Pictures from August 6-19, 2013

 Jeff got a new truck.

 The oldest 5 watching Jeff drive to work in his new truck.

 Kaomi, making a fun dollhouse scene.

 Kent and Katy helped snap beans for freezing.  We had an ~28# box and they did a great job.  We had at least double the beans that are in this picture.

Uncle Ben and Aunt Cathy came for a visit.

Toddler and Preschool Boxes - Day 6

On Friday's our Toddler and Preschool box activities are:  Farm Animals/Pets, Sewing Cards/Water Wow!, and a Construction Vehicles Set.

Farm Animals/Pets Toddler and Preschool Box

 Farm Animals/Pets contains:

Assorted Plastic Farm Animals (from all the kids)

Red and Blue Blocks (part of a Jenga style game from Pa and Mimi)

Matchbox tractor (from Kent's car collection)

Stickers

Puppy Puppet (we've had this since Kent was little)

Farm Animals and The Pet Store printable books (The Measured Mom)

Little Golden Books (our book collection)

Sewing Cards and Water WOW!

 Sewing Cards and Water WOW!

Zoo animal sewing cards (from Kent)

Fire Truck sewing card (Usborne Books from when Kent was a toddler)

Melissa and Doug Water WOW! books (a Christmas gift/Target)

Clark and Lissie really enjoy the Water WOW! books.  I do have to watch because they like to "paint" the same picture over and over which softens the page and make it easy to scratch the top white paper layer with the brush.  They push hard on the pages with the brush rather than "painting" gently.  I usually have to say they are done before they want to be done.  This is one activity where if we had another couple of these books it would be great, because they could have another book once the first one has been all "painted."

Construction Vehicles Set

Constructions Vehicles Set

Usborne Lift and Look Diggers book (from our book collection)

Stickers

Melissa and Doug Chunky Construction Vehicles Puzzle (Amazon)

The Construction Worker printable book (The Measured Mom)

Impromptu Break

Apparently I'm taking an impromptu break from blogging.  It's been a busy week.  I'll be back soon and return to the Toddler and Preschool Box Series on Tuesdays.

Random Lunchbreak Pictures

Last week I picked up the camera and took pictures of all our children while we were on our break after lunch.

Our School Week - Units 2-4

I didn't do a very good job of keeping up with what we have done over the past few weeks.  It's been very busy trying to figure out a new routine for school and it feels like I have 3 full time jobs, so I've been thinking up what to write in my head and even taking some pictures, but haven't taken the time to write about it.  I may continue to show a couple weeks of school at a time when we seem busier than usual.

Here is a quick summary of the last 3 weeks of school.  These are the things we have done together as a group.  Math, reading, English and other individual work has been completed as well.

We memorized Psalm 1.  Kent, Katy and Kaomi know it all.  Felicity learned most of verses 1-3 by immersion and even Clark does the motions with us and may say a word or two.

We studied about the great flood and the ice age in history and the Arctic tundra in science.  In science we also did a couple of experiments on thawing ice and freezing water.

We studied three poems by Robert Louis Stevenson.  They were "Bed in Summer," "Rain,"  and "To Any Reader."

We completed a painting project and a map project.  We were supposed to make some cave art, but we only got as far as prepping our paper and the rest of that week ending up being full and we didn't have time to do the project.

Here are the pictures I've taken for these weeks of school.

      This was our map project.  Rather than have three children make the same project, we made it a joint effort by each child completing one part of it.  Katy made the map out of play-doh.  I helped her cut the pieces out after she drew their shapes on the top of the play-doh with a toothpick.  Kent made the signs for our map and figured out where they should be placed.  Kaomi got to add water and to the map and ice to give an idea of how it may have looked during the ice age. 

     This was a project we did with the poem "To Any Reader".  We each drew a picture of what we imagined mother saw when she looked out the window.  Then I put window frames over the pictures and they are currently displayed on our wall along with the poem.

      Here we were learning about warm and cool colors.  We painted rainbows on a cool or warm background.  We were supposed to mix the colors for our rainbow, but we've done several paint mixing experiments before and I opted to just use the colors we needed this time.  When Felicity woke up from her nap and saw that we had painted she wanted to paint a rainbow, too.

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Toddler and Preschool Boxes Day 5

These boxes are in our Thursday rotation of activities.

