Days of the week

In our grammar text we are suppose to be reviewing the days of the week. Avery usually knows what day it is, but I thought it would be fun to make a game out of it. First I had him name the days of the week in order so that I could write them down on construction paper, then we discussed what activities we do on each day, I wrote that down and cut it out in to strips. I shuffled it all up and had him tape the activity next to the day that we do usually do it. He was relieved to do this activity instead of copying the days of the week and writing for himself what he does when. He's not too fond of writing at this point, I'm hoping that changes as the year wears on.

In the afternoon we went to their grandmothers house and had a little Halloween party where both of the boys decorated their own gingerbread haunted houses! Emile's unfortunately didn't make it home in one piece, but he certainly found it tasty.

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween weekend!

Fall poem

Fall by Avery

Fall has come to make places chilly.
We make fires and get really silly.
Pumpkins, trees and leaves,
clouds that are funny if you please.

Busy Busy

Today was an absolutely great day! We were very busy, very inquisitive and very happy! No one lost their temper today which is not normal for us at all.

First part of the day was spent doing our school work. In math we are practicing number bonds, grammar we are still acting out our action poems, history we are learning about the Israelites and for a writing exercise Avery wrote poem about Fall, which we will probably share tomorrow along with his finished illustration to go along with it.

After we got that all out of the way we went down town to the Library, ate sushi for lunch in the park and took a very long walk around the pond checking out all of the ducks. It was Emile's first time to the park to see the ducks! I couldn't believe I have not taken my child to see the ducks in his two years of life, I felt like a terrible mother. He absolutely loved every moment of it. He kept asking me to show him the Mr. and Mrs. Mallard- from the book Make Way for Ducklings which we read this morning. So, such a full day and it is not over yet. Art this afternoon then soccer practice this evening. We are all going to sleep so good tonight, (right after the french toast I'm making for dinner...yum!)

A beautiful day

What a beautiful fall day ! We woke up and made yummy pumpkin spice muffins and went outside for school and play. Emile busied himself with this homemade oatmeal "sand" box where he does loads of pouring and filling, also he had a Tupperware full of assorted dry beans that he pretended to cook and then after he was done planted them in the garden. Daddy will have a little surprise come spring when Lima's, black, red and navy beans start sprouting up all over the place.

Avery worked in his math book, finishing up the review tests. Now we are ready for the second half of the first grade workbook.

In grammar we did more labeling of sentences (nouns and verbs). For a little fun I had him make up some sentences talking about an animal and what the animal was doing- then acting the sentence out in the yard. They both had loads of fun doing that!

Here's a few of their thoughts:

"The lion ran across the field."

"The ant bit the man."

"The bat swung from the tree."

"The elephant danced on one foot."

The last one was especially funny to watch them act out!

This afternoon (so that I can have a rest) we are going to watch a DVD on deep sea life. Avery has always been fascinated with ocean life and all of the amazing creatures that exist in that ecosystem. So in asking him what he would enjoy learning about this week (just for fun) he requested creatures of the deep sea. We also went to the library and checked out books to go along with his peaked interest.

So a nap is calling at the moment. Enjoy this beautiful fall weather if you can!

We are loving our new schedule lately. Wake up, eat, read, eat, read some more, eat some more. Avery is especially grateful to my extremely slow state of being these days. Audio books have become my greatest ally. We've been listening to storyteller Jim Weiss who is absolutely wonderful!! Greek myths, Shakespeare for children, American tall tales, and a favorite around here- Rip Van Winkle, complete with Rip's rap!

We have still been doing our "school" work, it's just in disguise.

We are finished the first book in the first grade math curriculum, after his review we'll take the test to see if he retained all of the concepts, if so he can move on to the second workbook that will last the rest of this year. Still not too sure if I like this math curriculum. It's either too easy or worded too weird so that even I don't understand what they want him to do. If anyone who reads this has any great math curriculum ideas please feel free to share!

Also taking a break from the human body unit this week to do science experiments. Avery's request of course. Right now we are oxidizing pennies, soaking paper towels in vinegar and recording the reaction. Interesting how the side that is not touching the vinegar turns green but the underside that is sitting in the vinegar remains the same color. The book doesn't tell me why this happens so I have to do my homework now.

My camera is still out of commission, but hopefully will be back in working order to add some pictures to these boring blog post.

Moving slowly

I'm nearing the end of this pregnancy and I'm feeling rather heavy lately. I must confess, waking up late, pizza for dinner, and PBS kids are all becoming more common these days. I try and make up for it with reading hours of Harry Potter to Avery (book 4, wahoo!) and a few play dates here and there, but as I suspected my ambitiousness is wearing off.

We are still doing a minimum of math and grammar/spelling daily, history and science a couple times a week. That's about all the structure we can handle right now. And it's really plenty.

My plan for the coming weeks and even the weeks after baby arrives is just simply to read tons of non-fiction library books (from the comfort of my own bed mind you). The boys can entertain themselves for literally hours of quiet time with a book, and that's without me even reading it to them. So We are checking out loads of books on a variety of subjects and are just going to hunker down and read...a lot!

But tomorrow I am forcing myself to get dressed, get moving and Avery and I are going to the Natural History Museum! http://www.lnhmpmuseum.org/ I am looking forward to some one on one time with him without his little parrot right next to his side.

Emile will have his turn with me next weekend-Mommy and me art class at the little paintbrush! He is sooooo excited about that.

http://www.thelittlepaintbrush.com/index.html