Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

I hope your family had a wonderful Christmas.  We sure did!  I was the first one to wake up this morning....before 7am.   I had some time to myself before the kids began to stir.  Once everyone was up we started in on our traditions.  The girls wanted to play their new Mario game.   James asked them if they planned on opening their presents.  It was a nice scenery. 

We do not do the Santa thing at our house.  Christmas is about Christ.  The presents and festivities are part of celebrating Christ for us.  So the girls were obviously excited once they started opening them, but the presents are not the focus for them either.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, James read the birth story from the Bible, we prayed and then the girls began.  They have been playing, sewing and crafting ever since.  In a little while we will do another one of our Christmas day traditions.....go to Waffle House. 

So another Christmas is basically past.  I hope you have taken time today to thank Jesus for the blessings in your life.  Without Christ there really is no Christmas.  He is what Christmas is all about, whether our culture wants to admit it or not!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Happy Birthday Lulu


Lulu is 8 today!!!   Where have the years gone?  I can still remember the nervousness I felt on the way to the hospital.  She was my first baby and even though I knew what to expect...I had no idea what to expect.  When she was born she was breathing three times faster than normal.  She was moved to NICU and spent her first seven days there.  On Christmas day she had two seizures and was put on medication.  James and I were scared as all parents would be, but I never felt out of control fear.  God's peace was with us from the very beginning.  I knew God would heal her and He did.  She is perfect!

Lulu is my sensitive girl.  She wears her emotions on her sleeve.  She loves books, animals (especially horses), drawing and swimming.  She is always eager to help others, not so much when it comes to her room though.  Her sisters adore her even though they do not always act like they do.  She is a great friend.  Lulu loves the Lord and her church.  I am so thankful to have her as my daughter.

Lord, I thank you for Lulu.  Thank you for her sensitive spirit.  Use her to show your love and compassion to hurting people.  Help us to raise her to know and love You.  Help me to teach her to be a woman of God.  Thank you for her health.  Keep her close to you.  Guard her heart and her mind from the things of this world.  May she remain innocent in Your eyes.  Lord she is Yours and only lent to us so that we can help guide her to Your will. Bless her Lord.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

She did it!



Lulu took 1st place in her individual score this month for JBQ!!!!!!

We are so proud of her.  She has really come a long way from last year.  She not only got 1st, but she had a perfect day as well.  That means she answered all questions that she was able to in every match.  She did great.  You can tell by that smile that she was pretty proud of herself too!

Two Afternoons Free...In My House?

I cannot believe it but we have experienced two afternoons free!  Today and yesterday the girls were up, fed, clothed and ready to go.  We were able to get all work done by lunchtime.  That is huge for us.  And Lil only flushed one pair of panties and two pieces of chalk down the toilet

She came in the school room and told me her pink panties were gone.  I didn't think too much of it since she had purple panties on.  Then I remembered a pink pair in the bathroom.  I figured she threw them away.  When I took her to use the potty a little later she pointed in the potty and told me again that her pink panties were gone.  She never really put things in the potty as an young toddler....when I would have expected her too.  Now that she is almost three she does.  Sometimes I wonder how she comes up with the things she does.  Thank the Lord that our toilet still flushes fine.  They must have gone on through. 

Anyway, back to getting school done around lunchtime.  The girls were even excited to be done earlier.  And their attitudes were so much better.  That doesn't mean there was no complaining, but not like when it's 3:30 and we're still at the table.  I just hope having a couple weeks off for Christmas does not monkey wrench us.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Christmas Time Already

Oh how I wish I had everything ready...  

It is so hard to believe that we are this close to Christmas.  We have lots of birthdays this time of year as well as all the Christmas things.  So life here is busy.  The girls had their Christmas program at church last week.  Tonight and Sunday night they are singing in the Adult program too.  Next weekend we have a Christmas party in Louisville, then Christmas weekend at home and the last weekend of December will be Christmas in Ohio.  Add a few birthdays in there and two the first week of January and we are pretty wiped out.  I was able to get a pretty decent picture of them last week after their program.