 Playground Set

Little People Playground Set w/ladder and swing

4 little people

puppy

little people wheelchair

beaded toy (from Jeff)

yarn rope ( a crocheted piece of yarn)

tennis ball (from Kent)

The Playground printable book ( from The Measured Mom)

*all the Little People toys we've had for several years

Cars/Traffic Set

Wooden vehicles [school bus, taxi, ambulance, fire truck, and police car] (from Target $ section)

Black paper roads (Jeff made from black construction paper)

stickers

Cars Little Golden Book (from our book collection)

Traffic, Trucks, and Cars printable books (from The Measured Mom)

Jeff made a good number of road pieces that can all fit together.  We usually only get out a few of them to be used unless someone older is helping Clark use them properly.  We also found that they work better on the hard floor and don't get bent up and wrinkled as much as when we tried to use them on the carpet.

Clark with the Cars/Traffic Set

Puzzles

I have several puzzles for younger ages.  I pull out 2-4 each time we do this activity.  Felicity enjoys them and Clark does okay with the simple ones.  We have magnetic puzzles, wooden peg puzzles, large floor puzzles and a few others that I get out for this activity.  If I plan to sit and do them with them I may pull out a little more challenging puzzle.  We have plenty of puzzles for the older kids that range from 24 to 1000 pieces that we get out on occasion to work on together.

The picture includes the puzzles we had out last week.

I have been finding it fun to watch and listen to Lissie and Clark's excitement over getting an activity out.   Lissie smiles and is excited to get out the activity and start playing with it right away.  Clark is the most enthusiastic.  He grins as big as he can when I say its time for an activity, then he claps his hands and says "ctivity, ctivity" and runs to the living room and waits in the spot where we usually put the activity out.  Sometimes his attention span is short and other times it is long for the activities.  It depends on the day and some of the activities that I've thought wouldn't spark much interest from him have been the ones he's spent extra time playing with.

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Toddler and Preschool Boxes Day 4

On Wednesday's we use a Zoo Animal's Box, a Doctor Kit, and Magnetic Sets.

The Zoo Animal's Box contains:

Yellow and Blue Blocks (Pieces from a Jenga type game which was a gift)

Stickers of animals

Animal Flash Cards (Target $1 section)

Various Plastic Animals (these have been collected over the last several years)

Animal Fact Cards (Little Kids Geographic Magazine)

Zoo Animal Book and Forest Animal Book (printable from The Measured Mom)

Zoo Animals Box

We've had a lot of fun with this box.  Clark likes to ask what the animals are.  Felicity likes to make pens with the blocks for the animals.  Everyone likes to look at the animal cards.  The books are fun to look at with them and ask them if they can find an animal to match.  We don't have all the animals in the books, so I don't ask them to find the ones I know we don't have.  This box has lots to do and it great for toddlers and preschoolers.

The next box is our Doctor Kit Set.  This is another box that is great for both toddlers and preschoolers.  They enjoy pretending to listen to hearts and give shots.  I like to read them one of the books and then they like to do what the characters in the book did.  Felicity has fun dressing up like the doctor while she plays too.

Doctor Kit Set

Our Doctor Kit Set includes:

Dr. Vest (Target $ section two years ago)

Surgeon Hat and Mask (Target $ section two years ago)

Doctor Kit w/stethoscope, shot, thermometer, glasses, ear 

scope, and reflex hammer (from Dad-Dad and Grammy)

Doctor Dan, Nurse Nancy and Let's Go to the Vet Little Golden Books (from our collection)

Doll Patient (Katy's first doll from Pa and Mimi)

This last box is our Magnetic Set Box.  It is geared more for preschoolers and needs to be used carefully so that the pieces aren't lost or broken.  The older kids enjoy playing with these as well.  I choose one of the sets for Felicity to use when she needs it.  I usually only get this out if Clark is down for a nap and Felicity is still up and needing something to do.

Magnetic Set Box

The Magnetic Set Box has the following sets:

Christmas Story (from Pa and Mimi)

Resurrection Story (from Pa and Mimi)

Creation Story (from Pa and Mimi)

Rainforest (purchased at Walmart for a car trip several years ago)

Farm (purchased at Walmart for a car trip several years ago)

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