Eli

Eli is back in kindergarten this year. We switched from the Open Classroom to the traditional public school (on the same campus) for both Eli and Alia as it seemed both would benefit from a little more structure in their classroom. In addition to class, Eli has speech therapy and, recently, a one-hour post school intervention class to work on letter recognition. On Thursday his teacher phoned me, and after assuring me (in response to my query) that nothing was wrong, she told me that she was calling to brag about how well Eli was doing! In a week he had gone from being able to recognize and write 3 letters (yep, that would be E, L and I) to knowing 19- lower and uppercase!

I wonder if he would have done as well if he'd been in the traditional program last year or if he just needed that extra year to socialize and grow a bit more. Everyone who knows him now is convinced that he is a smart kid!

Back to School

Yesterday was the first day of school and Kim and Corey returned to the open classroom in grades 7 and 4 and Alia and Eli started in the traditional side of the school in grades 1 and K (Eli is repeating). I think the little kids will do better in their classes this year- they both need some routine and structure to do their best learning. All the kids got new teachers this year because we lost some of the Open Classroom teachers to budget cuts so it's a transition for all! Still we are all happy that school has started and the "I'm bored" litany will stop! I think an 8 week summer would be long enough!

No first day of school pix because my digital camera died and I haven't replaced it yet but they were all their mis-matched, happy selves.

Champions

Kim's team, the Pumas, won the Wildcat League Championships last Saturday! Here's a team picture taken earlier in the year- Kim is 3rd from the right. The last game was a real nail biter during the first half but our team took control during the 2nd and we won 37-22! It's been a fantastic experience for Kim and all of our family. We lucked out and had the best coach in the league - he has a wonderful way of working with the girls- very positive. He even gave Corey some tips and she will be starting playing basketball at the Y this fall while Kim goes on to the play in the Ventura Youth Basketball Association.

School starts next week- not a minute too soon for both me and the the kids! Eli will repeat kindergarten in the traditional side of our school and Alia will move to that side for 1st grade. Kim and Corey continue at the Open Classroom- both with new teachers (OC lost 3 teachers this year- 2 new ones to layoffs and one to a transfer) so we'll have new teachers all around.

Summer

Summer has been camping, basketball, swimming, playgrounds and the library reading program! Just under 4 weeks left. With the new school year we will be looking at a few other changes- all good I'm sure! Stay tuned for updates!

Kim's basketball team, the Pumas, is in 2nd place as the regular summer season ends and the championship series begins! Three weeks from Saturday is the last championship game which will be televised locally. Kim has gotten a lot of playing time the past few games and we are hoping the Pumas will go all the way to that final game!

Camping Pix

Here are a few photos from our camping trip- we had a nice campsite at Lake Casitas- easy access to the lake (no swimming since it is a drinking water reservoir - why are bodies worse than fish and boats?) and a playground. It was hot so we enjoyed the waterpark and even rented a tandem bicycle (last time for me- who knew how much work that would be!). And of course cooked in the great outdoors and roasted marshmallows!

Camping!

It's summer so what better thing to do than go camping? We are off to a local lake - Lake Casitas for a week starting the Monday after the 4th. In addition to the regular camping facilities they have a waterpark, fishing, bicycle rentals and ranger talks. Now I'm more of a bed and breakfast sort of vacationer but when you have 4 kids you sometimes have to economize a bit. So it's tents and cooking over the open flame for a week. I think Eli and Corey will enjoy themselves- Eli because he's such a little heathen and Corey because she's adventurous.

In other news Kim's basketball team has won another game making them 3-1 and in 2nd place in the standings! Looks like we'll make it to the playoffs in August.

New Window

We have a new window in the van! A very nice friend from church generously fixed it for us tonight and we are now secure again. Although having had a window smashed in I'm not as convinced that cars are all that secure! Regardless I'm thrilled to have the window and very grateful to know someone talented enough to fix it for us!