Library Fiends

Today is my sister Devon's birthday. She's almost as old as me (seeing as how I have stopped aging). Happy Birthday little sis.

Well, I have about 1 week left to be pregnant. I wish it were less but I'm not going to kid myself. Unless the doctor decides to intervene on my behalf I will not go early. Oh, no. I might ask him when I see him this afternoon. Beg him, more like. :-)

School has been interesting this week.

History: We hit on Louis XIV, aka the Sun King. We had an overdue unit on Chinese New Year yesterday. What fun! We did lots of crafts, baking, reading, and learning!

Music: Brynne has been practicing her Ode to Joy and can now also play Yankee Doodle. Logan has been learning all the words to "How Firm a Foundation" bit by bit.

Math: I was a bit of a failure at math this week. It was mostly mental and mostly had to do with cooking (fractions), or other things that surfaced in our daily lives. The good news...I have a ton of fun math reading for this next week. A favorite is "The Grapes of Math" by Greg Tang. We're trying out some new math books. By math books, I don't mean textbooks. I mean stories for children with math in them. Best way to learn math. See www.livingmath.net if you want to know more!

Spelling: Brynne tried out an online program called SpellingCity for me this week. It was a hit. She's been asking to do new lists. She plays games to help her remember how to spell the words on her list, and then takes a test (which she can take as many times as she wants). Since spelling isn't her strongest area, I'm excited that she's excited!

Reading: Logan's still working on Headsprout and coming along. He's been listening to lots of books on tape and following along with his own copy of the book. Brynne has been gobbling up all sorts of fantasy books - she's working on several series. She just started a new book called "Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Funke. Ms. Funke is the author of the popular Inkheart series (which we just checked out yesterday to try). I also read a book last year that she wrote called "The Thief Lord" which I enjoyed. Too old for Brynne thematically, but a fun YA read. Hannah's working through a David Eddings series (can't remember which one). He has written some great books along the lines of Lord of the Rings, but with less fighting and darkness and easier for someone Hannah's age to understand. Josh is still working on his stack of books: currently "The Snowball", a biography about Warren Buffett. I've got a new stack of my own checked out from the library and am also working my way through the entire "Anne" series for fun.

General stuff: Still pregnant! Had a Dr. visit today. Getting closer and closer......