I'm still alive!

I've just been super busy and have become a terrible blogger. Also my computer doesn't work right and I frequently lack the patience to deal with it.

This is our schedule this year:
Soccer - two nights a week for B and M. I'm coaching M's 5-6 year old team as well.
AWANAS - one night a week for B, M, and C.
Preschool -  three mornings a week for Miss C. It's also twenty minutes away.
Art Class - one morning a week for B and M. This is through co-op.
Homeschool PE - one afternoon a week for B, M, and C.
Swim Lessons - one morning a week for B and M.

Miss C is also starting speech therapy next week. I actually found another homeschool mom who does it out of her home, is covered by our insurance, and lives less than a mile away. How lucky is that? Carrie has a big vocabulary now, but I still have a hard time understanding her. Most strangers can't understand much of anything she says, and she's already 4 1/2. Her brother and sister of course can understand every word. In any case I'm hoping a little therapy will help clear things up.

On top of all those "extras" I still have the actual homeschooling, childcare, and housework to contend with. In short - life! I also have an awesome new minivan. Well - one year old, which is very very new for me. I still haven't figured out how everything in it works. There is a button for everything it seems. I do feel better having something reliable with all the driving I'm doing this year. I spent a lot of time sitting on the side of the road last year, and that is no fun in DC.

The homeschooling is still a work in progress. I decided I don't like the Oak Meadow, but we are still using bits and pieces of it. I ordered Rod & Staff English for Beth and Matt, and I do like that. Beth seems to enjoy it too, but not Matt. He's learning though, so we are keeping it up. I also ordered McRuffy Science - grade 2 for both kids - and we all enjoy that. Someone gave me Singapore Math for Beth, and neither of us really care for it. I think we'll pass that on to someone else. Right now I'm just using random workbooks for math, as well as teaching multiplication tables, money, telling time, and other random things I think of.

I've pretty much decided that this is my experiment year with both curriculum and schedules, and that we will do much better next year. Both kids were a year ahead in public school anyway, so I don't feel too bad that it's not going perfectly. They are both reading well anyway, and we take frequent and awesome field trips. In fact I just can't tear myself away from the field trips, and I'm sure that's why we have trouble getting other work done. I mean what would you rather do? Hike in a beautiful national park or do math worksheets? Yeah, I pick "fun" every time. I also still have Katy the toddler tornado to contend with, and she has been another challenge. A very very cute challenge, but hard to work around sometimes. Lately we've been doing our sit down work during her afternoon nap, and that has worked really well. Unless I get distracted by more field trips! Oh well, it will be cold soon anyway, and then we won't get out as much. This beautiful fall weather is just too hard to resist. Also we live in DC - there is a never ending list of options. Tomorrow we are touring The Pentagon. If all goes well, we'll tour the White House this winter. It is quite the process to get that one set up these days. Yesterday we hit up all the monuments and attended the Library of Congress's national book fair. Pretty awesome!

I will really try to get some pictures up later this week. I do take a ton!