secret messages

We are up to our necks in school around here. It is leaving little room for anything else, save barely getting dinner on the table and squeezing in a trip to the grocery store. But so far, fingers crossed, this year is starting off really well. We've got a new curriculum that we're enjoying, some new books that are "clicking", and a better plan and approach than in years past.

Today, Mary delivered this note to me--which I deciphered for you. It is a 'to do' list of the things she wants to accomplish during our upcoming trip to visit her cousins. These notes absolutely, positively kill me. I love them. I want to frame every single one. Dangle them from a clothesline across my dining room. Wallpaper my bathroom with them. Embroider them on pillows. Tattoo them on my forearms. (okay, a stretch.)

You see, Emma was never an "inventive speller". She wanted to know how to do it right, or she wouldn't do it at all. She never sat down, sounded things out and gave it her best shot. She sat at the kitchen table, asked me how to spell it and if I wouldn't give her the straight up answer, she said, never mind. A different approach, and that's okay.

Mary on the other hand, litters my house with these messages.

It never fails to amaze me how my children can tackle the world of learning so differently.

While Mary is leaving me to decipher her inventive notes, Emma has fallen in love with creating her own secret language of hieroglyphics.

We are studying Ancient Egypt and after spending some time this morning trying to write her name in Egyptian hieroglyphics (that barn owl "M" is really tough), I decided to let her create her own alphabet of glyphs.

And we just spent the last hour writing each other secret messages. Hers were all lovey-dovey, mine all business :

We are having tacos for dinner.

We need to do some math. 

I have more things to share with you. Ack! But just need a few more hours in the day. I'll be back soon with another sponsor giveaway, and some more news!