All About Me

We did "all about me" lapbooks today from homeschoolshare.com We started them, but company came over unexpected. After our company left, we went back to work. Aaron put in the movie Cars we had rented for little-man, that was it. I lost pitty-pat and tippy-toes' attention completely. We will finish later. The one good thing about homeschooling is the ADHD can be worked around without drugs or tears.

Birds

It's spring the Robins are back! Today we made the cute little paper plate bird I found at mymontessorijourney.com but added colored feathers from the dollar store. They turned out really cute and Cam just had to make one also.

This blurry picture is the little garder snake Aaron found during our nature walk and we brought home to study. Don't worry we will relese him back where we found him (Soon since he is trying to escape already). We have fed him worms and crickets but he only eats the worms. It was so good for the kids to see the the little guy eat and live here with us for a time.

Spring nature study

We took the kids out for a walk and to collect frog eggs. Be brought home a small sample of what we think is frog eggs, several nice rocks, and a baby garter snake. Now tippy-toe wants to "discover 'bout 'nakes" They also got to ride on Aaron's quad. Pitty-pat was too much of a princess girl to really like it. Little-man saw geese and pointed "ook!" he also said "bye-bye" and waved as they rode quad and the rest waited their turns. i've noticed words suddenly have their correct meanings for littleman now. He would say words before but they didn't really have the right meaning.

Ressurection Sunday

Morning broke at 430 am as usual around here. Little-man has a bad cough. He went back to sleep until 6am. I am ashamed to admit we didn't go to a church service today. Aaron went out to mom's to sit with David while she went to church. I baked the bread the kids made last night. It was so good. I think we've finally found the trick to homemade bread from scratch. It could've been lighter but our flour mixup made me knead it too long. The kids liked the bread in a bag concept. It was less messy that way. I will definately make it that way again with the kids. There's nothing like hot bread and butter. Our previous attempts turned out to be more like rocks than food.
After bread and butter for breakfast the kids got their Easter baskets. We kept it simple this year.
Camryn is reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Pitty-pat and Tippy-toe so I can blog this and then go finish making our Sunday Dinner. Carolyn and Taylor will be here at noon to eat. Aaron will be grilling venison and pork loin. I am making scalloped corn casserole, green beans, and biscuits,deviled eggs, and a simple pasta salad. I made jello yesterday. My jello was a disaster waiting to happen. First the mold wasn't together tight and boiling hot jello ran everywhere. The phone kept ringing and I just wanted to get all my prepwork done while littleman wasn't under foot during his nap. But everything was covered it orange jello including me and the phone, and the kitchen counter and floor.

Signs of Spring--Butterflys

The Dow Gardens Butterfly House Midland, Michigan is open all month and in preparation for our field trip we are studying buttterflys today. Pitty-pat is still sleeping but Tippy-toe and I have read three books today. When she gets up we will read them together, although she should be able to read them herself. We will see. Tippy-toe just soaked up the knowledge like a little sponge this morning. Separating them for learning times really helps them focus better. I can't imagine either of them in a class of 25 to 30 other kids.

Today's Booklist is from our own home library:
Life Cycles Caterpillar to Butterfly by Sally Hewitt
Born to be a Butterfly by Karen Wallace
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

I found a neat pasta and paste idea from somewhere online and didn't write the site down ooops! I am trying to give credit for all the ideas I use so I can use those sites again myself.i think I have everything I need for this craft in the cupboard.
spiral pasta--caterpillar
shell pasta---chrysalis
bowtie pasta--butterfly
small pasta---egg

I found a lifecycle printout to label at enchantedlearning.com

I traced circles on green cardstock for them to cut out and make their own hungry caterpillar.
Tippy-toe needs fine motor coordination practice so cutting is good for him.

Today's mittenmom approved video is "Meet the Sight Words 1" by The PreschoolPrep Company. Little-man likes the cartoon words.

We do alot on saturdays since I usually have weekends off from work. Also someone is usually home to occupy little man for our artsy-craftsy times. I set up a modified workbox full of worksheets for during the week. We go for a walk and read in the evenings after dinner. The weekends are more one on one times.

The Signs of Spring lapbook

Today we started a signs of spring lapbook. They decorated the front with daffodils and papercut grass. I cut each out a brown bunny to hide in their tall grass. I also cut out brown crosses for the inside.
Our list of signs of spring so far:
flowers (daffodils and crocus)
robins
bunnies
green grass
Ressurection Sunday


Poems to put in our book:

Spring, Almost
The sunshine gleams so bright and warm,
the sky is blue and clear.
I run outdoors without a coat
and spring is almost here.
Then before I know it,
small clouds have blown together,
Till the sun just can't get through them,
And agqain, it's mitten weather.

that poem seems written for Michigan!


Little Robin Red Breast

Little Robin Red Breast
Sat upon a rail.
Niddle, Naddle went his head
Wiggle, Waggle went his tail.



Books on our reading list:
Bunny My Honey--Cam's favorite when she was little!
Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow

weather study

Today is beautiful we need to play outside! Its 80.1 degrees outside. Time to study the weather first hand. Sunny and beautiful and warm---rare in michigan, especially in April. and that's no april fools joke. I have all the windows open airing out the house. It's such a nice day to get out of work early and play with the kids and the dog. Aimee is here with her puppy jack. Pitty-pat will be setting out our trip to the park since she peeled all the paint off the back of her bedroom door this morning when she woke up. Cam just found it. It's been a long time since we had any of this kind of behavior. I blame the recent visitors we had for this acting out.