Arrrrgh

Noel wanted to throw bean bags at the America map again, but Amy declined.

Our lesson today was a reading lesson. Again, Amy declined saying she'd do it later. She was antsy to set up her activity.

Amy picked pirate school. She set up desks for each of us. We colored pirate pictures and learned how to spell Arrrrgh. Then Amy insisted that I make a treasure hunt since I was the teacher. We did pictures for clues. It went well, and they liked having candies in school.

Amy and I had our reading lesson (called it closing class) as Noel set up her activity. She set up treasure hunts for us. All that meant was that she put something somewhere where it doesn't go and had us look for it. But we could hear her looking around, so the things were easy to find.

Amy and I read The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids while Noel hid the items.

Noel wouldn't say the closing prayer cause she didn't want to end school. Now every person is going every which way doing every which thing.

Somewhere in there, the girls decided to dress up in a few things.

Here's the evidence:

Noel had fruit snacks in her treasure. Some of them were clumped together which she thought was so cool.

Amy's Pirate Picture. She sounded out pirate pretty well.

Noel's picture:

Amy and Noel decided to put our coats on with their legs in the arm holes.

Salvaged School Day

School today had a rough start. Noel's had a rough day all day. No one wanted to clean up. I was having a hard time with my attitude. Amy only wanted school if we could do what she wanted. We worked some stuff out and ended up having a mostly good time.

I let Amy pick America Moment. She wanted to throw bean bags at the US map and say the names of the states.

She REALLY wanted me to do a Spanish lesson for lesson time. That was fine with me so we did.

Amy chose the president's book that teaches the order of the US presidents for her activity.

Noel chose cars and then afterwards decided it wasn't her activity because she wanted to do something else. That when she lost control and got sent BACK to bed. She's already been there a couple times this afternoon.

In the meantime, Amy and I played Green Eggs and Ham for closing class and read a tall tale about Casey Jones for reading class. Noel joined us again part way through the story. Now they want me to play Sorry! with them. So we continue... :)

Puzzles Puzzles Puzzles

Today we learned more of "We The People" for our America Moment.

Then I got out some Spanish flash cards, just wondering how many words that come up randomly we would know. I'd say we did pretty well.

Next both girls wanted to do puzzles. Grammy did them too. We kept doing them and doing them. Noel and I kind of were on a team, and Amy and Grammy. Amy was CRACKING ME UP with her comments and trying to tell Grammy the rules. I was proud of Noel doing some puzzles by herself. 

Mom and Grammy:

Amy and Grammy:

Mommy and Noel:

Noel:

Noel:

Mommy and Noel:

Mommy and Noel:

Here's our chart about what we did today:

Bikes and Books - Amy's Favorite

Amy and Noel went with Grammy on a bike ride after lunch for quite a while. It's a lovely day, and they had a great time.

When they got home, Amy had a few things to take care of before school. In the meantime, Noel fell asleep on the couch.

Finally, we had the rest of school. Amy wanted a reading marathon today, and so we did.

That turned out to be it as I now am going to go work on dinner.

Experiment Day

Today Noel went to Joy School and Amy did fun things with Grammy so I didn't worry too much if we didn't do EVERYTHING at school. Amy and Grammy went on a bike ride and asked a man who was flying a little plane how it worked (Amy's idea). Grammy said they had an aerodynamics lesson. Cool. Later they all three played Sorry! The girls are getting better and better at their counting and the one to one relationship between the numbers and the squares on the Sorry board.

We still started with opening routine. We listened to a CD of patriotic songs for our America moment.

Then we set up a tomato experiment. We had a huge harvest of tomatoes this year. A couple weeks ago we got nervous that they were going to freeze so we picked them all. My parents had learned from my grandma that you can wrap green tomatoes in newspaper and they will still ripen. So we did it.

Today we went through all the tomatoes (a diaper box FULL that two weeks ago were all green). We got out the red ones, the mostly red ones, the mostly green ones, and the all the way green ones and sorted them. Then we made hypotheses about where/ how the tomatoes would ripen the best. We left some wrapped in paper, left some out on the counter, put some on a windowsill to get sun, and put some in the fridge. We'll observe as time goes on how our tomatoes are doing. The girls were semi-interested, not very. Noel helped a bit but got distracted. Amy didn't want us to do the experiment at all out of fear that the tomatoes not wrapped in newspaper would go bad.

We read Cinderella and finished school.

The girls are now doing their activities while I rest a little. They're bike riding. Amy can't get enough. :) Grateful for sunshine.

Another Week Sum-Up

I have been writing down what we have done this week but not getting it on the blog.

