Little Men

October update

2012-10-18T12:54:00.001-07:00

This fall has been a rainy one, but we have done our best to enjoy the nicer days outside. The temperature swings and weather fronts have not been kind to me (in terms of migraines) so that has been wearing on me to the point of actually looking forward to winter when it will mostly just stay cold instead of jumping back and forth so often. Although in New England you never can really tell. ;)

The boys on their swing set this morning.

This week W wrapped up Chapter 30 of Math-U-See Alpha. Next week he will do the appendix clock section and some review/tests. It is sort of funny since we mostly use digital clocks these days. The following week he will start the next Math-U-See book, Beta. He is on page 65 of Explode the Code book 4 and seems to enjoy it at the pace he is going.

For Story of the World/History we are reading chapter 5 about Medieval India this week, he likes the reading & map work the best, and the many projects that go along with it are fun too (like making a beaded mosaic this week). As for Science, we had our co-op science class this week which was chock full of experiments and now he wants to get some dry ice for more Halloween experiments at home. :)

vinegar/ baking soda "hand" balloon project at co-op

The boys are both looking forward to Halloween. Here is a preview of my little pirates in character: Jake from "the Neverland Pirates" and Captain Hook.

Jake battling Captain Hook

Human Body study

2012-10-12T05:10:00.003-07:00

W has always been a little (ok, a lot) creeped out by learning about organs, skeletons, etc. I blame the episode of Curious George when George goes inside his own body when he has a cold. Seriously, W still hates that idea! So we tended to skip those Magic Schoolbus themed books as well. He has done way better with more abstract books (like Enjoy Your Cells).

We did a one day unit study of some of the basics, and although he knew about most of them already from reading or absorbing everyday knowledge, it was a nice project to give him a visual and give a little introduction of the underrated organs that he didn't know too much about (such as the gallbladder).

We used the science workbook My Body, which had copies of each organ and a detailed description of the functions. We made copies so he could color them in and then we could still read the book afterwards for review.

We taped it up on the wall for a couple of days (supposedly safely away from puppies, although Lucy finally ripped a corner so it is down now). The organs were taped so you could lift them up and view the others underneath.

whole body view

He was glad to get this finished, and we will be reviewing the different systems of the body in the Giant Science book. W already read about the Skeletal system, and with Halloween on its way watching our annual favorite The Skeleton Dance was an inspiring and silly way to bring it up.

Quill pen & ink

2012-10-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

Last week we read chapter 3 in Story of the World: Volume 2, The Middle Ages. W learned about monks, and a little bit about what their lives were like.

I had bought ink tablets & inkwell at a Colonial fair, so we used those as a short cut instead of gathering nut shells to boil down into ink (hey, it was raining!) :) That was a good idea, it took a couple of tablets and W crushed them up in a bit of water, and after a few minutes we had our ink.

making ink

W and his feather pen

a Halloween themed ink picture

We used a feather than Grandma had found in MS, it may be a hawk feather. W soaked it in soapy water for a few minutes, then I cut the tip at an angle to better hold the ink. Both of the boys had fun making ink pictures and attempting to write with it.

That night to go along with our monk study, we made a lentil soup with vegetables similar to what monks would have eaten, with bread & cheese. It was satisfying on a cool autumn day.

Museum of Science

2012-10-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

We recently took a day trip to the Museum of Science in Boston. W was familiar with the museum due to his overnight experience last spring, but C hadn't remembered going a couple years ago so it was new-to-him.

They had a Shipwreck! exhibit of treasure and materials recovered from the depths of the sea, so that was really neat. Jacob's favorite were the coins, it was amazing to see such old coins in mint condition. If you get a chance to check this out, it is interesting for adults and older kids but it did not hold C's attention as much.

We also took in a Planetarium show of the night sky which was interesting to the boys and highlighted constellations to look for.

