Best Friends

EM and JR were born 20 months apart, so they have been best friends for a long time.  They play together inside and outside, with toys and imaginary friends, with trains and polly pockets.  Even though EM is less than two years older than JR she is very motherly toward him.  She makes sure he understand what's going on by explaining things in simpler ways and usually lets him win when they play a game.  JR adores his big sister just as much and always needs to know where she is and what she's doing.  He will play any game she comes up with- he is just happy to imagine with his favorite playmate.

When LD was born almost a year ago, Josh and I talked about how we hoped EM and JR still enjoyed "playing" when LD was old enough to join them.  Were they too far apart in age to be friends?  Would LD be left out of their big kid games and miss out on having his siblings as his best friends?

The day we brought LD home from the hospital our worries began to fade.  EM read a sleeping newborn LD her Kindergarten reader.  JR brought his Puffle and Pirate Club Penguin (his most prized possessions) to sleep by the side of his two-day old brother.  As weeks passed they attended to his every coo and whimper.  I worried that once LD started crawling and getting into their things that this precious honeymoon phase might come to an end.

Boy, was I wrong!  Now the newly mobile LD is even more fun to this loving big brother and sister!  He is the Spy Baby to their Spy Girl and Spy Boy.  He is the Land Baby to their Lava Boy and Water Girl.  He is the baby owl in their nest, the Godzilla they build towers for just to hear his giggle when it crashes, and the third player in their video games (with an unplugged remote so he doesn't feel left out).

My worries once again are calmed by the love and friendship I see growing between my three.  I imagine the years we have ahead of us and smile.

Happy Birthday JR!

We are celebrating JR and his fifth birthday this week!  I always get a little sentimental around the kids' birthdays, it's a great time to think about how much they have changed my life and how much they have changed in the past year. 

This has been a big year for JR, it seems like he went from a toddler to a boy.  It's such a fun, in-between age because even though he is becoming more independent and self-confident every day he still needs his Mommy's cuddles and reassurance when he's tired or gets hurt.  So many of my smiles begin with him.  He is always making me laugh without realizing he is saying something funny, but quickly learning to enjoy the attention his new found sense of unintentional humor brings.  I also love watching him when I know the wheels are turning as he is observing and taking in the world. 

We had a fun dinner at Chuck E Cheese on JR's birthday- Josh and I always did enjoy a healthy competition of air hockey.  It has been a beautifully rare treat of 75 degree days this week, so we had birthday ice cream for dessert!

Lovin' every moment of being the Birthday Boy!



Week 1: Beginning our Adventures in My Father's World

We began our Adventures in My Father's World. this week.  It includes Bible, History, Science, Art, and Music.

Bible

This year we will be studying the names of Jesus, so we began with learning that names have meanings and what our names mean.  I wrote a letter to each of them explaining how Josh and I chose their names and what their names mean to us.  The kids also made name bracelets with letter beads to help them remember that God knows them and they are special to Him!

We also began using Grapevine Studies which is a beginner's overview of the New Testament.  I'm reading to them directly from the Bible instead of reading Bible stories, which is so exciting and important!

History

In History this week we studied the Pledge of Allegiance and what it means.  We read I Pledge Allegiance by Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson which explains the pledge word by word.  The kids made American flags by tearing paper.  We also enjoyed a red jello, white cool whip, and blue sprinkle treat!

EM learned about Vikings and Leif Ericsson who sailed to North America.  She enjoyed learning about the Viking culture from the books we read:  Life and Times in The Viking World (lots of neat pictures) and The Vikings.  She made Viking jewelry out of clay and colored Viking Paper Dolls.  We also watched How to Train Your Dragon and Lyle the Kindly Viking, a Veggie Tales movie!

Science

Both big kids were very excited to start our Science class this week after eyeing the books all summer long!  We have so many fun hands-on experiments to look forward to!  This week we learned what Science means and what Scientists do.  We even got to do our first experiment to learn how salt effects floating objects.

Math

JR continues learning about Triangles this week and began patterns.  EM's book still seems to be reviewing what she learned in Kindergarten.  We should be digging into new material soon.

Color patterns using M&M's

Reading

JR learned about the letters C and D.  His favorite book this week was Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion.  (We read that one lots!)

EM reviewed phonograms, segmenting words, vowels and consonants.  She can read Beth's Job by Carole Roberts all by herself!

