Been awhile...

Wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged. While I had been blogging about life before, life kind of took over for a period. It has been so hard to get motivated after being sick. Especially because after a long down time there is always so much catch up to play. The time has not been a complete loss however. I have started two new groups.
One is a home school PE coop and the other is a home school play group. We had been part of another PE group, but it went defunct. It was very organized and well done, but the organizer was having a difficult time with the vendors she used and families just weren't showing up. She had done the group for many years and was ready to not have the responsibility anymore I think. So to fill the tremendous void left by the disbanding of the group, I thought up the coop. We started out with a kickball game. It went really well, or so I heard. I didn't actually get to go to the first one. That was the morning Ryan woke up sick. Next week we are going to try our hand at dodge ball! The play group is just a non structured park day twice a week. We started this past week on Monday.
No one else showed up, but I was not disheartened. We went again on Thursday and lo and behold 3 other families came that day! Taylor said this has been his favorite week of school so far and that even though he doesn't like writing, that he is starting to enjoy it. I think the playtime and socialization is making it easier for him to have a better attitude about home school.
Art class is still going strong and well. I have an average of 11 students per week now. Last year I had 2. Hopefully next year I will have even more. I would love if people would pray for that for me. I have also entered 6 pieces on behalf of students in our local county fair. We will know the results of that on February 22nd. I am always nervous before a class and almost ready to cancel each time, but once class starts and after it is over I am always exhilarated. I especially love it when the kids are really pleased with their own work. We just finished a lesson on the female impressionist Mary Cassatt. Included in today's offering is a pencil study I did of Little Girl in a Blue Armchair. Such an inventive title(drips with sarcasm).
The home school update goes like this. In history we are studying ancient Greece. We are about to cover the Trojan War this next week. In science we just talked about the atmosphere and humidity. In March we will get to go to a local news station for a field trip with one of our home schooler friends who is a forecaster on the local news. I always find it so surreal to see her at playgroup and then go home and see her on my tv. Ryan and I have been having loads of fun in Language Arts with Kevin Henkes books like Lily's Plastic Purple Purse and Wemberly Worried. With Lilly we practiced note writing and with Wemberly we made lists. This week we will tackle writing directions with Drawing Lessons from a Bear. Taylor is still working on spelling and grammar through Sign of the Beaver. Math of course is math. Taylor is learning his seven and tens times tables and Ryan already knows all his doubles sums and is mastering minus two subtraction.
So that is all for now. Nice and boring, just the way I like it!