Being Touristy!

Identifying local fish

Aunt S and Uncle J came to visit us this past week! Besides just the excitement of getting to hang out with them, we took them along to do some touristy things. We finally got to visit the Exploration Center--a aquarium of local species, many provided by local fishermen. It was a truly tiny little place, but the staff were very knowledge, and the girls were feeling brave enough to get the most out of the touch tanks. They got to hold starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, and pet a shark.

Bug held a hermit crab!

We attempted to pet a small shark.

We also explored a stretch of the Cliff Walk

the actual trail

(a five-mile, mostly paved trail along the coast). Of course, we quickly abandoned the trail in favor of clambering around on the rocky shore and peering into tidal pools instead. The girls noted the differences between this beach and our last beach: New England coast = cliffs, rocks, and gray sand; California coast = sand dunes and tan sand. At first they also noticed (with disappointment) a serious lack of sea shells, then we crossed a boulder and suddenly saw shells everywhere! With one catch--they were all still occupied! They picked up a number of them to peer at the snails inside, but they were always careful to put them back where they found them.

the route we took instead

We went through a few of these tunnels underneath the property of
the waterside mansions.

Bug examines one of the snails we found.

Barnacles on top of the rock and snails attached to the side!

Library Day
Sadly, we didn't get story time this week, because Miss C was out for the day, but the girls had lots of fun anyway. They looked at books, played with toys, colored springtime pictures, and played math games on the computers. We came home with these books:

Oodles of Animals
10 Little Rubber Ducks
A Pocket for Corduroy
The Mysterious Giant of Barletta
Fox Be Nimble*
My Friend Is Sad*
Insectlopedia (poetry)
A Drop of Water (science)
Daring Women of the Revolution (history)
Henry and the Cannons (history)
Pablo Picasso (art at Monkey's request)

Science Happens
I had one of those "You know you're a home schooler when . . . " moments this week: We were sitting around the dinner table with our early elementary-aged children discussing electromagnetic radiation. It started because Goose wanted to know how heat and light were related (she'd been contemplating the oven while I cooked dinner). I suspect Goose got a lot more information than she bargained, but they were all paying attention to Daddy's explanation, asking appropriate questions, and remembering previous discussions and experiences relevant to the topic.

Another time this week, a drive home from the chapel turned into a discussion about atoms, elements, and molecules that came out of somebody's question about what water was made of and how rain and snow formed. That discussion inspired our library book choice, A Drop of Water, that discusses all the properties of water: what its made of, its different states and how it gets into/out of them, surface tension, adhesion, condensation and evaporation, etc. It's illustrated with really gorgeous close-up photographs of all these things, and of course we had to do some of our own experiments. We played with surface tension by floating paper clips in a glass of water. Then we observed evaporation and condensation by setting up the experiment below.

plate with warm water + elevated jar lid sprinkled with salt + overturned glass bowl + a couple hours =
dissolved salt inside water droplets on the lid

The girls started noticing some of these things in their everyday experiences: ice on the windshield, steam from the tea kettle, fog on the pond, etc. This is why our science "curriculum" is curiosity-driven instead of textbook-driven right now. These kinds of conversations happen all the time!

The Three Rs
For Goose this week, I added to her stack of letter sound cards and rhyming endings. While they're better received than the actual textbook, she'd still much rather read a real book (and who can blame her?). So, she's busily reading Bob books, and the Dick and Jane collection, both with help and on her own.

Goose also decided this week that she wants in on the spelling lessons now. I changed what we're doing, and it's definitely been a popular move. I found spelling lists online. Each list includes several sight words and sound family words (e.g., -at, -ap, -ack). Although rather than just handing over the sound family part of the list, I tell them what the sound family is and have them come up with words that fit in it. Since I've started them in the beginning first grade words, we've been doing two lists at a time. The big girls have been flying through them with confidence. For Goose, it's been mostly a fun rhyming game, but on Friday this week, she decided she wanted to try her hand at writing the words too. Considering how few letters she's actually attempted to write before, I was really impressed with her pencil control, attention to detail, and perseverance in completing the whole list just like her sisters.

For the other portion of their writing lessons, the big girls both did a couple of random writing assignments. Then on Friday they undertook a major project (more on that below) that involved a lot of writing, and I told them that would more than meet their writing quota for the day.

