November 15-16

Time for Thursday’s gratitude:

Trinity: for beaches

Emanuel: Thanksgiving

Gavin: going on trips with Mommy and Daddy

Zander: books

Sadly while Trinity was THANKFUL she was NOT in a good mood. I seriously did not realize one little girl can have such HUGE bad moods. She did perk up a little when asked to do her daily feather on the Gratitude Turkey though!

My girls

We had a special early afternoon with Ken clearing a block of time to allow us to run out to JoAnn’s and Dollar Tree. I am still a wee bit sad about the real LACK of a decent dollar store around here. Thankfully I WAS able to get a couple small (one inch) binders and some glitter glue… I am going to have to comparison shop for other supplies, and clip coupons. But I splurged on a pair of winter themed knee socks for a dollar! Oh and got the much needed white and black yarn to continue my Christmas crafting (and promptly FORGOT to grab the fill I need for my teapot… thank goodness there are other projects ALWAYS on the go).

The twins finally got the chance to cash in their Pizza Hut pizza coupons for the reading they did in the month of October! I have never seen them so proud of themselves! AND Trinity and Emanuel are up to their 25 days of work work work so this weekend they get another ice cream outing with Daddy! They make me so proud. Did I mention Emanuel and I are working on simple words. He is not memorizing them but learning to put his letter sounds together and practicing his printing skills… words like mom, dad, up, me, cat, dog… I love seeing his eyes light up when he gets one right!

Pizza!

Gavin got some time to sit down with a new set of instructions from Art for Kids — a silly cow! I love that he did a WHOLE picture and mean the WHOLE page! Very colourful and creative!

Well done!

Friday was a bit off kilter with Ken having a very important interview and all the grown ups’ nerves that go with that. BUT we still had time to be thankful!

Trinity: kitties

Emanuel: computers

Gavin: having food to eat

Zander: having boardgames

There’s our turkey!

And I am thankful that my boys are catching on with their spelling… Gavin got 100% on his spelling test today!!

So proud

We had less success with Zander who has opted to take the weekend to practice his words. BUT Emanuel did do up a wonderful Dinosaur Train related picture for his Friday fun with dinosaurs. Ken found some episodes and he and Trinity and Echo watched them on the laptop. Apparently, did you know that dinosaurs with plates used those to help keep warm???

Quite the fancy train

We started our next book for review BUT it is more of a chapter deal so the twins and I are reading it over the weekend. We will be sure to share our thoughts and opinions! Of course before we get to that though… Echo wore an outfit that her Grandma gave her way back when so I HAD TO take pictures! 

Miss E

And of course we have MORE art to share!

Miss Trinity’s art

And our Judy Moody front page, the boys did an AMAZING careful cutting job!

I just love this page 🙂

November 1-2

The day AFTER Halloween is never an easy one… too much sugar, a late night and this time a bit of a cold going around and we have 5 kids on varying levels of miserable. Runny noses are back for some full force and I think we all just wore each other out. Thank goodness we DO homeschool as I had the option of pulling back and letting the kids relax a bit… oh and it was a day that started with “T” so – MINECRAFT! 

Teaching Echo about magnets!

Zander wrote his spelling test for the week… ANOTHER 100%! On a roll this boy is!

Well done Zander!

I really need to put together a crochet completion blog entry… I have finished a bunch and posted… none! So watch for that! I have more and more plans of things to make and do and these fingers are rarely still anymore. So completions are rather consistent!

A quiet place to read?

We made up Halloween mini books with the origami fold. These are all just pictures but it was a fun exercise in taking our time and colouring our very best work. I think Zander plans on sending his up to a friend in Canada next week! You can find them HERE.

Coloured books

I am on the hunt for multiple things to augment our schooling… Brazil for Emanuel’s monthly mailing… Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims for… well you know… and USA in general… gotta get the country down pat before those yearly tests… ugh ugh ugh. So… I AM looking for affordable suggestions! Suggest away world!