We found a large example of Calcite (the kind of rock that their geodes are).

in the space capsule

big footprint!

touching the snake skin at the animal demonstration

The triceratops that W & I slept under during our last visit

I didn't catch C's expression until uploading these photos. My little stinker! :p

C has been talking about "seeing chickens" at the museum. I think he means the chick hatchery. ;) I am hoping we will be able to get back there sometime later this fall to see the Mammoth exhibit which opens this month.

Fall rocks!

2012-10-01T14:48:00.001-07:00

Our summer ended with a 13 day road trip to SC & FL, packed with family visits and five days at Walt Disney World. I will outline some highlights and tips for Disney vacations in separate posts. We intentionally went off season (the day after labor day) and that resulted in a great time with very little wait times for rides. I have fond memories of going when I was a kid, so it was very cool to see W & C there and see the reactions on their faces when they saw the characters and rides.

Since getting back from our whirlwind road trip, we have jumped back wholeheartedly into homeschool routines. We attended a couple of local co-op classes on rocks/geology, including a presentation by a local business owner of the Quartz Source in Milford NH. The presenter was very knowledgeable about the examples of rocks she brought in to show the kids, and was very patient answering everyone's questions. The presentation was entertaining for kids and the adults alike. Thanks so much to our Milford co-op friends that set it up and helped with the event!

Some of our other adventures have been a fall festival complete with pumpkin painting and scarecrows, a Little House book club day, an Astronomy fair at UNH, and taking a field trip to the Museum of Science in Boston to see the Shipwreck! exhibit and planetarium show about the night sky.

C building his house out of craft sticks for our Little House club

W cheers C on at Constellation bowling, the boys both loved the games at the Astronomy fair.

W has been wrapping up Math U See Alpha (Chapter 28, subtraction) and began Explode the Code book 4 and is learning about syllables. His handwriting is slowly getting better, and he is focusing more on writing lowercase letters. He has also begun The Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages. So far for science he has done Astronomy and Geology unit studies. Generally this fall we do "homeschool" in the morning, and the afternoon has time for more reading, playing outside, and inside play like legos, marble run, and of course his favorite apps including Stack the Countries and Cars 2. ;)

C has had fun tagging along on many of our field trips. He is not quite PreK this year, but we want to begin focusing more on the alphabet for him. He loves hands on crafts, games, and playing outside. C is casually beginning Five in a Row, and we read the Salamander Room for his first book together. I have a feeling we will do more projects for FIAR this winter.

Summer

2012-07-11T10:06:00.003-07:00

It has been a busy summer so far here in NH. We have had nice visits with family and friends over the past few weeks, and have been enjoying spending time outdoors with our puppies and kiddie pool. Jacob has been working on a rock walkway going to the porch. We have had to keep a steady supply of water for the dogs during the heatwaves.

We have also had a few viruses run through our family (boo). I am currently recovering from the latest, but the boys seem fine. C has had a couple doctor appointments over the past couple weeks for other minor issues, and W has a regular checkup next week. In other words, it feels like we are there way too much!

W has been doing a lot of reading too. Some of our homeschool plans fell to the wayside with being sick, but we have a lot to plan and work on through the summer.

The boys were thrilled to see a newt that Jacob found in the woods.

They all took turns holding it (*I* chose not to!), and made a makeshift box with leaves, water and rocks to observe it for about a half hour before releasing it to a safer spot away from puppies.

chillin' at Parker's Maple Barn

C toasting marshmallows

W on the 4th of July

On the 4th, we burned part of our Christmas tree, enjoyed s'mores, lit sparklers and played with pop its (or snappers as I used to call them as a kid). Some of our previous plans were cancelled due to thunderstorm warnings but it turned out to be a relaxing day.

One of the boys took this photo of Lucy

Sherlock the attention hog :)

Snoopy

2012-06-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of W's current obsession is all things Peanuts, as in the comic strip. We have a few volumes of the Complete Peanuts which he pores over and enjoys on a daily basis. So of course, he has been asking to Google Peanuts and we discovered a Snoopy's Street Fair App for the iTouch which has been a fun game for him. The only gripe I have with it is there are several features "in app" that you have to pay for, so sometimes I like to keep it on airplane mode so the kids can't make surprise purchases. Within the app there is a photo booth which lets you take snapshots with your favorite Peanuts characters. We've had some fun with this, so here are some of our favorites.