For math this week, Goose continues her endless counting of objects. I also pulled out the flashcards and she had fun using her Legos to illustrate simple addition problems. Monkey and Bug are still doing drills and Khan Academy (Bug has reached 36%, and Monkey 48%).

Art Galleries
Goose commented this week that it had been awhile since we'd gone to an art museum and that we really ought to do that soon. I agreed, but since we weren't in a position to jump up and do that immediately, her sisters decided to create their own. Monkey and Bug each claimed a room, sorted through the art projects they'd amassed for their favorites, arranged them in their chosen room, and wrote out placards for many of the pictures with the title, their name, and/or a sentence about the work. Then they each gave tours to the rest of the family.

History
This week we started reading a book called Daring Women of the Revolution, and we've learned about Abigail Adams, Sybil Ludington, Deborah Samson, and Mercy Otis Warren so far. The girls also watched a couple of Liberty's Kids: one about George Washington being put in command of the Continental Army and another about Thomas Paine and his Common Sense.

Little Musicians
Monkey had her second drum lesson this week, and it was a great success. She interacted appropriately this time around, and Mr. B was very pleased with how much her technique had improved in only a week and how well she was able to follow the new beats he gave her. He even had her tapping her foot in one or two of the exercises to simulate hitting a pedal.

Goose is continuing to make progress. She didn't get any new songs this week, but Dr. J was able to cross off a couple (she had a lot to practice this past week!). She's definitely starting to play things a little smoother, and some of them are actually starting to sound like songs instead of just picked out notes!

Bug noted that this week's violin lesson was "super good"! She really turned a corner in her attempts on several skills: keeping her pinky on her bow, using lots of bow, and reading through a whole song without losing her place. In recognition of all the hard work she'd put in (and taking advantage of the fact that she was in a really good mood), her teacher gave her three new songs, including the real version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"! Her lesson ended up being 45 minutes instead of 30, but Bug handled it beautifully and it was well worth it.

Library Day
Everybody loves storytime! Monkey actually participated the whole time this week. All three girls were more intentionally selective about their book choices this week, so we had a smaller stack to take home. Of course, we didn't return all the books from last week (on purpose, I don't think we've lost any yet). Here's what we added this week:

Just for fun:
Ella the Elegant Elephant
Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story
The First Drawing

Poetry:
Handsprings (poetry all about spring)

Science:
Trout Are Made of Trees

For Goose:
Alphabet House 
Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane*

For Monkey:
Let's Go for a Drive*
Fancy Nancy: Poet Extraordinaire*

For Bug:
Fancy Nancy: 100th Day of School*
Ling & Ting: Share a Birthday*

Trout Are Made of Trees!
The girls laughed at the ridiculousness of this book title, but this great picture book about a woodland food chain quickly proved its case. We read it multiple times and talked a lot about the food web. In fact I found this printable card game that we turned into a science/art project instead by gluing the cards to construction paper and drawing arrows to show who eats what. Of course, this also involved a bit of research on what these animals actually eat.

Jesus & Bible Memory
I realized it's been ages since I've written about our Bible studies. They still happen! Usually, while the girls are eating breakfast, I read a Bible story, and we work on our memory verses. Right now we're using Goose's Little Kids' Adventure Bible to read through the life and teachings of Jesus (it takes all four gospels, puts all the stories in chronological order, and removes any duplicates). A fellow homeschooling mom gave me "an alphabet of Bible verses" about a month ago that we've been working through. The girls love it, and all three of them can recite the verses for A through E (Mt 7:7; Eph 4:32; Ps 55:22; Phil 4:6; Jas 1:17). We've also been working on Psalm 100 for children's choir, and even Goose can recite the whole Psalm with only a few prompts!

History
This week we finished reading through Colonial Voices and read Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. We also watched a Liberty's Kids episode about the conflict over the colonial postal service and Ben Franklin's becoming the first Postmaster General.

The Three Rs
Hmm . . . now that Goose knows enough to read a few Bob Books, she's been begging for more actual books at her level and completely turning her nose up at the idea of working through anymore lessons in Teach Your Child to Read. She did, however, enjoy playing with the rhyming cards I made for her (a few cards with endings plus initial sounds cards to be mixed up to form words). I also found a Dick and Jane reader at the library that she loves. She can sight read the first two or three stories and pick out the familiar words in the other stories. (In theory, I much prefer a phonics program to sight reading, but if it works, it works!)

