Two months and no update! That's what a big move will do for you, I suppose. We're still up to our armpits in boxes, but the learning never stops, of course.

Jonathan is reading Top Ten Greek Myths or something like that. It's silly and he loves it. We're also still doing D'Aulaire's versions whenever he asks. We're on the third chapter of Caddie Woodlawn, too, and he's enjoying it alot. He's actually reading tons of other books as I pull them out of boxes. Bugs. Ranger Ricks (still a favorite). Astronomy. Biographies. He sat at the kitchen table today and made his own Magic Square after reading a book about Benjamen Franklin.

Speaking of math, he's been helping Papa measure all of the windows and whatnot as we buy curtains, cut boards for shelves, etc. He mostly loves to do math in his head. He'd much rather work out multiplication and division that way than to work with his manipulatives or use paper and pencil. Odd duck. I have to remind him of his abacus and the cuisenaire rods whenever he has big problems that he can't work out mentally.

We're doing prints tomorrow from a book I got for a dime from a library sale several months ago. We've cut up our oranges and onions and are letting them dry, then tomorrow we make our color pads with napkins, condensed milk, and tempera paint. The book is pretty neat, explaining how printing began in China ages ago and moving up to the printing press. Jonathan's enthralled with the idea of making his own. And from oranges! And onions! And apples!

The little boys and I sat out on the deck this morning and played with some play dough that we made at Christmas (red!). They had fun making balls and rolling them off into the yard then going to fetch them. Nicholas has started counting things, oddly enough. I think he picked up the ordering from hide and seek and then Benjamen taught him how to apply it. He counts when we go down steps; he counts his trains and cars; he was counting the play dough balls today. Benjamen was the same way, counting before he was even two, taught by his big brother.

I'll have to get on the ball sometime soon and figure out what I need to do, exactly, to make us legal in West Virginia. I know the beginning of the year stuff is the same as in Virginia, just send in a notice of intent to homeschool. It's the end of the year stuff that's going to piss me off. In WV, the parent isn't allowed to administer end of year testing (which is what we planned to do at the end of 1st grade), which means we'll probably have to get a certified teacher to come and review our portfolio or something like that. Hate that. It means I'll have to be organized and keep records. HATE that. I mean, I do anyway, of course, but it's all loosey goosey and I don't stress about maintaining continuity or being perfectly chronological or recording every fargin' little thing. Feh. I guess I should get on that sooner rather than later.