We didn't take Martin Luther King, Jr. day off like the area schools...we'll save our days off for sunshiny weather! We started Monday morning off with school and incorporated MLK into our lessons for the day.
Daddy goes in late on Mondays. Here's Mia, waving bye bye to him with her baby. All week long I saw her babyhood just slip farther and farther away.
I tried to pull simple but different activities out a few times this week to shake things up and give the kids something new to do. Monday I got out our clothesline and clothespins busy bag.
Mia needed help with the clothespins but she kept trying!
The kids and I started reading 101 Dalmatians. Here are their depictions of Cruella. The book describes her in an emerald dress, ruby necklaces and shoes, with black and white hair, and a car that has black and white stripes in it. Xavier nailed it. I love that he included a headlight and tail light - his drawing and coloring have come so far!
Natalee also got all the pertinent details. I'm not sure what's happening behind Cruella here!
Tuesday
We started the day with a fine motor warm up {play doh}...
Play doh was Xavier's idea! He has the strength to use all the tools (confetti maker, spaghetti maker, etc.) without my help - I love it!
I ended the day with baby tricks, smiles...
(He's perfecting his bubble making skills.)
(and he sometimes has bad dreams?)
...and snuggles.
Wednesday:
Xavier's buddy joined him for reading. (Yes, I know his chair is on the table - I'm always right there - no sweat.)
Xabe read to him while I was helping Ameliya.
That look...
I love listening to Natalee read - we're working on slowing down to make sure she's comprehending and can retell what she's read.
Zayden did some reading, too.
The kids played hard in the snow for recess and came in for hot chocolate and cookies. Ameliya hates the snow so she stayed in - she does however love cookies and made sure to get herself included.
The little Sammy man and I get our best quality time in after everyone else is in bed!
Little flirt!
Thursday:
We finished up our study of the planets. I did an informal assessment on the kids by asking them to draw the planets and sun. I had a few points I was looking for based on the specific things we learned in this unit (remember, this was a very introductory unit on the planets colors, compositions, size, etc.):
- They had 8 planets, 9 if they chose to include Pluto.
- 1 red planet (Mars)
- Jupiter with a red spot
- Saturn with rings
- That they could describe, with accuracy, the picture they drew.
This is Natalee's. You can obviously tell which one is Earth. I am impressed at the organization of her picture - she has a firm grasp on the planet order. Venus is yellow, as we learned, and Mars is red. Jupiter has a red spot, Saturn has a horizontal ring, and Uranus has a vertical ring. She made the sun large and the planets proportionate. Nice job, Natalee!
This is Xavier's. Not quite as much organization but he is only five. The sun is large, Jupiter is the biggest planet and has a red spot. Earth is green and blue, Venus is yellow and Mars is red. His rings are very hard to see but Saturn is the planet farthest to the right (brown) and does have a horizontal ring. In addition, his Uranus (blue - up and to the left of Saturn) has a vertical ring. Great work, Xavier!
The kids enjoyed this unit very much! It was fun! We have a few more "space" things to learn about before we switch to studying weather.
Zayden needed me today - he took an Ergo nap while I taught Science and History.
Natalee ACED her math test and had most of the subtraction and addition facts on it memorized. I'm forever grateful we decided to repeat the Alpha unit this year. She's enjoying the bonus "color by sum" page here...
Some snuggles to keep the day going right...
A kiss for brother...
You see his hands clasped? I think he's praying - if Mia were "holding" you, you'd be praying, too!
I ended my day with some patty cake. Is he THE CUTEST? Don't let him fool you - he has perfect control of his head but he gets so excited that sometimes it looks like a weeble wobble. Ha.
Last week at our homeschool mom's meeting a friend said that she'd recently been asked this question:
"What does it take for you to say that today was just a really good day when your husband comes home and asks how the day was?" Mercy have I been chewing on that...all week I've tweaked little things here and there - sometimes just my attitude - so that when Mike comes home I don't want to just explode and complain and go take a break but instead tell him that today was just a good day. Perhaps I shouldn't have picked a potty training the toddler week to have such a change of ways but more on that adventure another time.
Tomorrow we head to Aunt Lauren's house for a little Friday fun. This means today needs to end so that tomorrow doesn't begin so soon for me. Signing off!
May tomorrow just be a really good day for ALL of you!
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