Week 15 - Christmas fun and a little sledding swim

 Happy third week in Advent! December 13th - December 19th, 2020

This post will catch me up! A Christmas miracle with all of the fun things we are doing in anticipation of Christmas. Fair warning, picture overload. 

On Sunday the weather was again pretty nice. We opted for a porch picnic. I came out with my lunch to find the kids singing our family prayer. They know how to melt this mama's heart. 

Later that afternoon we frosted cookies. Gingerbread and sugar cutouts. So. Many. Sprinkles. 

Norah and dad frosted the same 4 cookies for about 35 minutes. Hey, whatever keeps them busy!

And then it was outside to burn off the sugar. Norah is learning to use the smallest baseball glove we have. Oh, and always in cowboy boots. 

The final photos of the gingerbread houses are in too! Here are the completed products as requested by Jenn. Also, a big thanks to Betsy for hours of entertainment. It was so kind of you to bring these houses over!

 

This week Micah read Fox the Tiger.  He read it to me and then he went on to read it to Grammy and Pops, Ms DiCarlo, and dad! He looked over at me in the middle and said with surprise, "I'm actually reading!" For sure, buddy! For his language arts he started the story of Aladdin but it was too weird and too scary. I am 100% changing the plan next week. We didn't even finish the story but jumped over to independent and read aloud to mom books. I then opted to combine science and language arts this week because he was so focused on the fox book. His science lesson this week was all about how we use rocks and minerals in the real world. We read from his science books and talked about the big picture ideas and then we made story rocks. This was super fun. I collected some rocks for him on one of my runs and then we sat down together to create. I drew out the characters on the rocks at his request and then he colored them. Math continues on with yet more subtraction using count on and math drawings and number bonds of 10. 

Emmett is still working on Ramayana and he wrote about allies and enemies this week. He continues to amaze me with the ease that he flies through his word lists and vocabulary assignments. Long division is much easier this week and the last math lesson this week explained that when you divide, you either are trying to find the number of groups or the size of the group. He has this down with no problem. I am very proud of him for his perseverance. In science he added on to his knowledge of circuits and electricity. He used Snap Circuits to create all sorts of cool circuits that lit up, played music and turned on a fan.  Thanks to the Riggs family for the circuit set! Who knew that would fit into his curriculum perfectly! 

Jonah made a few Christmas cards this week. He used buttons to made designs and I helped him glue the buttons down. He practiced writing a few words including his name! He continues the 100 day countdown to Christmas and is so excited. 

On Wednesday night it snowed about 8 inches. We don't often get any significant amounts of snow here on the coast and so The Collins' Academy called a snow day on Thursday and a late start/half day on Friday! It continued to flurry most of the day Thursday and the kids played and played and played. All except Norah, the girl who detested her snow boots, snow pants and new coat. In classic two year old fashion we got dressed, had a meltdown and went back inside in the first 3 minutes. 

On Friday all the schools in our area went back and so I took the opportunity to take the three boys sledding on the "big hill". I knew that it would have been too busy to be safe on Thursday and from the looks of the tracks that was accurate. We had the hill to ourself initially and then two other families came a bit later. We had a great time. Well, at least until Jonah (4 years old) sledded into the creek. It was shallow and he was fine. He stood right up and after I sprinted down the very slick, icy hill in snow boots, I grabbed him and pulled him out. I hustled him to the car about 5 minutes away. He was howling because his snow clothes were sopping wet and heavy, he scared himself and "the water was yucky". I stripped him down to his shorts and t-shirt outside the car because his snow pants were starting to ice over. I should double check the brand of snow gear he was wearing because his North Face puffer coat, snow pants, socks, boots, mittens, and mask were soaking wet and dripping but his shorts and t-shirt were basically dry. I'm pretty sure his boots are still wet 2 days later. Anywho, I ran his home and tucked him straight into the shower and threw all of our gear into the washing machine. Betsy ran the two big boys home a few minutes later (thanks Betsy!) Everyone is currently warm, safe and dry. Disclaimer - to be clear he was not in danger and never got too cold. 

These are just a few photos from several of my early morning runs this week. The world looks so different and lovely covered in snow. 

I hope everyone finds a way to celebrate the winter (or summer) solstice and has a lovely Christmas week. 

Merry Christmas all. 

Peace and Light,

Kate

Week 14

Editor's note - December 6th, 2020 - December 12th, 2020

Ah December, it is magical and dark and cold. It holds Advent and Chanukah, Christmas and the Winter Solstice, Festivus and New Year's Eve. We have woven in some winter and holiday fun with our regular curriculum. 

Emmett is still reading Ramayana: The Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel. This is a great version of the story of one of Vishnu's avatars, Rama, as written and illustrated by an artist and veteran Pixar animator. This week he made his own map of a hero's adventure that he created. We also started learning about Langston Hughes. We read "Danse Africiane" and "Mother to Son". 

He continues on with long division in math and is beginning to learn the standard algorithm. In science he began a phsyics unit on electricty, including charges, thunder and lightening and lightening rods. He built a 3 story Lego building that we added a lightening rod to and discussed why this is important in real life. 

 

Micah read the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel (um, I forgot how scary that is). I am going to revamp Micah's language arts because the fairy tale situation isn't going to work for us.  Anywho, we talked about how a breadcrumb trail isn't ideal for multiple reasons. I asked him to come up with some better ways to navigate. This gave Patrick the opportunity to take him outside and show him how to use a compass! Patrick pulled out his compass from scouts and he and Micah spent about 45 minutes learning how to use it. When they came in we got out a map and tried some basic map reading. It was fun to watch him figure pieces of that out. 

For science this week, Micah made rock "baseball" cards. We used his science book to research rocks found all over the world. He looked through the book and marked the pages he wanted to come back to. He then colored an index card for each of the pages. We went through each one together to come up with facts for the back of each card including location and rock type. 

In math he continues with module 2, subtraction using 10 groups broken into number bonds. 

Jonah continues to work on letter recognition and matching - Christmas style! 

Working together... just for a few moments. 

Norah continues to be sassy and confident. She is 100% independently flying around on her Strider bike. She also loves a good Zoom meeting/call. 

Just another Zoom meeting with dad.

On Thursday and Friday Jonah worked on his gingerbread house! We had never done these before so thank goodness for prefabricated houses with minimal construction necessary!

Leaf clearing was way more interesting than decorating. 

On Friday night, the big boys got into the decorating fun with their house. 

Thursday, the weather was beautiful. We had a December lunch picnic outside in the yard and spent most of the afternoon running football plays and riding bikes.  

Friday evening the boys went to work building a Nativity scene with blocks and magnetic Mary and Joseph and Jesus, shepherds, wisemen, animals and angels. It was really fun to watch them talk about, build, and create from their imaginations. Thank you Miss Carol (and Tom)!

Saturday brought a rainy, cold, foggy day. Jonah got really lucky and got to talk to Santa on an Outschool class! He was soooo excited. Patrick ran the boys through a few plays in the few moments he was home Saturday. Ah the life of a pastor during Advent. We look forward to seeing him more after Christmas. After dinner we went for a walk in the dark to check out the fog. The kids had fun with their flashlights although crossing the street was a bit scary. 

Looking forward to next week and all the fun we have planned. It looks like we might get some snow!!

Peace and light,

Kate

Week 13

 Hi all! Happy December.

We have been trying hard to keep some semblance of a schedule but some days... well let's just say that is a free flowing schedule. 

Sunday we went for a walk in the woods at the beach. It was a cold sunny morning and we all needed the fresh air away from our home. 

On Wednesday, we put up the tree. Patrick has a very specific method for unboxing the ornaments. "This is NOT A FREE FOR ALL!" I just steer clear and watch.

School-wise, Micah is starting to read My First Reader Books which makes my heart sing. I love to watch him realize he is reading! He also made a fox mask one night late, while I was reading to him and to Emmett before bed. He continues learning about rocks in science and is subtracting 9 this week in math. 

Jonah is working on matching his letters. We used Bananagram tiles and a Christmas ABC printable and he matched the tiles to the squares. He hasn't learned all the letters yet and so some were challenging but he was so proud of himself when he finished. 

Emmett is beginning to learn long division using the Common Core method of place value disks. He's caught on quickly and is slowly gaining some confidence.  He and Micah also helped me make some pretty winer candle holders for our Grammy. Shhhhh, the package hasn't arrive yet. 

Sunday night we went for a nighttime walk with flashlights. The boys had a blast shining the lights around and looking for "clues". I know this is an awful photo but we did come across this beautiful guy/girl in the pond across from the church. There are a lot of egrets here but I think this may have been a Great Blue Heron (GBH).