Dr. Chimney

Kasen: Mommy, I want to watch Doctor Chimney.
Me: Uh, what?
Kasen: You know, that show. Doctor Chimney.
Me: Doctor... chimney?
Kasen: Yeah.
Me: I have no idea what you're talking about.
Kasen: You know. The Doctor Chimney.
Me: Uh... what's it about?
Kasen: About space and black holes and the universe.
Me: OH! A DOCUMENTARY! That documentary about space.
Kasen: Yeah! It's my favorite. :)

 (It's "How the Universe Works" on Netflix... narrated by Mike Rowe. It's really good and is where I learned about Spaghettification.

public school...

2013 is turning out to be an interesting year for us and one big curve ball that has been thrown our way is something that a week ago wasn't even on our radar: Public School.

I know this is throwing everyone we know for a loop - trust me, I'm floored by this - but for many reasons, we feel like Kindergarten might be a good fit for Kasen right now. I still see us homeschooling in the future, but at this moment in time, we think he'd do well with it.

That being said, he's still only 3. He'd be 4 when school starts in September but with his June birthday, he even misses the cut off for us as his parents to refer him directly. Therefore, we have to have a professional referral for the school district to do all of the testing to decide if he's a good fit for accelleration. Luckily, our awesome family doctor has agreed to see him - the day before the application deadline!

We are not concerned at all about the academic side of it. I am very interested to see what he scores on the IQ tests, but as his parents we know he is way ahead of where a typical child his age should be. Just yesterday, I had my daughter at the doctor's office and when our doctor came in, Kasen was sitting in a corner reading a new book outloud. The doctor just looked at him and said, "Reading already? You're not supposed to be doing that yet!" I said, "Yeah. We'll be seeing you about that next week!"

It's interesting because when I tell people, "Yeah, he's reading" they automatically assume I mean more like recognizing familiar words or "reading" books that are really just memorized, but I mean like reading reading - sounding out words that he's never seen before and figuring out things based on the content of the sentence. It is amazing to watch.

Neal downloaded an assessment test from K12 (the online public school) and Kasen breezed through the first one in five minutes with a score of 14/16, which means he mastered it and needed to take the next test. The next one was a little harder for him, but he mastered it, too, with the same score, which moved him to the next test. He completely failed that one but based on the first two tests, K12 would place him in 1st grade.

So yeah, academically, Kindergarten will be a breeze for him.

Maturity wise, I think he'll do well. He's always done best with kids who are 1-2 years older than him and our neighbor, who is one of his buddies, will be starting Kindergarten, too, so they will ride the bus together and we're hoping we can talk them into putting them in the same class. Plus, it's only part-time Kindergarten, so it's a good schedule where he would still have tons of time off.

Kasen's not thrilled about the idea, but I think he's warming up to it. He abhors change and doesn't know what to expect, but I think he'll really enjoy it... probably within half an hour of being there, he'll be fine.

So at this point, we're just taking it a step at a time and seeing where it leads us. If the group of gifted coordinators for the county doesn't think he's ready, that's fine. If they do, we'll move onto the testing. If he passes the test, cool, we'll prepare for Kindergarten. If not, we'll continue homeschooling. If the first day of school comes and anything has changed, we can say "nevermind" and of course, pull him out of school at any point if we decide it's not working.

video m spider scare

Within the past couple of weeks, Maddie has suddenly realized how to put sentences together and is talking non-stop about anything and everything. It is adorable to hear her tinkering little voice jibber-jabber on and on about things.

Here's a video (with captions if you click "CC") of a conversation we had:



Since that video, I started writing down words she says regularly and how she says them... for my own memory's sake and because it's just so cute!

