Sometimes in the night Joey or I will slip little notes on the kid’s pillows while they are sleeping. Isabel loves it the most even when it is an envelope full of a math problem. She got to keep the money because she counted it correctly. I love the drawings she added. The two hundred dollar bill and especially the dolphin holding a money bag.
Luke’s favorite thing to do is to surprise us with a bubble beard. Very silly. Today we were at the park from 10am to 3:30pm. From all of that great outdoor play my (apparently weak and sickly) kids are sore. Sylvia said that her leg hurts and that it is broken. Isabel informed her that if her leg were broken she would be screaming (WRONG THING TO SAY ISABEL.) Sylvia then started to wail. She quickly got happy and let me know that her grandpa in California would take her to the hospital in the morning.
“Ode to Joy”
It was obviously a play day since we spent most of our time at the park but tonight we had some spontaneous school. Luke and Isabel put together a puzzle of the USA and I quized them on the capitols. After Luke practiced his Ode to Joy by Beethoven on the piano, I showed him Gustav Klimt’s painting, The Beethoven Frieze: Ode to Joy. After that, Isabel and I were flipping through my Gustav Klimt book and she asked why he painted so many naked people. I told her that a lot of artists paint naked people “nudes” because the human body is the most beautiful thing in the world (supposedly, right?) I didn’t add the fact that Klimt was a little pervy too. I like this website about him and how instead of saying pervy, they say “a life devoted to women” …I guess that’s another way to say it.
This morning we spent some time memorizing the tenth article of faith, memorizing U.S. state capitols (they have the states down) and then some math. I have been encouraging them to make up their own mnemonic stories to memorize. For example: There are little rocks in the ark (for Little Rock, Arkansas.) A mermaid named Georgia lives in Atlantis (Atlanta, Georgia.) They get very creative and at times I feel that the stories are a little bit too long or a little too crazy, but the crazier the better because they sure remember.
My dear Sylvia has been driving me crazy (more than usual) the last couple of days. Yes, I know she is three but Joey and I have figure something out. If you tell Luke, this is a rule, he follows, no questions asked. Isabel will ask why and once you tell her, she decides it’s a good enough reason and follows. SYLVIA on the other hand, doesn’t listen, doesn’t follow, does the opposite, then, burns her hand, falls down or whatever the consequence and yet does the exact same thing the next day…and the next. Tonight, she refused to get buckled so I basically told her that if she didn’t get buckled and we got in a car crash she would pretty much die. Maybe that traumatized her a little because on the rest of the car ride she kept talking about dying, but right after I said it, she got buckled so it worked for me.
I just wanted to share this story to show that there are very nice generous people in the world. Tonight we went out to eat and some nice guy paid for our dinner and for the couple behind us as well then left before we even knew or could say thank you. So, thank you mister! We will certainly be sure to “pay it forward!”
This morning we went on a hike with a few other homeschooled friends and some friends that are on track break. Here is a fun place in Red Rock that has a waterfall.
Hiking was a great confidence booster for Sylvia for sure and hopefully for my safety nerd as well.
They found a lizard and the poor guy’s tail fell off while the boys were trying to catch him. The kids were impressed that the tail still twitched. (little science lesson/experiment there.)
Sylvia had to pee so I sat her on a rock and she went. No stagefright and no pee on her pants! Afterward she was so proud to show everyone her pee on the rock. If you look closely it’s the wet spot on the top big rock.
We had a Saint Patrick’s Day party at our house. Everyone came wearing green and I sprinkled magic green glitter in their hair (except for all of the silly boys who thought it was too girly.) As they were running around in the backyard, I thought there was no way I would be able to get them interested in sitting down to hear a story, but they were all so cute and polite and sat down quickly. (Homeschooled kids are the best!) I read The Ring of Truth by Teresa Bateman. The kids had fun saying what they would do if they were in the story and predicting what would happen next. Afterward they played a couple of games and we then let them loose to eat green cupcakes and run around the backyard.
Here are a couple of pictures to show Joey how Sylvia is really helping us get our money’s worth out of these soccer lessons.
Last night we attended a poetry reading put on by all of the homeschooled children. Each child had memorized a poem and performed with actions they had made up. They all did such a good job. Afterward all of the families played some games and then had treats. Today Luke and Isabel had so much fun in Science. Here’s what I got from their excited chattering, their butterflies had come out and they were able to set them free, they made antenae out of pipe cleaners, made butterflies out of paper, and ate some fun “butterfly food.” The peas in a pod were the crysalis, the blueberries were butterfly eggs, some grapes on a toothpick was a catapillar.
A tradition of ours is to buy a tub of lady bugs every year in the spring (well, early spring….okay, more like late winter.) Our kids love playing with them. That night we got a babysitter who is a homeschooled girl. She told our kids it was crazy hair and wacky clothes day, so they were all “wacky.”
I’ll refrain from making the obvious “red handed” joke on this one…oops, I just did. I couldn’t help myself.
This is what happens when I selfishly sit down to read a magazine for TWO MINUTES.
With Luke it is obvious what he is into, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Nature, and Computers. With Isabel it’s not so concrete. Lately she likes to sit at the table (see above) and be in charge of something. The other day it was making Hello Kitty after Hello Kitty with her little rubbing kit. She then made a “Free” sign and set them up in her room. Joey and I took one but there are plenty more to be had. So if any of you have been dying for an awesome crayon rubbing of Hello Kitty come on over.
Today she sat at the table and announced that she was a lady who wrote things for people if they needed something written. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down the names of her four Webkinz animals in cursive. I then pretended to be a customer and asked Miss Vincent if she would please copy my animal friend’s names three more times in cursive on the paper and then write Webkinz at the bottom. Well she did a beautiful job as you can see below. She even traced it all with black marker!….fancy.
She also loves to do the self check out at the library and when we are at a store and I am using a credit card, she always wants to sign her name and push the buttons (which of course I say no to the signing her name of course.) What do you think this means? She likes to be in charge of things? Maybe she should be in a job where there is a lot of paperwork with fun signing, stamping and filing.
Sabrina School 