They all three did such a good job during their programs.  The older girls sang and played bells.  Lil sang, did lots of little motions and then had to make a dramatic exit to the bathroom !  I was just glad she did not pee on the stage. 

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Panties on the up and up

Lil has been in panties for three days now!!!  I am beyond excited.  She is doing great with the pee-pee part; not so great with the poopy part.  But I can deal with that.  She does that a lot less during the day.  I am still putting her in a pull-up for naps and bedtime.  She usually goes poopy in her pull-up after nap.  I am hoping that the more she uses the potty on a regular basis she will start pooping there too.


This may not be what you were hoping to read about......but this is grand news in our house!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Past Few Weeks

I have been meaning to post some pictures of the last few weeks.  Here is a slide show of some things the girls have done.





Last month we went on a field trip to the Post Office and the Newspaper Office.  The girls had a lot of fun.  I forgot to take pictures at the Post Office.  At the Newspaper Office they were able to see the press running and a coloring book printing.  Each child got to take one home with them. 

We also went to a Fall Festival at a church in town.  They had tons of fun.  There were several blow up games, pony rides, a petting zoo, popcorn, hot dogs, candy.... the works.  This church really did it right. 

We do not celebrate Halloween.  Thankfully, this year our church hosted a Family Fun Night.  The girls were able to dress up and go to church for a night of games and candy.  Lulu was a princess, Monkey was Miriam (Moses' sister) and Lil was Elmo!  The girls had a great time playing with their friends.  We also had a chili cook-off to raise money for BGMC.   BGMC is a missionary outreach within the Assemblies in which the children of our churches raise all the money.  They have little "Buddy Barrels" that we put spare change into each month.  The money goes to help missionaries buy material to use with children.  It is a great program and really teaches kids the importance of supporting missions.

Next up was Monkey's birthday.  Monkey, Lulu, and I made her birthday banner.  The girls drew pictures on it too.  It was really cute.  Lulu wants one for her birthday too.  She made her cake and it was delicious.  Very rich, but delicious!  

So that gives you an idea of what we have been up to the past few weeks.  Of course we had school in there too.  Lulu started multiplication this week.  Just an intro.  She is getting really good at cursive writing.  Most people that see her handwriting say it is better than theirs.  That makes her feel good.  Monkey is really improving in her reading.  I'm so proud of her.  She is also doing much better with narration.  In Science we have studied Mercury the past two weeks.  The girls know a lot about Mercury....ask them next time you see them.  They got to make a model of Mercury out of flour, salt, water and a few other items.  That was fun.  This week we have moved on to Venus.

This Saturday is going to be their combined birthday party with their friends.  We have rented a blow up jumping castle with a slide.  It should be lots of fun.  The girls cannot wait.  I'll try to get the pictures up a little faster this time.....

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Six Today!!!


Happy Birthday Monkey!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe she is already six.  I know we, as parents, say that every year.  But time passes by so quickly when you add children to your family.  It seemed like my first nine months of being pregnant with Lulu took forever.  Now my 'middler' is six.  She was my longest labor...36 1/2 hours.  I would do it all over again to have her sweet spirit in our home. 

For those of you that know her personally, you know that Monkey is very determined.  She has a mind of her own.  Sometimes this is good for her and other times not so good.  But when I look at her I see a strong lady for God developing.  She knows what she believes, what she wants and often times how she is going to get it.  I can see God using her in mighty ways as she grows older and more mature.  She fears very few things.  She does not give up easily.  She is also a protector.  I remember a year ago when a girl bigger than her that she did not know took something away from Lil.  Monkey put her hands on her hips and in her best mother tone said, "You don't take things from my baby sister!".   She even told her twice....

Monkey is also my child that you can find strolling around the house singing praise songs to her Lord that she herself has made up for Him.  I know that Jesus smiles every time Monkey sings to Him.  She loves her family, loves her church and is quick to let us know.

