A Week Of Everything

Our first paper mache project. We're making a pinata for the dog's first birthday! 

I'm particularly exhausted this week. It was my first week of teaching my very own curriculum and lesson plans for homeschool. The minis made a list of things they wanted to learn/study and it's up to me to teach it to them, in their preferred style of learning--hands on and playful. Daycare was full of activities as well, but I failed to get many pictures of the action. The kid's favorite thing this week was taking down our Easter find it stickers, coloring new ones, hiding them, and then finding them! 

Here's a bit of a peek from our week:

Art for the week focused on our paper mache pinata project! It will be done just in time for next week's first birthday party for our doggo, Zeus.

The oldest's last bit of curriculum studies is taking him to Asia and the Pacific Islands. He made lahmacun for dinner one night for us. 

Science is learning the systems of the body, with a focus on the skeletal system. They'll be learning all 206 bones of the body over the next few weeks, followed by animal classifications.

The Easter egg on the fan blade (next to the leprechaun foot prints that have yet to be washed off from a year ago!). Butterflies were colored and taped all around the daycare room for the kids to find. I try to switch the hiding spots daily, so it's a new find it game every morning.

After visiting Mason City last weekend (read about it here), the minis asked to watch The Music Man. They watched it, learned about Meredith Wilson, and listened to the soundtrack all week long!

Some of our coloring sheets. Daycare's letter of the weekw as Q, we learned about flowers and why their roots are important, we read books about spring and butterflies, and talked about baby animals born in the spring.

We've definitely gotten on a new schedule. Their nights are a little bit later and they sleep in a bit each morning (gone are the days of 6 a.m. wake up calls!). This girl can sleep--sometimes until 10 a.m. if I let her!

A daycare mom brought me a (much needed) coffee...and the dog thought it was for him. I assume he thought it was a pup cup!

Reading books while I got the next activity ready. Not only did one of the bigs read to the littles, I had a little "read" to his friends as well. He did storytime exactly how I do it every day, right down to asking the kids if they'd like one more book or if they're ready to go play? Cutest thing from my week!

Pinwheels. These were the perfect spring craft from Oriental Trading. Their items are really hit or miss, but I enjoyed these. Good thing too because I accidentally ordered triple the amount I needed, so they'll be a summer craft too!

If parents are looking for some silence this weekend, Dinosaur Train has a new movie on PBS Kids (we found it on our PBS Kids app on Roku). It's nearly an hour and a half long, so we watched it in three different parts, but the kiddos (ages 2 - 5) LOVED it.

These two spent the week learning all about Canada (or as we called them, "our neighbors to the north) in Social Studies. I pulled out a (kiddie) puzzle for them to put together before their final Canada geography test. I'm happy to say they aced it and can move onto learning all of the US Presidents.

We're attempting to grow a sweet potato. We'll see how it goes. Two hours passed and the kids checked on it, exclaiming "it hasn't growed yet!"

This may look like puppy cuddles, but it's really calming an extremely playful pup!

You know it's been a week when you end it with the paper towel holder broken off the wall...along with a tile or two.

What a way to end the week! Our Spain box from Universal Yums, studying for a Spanish exam (that includes writing correctly this time!), books, Harry Potter movies, and a refresh on some simple grammar (if I had to read 'their' as 'there' one more time, I might have cried).

The kiddos got to have a sneak peak of next week's sensory fun: bugs in beans! Tthey'll get to scoop them out, hide them in the beans, find them, identify them, sort them, and anything else they can think of. 

I had a good laugh this afternoon, when the three littles I had woke up and asked the youngest mini if they took good enough naps for their game. This threw me because I had heard nothing about this game before naps. Apparently, the youngest promised them a round of the find it game if they took good naps today.....and they all wound up sleeping for two hours!

You know it's been a great week by things falling off the wall and rice on the floor!

Oh What A Week

 

This one was full of special as we learned this week.

This has been a week! Busy, fulfilling, entertaining, and rewarding. All the things one could ask for in a week that leaves me exhausted and exhilarated. There was plenty of playing, numerous activities and projects, so many Easter books, a lot of Googling during homeschool, and a big milestone. Take a look:

This one cannot understand why he also can't play with the toys by chewing on them. He was really sorry...and then right back to "playing" with his friends.

