¡gallinas!

a boy, a beautiful boy.

the wild west pajama wearing cowboys

SEE ME READ!!!

My little Jackson dude, is getting older! We started last year because he said he wanted to learn to read, but it really was stressful and he was soooo bored (and I was about to strangle something). I was having a hard time not being patient and so reluctantly (for me NOT for him) we put it on hold for, well about 4 months I guess. Now he is blazing through it easily. It was so worth it for the sanity of both of us to wait.

Since we are going to homeschool I had just decided that I would wait for a while to bust out the reading book again later on- that it didn't matter if he was 5 or 6, but just that he learned to read while enjoying it. Today he asked me to teach him to read again, and I decided to give it another try. It was a piece of cake! I debated between starting over in the book and picking up just where we left off, I ended up just starting where we left off knowing that at any point if it was too hard, or he didn't remember I'd just go back. There was no need. He remembered.

I want to recommend this book if you are going to homeschool, or would rather teach your kiddo to read than have a school do it. It is called Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons, it was highly recommended by several families (team Sabo with 12 kids included). It not only covers learning to read phonetically, but also learning to write at the same time. We are pretty lax on the writing, since jackson has always loved to "draw" his letters, that is what is good about all this....we do it when the individual child is ready! No worries though, I promise that if a love of math never develops...it is just something that we must all do our time with! :)

I have to say there were several moments of tears filling my eyes. First, when he remembered so much from before, and second when he read all by himself: "See. Me. Read.(pause) SEE ME READ!!!!" and then he just beamed. I loved being able to be there for that!

What are some must haves that you use for homeschooling? Make sure you let me know, I'd love to check them out.

daffodils

I love daffodils, mostly because when they show it means spring is here. There you go, spring is has sprung. The rain has too, but at least it is warmer.

I have many favourte flowers though...jasmine (the smell, amazing) among them, oh and hydrangea, daisies...you know all the pretty ones.

What are your favourite flowers? What flowers are symbolic to you?

¡Vamos a ESPAÑA!

We are going to visit my parents in Zamora, Spain. In 166 days, we (yes, all of us- not the cats or the chickens though) will be headed to Spain (¡VIVA ESPAÑA!) to relieve my homesickness and share my country with the boys, and to visit my parents. We think Jackson will be able to remember this visit better than his first (as he was only 2 months old) Oliver, well I don't think He'll remember, but it is possible I guess. We just got our tickets and now need to work on the passports and other documentation in order to head over. We will be there for 17 days!

The boys are very excited, they have been begging to go (even though they don;t have any idea of what they are talking about) for a long time. After we set a date, I made a chain, yes it is an eternally long chain but I made it because daily Oliver and Jackson would ask me: " Are we going to the Spain after naps?" So thus the calendar chain. Each day at breakfast the boys take turns riping off a loop.

We can all barely contain our excitement...but we will need to for 166 more days!

5