Monday, November 21, 2005
Snowflake outfit
C has been BEGGING me to teach him how to sew since I got my new sewing machine in August. I have been pretty busy with Halloween costumes and Christmas gifts so I haven't had much time to teach him. We made a "blanket" in September. Today I had some lovely white fleece and I just guessed and made a long gown for the baby and matching hat. He sewed all the seams and I did the hems on the gown. It really looks cute - and now he can have something HE made for his little sister when she comes.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Dominoes, your in home math tutor
C found a hand me down toy a few weeks ago that I had put away several months ago because it just kept getting stepped on. It was a toy computer thing with educational games. The simple addition games REALLy caught his attention and he is now always asking questions like "Mom, what's plus seven plus five?"
Well the other day he asked me to play a game with him an I promised to play dominoes with him after I put E down for his nap. When I came down he had a line of dominoes set up. After we knocked them down we started noticing the colored dots and I showed him how to add each side up. We went throught the whole box of double twelve dominoes adding all the sides up. We didn't do many 10s, 11s, or 12s. He really caught on to adding 0 to any number, also 1s and 2s. In fact there were quite a few sums that he could do in his head. I was really impressed with what he could do quickly. It never seemed like a chore (except when I pressed a few of the "too hard" sums like 7,8,9's added with each other) and it really felt like a game. C was a little sad when they were all done, but he decided he didn't want to do them all over again.
I love it when things just happen like they did with the dominoes. Now C had math as a concept not as a subject. We try to do little sums in our daily life. I love homeschooling, I love watching him learn and I love how sometimes it all just happens.
Well the other day he asked me to play a game with him an I promised to play dominoes with him after I put E down for his nap. When I came down he had a line of dominoes set up. After we knocked them down we started noticing the colored dots and I showed him how to add each side up. We went throught the whole box of double twelve dominoes adding all the sides up. We didn't do many 10s, 11s, or 12s. He really caught on to adding 0 to any number, also 1s and 2s. In fact there were quite a few sums that he could do in his head. I was really impressed with what he could do quickly. It never seemed like a chore (except when I pressed a few of the "too hard" sums like 7,8,9's added with each other) and it really felt like a game. C was a little sad when they were all done, but he decided he didn't want to do them all over again.
I love it when things just happen like they did with the dominoes. Now C had math as a concept not as a subject. We try to do little sums in our daily life. I love homeschooling, I love watching him learn and I love how sometimes it all just happens.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Banana Trap
Somehow I managed to let a batch of fruitflies invade my house. I think it was the really really ripe banana a couple of weeks ago. The funny thing is they didn't just hang out in the kitchen with the food - they were everywhere. Well yesterday I decided to leave a plate out with a tomato and really ripe banana to see if I could get them all to congregate in one place...and then get them some how. I really didn't think too hard about it. But C came up with the idea to get them in a jar... I thought it was unlikely but let him get a jar and a lid and put the banana in there. He kept watching it and putting the lid on every 5 seconds and only managed to catch one or two which escaped when he took off the lid.
Once he forgot about it the trap really started working. I go check it every half hour or so and there are lots of flies inside, then I quickly put on the lid and take the flies outside and release them. Then I bring the jar back in and collect more flies. Overnight they left the other parts of the house and are now thick in the the kitchen - which is good because that is where the trap is. I am getting rid of them about 30 at a time a I suppose - and my 5 year old thought up the way.
Once he forgot about it the trap really started working. I go check it every half hour or so and there are lots of flies inside, then I quickly put on the lid and take the flies outside and release them. Then I bring the jar back in and collect more flies. Overnight they left the other parts of the house and are now thick in the the kitchen - which is good because that is where the trap is. I am getting rid of them about 30 at a time a I suppose - and my 5 year old thought up the way.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Lost post
We spent the weekend moving furniture and reorganizing the house. We managed to cram in a major religious holiday's festivities and a couple games of bowling as well. Poor B and I were very sore people all weekend. The good news is the rearrangement made it much easier to keep the TV turned off all day today. It was in a different room so it wasn't even a temptation. When I felt myself needing a break I looked to where the TV used to be and saw my piano, so I sat down and played.
C suprised me today. We were reading "The Friend" and found a fun little craft in side. C wanterd to do it so we ripped out the pages to get started. There was a word puzzle on the back that I had him do while I got all the supplies together. The puzzle had you write the name of a color next to the color and then a word formed in the middle. Well C listened to the instructions and sat right down and found the right words and wrote them down. He only needed help from me with "indigo" and "violet" two words he had never seen before.
