"Schwim! Schwim! Schwim!" says Goose

We signed Monkey and Bug up for a second session of swimming lessons, and after a week in it was definitely worth the investment! The had the same teacher they did last time, and they had no meltdowns or serious hesitations about getting in the pool itself. They both learned to hold their breath and let their teacher dunk them. They've been practicing starfish floating (on their back with all limbs spread out and their teacher supporting their head/back; they tooled around with kickboards; and Monkey even doggie paddled around all by herself with just a floaty strapped to her back.

Monday morning before swimming lessons, however, Monkey in particular wasn't happy about the idea. I decided it was a good time to pull out a present that Daddy left for them: a new plastic pool with an 8 foot diameter.

(It's still filling up; they just couldn't wait to get in.)

It turned out to be the perfect idea: they got head-to-toe wet, and they were so excited to go get in the real pool and learn to really swim. They played in it more when we returned home, and I left it up one more day for playtime after swimming lessons. The transition to emptying the pool and putting it away is that I assigned Monkey and Bug the task of figuring how to empty it--especially because Bug had already pointed out that we could just dump it like we did our little wading pool. They considered the problem for a little while, and Monkey had the brilliant idea that if she and Bug each squished down part of the side, then the water would flow out.

On Wednesday we had a cookout and swim date with some friends of ours, and the girls improvements in swimming really showed. They gained a particular boost of confidence after their friend D showed them that they could touch the bottom in the shallow. They got a huge kick out of walking around "like grown ups." Pretty soon instead of clinging to their inner tubes they were flinging them out into the water and seeing if they could walk out to them. They also switched to using the tubes like kickboards.

Baking a Cake

Monkey and Bug are extremely proud of this creation.
Goose just wants to hurry up and eat it.

It was one of those "this is why I love homeschooling" moments. I wanted chocolate, and a recently found recipe for microwaveable chocolate cake in a mug was calling my name. I realized that if I got the entourage involved, this indulgence could be completely justified as educationally enriching. Here's how it went down: First, the entourage peered over my shoulder as a I looked up the recipe and read off the list of ingredients, which they helped gather from the pantry (language arts, following directions). Next, we pulled out the measuring spoons, and I told them how many of each dry ingredient we needed, which they counted out and dumped into the mug (math: measuring and counting, fine motor skills, following directions). We speculated about what would happen when we mixed the light and dark colored ingredients, then the girls stirred it up to test our hypothosis (science, fine motor skills). Next, we measured and poured the wet ingredients; once again speculating about what changes might occur when we stirred them up (more math, science, and fine motor skills). Then we popped it in the microwave and waited through the countdown to the finished product (more math, patience). Finally, we tipped the cake out onto a plate and figured out how many slices it would need to be cut into for everyone to get some (more math: counting and fractions). The results: absolutely scrumptious!

More Math!
Besides the math involved in the baking experience described above, the entourage has been really into math this week. My "official activity" of the week was creating and getting them to play with a number line that would help them practice the order of the teens (ribbon with 20 velcro squares and numbers 1 - 20 written on in small print + felt squares with velcro and numbers 1 -20 written on them large). This game proved popular although the big girls got frustrated when Goose wanted to play too.

We played several more rounds of the number puzzle game with lots of talk about the teens (for example, explaining that sixteen is ten plus six, so it's a 1 like the 10 but with a 6 instead of a 0). Later in the week Bug had an epiphany about the pattern of counting while playing with a twistie strung with paper clips. She was pulling them off one by one to count out how many she had in all. After 13 she started asking me what number came next. After 22, I turned the question on her, and she was absolutely thrilled to realize that it had to be 23! and then 24! . . . She got up to 26 or 28 and ran out of paper clips. Goose has become particularly fond of the dice. She knows they're for counting out one at a time, but the only number she can remember is three. I occasionally find her placing the dice in and out of their containing, saying, "Free, free, free" with every die.

Alphabet Puzzle
The girls finally remembered they had an alphabet puzzle along with a number puzzle, and we played with that this week too. We started by sorting into three piles the letter, word, and picture pieces. Goose helped too; mostly she picked out the pictures. Next Goose would choose a picture and hand it to her sisters who would find the matching letter and word. Bug demonstrated excellent problem solving skills by realizing that each puzzle had a uniting color and that there were a limited number of colors of puzzles. When Goose picked out a picture, Bug would find each piece of the same color (no more than 3 for each letter or word), and she and Monkey would take turns picking out the appropriate letter and word from these less intimidating options. The only problem we ran into was that I had to clarify for the girls that the puzzle wanted S for Snake, not R for Rattle snake ("But it is a rattle snake, Mommy! See, it has that noisemaker on its butt!").

Playdate and Pretend Play
This week we had a playdate with our friends Miss K, N, and G. Goose and G got right down to pushing trains around, and Monkey and Bug had their usual wonderful time with N once they warmed up to his overwhelming outgoingness and exuberance. This was the first time I've seen Monkey and Bug involve anyone besides Goose in their pretend play. Somehow they figured out that they are all big fans of Busytown Mysteries. Monkey and Bug adopted their usual personas (Huckle and Sally, respectively), and they suggested that N be Hilda the Hippo (gender is obviously inconsequential to preschoolers and we weren't about to interrupt such a fun game to sort things out for them). They had a grand time running around the backyard, solving various mysteries.

Library Day
We did the Tuesday afternoon library day again this week. Goose, mostly cheerfully, shared my lap with another toddler who decided to plop down and make herself at home. The theme was clowns this week, and the craft was to make a paper plate clown with bits of tissue paper for hair. Goose loved this craft (anything with glue sticks!), and Jos did really well too--she made a great goofy faced clown. Bug, like Goose, loved putting on the hair, but was stymied by her own perfectionism when it came to drawing on the face. I made one too to show her I drew it and to demonstrate that it didn't have to be perfect to be fun. A couple of big kids across the table showed of their imperfectly delightful creations to her as well, but she wasn't convinced. Eventually the librarian was cleaning up around us, and I told Bug she could always finish it up at home sometime.
This week we came home with these books:
Goggles
Do Kangaroos Wear Seatbelts?
The Rhinosaurus Tap!
For You Are a Kenyan Child
Remembering Miss Perry
Five Ducklings
Dot & Jabber and the Acorn Mystery