Full Speed Ahead!

We are officially in full Fall swing!  I'm hoping to give the girls a BIG push to the next level.  Victoria has begun speech therapy at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.  We have an excellent ballet teacher that understands and works beautifully with my girls nudging them to be their very best, resulting in leaps in their confidence level and self esteem.  They both feel so pretty at ballet (and of course they are)!  I have found wonderful support for both girls at Precision Gymnastics but especially for Victoria.  One lovely coach has taken special interest in Victoria from the time she came home.  She's even worked to learn a little Chinese!  With her expertise, we are taking advantage of her skills and relationship with Tory in lieu of physical therapy.  After just two short sessions, Victoria has gained a lot of ground in balance, coordination and upper body strength.  The big bonus is she shows much more trust both at the gym and at home. We are very blessed to have so many state of the art services in our backyard!

Some time ago, my daughter-in-law, Tawnya offered me some very wise words concerning homeschooling.  I had been discouraged and what seemed to be her lack of progress.  Tawnya said just keep going.  Don't stay in one place too long.  Keep moving along.  She reminded me that the basics are repeated often throughout the elementary years.  So my inner mantra during our school time - patience and keep moving.  Well, guess what.  Progress is obvious!  I'm so pleased how things are going!  School is no longer painful.  Tory and Elaina are happier.  They are both progressing very well!

I've begun Tory's reading lessons and she is very eager and loves it!  - by the way - 'see' was maybe her first English word!  It's certainly her favorite and most used!

As for Elaina, she can't get enough!  She is wearing me out.  Her questions are constant and she retains it like a sponge.  She's got to know everything about everything!  Sid the Science Kid is her favorite program and truth be told I'm pretty fond of him myself.  I love how is Grandma is cool.  She is my mentor.  :-)

We took a little road trip over the Labor Day holiday to visit Roswell and Alamogordo, NM.  I had incorporated a short unit study on the planets, rockets (Goddard), map skills and desert habitats.  She was very excited and our littlest explorer was ready to hit the trail.  Could this be the same kid that didn't want to get any dirt on her at her first camp trip and refused to sit on the ground insisting to be carried and had to be made to hold a doodlebug?  She has no problem now getting dirty, holding worms, feeding goats and hiking.  

What fun that I get to keep playing with littles even though my first batch of monkeys are all grown up!  I think I feel a road trip on the horizon... Monkey 1 and 2, y'all in?