weaving & counting to 10!

Guess who got into the markers again? Yep, C! She was playing with plastic toy lipstick but then realized the red/orange/purple markers were even more like REAL lipstick! Thank goodness for baby wipes! K completed this paper yesterday...she colored it all by herself and did all the cutting! It was the story of Baby Moses...

D began multiplying by 3 yesterday. He used a Lego man to "skip count" by 3's on a yardstick all the way from 0-36. He love it!

To go with his history story yesterday, he was to "weave" a red blanket. As he began to "weave" it, he said, "I feel like a real Indian!"

He chose the light green, blue and orange to be the weaving strip colors - good choices!

When he finished, he asked if he could use it as a place mat for the table. I agreed and with my help, he cut clear contact paper to "laminate" it, so it will last through crumbs & spills. ;o)
Today for K's math, she put 10 foam shapes on a paper with 10 spaces. This became a group of 10 in the ten's column!

She's getting the tens/ones concept!!!

Faithful...even with the garage cans!

We finished unit 15 today...

D's memory verse was Matthew 25:21 "His master replied, 'Well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; come & share your master's happiness."

He memorized it and we talked about it each day (usually answering questions about specifics of the verse, what it means, how it applies to him). One day early last week, we talked about being "faithful" with the small things (jobs, responsibilities) we have to do so that we can be trusted with larger things (jobs, responsibilities). Yesterday, I asked him to take the garbage cans from the curb to the side of the garage after the trash truck came by. He was silent for a second, then told me (in a good attitude) that he didn't really feel like it, but that he would do it because he wants to be faithful. (WOW!) I thanked him and he took care of his "job." Daddy heard about it last night was in awe, too!

I thank God that He allows us to see glimpses of HIS WORD working in our children's lives. A moment like this gives me encouragement to be faithful in what He's called me to do right now...home school!

back at it!

Daddy was D's substitute teacher yesterday as I was still sick and he had the day off. It was easy for him - just open the guide & go! Another great benefit to HOD, in my opinion! :o)

Today, even though I'm not 100% and C took a short nap, we were able to get school done ~ thank goodness!

You can tell C still doesn't feel 100% either. :o(

K enjoyed playing musical instruments in "praise" to God as Solomon did when the temple was complete.

She begged to do her "reading lesson" again and so last week we picked back up in 100 Easy Lessons. She's on Lesson 45 and loving it! Yeah! I was afraid we'd have to start at the beginning, but she remembers it all and is doing better than in the fall ~ amazing the difference a few months makes. :O)

D constructed this cow to go with his history reading today. He even made the cow chewing on "wheat" like you see farmers doing in pictures (not sure where this idea came from?!). He even drew a snail in the grass (lower left corner) - something he learned about on PBS show this morning.

He learned to cut "fringe" for the grass in the picture...using his scissors at first and then later switching to mine as they were easier to cut such long fringe!
I took this picture on Friday - C is playing the "bubble" game on a new website. It's great because there are lots of "early learning" games that you can choose to have the child use only the space bar to operate. She LOVES it and has asked to play it a lot since Friday!

marshmallow toothpick temple

We did school Wednesday and that was the last day of "official" school for the week. :o( Both D&K caught their daddy's virus and are sick with high fevers & coughs. Yesterday they spent the whole day laying on the couch/chair & a half or their beds, except for going to the doctor's office. This is so unusual for them.

We will be doing some reading today, but no moving or pencil/paper activities.

Kate built this "temple" after reading about Solomon on Wednesday - using marshmallows & toothpicks.

Hopefully, we'll be back at HOD on Monday with healthy kiddos!

broth, hens, robes & action numbers

We completed school Thursday, Friday, yesterday & today ~ I didn't get around to posting on this blog until today. :o) We also moved the school stuff back downstairs since the computer is now downstairs, too. It just works better, though I do miss the natural light from the dining room...

Thursday, D enjoyed making "broth" just like one of the pilgrims served to an Indian named, Massasoit, who was sick. He used a coffee filter to be the "stomach" and a cup to represent the small intestine. He used water for "broth" and we saw how quickly it went through the stomach and entered the small intestine.
He then crumbled crackers into the water to symbolize solid food...
...and saw that it didn't go as fast through the stomach! So when you're sick - it's best to have liquids (water, juice, broth, so nutrients can enter your body FAST!) :o)
He enjoyed eating broth out of homemade chicken noodle soup that we had twice this weekend (gotta love leftovers!). :o) He referred back to the story - and even told his daddy (who was sick this weekend) to drink lots of water & eat broth!

