2015-2016 Kidschool Schedule

Every year our routine changes a bit, and I like to record how it looks.  This year I felt impressed to give a little more structure to my older ones.  For kidschool we start with family devotional (prayer, scripture, song, article of faith, pledge of allegiance).  Then we have individual work followed by group activities and read aloud time.

For their individual work, I ask Logan and Annie to do some math and writing each day.  The math is their 5-A-Day, and they get to choose a writing activity.  They have a list of options (i.e. copy work, writing prompts, write a story, etc..) in the fronts of their writing notebooks.  They can earn up to three stars each day, and every time they earn ten stars they can skip one (math or writing) and choose a school closet activity instead.  For most things, I haven't needed to apply much pressure because they so naturally do them, but we were needing a little more practice in these two areas this year.  This has been a good compromise, and it also gives me time to work one on one with Alex since he wants to learn to read.  Alex doesn't have to do anything, but he can earn stars whenever he wants to sit down with me to do reading, writing, or math activities.  He basically begs for this time anyway, so it's a piece of cake with him.  Once a child is finished with these activities, he or she can move onto to other individual learning activities, including reading.  Most of the time they will choose to read, of course, but I do have a list of ideas for them if they want to do something else. 

Here's a look at a day.

Logan usually sprawls out on the floor to do his math and writing.

Annie usually prefers the couch, but she was on the floor this day as well.

Abby always asks for a 'huzzle' as soon as she realizes we're starting school.

Alex patiently waited for me while I took pictures of his siblings.

Ready to go!  It looks like he chose a dot-to-dot page for math that day.

Annie finished her work before Alex and I were done, so she moved onto a geography puzzle.

Logan also chose to work on some geography while waiting.

After individual work, we have group activities.  On Tuesday, Alex gets to pick the first activity, on Wednesday Annie picks, and Thursday Logan picks.  I reserve the right to choose the rest of them.  Some of these might include: cooking, crafts, science experiments, language arts games/ discussions, math games/ lessons, etc. 

On this day it appears that cooking was on the radar again.

For read aloud time we will read anything and everything.  We often choose science, social studies, history, and classic literature.  This is one of the great keys to our school time.  We read and discuss, and ideas are sparked.  We read and discuss more, and real knowledge is gained.  If we don't finish a book during read aloud time, the kids will usually finish it on their own as soon as I step away.  (Sometimes I hide these books, because I want to finish WITH them!!  Ha ha!)  The library is a great source for this part of our day.  During our last library visit, we came home with seven bags of books! 

Early Fall Activities

I was all ready to write about the beginning of our school year in September, but my computer crashed and then we had a big family emergency.  It's catch up time!  Here are some of the activities I caught on camera.

We had a combined devotional/ handwriting/ art activity one day.

Afterwards, we posted these all over the house.  Our family was needing the reminder. 

Another day, one of the kids chose cooking when it was their turn to select a learning activity.  I had a crazy moment and got creative.  (Not how I normally operate in the kitchen!)

Another day, Annie and Logan decided to learn some piano while I worked with Alex.

This is the coolest book!  'Mathemagic' from the Childcraft series is awesome.  I was so excited to finally get a copy, and the kids immediately devoured it.  It has tons of great math activities for us to explore.

Field Trips

Owing to a serious family emergency, we had a big three week break from everything this fall.  We were together as a family for that first week, but in Colorado.  The second two weeks the kids were with their grandma in one city, I was several states away with just the baby, and Jim was home alone.  Once I returned home we needed some serious family time.  So when we had the opportunity for several field trips that first week, I decided that would be school for us.  The first field trip was to the local university to see 'The Cat in the Hat'.  It was very fun, and Abby was so enthralled.  I loved watching her clap and smile at the whole performance.

The second field trip was to a pumpkin farm and corn maze.  This place is a pretty big deal around here, but we hadn't been before.  We were given a huge discount as a homeschool group, so we decided to try it out.  I went expecting to spend a couple of hours here, but we spent SIX!  The weather was perfect and it was an all around fabulous day.

This huge jumping pillow was our first stop.  I couldn't convince Abby to get on it, but the oldest three loved it.

We continued exploring and enjoyed pedal cars, tire swings, a cool slide built over a silo, and animals.

These goats were hilarious.  You could put food into a little bucket, and then turn the handle to send it up the conveyor belt.  The goats would walk up there and eagerly lean over to get the food.

