Creations

Both Ryan and James love to build. I encourage them to spend lots of time doing this. I think it helps their minds to grow. They come up with some fun and pretty creative things.

Socialization

I really liked this quote. Not sure who it is by but I found it on this site, http://www.montessori.edu/homeschooling.html

"The word socialization, contrary to the opinion of some, does not mean spending the weekdays competing with 25 human beings one's own age. In a natural community children spend their daily lives with old people, babies, and everyone in between. They do not compete, but learn to search out the needs of others and to help them live and learn."

Field trip to Discovery World

A friend of ours took us with her and her kids to the Discovery World Museum. The kids and I had a blast!

James was afraid to go across the glass. He thought he would fall through.

Anna LOVED looking at the jellyfish

and the seahorses

Ryan watching the fish

Touching starfish

James watching the fish

Aboard the pirate ship. The boys favorite part.

The ship is suspended in the air. It looks pretty cool from below.

Ryan's got control of the ship.

Now it's Anna's turn.

James kept saying he was the "captain".

Ryan trying to lift his own weight.

This is hard...but James' tried! :)

Anna lifting Ella. What a strong girl!

Looking out at the snow. I love this picture!

All the kids looking out.

Mommy and James.

Playing at one of the water stations. Of course James' was digging this!

Self portrait :)

Mommy always taking pictures...of course!

This was a really cool display.

Everyone was wiped out on the way home (although Ryan was faking for this picture). What a fun day!

Watching History

We spent the day learning, and watching, and glued to the T.V. like the rest of America. The Inauguration of President Obama...history in the making.

Little house on the Prairie

After reading Little House on the Prairie Anna got out her paper dolls to reenact the stories.

Learning to read

Ryan is doing very well with his reading lessons.

Current favorites

Some of the books that we are using that we enjoy right now are:

Little House on the Prairie
Stepingstones of English 2 (Rod and Staff)
A Child's History of the World, Virgil M. Hillyer
Read and Grow picture Bible
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Lost in a good book

By far Ann's favorite thing to do is read. This makes me very happy!

Me and Tinkerbell

Me and Tinkerbell
Written and illustrated by Annaliese

Once upon a time there once lived Anna and Tinkerbell together. They got up and brushed their teeth.

They ate breakfast.

They said while they were eating their lunch, "Yum".

Yarn Dolls

Since we are reading Little House on the Prairie right now, I decided for art today we would make yarn dolls. Here is our finished product.

Ryan played with his a little rough, and the head started to shrink a little.