Our Awesome Kids!

(Lack of) Cozy Book Corner

2009-09-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Teaching My Little Bookworm has started a new blog link up. Check it out!

I have been tyring to find some special "reading nook" in our house since my kids were born. You know, a secret little cozy corner with cute kid-sized chairs and a bakset of books. Somehow, it just never works out and my kids always end up here in this oversized chair that gets moved all over the house because it doesn't really fit anywhere. It is pretty cozy!

My favorite part of reading in our house is our "nonfiction" section. All (okay, almost all) of the books are labeled and the kids are always taking (and putting back) books off of these shelves. This system has saved so much of the "Well, I know we have a book about that somewhere.....", proceeded by tearing apart all the bookshelves to find that one book!

Weekly Wrap-Up - Konos Style

2009-08-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Check out other weekly wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

This was our first official week homeschooling! We are studying Attentiveness ala Konos. We learned all about the ear....

Then found some parts to make our own crawl through ear.....

Enjoyed some lunch in the ear.....

We also made some signs for our Attentiveness unit study. If it ever stops raining here (actually, I am very grateful for the rain right now) we are going to take our signs outside and make an obstacle course for the powerwheels.

It was a great week. We (okay, mostly I) learned a lot. I have a whole list of changes to make this weekend!

Chore Charts

2009-08-21T11:41:00.001-07:00

I am a HUGE fan of having kids help out around the house. Every few months, I come up with some new system and I really like this one. Around here, anything works for a season and then we need to have some new twist to make it fun again. Our Race Track is loosely based on Vicki Bently's Everyday Family Chore System and Accountable Kids. Basically, each child has three "checkpoints" and once they reach a check point, they put a sticker on a chart. After they earn 25 stickers, they get to go mini golfing with Dad.

The great part for me is that I don't have to remember who hasn't brushed their teeth, put on their clothes or had breakfast. I can just ask, are you at Check Point 1?

Draw IT!

2009-08-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is a fun little reading game that both boys can play together!

I wrote several words on index cards, Dylan reads them silently and then draws the word. Nathan gets to guess what he is drawing. I am excited to try out all the variations of this game!

New Chompers

2009-08-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Every picture I have of Logan looks like this. I think this kid has never stopped teething.

Old Claypots, Meet Old Craypas

2009-08-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to use up the last Craypas in order to justify opening our shiny new craypas that I bought at ICHE.

Decorating clay pots with craypas or oil pastels is awesome! The colors stay bright even through rain (and snow).

The Reading Tree

2009-08-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Dylan is excited about The Reading Tree we made last week so I thought I would share. It really has him motivated to read independently! I told him when he read 30 books and put 30 apples on the tree we could go visit "the RAT," also known as Chuck E Cheese. (I'm excited about the reading....not so thrilled about the rat.)

I Have a Plan (for now)

2009-08-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is going to be our first year homeschooling. We have always tried to create a "learning is fun" environment, but this is the first year I have a plan. And really, don't you find it a wee bit snarky when someone says, "We have been homeschooling since birth." I don't know, I just call that parenting.

I really want to avoid placing grade labels on my children, but I just don't know how to get around it. So this is the plan for Dylan and Kindergarten. Nathan and Logan are just going to tag along, nothing more than a learning rich environment.

We are going to use the following as tools. I refuse to be slave to curriculum or be fixated on finishing every page it the book. When we grasp a concept, we will move on and review using games and hands on activities. We are not going to be "school at home" homeschoolers!

Science, History, Language Arts, Practical Life, Arts and Crafts: KONOS....love it! The Fall semester will be studying Ears, Sound, Music, Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, Fun, Money, Talents, Careers and Kings and Queens. I am so excited! KONOS is a hands on, multilevel unit study approach based on character traits. You can't get much better than that! The author, Jessica Hulcy, is an amazing teacher and the mother of 4 boys so she knows her stuff!

Math: Math U See Primer. He is really ready for Alpha, but I am waiting for the new edition to come out. Also, our KONOS UNIT has a section on Money/Talents/Careers so we will use that time to learn about money. I love Math U See because of it's hands on, mastery approach.

Phonics: I think we will continue to go through The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. We have never used the book as intended, instead we use it more like a checklist of what we have covered and what we need to work on. The Primary Phonics readers are very nice. They feel like a real book and the stories are substantial. We also have A BEKA and BOB books that I am sure we will use at some point. For Phonics workbooks, we will finish (and I use that work loosely) ETC 3 and Primary Phonics 2. I am not sure where we will go after that, but right now I am leaning towards A BEKA Letter and Sounds 1.

