Fall is here!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted, it is fall here and everything is getting busy as the temperature drops. The leaves have turned yellow - and while I appreciate the golden hue, it just doesn't compare to the magnificent fall colors of New Hampshire. I do love the beauty of Alaska and being near Andy's family (they are so kind and fun to be with), but my heart still longs for New Hampshire- especially this time of year.

So, what have we been up to during my absence from the blogging world? Well, school began the third week of August for us. We are still home schooling - here is our school table which holds our work for that day.

We start with Circle Time in which we include the boys. We then spend the rest of the morning focusing on Language Arts (sustained silent reading, reading aloud, spelling and grammar) and math. On Mondays and Thursdays we spend the afternoon exploring science, Tuesdays and Fridays its history, and Wednesday is arts and crafts. It's working out for us nicely.

Here is Katherine with her reading award - she officially finished her two-year reading program and was quite please with herself. She is an avid reader (just like her parents) and is flying through her gifted second-grade reading program. She'll probably start her gifted third-grade reading program in December if she keeps up at this pace.

Sarah is doing really well in her reading too. She's about half-way through her first grade reading program, she'll start the gifted second grade reading program probably about the time Katherine is finishing it. She is getting more confident as she practices her reading aloud to me, and is enjoying it more. Reading can still be a lot of work for her, but she's so proud when she finishes one of her reading steps. It's fun!

We also enrolled the girls in a two day "Horse Course" which they LOVED! We must have watched Spirit about 20 times after that course! Here is Sarah...

And here is Katherine...

Just in case you missed it - they are both adorned with the largest smile I've ever seen on their faces! Both girls either want a house right across the street from Aunt Suzi or a house with a barn and at least two horses. Both options sound fine to me too, but with my allergy to hay, a house across the street from Suzi is probably the better choice!

So, besides school and the occasional horse course, we have Family Night on Mondays, Sarah has ballet and I have Activity Days (I'm the new leader for girls 8-11 in our ward) on Tuesdays, the girls and I have Brownies on Wednesdays (I'm the new Brownie troop leader), Katherine has basketball practice on Thursdays, we visit the librarys for story time for the boys on Fridays, Saturdays are basketball games, and then Sunday is church. I don't know how I'm going to juggle it all when the boys start having activities too!

So that's what's going on with us. Life is good, life is full, we are blessed.