Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? {BFIAR}

Because of the beautiful weather at the end of the week, we forfeited some of what I had planned in favor of outdoor play but finished off what we had set aside this week.
I was shocked by how much the girls adored this book!
Having read it myself before sharing it with them, I was a little disappointed by the simplicity of this book.
Despite the fact that the book didn't do much for me, it proved to be a true delight to them.
It caused endless amounts of giggles at the breakfast table (especially the "rose in my toes" and "not my pants, they sat in the ants" parts!).
And I caught them reciting parts of the book to each other throughout the day!
Obviously I have very poor taste when it comes to children's books....



We started our week with a gummy bear science experiment.
We placed one gummy bear in water and the other in salt water.
I asked the girls to predict what they thought would happen.
Piper is making real predictions now and it's the cutest thing ever!
She guessed that the one in water would float.
She thought that the one in salt water would melt.


The next morning we pulled them out.
The gummy bear in water had absorbed the water and as a result, grew larger.
The one in salt water was dehydrated from the salt. It had become hard and faded in color.


We talked about why this happened as well as about the uses of salt.


Both girls were most thrilled to hold our little science experiments and pretend to make them talk! Haha!


PIper and Taitum colored weather bears and the clothes to go with them.
I then lamintated them and added velcro and they had a great ol' time dressing up their very own Jesse bear in various outfits.





We discussed the Canada food guide and healthy eating habits this week.
The girls cut out pictures of the different foods that Jesse bear ate in the story and glued them to a plate.
After comparing his lunch to the food guide they decided his lunch was a healthy one!


I found some good printables at Nourish Interactive.
From there we printed off a food pyramid and a 'Color the Food Group' worksheet.
For many of their own lunches afterwards, they would stop and compare what they were eating to the food pyramid I'd posted and decide whether their lunch was healthy or not!
They're keeping Mama on her toes!



Much time was also spent looking for various things in the story.
One day we observed the many flowers found in the illustrations.
Another time we looked for ways the Mama Bear and Papa Bear showed Jesse Bear affection.
The girls loved looking for the many hidden bears in the pictures.
We even discussed why Mama Bear chose to decorate the bathroom with swans and other animals that might be a good choise for decorating a bathroom with!

This was a FUN book!
I'm amused at how the kids caused me to appreciate it and, in the end, even end up enjoying it!
I am forever amazed at how much I'm learning and they are teaching me in this journey together!



Summer Adventures: Mactaquac Beaver Pond

Our school week got 'interrupted' by good weather!
We all joyfully bounded out of the house Thursday morning delighted to have the opportunity to join some friends on a field trip to the Mactaquac Beaver Pond!
(Ok, maybe not so joyful. Piper whined the whole way there, asked to go home and worried about bears. But in the end, she just can't quench this Mama's enthusiasm and she was later thrilled about our little adventure!)


First, we discovered a tree that had been cut down by beavers.



Now that the girls knew what they were looking for, they were on the hunt!





We happened upon many interesting sights along the way!





photo by K.M.


photo by K.M.


photo by K.M.


photo by K.M.


And there were no bears to be seen except this one:



There was also the thrill of standing on a tree stump.




The view was beautiful.
This was a pond made my beavers.




I was quite certain Tait was going to end up in it.
(She did not, for all you worry warts out there.)






Renly was having fun, too!
(Because sleeping is fun.)



There were lots of plants to investigate.









The beaver huts were very easy to spot.
We saw several instances of them having been hard at work chopping down trees recently but they kept a low profile.




Some kids were on a school field trip and out in the pond with nets catching all kinds of critters.
The girls had a wonderful chance to view close up what exactly resides there!

A catfish.


Leeches.
(Seriously.)


Dragonfly nymphs.
(I nearly lost it when I first saw them and thought they were spiders that could breath under water...)



It was a fantastic day with friends!
We'll certainly be back to hike the other trails!

photo by K.M.


We love summer adventures!

(Special thanks to our friends for sharing this one with us!)

Cat.





The other night I heard the door to Piper and Tait's room creak open.
Then my oldest gal bounced out of her room, bursting with excitement..

"I can spell 'cat'! Watch this: Kkk - Ahhhh - Ttt. CAT!"

