Homeschooling

We have had such a nice week, I don't know where to start :).

Yesterday my husband's niece and her husband came over, she is also A's God mother. The kids had a great time and A is so open with her, not shy like she used to be last year. Now she talks to her and plays with her and her husb. and just has a great time along with his brother and sister. She is really growing up and has such a sweet personality, every one loves her.
Friday the weather was too nice to pass up a trip to Staten island and the beach... we drove out to Wolf's Pond Park and the kids played on the playground and we took a walk on the beach. There were swans and Canadian geese and ducks in the water which was so cool, the kids loved it. They collected rocks and shells and tried to make a sand castle... that didn't work out very well.. It was so nice out at 47 degrees, and since it was a school day it was almost deserted, only a few people with small children and some runners were there. There is a monument of WWII's Balette Pass there and we discussed a little bit about that, F stated that Luxembourg is the smallest country in Europe, and some other facts he knows of WWII.
The kids got into a snowball fight with their father and just had a very peaceful, fun day. I love days like that, it reminds me why I love to home school them.

Afterwards we went to my mother's house for a few hours, me and DH hung out there for a little while then snuck off to the book store while she watched the kids... :) It was supposed to be a short trip to get A a book for her b day (yes I know it was 1 month ago) we ended up staying there for over an hour... it was so nice to just be able to browse. Of course I should not be allowed into a book store by myself, with out any interruptions. I bought 4 books for myself and 2 for A and 1 each for the other two. We have decided that from now on for b days we will take the kids somewhere fun and buy them 1 book each. So I am done b day shopping for my 2 oldest.. not bad for only January lol. With my discount it came to around $50 not bad....

Earlier this week F decided that he'd like to write a book... ookkk this from the kid that HATES to write, he will write down facts about Presidents, countries and such but to actually have to think and create something by himself.. nope... but I guess now he is ready and he sat down, cut up some paper, stapled it together and wrote 5 different short stories in 2 days..... he started and couldn't stop. It was so cool to see, I was sooo happy. To top it all off, they are really good stories, all adventure of course and the main character is Risky F, who goes on all kinds of adventures by himself. Chapter 1.. Volcano of doom, Chapter 2 cookies of doom (about Zombies) and it goes on from there. They all have a beginning, middle, and end and have a plot, and are interesting to read. I am so proud of him and know that this is because I let go and just trusted that when he was ready he'd do it and he did it. He is proud of himself as well, he showed it to M (my DH's niece) and his father as soon as he came home from work and read it to his sisters twice as a bed time story.

I am so full of gratitude for the chance to home school my kids, and to give them the chance to follow what they are interested in and to choose for themselves to path that they'd like to take in life.