Musically Inspired

Today we had an unexpected theme during kidschool.  It started because Logan asked me early this morning if I would buy him a trumpet.  Then he asked what a trumpet looked like and I told him I was sure we could find a picture during school time.  So after they both worked on reading he brought me the 'T' encyclopedia.  That didn't have a trumpet in it, so he brought me the 'M' encyclopedia.  That was closer and led us to the 'W' book where we found wind instruments complete with pictures.  That led to questions about the various instruments, and then questions about other types of instruments until we had several encyclopedias open and had satisfied the kids' curiosity.  Well, the encyclopedias of course led to curiosity on other subjects (like natural disasters) because they have such neat pictures in them.  We learned about tornadoes for a long while and eventually looped back to music. 

I pulled out my clarinet to show them and was surprised to find that I can still play it!  I can't play well anymore, but I remember most of the fingering and made a decent sound.  I played songs they knew until my mouth hurt (I'm thinking of getting a softer reed and taking this up again), and then let them try to make some noise.  They can both squeak pretty successfully, and both made actual notes a few times.

After the clarinet, I told Annie to choose a book for story time.  She came back with an American Girl book.  Much to my surprise, it was a book about a girl learning to play the piano!  I wonder if she chose it on purpose because it was about music, or if it was by chance. 

Sew We Did It

Annie has been so excited about sewing a little pillow ever since she got the idea and I said yes.  We found time to do it yesterday.  Logan wanted to make one too, of course.  I let them choose their fabric and then they cut out their pattern.  As you can see, Annie had some trouble following the line on hers.  :) 

Then they were ready to sew.  I controlled the pedal, but they controlled the fabric.  This was pretty exciting for them since I'm very strict about them keeping their hands off my sewing machine.

They stuffed them without any assistance.

Here's Logan ready to sew.

Ta da!  They carried these around with them all day and then slept with them last night.  :)

Learning Patience

Every week we have one on one mentor sessions with the kids and often inspiration comes during these sessions.  I had a mentor session with Annie a week ago, and felt impressed that I needed to teach her to cook beyond cookies.  I usually don't let them help me if I'm not making a treat because I lack patience.  Perhaps this is because I don't like to cook.  Dinner has been a huge battle for me until recently when we started doing once a month cooking. 

So, last week I let the kids help me with a half cooking day.  We didn't have time this month to make all our meals in one day, so I split the cooking into two days.  Logan was of course allowed to help, even though it was Annie who I felt needed the experience the most.  We made eleven dinners and even dessert (because company was coming that evening) while Alex napped.  It took longer than usual, but it was a really good experience.  My patience lasted and the kids learned a few new cooking skills.  I even had Logan doing some multiplication when we wanted to increase a recipe!  Our freezer was re-stocked by the time we were done, too, which is always extremely satisfying to me.  These pretty pizzas were part of what we made together.   

The Biggest Part of My Day

This year has been so good to me.  The kids and I have found a rhythm with school that really works, and we're really enjoying it.  Have I said that enough?  I know I say it all the time.  I guess I'm just amazed at how much I enjoy this learning time with my children.  It's become the biggest part of our day, and what brings peace to our whole family.  I can't explain why.  It's amazing.  I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to do this.  It's becoming one of the most incredible experiences of my life. 

We're home most days, reading, reading, reading, writing, dabbling in math, cooking together, doing housework together, crafting, and playing.  We make our library trips regularly.  Yesterday I was amazed to realize we had 38 books checked out from last week.  I went through and found several to return that we were finished with (maybe 10) because I worry about losing some.  We can't just read most of these books once, and I felt bad returning some of them.  I knew we were going to get more today, though, despite my determination to only pick up Annie's library prize and have some in-library reading time.  It wasn't so bad.  We only came home with 7 additional books.  So we've decreased our load by 3.  :)  I love digging into these books with my kiddos.  Annie specifically requested a book about pigs, so yesterday we learned all about them.  Awesome.  Really.

We're having random field trips whenever I get the urge to get out and I'm not babysitting (that's another story, but it doesn't get in the way of school time).  We've enjoyed watching planes take off at the airport, walks and discoveries at the arboretum, memorial sites, and free museums.  One of these days I'm going to spend a few dollars and take them to a place called the Science Station.  It sounds interesting.

