Beginning of the End

It feels like the school year is starting to wind down!  I think there might be 7 more weeks of our school year but a lot of the curriculum will be ending before that.  It was an uneventful week and I didn't take many pictures but I'll try to remember what we did!

We discussed the Oregon Trail this week and outlined the size of a buffalo with masking tape.  We were impressed with the size!

We talked about Joy this week and used bananas for our fruit.  The kids enjoy painting the fruit:

Ever since the kids help me clean out the game storage, they have been playing tons of games (and I have, too!).  Here's some Headbanz fun:

Samuel is working on an alphabet project and we've been doing some counting stuff.--a pirate game I printed from Homeschool Creations (I think!) was a favorite.  Lily finished All About Spelling, Level 2, this week and we'll review before starting Level 3 but I think we'll go ahead and start even though we'll be taking a break from it.  We're reading All-of-a-Kind Family and I've really enjoyed it but I haven't been sure of the kids' reactions.  Today, though, they asked me to keep reading so that was a good sign.  It's a neat book.  That's all I can remember about our week! 

Happy Easter!!

Our Easter celebrations began on Friday.  We took turns opening the Resurrection Eggs and talking about what was inside and then played an Easter bingo that I printed off years ago and had never used.  It was fun.  Finally, we dyed Easter eggs--look at all the helping hands:

This was Nathan's 1st year to do this and he LOVED it.  He just kept dying his eggs over and over.

On Saturday, we headed to Brian's parents' house for an Easter egg hunt and a yummy meal.  

Sunday, the 3 big kids were up at 4:45am to see if the Easter bunny had left anything.  They were sent back to bed but it was still an early morning since we wanted the kids to open baskets before church.  We got everyone ready in their Easter outfits and attempted pictures.  It was rough.  Church was fun--always an upbeat atmosphere at Easter!  The kids had an Easter egg hunt in their room so the candy was piling up!  :)

After church, we went to my parents' house for another Easter egg hunt and yummy meal.  My Great-Uncle Randy was visiting but he survived the chaos!

We came home that night and pretty much collapsed.  Everyone was asleep quickly and today {Monday} is a  no-school day. We need the time to recover--a couple kids seem really grumpy and I am trying to get all the weekend chores done today since we didn't do much around the house this weekend!  

Back to Normal

We were rested up and ready to start a new week of school this week.  It feels like we are so close to the end of the school year--I can't believe it!  We had a good week, although 1 week off was too much in some areas.  I have a child that struggles with memory and needs more repetition than that.  It's good to find that out before summer, right??  :)

So here are a few of the changes I mentioned in my last post:

We are kind of notorious for starting and not finishing great ideas/plans, especially where chores are concerned.  We've tried it all!  Well, we recently decided to make another attempt at keeping track of the mundane.  I made cute charts on the computer (using digital scrapbooking software) and put them in some cheap frames so the kids can mark off chores with dry-erase markers.  There aren't a ton of things listed but it's a good reminder for everyone.  They were very motivated this week and they got to pick a prize from the $ section at Target for their hard work.  We'll see how long we can make this last.

I change the morning routine up a bit because they seem to get so bored with it.  I had a white poster board up with some things but it was getting tedious and it wasn't too pretty.  So, I decided to paint this giant frame I got at a garage sale and hang it up with the 2 things I really needed: days of school and any special notes {using same dry eraser method}.  It needs some matting but this is how we're leaving it right now.  I like it!  It's pretty and useful! 

Finally, this is our spring shelf...the 3 butterfly books I could find!  These displayed books definitely get looked at more than the ones on the shelf!

 Speaking of butterflies, we received our caterpillars in the mail for our butterfly garden.  The kids were sooo excited!!  This is our new topic for science and I think it's a hit!

Samuel started the letter 'Z' this week!  We did all zebra activities!  This is his {relaxed} pose while we "Roll A Zebra".

And, since this was his last letter, he received his "Certificate of Completion" for the Letter of the Week curriculum.  He was very excited and he doesn't understand why we will still be learning letters as we finish out the school year.  :)  

Hunter and Lily were busy this week, getting back into the routine of school.  We learned a bit about pioneer schools and made our own horn books.  

Nathan enjoyed the busier pace this week.  He likes to participate in most activities!

Hunter stacked the alphabet blocks for him so he's checking it out before swinging at them wildly.

Waiting on the new batch of play dough--we made purple this time.