C suprised me today. We were reading "The Friend" and found a fun little craft in side. C wanterd to do it so we ripped out the pages to get started. There was a word puzzle on the back that I had him do while I got all the supplies together. The puzzle had you write the name of a color next to the color and then a word formed in the middle. Well C listened to the instructions and sat right down and found the right words and wrote them down. He only needed help from me with "indigo" and "violet" two words he had never seen before.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Pre-raphaelites meet Preschool
We got a late start this morning. The adults were up late because J convinced me that the pain I was having was kidney stones and I was freaking out about how on earth I was going to down 6 cans of coke and a bunch of asparagus when I can't even stomach a SIP of cola. Then E decided to wake up 2 hours early and I spent an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep. I did it, but then we all slept in.
We rushed around and made it out of the house at 11:20 but had to go back because I forgot the camera. When B said "I have everything all ready." I assumed he had everything all ready in the backpack. He meant that he had found the backpack and I could fill it up.
We made it to the Japanese gardens at about noon. We tumbled on to the shuttle and I finished packing the backpack and dressing E on the way up the hill... then I remembered we left the camera in the car.
The garden was breathtaking as usual, it never ceases to amaze me how carefully laid out that garden is yet it looks so natural. Everything is taken care of so nicely. It was a little colder than we would have liked and apparently March is not the time to go. I had scheduled the trip to coincide with the cherry tree in the center of the garden being in bloom, but we had a 2 week 70 degree stretch earlier this month. It must have brought on the blossoms early because we had a tree of half spent blossoms and new leaves. Also they must trim the irises in the winter because the Zig-Zag path was just a path in a big plot of mud with a few green shoots coming up. We couldn't figure out why they frosted the glass so that you can't look in the tea house, and the koi were not in the waterfall pond but hiding in the other pond all in a huddle.
The azaleas were just beginning to bloom so the bushes had lovely little pink buds all over them, very nice. The moss was everywhere, I love moss.
C and I kept finding things that were shaped like moons. He stated telling us where different stone lanterns came from. "That came 100 years ago from a japanese rocket", "That is 2 weeks old from a chinese rocket" and so on.
E walked the WHOLE garden along the rough stone paths, up and down the rugged stairs. He had a great time. He was quite offended when I saved the stone Zen garden from his intended toddler footprints.
There were 2 adorable pictures I wish I could have taken. One was of C, after having wandered off he thought he was lost and sat down on the stair of the main building overlooking the city with his elbows on his knees and chin in hands and sat there looking so dejected and adorable! The other was of B carrying E down the hill and E snuggled up on his shoulder.
We made our way downtown found the parking garage and walked to the art museum. There was an exhibit of art from the Native Americans of the Columbia river, it had carvings and baskets and beadwork. There was also a Pre-raphaelite exhibit - be still my beating heart! B and I had a great time, J was bored, E wanted to get off my back and touch everything and C was bored, however he did remark that he wished he has paper and something to color with. He likes to copy pictures that other people have made. He was inspired and I wished we could have taken advantage of it. Perhaps someday we can get someone to watch E and we can go alone with C and let him draw.
Outside the museum C pointed out a building with lots of flags flying and he said that the one with stripes and stars was his favorite. My patriotic soul was so proud. Of course he isn't sure what the flag stands for yet, and I am SURE I knew the pledge by heart by the time I was 4. I guess that is something we can work on.
We wandered around downtown in a dazed stupor looking for something to eat as it was now 3 and of course no one had eaten yet. There were surprisingly few eating establishments in the near vicinity of the museum. We stumbled into a hero sandwich shop and ate like ravenous beasts. Everyone thought that it was wicked cool because there were computers hooked up to the wireless internet that they have downtown.
When we got home we got a call that our entertainment center and bookshelves are in. I was so excited but then realized the walls weren't painted yet so I rushed out and bought some paint and spent the evening painting. Blessings to the guy at the paint store that spent 50 minutes trying to get just the right shade of green for me. It looks great, kinda like moss. I love moss!
We rushed around and made it out of the house at 11:20 but had to go back because I forgot the camera. When B said "I have everything all ready." I assumed he had everything all ready in the backpack. He meant that he had found the backpack and I could fill it up.
We made it to the Japanese gardens at about noon. We tumbled on to the shuttle and I finished packing the backpack and dressing E on the way up the hill... then I remembered we left the camera in the car.
The garden was breathtaking as usual, it never ceases to amaze me how carefully laid out that garden is yet it looks so natural. Everything is taken care of so nicely. It was a little colder than we would have liked and apparently March is not the time to go. I had scheduled the trip to coincide with the cherry tree in the center of the garden being in bloom, but we had a 2 week 70 degree stretch earlier this month. It must have brought on the blossoms early because we had a tree of half spent blossoms and new leaves. Also they must trim the irises in the winter because the Zig-Zag path was just a path in a big plot of mud with a few green shoots coming up. We couldn't figure out why they frosted the glass so that you can't look in the tea house, and the koi were not in the waterfall pond but hiding in the other pond all in a huddle.