K's Do It Carefully page from Thursday...She cut out various objects and sorted them by gluing them in the correct box: "building a bird house" or "cleaning inside our house."
Yesterday was co-op and what a busy morning it was! D is enjoying his ASL class - learning to sign the alphabet, count to 10 and his name. His other classes are the Human Body and Native Americans ~ he came home with a paper skeleton he had glued together (said it was easy ;o) and a tiny tepee he constructed. K loves her preschool class - her highlight was playing "house" with her friends. And C, well, she's not doing well in the nursery...she'll learn.

Today while I worked with D, the girls spent a few minutes putting small straw pieces into a large, empty Parmesan canister...one of our "busy bag" activities.

D had to listen to an excerpt from his fantasy genre book (The Cricket in Times Square) and then draw what was described in the excerpt I read. Two characters wore Chinese robes..."it was purple and lavender, and had designs of the sun, moon and stars..." (the robe he drew on the left) and the other (pic on right) "was blue and green, covered with pictures of fish and reeds adn water lilies." Thankfully we had the computer on and searched for a picture reeds & water lilies so he could remember what they looked like...For math today, he chose 12 unifix cubes to be "hens" and had to roll the die (thankfully I have one that goes from 1-12) setting out that number of "hens." He then gave each "hen" 2 "eggs" (small marshmallows) and had to figure out how many eggs were "laid" altogether...he's doing great job with the 2 facts for multiplication!!! He breezed through 3 worksheets today! I'm loving Singapore - does a great job teaching the facts with lots of practice, examples & word pictures/problems rather than just memorizing them!
To go with his history today, he moved cows from an "island" while I moved them to the "mainland" in 3 minutes - he beat me - kept his cows on the island faster than I could move them off! We read about the Dutch settling in New York City (New Amsterdam as they called it) and brought some sheep, cows & pigs but kept them on the island for awhile as there weren't pasture areas on the mainland. :o) Of course, C and K had to join in on the fun after the "race" was over!
K is still working on reading number words (we're not writing them at all - we'll do that next year after she learns to write). :o) Today, she had to pull out the words from a bag and then do that number of a certain action...clapping 3x when she pulled out a "three"...

...twisting around "eight" times...she was dizzy after that one!

Her happy grin - just being silly!

Touching her toes "ten" times!

super-fun learning (playing)!!!!

After D's OT today, we spent well over an hour shopping & playing in a learning store we hadn't shopped before...as I had to get a few things for one of the classes I'm teaching at co-op (good excuse to shop, I know :o).

Color Mixing Glasses...funky blue frames with 2 slots in front to place colored disks...red & yellow disks create orange tinted glasses. The kids loved trying out the various color combinations. ;o) What a face!This is a neat magnetic mosaic "picture maker" - the colored tiles are sparkly which K LOVED!

These Magnetic Match Rings are awesome! D&K spent 10 minutes playing with it in the store. Here's puzzle #2 D solved at home...don't you just love how the magnets repel each other (alike poles) and it looks like magic?!?! This is Marbletick ~ K and C loved playing in the store (the price on the webpage I linked to is NOT what we paid for it :o). The tiny buttons are underneath clear plexi-type-glass and the wand is a magnet used to "pick up" the buttons and place them in the empty holes. I thought it's a great activity for the car, too! We bought the extra pattern cards - K and C will grow into following the patterns.
I also bought a set of prisms to help with the class I am teaching and two large magnets with handles. D&K are going around the house finding things that stick! :o)

And for C's birthday (shhhh, don't tell her ;o), I bought her a magnetic gears set that can easily be used on the fridge or dishwasher. She played with it in the store and LOVED it!

It was a super-fun day of learning & playing...we'll double-up our HOD tomorrow. :o)

Co-op & Unit 14 Begun!

Yesterday was our first day of co-op for the spring semester. I'm teaching 3 classes and 1 is the same class back-to-back with different kids which is great, but makes for a busy morning. The kids enjoyed returning to co-op to see their friends! C wasn't too excited about the nursery, but she survived the morning. :o)

We began Unit 14 yesterday afternoon. K is learning number words for math and we worked on recognizing/reading zero-five using word cards and plastic buttons. She had fun lining them up and then we scrambled up the words and she had to match them to the buttons.Today K's Bible story was about the Ark of the Covenant being returned to Israel. Kate decorated a pudding box with foil and permanent markers to be the "ark."

D learned about the pilgrims welcoming another ship from England to Plymouth a year after they arrived. He had to make the St. George's Cross flag that the ship from England would have been flying on their ship. As soon as he saw the picture of the flag online he said - that's Denmark's flag. He remembered from our unit on Legos! :o) Yeah!
Here's D's finished "clam" from last week complete with a "pearl" inside. It still wasn't dry when I took this picture yesterday. :o( D was a bit discouraged but I assured him that was how it was when you paint with corn syrup...it's okay! :o)