I was tired but realized she had had a lightbulb moment while lying in her bed thinking.
So I joined her in her excitement and asked what letters made those sounds...

"C. A. T!"

She was vibrating with the energy that can only come from having discovered something new.
I smiled as I congratulated her and shooed her back to bed.

I remember the first time I was able to read a whole book myself.
It was a Sesame Street one and I read it over and over again to anyone who would listen.
My grandfather was looking after me one evening around this time and I must have read it to him several times because I can still remember asking if he'd like me to read it to him again!
My ever patient Gunky tried his very best to get out of another rendition of the book.
I suspect I won!

These are exciting times for a child.
Figuring out letter sounds and putting them together to to make a word.
Recognizing sight words.
Welcome to the wonderful world of reading, my sweet Piper girl!

The next morning upon waking, Pipe made a B-line for the crayons and paper.
At the table I heard her whispering, "C...A...T...".
Then, "Look, Mom! I spelled 'cat'!"
She had to cut it out and mount in on the fridge.

Now every time I go for milk or what have you, 'cat' is there.
It reminds me what a blessing it is to live in a time and place where literacy is available and accessible.
It makes me grateful that a love for reading and words and great literature is something I can impart to my girls.
It makes me glad that I can be there to see and share all these little revelations that unfold for them in their learning journey.

Educational Summer: Check!



I always look forward to summer.
It doesn't really matter that it's really not that different from the rest of the year for us here at home.
(Contrary to popular belief, we do not take 2 months off because Daddy is a teacher. With 3 littles, time off is when I can sneak off to Walmart after they've gone to bed.)
The warm weather, sunny skies and frequent trips to the beach are vacation enough!
But as anyone knows who has ever cared for little stinkers like mine, messing with the schedule is a big no-no.
They like the rhythm of their day and quite frankly, so do I.
So this whole post is about the slight changes I'm making to our everyday happenings so that life with the crew is a little more summer friendly!




First off: review!
All those phonetic sounds Piper learned this year need to be remembered!
I'm not about to throw all that hard work out the window but, let's face it, daily flash cards are just not going to cut it with my 4 year old!
Instead she gets to do something fun and out of the norm: Reading Eggs!
This is an awesome online program that has 120 lessons and lots of fun games and activities, too!
This is not even work to Piper and she completes her lesson each day while little sisters are napping.
Not only is she reviewing what we've done this past year but she is also learning numerous sight words!




We are still reading through the bible stories in the Beginner's Bible though since the activity book doesn't cover all of them.
For the summer we have also begun Leading Little Ones to God.
This is a fabulous book and is unique in that it teaches who God is and other foundational truths of our faith in a very understandable way.
For example, last week we learned why we can't see God, how we know He exists and how He speaks to us.
When I asked questions this week about what we had learned, Piper was able to answer all my questions without difficulty!
I was very impressed considering that there are very few pictures in the book.
Both girls love sitting and listening to me read this book at breakfast time and it has caused many interesting conversations!



Piper is working on her printing skills this summer.
We are using Handwriting Without Tears Get Set For School workbook.
This book requires only tracing of the letters which is pretty easy for Pipe but I figured it would prepare her for starting the Kindergarten level workbook, Letters and Numbers For Me, in September.
Believe it or not, she adores tracing the letters in her workbook.
She gets a little annoyed at me when I correct her pencil grip but is so proud of every letter that she traces!


You've already had several glimpses of the nature journals we've begun but it too is a summer project.
I'm hoping that we'll stay consistent with it since it is easy for me to forget to look for something interesting to add to the journal when we are outside.
So far Piper has been the one to find things and ask to draw them in her journal.
Thank goodness for her enthusiasm!









One project that I have not yet begun but plan to is a sponser child lapbook like the one above.
The girls have taken interest in who the little boy in the picture on our fridge is and I think summer would be the perfect time to pursue that since we have a tad bit more time on our hands.
I'd love to provide them with regular opportunities to draw pictures to send to him and think of questions to ask since he writes us frequently.



I am really debating continuing our Before Five in a Row books through the summer.
We are having so much fun with this program!
Likely, I'll take it a week at a time and plan to row different books on weeks when there is not a whole lot going on or it is rainy.
I am really hoping for a warm summer though!
We have a garden to tend to, road trips to take and beachs to play at!
I'd be very pleased if the majority of our days were spent outside!