For Goose's math this week, we used flashcards and goldfish crackers to work on number recognition and number sequence. She also likes to look over her sister's shoulders when they do their Khan Academy tasks, but they get annoyed when she answers the questions for them. They continue to teach her numbers through 100, addition, and shapes. The big girls continue to do drills for simple addition and subtraction and work on Khan Academy tasks. Monkey now has 39% of early math mastered, and Bug has 31% (Monkey's been mostly knocking out the easy stuff, while Bug has tackled some more challenging topics.) Playing games is still part of the routine, and this week we played a few rounds of checkers (me versus each big girl individually). Their ability to lose gracefully has definitely improved. I think it helped that they got to watch me almost lose to Bug and see how I handled that situation.

For writing this week, Monkey and Bug each picked a theme: Bug copied poems from Handsprings the first few days, then dictated a longer composition about her favorite poems and why she liked them. Monkey filled her week with animal studies. We researched online, then she wrote about foxes, wolves, and jaguars.

Music for Everybody!
Monkey started drum lessons this week! She did really well with the musical aspect of lessons--picked up on the proper way to hold the sticks and copied the first rhythm patterns really well. She learned drum roll, paradiddle, triplets, and the different notes (quarter, eighth, and sixteenth). She didn't handle the social interaction aspect of the lesson so well--she hid in the kitchen when he first arrived and even when she agreed to do the lesson she didn't actually speak to him. (Next week will be better.) She's loving playing the drum, though! She practices the rhythms Mr. B gave her along with some of her own at every opportunity.

Goose acquired an additional book this week that she's very excited about! Dr. J wanted her to have more songs to play at her current level before he teaches her any new skills. She was able to cross off another song this week and add a couple of new ones from the new book.

Bug had obviously improved since last week! She was able to read through "Twinkle" all by herself without looking at her fingers or having her teacher point to the notes for her. She also improved her bowing technique. It's not consistent yet, but it's getting better!

Library Day
Even Monkey participated in storytime this week! Miss C said those magic words, "new Mo Willems' book," and Monkey came running over from the toy tables where she usually listens in. She loves Willems' particular brand of clever silliness, and she even decided to stay for the rest of the books. We kept the history and science books from last week, along with the book of poetry and a couple of story books the girls weren't done with yet. Here are the new additions to the mountain of books in their room:

Just for fun:
Bringing in the New Year*
Teach Your Buffalo to play Drums
Piglet and Papa
Monster, Be Good!
Just Me and My Mom
Next Stop, Grand Central
Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Things
The Noisy Way to Bed
Lucky O'Leprechaun Comes to America

The big girls decided (in light of my overflowing book tote) to bring their own totes to the library and check out books just for themselves--solo reading and topics of interest.
Bug's books:
Look! Look! Look!
Fox and His Friends*
Dodsworth in Tokyo*

Monkey's books:
Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator*
Degas and the Dance: The Painter and the Petit Rats
Invitation to Ballet: A Celebration of Dance and Degas
     *solo reading

Art!
The topic of interest this week was clearly art appreciation. Bug's pick, Look, Look, Look! followed three mice as they explored different ways to look at a painting on a postcard (shapes, colors, patterns, etc.). Monkey clearly wanted to study Edgar Degas, and Bug and Goose joined her. We read the books Monkey checked out, and they spent quite a bit of time poring over the pictures. Monkey also spent time studying a Google Image search of Degas's self-portraits, and Bug took the time to look through a series of art e-books that included Degas as well as Picasso (their artist pick from last week). Monkey even pulled from her art studies for her writing lessons. I also found some free printable coloring sheets that reproduced Degas and Picasso paintings for the girls to color.

As usual the girls created lots of their own art--mostly drawings using crayons or markers, but a few collages as well after Goose's shapes activity.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It rained on our parade, but we didn't let that stop us!

St. Patrick's Day is a big deal here. Over the past couple of weeks the girls and I read a storybook about the historical St. Patrick and some of his legends along with several leprechaun books that clued them into the whole luck, leprechauns, rainbows, and gold phenomenon. This Saturday we attended a St. Patrick's Day brunch hosted by someone from Daddy's office--lots of really yummy food and a tableful of fun crafts activities for the kids while the grown ups socialized. From there we walked to the parade route, and this was quite the event! The parade was over an hour of floats, drum and pipe bands, regular bands, clowns, dancers, historical reenactors, policemen, firemen, sailors and soldiers. (Monkey was particularly enthralled by the many drum lines.)