Eventually, we sat down for lunch and then the kids played on an enormous tire playground/ obstacle course.  Next we went for a hayrack ride, and then had a crazy adventure in a maze.  This farm has a curtain maze and a haunted house; they are open during the day, but don't have people in them jumping out at you, so they aren't as scary (in theory). 

I decided that we could try the curtain maze.  BAD IDEA!  It was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, so there weren't many people at the farm, and none in the maze.  I walked in with Laurel in one arm and was holding on to Abby with my other hand.  Pretty quickly we found ourselves in pitch darkness.  That should have been my first clue to turn around, but I figured it couldn't be very long and it probably wasn't dark the whole way.  WRONG!  Eventually, I had three crying/ screaming children (Abby, Alex, Annie) who were terrified.  Logan was leading the way and trying to shout directions, and I was pretending to be calm while blinding herding my terrified crew through this disaster.  I was completely worried on the inside.  It was so dark that I couldn't possibly set Laurel down for even a second and I couldn't let go of Abby.  If another child needed help or got lost in there I couldn't do anything.  With the way they were freaking out, I was seriously worried that one of them would get hurt or lost!  It felt like an eternity that we were in there, and of course, it was a maze, so we took some wrong turns.  To top if off, there was a lot of outside noise because a grain silo was being filled, so no one outside could hear us if we'd needed help.  Emerging from that thing was a huge relief! 

Once we were back in daylight I decided that we'd better not have a repeat experience, so I said 'no' to the haunted house.  Logan was the only one who wanted to go in there anyway, but was really disappointed.  As the kids were playing later, I noticed that a bunch of people (including lots of boys Logan's age) were going in and out of the haunted house.  I decided to let him go by himself since there were so many people around, figuring that if he needed help (which I doubted anyway) there would be someone in there to assist him.  About a minute after he entered the haunted house, ALL of the people who'd been in there exited and walked away.  Ah!  I was a little worried, but at the same time knew he'd probably be fine.  After much longer than it should have taken, he finally appeared at the exit.  He said that it wasn't dark like the maze, and wanted us all to go through with him.  So we did.  It was a really well done haunted house, actually made up like a house, but spooky.  None of us were scared, even though this was the one that was supposed to be scary.  The dark is so much scarier!  It only took us a few minutes to walk through, and after questioning Logan I learned that he'd taken so long the first time because he was thoroughly checking out all the details as he walked through.  That's my boy for sure!

Laurel was a champ in the stroller.

 The corn maze was super fun.  The kids were able to guide us through by following the maps.

My naughty boys. ;)

This corn bin was a favorite activity.

Later in the week we visited a local dairy farm.  We rode behind a tractor while they showed us around the farm.  Then we were able to see the cows, where they milk them, and how they make the various dairy products.  They even had kangaroos.  At the end, they gave us ice cream and showed us a video about how they make things.

This was a different week, but a good experience.  Logan's Lego League team was presenting at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) festival.  While he was presenting, we were able to get close up with some animals.  There were snakes, frogs, lizards, and an enormous tortoise.  Alex is my big animal lover.  He was so excited to hold and touch all of them.

Annie was nervous, but she did eventually hold the snake and other creatures as well.

Gearing Up

A couple of weeks ago, Alex (age 5) brought a textbook into the living room and sat down on the couch to look at it.  Alex, "I was hoping this was it!!"  Me, "What book is that?"  He show me that it was Jim's college engineering book, Statics and Dynamics.  Alex, "I love these books!"  As he looked through it he started asking me questions about the concepts that were diagrammed.  Thankfully, Jim came home at that point, so I was able to refer him to someone who had answers.  :)  They spent the next hour or so discussing engineering concepts, and Alex even insisted that Jim solve several problems in the book.  This funny kid loves to look through technical books.  He can't read yet, and these books don't have much in the way of illustrations, so I really wonder what is going through his mind while he peruses them. 

This morning I told the kids we weren't going anywhere today, and added, "So we should be able to do some things at home today."  Alex excitedly asked, "Like school??!!"  This kid has been asking for school all summer...sad...I really needed the break, though.  We didn't have school today, BUT we did start prepping for a new school year.  We cleaned the school closet!  So our physical materials are ready now.  I need to spend a little more time wrapping my mind around some ideas I have for this year, and then we will truly be ready to start.

Summer Reading

We visited our library for one of their summer reading activities, and ended up finding books to keep from the book nook.  Yay!  We love finding great books to keep.

