uh oh! Will it explode?

uh oh! will it explode?, originally uploaded by queana7.

Ben had so much fun with this mystery concoction!

I hate writing titles

So I won't!

We are getting into the swing of things now with the new schedule, my work and getting the kids their time too. It can be challenging especially when I have phone conferences or online sessions in the mornings when I am usually trying to focus on them. It is working though, and is so much easier than last year since I'm not committed to computer lab also. That was just too much!

I'll have some more cool electronic notebooks of the kids' to post soon. They are finishing up a couple shortly. Ben is really enjoying making them, especially since he didn't do any last year. Kevan enjoys it and benefits from it much more than doing worksheets or something of that nature. Ben is just loving math. He has jumped through it very quickly so far even though he is already placed a year ahead. He just has a brain for numbers and patterns and loves the stuff. Kevan is doing a great job handling the Pre-Algebra so far too! He doesn't enjoy it like Ben does, but he definitely has a knack for it, and has never really had problems with it. They are such the little sponges for information. If I ask Ben to read half a book, he reads the whole thing. Kevan doesn't always have to read every chapter in his history book, but he usually reads them anyway just because he doesn't want to miss anything.

William is doing great in school this year. He is acing geometry and he is enjoying Biology the most I think; at least the one he talks about the most at home. He is kicking butt as fullback too, and gets the ball an awful lot (and runs it pretty far a lot too!) I'll be posting more video and photos soon!

Ben’s First Literature Notebook

http://www.unbridledlearning.com/notebooks/Fables.mht

Back to school

Well, the school year is officially in full swing. William is doing well (so he says anyway) in all his classes, and is kicking butt in football so far. He will be starting fullback at this week's game, which we will not see as it is 3 hours away.

Kevan and Ben started "school work" yesterday. That was the first day of school for my job as well so I've been pretty dang busy.

Over the summer break they learned some cool stuff. Kevan created some very cool role playing games, and started writing the story for his next one. He also went to Boy Scout summer camp, learned the breast stroke and beginner backstroke and passed the swimming test. He's trying to learn his stilts but not having a lot of luck.

Ben did tons of lessons on his new Music Ace cd that was supposed to last the year. He learned the names of the notes on the staff and where they are on the piano, recognizing various pitches and volumes, etc. I was pretty impressed with the program. He has been riding his bike a lot lately, trying to learn the pogo stick, playing tetherball with our new tetherball pole... He is also watering daddy's garden, and growing a pumpkin plant, and digging deep holes in the backyard.

We have all learned a lot about poodles and puppies lately with our new addition, Xena.

Ben has loved his schoolwork so far. He wanted to start weeks ago when the stuff came, and we did a little bit here and there but didn't really have time to go full force. He is breezing through the math and reading, and reads way more than what is assigned; he doesn't like to read just part of a book and the books are a bit easy for him so far. So I got more books from the library for him to read as well. He is doing math minutes to be able to answer his addition and subtraction facts more quickly, and did at least 10 of them today, just because he wants to beat his own time each time. Each morning he cannot wait to get started.

Kevan is not quite so thrilled, but is still having fun with it anyway. He's in Pre-Algebra now, so it's not just the same-old same-old that elementary math was. He likes reading, so history and literature are a piece of cake for him, and we do cool stuff for science so he's liking that too. Ben likes to join in on Kevan's science because he doesn't get enough of it; I am going to try to do it more often for him.

Ben's first den meeting of the year was tonight, and now they are at tae kwon do and I'm just sitting here waiting and starving.

William’s First Football Game

Check out William the first time he touched the ball in his first football game in his first season playing football - click here