The Power of the Blog

The blog has power, yes it does.

A few weeks ago I was talking with Lisa from Mama Says after a Houston Bloggers meeting. She homeschools a lot of kids and so I knew she would have an answer for me. Honestly Princess Girly Girl has been doing great with her homeschooling kindergarten lessons but reading was getting to her. We were using a curriculum that she did not like and the fits everyday when it came time to do reading were just escalating more and more to the point of them being out of control. So I asked Lisa what I should do and she suggested something called the BOB books and to change curriculum since obviously that one wasn't working for her.

Then that night she sent me a link to  Shannon's blog, Living Life at Home, who had done a post that very day on the BOB books (http://workathomehomeschoolingmom.com/2010/11/learning-to-read-celebrating-success/ and then http://workathomehomeschoolingmom.com/2010/11/bob-books-review-stories-for-beginning-readers/ )  and who I had met at the previous Houston Bloggers meeting.  It was weird, like people were reading our minds. There was also part of a conversation about wishing people could read our minds about winning the lottery and then We Are That Family posted a blog about the lottery that day too.. Cur-Razy! (disclaimer: no.. I really do not think people can read minds, this is why I wear super old underwear...)

So today I bought the first set of BOB books and then this is what happened:

My girl is reading!!! She needed some self confidence which we've been working on the past two weeks but these little BOB books, well they just sealed the deal.

I'm so excited that I might buy her Pride and Prejudice for Christmas. She's ready for it don't you think? Actually I bought her a copy of Little Women before she was even born! I think I'm more excited than she is.

First Day of School

We actually started school two weeks ago but I never showed you these pictures. My genius friend, Jana, reminded me on the morning we started to take first day of school pictures even though we are homeschooling. I'm so glad that she did that because I would have forgotten and then I would have been sad that I never captured the first day of kindergarten for Princess Girly.

Isn't she gorgeous? takes after her mama... no.. I'm really her mom, and yes.. I meant me.

She was so excited.

We didn't have backpacks to pose with because we're homeschooling but I don't think she cared. She loves it when I take her picture.

Then someone else had to get in on the action. (Princess Newbie was napping) I guess the perk of homeschooling is that shoes are optional. Ha. I didn't even think of asking them to put on shoes for the picture.

One of the best perks to homeschooling is that I was able to take pictures of most of her first school day like when we worked on shapes with playdoh and straws... or watched Sign Language stores online.

By the way... let me take a minute to tell you about www.signedstories.com . It is a website that reads books aloud while signing the story in sign language. It was created and mainly purposed for deaf children. However, my children love this site. It's totally free and has amazing books. Most of all, it introduces them to the fact that not everyone on this earth is the same and that communication varies. The more they can learn about accepting others for who they are, not what they don't have, the more they can love those people. Signed Stories has books for all children's levels, including babies.

I strongly urge you to check out www.signedstories.com and since they are free, maybe check into their sponsors as well if you have time.