Most things start with a d or b

Deh-der = Dexter, our cat
wilwee - Lily
miwwuh = Miller
dah-dee = doggie
da-dee = Daddy
mawmaw = Grandma
Bee-Baw = Grandpa, Neal's dad
Poppy = Poppy, my dad
whah ahr dyou? where are you
theh ya ahr = there you are
whah do? where'd it go?
dayden = kasen
bir = bird
deepy = sleepy
bober = Grover, a la Sesame Street, aka "I want to listen to my Sesame Street cd."
vie-duh = Violet, "I want my Violet stuffed dog" or "I want to watch a cartoon
Violet."
doh-dout died = Go outside. (doh-dout is said as one word.)
doat = goat or coat
djew = shoe
wuh-wil-wuh = vanilla
dotdut = chocolate, usually meaning she wants chocolate milk
dandy = candy
ook dup! - look up
uhdum = airplane
gock - socks
bie-ber = diaper
boop - poop
poddy = potty
boo boo = boo boo
chwoo chwoo = train aka, she wants to watch Thomas the Train
melmo = Elmo, aka she wants to watch Sesame Street.
me, me, me = she wants to watch a Signing Time song on Youtube
mom mom mom - she wants to watch the Stewie clip on Youtube
meh meh meh, while flapping her arms = she wants to watch "ming ming" which means
Wonder Pets.
djews = juice
watey = water
dup = cup or up
bunny - Bunny
Bah = Stuffed lamb she named Bah, sometmes she calls her Bea, as in the youtube
clip of the lamb jumping through the house
died = slide
dump = jump
wee-wee = raining
weeng = swing
bahf = bath
wahs = wash
djie djie djie = dry, dry, dry, aka she needs her hands dried
ah wet = all wet
dit - sit
wah wah wah = walk, walk, walk, aka she wants to go for a walk
wah dum = want some
wrye? = why
my dun = my turn
dare = chair or share
naut naut = Octonauts
buhsh = brush (as in teeth)
cuh-der = color
rah rah rah = rock, rock, rock, aka she wants to rock in the rocking chair
iwah = I want
dane doo - thank you
dahree = sorry
peas = please
duh-der - sucker
dat fuhnee = that's funny
ta-ter = tractor
tash = trash
rye-dee= ride
mar = more
ah dun = all done
ha
ah-wite = alright
yesh - yes
hah-wee = Harley
doh bye bye = go bye bye
dar = car
debby = heavy
budder = spider
dare me - scare me
doddy = sorry
ih dohden - it's broken

We're on lesson 5 of All About Spelling. Kasen grasped lesson 4 with one explanation and zoomed right through it in 10 minutes.

 

For my birthday, my husband bought me a Google Nexus tablet and it has been a fabulous tool to use for homeschooling. Kasen was all about writing with the help of a writing app! He went through the alphabet 3 times without me asking!

Of course, Maddie likes it too!

We made homemade microwave popcorn thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest. I paid $2.39 for a large bag of popcorn kernels and got 18 microwavable bags out of it! And as you can see by the picture, both kids thought it was incredibly fun to help fill the bags!

 

I also found this fun pin on Pinterest and knew the kids would love it. I gave them all edible ingredients and encouraged them to taste each one. Maddie tracked stuff across the floor then spent the majority of the time cleaning it up, which is her preferred method of play. She did a really good job, too! She's a girl after my own heart!

 

(Ignore the sideways picture. It's right on my computer but when I upload it, it looks like this and I can't figure out how to flip it...)

 

 



spelling

I just overheard Kasen trying to figure out how to spell "monkey."

:)

sickies... plural

I got The Bug next, followed by the husband (the baby is still fine so far :::crosses fingers!!!:::) but I seem to have gotten it the worst out of everyone and am still pretty down two days later, which means we've skipped school most of last week. The fact that I'm even sitting here blogging is a good sign, though!

We watched Charlotte's Web and I really wish I'd just ordered the original version and waited to watch it. Kasen enjoyed the live action one but I should have known that a newer version would be full of name calling and body function "humor." I'm going to order the 1973 version so I have it on hand because I know we'll be re-reading it at some point in the future.

We haven't started Stuart Little yet because I haven't had the energy, but it's next on our list. I'm hoping to start it tonight.

The kids have been good the past couple of days. Right now they are sitting at the computer desk together playing on www.kneebouncers.com. They love that site.

As I was typing that, Maddie answered a question and got it right! They're playing the ice cream game where you have to catch the color of ice cream scoop they tell you to on a cone. They said to catch purple and when she saw one, she said, "theh ih is!" and then "puhple!" I didn't realize she knew any colors... Guess I need to start working with her more!

sickie :(

Kasen woke up this morning throwing up. This continued every 15 minutes for 2 hours and since he'd just had the second half of his flu vaccine yesterday, I called the doctor to let them know. They wanted him to come in - my guess is since he's so young and throwing up so much - so while we waited at the office, we read more "Charlotte's Web." We are now on the last chapter and he said he wants to start over and read it again. :)

That makes me a very happy homeschooling mama! I hope he keeps a love of reading!

I told him that since he's sick, we'll curl up on the couch later after we finish the book and watch the movie.

I'd hoped to be able to download the original cartoon version, but it's not available on amazon.com, so we'll watch the newer live action version instead.