Friday, April 30, 2010

Kindergarten Curriculum

I believe I have found the curriculum I will be ordering for the next school year! I will be getting the complete Kindergarten curriculum from Timberdoodle. I am so excited! This set comes with a ton of stuff and it definitely fits our budget. Just reading about the different products, I know Hannah is going to have so much fun with everything! I'm sure as we go along I will get various supplements and electives depending on what interests catch Hannah's eye. I have a feeling I might as well start planning a panda unit now.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Family Decision


Another school year is coming to a close, and even though summertime bring a whole plethora of different activites I can't help but already think about the 2010/2011 school year. Thanks to a lot of prayer and personal conviction, Ryan and I have decided to homeschool our children. This is something that started to cross my mind while we were living in GA, but I didn't do very much research and eventually forgot about it. Just a couple months ago, I felt the Lord start to lay it on my heart again, and I was a bit more fervent in praying for the Lord to just lead us where He wants us to go. I prayed for him to bring someone we could talk to, who has experience with homeschooling. Just a couple weeks ago we ended up to a young woman in our Sunday school class who homeschools her five children, and she was a tremendous help in what we need to do to get started. What a blessing! I spent a few hours yesterday online going to different websites, trying to figure out what curriculum would be best for us. I think I am coming to close to making a decision as far as what to order! There is such a freedom in having control of my kids' educations. I am very excited, and when we talked to Hannah about me being her teacher she seemed to be excited about it as well. One thing that is often asked about homeschooling is the social aspect, and that was a concern for us as well. Hannah is a social butterfly and never hestitates to introduce herself to a prospective new friend. Since homeschool can take only a few short hours a day as opposed to the normal 6-8 hours in a public school, we will have plenty of time for extracurricular activites such as dance, church, sports, etc. Not to mention various homeschool groups in the area. Just thinking about all the possibilities just thrills me to pieces!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Party Like a Panda...and Purge Toys Like Parents!

Hannah had a great weekend of panda cake, presents, and friends she has not seen in a long time. She kept saying to me that she "turned into 5", as if she has mutated into a totally different creature. In a sense, maybe she did. She is no longer considered a toddler (I actually haven't thought of her like in a while), but a school-age (would that be right, seasoned parents?). She got a lot of "big girl" toys as gifts, including Barbies, Littlest Pet Shops, and a new art easel from her Grammie and Tookie complete with markers and plenty of paper to color on. She pretty much got anything with tiny pieces her little sister can easily swallow. :P

Her daddy and I are in the midst of a toy purge to make room for her new stuff. We make that a mission after Christmas and birthdays to avoid being piled up with toys the girls never play with, although there are plenty of toys we are passing on to Autumn. When Hannah was about two, she had a lot of Little People sets including Noah's Ark, the Farm, and Zoo. Autumn has gone hog wild over them! Besides, I personally would not want to give those up because they are too cute! Even though we have enough of those Little People scattered on the floor for me to step on, I would still love to get Autumn any new set I see. I guess I will have to wait for her birthday in September. :) I can't help but already start thinking about a theme...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Can't time just stop for a minute?

My oldest baby is 5 years old today (as of 3:34 AM..Oy, I was sleepy :P). Five! She is a half-decade old. That sounds a like a lot putting it that way. :) I remember my own 5th birthday, so it throws me for a loop that I am actually grown up now with children of my own! Hannah has been one of the biggest life changing blessings ever (along with me accepting the Lord as my Savior and getting married--those are pretty life changing, too ;D), and I almost can't remember my life was like before she was born. She is sweet, funny, and she calls everyone her friend even if she has not met them yet. She loves books, bears, dinosaurs, and my sparkly lip gloss. She loves watching Team Umizoomi and asks for Golden Grahams for breakfast almost every morning. Her favorite toy in the world is a big pink stuffed bear named Kracker Bear which must be in her bed every night.

Today we are having a party for Hannah's friends from school, and tomorrow we are having a party for family and close friends. The parties are a panda bear theme. Supplies for such a thing are scarce but I managed with making a bear cake and black, white, and pink decorations.

I wish I could post pictures from each birthday we have celebrated thus far, but we lost at least two years worth of pictures when our computer crashed a while back. I'm sure my mom has plenty of pics saved on her computer, but she's running the Music City Half Marathon today. I'm sure she couldn't be bothered with such thing right now. :) I can at least write out a chronology of what was going on in Hannah's life for the past five years.

2005 - Hannah Jo Caulfield was born weighing 7 lbs 13 oz, 20 inches. She was pretty from the start! Ryan was currently deployed to Iraq and was able to come home on R&R for her birth. He went back to Iraq when Hannah was 5 days old and came home when she was 9 months.

2006 - First birthday! We had a Strawberry Shortcake theme (which was also my first birthday!). Hannah was not one to truly enjoy her smash cake but it was a nice party nonetheless. Ryan ETSed out of the Army for a taste of civilian living. Long story short, civilian life did not pan out for us very well so we went back to active duty which suited everyone just fine.

2007 - By the 2nd birthday, we had just moved to Fort Riley, KS, after Ryan went back into the Army. We had not met many people so we just had a small celebration at home with cake and presents. This is right around the time a major obsession with the Backyardigans begins.

2008 - We are still living in KS for the 3rd birthday. I was currently about halfway through my pregnancy with Autumn, but at the time we didn't know if Hannah would have a little brother or sister. We have a party at our house with friends from church. We have, what else, a Backyardigans theme! Hannah cried when everyone sang happy birthday to her. She comes by it honestly unfortunately, since that's what I did when I was little as well. I have no idea why.

2009 - We are now living in Hinesville, GA, and family comes to see us for Hannah's 4th birthday. The theme is SpongeBob, which suits me fine since there are plenty of supplies at every local retailer! Hannah's "Unkie" was unable to attend because he was away at basic training and her "Tookie" could not come because she had just started a new job and couldn't take the time off. Even though we were disappointed not everyone could come we still had a great time since Hannah now has her little sister and little cousin to play with! Hannah still cried when we sang happy birthday, and my mom said she felt like she went back in time to 1985. Very funny.

2010 - I think by this year Hannah has gotten over crying being sung to. She had cupcakes with her class and she was excited telling me they sang happy birthday to her. I have high hopes. One thing that makes me sad about Hannah turning this age is that she no longer considered a toddler. She is slowly growing into the clothes in the "little girls" section, and she is asking for toys such as Barbies and play make up (much to her daddy's horror).

Time has gone by so quickly, and I sometimes feel like I can't keep up. I know I'm going to blink and she'll be 15, so I better enjoy it all before it's gone!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Hannah's Songbook, Parts II and III

Hannah shows off more of her singing/song knowledge skills. She really likes the song about the "monkeys swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Alligator can't catch me!" but she sings plenty of other songs as well, hand movements included. :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails