Our Garden

We planted this yesterday and after a light rain, Jack had to check it out and see if it grew any! :) 

Fresh Eggs

Our chickens are laying a lot.  We got 2 eggs a day for a couple of days then it went up to 3 for a couple of days and then 4.  I *think* our 5th started laying today.  We'll see if we get 1 more egg later today.  James wanted a fresh eggs sign for the coop so I made one yesterday and LOVE how it turned out!

Gotta have DQ happy hour with any project!

 

 

 

The Man I Love

Puzzle Time

Day 2..

It's lunchtime on day 2 of our first official week of full time homeschooling.  The kids are doing great.  We are knocking things out much faster than I expected which leaves me wondering if we are doing enough?  Are they learning enough?  We are doing all the basics and none of the optional extras that are listed.  I will start adding things later but wanted this week to be easy.  I just wasn't expecting it to be this easy.  The kids are learning though and so am I.  I am learning things I didn't learn or forgot in history.  And I am learning to be organized!   I've also learned that I am having to retrain one of my pupils on listening, following directions, and NOT interrupting constantly.  It's not the one I was expecting.  Well the timer has gone off so our nutritious (note sarcasm) corny dogs are ready.  Time for lunch! 

You know there's trouble when it gets quiet...

I recently rearranged the little's room. My intention was just cleaning it up and sweeping behind/under beds. Well Jack loved his bed so much where I moved it to sweep that he was very adamant that it stay there. Which required me to move EVERYTHING. Well, everything except the big blue dresser because that's just not happening. It was all nice and neat and rearranged...

There are 2 more buckets of toys you can see in the pics as well as a box system full of toys.  They always completely destroy it minutes later, which is no big deal, but I really REALLY do need to clean some of it out. It looks like a day care center with all the toys. Anyway, as usual, today they were playing very noisily and dumping every bucket out. Then it got quiet....

I went to check on them and the door was still shut and toys were everywhere but they were gone. Thru the forbidden door. A pocket door between their room and the big boys room. I didn't get a picture of what they did in there but it involved a bottle of b.b.'s and a huge bucket of legos....

My Green-eyed Boy

You My Best Fren

I'm not sure where Jack learned what best friend meant but everytime Henry does anything remotely nice to/for him, Jack says, "Henry, you my best fren" and gives him a big ole hug!  It is precious! 

Yesterday I let Jack go play in the back yard by himself.  He came in without his pants, underwear, or shoes on and had mud up to his knees.  I cleaned him up and he played inside for a little while.  He wanted to play out again a little while later so I told him he could as long as he didn't take his shoes or pants off and didn't turn the water on.  He said, "Yes ma'am, Mommy" and was on his way.  He came back in shortly....looking exactly the same as he had the first time!  Bath #2 and tears because he was NOT going back outside the rest of the day.

Fast forward to this morning.  "Mommy, can I PUWEEZE go outside?" 
"No, I can't go with you right now and I don't want  you getting muddy.  We are going to the store in just a bit."
"Pweeze, Mommy?!"
"Can you obey me if I let you go outside?"
"Yes!  Yes, mommy! You my best fren!"  (aaawww...)
"Okay, but you MUST leave your pants, underwear, and shoes on."
"Yes ma'am, Mommy."
"Do not turn on the water faucet."
"Yes ma'am, Mommy."
"Do not play in the dog's water bowl."
"Yes ma'am, Mommy."
"You can't play in any mud while you're out there."
"Yes ma'am, Mommy!
"Okay, if you can stay out of the water and mud and keep your pants and shoes on, you may go outside."
"Thank you, Mommy! You my best fren!" (jumping with joy)

15 minutes later in walks a little boy covered in mud. Shoes are soaked but hey, he didn't take off any clothes.  Before I say anything he starts saying "Sorry, mommy."  Little stinker!! :)

Day 5 Read-Aloud: Lawn Boy

I've decided it's time to add in a little more school. Sonlight offers a 4-day and a 5-day program.  We chose the 5-day program for no particular reason.  (remember Sonlight is our core - history/geography, Bible, reading/language arts) 

We have read-alouds that tie in with our history and give us vocabulary to learn.  Read-aloud just means that I will read them outloud to the boys or have them read outloud to each other while I listen in.  For day 5 each week the read-aloud is not the same as what we will have been reading all week and does not tie in with history (at least not for the first couple of weeks - that's as far as I've looked) but does open discussion and have vocabulary to learn.  We are going to go ahead and start on the day 5 read-aloud books so that we'll have room to be flexible if things get hairy when we start our full load this fall. 

The book we'll be reading first is Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen.  It's only 88 pages so could easily be finished off by either boy in one day but we're going to take it slow and read it as scheduled. I want us to take time to learn and discuss the vocabulary presented.  A description from the back of the book says, "Gary Paulsen's comic story about a summer job becomes a slapstick lesson in business as one boy turns a mountain of grass into a mountain of cash." Basically, it's about a 12 year old boy who decides to mow lawns and according to the notes in my lesson plan, it is a "fascinating look at economics, capitalism, money management wrapped up in a (mostly) believable compelling story."

4 Pieces of My Heart

Why You Shouldn't Look At the Sun by Nelson & Henry

By Henry

By Nelson

Magnifying glass = The lense of your eye.

Chocolate = Your retina (which does not sense pain)

When you look directly at the sun, your lense magnifies the intensity of the suns rays (see the smoke).

It can cause permanent damage and blindness!