Happy Halloween

This has been an odd week.  CJ, Eliza and Rich were all sick.  Now I am sick too.  We did a lot of stuff this week.  We learned about bats, and did a lot of activities with the letters and numbers.  We are going to review and finish stuff on Monday.  We went to playgroup yesterday and didn't have a chance to make our bats.  So we will review what we have studied already, and continue on to our new letter, number, shape and color on Tuesday.  This weekend we are going to make some special Halloween treats, and the kids are going to help us with the recipe.  Cooking has so much good math to teach the kids, as well as general life skills.  They helped me make pumpkin scones this morning.  I think Rich and I will spend some time this weekend planning some fun activities with the kids.  We have a fairly normal week coming up, but no playgroup again.  So Friday we will do a cooking project and a craft, yet to be planned.  I just hope the kids will all be feeling well enough this week to be happy and attentive.  CJ, when he doesn't feel well does not want to do anything he is told.  Eliza spaces out some when she doesn't feel well, so all in all, it was not easy to do school work this week.  Instead we learned through games and books, music and certain tv shows.  This weekend is all about fun, no overt learning.  In other words I am not worrying about teaching them anything this weekend.  We are just going to gorge on candy, dress up, watch fun Halloween shows and listen to scary music.  I am going to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Corpse Bride.  We carved pumpkins, Lightning McQueen for CJ, and Tinkerbell for Eliza.  They look great, and I will post some pics after Halloween.  Have a safe and enjoyable holiday guys!

Weird Wednesday

This is an odd week.  The kids are sort of sick.  Rich is actually sick, probably his first real cold since I have known him the past 17 years or so.  Rich stayed home today.  He is better, albeit a little miserable from the lack of nasal breathing ability.  Yesterday he was miserable when he got home, and the kids got really stuffed up.  We spent all morning playing outside yesterday, doing some gardening, playing in the sandbox, etc.  They really needed the fresh air.  They also needed a day off.  They are so exhausted from our go go go attitude and activities lately.  Today we did some work, played with play dough, did some coloring, talked all about our topics of the week, and got back into routine.  However the kids never got out of their pajamas.  They just aren't themselves.  Tomorrow we are going to do a bat themed craft, play with play dough some more, and work on our letter and number of the week.   We are going to read all our Halloween books again, and talk all about Halloween costumes. 

Today was just so weird.  Things get odd when Rich is home.  I was in jammies for awhile this morning, while Mason was here.  I am always dressed by 7 a.m.  The kids always get dressed on days that Mason is here, and they stayed in jammies.  We watched a movie with CJ and Eliza tonight, and had a special treat, dinner in the living room while watching the movie.  Odd day, but a lot of good time spent together as a family.  Tomorrow will be more normal I hope though, as I have some cool stuff I want to do with the kiddos.  Off to prep tomorrow's stuff.

Meh Monday

I don't even know what to say about today.  Nobody was bad, but everyone is tired, and the kids and Rich aren't feeling well.  I don't know if it is allergies or what, but they are definitely sick.  We were able to do our black poster, our number poster, find rectangles all over the house, count out the number four, review our letter D poster, do some tracing and writing, and read all about bats.  Sue and McKenzee came over to do school with us today, and she is great at writing some of her letters.  I think she was tired too, though, and a bit shy.  We talked a bit about Halloween and read several Halloween books.  I worked with each kiddo, doing hand over hand writing for each letter we have done so far.  We talked about bats, and what we know about them.  We watched Stellaluna on storyline online again, along with Harry the Dirty Dog, for the letter D.  We watched the letter D video on starfall.  We kept busy, and everyone is tired tonight.  I had to make a spaghetti pie for my parents, dinner for all of us, bread for the week, and grapenut pudding for dessert.  I also needed to do laundry and some other things as well.  So I am just tired.  Early to bed tonight, and tomorrow we have some other cool things to do.  Off to bath and bed.