At the Y
The girls had a blast at gymnastics this week, and Monkey jumped right in this time and participated in everything! They were even brave enough that I could go exercise while they were in their classes. They're all working on balance, flexibility, and strengthening exercises and getting to use more of the equipment. Monkey and Bug were excited about getting to use the trampoline bridge this week, and Goose's class got to play hopscotch.

We missed last week's swimming opportunity, but we made it this week! All three girls are getting to be better swimmers. Even Monkey has gained enough confidence to push herself to swim farther solo. Goose didn't even use the floaty at all! She practiced floating and swimming with me, and she used a kickboard the rest of the time. Bug repeated her performance fetching rings from the bottom and swam solo for the distances her sisters used their kickboards.

OUTSIDE!!
It actually "warmed up" this week! (By "warmed up" I mean consistently above freezing, and even into the 40s a few days) The girls have been SO excited to see the snow melting away and finally being able to play outside without getting seriously bundled up. To celebrate we did a bit of neighborhood exploring and found a playground within walking distance. It was muddy, but it was fun!

Liberty
No, I'm not talking about our Revolutionary War studies! The girls have been making some big strides in confidence and self-sufficiency lately. Khan Academy has helped with that for lessons--Bug got herself logged in and started accomplishing tasks while I helped Monkey with her reading in another room. The big girls have also been leading lessons with Goose--helping her practice counting to 100, counting by 10s, and simple addition, and reading pre-reading Bob Books to her and doing repeat readings with her of familiar stories (I haven't asked them to do any of this; they're just so excited that she's finally able to learn this stuff and that they have the competence to teach her). At the grocery store, the girls have helped us get through that errand faster by getting themselves to and from the bathroom without me and by finding items on the list (I can now say "I need 2 cucumbers, 3 tomatoes, and 4 oranges" and have them all appear in the cart already bagged a few minutes later while I find other items). At home, cleaning their bathroom really is their job now. I remind them it needs to be done and I'm available for assistance and advice if requested (not much anymore, actually). They work out who's doing what and remind each other how to do different things (Let's be realistic--I also step in occassionally to referee). They've also realized recently that they're capable of getting lunch going--pulling things out of the fridge, helping each other serve it up, etc. This is all so awesome!

History
I forgot to write about our history studies last week, but here's what we've covered since I last wrote: We finished reading Heroes of the Revolution and learned about George Washington, Deborah Sampson, Haym Salomon, Paul Revere, and John Paul Jones. We watched a couple of Liberty's Kids and covered the Second Continental Congress and the Battle of Bunker Hill. We also started a new book that the girls love called Voices of the Colonies. It follows an errand boy through Boston in during the day or two leading up to the Boston Tea Party, and allows the various townspeople to talk about their jobs (printer, baker, milliner, dame school teacher, barber, etc.) and their opinions on the controversial Tea Tax.

Music
The girls had a great time in choir this week. They're learning several songs for Palm Sunday and memorizing Psalm 100 (they've got verses 1-3). I think they're enjoying the new divisions by age group, and Miss V had a great craft this week that everybody got into. I'm not sure what the original craft idea looked like, but it involved pastel-colored felt, cotton balls, googly eyes, patterned scrapbooking paper, and lots of craft glue.

Goose is still going strong in her piano lessons! She was able to check off one song and add a new one, and she now plays notes A-F (around middle C). She doesn't always feel up for practicing when she has the opportunity, but she does really well when she's in the mood--enough to keep up with her teacher's expectations for progress!

Bug has developed a love/hate relationship with violin. She likes the instrument, and she definitely likes having "violinist" as a personal identifier, but she's really struggling with being a beginner violinist--that she can't do it right every time and that it's taking longer to get to more interesting music than she wants it to. The good news: she got a new bowing rhythm this week! Her teacher was also impressed with her independent work on reading music--I found free printable music paper, and she filled in what notes she can play with notations about which strings and how many fingers to put down.

Good news for Monkey: We found a drum teacher, and she starts lessons next Wednesday! Hooray!