So today is her day.  She woke up this morning and sang, "Yeah...no school today, no school today!"  Lulu and I even did her chores for her.  She was very excited about that too.  In a little while we will start her cake.  She wants to make it.  Tonight our family is coming over to celebrate with her.  In a couple weeks her and Lulu are having a big party with their friends to celebrate both of their birthdays.  I will put some pictures up of that.  We are renting a jumping castle with a slide.  It should be lots of fun!


Lord I thank you for every day you have given me with Monkey.  I thank you that when she was born she was healthy.  You have always provided for her and I know you always will.  Thank you for choosing me to be her mother.  Even on the hard days I give you thanks.  She is yours and you have only lent her to me.  Help me to raise her for you.  Help me to know how to teach her, what and when.  Help me Lord to model for her a godly wife and mother.  Help me to love her with unconditional love.  She is a blessing and help me to treat her as such.  In Jesus' name,  Amen.

Friday, November 2, 2007

This One's For You...Stacy

Well it's 1:00am and I can't sleep.  I have not blogged in awhile so I thought I would at least say hi to Stacy.  I just finished typing out some notes for our second round of JBQ matches this Saturday.  I get more nervous than the girls do.  They have studied hard and know the next set of questions well.  This time they will have 142 possible questions to pull from.  Each individual match is 20 questions - 15 questions from the new set and 5 questions from the old set.  There are four sets of 72 questions.  So by the end of the season there will be 288 questions about the Bible that my girls will know.  This is just B league.  In A league they have the 288 10-point questions plus 20-point and 30-point questions.
Anyway it is pretty amazing to watch these young kids recite details from the Bible at the speed of light sometimes.  Sometimes I can't even hear what they say they buzz in and answer so quickly.  For example one of the questions for this set is:
       "As described in Hebrews, what was the ark of the                         covenant?"  The answer is:  "The sacred box which contained         the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, the gold jar of             manna, and Aaron's rod that budded"
The kids know this entire thing at the word "As".  Pretty amazing huh?

After the quiz match on Saturday our hectic schedule begins.  We have three birthdays in November.  My Monkey will be 6 on Tuesday.  Where did the years go?   I cannot believe how much she has grown and learned in the past few years.  We are having a combined birthday party for Monkey and Lulu this year in the middle of November.  It should be lots of fun with lots of friends!  Then Thanksgiving and then December.  We have four birthdays in December.  Lulu will be 8.  I will be 31.  Of course Christmas is right there in between Lulu's birthday(23rd) and mine(28th).  Then James and Lil have their birthday on January 6th.  Needless to say the next two month span about wipes us out.....physically and financially !  Lil will be 3 by the way.  I am hoping that she matures greatly when she turns 3......
So there is somewhat of an update on us.  The girls are chugging along with their studies.  We just finished learning about Mercury, the Vikings, a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, etc.   Lulu will be starting multiplication next week.  It should make for an exciting week...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Weather Field Trip

This week is Fall Break for public school kids is our area.  We did not take the whole week off, but have definitely had a light week.  One day the girls went on a field trip.  Bill Meck, a weatherman, does a presentation to school classes.  He did our group of homeschoolers too.  The girls had a really good time.  He has the kids come up to act out different weather situations he is describing.  Lulu got to play the part of a water droplet that formed with other droplets to make a cloud.  Monkey was a lightening bolt.  They had lots of fun and learned a lot.
 


Thursday, October 11, 2007

JBQ

This past weekend my girls competed in their first JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) meet of the season.  James and I are coaching their team this year.  Our team is all girls: 2 second graders and 3 first graders.  These girls did great.  They came in 2nd place as a team!  I was so proud of all of them.

