Tag Archive | Minecraft

A Hunting We Will Go… LOTS

May 18-23

We spent a large chunk of our Sunday out on the hunt for treasure… and for a good park! The girls decided to go matching on their excursion. We actually found a special geocaching coin that travels and is tracked. It has been all over the US an now it is our turn to pass it along!!101_7506

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Chipmunk!

Chipmunk!

Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park

So swampy everywhere!

So swampy everywhere!

We have continued our watching of Veggie Tales when we can get our hands on them. So on a cloudy Monday it was a great filler between the rest of our ongoing learning of Texas, reading, writing and math. Sadly we are running out of shows that include a set of Sunday School worksheets to use. So instead we drew our own fun pictures.101_7522

That evening Ken worked on teaching the boys Agricola (HERE) another strategy game that I honestly am not a huge fan of. The additional reading, challenging game play all seems to be helping them stretch their skills more and more.101_7521

Tuesday was a nature walk in our very own neighbourhood. Keeping our eyes wide open for some more signs of spring… discussing road safety and the difference between planned plants and weeds. I think in June or July we will do a walk through the neighbourhood and see if we can get a bunch of different leaves and try and identify what trees are actually local to us. Which gives the little guys the chance to do a favourite activity – leaf rubbings!101_7542

101_7546Of course around lunch time we had to head back outside to enjoy the backyard. Really we were stuck indoors way too long this winter!101_7548

101_7549Art for Kids has put tons of wonderful how to’s out for us to enjoy. (link on right) Even Trinity is gaining confidence with the use of these.101_7552

101_7554101_7555Miss Echo was quite adamant that it was an ipad anime day for her. I really do love my Crunchyroll membership. Affordable and fun for me too. Granted she doesn’t understand anything being said and can’t read the translation but she bops to the music and enjoys the animation.101_7556

We tried something different for mid week. Of course we continued reading Treasure Island together.101_7557

But I had Ken make me up a nice set of charts for us to go onto the ipad and use my weather app to chart the week coming up weather local to us and for Austen Texas. Using this comparison we opened the table for a discussion about how activities and such would differ for the days there than here. Then for each day recorded the twins settled in with a sibling and wrote basically a daily diary for what they would do in Texas according to the weather. Zander was super creative and one day played out in the rain only to have to stay in the next sick with a cold!101_7558

We dug out our box of fraction magnets just to enjoy the manipulation of the pieces and to see how they look as actual objects. The boys were discussing and quizzing each other and explaining to the littles so I just sat back and let them go at it (as long as the information was CORRECT!).101_7560

We rounded off our outside experience on scooters, bikes and fancy skateboards. Sunshine sunshine SUNSHINE!101_7562

101_7563101_7564101_7565101_7568Trust me we really ARE doing sitting down book work interspersed with LOTS of outside running and burning of energy. Gavin has been taking charge of the camera occasionally and taking pictures too! Mommy in front of the camera instead of behind!!101_7577

101_7579Emanuel and I stole some afternoon creativity time on Wednesday and made a car ramp out of stuff in the livingroom while the other kids went on a walk with Nana and Baba. It is nice to have some quiet one on one time with the kids.101_7581

We ended our school week with ANOTHER Geocache adventure to a small park with a terrific tree shaded walking path. The boys are definitely the ones to jump up and go into the woods. We girls tend to wander the paths closer too and enjoy the more tick and branch free portion of the experience. That is not to say that Trinity does not jump on in from time to time though!

101_7584101_7585We are certainly seeing portions of Minnesota that Ken hasn’t even seen. There are some absolutely amazing out of the way tiny lakes and pretty shaded places. And we are seeing all of this together which is absolutely another plus. One thing we have learned from all the sessions Ken is now doing with his counselor is that going out as a family and enjoying an activity is absolutely crucial for all of us! That time together getting out, exercise coupled with the ability to spend POSITIVE time as a family. Amazing!101_7561

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And a touch of Texas facts

And a touch of Texas facts

Paul Bunyan and Other Topics of Interest

February 19-21

Mid week and we dove right back into the stories. I am loving our reading time. There can never be enough of it!101_6261

We watched a great episode on Minnesota from an aerial series. I asked the kids to draw what they thought was the most interesting, most memorable. And for the first time in ages the three boys drew the same thing – PAUL BUNYAN. So guess what Mommy has to jump on the internet to research and request? I thought for sure one of them would want to learn more about the Mississippi river or… some sort of city building or something but NOPE giant lumberjack and blue ox for the win! So keep an eye out for our further information! Watch the video HERE thanks to the Smithsonian Channel.101_6258

The kids and I finished our Chinese New Year binder. It is amazing how much we actually end up doing when we totally get into a topic! So much creativity and learning. You can, of course, check out the resource blog entry HERE.101_6259

Thursday was a read to the family sort of day. The twins are totally our leaders of story time and WILLING leaders now!101_6256

Emanuel read this one to me!

