Where have I been?

What a whirlwind of a summer!

Our third son, Logan Xavier Gould, was born on June 23rd. He was my biggest baby, weighing in at 7 lb 13 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. Logan is now 10 weeks old and over 13 pounds! He was born with a head of hair, which is unusual for my boys. His eyes are still blue as of now, so we'll see if they end up turning brown like Joseph and the boys.  Logan is a good sleeper at night. He goes to bed at 10 and usually sleeps until at least 5 a.m. or later.

Logan Xavier Gould- 10 weeks old

I've been homeschooling Austin for about a month now. It's a new adventure for us. We are using a variety of curriculum- Sonlight Core A for History, Sonlight Language Arts 2, Abeka Arithmetic 2 for math, A Reason for Handwriting and tons of library books for Science. Our favorite part of school so far as been the read-a-loud books, which I read out loud to the kids. I've read Homer Price, Centerburg Tales, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. Math and writing are more challenging subjects, but Austin is making noticeable progress.

Our three boys!

Austin loves helping with Logan. David usually keeps his distance from the new baby, but he's starting to play with him a little. It's been great having our own house and not worrying about disturbing the neighbors (aka- crazy cat ladies). It's been nice not working, as well. I feel like homeschooling and juggling three boys has actually made me a better housekeeper and cook. I have to be super productive in order to stay afloat!

A little peace and quiet while I wait... Less than two weeks till Baby #3 arrives

The boys are on their way to TN for a few weeks, and I'm enjoying a little holiday while I wait for Logan to arrive. I have a scheduled c-section in two weeks. I went into labor around this point in my pregnancy with David, so we'll see if I make it all the way to 39 weeks. Otherwise, I intend to enjoy my vacation while it lasts. Number one on my list is to sort the boys' toys. This is nearly impossible to do when they are home, so this is a good opportunity to do a little organizing/purging.

Full-term 37 weeks and 1 day 

Did I mention that we bought a house? Joseph has been quite the handyman fixing up our new home. The kitchen and office/nursery are completely finished. It feels good to have paint on the walls and new rugs on the floors. I think the boys' room is going to be Joseph's next project. It's a blessing to have a place of our own. Apartment living with boys was very stressful, not to mention a bit cramped. No more crazy neighbor ladies, either!

The boys have an awesome sidewalk to ride bikes in front of our house.

We are getting all geared up to homeschool Austin next year. I'm going to use A Beka for mathematics, Sonlight for history and language arts, and A Reason for Handwriting. Science is really the only area that I don't have planned, but our library has several rows of excellent science books that I think will be a good starting place.

It's crazy to think that we are going to be a family of five very soon. Believe it or not, we have figured out a way to fit the three kids in the backseat of our small Honda Civic. Seatbelt extenders (purchased from Amazon for $15 each) and small backless boosters (Harmony for David and a Cosco for Austin) are the trick, along with using the infant carrier without the snap-in base. It may be a little crowded, but it sure beats buying a new vehicle right away.

Three wide in a Honda Civic. 

In other news, I am no longer a part-time working mom. My last day at the law office was last Tuesday.  I've been a legal secretary there for five years. When we found out I was pregnant with Logan, we decided that it made the most sense for me to stay home full-time. I couldn't be more thrilled. Being home full-time is also what makes homeschooling a more reasonable option for our family.

Lots of new changes in our life this summer- new house, new baby, stopped working, and homeschooling for the first time. It's crazy how these major life events have all come at once!

Lots of changes coming soon...

Things are moving fast around here.

Baby Stuff

I'm 26 weeks pregnant. Only about three months left to go. We still need to finalize our baby boy's name. It's funny how we had Austin and David's names chosen before we even knew if they were boys, but we just aren't in as big of a hurry to choose a name this time around.

The pregnancy is going well. I'm following the same baby aspirin regiment that I did with David, so hopefully I won't have the preeclampsia issues that I did with my first pregnancy. Speaking of that, I only have three weeks until I am at the point where I had Austin. (29 weeks gestation) Crazy, right?

At this point in my pregnancy with David (who is now just over 3 years old), we were gearing up for Austin's spinal surgery to release his tethered cord. That was a hard time!

