February in Review

ha! i thought once a month would be about right...i do still have a few weeks left for february 2010, and i might actually get another post in, but i am not too optimistic. the farther along i get in my pregnancy, the less i am inclined to school as so many other things seem to be pressing.

for instance...we don't have a car seat yet. let alone any of those newborn diapers. oh, yeah...and where exactly is the little guy gonna sleep??? hmmm..details, shmetails!

anyway. school has been a bit weird around here as of late. daddy has been home from work for the last 3 weeks (the whole job thing is up in the air right now). we don't know how long he will be home for, so we have just been taking full advantage of his presence. i figure we will catch up later, right? we have managed to get some workbook math in , and have done a bit of our FIAR curriculum, but it hasn't been too gung-ho.

know what i mean?

at least Tic Tac is doing his math pages without complaining. finally!

he even completed 3 of them this morning, on his own, without any pleading on my behalf! woot!

tomorrow we have our Read and Share group. the theme is the letter "B" and i have to admit, i just went to the library today to pick out a bunch of books with animals, themes, what-have-you that have something to do with the letter "B."

i came home with a stack of about 6 of them, and sat on the couch with all 3 kiddos and read for quite a while so the boys could each pick one.

Tic Tac's pick was a Paddington Bear book (the title eludes me right now) and there was a major focus on the letter "B." i really didn't know this when i picked up the book, i just liked that the title had a bear and a bee in it.

what was really awesome was when Tic Tac grabbed a sheet of paper and started to write down every word he could find in the book that started with the letter "b" and then those he could think of on his own. Bonobo even joined in! he has been working on the letter "S" and he grabbed his Moncure book ("My S Book") and started copying words out of the book. he was dreadfully disappointed when it was time for bed, and he left it on the table so he could come back to it tomorrow.

thank goodness my kids are teaching themselves right now...i am just not up to the task!

other things we have managed to do this month:

Babar. To Duet or Not to Duet. some FIAR concepts were learned with this book, and we had co-op at a local park where each child brought something that reminded them of the book (Tic Tac brought a star because of Cornelius; Bonobo brought a car because Babar drove a car to avoid practicing piano); we listened to Haydn's Surprise Symphony and then the kids made piano key snacks from graham crackers, frosting, and chocolate chips. it was quite fun. i was able to reinforce the concept of truth and persistence through some go-alongs. we also have some books on ears/hearing we have yet to delve into. i had grand plans to do a lapbook, but that didn't happen.

President's Day. we read a couple of books that explained the holiday, and then read some go-alongs that were specific to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington to introduce the kids to these two historic figures.

Luke Bible Study. Tic Tac has been pretty faithful to do his study, esp with daddy around to help him. nothing warms my heart more than to see the two of them together bent over the Bible and taking in God's Word. Truly.

so i guess the month hasn't been totally wasted :)

Christmas Shopping

so our christmas shopping for the grandparents is already done!

don't hate me :)

here is the plan.

i went to this site www.barebooks.com

never been there? you are missing something.

they sell a variety of blank books, blank puzzles, even blank gameboards that just beg to be creatively enhanced by your children! from the website:

"These hard covered, fully-bound books contain 28 blank pages (14 sheets). All books are constructed with quality white paper and are suitable for crayons, watercolor markers, colored pencils and other writing and coloring materials.

Books in the 2700 series are bound in a portrait orientation and measure 8 and 1/8 inches high by 6 and 3/8 inches wide."

so. i purchased 4 books for each child. each week of the month the kids will journal, draw, take a goofy pic, or whatever, in one of the books. there are 3 sets of grandparents, and the fourth set is for me! i also purchased a line guide to draw lines into the blank pages if they want to write in them instead of draw.

Tic Tac and Bonobo won't have any problem drawing or writing mini stories. Stinkerbell will just have to pose regularly for photos (not a difficult task for her!) and the new little one will also have books to give as gifts filled with the first 7 or 8 months of life!

want to know what it cost me?

$1.75 per book (purchased 16 books)
3.00 flat rate shipping

and no struggles in november about what to get grandmas and grandpas for christmas!

woot! woot!

in between week :)

we had school 3 days last week. we didn't row anything as we are waiting for our Babar book to arrive from our Inter Library Loan program.

Tic Tac did several pages in his Horizons Math workbook. i think he gets whinier and whinier every time! i told him we have to finish this workbook before we get anything else, though. he is also progressing s.l.o.w.l.y. through his HWT handbook. anything that has to do with copywork or printing has him writhing in his chair. i am tempted to give up on it altogether for a while, but his printing really needs help. suggestions anyone?

Bonobo, on the other hand, is thriving in his workbooks. i never thought that he would sit still for workbook activities, as he is such a kinetic kid. but he loves getting stickers for being teachable! i need to increase his workload a bit to challenge him more.

Stinkerbell is just having a lot of fun playing and torturing her siblings. i want to get more purposeful with her, but my energy is pretty well sapped as i only have a few more weeks to go in this pregnancy. we are hoping the little guy stays put until the beginning of April, but i might not be so lucky.

this week we have our Read and Share group. we are focusing on the letter "A" and the boys have their books picked out and are ready to go. we had to cancel last week as two of the families were home-bound with illness. i love this group we have, and i love seeing how the kids have developed their communication skills (even the 3 year olds!!). it is wonderful group of families!! i am grateful to be part of it :)