Scott went out of town for business on Tuesday so things are a bit topsy turvey around our house, but its all good. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining. Yes its hard not to have him here to help, but what can you do? We are making the best of it without him, and I am trying to live simply. We've had Mac-N-Cheese twice in two days.
As the saying goes the show must go on. So I have been trying to run our days as usual and so far its been working really well. It helped that on Monday I finished up the family board and felt like I got a bit more organized with our family schedule. I can't say enough about how important a default schedule is. It helps the kids and me know exactly what is expected. It keeps our days and hours structured, but allows flexibility all at the same time. Pretty cool!
So what did our homeschooling look like today? It would take to long to give you a play by play , but here is what we were all doing around 10:30...
Jarom was building his airplane and Hyrum and Cooper were looking on eating Graham Crackers and Milk their first of many post-breakfast pre-lunch snack. These boys are always hungry!
Brea was chilling in Becca's bouncer seat. So funny!
Becca was crashed on the couch taking a long nap. WOO-HOO! I was able to spend some good one-on-one quality time with most of the kids today thanks to this nap.
Megan was listening to Black Beauty for the first time of the day.
{New Books}
Have I mentioned how amazingly cool USBORNE books are! I just love this company. A week ago I ordered some books from them for our homeschool collection and they arrived yesterday. I was so excited to break open the box today and look through them all. Everyone felt like it was Christmas morning.
{Batteries and Magnets}
Jarom is amazingly smart and LOVES building things with his hands. So I ordered him a book all about batteries and magnets which also came with some supplies to create a few experiments about these subjects. I loved seeing how excited he was to dig in and learn all about it and get busy building some neat creations. My only regret is that I didn't have enough supplies on hand for him to create more of the projects/experiments. Oh well.
Jarom also got really into an Internet Linked Science book I purchased for him from USBORNE. He learned all about metals and how the flames of different metals made different colors. Pretty cool, but it was even better when he got to jump online and explore further using their pre-researched links. Jarom is such a computer person (so even though I think the best learning takes place when you are reading) this allows him to have computer time more often than I would if we didn't have access to these safe pre-researched links. Its a win-win.
{Horses and Ponies}
Megan is still loving horses and ponies. So I got her some books in this genre. Her favorite so far is an abridged version of Black Beauty that has a wonderful read along CD with it that reads the book aloud. Tonight before bed she told me she listened to the story four times today. WOW! When there is interest you can hardly stop them from learning.
I also got Megan a nice illustrated book that talks all about horses. For example the difference between horses and ponies, the different breeds, horse care, horse sports, and on and on. In the back it has a whole section filled with stories and legends about horses. She was eyeing through that today, and I am sure we'll start reading more out of it tomorrow.
{Playtime}
So in our new schedule 4-5 is computer or DS time and they can play with friends between 4 and 5:30/6 usually. Its working out well so far. I have a hard time stopping my kids from playing, but if we start eating dinner later than six things get a bit crazy and we don't get book reading time in with the kids which is important to me. Oh well...always a dilemma.
Today we had a great time having friends over to play in our backyard. One of the highlights for today was the unique way the boys played with some disposable bottles I was going to throw away. We had already used the formula so I didn't see any reason to keep them. The boys were more creative though and started filling them up with water and squirting it at everyone. Pretty soon everyone was soaking wet and stripped down to their diaper.
Brayden and Brea tried to stay clear of the bottle squirting brothers by sticking close to the fountain. The two of them had a ball splashing around in it. Yes they got soaking wet, but they were both self-entertained forever so I wasn't about to complain about a little water.
{My little helper}
Megan was a saint and came and helped feed Becca when I had to tend to some backyard emergencies this afternoon. She is such a great big sister! I can't believe how big she is getting already.
3 comments:
meg is getting so big! she's like a little lady now instead of a little girl!
Love the post. So on your last post about Brea reading, honestly it is never too soon. Malia loves "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see" and actually will try and read it in the sing-song voice. If you ask her to go get Brown Bear she knows which one it is on the book case. She almost everyday will bring me a book to read to her, it's usually when I'm making dinner and so we end up sitting on the kitchen floor reading a story. Kids are sponges and they can soak up so much more than we give them credit for!!
Andie.,..you amaze me with your knowledge and patience to run your home the way you do. I'm so impressed and it really sounds like the homeschooling is really working out for you and your family. Your kids are adorable and I love the idea of the kindness jar....I might try that cause my older two are constantly nagging eachother!
Keep up the great work!
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