Frieda and a giant W head at the ice cream parlor

Our dog Sherlock (with Woodstock)

Our own lovely beagle Lucy with Snoopy

C helping Snoopy as WWI flying aces

The Basin

2012-06-25T15:27:00.001-07:00

After attending the NH Porcupine Liberty festival over the weekend we didn't have much time before we had to start heading home, but we wanted to stop and see something while we were in the White Mountains region. So, we decided to go to the Basin. There is a small plaque stating that Henry David Thoreau visited there and wrote about it. I bet he swam in it too, although there are "no swimming" signs there now. Pshaw. ;)

The boys were troopers camping during a severe thunder and lightning storm. We had a small 3 person tent which had a rather large puddle and damp sleeping bags the next morning. I assured W that usually camping is not like this and can be a lot of fun, hopefully next time we have better weather. At least during the days the weather was clear and they had fun playing games and on the playground.

a flower from C :)

Another family found a butterfly perhaps affected by the rain, and showed it to the boys

having some fun

a pretty view

A Day at the Zoo

2012-05-17T10:08:00.004-07:00

It has been a very busy spring for us so far. We are working on planting our garden and several projects around the yard. More on this soon! We have also fit in visits to the Zoo, a Manchester Fishercats baseball game homeschool night, Brimfield Antique's fair, a moon rise party/bonfire, 2 different birthday celebrations, along with our usual homeschool work, co-op, and church activities. We were very proud to see W sing a song with his Church school classmates in front of the congregation last week as part of a music service. All of the performers all did a great job!

Each of these probably deserve their own post, but for now I will share some photos of Southwick's Zoo from our visit last week.

a kangaroo lounging about

Southwick's Zoo is privately owned and located in Mendon, MA. Some of the animals we saw included: lions, a tiger, kangaroos, camels, zebras, emu, flamingos, various primates, giraffes, rhinos, an alligator, peacocks, and macaws. At Southwick's there is also a tram train ride through the woods and we saw animals local to North America including elk, deer, swans, and turtles. They also had a goat petting area which was a hit with the kids, they wanted to go in twice.

C and a goat

May was a great time to visit, as it was much less busy than when the boys and I went with their grandparents 3 years ago in August. C was just a baby then and W was 4, so neither one remembered going there. They have several rides, including a skyfari sky ride which was fun, but I think the next time we will skip the added fee for train/sky rides and focus more on the animals, of whom there are plenty to see.

Bengal tiger

Lions

Each exhibit has a world map highlighting where the animals are from, and we pointed these out to W to identify the continents.

thankfully not the real lion ;)

W gave the skyfari a thumbs up

a posing peacock

giraffe exhibit

a colorful mandrill

We had a wonderful time and hope to visit again soon.

Night at the Museum

2012-04-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

T Rex model at the MOS

Last week W participated in the Museum of Science Overnight program. We had a lot of fun exploring the museum, watching the lightning show, and seeing different demonstrations. In the morning there was a short planetarium show. It was a little scary for W when the Moon zoomed in closely! He said he thought it would squish him. I liked hearing all the "oohs" and "aaahs" even from the bigger kids watching the show. The technology has gotten a lot better in recent years and when the presenter zoomed in on the planets and their moons it was neat. Then we went to an Omni IMAX presentation of Amazing Journeys. This was my favorite part. It was amazing seeing the migration of monarch butterflies, Canadian geese and many other animals.

happy W

W had a fun time sleeping in his sleeping bag. We got to sleep in the dinosaur area. I had brought along an air mattress for us to share after reading that a lot of parents find the air mattress as a "must have". It was a good idea! It was a late night for us, neither of us are used to lights out at midnight, and then an early wake up call for breakfast before the shows. Then we had a little time to see some other exhibits (the chicks and tamarins) before heading on our way. W also hit the gift shop and spent some of his birthday money on dinosaur toys for C since he had to stay home.

