Getting back to homeschool

This week some of Gabriela's classes started up. She wasn't too excited about her chess class, but I wanted her to give it a try. I figured it's a good skill to have and once she was there with her friends, she'd find it interesting. Well, she couldn't stop talking about class when I picked her up and she's been asking Lane and me both to play games with her ever since. Easton is not missing out on this excitement and I think he might be picking up on it too. As Gabriela and I were playing, I captured one of her knights and Easton said, "well, at least you still have one knight, Gabriela!"  He also pointed to the king and said that's the guy we really want to capture. Gabriela started teaching Easton how to play checkers since he's so interested in the board. 

Here's what I saw when I peeked in on class toward the end. G trying to help her friend with her next move. 

Later that afternoon I took Gabriela to her first cooking class of the year. She made Gazpacho. Cooking class is 30 minutes longer this year than last, so we are excited to see what delicious recipes they will be making this year. 

Easton was happy to spend the afternoon playing at the Waldorf school. He was looking forward to playing on the monkey bars, but was surprised to see this instead:

Easton was not disappointed. He also went on the swings, climbed on the stumps, climbed on a rope swing, played in a little house and checked on the chickens. I'm glad he enjoys our time there. I was planning on going to the grocery store during class, but couldn't keep him away from all this fun. 

Next week art class starts. The kids have been doing magnet experiments, building circuits with our snap circuits jr. set, Gabriela interviewed her Nana and Papa about their parents and grandparents, and tonight she went with Lane to the John Muir House for more star gazing and learning about constellations. I feel really good about where we are with homeschooling now, even though it's only been a couple weeks. 

Oh, and this is happening. 

A couple months ago we were in Ikea, and Gabriela casually mentioned that she couldn't really read some words from far away. But we were at IKEA, I told her hardly anyone could read those words - they are Swedish! I didn't realize she was trying to say that she couldn't see the letters that made the words. Bad mama.  

When she mentioned it again, I made her an eye appointment. So Gabriela went from saying nothing to things like, "when you are in the kitchen and I'm in the dining room, it looks like you don't have a mouth". She started telling everyone she was getting glasses. I must admit, I was wondering how much trouble she had seeing, and how much she liked the idea of getting glasses. It turns out this girl can only see things up close, and she needs glasses for everything else. 

I'm so glad she let me know. Now we are anxiously waiting for her glasses to be ready so she can finally see the world clearly. 

I made sure she chose her own glasses; I wanted Gabriela to feel grown up and excited about this process. She has asked if I think her friends will recognize her or if I think she looks better with glasses or without. I hope this is an easy transition for her, and at least for now, she seems to be looking forward to this big change. 

Easton was feeling a little left out, so he tried some frames too

I kind of want to buy those for him.