Three Rs Update
Everybody's reading books! I've noted above what books Monkey and Bug are reading, but even Goose has been reading books this week--the first three Bob Books! This involved her learning three sight words--and, the, on and five new letter sounds--d, c, h, o (otter), and g (goat). She's also expressed boredom with the sounding out exercises in the text book, so I think I'm going to start moving faster and skipping some of those and finding other ways (letter/syllable cards perhaps?) to practice rhyming skills.

Giving the big girls the instruction to simply "write something" is working very well, and they've even been coming up with their own topics instead of using the jar. Bug summarized an article from Kids National Geographic one day and wrote descriptions of Goose and I on the other days. Monkey chose to focus her writing on her studies of Degas this week: one day she described one of his dancer paintings, one day she wrote about his self-portraits, and one day she asked if she could dictate a longer composition about which paintings she really liked and why.

Monkey and Bug continue to do math facts worksheets in their binders and complete tasks in Khan Academy. Khan Academy groups kindergarten through second grade math all together as Early Math, and both big girls have mastered about 30% of the skills (basically, they flew through a kindergarten's worth of skills in two weeks). Goose did most of her math learning this week with her sisters' guidance (I have heard the three of them chanting the numbers 1-100 more times than I care to keep track of). I also introduced a fun preschool/kindergarten geometry activity: I cut shapes out of construction and gave her prompts like, "What shapes would you use to build a house/car/snowman, etc.?" At some point she started requesting particular shapes to build her own things, and her sisters introduced her to more advanced shapes like rhombus and trapazoid.

Library Day
The girls were disappointed that we didn't have storytime again this week (the children's librarian had a meeting), but I was very proud of Bug--she took the initative to approach a librarian about helping her find a book and about why we didn't have storytime. We came home with tons of books this week. I actually had to get the girls to help me carry them; they wouldn't all fit in the bag!

Just for fun:

Bug demonstrating just how much snow we
have in our yard!

Estela's Swap
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Elephants Cannot Dance!*#
The Pigeon Needs a Bath
Little Brown Bear Won't Go to School
Eloise's Guide to Life
Just Me and My Dad*
Part-time Princess
George and Martha
Dodo Gets Married
Lola at the Library
Captain Cat
Annie's Chair*
Trixie Ten
     *Books Bug has read solo
     #Books Monkey has read solo

Art books at Monkey's request:
Picasso's Trousers
Rudy and Claude Splash into Art

Science
W is for Wind: A Weather Alphabet
The Tooth Book: A Guide Healthy Teeth and Gums

History/Social Studies
Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak
Paul Revere's Midnight Ride
Saint Patrick's Day Shamrocks
Lucky O'Leprechaun

USS Nautilus
We took a day trip on Saturday to visit the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, now docked for tours with its own museum. The museum featured exhibits on the history of subs, what they're used for, different kinds of missiles and torpedoes, and what life was like inside a sub for the sailors. The Nautilus itself was set up with mannequins doing various jobs on board and included an informative audio tour.

We can drive a submarine! (recreated control room in the museum)

Outside the USS Nautilus

Monkey used the museum's periscope to find cars in he parking lot. 

The Three Rs
We made several changes this week in how we handle the three R's. One was simply organizational. I was feeling overwhelmed by the number of folders and papers I had floating around, and I kept losing track of what exactly they had each done this week. My solution was to buy each of the big girls a three-ring binder and fill each with: a monthly calendar, a reading log, activity pages for the current spelling unit, sufficient writing pages for the week, and the math facts drills for the week.

For Goose's reading this week, she completed another lesson in her textbook, read the first Bob book, and Monkey did a repeat reading lesson with her using Elephants Cannot Dance! (They were both very excited about accomplishing this.) Since the big girls are now keeping formal reading logs of their own, I'm not planning to list every book they read here--just assume by budding bookworms are still reading! I will probably continue to mark--as I did today--which library books they're reading themselves.

For writing, the "write something" instruction continues successfully. Sometimes the girls pick an idea out of the jar and sometimes they come to the table with an idea of their own. This week each of the big girls also chose to spend one day's lesson filling a writing page with all the words they can spell all by themselves. Goose this week requested to dictate a page or two's worth of journal entry about what she'd done this week and she continues to practice writing letters on her own.

