twenty ten

some of our family photos of 2009... :)


"Hap-py New Year!!"... I can't believe it's 2010!!? But, I must say, 2009 was very good to us :) We had a great school year, and started off the next one with a bang. I've said it a million times, but I just love homeschooling. I think the biggest draw is that my control freak nature is humored, and I can be in charge of my kids' education. I really love being my kids' teacher, deciding what we are going to study and when we are going to study it. It is so awesome working around their interests and at their own pace. It's a challenge not getting into the whole competitive thing, but easier when I surround myself with like minded friends who see life from the same angle that I do :)

Tomorrow we are back to the grind and I'm so ready!! I love the simple things we do. Games are a staple over here. Right now Christian and I are suffering from a major Yahtzee addiction. Seriously, we play about 5-10 games a day...it's crazy. But it's been so good for his math skills...the kid can add and multiply those dice faster than I can now!! And we're getting Dylan started on 'Sorry'. It's a favorite but I'm learning my middle boy is a bit more competitive than I'd noticed...! So now alot of our time is spent learning how to be a good loser, and to play just for the fun of it :) Sometimes I wonder how many more little things I'd miss if I weren't here with them so many hours out of the day...?? And Shelbi just loves books. Takes after her mother. We spend a lot of our 'school' time just reading through a mound of different books...learning about everything under the sun. There's rarely too much method to my madness, but that's what I love about it. Shelbs is very obsessed with anything "princess' right now, and brings me her wordless coloring books saying, "read this to me, peese!". Which means I thumb through it and make up stories for the pictures :) She also loves to sit in my lap and write her name. She gets the biggest kick out of holding the pen with me and saying all the letters while we write. She has a lot more interest in those things than her brothers ever did at that age! So tomorrow I have big plans on our agenda. We'll start off the morning with a little independent work, clean up this filthy house and hopefully take down the Christmas decorations, tear into Christian's volcano kit that santa brought him, then enjoy the afternoon with either a few books or some baking...and of course a quick game of yahtzee. Really, what's not to love about 2010?!?