Christmas!

Another Christmas is over! Unbelievable. Time really flies when you're having fun. Both Iggy and Lucy had a fantastic time at the annual Lines family gathering. And they both got lots of presents and played with their cousins. We are now relaxing at Larry's Mom's before heading into Houston to visit with friends for a few days. After that, we'll head down to Galveston for a night with Larry's brother and family and then head up to Austin to be with my family. A lot of traveling!!

Just like every year, Iggy had a big intellectual leap the week before Christmas. He sailed through his reading comprehension workbook (orally...). He seemed to really "get" multiplication and we worked all the way through the fives. Since the nines are so interesting, we did some of those as well. 9+9=18. 9x9=81. 1+8=9. 8+1=9. See? Nines are interesting. We're still working on handwriting (printing) with Handwriting Without Tears and grammar with Grammar Ray, MadLibs, and general discussion about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I try to throw in as much discussion about Latin suffixes and prefixes as I can. Iggy doesn't seem particularly interested, but he does pay attention.

Iggy's main interest these days is jokes. And puns. And homophones. He still loves LEGOS with all his heart. He is interested in spelling, mainly because Google works better when you spell things correctly. And he has a lot of energy. A lot. Winter makes me want to hibernate. Winter makes Iggy want to jump all over the house. The only time he sits still is when he's reading.

Lucy's about 18 months gestational age. Because she sees us do so much reading, she is showing a lot of interest in the alphabet and can recognize a couple of letters. I should be teaching her the alphabet phonetically, but she seems to prefer the alphabet song. And she is trying to write. She keeps trying to draw an I, but you can tell that she can't quite figure out why her hand isn't writing what she wants it to write. I mentioned to my mother that I wanted the wooden letters from Handwriting Without Tears and she bought the whole shebang! Lucy has really enjoyed the magnetic letter board - you "write" the letters with wooden curves and lines that are magnetized on a small magnadoodle type slate. She also insists on having her own workbooks and paper so she can work while Iggy works. I didn't think that homeschooling a 7 year old with a toddler around would be as easy as it is. She just wants to do what her brother is doing. Now, cleaning with a toddler around is another story.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of love and joy. I am grateful for all of my family and friends and all of their support for Iggyschool. He is genuinely blossoming as a homeschooler and I feel like I am starting to blossom as a Mama teacher. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!