From last month...

Some random pics from last month!

 Eliz coloring in her book...

 We made playdough!

 LOL, they were so proud of "making their own playdough"...

 One night I was cooking and showed Emilie what 1/4 of a potato was.  ;-)

Math in everyday life is the way to learn it at this age.

 Our co-op (which is now over for the summer) took a field trip to

the local police station!!

Officer Wojin (sp?) was super nice and let all the kids

hop into his cruiser.

 They loved it!

 We got to see where criminals and delinquents 

get fingerprinted (digitally, I might add - no more ink and paper!).

 And got to go in a JAIL cell with the other kids.

The girls were a bit freaked out.  

I hope this is the first and last time we are ever in a jail cell!!  LOL

 Backyard roses in full bloom!

 We also made a worm farm.  (So gross, I know).

But the girls loved watching the worms dig around (until they died).

Emilie learned an important science concept observing the worms.

She saw the dirt moving and said, "That must be where the worm is!"

Yup darling girl!  The moving dirt is EVIDENCE of the worm underneath it,

even though the worm was not visible.

Evidence is such an important concept to grasp... and I am so glad she did.

You cannot see God, but all of creation is evidence of His existence, power, and omnipotence.

The rustling leaves on a tree is evidence of the wind we cannot see.

The falling rock to the ground is evidence of the gravity we cannot see but know to be true.

And such is the life of faith -- tiny seeds of faith which are of greater weight than gold, 

in His eyes -- the life of little hearts learning to trust God when you cannot see Him,

but you can see evidences of His goodness, everywhere.

Love that she is learning this!

 April showers really brought May flowers!

 And lastly, from months ago,

we went on a nature walk and saw some beautiful irises.

So of course, we came home, and drew them.  :-)

Starting Kindergarten Work

I decided to just push ahead and keep going... 

Emilie started her first day of Kindergarten work!

She is ready.  I advanced her to her Kindergarten phonics book and she did great!  

 We are working through her math curriculum

and today we introduced place value.

I appreciate their methods:

30 = "three-tens"

Doing this with the abacus and number cards

helps her visually understand place value.

 Revisiting the bead stairs and reverse bead stairs

 Eliz started her preschool Handwriting book.

She loves having "her own school books" 

to do while Emilie does hers.  :)

 Emilie colored a ladybug.

We learned that ladybugs are really called lady beetles,

and Em excitedly told me that "they have wings underneath their shells!"

I asked her where she learned that.

Oh, Disney Junior channel on TV.  

:P

(Did I mention that coming back from Texas, we've cut out all of their TV?!

Yup!  So excited!)

 I did not get them to do this.

They LOVE changing into their tutus and dancing around the house.

So not kidding.  So I turned on the classical music

and they gave us a little concert.  

And lastly we painted a wooden bird house.

Gonna give it a try on our deck and see which birdie birds come and visit us!

She turned 5!!

I'll never catch up with all the things that happened in May!  

Emilie turned 5 (!!), had a picnic party at a park, 

we flew to Dallas and came back all sick (par for course), 

church stuff suddenly got super busy, 

and now we're gearing up for kindergarten work!  

It's been a whirlwind!  Can't believe it's memorial weekend already and the pool opens!  

Spring is gone...(but my allergies are still killing me!).

 I barely have any pics from the party...

was too busy running around!

But we had pizza and snacks at a park shelter..

And kept everything low-key.

 Kids got to plant flower seeds as favors..

in biodegradable containers..

 She was SOOO happy!

And had the "best party EVER!!!!!"  :-)

Made me so glad...

I think we ended up having like 12 kids and 12 adults, or more...

Can't remember now.

I think everyone had fun at the huge playground nearby.

Emilie is all grown up now...

still can't believe we have a kindergartener on our hands!!

She is such a joy to us!!

She is goofy, loving, fun and cracks us up all the time.

We love you so much little girl.. happy birthday!

P is for Penguin

I'd like to wrap up MFW by August and officially start Kindergarten then for Emilie.  

We take a lot of breaks, because, well, let's be honest, life happens!  

Kids get sick.  I get sick.  We travel.  (Going to Texas soon! Yeehaw!)

But the great thing about homeschooling is as long as you are making progress

you can schedule your days any way you like. 

I plan on schooling through the summer, maybe half time.

Gives the girl something to do when it's too hot to go outside.  

Plus Emilie is making good progress reading 3 letter C-V-C words,

 and so I don't want to lose momentum with her reading instruction.

I didn't take many pics of school this morning.  But we learned about the Emperor Penguin in Antarctica.

How the fathers hold and keep warm their eggs at their feet for 2-3 months in the frigid, sub-zero temps, eating no food at all during that time.  And how that sacrifice and patience is an example of our Father in heaven's sacrifice and love and patience for us. 

 (I just love all the analogies in nature so easily understood by children

 to help us understand what God is like!)

We painted penguins... read a sweet book on patience... (all the while, telling the kids how *MOMMY* needs more patience, haha.  :P)... And we did a lot of crafts... rode bikes outside...ate a picnic lunch on the porch...did house chores... caught up on life and (unending) laundry.  It was a good day.  

At one point in the car, Emilie asked me how police officers know how fast a car is going in order to catch them.  (Good question!).  I explained they use radar guns to tell them the speed of cars going by.  It's good to be reminded that they are just little kids...learning about this big, crazy and complex world we live in.   It's easy to treat my 3 and almost 5 yr old like they are 8 and 10 yr olds "who should know better" when they misbehave.  But they are still young, and I need to be reminded of that...often!

Love them so much.  

(chuckling at the imaginary spellings and names Emilie made up.)

Green Meadows Petting Farm

Jee took the day off and we went up to the petting farm in Frederick.  

It was a perfectly (HOT!) day for it!

We had so much fun... oh it was a much needed day off from life!

 Eliz loved holding the chickens...

Me, not so much!!  HAHA...

This beautiful horse was from...

can't remember now, but about 17.1 hands high!

 These piglets were chowing down, at 2 weeks old.

When the momma makes milk, she grunts really loudly

and that is how the kiddos know it's lunch time.

Pretty amazing.  After that, the milk is all gone.

 They got to milk a cow

(sorry forgot to upload that pic)...

And there were barns with duck homes in the walls (so cool!)...

Such a neat place!

We got to go on a private hayride..

We saw baby pigs race!!

And hung out with some LEAP friends as well.

Oh it was lovely.

Definitely a place to visit yearly.