Our Family is Growing

And no I am not pregnant!

If all goes well by the end of next week we will have a Korean exchange student coming to live with us until March 3. He is 21 years old and has been in Canada with another family for a few months already and we are looking forward to having him share our home with us.

Colton will have to share his room with Kevin but he seems to like the idea and I think having an older male in the house closer to the age of a big brother will be a huge bonus for him. The company we are hosting through requires that I teach Kevin English a few hours a day which is not any issue at all.

Some friends of mine have had exchange students through this organization before and I had the pleasure of meeting one of them this summer at camp. I am really looking forward to the experience and enjoyment that comes from sharing our culture with this student and vice-versa!



On another note the kids and I have begun cross country skiing with the homeschoolers. What an experience it was a blast but I have not been on Cross country ski's in 12 years, infact I was pregannt with Colton when I did last ski. We forgot to take the camera out on the trails with us last time but we did snap a few photos back at the chalet.

Poor Little Jesslynn

Jesslynn is my youngest child and at nine she has the ability to wrap anyone around her little finger, anyone except me. She is your typical petite little gymnast with huge blue eyes and long blond hair and she knows how to use her eyes to win over situations. Come to think about it I am going to have to keep that in close check as she gets older.

This all said Jesslynn had an unbelieveable day yesterday. Getting breakfast the other day the poor child bent down and hit her nose on the cupboard door. So she now has a bruise across the bridge of her nose which is not cool for a primadonna. After this we went skating with the homeschoolers and the poor child fell and bruised both knees and was worried she wouldn't be able to go to the gym that night.



Well she did go to the gym only to be cheered at by another child when she fell on a vault. There has been some ongoing issues between the two girls more based on maturity than anything else. Jesslynn is very serious about her gym whereas the other little one is not as serious and slacks off during training. Being in the competitive program is a big responsibility for the kids and they know it. They compete at other clubs in the hopes of eventually competing on a provincial level. I worry that this issue with the other little girl is holding Jesslynn back.

I guess we go back to once a week private lesson with our favorite coach Jen (with one N)in order to get caught up in time for the Competition in Barrie Feb. 14.

I hope she gets it for her. I don't want her to get discouraged.

Till next time!

Karrie

Long Division, Fractions and Math Oh My!

We began new work in math this week. My daughter is learning long division and my son is reworkinghis way through the grade six testing! While Cole seems to be progessing quite well on the grade 6 testing Jesslynn is very frustrated with her math. This shouldn't suprise me in the least since her competitive coach at the gym had nothing but praise for her on her report card EXCEPT that her frustration with not getting new skills seems to get in the way. I'm not quite sure how to help her work through it.
We are going skating with the homeschoolers today which is very cool since we have not been able to do much with the group. Our schedule is so hectic that it often does not fit with the groups activities. I usually work on Thursday nights but this week I have gotten lucky enough to be off for the night so I plan on taking some much needed mom time tonight. I have some chainmaille I need to get done and a website or two to get active. They are sitting in various stages of design.
You can have a look at some of my jewellery if you are interested at www.dreamweaver1908.etsy.com!
Well I am off to work on some websites while the kids work on math and handwriting!

Havea great day!!!

Whirlwind

Wow! What a whirlwind the first half of this school year has been. I can't believe it is 2009 already. It used to seem 2010 was so far away and now here it is only a year away.

Our new year began with such a bang it has been very challenging. The kids had a hard time settling back into their routine this morning so much so we now have a new posted schedule and school rules sheet complete with consequences.

I am finding it significantly more difficult to homeschool both of the kids this year but I am confident they will settle in and it is of the utmost benefit to them.

I love spending the time with my kids and they seen to enjoy the homeschooling experience. They got games and books for Christmas this year and didn't seem to mind a bit that they weren't getting all the high priced toys like the Nintendo WII. Jesslynn did get a Gameboy DS but that was the only high priced non-educational toy and they both got Brain-Age so really we can't complain. I think her favorite gift was a silly card game called "59 Seconds". Colton's favorite gift next to his Art Markers was his games "Artifacts" and "Carsonnone".

Well I must go and get the kids dinner before Karate. Praying tomorrow is a better day there are always a few rough ones after a vacation.

God Bless Everyone!