Week 2 Portfolio

Week 2 of the school year, that is. 

We are so amazingly busy these days that I only have energy here to make a list of things done/overheard/read/though about this week, and maybe some photos.

• Soccer season is in full swing.  This is the first year since Ella was 4 that we've done city soccer (when she was 4 it was "Mama, can I come off the field now?" and "Why should I run down there when we'll just have to run back again?").  Both Asher and Ella are playing---Ethan is dying to play but he has to wait until next year.  Asher plays two half-hour games a week.  Ella plays 2 hour-long games a week and has 1 practice.  They both play homeschool soccer on Friday mornings.   So, yeah, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are both FULL of soccer.
• Ella had an orchestra audition on Wednesday and moved up to a higher orchestra. 
• Ella is going to a "homeschool" day at a local charter school once a week this year.  We went for an orientation day--met teachers and learned where the classrooms are.  She's very excited.  She'll take Medieval History, Karate, Beginning Spanish, Chemistry/Physical Science, Creative Writing and Chess Club. 
• We are studying Shakespeare's The Tempest this term.  Ella saw a local play a few weeks ago and we just read Lamb's version.  Ella begged to start the actual play today but I told her she'd have to wait until tomorrow. 
• We got bunnies!  Scott spent about 12 hours on Labor Day building a hutch.  We got 2 Holland Lops and 1 Blue-Eyed White Lionhead (all females....we hope!) but the Lionhead won't stand to be held and bites so we're going to get another Holland Lop (the sister of the two we have now).  Four Bunnies!  :)  They're awfully cute. 
• Today we spent the afternoon at Bridal Veil Falls, playing in the water, making dams, painting in the nature journals, climbing trees.  It was lovely!  September in Utah is just spectacular!
• Farmer's Market yesterday (in between soccer games)----dirt-covered carrots, cucumbers, apples, blackberries, strawberries, and two dozen eggs.
• My oboe studio is (purposefully) reduced this year to only one remaining student.  Woohoo!
• I've started writing a bit of poetry again.  This makes me very happy.
• I've started exercising regularly again.  This also makes me happy.
• Asher's school  (Kindergarten) is going well.  Every day he has a math lesson (Right Start B), a writing lesson (cursive), a reading lesson (he's reading cvc words...not fluently but is able to sound them out), and he and I read a sight word book together.  He doesn't seem to have as quick a memory for words but he sure does understand math!
• Ella's school (4h grade) is also going well.  We're focusing quite a bit this year on spelling which is not her strong point.  Daily we do:  math, journal, spelling.  Add to this throughout the week:  Grammar, Creative Writing, Shakespeare (The Tempest), Latin, Dictation, Geography, Chemistry, US History, World History, Nature Reading, History Stories, Literature, Nature Study/Journal, Composer Study(Beethoven), Artist Study (Grant Wood), Poetry (Browning). 
• Ethan's favorite part of school is mapwork (with the big kids) and coloring, playing in the sandbox and doing puzzles.  He is learning the sounds of the letters.  Today Asher taught him to read one of his sight word books---Farm Friends.
• We're excited to go to the Utah State Fair tomorrow. 
• Scott's been in the South (Memphis, Fayetteville, other places that I'm not sure of...) this week playing concerts.
• The kids had a great time at our homeschool group's Wacky Olympics activity Saturday night.  Potluck supper and then I was in charge of "the games" and then they had fun running wild with all their friends on the playground.  There were about 40 kids there, ages 0-13. 
• Ethan's favorite game these days is traintracks.  He's abandoned the train table and is now most often occupied with setting up huge, elaborate tracks that snake around his room, under the bed and use up most of our track pieces.  He informs me that he needs more for his birthday. 
• Asher and Ella are most often occupied with building lego creations.  Their plan is to be featured in Lego magazine one of these days. 
• Ella still reads voraciously.  She's half way through the Fablehaven series for the second time, has read all the Felicity books this past week (again), some of the Kaya series, and is in the middle of Gentle Ben.
• Our read aloud at the moment (chapter book) is Star in the Storm.  We also read a lot of Beatix Potter (their favorites are Samuel Whiskers and Mr. Jeremy Fisher), Bread and Jam for Frances, The Hungry Caterpillar (I must admit that I really, really dislike Eric Carl books), Edward and the Pirates, Noisy Nora.

Ahhhh, super tired.