*blessed*

this morning when breigh woke up she wanted to give me something she made me. she was SO excited. i was too. i love it when they take the time to create something special. this is the front of what i got from her....

for those of you who don't quite know how to read a 5 year old's writing...or sounding out. :) i'll give you the interpretation of it...

have a valentines.
mom i love you so much because you are my best friend.

i held it together. but seriously was tearing up. i think i've said before how different amelya and breigh are as "students". as soon as amelya could write and read a few words she was always reading and always writing things. breigh has been reading short vowel words since the beginning of the school year. and just in the past few weeks we've started 1st grade work and are adding in the long vowels. but outside of what i ask her to do, she doesn't do a ton extra.

well the introduction of long vowels has spiked her interest in writing. in the past week she's been writing a lot. and not asking for help. (before if she wanted to write something, she'd always ask how to spell it) but now she is sounding it all out herself. granted spelling may not be correct...but i do not care. to know she's taking the initiative of doing things outside of school time is good enough for me.

i also know i'm a different teacher since amelya was little. i didn't 'push' her, but i started earlier with her than i did breigh. i decided to slow down things since then. and have slowed down even more with the others. caitlyn still doesn't have a "formal" school set. but is always listening and has a preK book to work on.

 dustin sits with us and colors, or sorts colored trucks.

this isn't evaleigh at school time. (sometimes she's napping when we do school, and other times she sits on my laps, or sits at the table and colors) but here she is being silly. she walked around for most of the day with that "do-do" in her hood. (( i have no idea where do-do came for baby. but all of our dolls are do-do now. ;) ))

amelya is coming along really well on her cursive. ((which i recently found out they are not really teaching this in school anymore!! that baffles me. in years ahead when they find things written in cursive almost no one will be able to read it! that makes me so sad, i have all of my grandparents letters/notes they wrote each other and it makes it all the more special because i can read them. sure computers are important, but so is handwriting!! i digress.))

and here's breigh working on marking her vowels and reading the long vowel words.

i'll be honest, until i started teaching first grade stuff i didn't know HOW to mark vowels. lol. it never seemed to help amelya. she caught on fairly quick to it. but it is tremendously helpful to breigh and her reading. i love that i have the opportunity to figure out what works best for each child. i truly am so blessed to have the opportunity to homeschool our kids.

i couldn't imagine having to send them off each day and be away from them more than i am with them, while they're awake. i for sure was not cut out to be a working momma either. the other week when i went sewing i was gone from 930am and didn't get home until 830pm. while i had a super fun and blessed day, i couldn't wait to get home to them. and then i realized that shaun is gone from them for that amount of time each day and then every other weekend half days. and was thankful for his sacrifice and hard working awesomeness so i can stay home with them. God calls each one of us to a different path, public school, homeschool, work, stay home. and it's all about being confident in the calling He's placed on you. and to know that He will equip you to get through each of the situations He puts you in.

all i know...is that i'm *blessed*.