Math lessons this week is where the major changes happened: Monkey and Bug are now enrolled in Khan Academy (a free, Internet-based curriculum) and loving it. With our lives getting busier with extra-curriculars I was feeling overwhelmed by prep work, didn't think I was moving fast enough to challenge them (particularly Bug), and couldn't find the time to do more hands-on preschool math with Goose. So, we're trying out an online program to see if it helps solve those problems. It also gives the big girls a measure of indepence and the opportunity to learn about how to do work (not just games) on a computer--logging in themselves, navigating the website, etc. Bonus: their log in information includes their last name, so they now have a reason to learn how to spell it.

Music
We got to start off the week with children's choir again this week. Miss C reorganized how she runs choir, and the kids are now divided into three groups: preschoolers (Goose's group), lower elementary (Bug and Monkey's group), and the big kids. They rotate through a singing session with Miss C, learning a Bible verse with the moms (currently Psalm 100), and a craft or activity with Miss V. Everyone had fun, and Goose is really enjoying the opportunity to be "the big kid" in her group.

Despite missing most of her practice opportunities, Goose's piano lesson went very well, and Dr. J was able to check off three more songs! He also commented to me afterwards that he was very impressed with Goose's attention span for a four year old and that he was so pleased with how much he was able to do with her during her half hour lesson.

Bug has been practicing hard playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and Mr. D said he could really tell she'd put in the effort this week. She's getting better at reading music without getting lost, and during her lesson this week she was able to change strings and fingerings without looking at her violin! She continues to be frustrated with the realities of being a beginner (trying to get her fingers to do what her brain knows they need to), and she was disappointed that she didn't get any material to work on (she's expected to practice "Twinkle" for several more weeks, but she's getting bored).

Gymnastics
The girls started gymnastics lessons at the Y this week! Goose is in a separate class from the big girls, but fortunately for me they're all at the same time. They got to use some of the equipment that they'd been eyeing at the open gym (a big trampoline, real balance beams, a foam pit, etc.). They all started with a basic warm up routine, and went on to strengthening and balance activities. Monkey was feeling overwhelmed by the newness of the situation after the warm up exercises and chose not participate in many of activities that followed. I at least managed to get her to stick with her class and watch and listen, and by the end she was participating again. Bug and Goose had a fantastic time--no hesitation in meeting new people and trying new things!

Library Day
The girls got to do story time this week, and Miss C had some fun books picked out for this week. The girls were also excited that Little People had been added to the library toy collection to go along with the castles, farmhouses, etc. We decided to keep a number of the books from last week, but we added quite a few to our stack as well.

Just for fun:
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
The Jellybeans and the Great Camp Kickoff
A Dinosaur Called Tiny
The Alphabet Theatre Proudly Presents . . . 
The Neat Line: Scribbling through Mother Goose

For history:
Heroes of the Revolution
Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland

For science:
Stargazers

Photo Update
I know it's been a while since I wrote about the girls decorating their room, but here are the photos. (Please note: I got great photos of Monkey! She's so hard to catch on camera, but she's very proud of her collection of artwork!)

Monkey with a collage of Impressionist artwork.

Bug with her collections of cool architecture and religious art.

Monkey showing off her collection of contemporary art and superhero posters.

Three Rs
For reading this week, Monkey read (multiple times) That's Not a Good Idea and My First Book of Girl Power (the latter one is now officially off the list of options--she's no longer reading it, she just has it memorized). Bug is working her way through The Boxcar Children. There are a fair number of words to challenge her, but not enough to be discouraging, and she's pretty into the storyline. Goose actually read some three-letter words this week! She didn't get any new sounds, but she's definitely making progress with her other reading skills. The big girls have also been helping her practice the ABC song alot this week. At some point this week while getting ready we also made a game out of seeing how many nursery rhymes the girls could recite. I didn't actually keep track of how many it was, but we had a lot of fun!

For the big girls, I decided that we've done a sufficient amount of formal grammar and writing worksheets for first grade and came up with a new plan for writing lessons. They have to write at least a sentence or two everyday (to be lengthened as they get more experience). They can come up with their own idea or they can pull a writing prompt from a jar that contains several dozen ideas on little slips of paper. This activity accomplishes a number of things: practice reading (because I make them read the prompts and then their finished work), creative thinking and problem solving, handwriting, spelling (I talk them through every word they don't already know; they've been excited to discover how many they do know), and grammar (I correct and discuss issues as they come up). Goose doesn't have formal writing lessons at this point, but she has been spending alot of time practicing writing letters all on her own.

