A Wonderful Tuesday

I want to keep track of as much as I can of how I spend this summer, so that when I go back to my full time job teaching public school in August, I can look back with gratitude.

Today was wonderful.

I:

1)Drove to and from Santa Barbara to visit my friend who had emergency surgery over the weekend. (Actually, my husband drove us, adding to the long list of reasons I love him.) Gave my friend a goody basket filled with all the yummy things she enjoyed back in college as an exchange student in England: English breakfast tea, Cadbury chocolates (real Cadbury, not the stuff made here in the states), Heinz beans, and milk chocolate digestives. I was sad that I couldn't visit her sooner, but I am so happy she is recovering quickly and that I got to spend a little bit of time with her today.

2)Got home in time to take a much needed 30 minute nap before taking daughter to the last dance class before her very first ballet recital!

3)Came home and did two puzzles together. (Puzzles of cats are really challenging! All that fur!)

4)Did a reading lesson from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Wise and Buffington. My daughter read "She said, 'Spread your bread with jam,'" and "We said, 'Let us have ice cream cones,'" all by herself! (After completing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, I wanted to continue phonics instruction with something inexpensive and easy-to-use. I got the Wise/Buffington book and started in the middle of the book. A parent can use this book with a child who has no phonics knowledge from Lesson 1, but I chose to use the Engelmann, and - if I had to do it over - I would do the same thing.)

5)Reviewed Spanish clothing, and translated some easy sentences (Ex.: Las botas son blancas.) Because of my end-of-year work stress (report cards, cumulative folders, packing my classroom), we had a light month of home(pre)schooling. We will be year-round homeschoolers because certain times of year are busier than others.

6)Did a page of math (four subtraction word problems) from Mathematical Reasoning Level B.

7)Gave daughter a bath so I could read some of Sharman Apt Russell's new book Teresa of the New World. I look forward to giving you a full review when I'm done! :)