Nutcracker, Homeschool, Homemade Wipes, ETC.

Today's post is just on update on subjects I've posted on before.

We are winding up the rehearsals for the Nutcracker this week and weekend.  The Ballet Mistress from Joffery will be here this weekend to observe and make final cuts, if needed. OJ and Skoshi A will be performing in all 7 performances and are extremely excited to finally get on stage with the Joffery Ballet.  My sister and my dad are coming out from Spokane to help me out at the house and to see a performance and I'm almost as excited about their visit as seeing the girls finally perform.

We have finished 14 weeks of school.  We've had good days and bad days.  I did use a tip I learned from one of my favorite homeschool resources and bloggers.  I have discarded texts and curricula that were just not working for particular kids.  I've never done this before.  We usually agonize our way through work, encountering groans and tears as we go.  This year I have tossed two reading programs for Special K that were not working for her.  Believe it or not, the Seton readers have been the program that has finally clicked.  She is reading and not sounding out every last syllable or word.  Skoshi A and I have set aside Saxon 54 for the time being after learning she did not have her times tables memorized.  For now she is using this great game I discovered online called Timez Attack.  The base game is absolutely free and downloadable from the internet. So far it is working very well.

I recently began using these homemade wipes and I promised to give a review after using them for a few weeks.  So far I love using them.  They really do work as well as the major brands and I do always have the supplies on hand to make a new batch.  What I can't bear, and may keep me from using them, is the sound that is made by the knife as I cut through the roll of paper towels. It gives me the creeps.  I have this thing about cotton balls, kleenex, and paper towels.  I know it's completely bizarre, but what can I say?

We are two days into Advent and we've begun getting emails from Holy Heroes with daily activities. We watched our first video today and I printed out the activity sheets for my younger children. I'm thinking I may need to find something more age appropriate for my older children to get them deeper into celebrating Advent, but for the younger ones this project is perfect.

Baby Wingnut is cracking me up.  He is so brilliant and loves doing school with us.  Usually he sits at the table and draws on a dry erase board.  He's beginning to draw faces that are actually recognizable.  He is into his numbers now and is always asking me to draw them on the board so that he can tell me what number it is.  We were doing this the other day and every once in a while I'd throw in a two digit number.  When I would do this he would become furious and grab a napkin to erase one digit saying, "No, not twelve! It one."  Of course he would get the two digit number correct but he didn't want me to work with him on two digit numbers.  He really thinks he's running this show.