SUMMER is HERE!!!!!!!!!!

How does a year of homeschooling  pass so “quickly”????

I think its like childbirth…

It is INCREDIBLY hard when your IN IT…

But as soon as its over …you think, “That was a piece of cake!!”

THANK GOODNESS because there are times in the year when I cant believe that I am responsible for my children's education.

I cant believe that I am the one that GETS to decide WHAT these children learn.

FLAWED, SELFISH, LAZY me.

THOSE are the “Bad” days.

THEN…..

There are times when I KNOW that I am FULLY CAPABLE to teach these children ANYTHING they need to know.

I know that I am FAITHFUL, LOVING, and NOT-LAZY.

I am soooo GRATEFUL to have gotten to a place in my life that I KNOW I am WORTHY of this “position”.

I know that I am “ordained” by God to do this.

He called…I listened.

I am thankful for a VERY BLESSED school year.

ZEEK:

Zeek has made MAJOR improvements in his reading.

He STILL doesn't LIKE IT…but neither does his DAD. (lol)

He is defiantly gifted in other areas.

This year he TESTED OUT of alot of his math reviews and tests.

He did great in Science and EXCELLED in ART.

And he was STOKED to know that he is MOVING ON UP to 4th GRADE!!!!

SHASHAMANE:

What can I say????

Shasha was “Officially” in 1st grade this year ….as far as paperwork is concerned.

BUT-pretty soon into the year I figured out that she was WAY ABOVE 1st grade level in MOST of her subjects.

She did a whole 2nd grade curriculum this year.

AWESOME!!!!

She reads on a 5th grade level and LOVES it!!!!

(Which WARMS my heart)

She is the girl that you actually find READING A BOOK…on her OWN!!!!!

She doesn't LOVE math but if you make it interesting enough for her she GETS THRU IT. LOL

She also loved having a pen pal this year.(Love you Hailey-bug)

MALACHI:

Malachi did great this year also.

He was “officially” in Kindergarten, but I also realized with him early on that the Kinder work was WAY too easy.

So we moved on up to the 1st grade LA curriculum and he FINISHED it this year.

He loves math and loves to read also…

He loved learning about dinosaurs and loved science.

SHEBA:

Sheba finished pre-k this year.

She did great and learned ALL the alphabet AND the sounds.

She did LOTS of math with manipulatives, and played LOTS of games and puzzles.

AND…she THINKS she can read…so she tries!!!!

NAd before you know it ….

HERE WE ARE!!!!

At the end of the school year…

DONE.

Bring on the sun, beach, pools, family game nights, tans, sunscreen, staying up late, and sleeping in(as much as you can with 4 youth!!!)

HALLELUJAH!!!!!

I am READY!!!!

Vegetarian Déjà Vu….

As I said before…..Our kids ALWAYS want to be like Zeek.

He’s older.

He’s cooler.

He’s MORE fly!!!!

Last night we went and got the kids some food on our way home.

It was 8pm.

We were TIRED.

And I didn’t want to cook.

(Lazy, Bad, un-smart…I know.  But we were TIRED from swimming in the pool all day.)

So we got home I sat all the kids up with their food.

They had all(except Zeek-he already ate.) ordered chicken fingers and french fries.

(again-I feel BAD even WRITING it. UUUggghhhh.)

Malachi then took 1 BITE and said, “ Mom- I’m a Vegetarian!”

I said , “You are????”

He said, “Yes, every time I eat it now I think I can taste CHICKEN GUTS!”

I am SURE Zeek had SOMETHING to do with this.  LOL

He probably heard Zeek say that at some point.

So funny…they LOVE their Zeek.

Remember THIS STORY about Zeek?????

And I ‘ll bet you KNOW what Shahshas remark was when she hear Malachi say that…..

AGAIN…”I’ll take HIS!”

Such a sweet love these kids share…down to the CHICKEN. 

Mini Zeek….x3

I guess It happens in every house full of kids.

We had them pretty close together…9,7,6,4.

Stair steps.

They are sooo close in age that they CLOSE to each other…

MOST of the time.

I mean …don’t get me wrong…they DO argue and fight.

BUT-------

They also IDOLIZE the children that are older than them.

CUTE.

The other day they were REALLY QUIET for about 20 min.

SCARY.

VERY SCARY.

And…ALTHOUGH we were worried, Jay and I decided to TALK instead of GO FIND THEM.

Lucky for US…THIS is ALL   they were up to……….

They were dressing up as EZEKIEL!!!!

All of them.

In his clothes.

His hats.

His pants.

AWESOME.

Its a good thing he is a GREAT  EXAMPLE for them to follow.

LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Sweet, sweet kids that LOVE their big brother.

No more chicken…to EAT.

Throughout our lives, we have eaten ALL DIFFERNT WAYS.

Sometimes MORE strict..

Sometimes LESS strict…

From Vegan to Vegetarian to eating chicken.

Back and forth between .

(We DO NOT eat red meat or pork…due to our FAITH.)

When Zeek was little we were vegetarians.

Than we moved to Costa Rica and after about 5 months there,we decided we were going to eat more chicken.

It was one of the cheapest things to eat there.

And we pretty much HAD to eat what was CHEAP.

But-we never could get Zeek to eat chicken.

He just said he didn’t like it.

And we didn't force him.

But- about a year ago he started eating chicken.

And he liked it…pretty much.

He was still pretty PICKY about HOW it was cooked, but he would eat it…for the most part.

Then the other day during lunch I asked him if he wanted chicken.

“No maam” he said.

I said, “Why not?”

And then he looked at me with the sweetest TEARY EYES and said, “Mom, now that we HAVE CHICKENS, I don’t think I can EAT CHICKEN.”

He was almost CRYING.

It was such a sweet moment.

A true glimpse into his soul.

A layer of WHO HE IS.

Another piece to the BEAUTIFUL PUZZLE that is coming together in front of my eyes.

I looked at him and said, “Well, I guess that makes you a vegetarian!”

And he said, “I guess so.”

It was a proud moment for me.

He was ASSERTING himself and HIS BELIEFS.

LOVE IT.

I then looked at the other kids and said , “Has anyone else decided to be a vegetarian?”

To this Shasha said…”I’ll take HIS!”

Figures.

LOL.

The Vallone Academy: Waterday 2010

We are officially to THAT time of year…

the time where we are pretty much DONE with our school cirriculum.

Zeek is done with his LA, science,History, and Math for 3rd grade.

Shasha is DONE with ALL the 2nd grade Lifepac set.(shes OFFICIALLY in 1st grade!)

Malachi is done with all Kindergarten cirriculum and has finished 1/2 of the 1st grade LA cirriculum.

AND

Sheba is in Pre-K .,,,,we are working on our LAST letter of the week letters. (V and W)

SOOOOOOOOOOOO….

We decided to make it a WATER DAY.

We played water games in the yard.

water tag.

water races.

water volleyball.

Water FUN!!!!!

Were 9 school days from summer….

BUT

you wouldn’t have known it today…

We acted like it was SUMMER NOW!!!!

KOOL Hair….Again.

Shashamane wanted to color her hair again.

With KOOL-AID…of course.

Now she smells like Tropical Fruit Punch.

Love her.

Miss Punky.

Simply…..LIFE.