First grade is the youngest age range allowed to spend the night at the museum, so W was among the younger kids. There were several school groups, so it was pretty busy although not as packed as a busy day at the museum in general, although since there were hundreds of kids in groups with a ratio of 1 adult to five kids, it was pretty hectic! I would do it again though, when C is old enough to join us it will be more fun. I think Jacob would like it too (really with the air mattress it isn't too bad). ;)

the earth

This week will be a busy one, plus with a warm forecast here I am sure the kids will spend a lot of time outside while we try to squeeze in some homeschool work. W has an eye doctor appointment tomorrow and co-op Wednesday.

W is on chapter 18 of Math-U-See Alpha, and we only have a few more chapters of Story of the World Ancient History. We went to a homeschool curriculum sale over the weekend and found a used copy of MUS Beta with the teacher book and dvd (score!) I also found the next SotW workbook, Before FIAR for C, and the Prairie Primer. W picked out some geoboards and C got a couple of storybooks. I love curriculum sales! :) Helping out other homeschooling families and getting good deals it is a win-win. W is almost all set for second grade.

Celebrating 7, and Rome wasn't built in a day...

2012-03-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend W turned 7 years old. His party will be next week, but he had a fun time on his birthday going out for lunch, getting fish to finally add to the tank (black neon tetra and two snails), going to a dinner at church, and then having dessert at home. In addition to the fish, he got a lego game: Minotaurus, Peanuts figurines to act out his favorite comic stories, and an Absolutely Lucy book (thank you Aunt Cassy!) I have been taking pictures but unfortunately the puppies have chewed the camera USB cord and it is no longer working to transfer them, so we will have to deal with phone photos until the new cord arrives.

W has been learning about ancient Rome through The Story of the World. He and I put together the Haba version of the Coliseum, and read about gladiators. He then acted it out with lego minifigures.

our Coliseum

In SotW, a fictional character called Servius is taken from his rural village, and forced to become a gladiator or face execution. He does not want to fight, but faced with death, he continues with the training, and eventually is put in the arena. When he overpowered another fighter who was on the ground at his mercy, the audience "booed" because he did not kill him. Servius would rather die than kill another man. Although Romans are notorious for being bloodthirsty, there were some exceptions, and I appreciated that the author chose this chapter to add some compassion to an otherwise brutal scene. W is not into blood and guts either, so it helped him relate to this ancient society and feel empathy for Servius and the other people forced into being Gladiators.

W read the book Fun with Roman Numerals by David A. Adler (pictured above). It is a colorful introduction to the concept of Roman Numerals. We are also reading City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction. This is best as a parent-read-aloud selection. The illustrations are marvelous, and the text introduces technical terms and concepts while inspiring play building with blocks.

For a Math update, W has been upping his work a couple pages more per day in Math-U-See Alpha, so I think that is more challenging for him while still being reasonable. I think at this rate we will be able to start the next book, Beta, during the summer. He requested to keep going with Math over the summer (at least for most "at home" days) after some frustration picking it back up in August last year.

March Math

2012-03-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ch 12 E (p. 145 of Alpha)

W is finishing up Chapter 12 of Math-U-See, so I thought I would share a couple examples of his work here. Math-U-See has a test and Xtra fun book to go along with the textbooks, and W loves the Xtra fun pages. This one involved a crossword puzzle, and got him excited about writing letters when usually he prefers to use the digits. As you can see, he still writes backwards sometimes but as long as I understand that he knows the number and concept, that is what matters at this age.

MUS Alpha Ch 12 Extra (from test booklet)

Other math supplements include math themed games, verbal math problems, real world examples, other worksheets like connect-the-dots by numbers, and online math games. I try to fit in "something" math each day, and a little bit frequently seems to be working well with W.

