Snow Day

I got a call last night that school was out for today due to weather. It hadn't started snowing yet but it was to happen during the night. We woke up this morning to about an inch on the ground. The girls were thrilled that they didn't have to go to school and I was thrilled because I could get some stuff done with them at home. We started with breakfast and chores.

Then went on to Handwriting without Tears. Ladybug has a different opinion. We got through a few pages in this book and then they each read their AR books to me. AR is a comprehension program the school has set up, where the girls earn points for each book they test higher than an 80% on.

Dragonfly loved making letters with the blocks. I really need to read through the teacher's book before I start any real handwriting lessons with her. We just played around with the blocks today.

After lunch, we headed upstairs for Math-U-see lessons. Can you guess which one is absolutely thrilled to be watching a math lesson? This lesson was intended for Ladybug and Butterfly. We are working on the Alpha unit. Today we got through 4 lessons before we reach the point that Ladybug needs more work. She doesn't quite understand that zero added to a number doesn't cause the number to change. So she needs to review lesson 4 again but Butterfly can go on to the next lessons. I really want to try to keep Ladybug up with Butterfly so Ladybug is going to need some one on one time in the evenings to keep up.

Since the math lessons were too easy for PF, I assigned her a writing assignment. She loves to write so I thought this would be a good alternative activity. Today I was wrong. I think having snow on the ground made it hard to be excited about anything inside.

Building 157

Finally the schoolwork was done and the girls were suited up. Time to play outside! PF attempted to build and igloo. Not sure we had enough snow for that. The girls had fun sledding down the playground slide (on their bottoms). The 3 younger girls lasted 20mins. PF was out much longer. PF has really grown since last winter, she no longer fits into her snow boots and her snow pants are getting really small. After playing outside they came in for hot chocolate and a new movie sent to us by Auntie Laura. The movie was Heidi but all the actors were dogs....hilarious! It was perfect for our quiet time today.

Upward Cheerleading

Although my girls are in school this year, I am still looking for opportunities for them to get in some P.E. time. This is especially true in the winter when the time they play outside decreases drastically. Well being way out on the east coast it gets dark here shortly after 5pm and they get off the bus alittle after 3pm. Generally the sun is already setting and clouds are covering what sun we have left. This being said none of us want to be outside in the cold moving around, so I find them indoor activities during the winter to keep them moving. This year we are fortunate enough to be able to participate in Upward Cheerleading for free. My girls have never cheerleaded before but are really enjoying it. Oh and for those who ask the question about socialization, well here's a way we can accomplish that as well.

Today was their first game to cheer for. They have had a few Monday night practices leading up to this game.

Ladybug was nice and loud. This shouldn't surprise anyone who knows her.

Dragonfly even got out on the floor at one point and did the cheer with them.

Butterfly wasn't loud but she sure can move. I didn't get the best shot of her doing the cheer but she can really move her hips.

Dragonfly Preschool: Winter

I had decided last month to do a winter theme for January and use a lot of snowmen things that I had on hand. I have found so many cool print out and ideas for this month. Most of the print outs I used today came from this blog. She puts together wonderful themed packs! Today we went over the letter "W". I don't have do-a-dots so we used stamps instead. The girls got a bunch of circular stamps from a Christmas party, so this is a great way to use them.

Then we practiced matching by playing winter dominoes while drinking our smoothie snack.

A fellow blogger gave me some great ideas for preparing Dragonfly for using scissors. She suggested working on strengthening the muscles in her hand. For this activity, Dragonfly was doing just that as she squeezed the correct number of clothespins onto each snowman.

Lining up the correct number of snowman for each number.

The doorbell rang in the middle of it all and sure enough the scissors with open assistance that I ordered for Dragonfly were delivered. So I quickly got some strips of paper and dragonfly cut some snowflakes. She did so well today. These scissors made all the difference. Dragonfly was getting frustrate before that she couldn't open the scissors back up but wasn't struggling with the rest of the process of cutting. Now the frustration has been eliminated!

