All Hallows Eve!

Good morning and Happy Halloween!!

I don't know about you but my children are BEYOND excited for tonight.  So excited that Tyler was still awake in his bed at 10 pm and he was awake and out of bed at 6:20am.  That is unheard of for Ty as I am usually waking him up from a sound, snoring sleep at 8am.  (He'd sleep until 9:30 if I let him...but we only allow that on weekends)

Today, Kendall is dressed in head to toe orange - wearing an orange "shirt" that she wore as a dress when she was 4.  I love this.  =)

I am going to do my best to harness this energy and push through the morning and get as much done as possible as it's an exciting day!!  This afternoon we're going to head up the street to where the children went to preschool.  Their preschool is IMO the best preschool anywhere ever!  The owner and lead teacher Lois is the most gentle, strong, kind, warm, smart and creative person I know.  Her daughter, Madison is every bit as amazing as Lois is and they work side by side to educate, nurture, and develop preschool heart, minds and spirits.  There are no words for how amazing their school is and I cannot WAIT for Ari to be old enough to be able to go.  Anyhoo, I'm off track.  We are heading up to the preschool this afternoon to help set up and hand out treats to the little ones before we head out on our own trick or treating.  Kendall and Ty are very excited!  I will be staying home handing out candy while Ian takes the kids around the neighborhood.

We started our day with some journaling.  We then had our spelling quiz, Darwin readings and DEAR time.  I extended their DEAR time to 45 minutes today as I knew they would not have any reading time tonight.

his

hers

his

hers

our board from last night

We ran through the Spanish alphabet a few times and by this point Ari was up!  I let the kids have a half day today and we headed out on lots of errands.

The kids rested and watched a favorite movie - Hotel Transylvania early this afternoon.  I wanted to ensure they had plenty of energy to go, go, go tonight!

I hope you have a wonderful and safe Halloween!!

A Focused Thursday

Greetings!!

Last night Kendall and I spent time together for her parent special making friendship bracelets!  She did lots of braiding.  She made me a beautiful multi-strand wrap bracelet and I made her a rainbow friendship bracelet - a la summer camp!  It was an easy and quiet night as Ian rested from his gum surgery.

The braided one is from Kendall =)

I was channeling my years of overnight camp!

Today started early for me...well it always starts early but today Ari awoke at 4:50 am.  This does not bode well for me as the time change approaches.  There will definitely need to be some tweaking to the sleep schedule for sure.  So we played, had snacks and watched Mister Rogers until the sun came up!!  We did not walk this morning as Ian really needed to sleep in due to his mouth surgery yesterday and I wanted to be here in the event that he needed something.  I'll plan to walk later today with the children.  

I'm getting into a place with homeschooling that I feel very comfortable with our daily routine but at the same time it feels like the days are slipping out of my fingers.  I feel like perhaps we're not doing as much as we could/should/supposed to?  My instincts are telling me that I AM doing enough but my head keeps nagging me that we haven't gotten to this, that and the other thing yet.  It's a trap that I've read/heard about from many homeschoolers - the self-doubt trap.  I KNOW my children are learning and learning a lot!  But the doubt sneaks in - especially during weeks when we have lots of out of the house activities.  I feel like the outside activities are so fun that how could they possibly replace "sitting at our desk school work".  What I'm realizing though is that it doesn't replace other kinds of work - more traditional work, but that it simply adds to it.

So, onward we move!!  Today's journaling prompt is to design your own jack-o-lantern based on what kind of mood you are in.  I gave the children free range of any products and let them have at it.

She was feeling happy and sleepy

At any given time THIS is what our table really looks like!

Spelling copywork must get so boring sometimes.  Especially on a double unit week like this one where they've been writing the same words for days.  Today we're combining a fun and easy Fall themed craft with our spelling words!  We made paper strip pumpkins complete with our spelling words and parts of speech.  It kept the kids very entertained and happy all the while they are learning.

We continued reading and writing about Darwin and read from the Evolution Revolution book.  Math time was spent using the Learning Palettes and Learning Wrap Up.

Best kid snack - banana, peanut butter, Nutella and honey - with a tiny sprinkle of chocolate lucky charms for some crunch!

Today is a yoga day so we went off to that and then instead of another event which we usually partake in on Thursdays we came home so that the children could finish up their math and DEAR time and then we continued our reading and discussions on Charles Darwin and his work.

Wake up from nap the SECOND I left to bring the kids to yoga!  I hate to wake him if I don't have to so he got a little bit of Daddy time before Ian went back to rest.

DEAR time

The children had friends over this afternoon to play - which is always a wonderful way to end the day.  I had one of Kendall's homeschool friends and her mom and one of Ty's neighborhood friends and his mom.  Everyone hung out - girls and boys played together and then had their own time and the moms and I had a really nice time visiting and chatting!

We're all looking very forward to the Halloween festivities tomorrow!!

Self-representation...

Hello!!

Today we're moving along as we started our day as most others.  I walked with Ari and got everyone up and ready for the day.  It was a beautifully warm morning for a walk and the sunrise was beautiful.

Today's journaling spilled over from yesterday's social studies lesson about the American flag.  We've been reading this book:

I asked the children to design a flag for their room.  I gave them fabric, stickers, glitter, and other art supplies and I love what they came up with!

Very busy designing...

his

Ty's write up

sketching

meausring

cutting

(I love how she spelled tissue and second! hehehe)  Those are now on the frequently misspelled list ;)

After this we had Ian come in (he was home for the morning as he had gum surgery this afternoon...such a bummer) and run through spelling words with them.  

We did more work and reading about Charles Darwin and continued to fill in the "Who Was" worksheet.  After this Kendall played a multiplication facts game on the computer while Ty had DEAR time.  I was making lunch while Ian got Ari up from his nap.

First, customize a Granny.  The more multiplication facts you solve the faster you go to win the race!

hahahah...the racing Granny game was so funny!

Hello world!!

Reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The kids and Ari had lunch and then we headed off to Elm Bank Reservation to meet a fellow homeschooling Mom and her lovely children.  It was BLISSFULLY quiet there during school hours and the kids played and played and played for about 3 hours!

staring at a passing train!  he was mesmerized !!

Ooooooooo!!  A tunnel!!!

tree climbing

Nesting chairs

Red-tailed hawk

He, too, sticks his tongue out when really concentrating!

Ya...It's about time to go home...

running running running!

Sittin' on the big chair!!

When we got home the children had a snack and a few minutes of rest and then Tyler did his computer math game and Kendall continued to work on her research project.  

He's playing a game that quizzes you on subtraction facts.  For each fact you get right you can move a puzzle piece into place to reveal the picture when you are done.  Super cute!!

This one's for Uncle Timmy and Auntie Audra!!

The children were eager to help with dinner.  I'd planned on nachos and they were so excited and basically did it all for me!

Learning how to cook!

Working hard!!

delicious!!

Ian is recuperating and I'm off to have parent special with Kendall (and Ty)!

Until tomorrow!