C likes numbers and counting, but at 3 years old he often "forgets" numbers as he is counting, or they wind up in the wrong order. I figure he's got a couple more years until he's ready for the Math-U-See Primer. ;)

Astronomy Skywatch

2012-03-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

We had homeschool friends over on Saturday for a skywatch. It had rained all day long, but Accuweather.com kept saying it would clear out and lo and behold it did! We were able to view Mars, Venus, Jupiter, several constellations, and star clusters. The moon was waxing gibbous, so there was a lot of moonlight. There was also a lot of snow and slush, but the warmer temperatures helped delay it from icing up. The kids had a lot of fun. W said his favorite star was Polaris. W has been reading Stars by H.A. Rey with me and it is a nice way of understanding more about constellations.

Our next event with our Astronomy Club will be later in April, during the Lyrids meteor shower on the 21st-- hoping for clear skies! There will be a new moon so it will be easier to view more stars if the weather cooperates.

The Long Winter

2012-02-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

W and I finished reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have read it so many times, yet reading the full book aloud was a wonderful experience. W took turns reading several chapters to me as well. We have had The Mild Winter here in New Hampshire this year, which was pretty unusual. So we have had to make due with imaginary snowballs and paper snowflakes for the most part (but I'll take that)!

See the flour in the drawer?

Ironically, our book club has been pushed back due to weather (the one day it was freezing rain/hail/snow here), so we will meet this Friday, barring inclement weather. We tried out the activity we had planned anyway last week, as I was not even sure it would work very well. We used an old fashioned coffee mill to grind wheat (using hard white wheat seed). It takes a couple of turns through the mill but it does wind up producing flour. Next up, grinding enough to actually make bread. This will take a while. It was difficult enough for W to turn the crank so it showed him how hard it would have been for the Ingalls family to endlessly grind wheat to survive during their most difficult winter on the prairies of South Dakota.

Here are some highlights from W, age 6 and 11/12ths :)
"I liked the parts about Pa helping to dig out the train line, and the wheat in the wall that Almanzo had. I liked Merry Christmas when they were all excited, and Christmas in May. The chapters when Almanzo and Cap Garland went to find more wheat were good. And I liked when Almanzo made pancakes for himself and his brother."

Pack Monadnock

2012-02-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Jacob took a day off and we went for a hike at Pack Monadnock. It is February in New Hampshire but the weather was clear and it was actually quite warm while we were walking. Jacob was vague about how far we needed to go, otherwise I doubt I would have agreed to join along. I had a heavy coat on when a fleece would have been a better choice, and I get so winded going uphill so that was tough for me. It was difficult for C as well, who needed to ride on Daddy's shoulders for most of the way. W was a trooper and he was amazed at the view from tower at the top, so that made it all worth it. Sherlock enjoyed it but was interested in sniffing all around the woods instead of staying on the main path.

Jacob assisted with lending his phone when there was a minor accident for a fellow hiker, whose daughter was able to call 911, and we waited with them for help to arrive. The boys were excited to see the fire rescue truck; we hope everything went okay for them. There were several places where there was icing. Even our own yard has been slippery with ice that has refused to melt.

We didn't take Lucy on this outing, since she was at the Vet's office yesterday being spayed. She will be home soon and is recovering nicely.

Sea life field trip

2012-02-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

We continued our in depth study of sea life this week at the New England Aquarium on Friday. The boys and I took the commuter rail train in, and it was an early morning for them but they seemed to enjoy the train ride. Then we walked from South Station to the Aquarium. The weather was unseasonably warm for February in Boston! I think it did us all good to go since we had planned this for several weeks and some other NH homeschoolers were going as well.

One of the seals painting.

Shortly after we arrived, there was a seal demonstration in the tank in front of the entrance, and one of the seals painted a picture. They are amazing creatures! They seem very similar to dogs in terms of training, as they use a rewards based system. There is much more to learn about the Atlantic Harbor Seals on the NEAQ training blog.

They have a good life!

