We are super sad to see Xavier's karate journey come to a close right now. The homeschool class at his dojo was canceled, so we have to pause his training. We are also prayerfully moving soon, so thought this was the best opportunity to take a break.
He has an intermediate white belt and earned another stripe on it during his last class. Sometimes I questioned whether he was getting the most out of the class that he could - when I was able to watch class it often seemed like he wasn't kicking hard or punching with all of his might - but I finally realized that the intent was technique, and after listening to him review what he learned I saw that he had the technique behind the kicks/punches/etc down quite well. Xavier is a quiet study. He's always listening, always learning. He is not assertive and can get lost in the background of a group, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know what's going on - usually he does! I don't regret the time and money we put into his training over the last 10 months. It was a good learning experience for us both.
Thank you to Xavier's sensei, Twila, and her husband, Jerry, for the time and effort they poured into our son.
Xavier's karate instructor changed the way that stripes are earned, but he was able to test for a stripe on his belt and he passed!
So proud of this boy!
Monday, March 27, 2017
School is marching along. Actually Natalee and Xavier are starting to wind down on some of their core subjects these next couple of weeks. Here's a modge podge of what we've been up to the last month or so.
2.21.17
We did morning time on the porch on a beautiful morning! Mia looked overtaken by the Spirit when we were singing our hymn, How Great Thou Art.
2.21.17
Our local Extension office is hosting a monthly STEM night. At the first one the children learned to make catapults and had a blast!
Xavier taking a break (2.24.17)
2.25.17
Kiwi Crate
Natalee and her friend playing Tenzi at homeschool game night.
Our attempt at keeping Zayden happy and busy.
3.2.17
Classification work for Xavier! (And he has to read those words on his own.)
Karate and an honor stripe.
3.7.17
School for Ameliya.
3.9.17
Natalee and I have been doing a mom and daughter character study on Thursday nights. It's been sweet to have this solo time with my girl.
3.11.17
Family movie night!
3.13.17
Our read aloud was The Cricket in Times Square. We found all the chapters on YouTube and LOVED it! It was a nice change from mom's voice and a nice little break for me.
I have decided we can't do Spanish and Science both each week and do them well so we're switching these two subjects off. It's going a lot better and I feel like we're getting more in depth with the lessons. Here is a Spanish "quiz". Draw our family and label each person with any of the vocabulary words we've learned, and draw our house and label the parts with our new vocabulary words. This is Xavier's. I have to track down Natalee's - she took it to her room!
3.16.17
Week 2 of Character Study - it's been sweet to watch the girls get to know each other.
3.19.17
The big kids had Book It coupons so we went for Sunday lunch after church. They got their personal pan pizzas and the rest of us had buffet.
3.20.17
Our history chapter was about medieval castles last Monday and the big kids got really into it so we're sticking around this subject for awhile. We've written about them, painted them, built them, catapulted them, watched documentaries, and have books requested on interlibrary loan! I love the ability to stop and focus on a topic, just because we want to!
Luckily we learned how to make catapults at that Extension office STEM night in February!!
-Natalee
-Xavier
3.27.17
Xavier finished his math curriculum today! We're switching to a computer based math program next year and I'm so excited!