Joining the big kids in coloring.  He was caught coloring on the desk and smiled so big when I told him 'no'.  

Another change this week was in our Bible time.  We had been working through a book but I wanted to pause that and start a Fruit of the Spirit study, as inspired by the fantastic blog When You Rise.  Their study hasn't gotten very far but I used their links to another blog that had a ton of ideas.  I had some colorful fruit pictures from a teacher store that closed in town so I did a combination of those fruits and the fruits that the 2nd blog used for their study.  Up 1st was "love" and we stuck with the cherry theme for that.

We painted cherries:

We added cherries to our fruit baskets:

We made cherry limeades:

And we spent time talking about love--it was a good reminder through out the day because there seemed to be an increase in sibling squabbles this week.  

Today (Friday), we took off from school because it's Good Friday.  We are doing some Easter things but I'll have a separate Easter post after the weekend!

Spring Break

We had this week off of school for spring break.  At first, I questioned the need of a whole week off but it was actually a really fun, relaxing week!  I hope we all feel ready to get back at school.  The only child that said they wished we had school this past week was Hunter.  The others seemed perfectly happy to do nothing.  :)  So, let me see if I can remember what we did.

Monday: We just stayed home, in pajamas, all day.  Brian had the night off from his Bible study for spring break so we just all stuck around the house.

Tuesday:  We went to Target early this week to get some frozen pizzas for supper (I was going to be out) and let the kids get icees.  I had a dental appointment that was really not fun but then I had dinner out with a friend--once I got feeling back in the left side of my face.

On Wednesday, we headed to North Liberty for Samuel's speech appointment.  I had planned on taking the kids to a park there afterward but the park was packed with a day care or something so I was unsure what to do.  On a whim, I asked the kids if they'd like to surprise their Dad with lunch.  They were totally excited about that!!  So, we had to kill about an hour of time and decided to head to Stuff, Etc.  I found a new Clue game (my favorite game!) and lots of great books that I can use for school.  I let the kids all pick something small so we now have 3 more zhu zhu pets and 1 airplane.  :)  They were excited.  We then grabbed lunch and drove around Brian's parking lot to look for his car (he eats lunch at his car and visitors aren't allowed inside so we had to wait outside!).  We discovered why Brian runs so late on the time clock--it looked like a mile walk to the front door!  Ha!  So, we settled in and waited to surprise him.  I think he enjoyed it!  Nathan threw his arms around Brian's neck and gave him a big kiss on the mouth when it was time to go--how sweet is that?!  :)

Thursday, Friday: I was DONE running around.  That was my limit of outside activities.  I then spent the last 2 days tearing apart the homeschool room and putting it back together.  I got rid of some stuff, condensed some stuff and labeled it all.  It was FUN.  Exactly how I would choose to spend my free time--in my pajamas, no less.  Ha!  The kids kept busy inside and outside the house. Thursday, my Dad picked them up for some time at his house and I got even more done alone.  That was nice!  Actually, it made me realize what I don't get done when I'm homeschooling.  So far in my 1st year of homeschooling I haven't felt like the housework suffers that much--we're not the neatest people--but I got to see it a little this week when I had no schooling responsibilities.  I would much rather homeschool than clean, just so you know.  :)

Now, it's the weekend again.  We've grilled for the 3rd weekend in a row--so fun!  We spent lots of time outside.  Brian took the kids to a school to fly a kite while I got my leg checked at a clinic.  It was close to my parents' house so we stopped in there for snacks and more playtime.  I plan on taking lots of pictures this week of things I changed up in the homeschool area.  Just because it's fun.  

Busiest Week

This was the busiest week ever!  Monday, Lily had her last Upwards cheerleading practice and then Tuesday was the awards banquet.  This is all the cheerleaders--we didn't have great seats.  I did type "Lily" on the pictures so maybe you can pick her out of the crowd.  :)

We also took the cat to the vet on Tuesday and picked her up on Thursday.  She is now recuperating from her spay/declaw.  It's been a little stressful to try and keep her from jumping off of things.  We do keep her locked up just because I'm afraid Nathan was kick her or something.  :)

Samuel had speech, like usual.  She is going through the process of re-certifying him for services.  He has masted the 'k' sound and is working on the 'f' and 's' sounds.  She will be testing him for language pretty soon.  Unfortunately, Samuel was not feeling cooperative this week and refused to speak at all for the last 15 minutes.  What can you do?!

