The Elmore Academy

Quick update on the house

2008-01-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

We move in the new house in 2 weeks and 2 days. Yeah!!!

We have finished painting the kitchen, living room, dining room, and Naaman and Ella's room. Katlyn's room is the biggest project. I will post pictures when it is done as the design is too hard for me to describe.

Everything was running smoothly until last night. At about 6:00 last night, water started dripping from the ceiling in the downstairs den!!! So we were at the house until 10pm with all four kids and the Roto Rooter man. There are roots in our pipes.....oh yes...TREE ROOTs in our pipes. This morning Burt met Mr. Roto Rooter at the house to TV the line. The roots have busted our pipes and they will need to be replaced. YUCKY!! Needless to say, we did not get any school done today. The kids were tired, I was tired and no one was in the mood.
Okay, enough sulking, enough rambling....Rant over, thank you and Good night ;)

Weekly Report

2008-01-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

Our first week after the break has been really busy. We have spent most of our time at the new house painting and getting ready for the move.

Katlyn is zipping right along in all of her school work.
In math this week we completed lessons 126-131. This included a test, which she scored a 100.

I have changed the way we are doing SWO. We are doing 3 lessons per week and having a test over all of them on Friday's. She is a natural speller, so dragging these lesson out causes unnecessary dread on her part. I am going to try this for a few weeks to see if this change will continue.

We are on Lesson 3 of Prima Latina. She adores latin as do Naaman and Ella Grace. We listen to the CD in the car and they all repeat the words. We are covering a lesson a week and it seems to be a good pace.

Preschool this week has been so much fun. This week we have been doing alot of flashcard work, which they love. A funny quote from the week: After watching an episode of "Clifford the Big Red Dog' that was about jobs you can do when you grow up. Ella Grace told Burt and I "When I throw up i want to be a doctor." Hahaha!!!

As we start back full swing, I am overanalyzing how we do school, are we on the right track for 3rd grade, and the list goes on and on. :) Our daily schedule is also being revised and I hope to have it posted this weekend as well as what's going on at the new house. Next week starts Burt's schedule at North Greenville University, and I am really stressed about how long are days are going to be. Can you tell???

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Our new kitchen!!!!

Paint colors are going up all over the house. The new fridge was delivered on Sunday!!

MOVE IN COUNTDOWN 3 WEEKS 2 DAYS!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas memories

2007-12-31T16:26:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas!! Here are a few highlights!!

This is The Night Before Christmas pop up book Burt had when he was little. Every year we sit this book out and read it on Christmas Eve.

Taylor's Santa

Ella Grace's Santa

Naaman's Santa

Katlyn's Santa

This is Katlyn opening her camera. She was totally shocked!!!!! She loves to take pictures and she has a great eye for it.

We have a HOUSE......I repeat WE HAVE A HOUSE

2007-12-31T16:22:00.000-08:00

After many ups and downs in the house hunting adventure, we finally have a house. I will be updating as we go along with more pics.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!!!

2007-12-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy with holidays and trying to finish up school before our break, I have let our blog slide. Here are a few Elmore family highlights.

Naaman is potty trained.....PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Naaman is also starting preschool. He wants to do "big kid school" like Sissy. So far, he has mastered his alphabet, saying it, recognizing letters and he knows the sounds each letter makes. WOW!! He can count to 20 and in Spanish to 10. Colors and shapes are also mastered. We are going to be purchasing a preschool curriculum at the first of the year. He is so excited about Christmas he can hardly stand it.

Ella Grace is going through a very funny stage....she no longer goes by Ella Grace. She will not respond unless you call her "Dora Mermaid Princess Ella Grace". No joke.....she will not answer a question unless she is addressed properly. It is so funny. Ella Grace is also doing "Big Kid School". She can say her alphabet and recognizes most letters. She can count to 20 with the addition of eleventeen. ;) She is such a hoot!!! She is also Mommy's Big Girl Helper she loves to help load the dishwasher and empty the dryer. So cute.

Taylor is sitting up, rolling over and "talking" constantly. She just turned 7 months old. It is amazing how time flies. One day she is a tiny helpless baby and the nest she is this cute chunky little baby that laughs out loud when her daddy gets home from work. These moments are so precious. I love being a mommy.

Katlyn is turning into an amazing young lady. She is doing great in school. She loves it. Her favorite subjects are History, Latin, Math, and Spelling. She is learning so much, it's amazing how much she is learning. She also loves to read. She has read the Little house series 3 times this year. She is hoping to get the Rose WIlder series this year for Christmas :) She is my Big Helper, she has started helping with laundry and loves it......which is good her excitment helps me get through doing laundry... i loathe laundry.

