We have had a fulfilling year of learning. We joined Faith Community Christian School as our cover school for homeschooling and have been blessed with so many new friends. We have attending numerous field trips and co-ops, while nurturing some friendships along the way. I had the opportunity to join Southern Artworks co-op and teach science to some talented homeschool students. We have all learned new skills, gained abundant knowledge of history of our world and bible, tried some new tasks and tasted some new foods. I couldn't ask for a better year, although I would have been happy had it have moves a bit slower. We went to Alabama theater, Alys Stephens, McWane, Shark Tooth Creek, Oak Mountain Wildlife Preserve, Old Baker Farm, Southern Museum of Flight, Creation Classroom, and Ecoscape at SBC. We did some great co-op classes on Birds, Olympics, Space, Plants, Turkeys, and many more. It seems like yesterday we were moving down to AL and wondering what this move would hold for our family. Now I can't image much of my life prior to move.
Luna is growing into a young lady as she continues to read books at level 3, I am amazed at how much she is retaining. She still refers to some lessons learned from this show or that show on TV, I try to remind her that books are an excellent source of knowledge. We are working on clocks, money and fractions as the year comes to a close. For language: we are trying to gain a better sense of biblical times as we read our bible, learning about some important figures in biblical history like Noah and David, learning to recognize blends and vowel blends as a new sound from basic vowels, and starting to write our own stories to give new life to vocabulary and the English language. In history, we have been all over the world from China and India to Africa and Egypt as we looked at Ancient times and how life was for kids of that era. I feel like Luna has blossomed as the year has gone by and is now starting to get a distinct style all her own. As we entered January we discovered an intolerance to certain foods in our journey to better understand Luna's personality and have since gone on a GFCFSF diet.....translation, no gluten (breads/most flours), no casetin (dairy) and no soy! She has done wonders considering the changes she has had to make after 6 years of those foods. We are mostly a family of fresh fruits, veggies and meats! Nothing wrong with that....and actually can be cost-effective if done properly.
Rayne is growing so fast as she enters 5! She is learning more about insects as we dive into Alpha bug lapbooks. She has taken off and found interest where I thought there was none. She loves to write and color her worksheets as we learn more about such insects as ants, crickets and earthworms just to name a few. She is writing words, learning simple math and beginning to recognize 3, 4-letter words based on letter recognition and pictures. I love being able to work together as a group and then
begin able to work in a student/teacher capacity. I am excited to see what this next year will hold for her and she also begins to develop a learning style that works for her.
John is doing well, he is learning different tasks at work and finally has figured out the problems that were ailing him last year. He is able to regulate what was off-balance and feel more like his old self. He continues to love tweaking his computer until he gets it just right. As always, he loves taking his motorcycle to work and getting the thrill of wind on his face as he rides the freeway. We have a nice entertainment center that allows us to access the internet, watch shows off web and enjoy a family movie thanks to John's computer knowledge. He also began seeing a local chiropractor to help align his spine to give him little to no pain, which is a huge relief!
I am doing great. After starting teaching science to middle schoolers at Southern Artworks, I have a new passion for this age. I have always enjoyed teaching this age, but with homeschoolers I can see a passion and desire to complete projects at hand. We had a blast learning together about human heart, building bridges, and astronomy. I love being able to see the twinkle in their eyes as they finally get a concept. I also love working with the students in swimming, seeing them learn a new stroke or gain understanding for a technique we have been trying to master for months. The parents really give me joy as they see their own children blossom.
John and I are coming upon our 10 year anniversary. I can't believe that it was 10 years ago in July that we walked down the isle as "Mr and Mrs Swiczkowski"! Funny how having such a long name can begin such interesting conversations with strangers who claim to know someone with that name. We are planning for our 10th anniversary trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. As we reviewed some of the popular activities I saw the color in my husbands skin goto pale as I mentioned the helicopter trip over falls or the boat trip to edge of falls....he is not one for water or heights...so we compromised on a walk to edge of Horseshoe Falls. I am not one for the heights either, but willing to try and overcome for the beauty of it all.
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