The big news of the week is that both Kristen and Lauren memorized their verse and were able to get their candle built. I am so proud of them!
This week was a little bit chaotic. I decided to switch the days I usually run my errands from Friday to Wednesday, so school got switched around. Since errands got switched around so did the day we go to the library....well...it just ended up becoming so confusing. Probably much more confusing than it needed to be, but next week should go a lot smoother.
Dallas was very fussy this week, but he is actually teething. I am not just making that up as an excuse for his fussiness. You can see two little white bottom teeth, they just haven't come through the gums yet. He also has a cold, so he hasn't been napping good or eating good and all he wants to do is whine and be held. Plus, the weather didn't really cooperate this week either, so I had to move some activities around to days that the sun was actually shining. We are still on day one of creation and talking about light. Monday we were specifically focusing on shadows. Of course the one day that I needed the sun was the one day that it was overcast and a little drizzly, so all of the fun outdoor activities that were planned had to be postponed. We were still able to talk about shadows and do some things inside with a flashlight.
Kristen painting her "mole" (which was actually a groundhog)
Lauren didn't care what she was painting, just as long as she was painting.
Here are the girls with their groundhog shadow crafts.
I also did shadow pictures of the girls and that was a lot harder to do than it seemed, especially when a four year old who has the attention span of a dog is holding the light. She would forget what she was supposed to do and start jumping or shining the light on the ceiling or the floor, needless to say it is a miracle I even got Kristen's done or that either of them turned out to even resemble a profile. When the weather did cooperate we went outside to measure the shadows of the trees to see how they changed over the day, they got to chase their shadows and we were able to feel the warmth that the sun gives us by going directly in the sun and then standing in the shadow.
The girls trying to catch their shadows. Kristen kept yelling, "Run Lauren, your shadow is going to get you."
We also learned about how light reflects. We also talked about all of the colors God made and how we are only able to see these colors because he made light. If it was dark we wouldn't be able to see them. We looked in mirrors and went on a nature walk to see all the colors and beautiful things God created.
Here is Lauren making her mirror craft. This girl has already gone through 3 glue sticks.
Here is Lauren's rainbow she painted.
Kristen making her mirror craft
Kristen's rainbow. We also mixed colors to see what they would make.
Kristen has been working on her numbers 1-10. She can recognize them and write them from memory. She sometimes writes them backwards, but we are working on that. The hardest numbers for her to write are two and three. She is also learning to add and is doing good.
Here is the worksheet Kristen did all by herself and wrote the numbers from memory.
Lauren continues to learn shapes and colors. She is doing good, but I just have to keep reminding her to listen and think about her answer. She sometimes just says whatever comes to her mind without thinking about it. This week I had cut out some squares and triangles and gave them to her with a blank sheet of construction paper. While Kristen and I were working on adding Lauren was supposed to make a house out of the shapes and glue it to the paper. She started off randomly glueing the shapes, but after explaining it to her again she finally got it.
This was her house. I was very impressed!
And, the favorite activity of the week was when I sprayed a ton of shaving cream on the table and let the girls practice their numbers and shapes.
Kristen following directions
Lauren wouldn't be Lauren if she didn't rub it all over her arms.
I have also learned a lot since starting homeschooling. I have learned to let my kids be kids and be creative in their own way. Since I often expect perfection from myself (even though I rarely accomplish it since I am not perfect), it is very easy for me to expect a rainbow to be a perfect rainbow or a house to be a perfect house. I have enjoyed watching them learn and participate in activities with them. When I look at our bulletin board at the end of the week I feel like I have accomplished so much. I have taught them about a God who loves them, I have spent quality time with my girls and hopefully made learning fun.
Oh, and the funniest quote of the week comes from Kristen. Today we talked about Joseph and his coat of many colors. I got The Veggie Tales Ballad of Lil Joe from the library and told the girls that the movie would go along with our lesson. At the end Kristen said, "So, are we going to learn about fruits or vegetables."
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