Beta in 6 weeks and new schedule

We had a heavy frost this morning as was expected from such a stunning clear sky last night. At 9:30 the fields are still white.

The girls have been enjoying the tangerines I have bought and Hannah decided the skin was nice too. She ate almost two full peals. Even when I tried to throw some away (as she was complaining that her mouth was sore) she got upset and wanted them all. She kept having sips of her water to help with the sore mouth and continue to eat. Funny girl. :-)

Ruth always enjoys getting a new floor puzzle from the toy library.

She will generally build it a few times on the first day we get it. It was interesting to watch how she left all the dinosaurs till last when she built it again this evening.

Hannah surprised us by counting to 10. Such a cutie.
And Rachel is doing so well with her math. She has finished her Beta work in just 6 weeks. It's a whole years work. She amazed me today and did the last 9 tests - in just one day. She was just so excited about getting it finished. She has done most of the work before - so it was easy for her. It was great for me to see that there were no gaps in this work though. The problems she was having were related to Grade 1 work. So now that she has her addition and subtraction down pat (from the Alpha - Grade 1 book) she is enjoying math and feeling confident and excited about what she is going to learn next. I am so thankful we made the swop and went back. What a change from the child who hated math and felt it was just too hard.

Her reward for completing the book was "The Last Battle" audio book from the Narnia series. She is excited about listening to it over the weekend.

We have had a very different school week this week. Instead of having a long list of things to do each day Rachel is focused on doing her math and spelling each day and then we have put the focus rather on learning things she is interested in. She would love to spend more time cooking and baking and she had a lot of badges to sew on this week. So her accomplishments for the week look quite different to my post in April. But the only things she is not actually getting daily time at is her French, typing and music. She still does typing and music when she wants to, but she is not strong in languages or music so we are not going to push these. She has at least had the chance to try them and learn a bit in different areas which she has enjoyed.

We have also made sure we get bible reading done every morning and that has been a great time with the girls. We have been able to discuss so much and Ruth has been learning so much as we go through "Leading little ones to God".

If this seems rather odd to you and you are wondering "is Rachel getting a good education this way" then perhaps you could watch the next two videos. Brendon and I watched them last weekend and they were perhaps the last step in helping us to make the decision to change her schedule in this way. If you could just chat to Rachel about what she has learnt in her unit studies over the last year (which we are still doing) or about the books she has been reading, then I am sure you would feel comfortable that she is getting a very good, all round education. And I am loving learning along side of her. Getting the education I missed out on because I went to school. ;-)

Just because it's been done a certain way for so many years does not make it right.

So inspirational. Our children are unique and we want to help them develop to THEIR full potential.