School

Lila planted herself in the back yard last week.

I put the pin on my tin box. -- Webster's Blue Back Speller

School has been going very well for the past couple of weeks. I mean, the kids have had their moments of defiance and whining, but nothing major. We have managed to stay up-to-date on Lila's homework since catching up a week or two ago, and I have got Eli doing his coloring homework in stages, with minimal complaining.

It's a tough life in Pre-K, let me tell you. [ That's sarcasm.] He likes most of his school work, but when it comes to coloring their little Letter of the Week books, you'd think I was asking him to carve the White House out of stone!

Since Lila's teacher conference a couple of months ago, we've been putting extra effort into handwriting and math facts. Both areas have seen notable improvement. She was only able to complete about 9 math facts in two minutes at the beginning of the school year, but she did 39 today! And she's even gotten an E (for Exceeds Expectations) on a couple of handwriting grades. Yay!

We have only ONE more classroom day and ONE more homeschool day until Thanksgiving Break begins. We (the kids and I) get the whole week of Thanksgiving off! Tomorrow is the Pre-K Thanksgiving Feast at lunchtime. It will be a picnic on the floor, with juice boxes and sandwiches.

In the afternoon, Lila's class is having an Author Share. That's where the kids get to show off the story they've been writing and illustrating all trimester. It will be a full day, especially since I plan to do a BodyPump class before any of that!

The kids have also been spending a lot of time outside for this past week. The weather has been unseasonably warm (after being unseasonably cold the previous week) and I've hardly seen them outside of mealtimes and school. This evening, I was pretty sure that they'd decided to live in the back yard, rather than take a bath.