W enjoyed learning about the jellies, C liked the shark and ray touch tank exhibit, and both of them loved watching the penguins. W observed and read about the Little Blue penguins from Australia. However, at the end of the day both boys said the sharks in the big central tank were their favorite.

Our special little guy

2012-02-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Our sweet cat Ludwig, also known as Baby Boo, passed away yesterday. We adopted him when he was a kitten, and had many years of joy and love from him. The boys are dealing pretty well with the loss. I know W will have memories of him. We were all able to say our last goodbyes to him yesterday. He was so brave and sweet. I've always said Ludwig was my practice kid, and he will always have a special place in my heart. Although the loss of a pet is incredibly hard, it is all worth it and the memories and love live on.

L and W as a baby

L and C hanging out

at the window enjoying the warmth of the sun

Rest in Peace

Ludwig

2002 - 2012

Lego Space Shuttle

2012-02-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

putting it all together

For Christmas we gave W a Lego city space shuttle set. It was a big surprise and he and I put it together last week and as of today (Hallelujah!) it is actually still intact. This was a great set for his age since he was able to do most of it by himself. It has a lot of tiny pieces but part of the fun for W was searching for the right ones.

We assembled the first parts a couple of weeks ago but soon realized that a base piece (key to the operation) was missing from the box. We were pretty upset about this. Then I went on Lego.com and was thankful to learn that they offer a complimentary part replacement service. I am quite happy with their extremely helpful customer service! It took a couple of weeks to arrive, but when it did W and I were able to complete the shuttle in an afternoon.

The boys have been very careful playing with it so far, and I hope that they enjoy it for years to come.

(This is just a post from lego fans, we were not paid to endorse this product.)

Happy Groundhog Day!

2012-02-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

How is it February already? We have had a homeschooling hiatus lately with a virus affecting the whole family. I am still feeling the affects. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things and updating here more regularly. Between the lack of sleep with the puppies and being sick, it has been a rough month here.

Today we watched a Jack's Big Music Show video circa 2007; more specifically a Groundhog day episode featuring Jon Stewart and a fun song by Steve Burns and Steven Drodz. I don't think C had seen it since he was an infant, but W enjoyed it when he was younger. I am thankful that children's programs are way more appealing and amusing to grownups these days compared to the cartoons of my youth. We also learned about Groundhogs and Punxatawney Phil. Supposedly we will have 6 more weeks of winter. I say bring it on, it feels like we have not had much of a winter since October! ;)

W has been plugging away on Explode the Code book 2, up to page 43. He is on Math-U-See Alpha Chapter 11, which is about 1/3 of the way through the book. Geometry is a section of this chapter, so he is doing some side work of classifying shapes from our Comprehensive Curriculum 1st grade workbook. For a history and science combination project he made a paper mache volcano shortly before we all got sick, so as soon as I charge my camera batteries we will make it erupt. At least it has held up and is dry. That will certainly have its own post.

For reading material, we are rowing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen this week for our Five in a Row group. W learned about Great Horned Owls and he often gets to observe the woods outside. We have only actually seen one owl in the wild since moving to this town, so one theme from the book to focus on is patience. It is a nice book for this time of year and also incorporates some astronomy studies. We discussed the phases of the moon, and have plans to attend some Skywatch events in the near future with our homeschool Astronomy club.

Lately W is still into the Dinosaur Cove series by Rex Stone (almost finished with book 6). He also adores the Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves. I had collected several of these which we came upon years ago during a trip to Scotland, and now he loves reading them on his own. We are also continuing with The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, although we are re-listening to the early chapters on CD as I haven't had much voice to read aloud for long. I am SO glad W is an independent reader and can read to his brother too.