Friday morning Ken and the kids finally got the chance to do their Halloween craft. We waited too long to get our traditional foam sets so instead they all made their own spider webs out of special strings. I got to sleep in and they got time with their Dad crafting. I think we all won out on that one!

Crafting with Daddy

Trinity worked at her workbook that Gammie sent us. She somehow ended up on the perfect workpage to send in our next pen pal letters (which we also received this week) to Gammie. 

Trinity and her page

In our letters from Gammie was some money to get a Halloween treat! So when we went out to do all our errands (yarn, looking at what Ken would like to buy with his birthday money…) we stopped off at Dairy Queen for fried cheese curds and Dilly bars! We still have enough left over for a treat later that week at McDonald’s! They have their cones on for 49 cents each!! 

Thank you!

The poem which  you can watch on youTube… or below was found on this page HERE. I had the twins decorate our page as usual to go in our special art and such folder. I think they did a great job as usual! Note again that Emanuel is right there reciting along and this time… a special guest… Miss Echo! 

Decorated page

We still have a ton of candy to eat… and now the mind is turning to Thanksgiving… wish me luck!

One of our Education.com print outs

October 24-25

Wednesday marks the point where we are FINALLY in the end stretch on costumes. I am so far behind from where I usually am! The twin bought theirs, we got the last of the supplies for Echo’s and the face paint for Trinity’s Choco-cat. Ken and I have opted not to dress up this year with our short time frame and really lack of budget. I hope to do so next year though! 

We spent much of our morning out on those errands so that definitely shortened our school day. BUT Zander had his spelling test today, 7/7! Well done!

100%!

Not to be outdone by her brother… work of art

Art for Kidssaved our day with their MUMMY instructions. The boys BOTH enjoy the steps and are absolutely willing to create whatever the next picture is. We often discuss what COULD be the next picture posted…

MUMMY

Thursday was a short day for me… I had a GIRLY DATE with Bree the mommy to be once again. She announced the day before that they are expecting a GIRL! Echo is going to have a godsister. I am so excited for them, I am going to save all of Echo’s outgrows AND start the gears moving in my head as to what I can make for them. Hair things, dollies, bits and bobs… fairy wings! Oh I am excited!!! We are in the world of boys down here having left all our little girls up in Canada! 

Anyway… we have started our Halloween colouring in earnest. I love a good print out and while the printer is limping without its colour cartridge we are still making do. Trinity especially enjoyed her Education.com print out of a haunted house! You can check out my Halloween folder on their site HEREof stuff from this year and the previous. 

Trinity’s work of art

We had ANOTHER 100% on a spelling test – this time Gavin and he had tricky words – TWO and TOO!!! I am so proud!!! 

Another perfect score

We have started our Halloween book and are doing a picture a chapter into the journals. This seems to be the best way to follow up with something with the boys. Low impact but they keep on working, thinking and creating. When we finish our Judy Moody book and go onto the next one, I think I will use another format… maybe a chapter by chapter picture book… add to it a list of the characters in each chapter and the main conflict or point. 

We covered a rather unique FEATHERED dinosaur today. The Beipiaosaurus… and surprisingly Gavin joined us! There is something rather interesting about a dinosaur that is feathered, with a potential omnivore lifestyle. Once I get  the previous dinosaurs posted this one will be up as well. My agreement with the big boys is that if they want to join in on the dinosaur time they ALSO have to do something productive in regards to this dinosaur. So Gavin drew a picture of it, recorded the dinosaur’s name and 3 facts he learned about it. Which Emanuel helped him come up with. 

I am still debating what path to take beyond math and reading and writing… With Emanuel to learn about Brazil I am thinking of seeing what sort of a lapbook or mini poster we could make as a family… but I want to expand our interest. THOUGH we have had some more pen pal letters! This time from our friends in the Yukon (including Coffee Crisp chocolate bars for me!! Though Ken took one to share with his friends).

Throw in some snow in passing and wow what a couple of days!!!