Homeschool Musings, Baby Tricks, and Emerging Mullets (7 Quick Takes)

--1--

I'm writing this while halfway catching up on old episodes of The Bachelor from this season.  I don't even know why I'm still watching...  All I have to say is this: Juan Pablo is super SUPER creepy and Sharleen, WHY did your parents spell your name that way???

This may be the worst season ever.  Although Jake and Vienna...  Man, that was bad.

--2--

Andrew and I decided this year we're going to go to the IHM National Conference (conveniently located less than an hour from our house) and I'm really looking forward to it!  Will you be there?

I'm also kind of hoping that going will help me figure out what materials (if any...) we want to use with John Paul for "kindergarten" this coming year.

He turns 5 in July and all the experienced homeschoolers (well, Amelia, Dwija, and Micaela) say to "redshirt" him this year for kindergarten so that we don't have to "officially" declare that we're homeschooling and have to prove "progress" at the end of the school year.  And considering we could do absolutely nothing academically for the next 3 years and he would still be right on track with kids that age, I think we'll stay low-key while we can...

--3--

Buuuut he tends to do better behaviorally if I have academic activities for him to do because he just reeeeeeeeeeally loves reading and math and all that, which is why Wednesday night when we got home from Costco and I said, "Okay, do you want to play now or do math problems?" his immediate response was, "MATH PROBLEMS!!!"



But of course we have to alternate between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Why master one when you can master them ALL?  And yeah, he can do anything I throw at him.  Which is why I'm not reeeally concerned about "homeschooling" for the most part!

--4--

But I AM starting to get manipulatives and science experiment materials and things like that - I hesitated for a while because John Paul doesn't seem to need any of that, but then I remembered that we've got three younger kids who will proooobably not have John Paul's insane aptitude for numbers, so the investment can't hurt, right?

And I ordered Cecilia her first workbook because she soooo desperately wants to use John Paul's but she has no idea how to read or what to do!  So I ordered her this workbook and will very likely spend every day yelling at John Paul for trying to do every single page in her workbook...

--5--

And speaking of buying all the things, I was able to use a lot of Amazon credit from the affiliates program to pay for quite a bit of that, so thanks so much for that!  Every time you click an Amazon affiliate link from this blog and purchase ANYTHING, I get a percentage of the purchase!  Which means the kids will be making their baking soda and vinegar volcanoes with something besides spoons and old plastic bowls!

Remember when there were leaves on the trees?

--6--

We're entering one of my favorite ages - I think 18-24 months is the sweet spot for my kids - they're SO funny, but also so sweet and a lot less willful (for the most part) than older toddlers.

One of my favorite tricks they always learn?

Always funny.  Always.

And Mary Claire saw a picture of a kid in a book raising her arms, so now she does it aaaaaaaall the time.  We're supposed to say "SO BIG!" and then she goes back to business.  Never smiling.  Just important business.

So Elizabeth tries to do it too...  But hasn't quite gotten the hang of it because she only ever raises one arm!

--7--

Do you see?  That little hint of a curl on the back of her head?  Ohhhh I am excited for those adorable baby curls!

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