This will be Lulu's 3rd year quizzing.  She was very reluctant to buzz in the first two years.  But this year is a different story.  She got four perfect quiz outs and 30 points in the other match.  She ended up placing 4th in individual high scorers.  We were so excited for her.  She was grinning from ear to ear.  A quiz out means they get 6 questions correct in one match.  After that they are out of the match for that round.  This eliminates one child dominating the whole match. 

This is Monkey's first year quizzing.  She did great!  She scored in every match and even got one perfect quiz out!  She ended up placing 11th in individual high scorers.   Not bad for a 5 year old.... 

I am so excited to see what God has in store for my girls this year through JBQ.  They are learning details about God's word and memorizing scripture.  It was definitely a proud Momma moment.  I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Mnemonic Phrases

Our study of Astronomy began this week.  We are using Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright.  The girls really enjoyed the reading this week.  But the best part was making up mnemonic phrases for learning the names and order of the planets.  The book gives an example - "My very early morning just started under Nancy's pancakes." 


Lulu came up with - "Miss Vent eats my jelly soup under Nellie's pug."


Monkey came up with - "Madilyn Violin eats monkies, jumps some underwear, next please!"


The two minds of my oldest girls.....  Any of you that know them personally -- true to their natures!

By the way, the order of the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.  And with these funny phrases the girls almost have them down.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

More September Fun

We took the girls fishing at Salato.  It was such a beautiful day.  Our first fall day....which is now but a memory.  It is always so much fun to see the girls squirm and squeal over the fish.  Lil was able to catch her first fish.  She caught two actually!


She was so proud of her little fish.  Lulu also caught two fish.  Monkey didn't catch one but she did hold the fish and put it back in the water.



After our fishing, we went to see the animals.  Shawna, Doug and "Little Man" showed up and walked around with us.  That was a great suprise!  It ended up being a very nice afternoon.


This past weekend we went camping again at Natural Bridge.  We had a great time.  We stayed three nights.  The creek is always a highlight for the girls.


But we also enjoy hiking and seeing all the wonderful things God has created.  We hiked to Sky Bridge, Hansen's Arch and Angel Windows this trip.  The girls are such troopers.  We even let Lil hike back out from the trails this time.  She did really well.




Saturday, September 15, 2007

September Events

I cannot believe it is already the middle of September.  We just finished our first six weeks of school.  The girls are doing really well this year.  Lulu is improving on her math skills by leaps and bounds compared to last year.  RightStart Mathematics is a great program.  Very parent involved, but great for the child that does not like flash cards and the same worksheet after another.  Her handwriting is much better as well.  It is really neat to see your children progress from year to year and know that you have a hand in that progression.  God is so good to us to allow us to keep our children home.  Monkey is beginning to get in the flow with her reading skills.  She read her first two-syllable words yesterday.  You should have seen her face.  She was so proud of herself.  I think it was a real confidence booster for her to be able to read words like gossip, napkins, contact, etc.  And she loves math.  She really understands numbers and picks up new concepts really quickly. 

Anyway...back to the point of September events.  We went to the Museum Center in Cincinnati on Labor Day again this year.  The girls (and us too) really love the museums there.  They learn so much and have a great time no matter how many times we go.  This time they took a friend with them so that made it even more special.   Here are some photos from our trip:


The girls like to play at the diner.  James and I get fed really good there.
 

Our future construction worker.......Daddy says "No Way!"


Inside the ice cave...


Lulu is working a bird puzzle with her friend.


Lil is climbing up the inside of a tree trunk to play in "The Woods".

Another fun thing we have done so far this month is go to a family reunion in Ohio.  We were able to see some family that we only see once a year so that was nice.  The girls always love to get to stay at Mammaw's!


Then we had our Fall Kick-off for Co-Op.  We go to an apple orchard after all the orientation stuff.  It is always a fun day.  The girls are so excited for Co-Op to start on Monday.  Lulu and Monkey will be in the same class this year.  And Lil is going to go ahead and start in the 3-yr old class.  I wish I could be there to see Monkey and Lil's faces as this will be a big day for both of them.  I am teaching two computer classes this year for the high schoolers so I will be at the library for most of co-op. 

