September 9-10

We decided that Monday the 9th was our day to begin our new year. But first, a run to Walmart to purchase our very first brand new lunchboxes!! They were on sale and everything (one of the joys of having the ability to wait until AFTER public school starts). Each of the 4 big kids picked their own. We had only 2 that duplicated.

After the excitement of a lunchbox well chosen we went out to the front yard with our special signs for our new grades! Poor Echo had a blister on her foot and so was not in a picture mood but I think it suited her colourful “Toddler” poster!

Self decorated, of course!

We had a parcel come in the mail from England with items from France AND England inside! We have some amazing Facebook friends out there! Thank you Anne and family! I need to find a place to display these lovely things.

I found and printed out multiple beginning of the year worksheets, games, mini books… anything I could think of to make it fun and interesting to say what our goals are, find out what we like and dislike… that sort of thing.

Lunch was a special experience for us… we have never done the lunchbox thing before! The kids were quick to see alternative uses for these items… snacks on rides, toys, collections. I am sure we will get our use out of them!

We also started a new weekly program of 4 days of one on one time with each kid… what I am doing is Monday – Thursday each child gets their day with 30 minutes Mommy only time! Our order for this week is Zander, Emanuel, Trinity, Gavin. Zander chose to sit on the iPad and chat with me!

Tuesday continued on our trend. We had a couple science projects to start…

And a garden to pick through…

Schoolwork to explore…

and games to play…

We ended day one with supper together…

I think it was a beginning well planned and executed!!!

Girls working side by side

May 23-24

After such a busy evening our following Thursday was slowed a little… With her helpful sister in tow Trinity busted through one of her workbooks for a completion!!

Busy together

Complete

We had a penguin craft to work on using hands and feet to make ourselves some adorable penguins!!! Lots of helping each other tracing and cutting and gluing!

instructions to follow in the resource page!

Each one unique

It was finally a relatively sunny day so the kids spent plenty of time outside assisting Nana and Baba in the gardening… pulling weeds… fun stuff! And highly educational!

Progress on the gardening

Wandering the bales

Trains expanded to being under a tent to keep out the sun!

Tented trains

And Echo even sported a braid for a portion of the day!!!

Braid!

Honestly Friday followed suit in gardening friendly weather so we added another day of outside learning. So much work to be done on those days that are NOT rainy!

Gardening in the sunshine

3 of the kids went out to buy soil so Gavin, Echo and I had a lovely snack  together…

Snack

And then some gaming

Gavin even pulled out his long ignored sewing. I am hoping June will be his month to return to it!

Cross Stitch

With our busy school schedule and the gardening going on in the backyard when the weather permits… we are getting in lots of activity AND learning. Spring in Minnesota.

Out in the backyard with Daddy before bed!

Even dolly is having fun!

For all of our Easter resources please refer to the blog entry titled “Easter Resources“.

April 3-4

I am pleased to report that we have COMPLETED our Easter lapbook… all it took was a little time Wednesday afternoon and a good glue stick. I hate how when you run out of one key supply things can grind to an absolute halt! I am quite pleased with the end result. Ken picked up some of those soft binders to put our platypus (and later penguin) books in and another for the Easter one. Job well done!!!

A couple of our pages

We have jumped in with both feet on our penguins and have already amassed some lovely links to share in the end (or contact me for them in the meantime of course). Mr. Popper’s Penguins is a lot of fun already. One chapter a day, with as much of the suggested activities the lapbook we found online that meet our age range plus additional links… I see the purchasing of a blue paper pack (varying shades of course) in my future!

Our National Geographic cover pages!

Our second book of the day was Penguin Says Please by Michael Dahl. Very cute lesson on being polite!

Poor runny nosed baby

Of course we crammed as much as we can in for a reason – tonight the cousins (Gabriella and Zachary) are here for a 2 day overnighter (this week is their Spring break). So effectively no school Thursday. Which gives me a day to tidy, organize and maybe hide a little?

Enjoying the penguin book together

We also recorded our Easter song: Jesus Christ is Risen Today! words by Charles Wesley. We are having some issues getting the video up so I will have to link it later!!!

We finally got our practice chopsticks in the mail. Sadly all the instructions on the back are in Chinese so I am not sure if I can alter them for a left handed person…

Chopsticks

Supper was special… all 7 kids out at a favourite Chinese restaurant. We survived but it was by no means a LEISURELY meal.

SEVEN kids

YUM

The 4th was not only Thursday BUT also our God Son Anthony’s 11th birthday! Where has the time gone??? I am waiting to hear on the birthday plans but in the meantime was able to wish him a happy day over IM on the iPad (the joys of modern technology!).

I squeezed in spelling practice and writing for Zander but otherwise, it was kids and grandparents’ rule and lots of gaming… after the girls (less Echo) made a run out to JoAnn’s.

Trinity’s wand, self decorated

We had Minecraft and PS3 games going on.

Gamers galore

With homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner…

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

And ice cream floats for desert…

Floats

Add in a movie and the day was complete.

Princess Bride

 Definitely a kid filled two days!

Mini E