Weeks 12 & 13 Recap

I can't believe it's the end of November!! 

RR did some more recycle art this week - his fave creation was this drummer boy drum out of duct tape & a coffee tin and sticks.  

At cubscouts they got a First Aid (CPR) badge and learned to do CPR. 

We made sure to get good practice in snuggling :) 

and lessons on dressing appropriately for the weather :)

RR loves to help Evelyn with any school work and we usually start the desk time with that.  If they are in happy attitudes with each other :) 

We hit up the library and got all kinds of Thanksgiving books! :)

The 2nd week of Co Op, I taught about the 2nd group of Europeans to arrive in our area and we did some crafts where the kiddos had to barter materials to get what they needed to make it.  Here's our examples to show: 

And here is what E did during her Co Op craft time

We are working on our thankful tree each morning and I have noticed their attitudes have been GREAT and thankful!!! SO I AM so thankful!!!   I had gotten off track in leading them in thankfulness and training that out of them.  Need to keep on that. 

We needed some cheer one day as we we were missing Daddy & his school schedule was getting more and more intense!... so we broke all the rules & put up our trees!!! :)  The girls worked on grouping & putting things in size order. 

And RR always loves to do big boy things: 

He even serves me by brushing my hair.  I love a servant's heart - especially when it has to do with brushing my hair, ahhh. 

Annabelle is so funny at the desk.  She goes as fast as she can with her task and then right away shoves it aside and say, "what else? what next?" :)   It's hard to stay one step ahead of her!

Evelyn loves addition & subtraction sheets!

And this is perhaps my favorite favorite new daily activity.  Raymond flies through the first type chapter books so he is ready for regular "junior" chapter books but he says he has a hard time reading them.  I am not sure if it's the vocabulary or his eyes but I want him to love stories & I want him to read all these awesome classics I loved so I decided to just start reading to them.  These 2 weeks we read Indian in the Cupboard - which fit in nicely with all the native american things we are doing.  I didn't even plan that out.  The librarian just suggested that book for his age.  This has really been a great thing for many reasons.  1 - quality time to help me SIT and be with them 2 - I love to read!! and I love seeing these old "friends" I had 3 - it's teaching them to sit still and listen better 4 - they are using their imaginations and really engaging with the story which I love!!!

The girls are just so sweet and I love that they get time just the 2 of them many days too.  So cute.  I love having 3 kiddos - then it always leaves me to have 1 on 1 time with 1 of them and the other 2 get their special time. 

RR at cubscouts getting a bead for achievements :)

There are so many great free printables for the girls age.  They love these puzzles that you cut and then put back together.  I go through a LOT of ink though and it isn't cheap!  

Annabelle adding on her thankful tree note.  It's a minecraft thankful tree if you couldn't tell :)

RR has the routine down pat of the "every day" items he has to do at the desk. Every day he does spelling, handwriting, math, language/english and then the others (history, science, art, music, P.E.)  we do either at the desk or out and about or so many different things depending on the week's happenings. 

I was so happy that Daddy got time to get RR re inspired with his Kinex!   WE CAN NOT WAIT for Daddy's school to be over to get some good Daddy time in.  We need the Daddy balance!

RR served his family by making these place cards for discussion at our Thanksgiving table in Rocky Mount. 

And we remembered how much we love painting.  Oops, I haven't done enough art recently.  This isn't really written down or planned like I want it to be - so January I will do a better job of writing down to make sure I do art more often!   They had a blast and stayed entertained forever - and they came out great!!  I was impressed. 

And Mommy made sure to play some Headbands.  They are old enough now, we can play more!  ANnabelle didn't stay interetsed, but she is almost getting there! 

During our Thanksgiving weekend, RR got to play chess with cousin SHane. 

He made sure to remember that snuggling with Gramma is still a good & important thing to do

We were SO HAPPY TO JUST BE US 5!!!!

And smarty pants Evelyn spelled her name in Lincoln logs.   :) 

THe kiddos certainly learned some awesome lessons these past 2 weeks in family, thankfulness & love - the most important lessons of all! 

Some extras I forgot about:

1 - I have been using the BrainQuest cards somebody gave RR last year just for an extra fun quiz/game - those cards are great!

2 - We are working on learning the 10 commandments - summed up in the 2 greatest. 

3 - we visited a church family and they learned about Esther which RR remembered perfectly from the Action Bible which was too cool.  And we are learning Romans 8:28 with him.  The pastor's sermon really helped me remember to rejoice, be thankful & to pass on thankfulness.  It really helped me get back on track in that area like I mentioned above.  

God is THE PERFECT Shepherd/Teacher and I love watching Him align lessons & tie things together.  So fun!  

Week # 11 Recap

Welcome to Week 11 & the start of Thanksgiving fun! :) 

Pig tails, pilgrims & pumpkins - I can't stand the cuteness of it all :) 

These "dot" paints were seriously one of the best buys I've had over the years.  They have lasted forever & the girls don't get tired of them.  They can "dot" or draw/paint with them - they are great! 

Most days, we do calendar/Bible/praise/prayer time together and then the girls usually last at the table about 30 minutes more after that doing desk work.  But other times, they are just off right away, doing their own thing all morning.   They play with dolls or each other or color or dress up..... but at least once a week, I make sure to sit down just the 3 of us and do every puzzle & every fine motor type game we have. I tell them if we don't use it once a week, we have to give it to somebody else.  :)  I can't stand when things get dusty and I really refuse to "rotate" toys & activities - it's just not my style. 

I'm trying my best to do arts & crafts with them though it isn't my forte.
Here's the obligatory turkey handprint. 

