Paper Canteen Creations: Our days...

Our days are starting to gain the tiniest bit of momentum around here. I wouldn't dare to say I've found our groove just yet but I've been able to catch glimpses of it here and there and know that eventually it will settle into something that feels familiar. I still feel very strange going out and about during the day with the kids in tow. I'm continuously asked if there's no school today or if everyone is sick. It makes me giggle a little bit :) Anyhoo, today started out just right!

Last night Kendall had her first of a 12 week sewing class. She's been asking forever for me to teach her how to sew. I can muddle my way through, I can mend, I can hem (sort of) and I can applique. But not much more beyond that. So we found a great class with a lovely teacher. There are 5 girls in her class and it meets for 2 hours each week for 12 weeks. Total score!

she was SO excited!

While she was there Ty and I strategized some more...

he was getting annoyed because I kept jumping him!

Before bed we started a science experiment. We are making "reptile eggs". They each placed an egg in a glass full of vinegar and let it to rest overnight. The vinegar causes a reaction and dissolves the calcium in the egg shell leaving the membrane intact. The result is an egg that feels just like a soft, leathery reptile egg! So cool! The kids are fascinated!! Everyone came down this morning and the first thing they asked was "what's happening with our eggs!!??!"

I took my early morning walk/run with the baby. It is starting to get cool and dark at the wee early hour of 6am!

#notquitesunrise

It's so peaceful and beautiful at this time. The baby has his snacks and a drink and we listen to tunes out loud on my phone as we walk. It's a fantastic part of our day. We have some crazy steep hills on our walk so I run those...partly to get some good cardio in and partly to get them over with faster! ha!

Once Ari went down for his morning nap the kids and I did a bit of yoga, the pledge and our calendar review. We then jumped around a bit as the kids were very excited to explore their new squishy eggs, so we created homemade science field journals to record our findings.

this is how the egg looked when we took off the cover of the cup - foamy, stinky (like vinegar), bubbly - were the words the kids used to describe this

she's ready! (she definitely was squidged out a bit but joined in the fun regardless!)

poke, poke, poke

it was so cool to watch T literally "rub" the shell coloring off of the exterior of the egg - he thought it was the coolest!

it looks the same but it feels heavier than a regular egg and it's literally squishy like a reptile egg!

another one!

hers

his

They recorded their findings, the date and what we did next!

time for the food coloring!! we're going to wait another 24 hours and see what happens next!

We will see what happens to them tomorrow! Next we moved onto art journaling. The prompt today was the following:

"Most reptile parents do not take care of their babies. The female lays eggs and then leaves. Do you think it would be scary or exciting to come into this world all alone and ready to take care of yourself?"

Their responses were very thoughtful! I also asked them to draw a picture of what baby animal they would like to be if they could choose. She chose a baby snake and he chose a really specific dinosaur - which doesn't "quite" fit into what we're studying this week but who am I to stifle his vision during Art Journaling time?

hers - so cute

his picture

the picture he used as inspiration

Next up was spelling and sentence review for our spelling words. I find that it really helps the kids to not only review the spelling of the word and the definition but to also have the children put the words into sentences to help them with context.

he needed a bit of quiet time as the baby woke up and was being noisy while running around in the classroom so he headed up to his room to use his desk - it's definitely a nice option for each child to have their own space when needed

The kids were so thrilled that their grandparents loved their informal letters that they sent last week that they asked to send more letters. How could I say no? So today they each wrote one letter. K wrote one to my brother and T wrote one to my sister-in-law and her husband. I had planned to do some dictionary work but the beauty of running the show is that I can reschedule that for tomorrow!

At this point we were thoroughly worked through and needed a break so we headed off for a quick trip to Target and a pop into a GREAT local park to run around on this beautiful day!

my brood!

This thing is the COOLEST! it spins and spins really fast and the colors all blur together. Ari was memorized!

This is the backside of the rainbow spinner! Very dizzying indeed!

T played with this beetle for a while - nature is everywhere! (even on astroturf!)

We came back and rested for a few while I made lunch. After lunch, Ari went down for his afternoon nap and we settled back into the classroom for math, geography, and art!

Smiling but not at all pleased about doing math!! I must admit, I can make ANYTHING fun...but math...harumph!

We then went onto a bit of geography.

Working on Alaska!

Remember...always with a buddy!

We're going state by state, learning where they are in relation to us and what the state capitol is.

Once our academics were done it was onto art! I found a really awesome project on this website. It uses black construction paper, white chalk and oil pastel crayons. Here are the instructions:

On one sheet of black construction paper which is the background draw a network of lines with white chalk. Choose four or five oil pastel colors to color the spaces drawn. No two touching spaces should be the same color. When the spaces are all filled with color, the white chalk lines should be traced over with a white oil pastel. On the second sheet of black paper, the student draws a large reptile with white chalk, makes a network of lines inside the reptile, colors the spaces using the same oil pastel colors as used in the background and traces over the chalk lines with white oil pastel. The reptile is then cut out and glued on the background with small accordion pleated strips between the two.

The kids worked hard as they drew intricate backgrounds and it took a while to color but the effect is SO cool!!