Logan was giving Abby an astronomy lesson one day.  :)

Although we visited our library for one of their activities, we didn't participate in their summer reading program (because it doesn't require any reading).  Instead we participated in multiple programs from our old city and redeemed our prizes last week.  Our favorites are the Half Price Books program and the minor league baseball program.  The kids earned $30 worth of coupons for the store, and they have tickets and bounce house passes for a baseball game (which we'll make another excursion for).  We brought home another good haul from Half Price Books that day.  :)

Summer Not-schooling

Not long ago, I had this vision of continuing our school routine until our new baby makes her appearance, and then taking an official break for a while.  Realistically, my motivation experienced a steady and painful death during the month of May.  I also know that I function better AFTER my babies are born than during my pregnancies.  So, I called an official summer break at the end of May.  What a relief!  I love our school time, BUT it does takes energy and effort.  Right now I'm focused on just the essentials, and the kids are enjoying tons of free time.  I can't feel guilty about that because that means they bounce between active play and reading all day long!

One picture from just before I called it quits in May:  Annie decided to write the lyrics for the song I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus for her writing one day.  She worked so diligently on this, all while singing it over and over.  It was very sweet.

And one summer picture, just for fun.  :)  Nothing beats a sprinkler under the trampoline on a hot day!

Happy Summer!

Alphabet and Cooking

I have a few pictures from recent school days to share.

Alex wanted to write the alphabet one day, so he traced the whole thing.  He was pretty pleased with himself.

 I've been giving the kids cooking lessons again (finally!) much to everyone's delight.  Also, check out my kids' clothing in this picture.  They intentionally rebelled against our rule of getting dressed without actually breaking the rule.  Annie and Logan decided to mismatch with their rattiest clothes (Alex just can't match and wears whatever he likes best that day).  Annie doesn't even like the things she's wearing!  Silly kids.

Alex learned how to make smoothies in a dying blender.

Annie and Logan simultaneously made their own batches of whole wheat biscuits.  

Afterwards, Logan told me that he never wanted to make biscuits again (my feelings exactly...except that goes for any cooking in my case...LOL).  I was surprised by this because he has always loved cooking, so I questioned him.  It turned out that he just didn't like kneading the dough because it was so messy.  He enjoyed everything else.  We now have a deal that I will happily knead the dough for him anytime he wants to do the rest.  It's a great compromise.

Abby loves to copy everything we do, so she wanted to show off a biscuit as well.  

The Best and the Worst of Homeschooling

We homeschool, in the first place, because we had clear spiritual confirmation that it was the right thing for our family (before we even had kids).  I had ZERO desire to do it before that, and basically that inspiration came without my seeking it.  AFTERWARDS I began seeing the possibilities, and when we finally had school age children the reasons started piling up.  There are innumerable things I love about this homeschooling journey now.  There are a few aspects of it that really challenge me.  For fun, I've decided to list some of our joys and some of my personal challenges.

Top 10 Things I Love About Homeschooling
(That come to mind at the moment.)

1. Time with my children.   (You'll notice this is also #1 on my top challenges list...ha ha!)  I love that we have plenty of time together everyday.  I love the chance for quality experiences.  I love that we can cuddle at our leisure and have all the story time we want.  I love that we can constantly build these relationships.  I feel like it is so easier to develop these relationships because we have this time together.

2. Time in general.  We have time for so much.  Academics require very little time when each child is allowed to work at their own pace.  We have time for field trips, for LONG library trips, for socializing, for learning to work, for developing relationships, and for LOTS of free play.  I love that they have time to be kids.  I love that they have time to run outdoors.  I'm grateful that we have time to work as a family everyday; I think it would be more difficult for me to teach my children work if they were gone most of the day.

3. No rush.  Once a week, we use an alarm to wake up and have a mad morning rush to make it to church on time.  It's NOT my favorite thing (the rush that is).  I do NOT love rushing my kids to groom and eat, and then not having time for morning chores.  I'm so grateful that I don't have to do this every morning.  Instead everyone can wake up when they are fully rested.  We can eat breakfast together AND enjoy morning conversation while we're at it.  We can cuddle if we want to.  We have time to complete our morning chores and start the day organized and fresh.  During the day, we don't need to rush through our studies and activities.  Our evenings aren't (usually) rushed because we're already home and there is no homework to complete before we can move onto evening activities.

4. Watching them LOVE learning.  Because each child is able to learn at his/her own pace, they love to learn.  They aren't stressed; they aren't bored.  They are engaged and they feel good.  They love to discover, and it is so fun being part of that.  They have plenty of time to learn about the things they are interested in, and they DO.  After I'd stepped away from kidschool today, it was awesome to hear my 8 year old excitedly commenting about the interesting things he was learning as he devoured a book about the US presidents and states.  I loved listening to my 7 year old giggle about the poor spelling example (which was intended to be funny) in a book she was reading the other day.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they devour books, haul them everywhere with us, and get distracted by them ALL DAY LONG.

