What the Rain Brings

Rain can bring changes and surprises. At our house, (a 1950's beach bungalow) it brings an exterior door that swells and needs to be slammed shut, so much for teaching the kids NOT to slam doors, a garage that leaks through all three of its doors, and a muddy chicken coop. The rain also brings a day or two of a perfect excuse to stay indoors and just "be", conversation at the dinner table about where thunder and lightning come from, and for a few months a green front lawn (we don't ever water the front yard).

The rain also brings us some visitors. Tristan found this very large worm under a board. Normally any worm we find is skinny and under three inches long. This one was a whopper! Since it was so large, we could get a really good look at how it's muscles moved it around, and then we debated on where we should release it. We thought about the garden, thought for a moment about giving it to the girls to eat, but in the end we put it in the compost bin. I wonder if it will get any bigger?

An October Day at Our House

Today was a pretty productive Monday. I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning, and after that I started the laundry. The dishes had gotten away from me last night, and I could not face them this morning either, so I got the kids dressed and we started school. Tristan did his reading lesson, with lots of moaning and groaning. This makes my heart sad because he loves to be read to and loves to sit down and look through books, and I am such a bookworm, I hope, hope, hope it is just a five year old phase that he will grow out of. Next was his math lesson, which he really likes. There are lots of manipulatives that came with the curriculum and he always wants to make up stories after the lesson using them. Finally he did his handwriting for the day, which he is always happy to do as well. Then it was Piper's turn to learn her letter of the day, which was "M". After our lessons I switched the laundry and we all headed to the backyard. The kids played and intermittenly helped me plant our winter crop of veggies. Broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, arugala, cabbage, cilantro were all started today. I am grateful to the Southern California weather for this reason and this reason only: I can garden all year long and get lots and lots of practice. Otherwise I would be looking forward to the cold winter setting in right now. After lunch, which was peanut butter and honey sandwiches for the kids and leftover pasta for Sam and I, I headed to Trader Joe's for the weeks groceries. Then home for dinner which was my made up creation of some sort of cheesy chicken chili. I tend to make up a lot of stuff for dinner with whatever we had. Anyway, this one was really yummy, and for desert...apple pie. Now it is evening and I must head back and finish my laundry.

First Books

Tristan has read two books all by himself! We bought two sets of the Bob Books. They are great books, and has boosted his confidence alot. Here is a picture of him with his books.

Beginning our Homeschool

B stands for /b/ in /b/, /b/ bat. That is how Tristan's first homeschool lesson began. We are starting with phonics. So far we are have worked our way up to R. After that we will start working on sounding out three letter words. We also have started a handwriting program. I love how each morning he asks if we can start school. I am also very glad that we don't have to get dressed or drive or hurry up and rush through breakfast to start school. We are on our own time and that is just fine with us. Piper shadows most of the lessons, but I am not expecting her to sit through everything just yet.