February 16th: Something New...

I thought this was the hardest photo assignment to date!  We've had a newish dog acquisition, the addition of a newish (to us) car, and I just bought some groceries...but none of that seems very news-worthy.  Somewhere out there is a woman who waited until today to announce that a new baby is on the way.  That's a good one.

That woman is not me!  (And, honestly, that's also a good one!)

I was really coming up short, and then during school this morning, we realized that Mary was ready to start a new Hooked on Phonics box!  The final one in the system!  

As evidenced by the rattiness of the box, the curriculum isn't new,
but it's new to Mary!  Good enough!

And she was excited to be the photo subject today!

When we first started homeschooling in the fall of 1999, my one student was in 8th grade, so I wasn't even thinking about teaching anyone how to read.  Just as well...it might have swayed me in my homeschooling decision just a bit.

I have heard it said that one of the hardest things in the world is to watch someone struggle to do what you can do easily.  I'll buy that.  This is why it's so frustrating to teach someone how to drive.  Also why I cheerfully pay someone to teach my kids' piano lessons!

And, by the time you have kids who are old enough to learn to read, you can pretty much read with your eyes shut, right?

'Nuf said.

But be that as it may, there's nothing like realizing one day that your child can't just read...she can read with great inflection and enthusiasm!  And she's reading for the sheer joy of it!

And, by the grace of God, you got to be in on the ground floor!

Buster likes to help with school.  He's especially helpful on nice breezy spring days.
He's a great paper-weight!

Mary is the fifth child who has learned to read at the Out of Egypt Academy (aka Stately Bennett Manor)...but it's always something new!

Blessings!

Missy

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction 

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

Proverbs 1:8