Writing: We will write in our journals observations about the real world, compose letters to friends and maybe some KONOS related copy work towards the end of the year.

Music: cello

Dylan will still take his art classes.

I think that is it. I am curious to see how much my "plan" will change over the year.

Model Railroad Garden

2009-08-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Chicago Botanic Garden's Model Railroad is an incredible place AND it is free on Wednesdays which makes it even better.

Logan could not stop yelling Choo-Choo!

Amazing, isn't it?

He was a little bit excited.

Stevens Point Suzuki Camp

2009-08-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

The whole family went to Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point this year! This was my first time attending as a parent and not a trainee so the experience was so much different for me. I very much enjoy watching great teachers teach so I feel like I missed out on something since I couldn't do that this time. However, the boys had a great time and we spent an entire week just hanging out together. Maybe next year I can find another adult to go with us so I can take classes.

Dylan and Nathan were in the same pretwinkle class even though Dylan is playing cello and Nathan is playing violin. Miss Carol with her quiet and caring style obviously embraces the Suzuki spirit and we were so lucky to get her as our teacher. Each day the boys had a private lesson, a music and movement class and a group lesson. The rest of the day is filled with recitals, concerts, play-ins, lectures and talent shows. Good stuff!

Nathan's beautiful bow hold!

Dylan and the cello bow!
Nathan takes a bow.

Worm Farms

2009-05-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

I hate worms! I really hate worms. I must have been about five when my brother traumatized me by throwing a worm on my leg and then laughing hysterically when the worm stuck to my leg. I stood there screaming and do you think he helped? Not a chance. YUCK!

Guess what? The boys love worms. Lucky me. I am starting to come around, but I still think they are gross.

We made a small worm farm in a plastic cup about a week ago and even I'll admit it was cool to watch them dig holes. So today, we made a BIGGER, better worm farm.

It is super simple to make. In a see through container alternate layers of dirt and sand, put worms inside, top with dead leaves and a black cloth, then watch them go to town!

If you feel a burning desire to learn more about worms, we (and by we, I mean the boys) like this book!

READING!!!!

2009-05-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

We had an EXPLOSION of reading in our house this week! Dylan has been pretty good at reading CVC and spelling things phonetically since just before his 4th birthday; but we have had some bumps, namely his frustration that not all words follow the "rules." Also, I have been holding him back a bit with my Suzuki mentality, you know that "mastering of small steps" thing. I hid of his all of our ETC materials because he was having a hard time hearing blends and I wanted to master that before we moved on. He could read them just fine, but if you asked him to spell FLAT he would spell FAT. We have made more "blend" games than I can count.

HE GOT IT THIS WEEK!!!!

Not only did he get it, he gets all of the other rules that I have been pointing out to him along the way. It just clicked. The child can READ!!!
Of course, we still have a lot more things to learn, but it is nice to be off the plateau.
He has been reading everything he can get his hands on! Awesome.

More T Ball

2009-05-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Dylan had his first "game" today. Unfortunately, I had a rehearsal and was unable to make it, but everyone game me all of the details. Dylan was excited to have caught the ball and throw it to 1st base TWO times; he also hit the ball off the tee both times he was up to bat. He is thrilled that he gets to keep his cap and shirt! He refused to take them off all day, "not even to wash it."

Flowers for me?

2009-05-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

Makes me smile everytime!

Thanks Aunt Teri!

2009-04-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

We love Aunt Teri, she always gets the greatest presents. (Of course, we love her for other reasons too!) She gave Nathan sock puppets for his birthday. We were supposed to make sock puppets when we were doing our unit study on, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin", but we never got around to it. So THANKS Aunt Teri for hooking us up.
The boys took their sock puppets EVERYWHERE (even digging in the dirt) this week. I think next week we are going to do, "A day in the life of" with our sock puppets.

T-Ball

2009-04-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, I never thought I would like t-ball, but we had a blast at practice. Just the thought of long games and parents that get their ego gratification through their children, makes me nauseous. So imagine my surprise when I liked it! Dylan says his favorite part was playing tag at the end. He does not at all understand the concept of tag. He just decided to start tagging everyone. Pretty funny! He has asked me everyday if he is going to go to t-ball so that is a good thing in my book.

