Oct. 28-Nov. 1: Amphibians

Monday

Clean house day :)  It was not very productive because I was so wrapped up in making all the Halloween costumes.  I, Mindy, solemly pledge to never make a Halloween costume again.  errrr...i think :)

Tuesday

We decided to begin school a little different from now on.  Instead of trying to get the kids all dressed and ready for the day before we begin, I decided (from the advice of my friend, Kimberly), to gather the kids together just after breakfast and when they're still in jammies and want to cuddle, and read.  So at 9:00 we read for about a half an hour without the kids wiggling and hyper.  It was awesome.  We read a couple different informational books about amphibians, and what defines them.  

After that we then got dressed and had our morning devotional.  Next we colored pictures of frogs and drew pictures of the things that makes an animal an amphibian.

The kids then each did a IXL online math quiz.  I've said it before, but I love that program!  Annabelle was grumbling a little at first, but then she had the great idea to listen to music while she did her quiz.  What a good idea.  She chose to listen to orchestra music.  She's taken a liking to the violin.  I would really like to start her on violin lessons, or just music lessons in general.  Anyways, she worked on her math for a half hour straight while listening to the music.  No grumbling!

I love that home schooling allows the children to really think for themselves and find solutions to problems, instead of having everything decided for them.

Wednesday

Today we read some fiction books about frogs.  The kids loved the books and the pictures.

Kids had some little time outs for not getting dressed when asked to.  That was an exciting time. 

We had our Activity days Halloween party to get ready for today.  We painted Evan's face up to look like a lion, Annabelle all cutesied up to look like Glenda the Good Witch, and Me...Dorothy.  It was a good trial run for tomorrow.

We had our game day today.  We started out playing "bean soup" from a couple weeks ago.  It hasn't gotten old yet.  The kids still loved playing it, and I've noticed Evan becoming more comfortable with counting, and Annabelle with adding and subtracting.

The kids wanted to play some computer games, so I let them each take turns playing ABCya.  There was one game that was like tetrus, but the kids had to figure out all the ways to add up to 10.  It was a little tricky, but fun.  They played several other strategy type games.

We needed a little break, so we all went outside and just got some fresh (cold) air.  

Thursday

Halloween!  Today was really fun.  We began the day by reading from our "Oh, Yuck!  The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty" by Joy Masoff.  It's such an awesome book.  The kids love it!  We read about mummies and all the gory details of how the ancient Egyptians embalmed.  

After devotional we played a game that I didn't get to last week.  The kids had to count up tally marks, and then place an M&M on the correct number that matches the tally mark.  Annabelle understood it very well, Evan needed a little support, but did fine as well.

Next the kids painted pumpkins with glow in the dark paint (their idea).  It should be fun.  

Then, I supervised as the kids made Halloween sugar cookies and frosting.

Friday

We'll be taking today off to recover from our sugar highs.

I ended up cleaning almost the whole house and getting rid of a ton of junk.  I should have enforced the kids to help, but I just decided to let them be kids today.  They played and had fun together all day long without a single fight!  Yeah...miraculous!