Our supervising teacher made a stop this week to listen to the twins read.  I really wasn't sure where Hunter was with his reading level and he just has some obstacles to learning that make me feel the need to have a 2nd opinion.  After listening to both, she said my challenge is definitely in the vast difference between the 2.  They have strengths and weaknesses, of course, but this was specifically on reading.  The end result was that she gave me some awesome ideas on how to change up the reading for both kids.  She also gave me some resources to look over on how to help kids who learn differently.  Most of all, she told me over and over that Hunter is doing well and I'm doing the right thing with him.  She really is the best encouragement and support in this homeschool journey!  We're thankful for her!

Finally, on Friday, we ended our busy, busy week with a trip to a school musical.  My sister was directing Seussical at her school and we took everyone to see it.  The 3 oldest sat up front with my Mom but they seemed to enjoy it.  Brian and I sat in back with Nathan and he got into it, too.  :)  It was fun for everyone.

Some school accomplished this week:

Samuel was on 'y' and we HAD to do a 'y is for yellow' day because it's his most favorite color in the whole world.  :)  We used these cameras to go on a yellow scavenger hunt.  We found lots of things in the house that were yellow and Samuel actually really enjoyed this.  Yes, I am surprised.  :)

Some yellow painting.  This was fingerpaint but I know how Samuel feels about that so we used paintbrushes.  Later on this day, Samuel was digging in dirt/mud so it's not that he hates getting dirty all the time--just not with art.  :)

Someone that works with Brian sent home this giant pad of paper for the kids.  They've loved having it!  Especially Hunter, my artist.  

And the infamous art project.  We were drawing flowers flowers and then using beans to outline the drawing (there was some point to this but it's lost to me now).  Anyway, these were the projects I was attempting to hang up when I fell off the stepladder.  I am not sure how it happened--one minute I was reaching for the art clips and the next I was down on the ground.  Quite shocking for me and Lily (the only child in the room).  Thankfully, I didn't break anything (I was worried!) but I did somehow injure my calf muscles and now can't put weight on my leg.  No big deal.  :)

And this was my next good buy.  I have always loved grab bags and this is similar.  I peruse used homeschool sites for items I am looking for--love a good deal.  One day, I saw someone was selling a huge list of items for preschool-1st grade and it was really reasonably priced.  I received the shipment today--it was 2 boxes--and it was stuffed full of goodies!  I counted 30-some items.  So exciting to find some treasures in there!

Heat Wave

This has been our weather sign this week!  Sunny and warm in winter!  We've even had to install the air conditioner in the attic because the heat was suffocating!  It's been strange but good!  

We've done plenty of outside play:

 And enjoyed having the porch as an extra play space:

We have fit school in, too! Brian surprised us all with a day off this week so that was exciting!  We went to the library and played outside a lot that day!  

This picture is from our morning time...we have alphabet exercise cards and this week is "Pick your eXercise" so Brian was helping with push ups.  I think Nathan's form is spectacular!

 Also, for the letter X, we made an x-ray craft--that is, everyone but Samuel made the craft because he wouldn't get his hands that messy.  Ha!  I figured it wouldn't go over well!

 We also put together our full body x-rays from the twins' science kit.

In non-preschool news, Hunter and Lily finished their bodies this week!

Lily is just really into reading and we need to hit the library more often!  She finished her assigned book a week early so I showed her the next assigned book.

We did a Friday art project today...drawing/painting herring, according to written directions.  We then looked up online to see what they really look like--our pictures were close!  :)

Finally, the packages have kept coming as I've ordered more and more curriculum for next year {I can't help it--I'm excited}.  This package arrived and I was so impressed with myself (ha!) that I took a picture and Nathan sat down for a chance to smile.  This was an order from goodwillbooks.com.  The shipping is high but the prices are so low that it's worth it.  Each of these books cost me between $1-2 WITH shipping.  Seriously!  That Ben 10 car shouldn't be in the picture.  :)

Another quick week!  The year is winding up--I'm already jotting down goals for the summer and looking at the next school year's calendar.  I do love to plan and it's been a good thing this school year--some things get changed but, overall, it's helped to see where we're headed!

No News

I didn't take any pictures this week! It was a very busy week--literally had something every day outside the house. We got our work done but it was brief! In the past week, I have started receiving packages of curriculum that I ordered so that has been extremely exciting!! Anyway, I thought I would just add the pictures that our friend took of the kids....