The Most Competitive Girl In The World

Guess who? Who do you think I'm talking about? Me? Naaaah, I fall under the catagory of LEAST competitive girl in the world.
No, if you guessed Reilly, you'd be hitting the nail right on the head. Lots of times, in school, I try to use games to practive things. Most recently, it's been practicing math facts. She really struggles, NOT with the performance of the game itself, but with the idea that she might lose! (She wins almost every time, especially with Math Facts War.) So I have to really try to keep it light and fun, to be really encouraging and not frustrated when she can't remember 5+3=8, even though we just did that problem a few minutes ago. (There are times that I struggle with the whole "no frustration" thing...something I'm working on and praying A LOT about!)

A friend of ours recently gave us a whole bunch of school uniform-type clothing that she was getting rid of since her daughter has started going to public school. There were about eight white shirts and probably that many pair of blue pants. On Monday and Tuesday both Reilly came out from getting dressed all decked out like a private school girl. It looks so cute! She said something about how she kind of goes to private school, it's just homeschool and I told her that yes, we could just say that she goes to MorningStar Academy! I'm pretty sure that she'll wear the same thing today...if she does, I'll take a picture to share.

Deco was excited yesterday that he did some "real math", meaning that I got out his Math U See Primer book and we worked on counting and number recognition and he got to do a real page in his real workbook. He's such a funny kid!

I decided to hold back a little longer on moving on to subtraction with Reilly. She's really good at adding but I think she needs to gain just a titch of confidence before we move on. I keep feeling pressure to advance, not from anyone else but just from within - "Oh no! Kids in second grade in public school will be starting to learn to multiply! We need to move on!!" - but then I remember that MUS teaches completely differently than how she would be taught in PS and I try to take a few deep breaths and calm down.

I love this homeschooling thing, even on the days that I feel like I'm going to pull my hair out. It's such a joy to watch them work and know that they are learning because of something I'm doing!