The girls had fun with some new puzzles and blocks set out in the children's section this week, and we sat and read through quite a few books while we were there. As our big trip approaches and their little lives are heading for major changes, they seem to be seeking out the familiar--the first four books on our list this week are ones the girls have checked out and loved multiple times:
Where Are You Going, Little Mouse?
The Ugly Vegetables
Mother Goose
Doctor Meow
The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes
Manana Iguana
The Kindhearted Crocodile
Lucky Ducklings
My Truck Is Stuck
Pilgrims
Penny and Her Song (an easy reader chapter book for the big girls)
No Surprises Please
Just like me, our girls really like to know what they're headed for. At some point this week, Bug strolled into the kitchen and said, "Mom, I don't totally understand the concept of how we're moving. Can you explain it again?" I can't blame her: it's a pretty complex series of events that involves suitcases to go with us, packing boxes to stay here, a moving van, a storage unit, two hotels, two flights, one shipped car, one car lent to a friend, one rental car, and one car borrowed from a friend. Oh, and one cat being fostered by a friend of a friend until we return. Whew. On top of that Bug was also getting the timeline for our Christmas travels mixed up in there (I won't even get into those yet). The girls and I sat down in the middle of the floor with the calendar, and I mapped it all out. Everyone seemed to feel a little better.
This week we also finally got around to reading a book about planes that we checked out awhile ago. Bug in particular seemed reassured by the deluge of new information about what that will be like (yes, she's definitely my kid). The book went into great detail about the inner workings of passenger airplanes, but we focused on the parts the girls would actually relate to: the cabin, galley, bathroom, cockpit, and cargo area.
The Three Rs
The bookworm genes have kicked in! This week I suddenly have a duo of voracious readers. Bug can frequently be found settled into a corner of the kitchen, where she has easy access to my assistance with tricky words, and Monkey even chose her breakfast foods based on what I would let her eat with a book at her elbow. They've been re-reading books like the Little Bear series and familiar library books. They still have their fifteen or more minutes of one-on-one time for an official reading lesson, and they've been using this time to read either entirely new-to-them books (e.g., Bug's reading Penny and Her Song) or books they know are going to be challenging (e.g., Monkey's reading The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Snow).
At some point this week, I told the girls I wasn't putting together any more workfolders until we arrived at our next new house. They decided to take this as a challenge, and they both put in the extra work to get their math folders finished this week! Monkey worked on counting money, subtraction, addition with carrying, telling time, and word problems. Bug worked on fractions, measuring length, subtraction, addition with carrying, and counting money.
For writing, we completed our last spelling unit until our next new house and continued working on contractions and adjectives. Each girl also completed a story starter sheet. Looks like we'll spend most of next week reading, writing, and packing!
New History Unit: Colonial America
We officially quit studying the Egyptians and started our next history session: Colonial America. While it's out of chronological order, it seemed fitting to start with Plymouth Colony with Thanksgiving just around the corner. I found a fun book from the library that talks about their whole story--not just the first Thanksgiving--that we've been reading through. I don't have any cool projects planned, but we will be joining our friends for a feast before we make our own voyage into unfamiliar territory!
Legos!
Now that most of the toys have been packed up, the Legos have taken on a whole new appeal. The girls have branched out from just building simple houses and towers, to building the furniture to fill houses and restaurants for their Playmobil figures. They commandeered several empty bookshelves for their purposes (it all got dismantled before I could snap a photo, though). What I did manage to capture a pic of was the complex ice palace they built for "Elsa." They were quite proud of their engineering feats, and I was also impressed by their persistence in painstakingly picking out all the blue and white Legos. 
Goose has been involved in all this too, along with her own side project: building windmills. For some reason, the wind farms we saw on our road trips out here really made an impression on her, and she's been trying to recreate a windmill with Legos. This is her most recent, and best, rendition yet.
Tidbits
- For our at-home study, we've started reading Esther, and at church the girls continue quizzing in Exodus and memorized Exodus 15:2. They'll have their last week of quizzing next week, and Monkey and Bug are planning to pool their remaining tickets (which they earn for various tasks throughout the evening) to buy something fun from the prize shelf.
- The girls are all making progress with their swimming, and they've already started talking about what particular things they'll want to work on during our visits to the pool in our next location.