Wacky Weekend

I was so busy and tired last Friday night, I simply forgot to blog.  Things were crazy this weekend too.  Loved it though.  So Friday we did a review of the week, read lots of books, made homemade animal crackers, and played.  Rich took the day off and it was wonderful.  We took it easy, and just enjoyed each others' company.  This weekend we had a Halloween party for the kids with my best friend's family.  Then a party with several of our friends over here.  We had a late night, but so much fun.  The kids didn't have a nap, and got up early today.  We tried to take an easy day today.  We were going to carve pumpkins, but the kids were too tired to even contemplate it.  We mostly watched Halloween children's movies and read Halloween books.  Tomorrow we are doing D, 4, black, rectangles, bats and Halloween.  It will be a fun week.  I have baking projects, craft projects and play dough planned.  However, we will see what we can accomplish.  I don't want to rush the kids, or make them hate school time.  They are still so young.  I like our new schedule, though, because I have time with each child to work on their particular need.  CJ and I are reading books just him and I.  I should say, he is reading to me.  It won't be long before he is reading whole books on his own.  Eliza and Mason are getting ready for writing.  In no time they will be writing letters and numbers.  And they all need to play dough, to help them learn to manipulate their little fingers and make the dough do what they want it to.  Tomorrow we will take it a bit easy, and let everyone be well rested.  I have a few fun things planned.  I will tell you all about it tomorrow.  Thanks for sharing your time with me!

Change can be Great!

Today went incredibly well.  Eliza and CJ hadn't gotten up yet when Mason arrived.  He and I started making play dough when they woke up.  We went upstairs, and I got them dressed, and we did all of our school stuff before we even came downstairs.  They had their oatmeal and milk when we were done with our work, and Mason had a peanut butter sandwich.  Mason took a great nap, while CJ and Eliza helped me dust, I read with CJ, and they watched Sesame Street.  They had lunch, Mason woke up, they played together and then CJ and Eliza took a nap while Mason had a snack and he and I read books and watched Dinosaur Train.  This schedule worked GREAT!!!  Tomorrow will be even better because Eliza and CJ will be up, dressed and fed before Mason gets here.

We practiced writing letters and numbers, writing hand over hand.  We read a counting book Miria brought over.  Ten Little Mummies, and the kids LOVED it!  CJ was excited because there are mummies in other Halloween books they have.  We read the Three Little Pigs again, did lots of counting with some books from Enchanted Learning.  We read through the C section of My First Dictionary.  We talked about parts of leaves again, and looked at our leaf collection.  We colored the number three paper, and we colored Jack O Lanterns.  We reviewed camels and read about a capybara (huge South American rodent.)  We accomplished a lot, more than I can remember this moment.  My brain is as tired as my body.

While CJ and Eliza were settling down for their nap, Mason and I were listening on the monitors.  When Eliza fussed a bit Mason kept saying, "That's my girl, you need to help her.  She is my girl."  That is what he calls her, my girl.  I think it is adorable!  The three of them are sweet to each other, and seem to love being together.  They play well together.

After Mason went home, and CJ and Eliza woke up, they had an early bath, they helped me make dinner, and then played more with the green play dough we made today.  They told me stories while I cooked, and explained what they made with their dough.  It was a great evening.  They went to bed right on time, even after Memere and Pepere being here for dinner.  We finished watching Don't Eat the Pictures, an old Sesame Street movie at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that I loved growing up, and the kids loved it too.  It made me very happy.  It has been a crazy week, so I am glad things are calming down a bit, and I am looking forward to a great weekend.  We are taking the kids to a Halloween party with the family of Eliza's godfather, my best friend.  Then some friends are coming over to play cards.  It is going to be a good weekend.  Tomorrow we are going to make circus animal crackers.  We were going to do it today, but I only had enough flour for the play dough.  My parents brought me a bag of flour they had, so I won't have to go shopping tonight.  I hope the kids love them.  I know we will have a fun day.  Looking forward to doing fun Halloween type stuff next week, and carving pumpkins!

Love is Learning

Love is learning.  Learning about your children.  Learning what they love.  Learning to recognize their signs and cues.  Knowing when they are too tired, or wired, or toddlerish to be able to do lessons.  Loving children means not taking it personally when they are angry.  Accepting that when they are tired they will not behave the way they usually do.  It is understanding that loving them is more important than making sure you do all the lessons and activities you planned.  It is letting them know you are there for them, without interfering every time they have a small problem.  Trusting them to try new things they learn from the world around them.  Showing them that you care, without letting them run the show.  Love is all about learning.

Today was not a day of school lessons.  Today was a day of social lessons.  Communication using words even when upset or tired.  Sharing even when you don't want to.  Helping your friends if they need it.  Listening to your friends, and answering them when they want to talk to you.  Learning that not everyone has to play the same way, or the same thing at the same time.  That it is okay to like different things, and it is not okay to make someone play the way you want them to.  That even though I love them and take care of them, and would love to spend every moment playing with them, sometimes I need to scrub the kitchen floor they spilled milk on, and that sometimes they have to entertain themselves while watching Cars on the DVD player. 

We read books, and learned about leaf parts.  We acted out stories they learned.  We colored on the front porch.  Mason hasn't been eating lunch this week, and I think it is because he is too tired by lunchtime to do it.  When CJ and Eliza get overtired they won't eat, they just can't, and I think Mason is the same.  Tomorrow we will try something new.  I am going to have him take a morning nap, so he gets up and eats lunch with CJ and Eliza after resting.  Then they can play for an hour or so together, and then CJ and Eliza will nap and Mason and I will have an hour together before Miria picks him up.  Mason is a much earlier riser than CJ and Eliza so I think this schedule will work much better for him.  Plus then I have more time to work with everyone individually on whatever they need my attention for.  Eliza and CJ I know both need to learn to use safety scissors.  Mason is ready to try some advanced prewriting, such as tracing and preschool appropriate line mazes.  He has remarkable prewriting skills already.  Eliza took to holding a crayon right away, and loves to do it.  CJ is improving on holding the crayon and pencil, but his skills lie elsewhere.  He is great at molding play dough into recognizable shapes, and doing other fine motor activities.  He just isn't loving coloring.  He likes it a lot more know that he sees Eliza and Mason enjoying it, but he still tells me that it is not one of his favorite things to do.

I have to say that this journey is so exciting, especially now that we have a third child in the mix.  I love how the three of them are so different and notice all different types of things.  They all have different strengths, and different points of view.  I love the process of homeschooling with them, and I feel they are all learning so well.  I know I am learning to read them and their interests more.  I am learning how to plan things that are appropriate and enjoyable for them.  I am also learning how to tell if they are not into a day of lessons.  And one of my favorite things about homeschooling is that it is fine to say that we need a day to just watch some Disney movies and read books and color.  It is okay to push that lesson off to tomorrow, because that is what the kids need.  Love is all about learning which roads to take, and which roads to leave alone.

Tuesday's Tribulations

We didn't get to the green play dough, but we did get outside for some fresh air, and celery.  Every time we go outside now Mason wants celery. 

Let me start at the beginning of our day.  We read a book about Johnny Appleseed and reviewed what we know about apples and seeds while everyone finished breakfast.  We watched the Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that.  We all used the potty.  We went outside and looked at all different types of leaves, comparing and contrasting.  We talked about parts of the leaf, and what they do.  We talked a bit about photosynthesis (and listened to the song when we came inside.)  The kids all used the swings and slides.  When we came inside we played Candy Land.  Everyone went potty again.  We read 4 books while on the potty.  We went upstairs and did some lessons on our color green, using some wonderful packets Miria made.  We made our shape poster for triangle, and talked about things all around us that are triangles.  We read the Three Little Pigs, and did some comprehension questions, and some coloring.  We colored a number three paper.  We had some free play time upstairs, and wrote the letter C and triangles in CJ's carpet.  We also learned about camels.  While I made lunch the kids watched Disney's Three Little Pigs. 

It seemed like an insane morning.  The kids were all over the place, and it was difficult getting them to listen.  They are extremely unfocused this week.  At least they all are napping today, unlike yesterday.  They get SO tired!  They are kind to each other, but Mason isn't as used to sharing things as CJ and Eliza are, so he sometimes is upset if Eliza is using the crayon he used earlier, or CJ is moving a book he had a few minutes ago.  They all keep dumping out all their toys too.  It takes them forever to pick them all up.  CJ, being tired, is also very sensitive today.  I ask him to put a toy away and he started to cry.  It has been a trying day.  Patience is a virtue that is wearing thin today!

Tonight we are having our letter C dinner.  Chicken, cauliflower, and carrots.  I wanted cheesy chicken with cornbread, but the kids and Rich want Chicken curry with curried cauliflower and carrots.  Outvoted by the kiddos!  It will be delicious, but I really wanted cheesy chicken.  Tomorrow we will continue with our themes for the week, and I think I will work with the kids to make some circus animal crackers.  I just picked up some adorable cutters that make them look exactly like animal crackers you buy.  I am excited!  First thing tomorrow we will make the green play dough, as well.  It seems like the time goes so quickly.  Of course, at other times when there are three whining children it seems to move at a snail's pace.  It was just a disjointed kind of day.  Time for me to go finish cleaning before it is time for Mason to get up from nap.  I need a magic cleaning wand!