Slowing Down

Tis the season to slow down our school work and focus more on spending some extra time on the celebrations of the month. Right now, we are keeping up with our language and math studies through next week but the other subjects will pick back up in January. Fortunately, we've wrapped up certain projects....like the frog dissection. :o)

Along with academics, Janelle has been busy practicing monologues and songs for 2008 auditions at local theatres. The soccer champ turned drama queen hopes to get a spot in either 'Charlotte's Web', 'Schoolhouse Rock' or many of the other children's musicals in the area. But, this is all about to pause for a few weeks as well. Jordyn is beginning to read 3-letter words! We're working in a relaxed way on some basic phonics, and she is doing well. Her attention span has grown this year, so that's a big contributor to her success.

Being indoors more has got all of the children in antsy and funky moods. We don't mind the cold, it's the rain and muddy ground that has us using the basement as a playground as well as learning area. Oh well, par for the course....

As part of our celebration, each evening (or thereabouts) we pause for an Advent focus. This year we've decided to use the Proclamation Ornaments instead of doing a nightly story reading. Usually we try to add some singing since it adds to the activity and keeps Josiah interested! So far, so good. We'll see how it goes until Christmas morning.