Milestones

This week marked the beginning of Algebra for Strider. While I was thinking, "NOW this homeschooling stuff is gonna get FUN!" Strider was a little more underwhelmed. He kept wanting to see some of those mysterious and grown-up sounding "x's" but instead found a lot of fractions and geometry review.... and a LOT of problems for homework, which he's not used to. I assured him that the elusive x's -- and even y's -- will appear sometime soon.

He thought I was dumb for wanting to take his picture, so this is the shot I got:

This semester has also brought a new format for some of our schooling, and I've been so happy to see 3 kids at the table doing their independent work/play.

Of course it only looks peaceful like this for about 4 non-consecutive moments each morning, but it's better than it was before anyway.

In other news, Rayna taught herself how to zip up her sweatshirt (with no help starting it) all by herself today. This may not seem like a big deal to other kids/parents, but it was for us! Just last week I was thinking about that skill and figured I'd wait awhile to try and teach her that, assuming it would be an arduous process. But today she just walked up to me and announced she could do it! I was thrilled, and relieved.

And, how could I write about MILEStones without talking about our little Miles? His latest feat has been learning how to stand on his feet -- he gets very proud of himself when he can balance on his own for a few seconds.

Lots of learning and growing around here! It's too quick and just right all at the same time.