Having fun on the big slide at the Apple Orchard.
 
Today we are taking the girls fishing and next weekend is camping........more September fun!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Byzantine Empire

This year in History we are studying the Middle Ages.  We are currently looking at the Byzantine Empire.  Today we talked about Empress Theodora.  She married Justinian, the Just Emperor.  The girls enjoyed talking about her today, partly because when she was young she worked in the circus as a clown.  Here is a picture of my two "Empresses" in their crowns.

We just went to the circus this past Saturday.  The girls had a great time.  They got to see the animals up close before it started.  We like elephants!

Friday, August 10, 2007

One Week Down!

We just finished our first week of school for the year!  Yippeeee!!!!!!
I think we are really going to enjoy this year.  We are having so much fun already.  I am very impressed with RightStart Mathematics so far.  Lulu is enjoy math much more than she did last year.  There is a lot less writing.  Monkey is doing great with it too.  She is very mathematical minded.  She should only know how to enter up to 7 on her abacus.  The other day she was playing with it after her lesson and she moved the first row (which is 10) over and two over on the second row and said, "Look Mom, this would be 12."  She really picks up on numbers quickly.  (Which as a math lover myself makes me very happy)

Phonics lessons are moving along too.  Lulu is learning how to code words and recognize the number of syllables in each word.  She picked up reading so quickly and so well that we have not done a lot of actual phonics.  So I think this will be good for her and just increase her spelling abilities.
Lil has done.......somewhat okay!   Boy can she make things challenging at times.  Especially when she does not take her nap

Overall we have had a great week.  Wednesday was very nice for Mom.....because Daddy took the day off work and gave Mommy a day off of everything!  I left the house around 9:00am with no children in tow and did not return until almost 5:00pm.  WOW!  That has not happened in....almost 8 years.   It always amazes me though how I feel so awkward when I am by myself.  It is so rare that it almost cannot be a treat for me.  I just feel like I am forgetting someone.  Oh....and while I was gone Daddy did school with the girls.   That was a real treat for them!  I was kind of worried that he would outdo me though and that they would request him after that.   So far I've been safe.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Camping at Natural Bridge

We were able to go camping a few times in the spring and early summer.  Now it is too hot for me to tent camp  !    Our family really enjoys camping.  The girls sleep so well it amazes me.  I think they get so worn out for all the hiking and exploring that they do.  We went to Natural Bridge both Mother's Day and Father's Day weekends.  Here we are at the top of the bridge.  I still think it is awesome that my 7 and 5 year olds will hike as far as they do.  They even have their own camel backs....so they are carrying water, snacks, a notepad and colored pencils on their backs.  Go girls!!!

 Just ignore the sweaty mom in the photo!

My husband is the trooper though.  He leads us fearlessly up the trails all with Lil spilling water down his neck, reaching for leaves on trees and falling asleep only to become dead weight.


Our campsite that we get is right on the creek.  I think this is the highlight of the girls' weekend.


Now we just have to wait for fall.........