So I don't think this makes us year round homeschoolers...
Quite frankly, I can't imagine going any length of time without learning with these kids!
I'm realizing more and more that educating them is a way of life rather than a system that we can close down for a couple of months each year.
To be honest, even if I could, I wouldn't want to!
I love seeing their curiousity take over and them absorb every last drop of knowledge I impart to them!
Add to that how much I am learning and you've got a group of education junkies on your hands!

Call us crazy but we LOVE (home)school!

The Carrot Seed {BFIAR}

This week we 'rowed' The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss.
We don't own the book and it wasn't available at the library this week so I found a youtube version instead that we read each day!





We began our week by putting together a little science project...




I chopped the ends off some carrots while the girls filled their jars with a few stones.
Then they placed the carrot top in the jar and added some water until it touched the bottom of the carrot.
Piper predicted that the carrot would grow.
I think she meant that it would grow into a whole new carrot...
Either way I was skeptical and figured I probably should have bought newer carrots for this to actually work.




A couple days later I was proved wrong!
The top of one of the carrots began to grow!
This is a bit of a blurry picture but you get the gist.
And today the sprouts are even taller than when I took this picture!



Naturally, the girls got in on the carrot chopping action on a night we were having them with our supper.
Good life skill especially when you add the extra challenge of trying to cut a carrot with a bread knife...
Piper is actually able to use the real deal but Tait totally IS NOT so Piper sweetly goes along with the butter knife thing to alleviate any squabbles.


We explored seeds this week too.
I provided a sample of each of the different seeds we are going to be planting in our garden for the girls to explore.
I was surprised by how very interested they were!
This led to furthur, unplanned, seed activities.


For example, sorting them by size.
Pipe was surprised at how small some of the seeds were.



We also made a seed collage.



In preparation for our garden, we made garden markers.
Piper was very proud of her happy vegetables.
Her and I cut them out and Tait helped us with the glueing.



I thought they turned out really cute!




Tait's favorite thing this week was a special snack I made for the girls: carrot cookies in chocolate dirt.
She was thrilled!
I was a little disappointed because I initially had planned to let the girls make these but ended up not feeling well that day so threw them together myself and surprised them at snack.
In the long run, it was worth it to see their delight at the special treat!


For math, we dabbled with measurement by measuring the girls...




And then creating a giant carrot as big as they are!
(Just like the carrot the little boy in the book grew.)



The only thing we didn't get to do this week was actually plant our garden because the weather was not very cooperative but we'll hopefully get around to it this weekend!


In Tot School...


Taitum explored the color green this week.
We made green ooblek to play in.
(1 part water to 2 parts cornstarch makes a non Newtonian fluid.)
This stuff is ridiculously fun to play with!



The girls attempted to make some plants by doing a blow painting but this is a lot harder than it looks!




Tait's ended up spattering her picture with spit and then gave up and finger painted instead!
Craft FAIL!
Haha!



I'm still undecided as to which book we'll do next week.
We may even just take a break!
But with rain in the forecast (again!) that might not be a good idea!
Tomorrow I'm off to my first ever homeschooling conference and SUPER excited so I'll think about next week later, k?







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I love motherhood.

We're a smiling family.

I'm a covenant keeper.

I love my husband.

I am above self pity.

I am a nation builder.

Motherhood=Adventure

Worth more than rubies.


“I am more convinced than ever that even in the midst of the mundane, burdensome, and oftentimes frustrating tasks of life allotted to me as a mother, God wants me to find his joy. He wants every single day of my life to be a celebration of his blessings, whether large or small. He wants me to celebrate life ~ the life He has given me.”

~ Sally Clarkson







My Hubby

My Hubby
He's my bestest.

Piper

Piper
She is my compassionate, dramatic, fun to be around 6 year old. She loves to shop, get dressed up fancy and anything else that screams girly!

Taitum

Taitum
She is my goofy, snuggly 4 year old who loves to sing and dance and smile all day long!

Renly

Renly
She is our one year old smarty pants! She does all she can to keep up with her older sisters and to keep them in line!

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