The frog probably never knew what hit him...

Here is Becca's rendition of a snake about to eat a red-eyed tree frog. The black thing on the left is a "tree stump filled with water." What kills me is the expression on that frog's face!!

Meet Tommy and Rosie

Here are our frog friends Tommy and Rosie. Tommy is the big guy in the top pic. We got him as a "froglet friend" when we sent off for the larger Stage 2 habitat. Rosie is smaller and more delicate (second pic). We raised her from a tadpole. We actually don't know if Tommy is a boy or Rosie is a girl - it's hard to tell in Grow-A-Frogs. I wanted to name our tadpole Tommy, but Becca won out and named her Rosie (short for Rosella, from Barbie Island Princess). So as a compromise, I got to name our next one Tommy.



We got our friends from http://www.growafrog.com/. They're definitely worth checking out - Becca and Sylvia both love Tommy and Rosie, and they're suitably low-maintenance for a lazy - er, busy - mom like me!



Rosie went through her metamorphosis a lot faster than we expected, so we may end up getting another tadpole later on so the girls can get a closer look at the true transformation. I'm not ready for it right now though - Becca's already begging for caterpillars and an ant farm!

Becca's first day of school

And doesn't she look pleased?

It's all fun and games 'til somebody loses a tooth.

Look, Mom, homeschooling's FUN!

This is the culmination of our first sort of official science unit. The general ocean life theme was strictly for fun; the whale unit was for real. We read encyclopedia entries, picture-filled books, created a whale mobile, and baked some cookies. Science is a blast when you're five, isn't it?

Our next unit is on frogs. I was going to cover seals and penguins next, but Becca got so excited about having a frog that I went ahead and ordered our tadpole. Unfortunately, she morphed really quickly, and the girls missed it completely since they were visiting Grandma. But they still get the fun of feeding our two little grow-a-frogs, Tommy and Rosie. I'll have to get some pictures soon. Tommy is about three times bigger than Rosie - he was the free froglet friend that came with our stage two set. Rosie looks so tiny and delicate next to him! They're getting along well though.

Updates, changes, etc.... Sylvia is still stubbornly resisting the potty, so it's looking very unlikely that she'll be going to preschool in the fall. As much as one can ask a three year old a question and get an answer, I asked if she wanted to go to preschool and she said no. I was shocked!! I guess I wasn't thinking - just because Becca had a blast at preschool doesn't mean that Sylvia would want to go. The girls' best friend and Becca's 3 yr. teacher are leaving too, which doesn't give Sylvie any motivation at all. She says she wants me to be her teacher too... I didn't bargain for that much!

And thank Bush... or the oil companies, or whomever you'd like to personally flog for the outrageous gas prices - we're not going to be able to do the aforementioned Fine Arts Fridays. I'm upset, but I saw it coming. Between the tuition and the 50 mile (one way) drive, it would cost us way more per month than we could possibly pay. So now I get to make full use of the fine arts center in our town and whatever else I can find in the area. I'm nervous about being out on my own. I know there are other homeschoolers locally; maybe we'll come out of the closet and band together for a little fun.

Finally, there's nothing like the prospect of teaching your own child to get you to want to polish up your own learnin'! So I'm reading some classic literature and an ancient history overview. I also want to take Latin and logic courses (self-taught at home). This whole classical approach is the education I wanted and envisioned when I was about 15. I just wish I'd learned about it years ago. I would have been able to do so much extra learning if I'd even realized these things were available!