Dirt

2009-04-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Little Tykes and Step 2 have thrown up on our yard. I think it is pretty cool; I would have loved to have this as a child. But.....

This is what our boys play with.......

May Day

2009-04-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

We planted sunflowers to give to our friends for May Day. What a really cool holiday! The boys are excited to "trick" their friends and I hope it teaches them about thoughtfulness and generosity...I hope. I am also praying they spout in time or we are going to have to go to plan "B" which I don't have yet.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2009-04-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nathan took advantage of the windy day to try out his new kite!

Easter!

2009-04-12T19:45:00.001-07:00

We had a great day today! We had a very laid back and relaxing Easter after years of stressful holidays....it was great!

Everyone was excited to see all of the goodies that inside their baskets. Nathan's favorite was a Lightening McQueen car that he will not let us take out of the package. Dylan loved his Croc Escape Hotwheels set and Logan enjoyed his sparkle ball.

Nathan is our boy with a sweet tooth, so he was very excited to find CANDY in his basket. He however refused to eat his chocolate bunny because it "is a bear and not chocolate." Go figure.Logan got Peeps....allergen free! Of course they are gross, so its a pretty safe food anyway.
Coloring Eggs. I know you are supposed to do this before Easter, but we had a crazy busy week!

The boys realized sometime during the morning that the Easter bunny had hidden eggs outside and in the fish tank while they were sleeping.

(Okay, this is not a picture from today, but from our Easter Egg Brunch that we hosted on Friday. I just didn't want to leave Nathan out.)

Well, it is Ressurrection Sunday and all.

2009-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

This Friday I was doing too much at once and I accidentally washed one of Dylan's fish down the garbage disposal. It was very traumatic for me. The little helpless guy snuck out of the water that I was emptying. I ran as fast as I could to get the net, but by the time I got back he had squirmed all the way to the little rubber flaps....I almost got him out with the net to get him, but he just slid down the side. I felt awful. Fish creep me out to begin with, but to think that I just put him in the garbage disposal...yuck.

Anyway, Dylan realized late Saturday night that the other fish was not in the tank. I just shrugged it off and said that he was hiding. Dylan searched and searched for that little fish for a good while. After the boys went to bed, I made a quick run to the fish store, to replace that 95 cent fish.

Today, all of Dylan's fish are in the tank along with some eggs from the Easter bunny. He thinks it is a miracle....so cute.

Easter Brunch and Hunt

2009-04-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

How many kids can you fit at our table? There were 18!

Because He is the Third Child

2009-04-11T21:00:00.001-07:00

Isn't he cute? I have a hard time remembering to take pictures of Logan. Not because he doesn't do cute, funny or momentous things, just because I forget and life gets hectic. It is so funny to look at pictures from when Dylan was a baby. I had pictures every day or every outfit and every silly face.....poor Logan gets nothing.

Meet Our Newest Family Members

2009-04-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

ABCs of Trees

2009-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

We went to another program, The ABC's of Trees, at Spring Valley. It was very miserable, rainy day to be outside and take long walks with Kindergarten age kids and their tag along siblings. The children were real troopers though and got to see some really great first signs of Spring. (Which, by the way, can't come fast enough for me!) After our walk the kids got to come inside the toasty nature center for some activities. They created leaf rubbings, learned about the water cycle, listened to a puppet show and discovered the things trees need to grow and why they are important. And most importantly, they got to see their box turtle friend! The box turtle is their favorite because, unlike the other turtles at the Nature Center, the box turtle is very well camouflaged in the prairie grasses. The boys love the challenge of finding him.

Fire Station Tour

2009-04-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

We are grateful that our friend, Kathy, takes the time to set up fire station tours for the kids every Spring. The station had a few calls while we were there and the boys thought it was exciting to see the fire engine leave the station!

Watching the Engine leave the station!

It was a bit sunny out...

Dylan loved that the fire fighter had a speaker in his mask.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

2009-03-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday Celebration Number 1 at All Aboard Diner

I can't belive he turns THREE this weekend! Crazy

I WIll Survive, Homeschool Style

2009-03-10T20:22:00.001-07:00

More from Art School

2009-03-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hermit Crab

Timmy the Turtle

Humpback Whale
Tiger Fish

Blue + Yellow = Green

2009-03-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

It didn't work out how I had planned, but they got the idea.