Putting the correct number of marshmallows into the hot chocolate.

Reward.....eating the marshmallows.

Making snowflakes out of playdough.

Dragonfly did wonderful today with all of her activities. She is really getting better about pointing and counting each object instead of touching everything while counting really fast and the numbers not matching up. We had some great discussions about winter while we worked on each activity such as what do we wear during the winter, what starts with "w", what does it feel like in the winter, and what kinds of fun activities can we do in the snow.

Mission Complete

I firmly believe that God has given me the exact children that I have to develop my character and to reveal to me areas in my life that need a lot of work. I am so grateful that He is willing to continue to make me whole and more like Him everyday. That being said:

Ladybug and Butterfly finally mastered an important life skill!!!!!

We have been going over this every so often for years now.

Something finally clicked tonight! Ladybug came home from school today and said "Mom, I have to tie my shoe tonight." So we sat down and went over the procedure again. I first showed her. Then had her tell me how to do it as I tied the shoe. Then I observed her tying the shoe and made corrections when necessary. Lastly, I let her do it all on her own.......Success! Then seeing that her younger sister mastered the skill of tying a shoe, Butterfly pops up and says "Me next!" I went through the same instructions with her and.......Success!

I am so thrilled to be able to check this off. There are times that I have doubted my abilities to instructed my children properly because I haven't seemed to be able to help them master these basic skills. But God is so good and continues to teach me to be patient and that in His time they will succeed not in my time.

The next big task will be getting them to ride a bike but I believe I will wait for hubby on this.

Our Last Day

So today was the last day that all my girls were home with me. I have very much enjoyed our winter break and wish it could be longer. But only 22 weeks until we are finished with our one year public school experience. (21 weeks if you take out spring break) I think we are all ready to get back to normal and for us that is homeschooling. Over the break, we talked a lot about it and the girls just got more and more excited to know that I was going to be their teacher forever. They can't wait. I pray this attitude continues in June. But if today was an indication of the years to come then I think we will be just fine.

I still wanted to fit in Dragonfly's preschool trays today so I just decided to adapt a few so the older girls could join in and get something out of it too.

This tray had a stack of numbers, a pin, paper and a stamp. Object of this tray was to pick a number, write the number, and then put the correct number of stamps next to the number. For dragonfly, I sat and counted with her or she would have just put stamps all over the page. I let her do this after we went through a few numbers first.

The writing tray. The older girls wrote short stories about our snowman friend. Dragonfly just made a picture.

My girls love these porcupine figures so I got them out for Dragonfly to sort and the other girls created all kinds of ways to entertain themselves with these.

They all love playdough. Aunt KiKi got them each some cookie cutters for Christmas which came in handy for our playdough time today.

I found some snowflake tongs at Hobby Lobby while in GA and had to have them for my snow box. They were the most popular tool to use today with the box. Butterfly had the best time with the sensory box and I had to set a time for her or she would have never rotated to something different.

Dragonfly did a great job sharing her table set up with her sisters. This is the first time that I have done the table set up with all of them. It is my hope to have one for each morning to get everyone's brain charging so I was pleased to see how well it worked with all of them today.

Character Study: Obedience

We had a nice week off from school but now it is back to reality. I found a character study on a blog that I am reading and really thought 2011 should start with a focus on my girls' character. I chose Obedience for our first study. The girls are memorizing psalm 119:11 and even Dragonfly can recite it. This is a five day study and tonight we completed day 2. I have enjoyed reading the passages of the Bible to the girls and discussing the blessing of obedience and the consequences for disobedience. There is a challenge each day...obey even when nobody else is obeying is what we are focusing on right now. After yesterday's reading the girls made the cards above. They will choose where it is most important to them to hang them. They will be a reminder to them that the character of obedience is important.
You can find these studies by clicking Here.