Homeschool Open House 2007

I found the Homeschool Open House on Tiany's blog.  So here's a little about me - I have been married for nine years to a great man.  We have three precious girls ages 7, 5, and 2.  This will be our 4th official year homeschooling.  It is such a blessing to know that my girls do not have to get up and leave early in the mornings.  Having them home is peace and, I believe, the way God intended it to be. 
A typical school day in our house is changing this year.  Last year Lil would sleep for 3-4 hours at a time.  We would do most if not all of our school work while she was asleep.  Now that she is 2 1/2, she sleeps a lot less.  She will be up for the bulk of school this year.  My plan is to get up between 6:30-7:00am to have my time with the Lord before the girls wake up.  I am going to get them an alarm and wake them up at 8am.  Then we can eat breakfast, get ready and do chores.  Bible time will be first with all three girls.  Then as I am doing math, phonics and language arts with Lulu, Monkey will be doing activity bags or something else to keep Lil occupied.  When Lulu is finished, Monkey will do her work while Lulu occupies Lil.  After lunch Lil will go down for her nap and the other two will do (one designated days, not all of these every day) history, science, art, music, unit studies, and whatever else comes up.
I previously posted about what curriculum we will be using this year.  You can look at it here
I do not schedule our day to the minute.  We have too much that changes around here.  But I am going to try to be more disciplined with our start time this year.  That is where the alarm comes in for the girls.  They are excited about having it too.  I think if they can get used to getting up, dressing, brushing teeth, etc. when the alarm goes off it will help with a lot of the slow-moving.  I am very flexible too if we do not get something done in the day that I intend for us to.  There is always another day....  Homeschooling provides us with so many freedoms.  I personally enjoy taking advantage of them.
We do the majority of our school work in our school room.   We have a small house and five people can really acquire a lot of junk  stuff.  Toward the end of last school year we decided to put all three girls in one bedroom and turn the smaller bedroom into our school room.  This has helped tremendously with the appearance of the rest of our house.  The girls also like that all of their materials are in one place and easy to get to.  We will read on the couch or on my bed.  But before they did their work at the kitchen table after we lugged books, notebooks, art supplies, pencils and all our other stuff to the kitchen.  Much better the new way!
I hope you have enjoyed a look at Potter's Hand Academy.  Make sure you visit the other blogs too.  So far the response has been great.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Let Them Work

I have not always been the best housekeeper.....  Our house has always been clean in the sense that you would not find food, dirty plates throughout the house, laundry all over the place, etc.  However, we have always had dust and your general clutter on countertops and that sort of thing.  Well....no more!  (At least for the past three weeks)  
I have started a new cleaning routine and this time I included the girls.  They are 7, 5, and 2.  Some of our clutter issues have developed because we did not always enforce the cleaning up after yourself rule.  But now each girl has her own chores for each day of the week.  This has been a huge help to me in that I do not have to do it all now and it has given them a real sense of ownership.  Lulu's jobs are vacuuming, helping with laundry, emptying the dishwasher, changing her bed sheets, cleaning her room and the school room.  Monkey's jobs are mopping, emptying my laundry basket into the laundry sorter, cat's food and water, changing her bed sheets, cleaning her room and the school room.  Lil helps me dust, helps Monkey change their bed sheets, cleans her room and helps put away toys.  Two days a week they all help with the bathroom and the kitchen.
So far so good.  No more cluttered counter tops in the kitchen.  The bathroom is always clean.  The floors are clean consistently.  And the girls are learning that they are a part of this family.  Jesus came to earth and acted as a servant.  You never found him laid back waiting for someone to clean up after him or provide his every need.  He was the one serving.  If our Lord and Savior worked....how much more do we need to work.  My prayer is that as the girls get older and take on more responsibility around the house they will be prepared to run their own home when that time comes.  I also look forward to the day when I no longer do the laundry or the majority of the cooking!
So my advice is if your kids are not working........let them work!

Friday, July 20, 2007

It's Been Awhile

I have not blogged in a while so I thought I would at least let you know that I am still here.  I, like some others I know, do a lot more reading than I do writing.  I hope that once school starts back in full force I will be able to update a little more often.  Summer just seems to keep me distracted and I have been spending a lot less time on the computer lately.  This is not a bad thing though.  I have read three books so far this summer, organized my kitchen, developed a cleaning routine for the girls and I, and I am currently having a yard sale.  So I've been doing some things that have needed to be done for a long time. 

Just a funny yard sale note.....today it was me and all three girls doing the sale.  As people came and went with our belongings in their hands Lil just watched and talked.  But as soon as someone picked up her seat for the potty...she went to pieces!  She began crying and saying "No, no I haff a pee-pee.   I haff a potty"  It was so funny.   Her toys were being sold but it was the potty seat that got her.   You know the really ironic part of this whole situation............she still pees in her pants!

