Friday, September 9, 2011

The airplane quilt, first day of school, and reflections on Mommy Camp...

It's true---the airplane quilt is finally complete and on Tom Thumb's bed.  
Here's the evidence:
 Yay!!!!!!  I really buckled down and machine quilted my butt off this past week.  Then, I spent the last couple of nights attaching the binding by hand.
He was so excited when I put it on his bed.  It made me so happy inside. :-)

On Monday, I took the kids to get their pictures taken in their gear for my sister's wedding in October.  Take it from me and file it away in your mind for later --- the best photography deals of the year, both in studio and on line, are over Labor Day weekend.  You're going to think I'm crazy, but I actually ordered our Christmas cards from Snapfish on Monday (FYI --50% photo cards is still on through tomorrow 9/10 using the code HURRAH50 on their website).  The Target portrait studio wouldn't let me use my 50% coupon on photo cards so I came home from their session, had the Cobbler pull the Model T out of the garage, and voila! --- Christmas card worthy photos!  


 Then, Red's first day of first grade was on Wednesday.  Awwwww....
 It was a tearful drop off.  I was surprised, considering last year for kindergarten she couldn't wait for me to leave!  When I picked her up though, she deemed her teacher "awesome" and the boy who sits next to her "nice."  


Yesterday was a rough day though.  I had two sickos --- the Cobbler and Red both had fevers and had to stay home from work and school.  And it was Tom Thumb's 4th birthday!  What a bummer!  I ended up taking Tom Thumb out of the house to Toys R Us to spend some of his birthday money and visit his grandparents since we had to cancel his party. :-(   He picked out a toy that we brought home, I spent an hour assembling and then it didn't work.  We went back to return it and because they were having a ridiculously good sale, he ended up with a roundhouse for his train table instead.  Here he is with his chocolate banana cake that I finished baking at 8 o'clock last night (like I said, long rough day) and the roundhouse.


I finally got everyone into bed by 9.  When I went upstairs to go to bed at 11, Tom Thumb's light was on.  That little stinker was still up playing with that roundhouse!


I'm still working out what "afterschooling" will mean in our family this year.  Over the summer, we did what I referred to as "Mommy Camp."  Red would do a little bit of math practice, some language arts and spelling, Story of the World Ancients reading and activities (which she LOVED!), some R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life here and there (I think this was too difficult for her age), and reading and read alouds at bedtime.  I'd like to maintain Red's momentum and start working with Tom Thumb some more since he's not going to preschool, but I have to figure out what's going on with school first.  It didn't help very much that she missed her second day.  My friend Maureen and I were having a laugh about the supply list this morning.  The list includes 3 boxes of tissue and 5 red pens.  There are 22 kids in the class.  Where is the teacher planning on storing 66 boxes of tissue!?!?!  And five red pens?  Are they correcting their own papers?  Does she really need 110 red pens for her own personal stash?  Here's a sample of what Red was working on math wise this summer using Singapore 1A Standards:
I guess it's time to put my thinking cap on and start planning out the year.  What are your educational goals for your family for the 2011-2012 school year?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The airplane quilt is just beautiful - I imagine your son was very excited! Who wouldn't be?!

I am homeschooling my 12-year-old son after he's spent six years in the public school system. We're three weeks in, and I'm finding that I'm undoing a couple of habits he's acquired over the years; not to mention that I'm also teaching him some skills I thought he would have already.

As for the younger two who are still in elementary, I just want them to have a successful year in which they build and develop their skills.

find my blog said...

I had to laugh out-loud at the red pen situation. Zoe had to bring in disinfectant wipes, a pencil case, and a folder for homework and take-home items. I am a bit perplexed at the amount of red pens needed per child. Okay...I will stop laughing now, as I had to type this three times....

The Reader said...

LOVE the airplane quilt! I'm so glad you stumbled on my blog, or I on yours, and we can encourage and spur each other on in the quilting projects. I know you inspire me, at least!

The banana chocolate cake looks like a really neat treat; would you ever post the recipe?

School goals....I would LOVE for my 6.5 yr old to start learning to read this year. -sigh- I am hoping I have him up to a beginning K level of reading by the end of the year. Seriously, I'll take "The cat sat on the mat" if we get there this year. He's brilliant in many ways, but not in any traditional way at all. Would also be nice if he could remember the order of numbers beyond 17. A friend posted that her I think 4 yr old counted to 100 with no help recently. Ugh.

For the other boys -- a firm grasp of Algebra for the oldest, and the confidence to write more than a sentence at a time for the 10 yr old. When he does write, it's pretty good. He's reluctant though and a sentence at a time is usually all I get.

And, LOL at the red pens. Maybe I should turn in my school supply list to my students' parent and see what DH will buy me for our homeschool, LOL! It works for public/private school, right...?! LOL!