For math, the math facts drills continue and both big girls are making progress. They also worked on skip counting, counting money, and place value. This week, I also pulled several new board games from a book I purchased years ago, and bought a couple of dice to use in the games and to use as manipulatives for Goose (she loves them and spontaneously grabs  a couple of dice to roll and add up). These games have been a great way to get in a little addition and subtraction practice on particularly busy days--I'd never be able to get them to do worksheets right before bedtime, but offer to play a game with them and I suddenly have very excited mathematicians!

History
We finished reading the book about the New York Colony this week and started a book of profiles of famous people from the Revolutionary War. This week we read about Ethan Allan, Crispus Attucks, Lydia Darragh, Nathan Hale, and Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays.

At some point this week, we decided to leap backwards in history to cover a timely topic: St. Patrick. The stores are starting to be covered in shamrocks and gold coins, but I wanted the girls to know the origin story of the holiday. We found a great picture book about St. Patrick from the library that told the historical story of Patrick's mission as well as the stories of his miracles.

YMCA!
We actually went to the Y four days this week. Twice the girls spent some time in child care, so I could exercise, and they are finally getting used it. They even made some friends this week. They had their last swimming lesson with their teacher this week. They all did very well, but are thrilled to be done. Then the next day they were back in the water with me. Even Goose arrived at the pool with an agenda of skills she wanted to practice! (swimming solo, front and back floats, back kicks and scoops with a kickboard, and jumping in to me then swimming to the wall) Monkey was reveling in her new-found ability to swim without assistance, and spent most of the time going back and forth doing exactly that. Bug finally met her goal of picking up a ring from the bottom (3 feet) without help! Then on Friday, I took the girls to the open gym for the gymnastics room. They start lessons next Tuesday, and I wanted to give them a chance to check out the space before going in for a real lesson. They had a blast and totally wore themselves out! They practiced flips and cartwheels, walked a balance beam, played with hula hoops, jumped on trampolines and springboards, and bounced around on all kinds of cushiony shapes--wedges, barrels, tunnels, blocks, cylinders, etc.

Music
We got to have choir this week! (Unfortunately, I misremembered the start time, and we showed up ridiculously late.) The girls had a great time anyway--singing familiar songs, starting to learn a new one for the Palm Sunday service, and playing with their friends afterwards. The girls' experience singing in church on Sunday was a less happy experience--at least for the big girls. Monkey is working on conquering her stage fright (she managed to stand up with all the other kids, not have a meltdown, and not hide her face, but she also didn't sing). Poor Bug was really excited about singing in church, but then she stepped in an icy puddle on the way in and soaked through her shoes and socks. In the process of trying to get them warm and dry, a friend unintentionally melted them (tip: don't put synthetic socks in the microwave). Bug ended up barefoot and extremely unhappy during the service; she still sang--just to her cold, little feet instead of the congregation.

Goose and Bug both got to have their regular instrument lessons this week too. I was very proud of Goose this week--she's finally acquired enough confidence to waltz right in and set herself up at the piano! Dr. J was very pleased with her progress; he checked off three songs as "mastered," added two new ones to practice, and taught her about rests.

Bug had a very productive violin lesson as well. Mr. D was able to help her sort out the best way for her to hold the violin and where exactly the shoulder rest ought to be (Bug spent a long time poring over Google Images "how to hold a violin," but she wanted some hands-on assistance). She acheived her goal: she played her fingering exercises well enough to learn "Twinkle"! She was disappointed to learn that it involves the same bowing rhythm that's she's been doing, but she agreed the complexity of the fingerings made it much more interesting. A brief emotional incident during her lesson led to a great conversation with her teacher about dealing with the frustrations of being a perfectionist, and about how that need to be perfect every time will benefit her in the long run, since it'll drive her to be a very good violinist. (Sometimes it's beneficial to hear those things from someone other than Mom and Dad.) She's also been "experimenting" as part of her daily practice times--seeing how long she can draw out a note, practicing playing all the strings (not just the two her songs are on), and going back and forth between strings without lifting her bow. She looked ahead in her book and saw that the next song involves a different rhythm, and she is determined to get there as quickly as possible.