5. Being able to incorporate our core beliefs into all of our learning.  This is so important to me.  I want my kids to gain strong testimonies and have strong moral values more than anything else.  If I had to choose between an honest child or one who could read, I would choose honesty hands down.  If the choice was between having personal knowledge that they are children of God or the ability to perform mathematical computations, the former would win out every time.  Thankfully, we can have both, but I LOVE that I can focus on the first every time.  I LOVE that we can incorporate a Gospel perspective into everything that we study.  I LOVE that we have time to address core values all day long if it's what is really needed (like when being kind to your siblings REALLY needs to come into focus).

6. Taking breaks whenever we want or need them/ creating our own schedule.  On the first snow day of the year we ALWAYS spend the day playing in the snow.  The first week that it actually feels like spring, we usually take a full week off of school to enjoy the sunshine.  When we have time for a family vacation, we take one.  When everyone is sick (especially if Mom is pregnant sick AND viral sick) we can have a free day.  When our school rhythm is off, we can take a step back for a few days and then start again with better attitudes and motivation.  On the inverse, when we want to have school on an actual 'snow day' we can; when we're ready to learn in the summertime we do.

7. Learning in a variety of ways.  Our family's favorite method to learn is books and discussions; we all love to read and talk.  However, we also love science projects, art projects, outdoor exploration, field trips, games, and other fun hands on activities.  I feel so privileged to do these things with my kids.

8. Flexibility.  I love having the flexibility to rearrange our time, add things into our schedule, and drop things when we aren't ready for them (or realize they aren't worth our time).  I love that we're able to spend all day learning about 'x' when everyone is too interested to stop.  I love that we can say 'nevermind' when another book is boring everyone to tears.  When my child grasps a math concept like she was born knowing it, we're able to move forward right then (or backwards in the opposite case).  We can let evening activities take us past bedtime when we feel the need (like when Dad works late and we decide to stay up for some family time), and then let the kids wake up when they're rested the next morning.

9. The freedom to be themselves and thrive.  My two boys battle anxiety in a big way.  Their anxieties often create barriers in their ability to learn and progress.  If they feel pressured, huge walls come up.  Even when they want to tear those walls down, they have big struggles doing so.  I'm sure that Heavenly Father knew this would be one our special challenges when He helped us see that we should homeschool.  I can see how being sent away to a school environment would have been too much for these little guys of mine, and how their walls would have immobilized them.  On the other hand, I think my older daughter would have been completely bored with her school work and thus have missed out on the enjoyment of learning.  I'm also grateful that she isn't in an environment that will feed her naturally competitive nature so much; she's competitive to a fault, and we are constantly working with her to tone it down to a healthy and kind level.

10.  Individualized learning.  I've already mentioned a few times how wonderful it is that they get to learn at their own speeds.  This removes so much of the stress of education.  Not only are they able to work at an appropriate pace, but they are able to learn about the things they are interested in and develop their unique talents.  No one can learn everything in a lifetime, and certainly no child can learn everything in a childhood, so I love being able to focus on what is best for each child.  Very little of their learning time is wasted on things they aren't paying attention to or that they can't understand.  They have the opportunity to develop their individual genius in whatever area(s) that may be.  It's awesome.

My Personal Top 5 Homeschooling Challenges

1. Time with my children...AKA few breaks.  While I would sincerely miss my kids if they were gone for hours every day, there are times that I feel pretty worn out with parenting.  The school part isn't difficult for me, but the parenting part often is.  I'm grateful for a husband who is willing to let me have a break anytime he is available. 

2. Towing kids for errands, shopping, and appointments.  If you want to see our family at our worst, just follow us into Wal-mart or listen outside the teeny tiny room they put us in for my OB appointments.  Yesterday, my doctor was running quite behind so we had a full hour in that itty bitty room.  At one point, a nurse came in and very kindly offered the kids suckers because she said she could hear we were having a hard time.  Through the door I'm sure she could hear Abby squealing at her brother and me saying things like, "Stop touching the computer.  Leave the stirrups alone.  That garbage can is yucky.  That makes your sister cry.  Etc.."  Whenever we go shopping, I receive the comment, "You sure have your hands full," more times than I can count.  Public errands are by far the most difficult thing I do with all of my kids in tow.  Hands down, this is the one thing I would love to do with fewer kids!  Ha!

