Week 4 Highlights

Wow!  Two consecutive weeks of me keeping the blog updated!  I hope no one faints from the shock.

This week has been a little weird like week 3 but much more productive.  Daddy was in New Orleans for a few days and was able to be home with us Monday so we kind of sped through some seat work to get to enjoy him as much as possible.  

Highlights with Snapshots :)

We cleared out our forgotten neglected  dried up tomato plants and found this guy/gal.  We now have a living science lesson on our back patio that comes in several times a day for observation.

Hudson thought our Tobacco Hornworm was particularly hilarious.  He laughed every time the caterpillar moved which led to lots and lots of giggling around the dining room table.

I FINALLY convinced my "barely two and so not ready to start officially preschooling but wants to learn her letters" child to move on from her lettter "S".  She still asks for me to draw her and S about a million times a day (and I still oblige her) but she has had fun with "H" too.

So, I readily admit that I sometimes I have no clue what the littles are doing while we're knee deep in schooling.  Our house is very kid friendly and I keep bathroom doors shut so it's not like they are going to chop off a toe or something and I sporadically check in on them.  I noticed Sydney Grace was nowhere to be found in the midst of doing some Bible study with the twins and went to look for her.  I found her like this, in her room, reading her Bible.  :)  I ran for my camera and fought the urge to scoop her up for a big ole hug.

 We talked about balancing our time with God and with fun, worldly things.

{See in the background the evidence of how I balance homekeeping with kidtending...or not.}

 Heart of Dakota {the curriculum we use} suggested an activity to learn about surface tension but it wasn't all that exciting so I did a quick google search and found this one at The Kitchen Pantry Scientist.  I cannot wait to explore her site a little more and implement her fun ideas into our schooling.  Even I was excited about this experiment.  It was super fun and had all the kids' attention.

Aidan did some phonics/reading review to brush up on skills we learned last year.  I am learning that reviewing is VERY important.  They are learning tons of new skills so quickly but it's always good to go back and review the "easy" stuff.

Hannah and I played a game of Addition War to help her relax a litle and be more comfortable with learning her addition facts.  Aidan is a self-proclaimed "math brain" and learns the facts easily so this was a fun opportunity for Hannah and I.

She did amazing, I learned that this route is TOTALLY this girl's learning love language, and she kicked my butt!  The look on her face was priceless, I love seeing my kids really get stuff and the sense of confidence that comes along with that.

 We talked a little about dikes in Holland this morning so I decided it'd be fun to build some of our own.  I was too lazy to hunt down our modeling clay feeling creative so we made our own playdoh to build with.

We built a few dikes and then they went nuts with pasta and cookie cutters.  We left for a couple hours and when we came home they picked it right back up.  When I took Syd to the potty a few minutes ago, they were playing Feed My Starving Children and making pretend cookies with their playdoh.  Friends of ours introduced us to this amazing organization and we have pledged , as a family, to support them this year.  

Today was one of those amazing days where we didn't accomplish a ton but what we did accomplish just left me feeling so encouraged.  I get to live this AMAZING life!  I get to see my children's hearts being transformed each and every day!  God has placed the most amazing people in our lives to support, love, encourage and spur us on to do greater things.