I'm hoping to find an unabridged version of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie for him to read this spring, and also read more of A.A. Milne's books. C is at a good age for the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories as well, so a bedtime re-read is in order. :)

puppy pals

2012-01-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Our house has had a couple of new additions in December. Of the canine variety as you probably figured out from the title. We have been reading books on adopting a dog off and on for years, and found one on Petfinder that seemed like a nice fit for our family. His name is Sherlock and he is a rescue dog from Alabama. We e-mailed our application and shortly thereafter he was scheduled to be shipped up to New England. He is a pointer shepherd mix. Sherlock is 4 months old and is already a big boy at 32 lbs.

Sherlock on his new bed enjoying a rawhide "candy cane"

One of our friends posted on Facebook about a litter of puppies needing a home, sort of simultaneously as we were submitting our application for Sherlock. We thought about this over a weekend and decided that it sort of made sense to go for it and adopt the little beagle needing a home as if we did get two dogs they would grow up together. So Lucy the pocket beagle joined our little family and the boys adore her. Lucy is 8 lbs and will likely not get bigger than our cat. She is a cute little butterball.

the boys with Lucy

The dogs are quite a pair, we think Sherlock thinks he is a pocket beagle at the way they sometimes wrestle.. play.. fight? They both love going outside for walks. We have taken them in our yard/woods, and on the local rail trail which they had the best time on. We are crate training and Lucy has actually been doing really well, but Sherlock hates his crate so we are trying to make it more appealing.

Since getting the dogs it has been a big adjustment for our schedule, since homeschoolers in general get to sleep in a bit more if they so choose (we did), but it is probably a good thing.

Ludwig playing with a catnip fish from Santa

Oh, and the cat? He is doing surprisingly well with the pups. He has not really hissed, and he knows that he is the real Alpha (ha), his territory is still his, such as the basement and bedrooms. Ludwig has been losing some weight recently, before the dogs arrived, and this is his tenth year with us. We got him as a kitten the year we were married. We changed up his food in hopes he will gain some weight again and hope to have a few more years with our baby Boo, but we will of course monitor his progress and if he gets sick we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

math & wrapping up some code

2011-12-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

Lately for Math W has preferred to work on the floor instead of at the table. It is a bit harder for him to focus when there are toys in the room, but for the MUS blocks it makes pick up much easier and I am not sweeping (as many) blocks out from under the kitchen table. W finished Chapter 8 (Solving for the Unknown) and we will be squeezing in Chapter 9 before/during the holidays, 9A section today.

As for Explode the Code 1 1/2, W has only a few short pages left but it seems like the last stretch is taking so long. He likes some aspects of it, but loathes writing. W still needs to work on using lowercase letters more often since he prefers to speedily write in all CAPS. We will start up Explode the Code 2 in January, and have a couple of other grammar/phonics books to work in as well. Today he wrote a short letter to his great-grandmother in FL. I should encourage him to write more letters. That gives him more of a purpose, not to mention it is more fun sending real mail.

Happy birthday C!

2011-12-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd birthday to my little C! :) He is such a cutie and is growing by leaps and bounds. He loves listening to stories now and often picks out 3 or 4 at a sitting. C loves our Christmas tree (and rearranging ornaments). Poor little guy got an injury while outside playing during our FIAR co-op on Monday, so his boo boo has changed colors many times but is gradually getting better. He plays tough, no one gets in his way-- not even a rock. :)

We spent part of the day rearranging books and book cases so we can fit the puppy crate up on the loft near the boys bedroom. They are getting excited and we are learning together about how to care for puppies. One major thing will be making sure they pick up their toys unless they want the dogs to get at them.

C got many nice gifts from my aunt, uncle, cousins, his grandparents, auntie, and W made him a special lift the flap card. Julie visited for present time and we did errands. Tomorrow we are having a small party to celebrate his day so he'll get to see his cousins and friends.

FIAR: A New Coat for Anna

2011-12-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert is a post WWII story of a young girl who has outgrown her coat and her mother then uses things to barter with the farmer, spinner, weaver and tailor to get a new coat for her daughter. The book ends at Christmas time so it was nice to read this time of year, if you can find it at your library I recommend it. We rowed this book not "in a row", but rather over the course of a couple weeks as it overlapped some of W's other studies (a Little House book club carding/ spinning demonstration this fall, and also rowing Warm as Wool by Scott Russell Sanders).