3. Worrying that I'll mess things up.  This is probably the #1 challenge for the homeschooling population in general.  Thankfully, it's not often a huge problem for me...most of the time.  At times, I worry about it though.  I worry that my patience is running out because I need a break and I'm going to ruin my kids with bad parenting (see #1); this is the biggest way I worry.  I also sometimes worry that I'm not teaching them what they really need to know or that I'm doing it the wrong way.   

4. Using the wrong approach.  We've been caught in this trap a few times.  Mostly it comes from those moments when I'm worrying about what the world thinks my kids should be doing/ learning, and then I try to do it.  On occasion it's just a matter of finding out an approach is wrong while in the midst of it, and stubbornly sticking to it for too long.  There is so much freedom in being able to recognize when things are going this way and then switching directions, and so much misery in sticking to something that isn't working.

5.  Worrying about what other people think.  This catches me more often than it should and the result is that I sometimes lose trust in the inspiration I've received for my family.  Things go awry when I'm worrying about others' opinions, and they go well when I simply trust the things I know are right for us.

Parenting Challenges: Finding Peace

Sometimes I wonder how my parenting struggles measure up to those around me.  Do other kids act like mine?  Do they yell and scream at their parents, at least sometimes?  Not that I want other kids to scream at their parents, but am I alone in this?  What about those families that seem SO happy; the ones that I can tell are sincerely, patiently doing their best in this parenting challenge?  Do they ever feel like it's the end of the world when their kid does 'x'?  Are they ever shocked by the words that come out of their child's mouth?  I am forever asking myself if everything will be okay. 

I want SO much for my children.  I want so badly for these little people of mine to grow up happy and full of love.  I want so much for them to gain testimonies of their own that they are children of God and that He loves them.  I want to be with them for eternity.  I want to see them make the choices that will bring happiness.

We have this family goal that we talk about.  It give us vision and direction for our daily lives.  We plan to have a big reunion 24 years from now, and as part of that reunion go to the temple together.  The temple reminds us that we can be an eternal family; that is our bigger goal.  We talk about this as we face the daily challenges of life.  We remind each other that what we REALLY want is to be together.

At times, however, I feel completely defeated.  I struggle with having faith enough that my family will make it; that I will make it.  Recently when my oldest, who is only eight years old, told me about something he's been doing wrong I was shocked.  I firmly believe that my own bad example is where he'd learned this behavior in the first place and he'd magnified it to an incredible degree.  My own failing in this thing was something that was very rare, and he'd told me it was something he was doing with amazing frequency.  I felt so responsible.  I felt like it was the end of the world.  I was discouraged in my ability to be a mother and fearful of the future.  That whisperer of lies told me to believe that this was only the beginning of much worse things to come and that there was no hope.

I've felt this way at other times with my children.  I've often wished I could actually see into other families so I could know if they were going through the same thing.  I've especially wondered about those families that seem so happy to me.  It's not about comparison; it's not about being better or worse than someone else.  For me, it's about hope.  It's the thought that if those other happy families can get through this, so can we.

The crazy thing is that I know there's always hope and nothing is really the end.  I know that we can make it through anything.  I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful of our every need, and a Savior who has felt all of our pains and who knows EXACTLY how to help us.  I know that there is nothing that can't be overcome through the power of His Atonement.

Yet, I do feel this way at times.

While I know this path requires a lot of faith, I'm grateful for those tender mercies that strengthen my faith, for those times that He sees fit to let me SEE that there is hope.  Last night I had such an experience.  After a wonderful women's conference that was all about families (and during which I shed some tears), I went with some other women to grab dessert and socialize.  I am so blessed to know these women.  These are women who are positive and who lift me in ways they don't realize.  They've strengthened me in so many ways since we've lived here, and their love has helped me through struggles that none of them know about.   These are the mothers of those happy families I keep referencing.

Anyway, as we visited we talked about our children, and amazingly some of the things I've been worrying about came out.  I listened as they shared some of the things they've gone through as parents, some of the disappointing moments with their children.  The conversation touched on the exact issue I'd just gone through with my son, and it strengthened my feeling that there is hope.

That conversation reminded me of something I've been wondering for some time, so I turned to the friend beside me and asked her if her oldest son ever yells (because mine DOES).  If anyone's child doesn't yell, it would be hers.  She's that awesome and patient and gentle, and so is her husband.  This particular son of hers is VERY soft spoken and well mannered.  We absolutely love this kid and are thrilled that our son gets to be his friend.  She responded with a laugh and the comment that it had been a difficult week in that arena.  In some ways it seems ridiculous, but this really made me feel better.  