Here are a couple a pictures from when Santa came to the house for a suprise visit. We were worried that Naaman and Ella Grace would be shy around him. They did not stop talking to him the whole time he was here. They acted like he was one of our gang. It was so much fun!!

Here is a funny picture of Burt watching TV.......

with a Saint in his lap.

Here are pics of our new puppy Pumpkin. She has gotten alot bigger. The kids love her so much and she actually plays fetch. (we have never had a dog that likes to play) She loves to play and bite Roxy (our other Saints) ears.

Weeks 7 and 8

2007-10-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

School has been difficult these past 2 weeks. Most of our time has been spent in a car looking for a house. We thought we had everything with house hunting finished Monday of last week only to have our 100 year old farm house taken out from under us by a cash offer. So we have pretty much been out everyday since then.....AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

So I do not have a lot of school work pictures but here a few good everyday pics from our week.

Katlyn doing yoga.

Naaman doing yoga. Ella Grace refused to do it. ;)

Katlyn drying her hair by herself...for the first time. This was so huge for me, I am starting to realize just how big she is getting and.... I get all teary eyed like I am right now....okay....moving on!!!

Taylor starting rolling to her side this week..yet another milestone that puts me in tears.

Ella Grace and Naaman fighting over who will get to look at the picture first.

I hope you all had a great week. Next week I will actually show some of the kids work.

3rd grade curriculum

2007-10-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have been weighing our options for third grade for sometime. There are so many options and it is so overwhelming. Here's where I am as of now.

Latin - Latina Christina I, Ludere Latine I, Lingua Angelica I, and possibly The Book of Roots (this would be split between 3rd and 4th)

Spelling workout D

Living Learning Press - Chemistry

Horizon 3

Tapestry of Grace Year 3 w/ Story of the World 3

Teaching the Classics

Dandy Lion Logic - Primary Logic and Logic Safari

First Language Lesson 3

Wordly Wise 3000 ??

IEW

Classical Themes to Remember

As I look over the list, I always second guess. Is this too much, is it not enough, am I focus too much or too little on any subject? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Have a great week!

I haven't disappeared

2007-10-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it has been between my posts. We are in process of buying a house and it has become completely consuming.

School has been going great. Katlyn is doing so well, we will be starting some 3rd grade work at the beginning of the year if she keeps up this pace.

Here are some pics of what has been going on around here. Enjoy!!!

Katlyn and Burt painted and put this together.

>

Story of the world comics. She loved this!!

I love this responsibility chart. If she gets everything done through out the week without being asked she get $$. So far it is working great.

Katlyn's guitar lesson

PRESCHOOL

How cute is this puzzle?? Naaman and Ella Grace have put this puzzle together a least 100 times.

This is the best.....Bumbo baby chair. Taylor loves to sit in this.

Yummy!!!Rice cereal.....there is no turning back no, baby!!!!!!!!

Weeks 1 and 2

2007-08-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Second grade is going great. We are having so much fun. I think I have FINALLY realized that everything doesn't have to perfect as long as we are learning and enjoying each other it is going to be OKAY!!

Katlyn writing sentences for her spelling words.

handwriting copywork as well as memory verses

Katlyn hard at work.

Namman and Ella Grace are also doing "school" Our them for this week was circles.

We also had a couple of field trips. One was to our vet with the new puppy. Katlyn went with a chart for vaccines and a list of questions.....I was a proud homeschooling mama. so here is a pic of Daddy and the new puppy.

Our other trip was to the Childrens Garden.....so much fun.

Thanks for checking in. See you next week :)

Second Grade Curriculum

2007-08-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

After months of debate, I FINALLY decided on our curriculum.
So here is our curriculum list:

Bible- Veitas Press Genesis - Joshua
My first Devotional Bible
English - First Language Lessons
Spelling workout
A reason for handwriting
Math - Horizon
History - Story of the world
Latin - Prima Latina
Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy
Music - guitar lessons ( burt is a guitar instructor)
possibly piano lessons

I will be posting our schedule after our first few weeks to allow time for the kinks to get worked out.

Proverbs 22:6

2007-08-23T14:04:00.001-07:00

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

This is our school motto. Burt and i strongly believe that our children should be raised to know who God is and know that He is our strength. What a blessing to be able to teach my children in the ways of the Lord.

New Blog

2007-08-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

So, I am officially a blogger. YEAH! The reason I am doing this blog is to create a wonderful memory for my children. Since we homeschool I am hoping for some veteran advice from those who visit. I will also be using this as my midnight escape to come and let go of my day. Thanks for reading!!