Speculations from South Florida: Busy, busy, busy!!!!

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. I have sat down several times just to write about our day and things going on, but haven't had enough time to even get started!!
Aunt Deborah got to come visit again the last partial week of July, first partial week of August. We had fun, and she played a lot with the kids. She brought them a sprinkler toy for the yard and played in it with them several times. They absolutely loved it!!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the week. It captures Emily's personality so well, it's hilarious!! She is by far our most wiggly child, and has never been able to sit still. She hardly ever walks anywhere in the house, she's always going too fast and crashing into things or falling down and getting hurt, but she never lets it slow her down. I feel like I'm always telling her to slow down, or be careful. At times it can be a little frustrating, but I have learned to accept that's the way she is and wouldn't have her any other way!

Mom and Dad and Deborah left the first of August, so we started school on Monday, Aug. 5th. So far I've been very pleased with our "classroom." We painted one wall a fun green color, hung cabinets on it, and put two banquet(?) tables along it with the idea that we could have 4 "schooling stations." It's working out very well. At the moment I have Luke and Emily at opposite ends just to help them focus, but as they get older and I add kids to that table, I'm planning to put an older next to a younger and the older should be able to focus fine, and not get distracted by the younger. (that's my theory anyways) I have each kids books(consumables and teacher stuff) in the cabinet right above the kid, so I can easily get what I need. I'm working on filling up the other cabinets, mostly with extras supplies, craft stuff where I can easily see it and get to what I need, stationary, and other school curriculum, etc. for the younger years. Josiah and Timothy's desks and my "teaching chair" are set up on the opposite wall in a corner. I'm not 100 percent pleased with how I have my stuff arranged that I need to access often. I'm still playing around with that and trying to figure it all out. I think we're getting close. :) The other wall I just have toys along. One day I would like to put our loveseat on that wall, when we get a new couch, etc. for the front living room. My idea is to have it be the family/school/play room. Right now it's mostly a play/school room. I want there to be a comfy spot for reading or visiting with company and such. I have the desire to be extremely organized, but I lack the time, space, creativity, and money too be too weird about it. :) I also save too much junk. :) So I'm trying to carefully fill up my cabinets, and closets as we unpack so I don't have to redo it in the near future. Yes, we're still unpacking. We have quite a few boxes in the garage to go through. Back to school....School is going very well. We have finished four weeks now and the kids are doing very well. Josiah is in K-5 this year and I'm teaching him. The first few weeks for him we've done extra because a lot of it is review that he learned last year. We didn't finish all of our K-4 stuff because I got behind because of the pregnancy and moving and such. We were well over half way so I didn't worry about it. He was struggling at the end to sound out short words. He did well with blends, but just couldn't seem to get the hang of putting it all together. After we did school for about a week I pulled out one of his books that we didn't get to last year and he was able to sound out the words just fine. Everything finally clicked in his little brain, so I was glad I didn't push him last year. He's been doing well so far and some days asks to do more school. We put Emily in video this year for 3rd grade and she absolutely loves it. She participates quite enthusiastically. Sometimes we have to have her use her headphones so that Josiah and I can hear each other! Luke is in 4th grade and is doing well. He's not so keen on the participating out loud part, but he seems to enjoy it other than that. He uses his headphones most of the time because I can't get his computer loud enough and he gets a little annoyed with Emily being too loud. He can't hear her with his headphones on, so it helps him to concentrate a little better, too. Timothy usually markers while Josiah and I do school. I must say that washable markers are worth the extra money!! They wash off his skin so nicely without any scrubbing!! He doesn't usually marker on himself on purpose, but it inevitably happens. Susannah usually sleeps in her swing while we school. Josiah and I are usually done by the time she wakes up, so it works out nicely.