WOW! My girl is growing up.

As I was putting clothes away this morning, I came upon this note from J in my drawer. I was so touched and wowed by her note. I thought perhaps daddy might have helped her write this note but she said she came up with the words all by herself. Wow, dear J, you are really maturing. Not sure where she came up with the "right path" and "wrong path" idea. I'm surprised she kept the note a secret and didn't prod me to look in my drawer or say anything to me until I discovered it for myself. Ha-ha!


She wrote,

Dear Mommy,
You are the "just right" teacher for me. I love you. I just really want to thank you for helping me go on the "right path" instead of the "wrong path. I need you.

And on the back she wrote, All I need is you, Mommy (heart)

Thank you J, for your encouragement. Many times, I think someone else can do a better job teaching you than me as often I'm short on patience and can be quite demanding. I thank God for giving me a child who is so understanding, loving and forgiving. Thank God and praise God for this sweet note. Thank you that you have given J wisdom and for encouraging me to stay on my path to homeschool my children.

J's clay creations

Here are J's clay creations made in her pottery class so far this semester. You can't really tell from the picture, but one side of her mug is a slanted. ;) But this is good start as this class is for 3rd-5th graders and I think she's doing just fine. She has been using her own hand made and hand painted mug a lot. I'm sure she'll also find some good use for her heart container as well.



I didn't realize she has been keeping a journal about her pottery class as well. She wrote about how she made the heart clay container and about it's sometimes hard to paint her pottery.

While J is in pottery class, Prime takes a 5 in a row class which is a unit study class. He wishes he can take pottery class too which I plan to let him in the fall. This is the picture he brought back today. Cute, eh? I'm not sure what the cat has to do with Florida, but supposedly that's what they are learning and reading.

Holiday Letter from J

We are finally getting ready to send out the holiday cards. Last year, I did a twitter by month and this year, I asked J to write a holiday letter. After some initial grumbling and complaining of not knowing what to write, she did a great job. We had fun looking over all the posts from this year and reminiscing all that we did in 2009. I think that helped out a lot with the letter. This is one of those times I am really glad I have a blog. :)
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Dear friends,

2009 has been very long for me. But it was fun. One of my favorite places was Kalahari. Kalahari is a place with a lot of water fun. The first slide we went on was scary to me but not scary to the rest of my family. There was also a children's slide which was not scary but fun. I also went tubing. I really like tubing. I was sad when it was almost spring and my tube got a hole. I went skiing too. I really enjoyed skiing. My mom said those boots are really warm and I need to find a pair. I tried dog sledding which was kind of fun but it was a bumpy ride.

In the summer, I went blueberry picking. I picked the most blueberries and I wanted to stay longer but my brother was hot so we had to leave. I also painted pottery mugs. I got to bring it home when it was ready. My mom and I made a ti-pee. We pretended we were Indians and we put a feather on top. When my mom was in Florida, I went to a zoo with brother and dad. Then we took a camping trip for three days. At the beach, I found seashells and I kept them in my shoes. I also liked washing my parent's car, archery, playing with my friends, and making homemade knitted doll.

This Thanksgiving, I went to visit my auntie Stacy's baby. Her name is Sarah. She is my cousin and she is very cute. I wish my mommy had another baby but she says no.

I started homeschooling after MLK's birthday. I'm liking homeschooling. It is fun. Prime is catching up on reading. He is on level two books. Happy holiday!

From: J (her name in cursive)

J's portfolio picnic

Today we went to J girl's school for "portfolio picnic". We got her work which she did in school and her 2nd quarter report card.

One of the comments her teacher made in J's report card was "She makes a great leader in our classroom." I always felt J had natural leadership abilities. Sometimes, she comes across somewhat bossy, especially around Prime. But Prime knows his boundaries and would not let J push him too far. But at the time, she is "respectful of others and cooperative..." which is another comment made by J's teacher.

One thing that I have repeatedly heard other say about J is that "she is a great helper and a friend to others." I think and others agree that J has a natural motherly instinct and that really shows up when she is with younger children. Young girls are very taken with J and let J holds their hands. J will let them take the lead, watch over them and help them.

Here is a peak at few of of J's work from school. Please click on the picture if you want to be able to see clearly.

About the 1st picture: We did form drawing from Enki for 2 days in September so I was surprised to see it in J's work. ( Form drawing: that's the blue repeating pattern in her picture) She said she drew it so she would not forget. Okay, maybe that is hint that we should get back on it since we now have more time.

The second picture: If I were a president: J wrote, "I would save trees. I would get America to do good things."