Life Goes By Too Fast

Life just seems to be speeding by. I hate how fast my children are growing up. I always think that life will calm down and we will be able to just relax and enjoy it. However, it never slows. I think that is one of the tricks in life--savoring and enjoying life even though it can be chaotic and zooming-fast.

The boys are off-track right now. They are on a year-round school schedule and so they have little breaks throughout the year. I love having them home, even though it has made my schedule different (grocery shopping with 6 kids again--not so fun). :-) I am still doing school with the little girls while the boys are off-track, so that they don't get behind. Our homeschool is more traditional, I guess. I am also having the boys silent read every day just to keep up with their skills. It is hard for me to not homeschool them on their break. I was trying to sneakily do it, but Tim said I needed to let them be. Not an easy thing for me to do. I just want to cram their brains full of knowledge!

Ezra has taught himself how to read. I have been teaching Claire to read for awhile and she is doing very well. Ezra just up and decided one day that he wanted to read, and started doing it all on his own. I used to try and teach him how to read with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but he never could get past the first 10 lessons. He hated doing them. I finally stopped trying and figured he'd read when he was ready to. And he has. I am very impressed. He spells everything too. Such as this, "Mommy I left my paper on the b-u-s." Or "I like the color b-l-u-e." It is funny.

Claire has been taking off in reading as well and I am so proud of her. She loves it. She is doing 1st grade math (Claire is in kindergarten) and really seems to have a knack for mathematics. It has been a joy to homeschool her. She soaks up every morsel of learning like a sponge. And she is quick. I usually only have to explain things to her once and she gets it. It has been so fun to teach her.

Esther is doing well. It seems hard to believe that she has been here for 8 months now. She is still learning English, and how to behave in almost every social situation. She struggles with school as it seems she has never even learned the most basic things (she is 6 years old). She doesn't know all of the names of animals to begin with (in English or Creole). So despite the fact that she should technically be in 1st grade, she is doing kindergarten work with LOTS of help from me, and many days we have to take a break from her K12 curriculum and work on preschool level stuff. But it's just fine. We're so happy she is really home and doing so remarkably well in her transition to her new life and our family. This time last year we were notified that her visa to America would be denied and were so worried she'd never even come home. But she is here with us and is a sweet, loving little girl who wants to learn and is growing and changing every single day.

Talley is just a spunky little spitfire. What a funny, silly, cute girl. She is always so happy.

Ryland and Kenyon have been playing football in our street every single day lately. They love it.

Sahara and Beth are busy with school and church and teenage life.

The kids are all looking forward to Halloween. It snowed throughout most of the day yesterday. I am just hoping it warms up a little before trick-or-treating. We recently had a bout of the flu run through our home and then a round of head colds. I am ready for a break from illness. ;-)



Snow! (I am not ready for winter.)



I made this Humpty-Dumpty "costume" for Ezra to wear to his Nursery Rhyme Day at kindergarten.



The kids love our Halloween decorations.



This is what homeschooling looks like at our house. I am going to try and get our school room cleaned and organized while Ryland and Kenyon are off-track. They are great helpers.