I am SLOOWWWLY teaching Raymond some piano.  Every few weeks it seems.  He knows twinkle twinkle and he is practicing his first 1/2 scale with all 5 fingers.  I do want to do this more regularly. 

I really believe that when the girls are both 4 or 5+ - our days will look SO much more different & I can do things more on schedule/regularly like I crave to do :)  For now, I really am trying my best to just ENJOY this slow season and enJOY having these adorable preschoolers around.  I want so badly to learn to relax & go with the flow better. Brandon's new schedule has certainly made me take long strides in this area.  Some days we have family time all morning and don't even do ANY school work until late afternoon.  Wow, my expectations & schedules have changed a LOT in 11 short weeks!!! :)  I'm learning to go with the flow & be flexible!!!   I still have a LONG way to go. 

We made sure to get a lot of outside time again this week --- one of our fave parts of homeschooling.  He is cheesing so happy here as the girls chased him.  That boy NEEDS to be outside and NEEDS to be able to run/climb/etc. and exploring nature. 

Native American headband nights.  They were SOO cute this night & really sweet. This was really a great memory for me.  This night was the first night I realized that I really could continue to do learning type things & arts & crafts in the evening.  I'm starting to appreciate this time of year so much more too - since we are inside and HAVE to be inside from dinner & on.  

Everything about our schedule right now is definitely a different rhythm but I'm learning to look for times to engage & lead them ALL throughout the day.  When Brandon used to work "normal" hours I would basically stop trying to engage and just give them lots of freedom all afternoon/evening but now it's very different!  Now, I have to look for opportunities ALL the time. And it's DIFFERENT times EVERY day - wow that can drive my personality crazy.  And yet, there IS order in the unpredictable/diverse/ flexible days.  Amazing. 

Being a good helper around the house is one of the most important lessons I am teaching!

Evelyn LOVES sports more and more each day.  This girl is gonna be an athlete!  The same with Annabelle.  I am shocked at how quickly Annabelle picks up on things and how much more she can do at age (almost 3) than the other 2 at that age.  It is amazing how kiddos learn from each other....and seeing others do it gives them courage.  I think that's a big piece of it - the courage and idea to TRY new things. 

Thank you God for the beautiful leaves that changed the week after we learned about coniferous/decidous at Co-Op. Who says the trees don't change color on the coast!? 

Thinking about how I'm getting better at being flexible & not in control.... this desk is insane most of the time lol.  I really believe in having a "clear work space".... but it ends up looking like this pretty often.  And that's okay :) 

Raymond was having some major attitude (again) this week and really just was at a point that he just DID NOT want to listen to/obey me anymore, at all.  I knew it was time for a date and some special Mommy & RR time.  Thank God MomMom was still here & we could easily get away.   We went for a special treat to sushi and it was an awesome!!!  It certainly helped our bond and got us communicating better.   When my love/affections are stirred up and I can just BE with him without any "issue" --- it seriously helps me have grace and just be calm when he is rude.   I gotta keep those affections stirred!! :) Hence, all my picture taking!! Pictures really help!!! :) 

The past few weeks has also really taught me how much I had started to focus on the list of getting things done and not caring about what is MOST important - the heart, kindness, the WAY we do things, the attitude we do them with.  I really feel back on track and molding that boy's heart - which IS the most important work I do in homeschooling.  It's so easy to fall back into being performance-driven.  Task-driven.   I pray God will always pull me back quickly when I lose focus on the bigger picture & the # 1 calling He has given me - to love & shepherd that heart. 

We had to cool "field trips" this week.   One was the stop animation class at the library. He got to help create his first stop animation film.  I will have to get the app on my phone & let him do more!  He will love this!!

And we went to a field trip to the cape fear museum to learn more about our local native americans!  It was a great follow-up to my teaching day at Co-Op.  It was encouraging for me to see that the lesson plan I created for my co op day was right in line with ideas they had at the museum for teaching & engaging the kiddos with history.  Very cool! :)  We re-learned about Verazzano & the Europeans and Indians compare/contrast. 

We learned about being hunter/gatherers and observing nature/seasons around us.  

Studied real native american artifacts 

and played a really cool game of sticks & stones

And these sweet but competitive boys really went at it.  It sounded like a berenstain bear book when I went over to check out what all the noise was about, "he cheated.  no he cheated. no he did." and on and on :)  That was my first experience with a little friend tiff like that where the boys were so "passionate".  

I clearly need to work on how to handle situations like that.  And it also made me realize that God still has a LOT of work to do on me caring too much what OTHERS think instead of just focusing on parenting right.    Why do I care so much that others see my children well behaved?  Do I try too hard to get them to be perfect???  Are they allowed to make mistakes in public?  Do I get prideful with how "good" my children are???   Hmmm.. I have to dig deeper on this.  I really thought I had been freed from a lot of that....but I've been feeling it come to the surface with Raymond's bad attitudes recently.  I seriously just wanted him under control THAT INSTANT and felt myself getting angry and reverting to old techniques to try to get him in control....it was like all my lessons on not using anger/rashness to try to control just flew out the window.  My anger/rashness NEVER works...because he pushes away when he can see me pushing!!     I'm the coach I'm the coach I'm the coach not the enemy not the enemy not the enemy.  I need to care more about how to HELP him...not just caring to STOP him from embarassing me :) 

 It's a work in progress. 

 I am thankful to have another sweet and competitive boy like this in our group! They will be good for each other.  And for me.  

I know one thing...that boy has brought more humility into my life than anybody, ever. :)