Friday, June 15, 2007

Atlantic Beach

I finally have my pictures on disks now, four of them!  I created a small film strip and will try to add more later.  We are going camping this weekend so I do not have much time.  We are leaving in a few hours and still have not packed!  



The binders I made up worked great.  The girls played travel bingo, colored, drew, laced their paper dolls, etc.  We played at the beach everyday.  We did putt-putt, ate ice cream and James took the girls to tour Fort Macon.  It was a great vacation.   Thank you Lord!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Lulu and Monkey Experimenting with Smileys

These are Lulu's favorites:
             

These are Monkey's favorites:
                 

They saw the smiley on my last post and wanted to know how I got that on there.  So there you have it, their favorites!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Curriculum Choices for 2008-09

The orders are placed and now we are just waiting on the mailman!   It is very exciting around our house when the boxes start arriving.  The girls enjoy it too.  We love opening up all our new stuff and looking it over.  Then the work begins for me.....trying to plan out our year.  

After much discussion with my hubby and prayer, I made some changes this year.  I'm excited for what the Lord has shown me though about the girls.  They learn very differently and enjoy doing their work in different ways.  So here is what we decided on:

Lulu - 2nd Grade
Bible - we will continue to use our BSG sheets, Missionettes, JBQ, For Instruction in Righteousness
Language Arts - First Language Lessons, part 2
Phonics - I debated this because she reads on a 7th-8th grade level, but I am afraid she does not know the phonics rules well enough, so...Saxon Phonics 2 (which I am also going to see what the spelling is like that is included.  We used Spelling Workout last year and it was a bit too easy.)
History - Story of the World Vol. II, lapbooks
Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Visual FactFinders: Stars & Planets  and Planet Earth, lots of little supplemental stargazing guides, lapbooks, etc.
Math - RightStart Mathematics level C (this is new for us.  Abbye is very excited about it though as it is hightly manipulative based)
Handwriting - We will begin cursive this year.
Music App. - Study six composers -  www.classicsforkids.com , co-op, church musical
Art App. - Study six artists - www.gardenofpraise.com , lots of art projects as well
P.E. - Co-op, possibly Gym-n-swim at our local facility
Monkey - 1st Grade
Bible - we will continue to use our BSG sheets, Missionettes, JBQ, For Instruction in Righteousness
Language Arts - First Language Lessons, part 1
Phonics - Saxon Phonics 1, includes Spelling
History - Story of the World Vol. II, lapbooks
Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Visual FactFinders: Stars & Planets  and Planet Earth, lots of little supplemental stargazing guides, lapbooks, etc.
Math - RightStart Mathematics level B
Handwriting - Master manuscript and begin cursive.  Maddi can already write her name in cursive.  She is very proud of that!
Music App. - Study six composers -  www.classicsforkids.com , co-op, church musical
Art App. - Study six artists - www.gardenofpraise.com , lots of art projects as well
P.E. - Co-op, possibly Gym-n-swim at our local facility
Lil - 2y.o.
We can't leave her out....especially since she is taking less and less of a nap
I am going to put together some Activity Bags for her to have.  Her sisters can work with her one at a time when I need to work one-on-one with them.  She will practice her letters, numbers, sequencing, matching, beading, etc.  I think she will really enjoy some of the activities.  I'm also going to put together a doll house that she can only play with during school time. 
Something all of us are going to learn this year is some sign language.  My nephew (3y.o.) is learning more words now in sign language.  We all want to be able to communicate better with him.   The girls know a few words already and they are excited about learning more.
So that is the basics for this next school year.  Some of our subjects we do together.  I just expect more out of Lulu than I do Monkey.  According to Monkey's birthday she would actually only be in K this year.  But she was ready to do K work this past year so we moved her up.  I'm sure along the way will add and remove some of our decisions and tweek them a bunch.  But that is one of the great things about homeschooling....we have the ability to go with the flow.