(Really, we do get out of our PJs)

Day at the Zoo

2009-03-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

The weather was AWESOME today, so we headed out to the zoo. We bumped into some friends and got to hang out with them for a bit. Fun, fun day!

Jumping in Puddles....Rite of Childhood

2009-02-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

It is 34 degrees outside and between the house and the car Dylan Nathan found some puddles that they thought we be fun to jump in. Needless to say, they were not dressed to jump in puddles in almost freezing weather. Silly boys.

More of the RootVue Farm

2009-02-25T18:41:00.001-08:00

Still Growing!

Spring is in the Air....

2009-02-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

Not really, but the recent heat wave (of like, 40) made us decided to break out our RootVue farm. 3 days ago, we prepared the soil (it is cute to see Dylan explain Oxygen and "Carmon Doxide" to Nathan) and planted. Sure enough today there were the beginnings of a radish....

Our Little Plant
Journaling our observations.

It has roots!

Early Settler Life

2009-02-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Today we had the opportunity to visit Spring Valley Nature Center and lean how pioneers made food. Boy, am I glad I am not a Pioneer! Our group of homeschoolers got to a nice (long) walk out to the log cabin to do all of the activities including making apples sauce and cornbread over an open fire! Dylan was tremendously impressed by all of the machines they used to shell corn and make corn meal. I had no idea that early settlers and Native Americans used a clam shell to "shell" corn. Who knew? He gave a try at shelling the corn with the clam shell but quickly opted for the machine.

Butter Churning

Shelling Corn to......

Make corn meal to....

make corn bread!!!

Making apple sauce.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

Unsocialized (seriously, why on earth do people think that, we haven't even started yet and I hear it ALL the time), anyway, unsocialized homeschoolers, have a Valentine's Day party.

Random Vacation Pictures

2009-02-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun on our trip that I hardly thought about taking pictures. Seriously, it was the funnest vacation I have been on EVER.

Dino World

2009-02-05T18:11:00.000-08:00

Once we got to Florida Dylan announced that he wanted to feed fish like we did last time? Excuse me? You want to do what? We finally figured out that he was talking about Dinosaur World. We fed fish at Dinosaur World when he was 2.5. I didn't find it to be particularly memorable, but he doesn't forget a thing. So it made for a great little day trip. The park is very affordable and our kids LOVE running through all of the paths and finding the dinosaurs. And of course, we fed the fish.
I have a picture from 2 years ago of Dylan and Nathan standing in this same spot; I am going to have to dig that out.

Digging for fossils

Sea World

2009-02-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

We had an incredible time at Sea World! We did a seven, yes SEVEN, hour walking tour with the boys and they made it to the end despite the unseasonably cold weather. We got to see three shows, feed dolphins, sting rays and seals, have lunch with Shamu, and because our kids were too small for the rides, they let us go to the penguin hatchery and see some baby chicks. I am so thankful we did the tour since we would have never made it through all of that on our own.

Feeding Dolphins.

Nathan touched them once, but was completely freaked out.

And feeding seals.
I can't believe they touched those slimy little fish that had their eyes popping out. Yuck!

Lunch with Shamu
Not the greatest picture, but the killer whale was right there! The boys were so amazed they didn't even touch their food.

Walruses are HUGE.

Nathan watching the walrus.

Dylan's favorite part of the day was riding a helicopter simulation. He still thinks he has actually been to Antarctica, poor kid. Nathan loved feeding the dolphins despite the fact he was frightened of him.

T-Rex

2009-02-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

Fun, Fun, Fun restaurant!

The boys had a blast. So loud, but we only eat out at loud places so it worked great for us.

Sitting on a T-Rex's Toe

Digging for Dinosaur Bones

Logan gets a haircut

2009-01-30T19:01:00.000-08:00

I don't know, the first haircut always makes me a little teary eyed.

The stylist was awesome! She cut his hair on the floor while he played since he didn't want anything to do with sitting in her chair.

Logan is officially no longer a baby!

Logan's 1 year pictures, 2 months late...

2009-01-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

Logan's 1 year pictures ala Charlie.

He looks like a meerkat, doesn't he?

Charlie took a lot more great pictures, after I find the time to go through them, I'll post some more.

Operation Playtime Day 1

2009-01-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

Operation Play Time

Day 1 is BLOCKS! I didn't grab the camera during the day, but I managed to snap some pictures before we cleaned up.

Nathan's Car Racing Ramp.

Dylan's car racing ramp.

