What a difference Spring makes!

Good Morning!!  Yes...it FINALLY smells like Spring!!  The temps may be fluctuating and not necessarily representing Spring as we'd like it but the polar ice cap in our front yard has FINALLY melted and THAT my friends, is Spring enough for us!  We've been out walking and playing every single day rain or shine and it makes such an amazing difference in all of our moods.  Getting out, getting moving and enjoying the fresh air is so therapeutic for everyone.  The kids are having a blast playing in the mud and muck and we've even enjoyed some warm stints of playing in the water table on the deck!  This is one of everyone's very favorite activities...it reminds us that Summer is not far behind.

School is chugging along and doing it's usual morphing act every day.  Some days we do LOTS of in house, desk sitting kind of work and other days we're out and about exploring, playing and socializing.  The ebb and flow is becoming more familiar each day and I'm learning to adjust and shift gears on the fly.  It's a process that is ever evolving.

Kendall is becoming quite proficient in her multiplication and there are no tears, huffs of frustration or arguments when it's math time.  This makes me a happy teacher.  We're also working on adding/subtracting fractions, geometry and basic algebra concepts.  Tyler has mastered his double digit subtraction with borrowing, fraction identification and adding, and is working on geometry and some basic algebra as well.

The kids have been loving writing letters to friends and family to work on their handwriting and grammar skills.  We have group reading for approximately 90 minutes every day and on most days they are also having 45 minutes of independent reading time (DEAR time).  Weekly we work on reading comprehension, spelling and grammar formally but these topics are also discussed during our daily reading and writing.

We continue to explore plants, nature and are discussing composting for our science unit presently.  We are still in Rome and I anticipate we'll be here for another couple of weeks as there is a LOT of material to work through.  The kids have created a triple lapbook for Ancient Rome that they are enjoying finding and putting information into.

We use our "gratitude" journals most days and come up with some simple thoughts on what we are grateful for.  I like doing this with the children as I want to help them remember to be present in their day and to appreciate the seemingly small and insignificant things in their day that actually help contribute to their overall happiness.

In other non-school news I've finished my brother's wedding invitations and will be handing them off to him for final review this weekend at their wedding shower.  I'm very excited for Kendall to experience the shower this weekend and for all the kids to enjoy their participation in the upcoming fun of all that is wedding related as we rapidly head towards the big day in June!

I've signed the children up for 2 weeks of their favorite nature camp this summer and am looking forward to adjusting our school schedule to carry on through the summer focusing more on science experiments, art projects, history lessons and reading.  We will continue math and ELA skills through the summer though I will relax on the worksheet/workbook concepts and work more through manipulatives, online math (they love this) and real life math (shopping, banking, etc).

I'm gearing up for writing my progress reports for the children to give to their schools.  I'm looking very much toward this process as I can't wait to see the children's first year all written out.  It will help give me a tangible measure of what we've all accomplished this year.

I love how intently they focus when doing Perler beads!

now THIS was quite an undertaking!!  

when he finished this it measures over 12"!!

It was one of those days where she was tired and the weather was 'just right' for napping during group reading!

he worked for 4 days on this

two days a week I let them pick their own math

baby STEM!

sharing screen time with Ari

school 'to-go'! 

SUCH a fun, new game!  

it's called Bellz and we got it at our local toy store - Park Street Books

so close!

hahahahha

yum!!  treats before pottery class!

invitation making supplies

at science class with friends!

setting up for Fantasy Creature Club

ta-da!!

so cool

I LOVE that they still pretend play...it makes my heart happy

Ty shaped his kinetic sand into a horse!

straw limo

wedding elves!  and no, Kendall is not wearing blue lipstick, it's from a lollypop!  lol!

they were HUGE helps!!!  it made it all go so much faster!

grumpy baby

out and about in Daddy's car!!

late night (8:30 pm) sundaes and movie night!

Yes!!  Spring is HERE!!

looking and examining spring

field notes

building

building.....

knock it down!

planting time!!

Kendall said at LEAST 4 times how much fun she was having...

she LOVES to garden!!

let the waiting begin!

kendall's asked me every day since we planted on Monday - "when will they grow!?"

my favorite view!!  little baby piggy toes!

trying to race the mail truck

Ari's favorite pastime!

Katie's, too!

making his own lunch!  

making "vintage" looking paper

anddddddddddd DONE!

I gave them this very simple recipe this week and asked them to make it without any help from me.  (unless they absolutely could not find something)

they delegated...

and negotiated...

and split the duties...

and made super delicious dog cookies for Katie!!!

beautiful!

math!

letter writing

Ty wrote a letter to his teddy bear, Timmy

hahahaha

they even read together over lunch...  =)

getting out solo early in the am for a run!

look Ma...no snow!!

Kendall had quite a few social engagements this week so Ty and I got some good quality time while Ari napped.  I taught Ty how to work with water color paints in both a wet and dry environment...

he constantly amazes me...

and then we made some 3D flowers!

and read a bunch!

and snuggled, of course =)

See you next week!!