Hello world!
Hey there all. Where to begin???
I first started blogging with another “host,” but because of their technical problems and complete LACK of customer support… I decided just to start up again with WordPress.
I’m cuting & pasting to see if I don’t have to retype everything. Wish me luck. I think I did it…
3/23/08
On Sunday we went to the Bronx Zoo. C & K got to participate in the Egg Hunt and the Egg Race. We all had a blast, but here it is 2 days later and I’m still feeling the pain!! 
We really enjoyed spending the day there, the animals all were very alert and entertaining. Capuchin monkeys were playing with big blocks and the Lion was especially verbal… his roars caught me by surprise and really scared me & C! The Baboons were quite playful and a little X rated 
LOL. C happened to be looking through her binoculars and caught a little “romance” going on. The Camel ride was a hit, especially for C, she noticed K’s Camel pooping. So pooping became the theme for the rest of the day.
We ended the day with dinner at my cousin’s house!!! Hip Hip Hooray… got away with cooking again Love you cousin!!
3/19/08
We’ve joined a few homeschooling groups and life is full of fun and learning.C is a 70 year old lady trapped in a 7 year old body And K is an adorable 5 year old future comedian. We started homeschooling 5 weeks ago and all is GREAT!!
Learning:I have been using Time4Learning.com for several months (C was using it for afterschool enrichment & K was using it for Preschool work & now Kindergarten). Since C has been out of the bricks & mortar school, she’s been using it as her core curriculum. K spends no more than 40 minutes a day on the pc with learning games and stories. We also use Cosmeo.com to supplement lessons for all the subjects. The kids don’t watch much TV, so the videos they watch on Cosmeo are really more of a treat for them. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t think that all TV is “evil,” but we are too busy and don’t have time for it.We spend a lot of the time reading all types of stories, poems & myths. I follow the Core Knowledge Sequence by the Core Knowledge Foundation <a href=”http://www.coreknowledge.org/”>http://www.coreknowledge.org/</a>. We work on the lessons that are recommended by the Foundation.I am also a former Montessori teacher so I present these lessons during their play activities. Everything falls into place because we are constantly conversating. We have globes, maps magazines, books, games etc… that can open the door to every topic and tons of questions. My answer to their questions is usually “lets find out.” They probably think that I don’t know anything! But it’s so easy to kill their curiousity by just giving them an answer, I enjoy watching them work to find their answers. And yeah… sometimes I really have no clue!
C & K choose work activities such as working with manipulatives, board games, puzzles etc… After C completes 2 subjects she chooses a mystery activity from a box ( index cards with names of centers, games, toys etc… are in this box). When she is done with that play activity she’ll go back and choose the next two subjects she’ll work on – this continues throughout the day for her. K gets to choose from the box all day except for when he’s working on the pc. This is a fun way to make sure that he is playing/working with everything, and not just his favorite dinosaurs:-) This also works well for areas that they don’t like. K does not like to practice handwriting, so when he pulls out the “worksheet” card from the box, he’s fine with it since he knows all he has to do is the one sheet and he’ll be back to playing. It is a lot of fun having to be creative again.
Well, this is my first blog and I guess it ran a little long. I hope future blogs will be a little more coherent and not such a bore
C has plans on helping out with the blog, and will be adding her own 2 cents. I’m not sure if I should correct any spelling errors for her, or leave her writing as is??? It would be cute to see her own words up there. We’ll see. If anyone has an opinion on that, let me know!