Compared to my last two pregnancies, I guess this one is going very well indeed!

Buying a House

We are in the last stages of buying our first home. Very exciting! I'm looking forward to having a place of our own to raise our three boys. Apartment living with kids is a very stressful thing to deal with, especially as they have gotten older (and noisier). I'll post more about our new home once everything closes and we get settled.

Schooling

As much as I have been an advocate for the public school system here in Louisville, it seems that our time with JCPS may be closing for a season. For mostly academic reasons, we are likely going to pull Austin out after this year and homeschool. Surprisingly, for one who has never wanted to teach my child at home, I am actually looking forward to it. Austin needs some individual attention that the public school system is not able to provide, and I am confident that he can succeed once he receives that individualized instruction at home. (I must note that I have always worked part-time, so homeschooling hasn't really been a good option for us. After I have this baby, though, I intend to leave my secretary job and stay home permanently. This will make homeschooling a much more successful option for our family.)

I'm glad Austin was able to go to school for Kindergarten and First Grade. It has been good for him in so many ways, and we may end up sending him back to school someday. However, I am grateful that the Lord has softened my heart and given me a true desire to homeschool- not because that is what all my friends do or because it is what is expected- but because I want to do it and because it is what is best for my child.

Lots of changes

Like I said, lots of changes in our future with a new baby, a new house, job changes and schooling changes. Very busy and exciting times for the Gould family!

Factorial Anyone? Books 16-19

I learned something new today.

10! is pronounced "ten factorial" which means 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 =3,628,800
Likewise, 4! would be 4x3x2x1, etc.

Now, I made an A in high school calculus and aced the AP exam, but I don't remember learning about factorials. I'm sure I did at some point, but it was like learning it all afresh today when Austin and I read Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno. Such a fun way to teach math! I definitely recommend it.

Cir Cumference and the First Round Table: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander is another great math story. (about King Arthur and the "round table")

Paul Bunyan, a tall tale retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg was a fun read as well.

Splash! by Ann Jonas was a simple counting book (appropriate for children learning to count- Austin enjoyed it)

Note about Kindergarten: For those who care enough to read my blog, you will probably be interested to know what we plan on doing for school in the Fall. While it is not carved in stone, we are intending to send Austin to the public school nearest to our home, Field Elementary. It is supposed to be one of the best schools in Louisville, and it has a good principal. We are also happy that the school is only about a mile away- we could walk him to school some days if the weather is nice!

Even though this decision has kept me up at night recently, now that we have a plan, I am relieved and actually excited about sending Austin to school!

Stay tuned to our blog throughout the summer as we read lots of books and start teaching Austin to read.

Some of our favorite books from today

We checked out a whole pile of books at the library today and read them all in one sitting this evening. Some of them are barely worth mentioning, but I'll highlight our favorites:

6. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (super cute book- appropriate for babies, toddlers and preschoolers- Eric Carle is great! Wonderful illustrations.)

7. The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (the author who wrote Goodnight Moon- I really liked this one-

"The important thing about a daisy is that it is white. It is yellow in the middle, it has long white petals, and bees sit on it, it has a ticklish smell, it grows in green fields, and there are always lots of daisies. But the important thing about a daisy is that it is white."

8. I Am Too Absolutely Small for School by Lauren Child (a Charlie and Lola book- very cute book, but you have to read it with the British accent for the best effect :)

9. Dinosaurs Galore! by Giles Andreae (colorful dinosaur illustrations, funny rhymes, need I say more?)

Books 10-15 weren't spectacular-

Hansel and Gretel by Andrea Petrlik (not sure I like the message it sends at the end- When the children escape from the old witch woman, their father sends away his wife for "making" him abandon their children in the woods because they couldn't afford to feed them. He shouldn't have even listened to his wife in the beginning, and the children wouldn't have ever been lost. Of course, then the children wouldn't have ever found the gold treasure, and their family would still be starving. I don't remember this story being so weird when I was a kid!);

We read three books about Kindergarten, but done of them were that great. We also read one about playing fair and making good choices; Austin liked that it had flaps to open. We also read one about a Knight and a Dragon, but at some point the words stopped and you just had to make up the story by looking at the pictures. I think Austin was a little disappointed with the ending.