Emanuel read this one to me!

I found a wonderful resource to split up the portions of a story into sections to map out a story in a castle shape that the twins tried as well. Anything to get us looking at the parts of a story to make more in depth and well thought out stories. You can find this amazing resource HERE thanks to This Reading Mama.101_6262

Trinity and I are still trucking through the Valentines books…101_6263

And Emanuel and I started a Dinosaur book that was sent to us in a set from Gammie for Valentines. We are going chapter by chapter and then I write down  a couple sentences that Emanuel remembers as the main details and he draws a picture. It is fun reading together and including dinosaurs. I totally want to get back to the dinosaur research we have been doing but I admit it – we have been lazy. The obvious dinosaurs are covered.101_6264

We borrowed a series of 10 Veggie Tales videos from the library as well. So each day we watch a video and then I have been printing out Sunday School resources… the little 3 do the colouring page and the twins the 4th page. The next day we do the first two read and discussion pages together. You can find the pages we have been using HERE. I am not including A LOT of religion in our class time but this is a chance to enjoy a wholesome program and reflect on some very important lessons for life and love. Lets use any resource we can to find the best ways to interact with each other.101_6265

101_6266The kids all finally got around to wearing their Valentines day craft t shirts. Gotta love the heavy Minecraft theme. But it was so much fun and definitely something we want to repeat!101_6268

And then…. MORE SNOW… I swear we have feet and feet of snow!!! The kids are getting sick of it even!

The inside of their snow structure looks so cozy!

The inside of their snow structure looks so cozy!

101_6271With more snow comes more inside time… so more books…101_6273

101_6272Dressing up…101_6274

Playing on the electronics…101_6275

And then BANG the week is done! The time goes fast but slowly at the same time it seems!!!101_6255

Splish Splash… Swim Lessons at Last!

January 11-14

What to do on our second weekend of 2014? Well, with the cousins in the house and the weather actually cooperating we booted as many out the door to play in the snow as possible!101_5845

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Goofs

Goofs

Of course there was a large portion of the day dedicated to Minecraft.101_5848

Sunday morning our 4 big ones headed off to Sunday School with the assurance that when they returned their cousins would still be there. I have to admit to loving having the kids dressed so nice once a week. And they really do enjoy their time with the teachers and kids.

In their Christmas sweaters. My step mom has some great taste!

In their Christmas sweaters. My step mom has some great taste!

101_5850In the afternoon Nana and Baba left to take the cousins home and we took the whole family out into the snow to create small snow forts and snowballs.101_5858

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Trinity in her Christmas scarf

Trinity in her Christmas scarf

When Nana and Baba returned Baba came out to join the fun. Echo enjoyed herself but quickly tired of trucking through what was almost knee deep for her.101_5863

101_5864That time outside was definitely just what we needed. And of course, once they returned indoors we had some time with the games. Skylanders for Miss Trinity (who dances as she plays) and Emanuel (who hops like a bunny).101_5866

Monday was back to school and back to an in depth study of all things Chinese New Year related. We had books to read and print outs from Activity Village to do.101_5867

Book list will be in the Chinese Resources entry

Book list will be in the Chinese Resources entry

We also brought out the brushes and Chinese ink Xinny gave us years ago and got to work creating Chinese Characters. We returned to our inks on Tuesday as well. It is just too much fun and so pretty.101_5869

1609875_10152166288456151_685429226_n101_5873101_5874Our ice rink and critters were ready for play! I am so impressed by how much fun the kids had with this VERY simple activity.101_5871

Miss Echo had to hug test one of my newest crochet pieces. I am currently working to get enough up to get my Etsy store back up and running. Though I have them up on Facebook under my It’s a Hoot page!!! Prices and all that are listed there so do check it out HERE.101_5872

Monday was our long awaited first swimming lessons for the twins as well!!! They ended up with private lessons as the third child was moved up to a more difficult class leaving our boys with two teachers!!1501807_10152166758026151_677904009_n

On Tuesday we were gifted with something pretty amazing. A homeschool family was downsizing some books… science, math game, some storybooks. And they were giving them away for free. I just lucked out being the first one to say we wanted them and that we would come collect them and wow were they amazing! Any time we can add to our library it is amazing! The woman who was giving them away was so pleased that we would be using them for our larger family. These books are going to be well loved! Now I just need to figure out WHERE to put them!101_5875

101_5876January has definitely been a blessed month!1512518_10152164426986151_1928749985_n

This entry was posted on 07/02/2014, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments