily has lived here for all but three weeks of her life, so she is a real "desert rat", but the rest of us have had six years to acclimate.  Looks like it is working for everyone but me.  ...Maybe I'm just a grump, huh?  No, not today.  Today I am thankful!

Well, September wasn't all that exciting.  Actually it  was wonderfully uneventful!  It was hot.  The kids did school and played music.  Amy got her top brackets put on. 

Here are the highlights:

Betsy made clothes for her new Build-a-Bear bunny.  The mother (that's me) measured incorrectly for the skirt that Betsy is sewing here, so it didn't fit.   I found the last scrap of that same purple fabric and quickly whipped together another skirt, this one with four gores, and a couple of matching scrunchies for Cuddles's ears.  The disappointed child was appeased.

I cleaned out the freezer for the first time in five(?) years , okay, maybe two years, and somehow there wasn't room to put everything back in!  How does that happen? There were benefits, though.  Three cups of blueberries had to be used up.  So Amy made blueberry buckle. (Yum!)

 

Emily worked on kitchen fractions, adding with carrying, and subtraction with borrowing.  I am dating myself, I know.  I think they call it regrouping now.  Do you like how they change the vocabulary every few years so that parents look like they don't know what they are talking about?

Amy got stuck on exponents.  Solution?  Worksheets.  In math we no longer go on until there is mastery.  I created a  monster when I let her forge ahead in math, and now we are paying for it.  Worksheets are great. And homeschooling is great.  We just stop where ever we are in the text book and do free worksheets until she gets it.  More worksheets here.  And here.

Our mountain-biking pastor (that's my husband) wowed the kids (and himself, lol) with his Kings Kids devotions on Ezekiel 10:13, "O wheel!" Did you know a wheel has three parts, just like God does and like we do?  And did you know different wheels have different purposes?  A wheel even has a testimony!

And, we experimented with rag curls.  I used old nylon tights cut in approximately 6" strips, cut down one side.  That way they could be folded over the ends of the hair.  They worked great on Emily's fine hair, but Betsy's super thick hair was still wet in the morning!   That was disappointing to a little girl who would live in a make-believe princess land with lots of flowers and pretty things.

Some friends gave us their Wari game (also called Mancala if you change the rules a bit), and all of the strategy-lovers in this house are wondering why in the world they got rid of it!    There are many variations of this game, easily found on Google.  When I was a kid we played this with two half-dozen muffin tins placed end-to-end, and a bunch of marbles.  Free games are great!

This month all four of the girls entertained the special people at our local nursing home.  Hooray!  They were ALL brave this time!  If we can just get Amy into strings we'll be the next Eden String Quartet, lol.  I LOVE this.  It makes my heart just swell with joy when my girls all play together.  Betsy and Emily are making tracks now, ever since Daddy laid down a new practice rule.  Yay, Dad!   The bookmobile ladies were there again this month, and the lady in charge featured my girls on the library website! What fun!

Well, I think that's it for September.  October is going to be packed with a 15th and a 6th birthday, special company, special meetings at church, playing outside (yay!!!), and the start of our homeschool speech/public speaking co-op.  See you around!

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psalm 107:21,22