Daycare Easter fun arrived, along with Easter basket goodies and new clothes. The dog also went crazy thinking it was all for him, thanks to his bi-weekly Chewy deliveries. He was really disappointed when I opened the boxes and bags and there were no bones.

 

We had a Monday evening treat. You can read about why we got it here. 

Peeps play dough was a hit this week! Find out how we made it here.

No, this isn't art class, it's their science test! Their test was to build/make a flower with ALL of the reproductive parts, then tell me the parts and how it all works. The almost 9 year old is oddly knowledgeable about flower reproductive and easily aced the test for all of them.

At the end of their test, they added a butterfly and explained to me why pollination is important and required for reproduction of plants. I was impressed. I didn't ask them to do this extra work. Then, the youngest showed me a box she had put together during their test (they were in the basement homeschool room and I was up in the daycare room while they worked). She put together a pollinator box and told me ALL about the pollinators, how everything happens, etc. I'm convinced she understands it better than I do!

The boys spend a good amount of time each week in the kitchen. This week it was smoothies, milk shakes, juices, etc. Sometimes I'm astonished at how messy my kitchen is when they're done, but I can't complain much. I get so many yummy foods and treats!

The oldest was looking through Facebook with me and came across a recipe he want me to make. It was hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, peppers, onions baked in the oven. Despite it being the oldest who requested it, the middle mini was the one who LOVED it. The daycare kiddos eat just about anything, so I wasn't surprised that they enjoyed it too.

I enjoy trying different egg dying techniques each Easter season. This year, we gave tissue paper dyed eggs a try. The eggs turned out okay-ish. The blue and blue/red combo turned out great. The yellow, green, and red/yellow combos were so faint that we REALLY had to look hard at those eggs! If you're giving this a try, make sure to get the non-waxy, bleeding tissue paper. I can't imagine trying this with waxy tissue paper.

Thursday was pizza day apparently. We tried Truman's eggs benedict pizza for breakfast (highly recommend) and Pyra Pizza for dinner. Bubble teas were for dessert.

The kids loved their stand-up Easter bunny's. I was told a few kids took them home and played with them.

"I made a hot air balloon! How does it work?" Then, we watched a video on hot air balloons.

I looked over and had to get a picture of what I saw. A child trying to hang the doll from the hook, first by the eye then by the feet. I guess we're ignoring the baby face down on the ground. The whole scene had me cracking up!

 

The oldest started The Hunger Games series and read A LOT this week. He proudly announced how many pages he read in just four days (nearly the entire first book) and the middle mini realized HE didn't read as many pages as his big brother. So, Friday became a competition of how much they could read by the end of the week. I didn't say a word and let them have this competition!

 

Tragedy struck Friday morning: the bigs had gym class without the dog. His cries and barks were so loud that a neighbor down the street texted to check on us. The kids have loved watching the NCAA tournament so much! They requested to play basketball and learn all the rules. Now I'm brushing up on all those rules because it's been a loooonnnnggg time since my 8th grade basketball season.

The big milestone of the week: we finished the school year's science curriculum! Social studies is soon to follow, as well as grammar (they will be doing reading/literature, math, and writing throughout the summer). Now, they very well could be completely done with science for the rest of the school year, but my minis LOVE to learn. Instead, they made a list of everything they want to learn/study once their done with their required curriculum. Some of this is moving on to the next grade level, some of it is studying things not in their curriculum, and a few others are things I think they would benefit from learning. I am so proud of them, us, and myself. Homeschooling has been an amazing experience this year.

Earlier in the week, the kids colored these Easter cut outs. While they napped, I taped them all around the room so we could have a neverending Easter Find It game going on. Next week, their goal will be to find all 6 of the chicks, 13 eggs, and 4 bunnies hidden throughout the daycare room. 

Next week will be Easter themed, with an emphasis on Passover and the Sedar Plate on Friday (the day before Passover begins). I'm thrilled to have sunshine next week, so we'll be able to spend plenty of time outdoors!