A funny thing Austin said when asked if he knew the different between going to school and home school.

Home school is like playing and stuff. School is where you learn your ABCs.

 Ha! He sure got the stereotype right. Joseph then proceeded to teach him to sound out a few two letter words, and he loved it! I think he is going to just love learning to read.

Our Summer Reading Goal

I've been doing a lot of reading about home school curriculum, good books for kids getting ready for kindergarten, etc, and I have come to the realization that I haven't been reading books to Austin like I did when he was younger. With him going to kindergarten in the Fall (at school or at home- to be decided upon very soon), I have decided to challenge myself to read Austin 100 new books by August. That is a little more than one book a day. (The library's summer reading only requires 10 books.)

I'm going to blog about it. Here's what we read yesterday and today:

1. Three in a Balloon by Sarah Wilson ("based upon the true story of the world's first air passengers- a sheep, a duck, and a rooster- who flew over France in a new invention, a Montgolfier hot air balloon, on September 19, 1783)- Austin's story time teacher at the library read this to the class, and Austin asked to check it out. It says it is a true story. Very interesting that they sent farm animals on the first hot air balloon ride!

The following books were recommended by the Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I checked them out from the library. They all relate to math in some way, as you will see.

2. How Much is a Million? by David M. Schwart ("If you wanted to count from one to one trillion... it would take you almost 200,000 years.")

3. Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (would be great for when Austin is older- has math puzzles)

4. Pigs will be Pigs: Fun with Math and Money by Amy Axelrod (very cute story about a pig family who has to scrape up enough spare change around the house to go out to eat- would be great for when Austin is learning about money)

5. Divide and Ride by Stuart J. Murphy (an entertaining way to practice division- above Austin's grade level, but still enjoyable for him)

You can pray for us about kindergarten. We will find out for certain what public school Austin is assigned to very soon (maybe tomorrow), and I have been reading up on homeschooling as well. There are pros and cons to both. This is a very hard issue. Any prayers are greatly appreciated!

How Austin Learned His Letters

Watching this video is how Austin learned his letters and their sounds. We have checked it out from the library several times, and Austin loves it. If you want to see a trailer for it, go to YouTube and search for "The Letter Factory."

Social Studies- What Do People Do All Day?

We are using this book for "Social Studies." It has pictures and stories of people doing different jobs. Austin loves it. You should be able to check it out from your local library. Of course we have it checked out now, so if you live in Louisville, you will have to go online and request it :)



Random House's Website

Preschool Resource- WeeSing and Pretend

Since we are doing preschool at home this year, I thought I would share some of the resources we find helpful. We are currently using a curriculum for children ages 3/4 from Sonlight. One of the resources they suggest include a CD from WeeSing. Since I knew I could find these CDs from our local library, I just went to the library's website and made a request. This CD is called WeeSing and Pretend. If your child enjoys pretending, he will probably love this. I was a little surprised at first because it wasn't just a music CD; it actually required the participation of the listener. Initially, I had no intentions of playing along, but Austin and I got sucked into the fun pretty quickly. If you go to the Wee Sing and Pretend website, you can listen to a few song samples. It was quite a workout. We were running around the apartment for over half an hour moving nonstop pretending to be race cars, trains, animals, etc. We went on a "walk" (run, hop, crawl...) through the forest chasing after a cute little squirrel. We imagined what it would be like to be a toy that came to life after the store was closed- the toy soldiers were marching, the ballerinas were dancing, etc. Great fun. We had to work in a few water breaks we were being so active.

Now, let me make a plug for the local library. Ours in Louisville is one of about 18 branches. That means there are tons of books in circulations that will never make it to the shelves of my local library in Crescent Hill. However, if you have a library card, you can go to their website, reserve books online, and they will ship them to the branch of your choosing for free. They will even send you an email when the books are ready to be picked up. It is a great service, and I don't think enough people know about it. Wherever you live, check out your library and its services. You help pay for the library with your tax money, so you might as well use it!