I have all these ideas that keep coming to me.  It's truly amazing.  All I have to do is give these kids my undivided attention, and suddenly inspiration comes.  I've had to start making a list of all the ideas that come because I don't have time to do everything when the thoughts come.  In addition to the many subjects we're exploring in our books this week, I'm planning to do some sewing and cooking with Annie, music with Logan, and I'm hoping Alex will finally let me read a book to him.  He's a funny one; he spends tons of time looking at books, and always listens if I'm reading to his siblings, but will NOT let me read to just him.  He slams the book shut if I try to read the words on the page.

Logan is amazing, serious, curious, and logical.  He wants to understand everything.  We've been listening to a book on cd in the car this week and he's stopped me with SO MANY questions.  I LOVE his desire to understand.  Teaching him feels so effortless.  He wants to learn, and we go at his pace.  He loves the Magic Tree House series right now and we're almost finished with all of them!  He continues to grab books on space when we go to the library.  I'm getting a little tired of that subject, so I'm glad he knows how to read now.  Yesterday he wrote another penpal letter to my sister.  I'm impressed with this tiny 5 year old of mine.  I took a picture of it, so I could keep it even though we are mailing it.  What a great kid!    

Annie is my spirited one.  She's curious about pushing boundaries, wants to do everything her big brother does, and is so very artistic.  I mentioned above that she won a prize in a coloring contest.  She usually spends a long time on anything she colors, and her pictures end up rather impressive for her age.  For the coloring contest, she whipped it out in about two minutes and only used a couple of colors total.  I was very amazed that she won since it was a terrible example of her ability. 

She's very insistent about having her turn at learning to read lately and we have to finish a WHOLE book each time or she isn't satisfied.  It's tedious since she doesn't remember more than a couple of letter sounds, but I'm very happy with her desire.  We recently started doing a little bit of math, and I'm impressed with how quickly she's understood addition and subtraction.  I didn't intend to teach my kids those things; it just happened.  Wow.

Annie is loving the American Girls books right now.  She loves the stories, and especially the activities at the end of each book.  When I went in search of a series she would enjoy (since she is VERY feminine and doesn't have the same interest in Logan's favorite series') I wondered if she'd find the books boring.  So I've been really pleased with her reception of them.  She's having a hard time understanding that all these girls weren't pioneers with Joseph Smith, though.  :)     

Alex has come to a consciousness that he isn't a baby anymore, so he wants to have school time too.  He climbs on my lap as a way to request one on one learning time (even though he won't let me read to him) and he sits with us when I read out loud.  He's always right with us actually.  He's able to do more and more of our activities every day.  He still pretends to sound out words and continues to make me laugh with it.  He gets very excited when the school closet is open right now because he likes to do puzzles.

These kids are amazing.  Being a mom is amazing.  Being with them all day is the best.

Painting and Hunting

This blog is following the pattern of my other one: I'm only posting when I have pictures.  I guess that means I'm leaving out our more serious learning on here...hmm.  It's a good thing that play is often serious learning for my littles.  (And what can I say about reading and math?)  An update in other areas really is due, though. 

Anyway...I hosted playschool again.  This has been a fun group this year.  I gave the kids a bowl of green cornstarch paint (it's like sidewalk paint, except cheaper and homemade), paintbrushes, and let them have fun.  They completely painted the play set and dog house.  They were having a great time as long as the paint lasted.

The kids came clean without any effort once again.

After the paint was gone, we played London Bridge, Duck Duck Goose, and Mr. Wolf.  Fun times.

Another day (so this should probably be another post, but it isn't) I had a photo scavenger hunt with the kids.  It replaced reading time since they had to read what they were going to take a picture of.  Logan had a full sentence for each thing, and Annie just had the word.  Here are a few of their pictures; see if you can guess what they had to find.

Admittedly, I took these two of Alex.  Annie had to find him, but he wouldn't let her take the picture.

We had so much fun with our scavenger hunt, that I had an idea for a variation.  I took pictures in the front yard.  Then they had to find the things.  These are a few of the things they had to find.  A digital camera is so convenient sometimes!

Pioneer Handcart Memorial Trail

We had an errand to run about 30 min. away recently, and were going to have some spare time so what did I do?  Field trip!  I'm loving our field trips.

Anyway, we discovered a memorial to the handcart pioneers.  It was a trail with markers and some history along the way.  I have no idea how long it was because we were limited for time, but we sure enjoyed ourselves.  The kids thought it was neat to see the area where the handcart pioneers camped, and also where some were buried.  They wanted me to tell them pioneer stories.

It was a beautiful trail and a perfect day.

I found a neat mushroom.  From a distance I thought the tip of it was a bird's tail.