Tot Tuesday

My tot is never far behind when we are working through school during our day. Today, I gave him some extra paper and his tot scissors. He spent quite awhile cutting the strips. I didn't mind the mess which I may say was everywhere. It occupied him and gave me enough time to work through a writing lesson with J.

Little House Tea Party

Last school year, we read through the Little House series and had a blast. As a final end-of-the-year project, we had a tea party. I thought I would share the photos as I don't think they made it to the blog.

J loves her playhouse. She sweeps regularly and washes the dishes for her house. I love seeing her play in her costume.

The house in this picture is just about done. It is missing the railing and the half door that my DH made.  He was finishing up the metal roof.

Here is a view of our party table. J made aprons for each guest and their party gift was a metal lunch tin filled with stick candy, a jar for their butter, and rock candy. I truly wanted to put jacks in them but when you are looking for something, you just can't seem to find it.

She showcased her hard work throughout the year. She made a quilt, a rag doll, a prairie costume for her American Girl doll, a popsicle log house, teepee, curtains for the little playhouse, and a weaved rug (of sorts). Those were just a few of her school projects.

We had several crafts for each girl to do as well as make butter. One of the crafts was this cute rag doll made of fabric scraps. I was worried the girls wouldn't like these but they were the hit of the party. Some girls drew faces, others played with their "babies." The party was a lot of work but it turned out cute. And the girls loved their aprons. Hope you were inspired by ours and you will have one of your own. Have fun.

Letter R Interactive Notebook Pages

The new school year brings about a few more printables. It has been my hope that I would be able to finish my Wheel School Interactive Notebooks and I am all most done. Yay! I just have to remember to post them:) This weeks printable notebook is the Letter R. Here are a few activities but there are more in the printable pack.

What begins with R? mini books.

Pictures that begin with R letter puzzle.

Transport the rockets to the correct planet - upper and lower case letter sort. I hope to have my tot working through these interactive notebook pages but it will be another year or two. I hope you enjoy the download. If you have any questions or problems, feel free to contact me.

Download Letter R Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Nature Journaling - Week 1

We went on our first nature hike and we began our new Nature Journals. The kids are super excited about these and I hope that they will stay that way throughout the year. At the end of this last school year, we began dabbling in nature journaling with water colors. J loved it so I decided to bring it to our homeschool science. We went on our hike, came home (because of the rain), and journaled.

Kaleb found my drawing books that I bought this summer and he went to town. I was surprised that he liked drawing so much. He flips through the books and draws what he can find. Here, he is drawing a dragonfly that we saw on our hike.

We recently saw a bear on our drive home from meeting Grandma and Grandpa. We were so surprised and excited that I felt it should be our first entry into our journals. J is working on her bear entry.

The journals I bought for our science offered a design your own cover pocket. They maid their covers - Kaleb is currently reading Night of the Moonjellies and he added a jellyfish. J loves birds and bird nests so she added those to her cover.

Their first entry - Kaleb (left) found a fingerprint animal book that he wanted to try and he added several fingerprint animals. His bear is right smack in the middle with a small fingerprint, no body. J painted the black bear and added some facts. She also added a butterfly - we saw so many on our hike. I am adding my journals as well....

I am not an artist but I was pleased with the way they came out.

Hope you can enjoy some nature today. :)

Nature Hike

We just started our Science program - All about Animals through Winter Promise. As part of our Science, I want to work on nature journaling. We became enamored by them after my last camping trip and we haven't looked back since. I bought several nature guides, watercolors, paint pens, and small journals to take with us on our nature hikes. Today was our first nature hike and, although we had only an hour or two, we made the most of it.

The morning started out rainy so I thought we would have to cancel. But the sun came out just long enough for our hike. We packed our nature bag - and while hiking, we discovered a few things that we need to pack next time. Live and learn, right?

We discovered the wing span for a bald eagle. Wow, isn't that amazing? We didn't get to see any bald eagles - maybe next time.

The kids are trying to hold up a fallen tree. Because of time constraints, we didn't get to walk as far as we were hoping but that didn't stop us from finding some cool things.

We found an interesting grasshopper that we hadn't seen before - Giant Orange Grasshopper. It was huge and it didn't run away. The red and orange colors tell predators that they are toxic. When we got home, we promptly looked it up and read all about it.

We found a mourning dove at the top of a trimmed palm tree. Not sure if it was a nest or not, but it seemed content to stay on top of the tree. After our hike, we came home and worked on our nature journals. It was a good Science day:)

Tot Tuesday

Our new school year and my tot is all most three years old. I can't believe it! Three! I have plans for Riley this year but I am struggling with having the time to implement them. Homeschooling two olders takes up most of my day. I will  hopefully work it out. But until then, our first week brought my tot Riley to the table for school just like the others:)

On my lap, playing pirate and "looking" through his wooden block telescope!

Riley wanting to write and draw like the others. Still on my lap while I am working with the olders. Love this boy!

First Day of School

This week brought us our first day of school. Not only did we experience a solar eclipse but we also had a super water fight in our yard outside. As a special treat for the kids, I gave them water guns for their first day of school, enough guns for each child as well as this parent. After we finished school, we had an awesome water fight where not one soul was left dry! What a rememberable first day.

I love homeschooling - where else can you have a first day of school water fight? Have an awesome day!