Great Early Classics and the Smarties

Not Smartie candies, but my smarty girls. The girls have never had eye exams. I guess I just didn't realize a problem, so it did not occur to me to take them in. However, Sweet Baby was complaining of seeing the board in our school room this fall so I got them in about 2 weeks ago. It turned out that Sissy was fine and needed no glasses but Sweet Baby needed a slight prescription to "sharpen things up". Peanut on the other hand apparently has been struggling with seeing things at a distance. I had no idea! Thankfully they were both thrilled to get glasses and had fun picking them out.



They look older and smarter to me, its funny how glasses can make someone look so scholarly. As for the growing up, it is hard to see your kids change and grow. As exciting as it can be, it is also a sad thing to realize that someday, they will not be our babies anymore.






For those of you looking for a way to get your readers started on classic books, I wanted to share a series with you that Peanut and I have discovered. Our library carries many titles in this series like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Little Women, and Pollyanna. I know that I have also seen these books at Barnes and Noble. What I like about this series is that it gets her focused on the storyline in the book rather than worried about muddling through some vocabulary or verbage she might not be able to understand.


Keep in mind that Peanut is in the third grade and she can easily read 5th grade level books - except for some vocabulary that she would need help with. These books have held her interest and she speeds through them in a week or so. I would not place them at 5th grade level though. I would say they are maybe 4th grade level books. She started with Little Women, moved on to A Little Princess, Secret Garden and is now reading Anne of Green Gables. She is loving Anne so much that I'm excited to start reading the series with her!

Snow Storms, Valentines, Brains and Nerves Oh My...

Just a bit of what we have been up to lately....



We have had 2 REALLY good snow storms over the last 3 weeks. Here is a picture of how deep the snow was from the first storm.





Valentines Day came and went with some fun for the kids. We went to two Valentines Day parties with homeschool friends and we made chocolates for friends and neighbors. We made suckers and heart candies with some candy molds I had laying around, the girls had a lot of fun using the molds for the first time.





We are now studying the nervous and endocrine systems in science. First stop, the brain. We discussed the three main parts to the brain and then the girls used clay to make a model of the brain. Here Sissy shows off her creation. She showed the cerebellum, cerebrum and brain stem.






After discussing the main parts of the brain, and their functions, we went on to nerves. Here Peanut is showing her creation. Looks kind of like a flower doesn't it?