First Grade

We started our school year today. Maddy is a big First Grader this year! Our subjects are English, Math, Spelling, Handwriting, Science, and Heritage Studies..aka Social Studies. So far this morning has gone pretty well. I fully intended on getting up early and working out before starting school, but the beauty of homeschool is that if plans change, so be it, as long as we still get the work done! : ) Needless to say, I'll be working out this evening instead of this morning!

We started with Bible reading for about 30 minutes. We started in Genesis, and I hope to have the whole Bible read with her by the end of the school year. Then we went downstairs to the school room for the rest of the subjects. English, Handwriting, Spelling, and Math will take up the whole year. There are 54 Science lessons, so we're doing Science 3 days a week. There are 60 Heritage Studies lessons, but most require 2-4 days per lesson, so that will take up most of the school year, give or take about 20-30 days. Ryan will be doing music lessons with her on Thursday evenings. Our schedule is so jam packed in the evenings, that we don't have time to do music everyday, but she is such a fast learner that I think she'll pick it up in no time. Mondays she goes to gymnastics for an hour and a half, Tuesday nights are soccer practice nights for an hour, Wednesday is Church, and Ryan and I are teaching the first grade class, so that keeps up busy! Thursday is gymnastics again for an hour, so our free nights are Friday and Saturdays. Maddy also joined the Kid's Choir at Church so that will keep her busy on Sunday afternoons.
Well, I must go. Our lunch time has went a little past what it should. We're off to do a science experiement right in our front yard. Ahh..the beauty of homeschool! The world is our classroom!

We survived Atlanta!

We decided to take Maddy on a little trip to Atlanta last weekend. Our purpose for going down there was to go to Six Flags, thanks to a generous friend who gave us some complimentary tickets! We had a lot of fun, although Maddy is still scared of most rides. She must get that from her daddy! He never rode a roller coaster until he met me, and now he is a thrill seeker too. Well, he has yet to ride the one where you lay on your back, but he's making progress! I, being a big thrill seeker, did something that I never thought I'd do. I chickened out of riding something for the first time in my life! The ride is called Acrophobia. It looks like the devil designed it. It's a 200 foot pole and there are seats all around the pole. It's very similar to any of those "drop" rides, but this one appears (remember, I didn't ride it, so I have to say appears) to be much more intense. It takes you up 200 feet, while spinning you. Strike one! I get very sick on "spinny" rides. Yes, even the Carousel! Then, once you're at the very top, it tilts your seat to where you're looking straight down at the ground, instead of looking out like most *sane* rides do. Then after about 5 seconds of looking straight down at the ground and hoping that you don't fall out, it drops you....very fast. I couldn't do it! I stood in line trying to find my courage from somewhere, but when Ryan looked at me from the outside of the line and (laughed first) told me that I didn't have to do it, I took his advice and got the heck out of line! Maybe one day I'll ride it, but I'll have to be knocked out first!

Saturday, we went to Underground Atlanta. When Ryan and I were dating, we went and had a blast. Oh, how that place has changed. It was down right scary, and definitely not a place for kids, so we left. We went to the mall and they had a Disney Store, so we bought Maddy's Halloween costume early! She will be Hannah Montana this year. We ate at Joes Crab Shack after the mall and then Ryan suggested Toys R Us. Thanks, dad! ; ) Maddy got a new backpack for co-op, and if you bought a backpack, you got a free lunch box! Can you guess what kind she picked out? You got it! None other than Hannah Montana!

Sunday was probably the highlight of our trip, according to Maddy. She got to go to the American Girl store for the first time! She had a BLAST! She didn't know what to think as she was walking around looking at everything. She ended up with a big Kaya doll, a Ruthie mini-doll, and a Felicity book. She tried to talk us into getting Chrissa (her modern doll) a new hairstyle and some earrings! She's sneaky like that! We told her that she had to leave something for when we go back in November. I bet you can't guess why we're going back!!! Ahh, you should know! It's to see Miley Cyrus! HA! ; ) We got to eat at the American Girl Bistro. A 60-something dollar meal for 3 people, but she's our only one...she's allowed to be spoiled! : ) The food was great, and EVERYTHING in the bistro was PINK!!! Ryan looked so happy to be sitting there in a pink room with pink columns, pink tables, pink chairs, pink menus, and everything else pink! No, really, he did enjoy it. He wanted Maddy to be a boy so bad he could taste it, but I know he wouldn't have it any other way now.

I guess I should talk about our hotel. When we booked our hotel through Expedia, I had no clue that it was going to be where it was. We booked it because it was cheap, and it was less than a mile from Six Flags. When we turned down the road to get to it, there were 5 strip clubs, 2 "toy" stores, and a liquor store! If that wasn't bad enough, there were 3 or 4 "undesirable women" selling their services! Ahhh!!! The hotel itself wasn't too bad, although the beds were so hard that Ryan and I debated about sleeping on the floor instead. It really made me sick to my stomach to think that we had brought our daughter to a location like that. There was nothing we could do about it, since it had already been paid for. Trying to get out of it and get our $ back would have been like pulling teeth. Trust me, we've tried before! On Saturday night, Ryan was getting out of the van and sorting our bags, and Maddy and I were still sitting in the van. A lady that would make a corpse look good, came walking up to Ryan. She said, "How are you doing, honey?" Ryan cut his eyes at me in shock and then looked down and tried to ignore her. She kept coming!! It wasn't until I got out of the car, that she turned around and walked off. I told Ryan that he should have asked her how much she charged, in case times get tough, I'll know what the market is. HAHA! TOTALLY KIDDING!!!! I have never been in a situation like that and it just blowed my mind! And Ryan's too! At least we know not to ever go back there again!

So, all in all, we had a great trip, despite the skanky women and the scary people at Underground! When we go back in November, we'll definitely put more $ towards a hotel, and hope and pray that the beds are softer, and the only people offering "services" are the people doing valet parking! ; )