Kindgarten, Shmindergarten!

 I haven't blogged about our homeschool adventure in a while...I actually haven't blogged about anything in a while! You'll be happy to know we have been doing kindergarten, even if I haven't been writing about it!

Bella has done amazing, I am so very proud of her! Her behavior has really improved this second half of the year as she realized what we expect of her during school time.  She is reading really well and has developed a love of being read to, which thrills my soul!

Because we breezed through the first part of the year and got in some extra lessons, we finished our Kindergarten curriculum with several days of school left to complete our 180 day school year.

We had a "Fire Safety Day" where we talked about, of course, fire safety in our home.  We talked about how to evacuate and Bella practiced calling 911 on mommys phone (with Mommy pretending to be the 911 dispatcher!).  Then we had a science experiment to demonstrate the three thing fire needs to burn- heat, air, and fuel.  We ended the day by reading several fiction and nonfiction library books about firemen, and the next day we walked down to our local fire station for an up close look at the fire engines with our friend Paul the fireman!  It was a fun way to finish our Kindergarten work.

So then, because we had about 17 school days left and because the books were just sitting in a box waiting for us, we just jumped in to our first grade curriculum! We finished up our school year on May 17.

Overall, I am thrilled with our first year of homeschool, and I feel as excited about it as I did at the first of the year- maybe even more so!  I love the time we get to spend together, getting to watch her learn, being able to weave our faith in to every subject, and exploring things together!

A New Home

 

 

After months and months of waiting, two broken contracts, and a lot of prayer, we finally sold our old home in Dec 2012 and moved in with my parents.  We were determined to patiently wait for our new home to appear in the local real estate listings, since at the time there wasn't anything available that met our size / location / price range requirements.

Much to our surprise, we didn't have to wait long.  Through a friend of a friend, my dad learned of a home that was getting ready to be put on the market.  The owner graciously offered to let us come and see the house before he listed it with a realtor.  We went to see the house without knowing a lot about it.

It was an older home, built in 1920, with wide woodworking throughout and a floor plan that we loved.  The kitchen was recently updated, and the roof was newer as well as the vinyl fencing outside.  That said, the home also had some challenges...The entire downstairs (excepting the kitchen) was blue carpet.  Country blue.  There was only one bath and it was downstairs.  And the bedroom and the yard were small.  Regardless, we really liked it.  Once we heard the asking price, we loved it!
We came back later that evening with my parents, my sister, and a family friend and walked all around the house again, and the next day my husband let the owner know we would take it.  We closed in January, and then the fun really began!

Although the house had been well-maintained, there were still some updates we had to make.  The biggest was installing central heat and air.  Next we ripped out that old blue carpet to reveal heart pine flooring throughout the entire house! The floors were sanded and refinished, the entire house painted - with the exception of the kitchen and old bathroom, and upstairs closets were remodeled.  We added a half bath upstairs, a full bath downstairs, moved the laundry up from the basement to the first floor...it seemed our projects would never end! 

But finally we were finished and here we are, snug in our new home!  We absolutely love it!