SwapTime Again

I'm excited to participate in another Mamarazzi swap! This time the theme is "Guilty Pleasures"... not the dirty kind. Just the kind that are pampering or indulgent. I'm pretty sure my box will have chocolate of some kind in it! ;-) When the swap is done I'll post pix of my package!

Back to School

Well, its back to school time. Joe has been taking the bus to his developmental preschool for a week now. He still cries a bit when he is getting on and off but the aids reassure me that he is fine during the ride itself.
I'm trying to have alot of "fieldtrips" for Nate this year as we embark on our kindergarten experience together. In the last couple of weeks we've gone to the zoo twice, the library a couple of times (once was for a Kindermusik class), the park and to the apple orchard. While we aren't doing alot of sit down school yet we are doing alot of "sneaky" learning things. Sometimes Nate does better when he doesn't realize he is learning. ;-) Its a work in progress.

Time4Learning

So Nate turned five this summer and is in kindergarten this year. I worked with him on some preschool stuff last year but was not very consistent. I blame it on being pregnant and then having a newborn... but if I was honest I'd have to admit that part of it was laziness. And Nate is (and I say this unbiasedly) very smart for his age so it is not like he is behind and I should be helping catch up or anything.
Anyway... I'm wanting to get down to business this year, no more slacker mom for me. So when I got the opportunity to try a trial membership to Time4Learning.com I was interested right away. So we have had a couple of weeks to try it out and have been able to get a feel for it.
Nate has taken to it really well. He still has days when he resists doing something labeled "learning" but overall he seems to enjoy the lessons and activities. When he is logged in he chooses from the subjects ( Language Arts, Learning Activity Extensions, Math and Science) and within those there are sub categories to choose from and then the lessons and activities are available for him to do. There are quizzes for him to do following the lessons on each topic to test him. He has done really well. Nate seems to have an amazing memory, I'm hoping that continues!
I like that the parent/teacher can login and check progress and print reports, etc. so that even though I'm not sitting with him watching the whole time I can see how well he is doing on the lessons and quizzes. I do not really want my five year old to be doing all of his school online though. The membership fee is around $20 per month. I would probably be more interested if it were cheaper or if they offered different levels of memberships, ei. if we could subscribe to only certain subjects.
As with any program or curriculum there are pros and cons. There is alot to like about Time4Learning. But I just don't think its right for us right now. Maybe in the future. We'll have to wait and see.

Womanly Wisdom

Thursday some women from my church gathered for a Ladies Learning Day. We met in the morning at a friend's house. The kids played outside, supervised by the older ones. And us "grownups" gathered inside for our time together. A few women prepared workshops/lessons on a subject that they were knowledgeable about and shared with the rest of us. We learned about fashion: how to dress for your body type (complete with a fashion show! ;-), there was a demonstration on how to sew a tote bag (HERE is a link to a similar bag tutorial - pictured), scrapbook 101 & doodling, importance of teaching our kids foriegn languages to break down cultural barriers, and a little about gardening.
What a blessing it was to share that time with other women and learn from one another! I had hesitated in leading a lesson for this meeting because I didn't feel like I was an "expert" on anything. But after spending the day together I realized that none of us are really experts but we each know some things that are unique to us that we can share. So, when we have another Ladies Learning Day I will be bold and choose to step up and share a little of what I know. Thanks to those ladies that were willing to share this time around! Love you all!

** update: I made my own tote bag! I'm so psyched and proud! Check it out!!Complete with pockets and everything! This was my first attempt at making a bag and while it is not flawless I think it was a pretty good final product. I'm currently using it as a diaper bag and loving it!

"Then they (the older women) can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:4-5

picture imperfect

While we were at my parents' place tonight my sister snapped a few shots of my growing family. None of my kids were in the mood to cooperate outside in the heat for these pictures. Christine was crying, Joe was squirming and Nate was whining.
Out of the 25+ pix that Lauren took these were some of the few decent ones. At least we weren't stuck in a department store studio with a stranger taking our picture and me being embarrassed by my kids. It was no big deal and I'm actually fairly happy with these couple of pix that managed to turn out alright. Thats all I wanted anyway.
Aren't we cute? ;-)