The azaleas were just beginning to bloom so the bushes had lovely little pink buds all over them, very nice. The moss was everywhere, I love moss.
C and I kept finding things that were shaped like moons. He stated telling us where different stone lanterns came from. "That came 100 years ago from a japanese rocket", "That is 2 weeks old from a chinese rocket" and so on.
E walked the WHOLE garden along the rough stone paths, up and down the rugged stairs. He had a great time. He was quite offended when I saved the stone Zen garden from his intended toddler footprints.
There were 2 adorable pictures I wish I could have taken. One was of C, after having wandered off he thought he was lost and sat down on the stair of the main building overlooking the city with his elbows on his knees and chin in hands and sat there looking so dejected and adorable! The other was of B carrying E down the hill and E snuggled up on his shoulder.
We made our way downtown found the parking garage and walked to the art museum. There was an exhibit of art from the Native Americans of the Columbia river, it had carvings and baskets and beadwork. There was also a Pre-raphaelite exhibit - be still my beating heart! B and I had a great time, J was bored, E wanted to get off my back and touch everything and C was bored, however he did remark that he wished he has paper and something to color with. He likes to copy pictures that other people have made. He was inspired and I wished we could have taken advantage of it. Perhaps someday we can get someone to watch E and we can go alone with C and let him draw.
Outside the museum C pointed out a building with lots of flags flying and he said that the one with stripes and stars was his favorite. My patriotic soul was so proud. Of course he isn't sure what the flag stands for yet, and I am SURE I knew the pledge by heart by the time I was 4. I guess that is something we can work on.
We wandered around downtown in a dazed stupor looking for something to eat as it was now 3 and of course no one had eaten yet. There were surprisingly few eating establishments in the near vicinity of the museum. We stumbled into a hero sandwich shop and ate like ravenous beasts. Everyone thought that it was wicked cool because there were computers hooked up to the wireless internet that they have downtown.
When we got home we got a call that our entertainment center and bookshelves are in. I was so excited but then realized the walls weren't painted yet so I rushed out and bought some paint and spent the evening painting. Blessings to the guy at the paint store that spent 50 minutes trying to get just the right shade of green for me. It looks great, kinda like moss. I love moss!
Thursday, March 24, 2005
BOWLING for peace
C has decided that he loves bowling. "It's my favorite." The child has never set foot withing 100 yards of a bowling alley but none the less bowling it is. I am assuming he gleaned information from the television because all of a sudden out of the blue he HAS to go bowling. So this morning I looked at the various local bowling alleys to see when a good time would be to go bowling. I am not fool enough to take 2 small children to the bowling alley by myself so we are limited to times when B is home from work. Slim pickings for the after 6 crowd, that is unless we want to join a league. That would be fun, we could have shirts made "Our little army"... Of course E can't even pick up a ball yet..
Not being able to go bowling immediately put C in a bad mood before the morning had even begun. By the time E came downstairs and we TRIED to do our morning devotional C was pulling the cushions off the couch and trying to put a DVD in by himself, a sure sign of a bad day ahead. Luckily I am not above bribery and I used the "No bowling" threat several times over the course of the morning. It managed to get him to quit whining about the TV, stop throwing puzzle peices, and stop tormenting his brother.
This afternoon we are headed to the library and I think I will try to cram in grocery shopping too.
Tomorrow we have a big outing planned. B is taking the day off, we are making J get out of bed and come along, and we are going to the Japanese Garden, Art Museum, Lunch downtown and perhaps...bowling!
Not being able to go bowling immediately put C in a bad mood before the morning had even begun. By the time E came downstairs and we TRIED to do our morning devotional C was pulling the cushions off the couch and trying to put a DVD in by himself, a sure sign of a bad day ahead. Luckily I am not above bribery and I used the "No bowling" threat several times over the course of the morning. It managed to get him to quit whining about the TV, stop throwing puzzle peices, and stop tormenting his brother.
This afternoon we are headed to the library and I think I will try to cram in grocery shopping too.
Tomorrow we have a big outing planned. B is taking the day off, we are making J get out of bed and come along, and we are going to the Japanese Garden, Art Museum, Lunch downtown and perhaps...bowling!
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Opening Day
I thought it would be fun to create a homeschool blog so that family can keep up with our little guys. Remember the internet is a scary place so I will try not to put too much personal information on here - please do likewise on the comments.
-K
-K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
