School Is In Session, As Well As Growth Spurts!

We officially started homeschooling again last week & so far things are going really well!!  Kyle  jumped back into the schooling routine with mimimal complaint & is already off to a great start!  The 3rd Grade Curriculum is much larger than the 2nd Grade one so in an effort to keep him from becoming overwhelmed with the increased work load I've been giving him small amounts to do through-out the day versus having him sit down & do it all at once.  In just a few short days I've been able to determine a few of his strengths & weaknesses;
His writing skills have improved greatly over the summer, which really pleases me! The other day I was reviewing one of his reading comprehension papers & was floored at how well written it was!  I spent a good portion of the rest of that day praising him for it!
His ability to focus & concentrate on the task at hand is definitely an area in which he needs improvement.  It's no secret to anyone that Kyle is a highly excitable little boy which is fine by us.  I think it would be more of a problem if he were in a public/private school setting but fortunately he's not.  Even still, I think it's important for him to learn how to have the self control needed to keep him focused.  Right now the littlest things distract him & throw him off course.  He still struggles with getting lost in his imagination, especially if he's doing something that he doesn't feel like doing! 
What I'm doing this week is telling him to "beat the clock".  I'm not really setting a time limit for him, but rather making it into a game..  It kind of gives him something to focus on, in addition to what he's doing, so he doesn't get "lost in imagination world".
I'm also spending an hour or so per day working with Bella.  She has no idea that she's doing "school work", though.  At 3 years old learning is all about fun & games!  Every night, after Savannah goes to bed, Kyle picks up one of his library books & reads for about an hour.  During that time Bella & I work on puzzles, matching games, letters & numbers, flashcards etc.  We read stories & go over what happens during the beginning of the story, the middle of the story & the ending of the story.  Already she is making great progress in learning how to put together simple jigsaw puzzles.  She counts very well & can recite the alphabet perfectly.
I try to do flashcards with her twice per day, because she really can't recognize very many letters of the alphabet yet.  She recognizes O, W, X & T. 
I have to say that with each year that passes homeschooling becomes easier & easier for me, regardless how of many kids I have.   In many ways I don't even feel like what I'm doing is homeschooling.  Am I teaching my children?  Yes, I am.  But it's my job, as their parent, to teach them.  Watching them learn new things is so rewarding, as is watching them grow....
...and boy are they growing!!
It seems like all 3 kids have gone thru a major growth spurt lately!  Kyle is almost 50 lbs, Bella is 30 lbs & Savannah is 20 lbs!  Last week Savannah had her 1 year check-up where we discovered that she's grown 2 inches since her last visit!  The doctor was quite pleased to see her recent weight gain, too.  She started out as a peanut but she's got some meat on her bones now!  :)