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Showing posts from December, 2016

Christmas Vacation (year 3, week 1)

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We've all taken turns being sick.  It's been a long time since I've had to get up in the night with the kids, but they've been waking up a lot this week.  The good thing is that I've gotten lots of snuggles.  We've also had a lot of Family Movie Date Nights with Christmas movies. We had our little family Christmas on the 18th.  Dragonfly got her first set of Playmobil toys, a fairy set.  Her brother, Tadpole, got the Green Toys ferry boat.  Dragonfly commandeered the boat because of the commonality between the two words.  She calls it the "fairies' boat." The boys only wanted monster trucks for Christmas.  They each got a Hot Wheels truck.  They love them!

Joy's Journeys (post 2)

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This is part 2 of Joy's adventures at our house.  Part 1 can be found here . The kids thought it was funny to spin the paper towel roll to make Joy go round and around. Hanging out on the coat rack by our main door.  The kids are having so much fun finding her every morning.  It's even made the husband laugh a few times. Joy went Christmas shopping! Dancing with a stormtrooper .  They both needed a bit of help to be the right height. If you leave your underwear on the floor, it might be stolen and used to decorate the Christmas tree.  This trick made the kids giggle. Dragonfly chose Joy's position today.  The kids spent the day snuggling her and giving her lots of love. All the kisses and hugs from sick kids gave Joy a cold.  She spent the day in bed.  The kids were sad that she wasn't feeling well. This morning we woke up to Joy working on a felt food project.  We were all very curious to see what she was making. The next d

s is for snow (year 3, week 13)

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We got snow over the weekend, which was perfect for this week's homeschool unit about snow/snowmen/snowflakes/snowangels. This is our last unit until the New Year! Monday We stayed home and played in the snow! Tuesday My sister came to spend time with us before she goes back to college in the new year.  She taught the kids the water cycle and explained how snow is formed. Wednesday Auntie was still at our house.  She made them pancakes for breakfast and watched them so that I could sleep in.  It was amazing! We looked a micro pictures of snowflakes and talked about their basic designs. Thursday The majority of the family was sick. Friday Still sick. Blog Posts About Snow - w is for winter homeschool unit -  marshmallow counting file folder game Printables -  snow globe roll and cover -  land, sea, and air arctic animal sort -  sorting types of extreme weather -  winter preschool pack -  winter clothes match game -  3-part cards for the Safari

Joy's Journeys (part 1)

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Just 1 more Monday until Christmas! We've had a special visitor at our house this month, Joy, our Kindness Elf.  Just looking at her reminds us to be kind to each other.  The kids have loved seeking out all her new positions every day, and even the grown-ups are having fun with her.  Here's the first round of ideas for her. Joy's first day in our house.  She perched herself on the top of the homeschool cabinet with her travel case and a note for us.  The note read: "Hi Kids, I'm Joy.  I've come to spend Advent with you.  I want to remind you to do kind things.  What kind things could you do today?"  We used Joy's letter to launch a discussion about kindness and true joy.  We did tell the kids that she isn't real and that she's just a Christmas game.  But, all day, they were asking, "Do you think Joy thought that was kind?"  Joy doesn't do any spying or reporting, but she does serve as a visual reminder to speak and act with

C is for Christmas Cookies (year 3, week 12)

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It's Christmas time! Monday Gymnastics class!  We stayed home because of sickness. The kids and I watched "The Gingerbread Man," "Gingerbread Baby," and "Gingerbread Pirates" and talked about some of their similarities and differences. Tuesday Read a gingerbread man book at acted it out a bit with chases through the house. Wednesday AWANA day! Thursday We made homemade cookies together- peanut butter snicker ones!  Skimmer thought the mixer was fascinating and loved actually getting to help with the baking.  He pretend cooks all day long (he'll be so excited to get the pretend kitchen for Christmas) but I rarely let them help me cook (the kitchen is my space- you know). We made Grandpa's "It's not Brain Surgery" peanut butter cookies and used the dough to coat Snickers bars the way great-grandma used to make them.  Unwrapping the candies was good fine motor skills practice for Dragonfly, until she outsmart

u is for umbrella birds (year 3, week 11)

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We did a week in South America and learned about the animals of the Amazon Rainforest.  Our "focus" animal was the umbrella bird, a type of parrot that lives in South America (and our "letter U" animal of the year). Monday Gymnastics class! We had a big weekend and the kids took a hug name today.  I did too.  It was amazing. Tuesday We tasted a finger lime today!  Our local grocery store gave it to us for free when I hold the produce man that I was buying tropical fruits for homeschooling this week.  It was a very interesting food. Wednesday AWANA day! We watched a Rainforest "Relaxation" video from Amazon Prime to learn about different parts of the rainforest.  I really liked that it was just nature scenes and instrumental (spa) music, so I would add my own narration.  We saw hummingbirds that looked very similar to the ones we have here in the mountains.  We watched the rain pound down and roll off the leaves.  We named the colors of the