Yesterday we had our FIAR co-op and used strongly brewed tea and blueberry natural dye to dye some strands of yarn and they came out really cute. We didn't use any mordant (these kids are young so this was a good demonstration anyway) but I can see getting into this and using our small loom to make some woven squares. W has done finger knitting in the past but I might reintroduce it to him again since it may help him slow down and focus while working on something relaxing and productive.

W hung his yarn on the tree and it makes a cute garland. This week we are preparing for Caleb's birthday, as well as preparing our home for puppies. We didn't initially plan on this happening now, but have hoped to get a dog for years and all of a sudden things fell into place pretty quickly. ;)

I ❤ Chocol-8

2011-11-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

In Math-U-See, W is currently solving for the unknown in Chapter 8. He is halfway through the chapter, and is finding the blocks to be useful tools to help him figure out the problems. C has been enjoying counting blocks and building things with him while his brother works away. Last year I worried about him with the smaller blocks, but he is great with them now and even likes playing with little legos.

M-U-S now has t-shirts, so an elf may be delivering some pretty soon to our household. (Shhh... don't tell W! I will make sure and post photos after the holidays.) The "I ❤ Chocol-8" shirts are too sweet, and MUS-ers will be able to recognize us in a crowd. The "Can you tell me how to get to Decimal Street?" shirt is pretty cool too.

W has been continuing with Story of the World this week, with reading and projects Mon & Tues and listening to the CD for review today. He has been doing some Explode the Code 1 1/2 and lots of lego creative play & playing UNO. We are rowing a couple different books at once over the past couple of weeks including A New Coat for Anna for our FIAR group. He has been reading a lot of seasonal books lately.

C has been a bit grumpy but he took a big nap today. I think he still needs naps, although some days he goes without them. He will be 3 next week, he is growing up so fast.

Today we raked some leaves outside and they played on the swing set. Then we went a little bit into the woods (with orange hats on this time of year) to see the seasonal stream that has developed. It sounds like a babbling brook and there are a few large rocks nearby to sit on and enjoy it. This weather has been really warm lately but I know before long the snow will come again.

'Tis the Season

2011-11-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

the beach in Hingham

W playing tic tac toe

We spent Thanksgiving visiting family. The boys enjoyed stopping at the beach on the way there to see the ocean and throw some stones and shells into the water. After the delicious turkey dinner we took a walk before dessert. The boys had fun making artwork with my cousin and playing with the 80's toys that belonged to her, it is always nostalgic to see them again. My sister was the only one that unfortunately had to work the following day, but I am glad she could be there for Thanksgiving too, it was really nice.

one of the majestic reindeer

Friday we took advantage of the long weekend and took an overnight trip up to the White Mountains. We enjoyed the snow and scenery. We visited Santa's Village & met with Santa, but we decided the park is more fun in the summertime. The reindeer are amazing creatures, that was my favorite part by far. The antlers lost their fuzz since the last time we saw them. C liked seeing them from a distance. We bought the book The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. I will print out some reindeer themed activities for W to learn about them for a unit study.

having fun with pretend reindeer-- we have a similar summer picture minus the hats and slush! :)

it did look pretty magical as the lights went on

Most of the rides were still open, but I had hoped there might be some special and meaningful events happening given the season. C said his favorite part was the train ride. W liked the dizzying whirlwind sort of rides. There was a breathtaking sunset that evening. We couldn't capture it with photos.

On Saturday, we went to North Conway and visited the bustling little general stores, W's favorite store the rock shop, and walked around the snowy downtown. Then we headed south toward home and gradually saw the snow disappear along the roadside. Sunday afternoon was mild here and Jacob spent it raking the side yard. Today it was quite warm. It is funny thinking of how we visited the beach and snowy mountains in one week, and how different climates can be this time of year within New England. A couple hours in either direction makes a big difference!