We are also learning about Arctic animals right now. Dylan grabbed our set of Arctic animals and built them a pretty cool habitat....

Complete with stairs for penguins to jump into the orcas mouth, "Because it is easier that way." (Of course)

Money

2009-01-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

Money War

This has been all the rage around here today.

It is a good old fashioned game of war. Two players each are dealt an equal number of cards. Both players turn over one card at a time, the player with the highest value wins those cards. The player who ends up with all of the cards is the winner.

I used money stickers and pocket chart cards to make this. Simple! I also used a printout from the 1+1+1 blog.

I started rather simple, just pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters; but Dylan mastered the coin names and denominations right after a few games. Today, I added pennies to some of the nickle cards and I think I'll double some of the coins for tomorrow.

Sorting Coins

I left the tray out today to see what would happen and both boys worked on it a few times, together.

Here is how it looked at the end of the day......

Matching Mittens

2009-01-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

The cold weather (and I mean well below zero) has inspired our reading games this week. D's current favorite is Matching Mittens. He has done it everyday that I had it out.

He even likes the version I made for N.

Building

2009-01-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

DMan made me promise I would put this up for Grandma....It's a car racing ramp. He designed it so that the cars would cross in the middle, pretty cool!

A Snowy Day Game

2009-01-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

It has nothing to do with snow other than we decided not to go out because of snow, but I pulled out one of our old reading games today and DMan loved it. This was so easy to make, I am definitely going to have to take the time to make some more games like this.

In other news, DMan found a book he can read (mostly)by himself. Well, he could read the BOB books, but I think he was pretty insulted by them..or something.

Brother Robots

2009-01-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Robots have been very in style around here lately. We made this version out of left over Christmas boxes. I drew and cut the shapes and then left the boys paint on glue and glitter. DMan found all of the eyes and buttons from our art junk box. I got this idea from Allie and she used magnets so her children could mix and match the parts. Great idea, but I couldn't find any extra magnets so I just used brads for the arms and legs. I think they are pretty cute!

Wax Resist Painting

2009-01-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to try this for some time now. You need paper, water colors (water and food coloring works too), a white wax candle, and a paint brush.

First, rub the candle on the paper and then paint with the water color.

It's a pretty cool effect..... Dylan got frustrated right away. In hindsight, I should have used a white crayon rather than a wax candle since the candle was too awkward to hold. He ended up writing "zoo" with the candle and just using it at the top of his picture. Then he just went on drawing.....

Nathan gave the candle a try, but then decided to make "Monster Houses" instead.

I am going to try this again with crayon and write secret messages to the boys. I think that will be a big hit.

Pinstripes

2009-01-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

We went bowling at Pinstripes today and it is AWESOME. CLEAN, leather sofas, super nice! Not at all of what you think of when you say bowling alley. We are going to make a monthly trip out of it.

Dylan got a couple of strikes and now wants to be referred to as "King Bowling." I didn't have the heart to tell him that Nathan really creamed him.

Number Fish

2009-01-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

We need a little variation as I think I have played the snowman game 1 too many times, make that 100 too many times. So I made a variation of a math game from Montessori Journey. And of course ours uses....fish. This has been great since Nathan can play the game with no issues.

I game board made from fish stickers and old folder files. We used goldfish crackers for the game pieces, although I might pick up some shells from the dollar store if I get a chance. I modified the dice so that once 1, 2 and 3 are options.

Each player rolls the dice and then covers that number of fish. Once the fish are covered that player wins and of course my guys ate the goldfish. Snack and a game at the same time, perfect!

However, the Snowman Game is still the most requested game in our house.

A Routine, So Refreshing!

2009-01-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but it is so nice to be back to the life we live the other 11 months of the year. So back to the norm for us. I set out activities and the boys do them at their leisure. Both boys were so excited when they saw all of the activities set up downstairs.

In keeping with out fish theme, we played a new fish reading game today. DMan chooses a fish with a word on it and then puts him in the fish bowl with the coresponding picture. I use this game with my violin students all of the time, except I use a bucket and fishing rod and let them actually fish, but that just doesn't work with a curious baby around. I think DMan will get a kick out of that. I'll have to give the fishing pole version a try when Logan is napping.

DMan was helping Nathan "read" the fish. Too cute. (He also demonstrated pooping on the potty to NatMan. I am really hoping that NatMan catches on to that lesson.)

