I haven’t posted much about our homeschool lately, mostly because I’ve been really busy (can you imagine that?!?), but we’re still plugging away and learning a lot (even Mommy!).
In February, we had a field trip to our local fire station. Turkey asked a great question there about the new rescue boat they had, and he, Bunny and Moose got to sit in a fire truck (we don’t trust Ladybug in a truck with that much power!). Even as an adult, I’m amazed at how huge a fire truck is (especially the ladder truck) when you get up close to it, because you usually don’t get such a good view, and the children were just blown away by the size. The firemen were very friendly, and they even had cookies and coloring books–we’re still using the latter in school to discuss fire safety.
We had a fun Valentine’s week, decorating a cardboard mailbox for all of our cards, making Valentines for the people in our family, stringing beads for hearts with daddy, and my personal favorite, making pink and red construction paper “Valen-swines” (just use your imagination–they were super cute!). We also read some cute books–The Night Before Valentine’s Day, written in the same style as The Night Before Christmas, and Clifford’s Valentines.
The day before Ash Wednesday, we prepared for Lent by making Alleluia banners from construction paper, and decorating them with crayons and glitter. We then put them away until Easter, when we can hang them up and proclaim “He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” We tried foods from two different cultures that day as well, trying “packzi” in the morning (like a jelly filled donut, but richer, if you haven’t hear of them), and jambalaya for dinner that night.
February also brought our 100th day of school, which was a lot of fun! We counted to 100, by ones, fives, and tens, we looked at 100 of different items (legos, pretzels, M&Ms, and Q-tips), and we had a special “100 cake” after dinner that night. More proof that counting is fun!
March has been pretty quiet so far–we had some fun on St. Patrick’s day coloring shamrocks and doing mazes to help a Leprechaun find his gold, but we’re on “spring break” this week, so we didn’t do a big craft. We are making coffee filter flowers for the first day of spring tomorrow, so that will be fun.
On a more serious note, fun holidays, trips, and craft projects aside, the actual “schooling” is coming along really well. Their recall for Bible stories (as well as other stories) is amazing, Turkey’s printing is almost better than mine, and they’re both reading more and more…nothing is safe! All of the sudden, they’re reading signs when we’re in the car. words in the TV Guide, more of their own books. Adding and subtracting are being understood more and more, and counting is easy as can be. I can’t believe how quickly and easily they learn, and how much they enjoy school!
I have some fun things planned for Easter, and I just got a new game to use in school–Sequence States and Capitals. We haven’t played it yet, but I think it will be very helpful in learning what each state looks like, and the names of each state and capital. More to come on that, I’m sure, after we’ve had some opportunities to play it.