Art

We're going on a family trip to County Line Apple Orchard this weekend so we made apple stamp T-shirts!

I'm looking forward to a fabulous Labor Day weekend and learning about Christopher Columbus next week!

Added for pure cute factor.

Highlights of our First Week of School!

JR drawing shapes in shaving cream.

JR and Dad building a geoboard.

This week my main goal was to ease into our new routine.  We begin each day with breakfast and Curious George.  Hey, you can learn a lot from that little monkey!  After the usual morning stuff (getting dressed, brushing teeth, making bed, ect.) we do a few morning chores and get started with our Calender Time.  The kids have caught on quickly to this because it's similar to what they have done in school.  JR loves to use the pointer and EM really enjoys "making the date" with coins.

In Math this week JR learned about circles, rectangles, and squares.  I really wasn't if he was picking up what I was putting down, as my husband would say.  After a slightly rough day on Thursday we sat down for dinner and he held up his tortilla chip.  (Yes, he had chips for dinner -  I said it was a rough day.)  He asked me what shape it was and if we could count the sides and corners.  This homeschooling mama's heart soared!

EM quickly breezed through the first chapter of her Math book.  Thursday I chose to skip a few repetitive exercises because she seemed bored with the review.  She is SO smart!  I had an idea, but WOW!  I can't wait to see how much she learns this year going at her pace.

EM also practiced the first 26 phonograms and segmenting words in All About Spelling.  She also read a beginning reader library book several times and really got a boost of confidence as it came to her more easily the more she read it.

We had LOTS of outdoor fun this week as the weather has been soooo beautiful!  It seems all of the critters are coming out and enjoying the cooler weather too!

EM has been keeping a log of the cool things she finds in nature by sketching them in her Nature Notebook.

One morning we woke up to a praying mantis warming up on our porch light.   What a fun opportunity to learn about mantids that we would have missed completely if we were rushing to school!  Did you know after they are born they sometimes eat their siblings as a first meal?  The kiddos thought that was especially funny.

EM decided this week she was ready to ride her bike without training wheels, so she did!  This was one of those milestones that remind me how quickly she is growing up.  Every morning this week since then EM has woken me up, bright and early, fully dressed, asking if she could go outside and ride her bike.  Can we at least have coffee first, please?

LD is also working on his motor skills.  The whole family has been on "Crawl Watch" anxiously awaiting those first momentous crawls.  What will he go for?  This morning we thought maybe the cat would be his first target!

He has also been working on cutting FOUR top teeth!  Needless to say, he hasn't been at his best.  We did a little happy dance for him this evening when we saw the front two have broken through!  I sure will miss those gummy smiles though.

Josh had the day off today so we decided to head over to the Will County Fair.  We were able to get up close and personal with cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and hand sanitizer.

And of course since we were at a fair we *had* to partake in the American pastime of consuming fried goodness and treats served on a stick!

I'm looking forward to next week and beginning our Adventures!

The First Day of Homeschool!

Today was the official first day of Our Homeschool.  (We'll have to think of a more creative name - I'll be accepting suggestions!)  I decided to begin this week with Calender Time, Math, and Language Arts.  Next week we will start our first week of My Father's World which includes Bible, History, Science, Art, and Music.  

Our morning began bright and early and most of us were excited to start school!  (JR isn't excited to start anything until about 10am - he gets that from me.)  Cinnamon rolls were our special First-Day-of-School breakfast!  After LD was tucked in for his morning nap, the big kids and I started exploring our Calender Board.    

I don't remember what was so funny, but I love that laugh!

JR is doing a Geometry Chapter in Math, so today he studied circles.

Stamping circles

EM began a review of numbers this week.

The kids did awesome in their Language Arts lessons!  I was amazed at how quickly EM picked up the new phonogram sounds we practiced today and JR enjoyed the silly "A" poem we read.  

EM and I ended the day with our favorite thing...Arts and Crafts!  We made some pretty "stained glass" butterflies to brighten up our school room (aka dining room ;) )

EM told us several times today how much she loves homeschool and how she wants to be taught at home until she's a grown up.  JR mentioned a few times that I am not a teacher and this is not school.  He is a guy that thrives on routine and takes a while to adapt to change, so in time he'll come around and do well with the structure our day provides.  All in all, the day was very encouraging and I'm super proud of my big First Grader and Pre-Kindergarten-er!