Homeschooling at it's Best: Part II - Chores

      I firmly believe that kids need to understand what goes into managing a home and how to take care of themselves just as much as they need to learn the more traditional school subjects.  I've also found that when they are helping with chores at a young age, they aren't off making messes somewhere else. My kids love to clean with me, and are getting quite good at it.  Today, Emma (age 4) vacuumed the living room, helped me do dishes and clean the kitchen counters, moved laundry from the washer to the dryer, helped making dinner, and cleaned her room.  Micah (age 2) also helped clean their room, with the laundry, and with dinner.  His jobs are smaller than hers of course, but he loves being involved.  I love days like this because they are happy when we're together doing things (yes, even chores), they are learning needed life skills, and I feel better about it than turning on a cartoon or something to keep them "out of my hair." 

      Here are a couple of funny pictures.  I told them to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer if they could reach it, and walked out of the laundry room for just a second, promising to return promptly to help. This is what I returned to find.

     She couldn't reach to pull the laundry out, so this was her solution.  Below, you see Micah loading the wet laundry she pulled out into the dryer.  What teamwork! I have the most hysterical children ever. (By the way, I just have to say that I am not responsible for Micah's outfit.  He dressed himself).

Homeschooling at it's Best: Bug Kits

Daddy found some really cool bug collecting kits for the kids.  So, this morning, the kids and I ventured out into the neighborhood to see what we could find.  They had a tremendous amount of fun, and I successfully held back the "EW" that was screaming frantically through my brain.  

We were also pretending to be Inspector Gadget characters.  Here, they are hiding from a passing "mad agent" car. 

The kits came with a magnifying glass, tweezers (which I was very grateful for when picking up the spider and the centipede we found) and several small and large containers to hold the bugs.  We ripped up moss, turned over rocks, and dug, dug, dug!

Yeah, he didn't pay attention to the sign.  A few moments after this pic, I was frantically pulling him away from the cliff edge that the chain is there to block. 

The Spoil: Worms, Centipedes and Spiders

A lot of fun, if I do say so myself! After the kids and I returned to the house, Daddy read them some information about earthworms (although there is still more reading left to do). Emma learned that earthworms have more than one heart, and of course, thinks that is awesome.  Well, that's it for now; more later!

Leavenworth!!!

We went to Leavenworth for an early celebration of our 8th anniversary (actual date 1/18). The first few pictures are of our trip in.

Donut Breakfast:

The scenery:

We're here!:

What our hotel room looked like 2.5 seconds after we arrived:

Daddy being silly while he's bringing luggage in:

Getting comfy:

Sledding with Daddy:

On our way into Leavenworth, we got a flat tire. We decided that we didn't want to drive home on a spare, so we stopped here . . . .

. . . where they found this in our tire.

All in all, it was a very eventful trip. Eight years and counting. Woo hoo!!

Family Photos

Hello all! I just wanted to pop in and say that we have a new set of family photos now! My amazing photographer friend Jenna took these for us. She has done all of our family portraits as well as my maternity photos. She is very talented and original. You can check out the pics on her blog, The Awkward Photographer.

http://theawkwardphotographer.blogspot.com/2010/01/crazy-family-fun-emphasis-on-crazy.html

Just a note to anyone who is interested, she is currently taking appointments for sessions at a very reasonable rate, so that she can gain even more experience. Thanks again, Jenna!

Homeschooling - It's time to get serious

As most of my readers know, I am planning on homeschooling our wonderful kiddos. I figure now that Emma is 4, it is time to get on a more regular schedule. We do have a schooling schedule already, but it isn't incredibly strict. I've decided that it is time to get organized. So, Emma and I are doing a reading lesson M-F as well as working our way through the counting and math section of a curriculum workbook. I found some great lessons for Micah at a place called Brightly Beaming. It is designed for kids his age and incorporates animals, shapes, colors, numbers, nursery rhymes, crafts, etc. Emma will be doing this with us as well, just for fun. We also do a nightly reading from their "Bible Stories" book, for scriptural learning. I've been thinking of working with Emma more on scripture memorization as well. We've done some in the past, and she is quite good at it. There are, of course, chores and cooking lessons to be had as well.
Here are some pics of the kids coloring in cows to put on their farms. They also colored the letter "A" and a square. Their vocabulary word was 'calf.' I'll try and keep this blog updated on their homeschooling progress, and my progress at sticking to a routine.

Playing Wedding

Just thought I'd post some cute pics of the kids. They were playing wedding. This was, of course, Emma's idea. She dressed Micah all by herself. That was a pretty hilarious 30 minute process.

This was the "wedding feast." The fancy glasses are the most important part. :)

Such fun! They also had to kiss when they were pronounced man and wife, and the night ended like this because . . . .

Micah refused to dance with his bride.

Cloud Computing Fairy

Hello Everyone! This is a link to a little video that my friend Jenna made for work. She had to find a creative way to describe a program that they use in her office called Cloud Computing. Whoever comes up with the best simple explanation wins a prize. So, she made a video starring my dear sweet Emma. I can't figure out how to make it so that you can click the link and go straight there, so you will have to cut and paste it in your bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVLtWrcGpbk