Time flies!

I can neither believe how quickly today has flown by nor how much we have gotten done! We had a 4-H meeting scheduled for this afternoon so I approached the day wanting to get things done early. I frequently have that plan, but rarely the follow through, lol. Today, however, Greyson actually slept through the night, came to bed for his morning milk at 7:00 am and then went back to sleep until 8:30!!! I think this is mixed good and bad news. The good news is that his canines have finally broken through - I'm pretty sure that's why he slept all night I'm hoping that means a happier baby all-around. The bad news is that he has yet another cold and that's probably why he slept in. That's ok though. It's much easier for me to have sympathy for a cold than for teething. I always forget about teething until those little white fangs burst through and then I notice how red and inflamed those poor gums are and how much it must hurt. So he gets sympathy after the fact. ;)

Anyway, I woke up well rested and was showered, dressed, and ready for the day by 8:00 am. That's about three hours earlier than usual, lol. When I don't sleep well (or get woken up every couple hours), it takes me forever to get going. Even if I'm up at 7, I'm not really awake until about 10. So we did Spelling at about 8:20, followed by Phonics (in which we finally are doing r-changed vowels. I really feel it has been a disadvantage to Cameron's reading that they have been ignored for so long. When words like "car" don't make phonetic sense, it really messes with your confidence and slows things up.), Grammar, and Math. We started a new poem in Grammar, Thirty Days Hath September, and though I've tried to teach this one before I think it might actually stick this time. It's so funny, when the Grammar Book says repeat something until you learn it, they do. I say that and they ignore me. Hmph. I wonder if I should tell them that tomorrow the Grammar Book says they need to clean their room. ;)

We finished off our day with Science where we read a little more of the first chapter of MPH Science 4A, did Activity 2, and then read a couple of library books. And can I just say that I love this version because they tell you exactly when in the text that each activity is relevant. I totally had to guess in the last book - not that it was hard but I would often forget to do them altogether. I also just realized that the workbook exercises are meant to be done as a while after the entire chapter is over. I had been trying to work them in throughout and then would get frustrated when there were things that hadn't been covered yet. Now I know. I guess it helps if you actually read the introductions, lol. Anyway, the chapter is on mass and volume and those being requirements of matter. The whole Matter thing is a little abstract for them, I think, but it's nice that the mass and volume stuff has come right after we finished the mass and distance stuff in math.

So we finished all of that and lunch by 11:30. It was really nice to have so much extra time in the day to just do what we wanted without the guilt of what we should be doing. One of the things that I found time to do (besides making my own fruit & cereal bars because I don't feel like going to the store to buy any, lol) was to read the premiere issue of a new magazine. It's called Secular Homeschooling and I very highly recommend it. I know many (most?) of my readers are not homeschooling secularly, but it's not an anti-religion publication. It's just anti the assumption that one must be a Christian to homeschool. And it's anti the assumption that a Christian who is homeschooling is doing so for religious reasons. There was something in the editorial about why she felt this magazine was needed and she said that she just wanted to be able to read an article about homeschooling and know that she wasn't going to be blind-sided halfway through by a "blatant assumption on the part of the writer that the reader, being a homeschooler, is naturally a Christian." That totally sums it up and is, actually, a big relief in my reading. I do sometimes have to brace myself when I read homeschool articles and blogs, knowing that I am the outcast. The outsider among outsiders. But of course, I've heard many conservative Christians say that's how they feel everyday, but you know... it's just nice to feel comfortable without having to be apologetic about it. Which is not how I feel writing about this, in case you couldn't tell, lol. Sorry! ;) Anyway, there are some sample articles here, in case you are interested. I feel very fortunate that I caught wind of this publication when it was just in the planning stages and was able to get a charter subscription. They've already sold out of the premiere issue and are doing a reprint.

OK, I must get dinner started. Happy Homeschooling to all. :)