After each discouraging moment with my kids, I pick myself up and find hope.  I exercise faith.  I try harder to teach them and set a good example.  I search for peace and refocus on becoming an eternal family.  But sometimes a little encouragement seems to fill the final gap, and for that I am grateful.

A Day In the Life

Each year our school routines change, and so I like to document what a typical day looks like every so often.  Here's a look at how things are going this year (including some repeat pictures because they demonstrate well).

Mornings: The kids take every chance they get to read between morning tasks.  It's our family's form of distraction.  Ha ha!  Any number of times each day I start a sentence with, "You may not read until..."

Right now our morning routine includes (besides snatches of reading moments): Dressing/ grooming, breakfast, making beds, morning chores (dishes for Logan and Annie, and usually laundry for me), personal scripture study (me, Logan, Annie), and I try to squeeze in a workout for myself.

We often cuddle in the mornings (still) and I don't like to rush, so we generally aim to start kidschool around 10 or 10:30am.  This gives us plenty of time for our morning tasks, plus extra (for reading, right?).

This year, I've taken to writing our kidschool schedule out on a whiteboard each day.  It doesn't actually change anything we do, but it's made a surprising difference with the kids.  I can tell them what is planned, but SEEING it seems to make them believe me or something. They pretty much always want to do what is planned, but before I was writing things out they'd misbehave and we'd waste a lot of time working on being nice to each other.  Then we often didn't have time for the final activity (I generally save the best one for last).  Now they stay focused on wanting to do everything on the list, so they cooperate with each other better.

Here's our general kidschool schedule:
-Family devotional (prayer, scriptures, songs, articles of faith, pledge of allegiance)
-3-5 Learning activities (one of which is almost always read aloud time)
     *Recent Example: Math Riddles, Doctor Doolittle Read Aloud, Human Body Book, Personal Goal Time
     *Another Recent Example: Story Game (write a sentence, pass, write a sentence, pass, etc...FUN writing practice), Alex Choose a Read Aloud Story, Logan Choose a Non Fiction Read Aloud (he chose a long book about Ellis Island this last time), Annie Choose a Math Activity

Some of the regular personal goals the kids are working on are: Book It! (below Logan is showing how he read the unabridged '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' for that goal), Cub Scouts, Faith In God, and dance.  They also set shorter term goals as they determine other things they want to work on.

 I don't tend to take pictures during kidschool much, but here's an example of what Alex might choose when it's his turn to select read alouds.  He almost always has a stack of books next to him (he even sleeps with a large stack of books).

For math activities, we continue with our 5 A day reviews as needed, use manipulatives to learn new concepts (i.e. Legos for division recently), use math riddle books that take us through a variety of concepts in a fun way (and give word problem practice), play math games, and hash out concepts as needed (rare because we can usually learn each concept by manipulation or through a game).  Annie and Logan are working at about the same level this year, but they both have their strengths in this area.  Alex is gaining confidence with counting and continues to show us that he understands numbers (even if he forgets their names and orders...ha ha!).  He joins us for activities that include concepts such as multiplication and division, and continually shows that he understands HOW it works.  In this picture, he is playing with a 'Perplexus' that Logan received for Christmas; he LOVES this toy and we've discovered that it is a fantastic way to practice counting.  Each obstacle has a number all the way through 125, so we count as he goes through.

This picture is hilarious, so I've included it.  Annie sometimes practices her tap and ballet dances during 'Personal Goal Time'.  This day she tied toilet paper on her ankles in order to practice with 'tap bows'.  Ha ha!

We study science, history, and social sciences largely through our read alouds and discussions, but we sometimes find ways of making these areas more hands on.  We gave the kids a 'Human Body Book' for Christmas that included the pieces to create a human model.  The kids couldn't agree if our model should be male or female so they chose a name that could be either.  Behold Aaron/ Erin!

We also include fine motor/ exploration activities such as painting, drawing, other art, puzzles, cooking, and logic games during our week. 

 After kidschool we generally clean up and then have free time (during which Abby naps and the others read, play, or pursue other interests) until dinner.  After dinner, we have family time as many evenings as possible.

I asked the kids to pose for this picture to show that they'd done a fine job with their cleaning (after the house had been DESTROYED), and much to my surprise Abby joined in.

This is the BEST picture I have of my four kids; Abby always resists!