Yeah Fall!

We are now officially back in the swing of things!  We have been homeschooling for two very productive weeks, and getting ready to start our third week tomorrow.  I originally didn't feel ready, but now that we are in a routine and I have mapped out a new schedule, I feel better about it and more prepared.

Homeschooling high school is such a challenge!  I always feel like we could be doing more with all the children, but especially high school.  I have to resist the urge to try and cram just "one more thing" into poor Evan's day.  He has tons of reading to do each day, and this year he has three "off-site" classes away from home, so he has to be very prepared for each of those and tackle homework and projects from those teachers as well.

Evan is doing well on handling those responsibilities so far, but poor Gideon is another story.  He is absolutely LOVING school-- no question-- but he has yet to learn the responsibility it comes along with.  He needs to be continuously reminded of homework, the little bits he is able to do, and tonight he completely left it, despite reminders, until about 9pm.  We made it clear that any weekend homework needs to be done on Saturday from now on, no more of this Sunday night stuff!!

Things are coming slowly but surely for him.  His English is definitely improving!  Yeah!  He loves doing work on the computer and is presently working on a project about China for his Chinese class, which of course he is very interested in!  Math is much more a work in progress, I just don't think he was taught very much over there unfortunately.  But he definitely tries which is half the battle, right?  :)

So far, we are really enjoying the Fall-- though I guess it isn't officially here yet.  The temperature has been much cooler these past few days which has been SO nice!  As Evan says, it is "perfect soccer weather!"  The kids have been playing their hearts out on the soccer fields each week, and doing really well in their games too.

I, for one, am enjoying this time of the year where we get to decorate for the fall season, eat tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch (like we did today!), and cozy up under some super-soft blankets at bedtime. 

We have also gotten to have a couple little adventures--
A few of my girlfriends and I took our annual Girl's Weekend trip to Ashville, NC last weekend, and what a great get-away it was!  The weather was perfect and although we were a tad bit too early to enjoy the changing of the leaves, we had a fun time in an adorable cabin with some shopping and spa treatments thrown in for good measure!  A very lovely way to relax and enjoy the coming of fall before we have to gear up for the holidays!  Between the 5 of us there are 17 kids, so it was also a wonderful break from our mommy duties!  :)

In addition, the kids and I got to go to the waterpark at Great Wolf Lodge this past Tuesday!  The Boys and Girls Club was running a fundraiser back during the summer where they were selling tickets to the waterpark for only $5 each!  What a steal!!-- especially considering that you usually cannot attend the waterpark unless you stay over in the hotel which would be A LOT for us with 6 kids.



The day turned out great-- the kids had a whole 7 hours of splashing, swimming and barreling through crazy water tunnels and at the end were exhausted.  I was hurting the next day considering that for each ride you have to climb the equivalent of two or three stories so you can slide or tube back down!  My legs got a workout that is for sure!  But we all really had fun and it was a great treat to go to the Lodge!

So here is to an autumn filled with cocoa and marshmallows, great books read by the fire, the sound and smell of crisp leaves crunching underfoot, cozy afghans and hot, steamy bowls of soup!  Enjoy the season, and..............

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!