Monday:
We practiced the pledge of allegiance.
Amy had a reading lesson.
Amy wanted to ride bikes for her activity. (She and Noel did this while Mom and I were cleaning out the garage. I joined Amy for a little bike riding too.)
Noel was playing in the van and pretended like she was getting ready for a birthday party so that became her activity. It was my birthday. Amy did a karate demonstration and let us listen to a piano recording while we danced and then played with blocks.
We read some picture books and called it good.

Tuesday:
We read a book that taught us about US presidents. It has little comics that help you learn the names in order.
Introduce class was about homonyms. Specifically I wanted to teach the girls about a new meaning of the word scale - the kind you play on the piano. Amy especially liked the chromatic scale.
Amy: Green Eggs and Ham game
Noel: Birthday party again. It was Noel's birthday this time.
Reading Time: The Story of Jumping Mouse

Wednesday:
I had a couch day so I only did little school activities with each girl. Amy was needing time away from Noel. (What she really needed was a break from friends as she was having overload.)
Amy's School: We continued working on learning US presidents. Amy LOVES that book. Then we played Sorry! twice.
Noel's School: We played Sorry! too. I'm trying to remember if we did anything else. It seems like we did, but I don't remember what.

Today is Thursday. We haven't had school yet today. We're going to start when I'm done with this and when the family room is clean.

Week Sum Up

Monday we dealt with consequences, poop, and then had cousin time so no formal school.

Tuesday we had a Joy School excursion in the morning that we brought all the kids and Grammy to. We called that school and a great one. Fed ducks. Played on play ground. (Amy took great care of Eliza there.) Had hot dogs and smores. A little lesson. Used our senses. Watched for green - the color of the day. Played with friends. So much fun.

Wednesday we went to the fire station for an open house. We met cousins there. My cousin is in town from Houston with her two daughters so we are playing a lot. The fire station taught us some important safety things, and we saw cool demonstrations. The girls got to spray the fire hose except Eliza who was too shy of the fireman. After we got home, we drew pictures and wrote a little bit about what we had seen and done.

Today we had normal school day. Wahoo!

One popular exercise around here lately is "Bonnie Scoot Races." The girls race across the room the same way I used to scoot instead of crawl when I was a baby. I did it today. Harder than it looks 6 months pregnant by the way.

For America moment we learned about slavery and talked about what we didn't like about it. Amy's learned a little about it lately, and I think it was good to talk about. Noel said she thinks everybody should have liberty. I agree, Noel.

Mom Class today turned into a trick. I had the girls practice hypnobirthing relaxation with me. I try to practice it every day to get ready for Benjamin's birth. Amy nearly fell asleep and asked me to turn on some more relaxing music for her when we were done. Noel wanted to listen to a tape with headphones on, so school took a pause.

Amy chose the Green Eggs and Ham game for her activity.

Noel chose trains. 

For closing class, I reminded the girls - especially Amy - that choosing an activity doesn't mean we get to totally boss and control everything about the activity. That was a bit of a problem today.

We read some stories and called it good.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to Cornbelly's with the cousins if the weather permits. That will take over school time.

Grammy School Marathon

Grammy's been teaching school more than I have so I haven't been blogging. Here's a sum-up of some recent days:

Last Tuesday we went to Laurel's house. Grammy and Amy left earlier while Noel was at Joy School so they just had school together. They read Laurel's Bob Books.

Here are her notes from Wednesday's school:
Exercise - the Bonnie scoot (the way I crawled before I could walk) and bean bag balance
America Moment - "We the People" song
Lesson - Manners. Noel and Amy had good manners when it was time to clean up.
Grammy Activity - city, farm, doll house, roads, cars
Amy Activity - world and USA puzzles
Noel Activity - catch

I think Thursday she taught too.

This week:
Monday and Tuesday we were dealing with poop school. Yesterday we fit in a few activities too. Amy's obsessed with listening to Power Tales tapes and reading the books. So we listened together. Grammy wasn't feeling well but woke up to play with the girls and show them how we could make word families with interchangeable first letters with blocks.

Today:
Grammy started while I was out on a lunch date with Matt.
Exercise - Bonnie scoot races.
America Moment - "We the People"
Introduce Class - Word Families
Lesson - Amy and Grammy read Peter and Jane while Noel and I worked on shapes on whiteboards. (I came home in time.)
Amy and Noel wanted to color for their activities. I drew a picture and then organized our school shelves. Grammy started some sewing she's been wanting to work on. The girls kept coloring and coloring.
Closing Class - practice session about taking turns getting the door and what to do if a sister runs off when you want to talk to her. We also talked about the school shelf organization and what kids can get by themselves and what they have to ask permission for.
Closing Prayer - Grammy.

Noel and Amy can't get enough of school. We like it too.