River's Edge Urban Academy

Homeschooling 4 kids ages 9, 6, 4 and baby while working as a postpartum nurse and lactation counselor.

Saturday, November 08, 2003

Well we had a great week! Dare I say - we have found our groove!! We don't do formal school on Fridays as that is the day for playgroup and/or homeschool co-op. Our day started with J's 5yo check up. She is growing and developing fine (of course I allready knew this) but we need to get her vision checked after January when we will start having vision coverage. We are so fortunate to have found out now that we need to watch her vision as dh and I have 20/20 and I was going to forgo the vision coverage that I need to sign up for next week! She also got 3 shots with no tears!! She did cry a little at the 4th shot (it was MMR which hurts more) but again impressed me with how tough she is. I haven't tried to "make" her this way, (I doubt you could)she has always had a very high pain tolerance. I hope that serves her well in the far distant future when she has her babies!
Anyway!!! We didin't go to playgroup because of the dr. appt but had one of our friends from co-op over for lunch.
While that friend was here Jossy "read" to her from her current favorite library book! I have been seeing her doing so much "reading" lately. She has also made a leap in her "sounding-out" skills. It used to be that when sounding out a three letter word she would do it very choppily and forget the first sound by the time she got the last sound, but now is blending so much more smoothly and is getting more automatic in her recall of letter sounds. (She still has a couple toughies) I am really proud! I worry sometimes about my ability to teach my kids, but she helps me have faith that they have the intelligence to learn things on their own, with guidance, rather than having to be "taught".
We had a great time at co-op in the afternoon. The kids played really well together and also did reasonably well during the lessons. They glazed their ceramics projects first and had to take turns at the table. I think this is good for J as she is not accustomed to waiting in lines, etc and can use a little practice in patience.
After ceramics another mom gave a lesson on Sea Monkeys. Poor thing! She hatched sea monkeys twice and twice they were killed by curious children so our kids got to prepare the water for another batch and learned about the things they need to live, where they live and looked at pictures of them on the computer.
The thing I like best about co-op though, is how nice the other moms are. We hold very similar parenting philosophies and values in general. It is great to be in a group where you can help and guide others' children when they need it and trust that others will help guide yours. With five toddlers that is a very good thing!
Anyways, a homeschooling week I can feel very good about. Hopefully, I can take what I have learned this week and use it to continue having fun, productive days homeschooling!

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