Also I placed out the Unifix cubes, but only had one black, two burgundy, three orange, etc. I set out all of the cubes in a pile, not stacked. I was sort of curious to see what DMan would do with them. Turns out, he used them the same way he does the cuisenaire rods, first he stacked them and then placed them from zero to nine. He wanted the cubes to stand up, so he went and found some blocks to support his "steps". It is so nice that he works through problems on his own now instead of throwing himself on the ground out of frustration like he would have done a couple months ago. Okay, he still throws himself on the ground, but it has gotten much better.

Then he ran off with the cubes and used them as part of a tower.

And a road, with bridges and slides and traps....

I have debated starting some letter of the week program with NatMan, but I think I am going to hold off for now. Perhaps we'll start after his birthday. I think him not knowing his letters is an issue is best solved with time. So we'll see how things are going then. Right now he is just happy to do all of the activities with DMan.

Did I Mention That I Love Dylan's Art Class?

2009-01-04T17:46:00.001-08:00

I know I have, but really, it is AWESOME! This past Fall Dylan took LiterARTure. Every week the teacher reads a book and then the class creates art based on that book. Very cool. Next week he is going to start a new class called Coral Reef Art Exploration. I am so excited to get back into a routine and he truly misses art school.

Here are some pics from the Fall. The first one, he did a week after his 4th birthday. I think is is amazing, although I am a bit biased.

Aaaaaand, He Builds

2009-01-02T17:34:00.000-08:00

Walking in his brother's footsteps, Nathan builds. ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE. I am constantly astonished by all the creations the boys come up with. We could get rid of all of the toys except for building blocks and pretend kitchen (after all, Mom needs her pretend coffee each morning) and the boys wouldn't know the difference.

TownHouses with stairs so Santa can bring presents. You know, in case his sleigh is broke down.

The Snow Man Game

2009-01-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Dylan is really loving this game these days. Nathan likes it too, but gets frustrated that his drawing skills aren't what he wants them to be. I really feel for him, he is at the stage where he knows what he wants to make, but can't quite get there. I think I am going to make a felt version for him sometime soon.

Start with three circles for the body of the snowman. Roll the dice then draw on a piece of paper the element that corresponds to the number you roll. When we roll a number that we already have, we just draw a snowflake. After the first few times playing it we started to add variations....cowboy, snow women, small snowman, fat snowman, astronaut. Lots of fun for the post Christmas lull going on here.

ETA and wouldn't you know, a couple days after I posted this, I find a link to the exact version I need for Nathan. Now I just need to find time to make it.

Sentance Strips

2008-12-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

Itty Bitty Love has some AWESOME idesa and I borrowed this from her. Basically, it is a take on those cool little "Build a Sentence" refrigerator magnets. Underneath is a control strip of colors, tan should go with tan, red with red....get the idea? Well, Dylan didn't. I should have known better than to try something so controlled with him. He did three the right way (as in my way) and then got frustrated that he couldn't find the words he wanted. I think I am going to try this again, but just write word on index cards so he can put them in any order he wants and we can add to them easily.

So in the end, we had to imagine that certain words were there. "The frog sat on the dog" is what we ended up with. I think he would like this if he could be a bit more creative. Live and learn.

I was really impressed that he knew all of the words, I was certain he would have some trouble with them, but he did great!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T18:27:00.000-08:00

Rory and Nathan making food for the reindeer.

Logan and Mom

Dylan, Nathan and Logan

Logan

Big Changes....

2008-12-24T19:56:00.001-08:00

I am working of getting posts off the other blog and onto this blog....It is going to take some time. Sorry Mom.

Musuem of Science and Industry

2008-12-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

The last time we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, I was 40 weeks pregnant with Logan. The museum seems to have made a lot of improvements since that time or it may seem so much better because I am not HUGE. Either way, the boys LOVED the Idea Factory and being able to walk around the submarine. The other huge bonus was we went Christmas eve and the museum was very empty.

Four out of five lookin at the camera isn't bad.

12 Days of Christmas, Homeschool Style

2008-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

I am certainly not in the Homeschool is Right for Everyone Camp, but I think this is pretty funny.

Christmas Ornaments

2008-12-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

I got this idea for Christmas ornaments from my PMOMS friend, Kathy. She has awesome art ideas for the prek crowd. Nathan especially loved this.

We wrapped foil into balls and around pipe cleaners.

We painted our balls and sprinkled them with glitter. I think these are the prettiest decorations that we made this year!