Little Biologists
This week the girls learned alot about the classification of species using details of physical characteristics. Earlier this week, we used the Dragonology book we acquired recently to identify the three toy dragons the girls have (a hydra, a wyvern, and a two-toed wyvern). Later in the week, we bought three new plastic dinosaurs, and of course we also had to identify them (a platasaur, a brachiosaur, and a utaraptor) using the dinosaur book and a little Googling. After spending so much time identifying and reading about these beasts, by the end of the week Monkey was making up her own: Her little plastic turtle, I have been informed, is a Red Dediemus turtle that lives in trees and eats rocks and sticks. His name is Huckle.

"Wax on. Wax off."
The entourage has entered a new era. Monkey and Bug started karate lessons this week. On Tuesday they went with Daddy to observe a kids class and get to see who their teacher would be. They were intrigued by the class, and Bug ventured as close to the action as she could--standing with her toes right up to the edge of the mat. They agreed with Daddy that they wanted to sign up for the introductory class (just them, two other kids, and their teacher going over the very basics of bowing in, coming to attention, etc.). They have to complete two intro classes to get their white belts and join one of the slightly larger regular classes. Despite the girls enthusiasm going in, the first class on Thursday did not go well and involved Monkey and Bug both refusing to speak to their teacher or follow her instructions. Once home they had a serious discussion with Daddy about respecting their teacher and the importance of participation. It ended with the girls agreeing to practice with Daddy or me everyday until their next class, so they would have a little more confidence going in next Tuesday. Once Daddy and Monkey got through an initial power struggle, the home practices have gone really well with Goose insisting on getting her own karate lesson too. Daddy and I have been really impressed with how well all three girls are learning the new motions.

Library Day
Storytime is back! This week's theme was moles, and in addition to hearing several cute stories about moles, the girls got to make mole puppets on popsicle sticks that poke their heads out of styrofoam cup holes. We came home with these books:
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
Little Bear
Red Bear's Fun with Shapes
Finn McCool and the Great Fish

While not library books, we also finished reading the abridged The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and continued reading from Where the Sidewalk Ends and making our way through the storybook version of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Friendly Strangers
So, most kids reach "school age" and are given lessons in how dangerous strangers are and how one should never talk to strangers. Monkey and Bug, however, came into the world with an intense fear of strangers, and we recently decided it was time for them to join the civilized world and learn that most people are actually very nice and that they need to appropriately respond to friendly strangers saying hello. We had a discussion to that effect and read the story of Moses--because God can help them be brave enough to talk to, for example, their karate teacher just like He helped Moses be brave enough to go before Pharaoh (Moses had a sibling to back him up too!). We talked about how even our closest friends used to be strangers, and we also added "Be kind to friendly strangers" to the short list of rules that characterize "being a good shopper."

For Goose, the lone extrovert in the family, this isn't really an issue. At some point recently in prepping the big girls to encounter new people, Goose piped up with, "I like peoples!"

It's Summer Time!
It's officially summer: The pool is open, and we were in it! The water was still a bit chilly, but we had a great time. Remembering their hesitancy at the beginning of last summer, I wasn't sure what to expect from the girls, but they loved it! Monkey and Bug were happily kicking around the pool in their inner tubes right away, and they even ditched the tubes for awhile once Daddy showed them they had grown enough to touch the bottom of the shallow end without getting their faces in the water. Bug even jumped in all by herself with her tube on! Goose's favorite thing was being held under the arms while she paddled and kicked around the pool while yelling, "Swim! Swim!" or "Kick, kick, kick!" between occasional mouthfuls of pool water.

Reading, 'Rithmatic, and, um, History
Not quite the three R's but here's the rundown for the basic subject areas in our house:

Goose has been insisting on her own formal lessons almost every day this week. Mostly, we've been making the rounds of the posters we hung in the playroom a while back, so she's been going over the ABC's (she can sing the song), numbers 1-20 (she knows 1-10), colors (she probably knows half a dozen), and shapes (maybe 3 or 4).

Monkey has been really into learning new letter sounds this week: she formally added p, ch, and v, and we did a review session that involved a lot more than just the letter sounds that have been formally covered. One day this week Monkey asked if she could do extra reading instead of math, and I decided to go with it. We used a Sharpie and masking tape to label some of their wooden blocks with the appropriate shape names. Bug wanted in on this too, so they now each have a set of labeled shapes, and I've overheard them using those to teach Goose her shapes. Monkey also did a math worksheet this week that involved circling the appropriate numeral for the number of objects pictured. We also added a fun new math activity this week: fishbowl math. For Monkey, I filled the fishbowl with slips of paper on which I'd written numbers 1-20. She would blindly pick out a number, then count out the right number of objects from among her toys. This actually involved adding and subtracting skills because after the first number she never started from scratch; she simply added to or removed from the line up as needed.

Bug also enjoyed some fishbowl math; although her bowlful involved simple addition problems for sums up to 6. She pulled out the colored noodles to use as manipulatives, but only actually needed them for three problems. She also did pages in her math workbook: filling in numerals for addition sentences done in pictures and completing several pages of comparisons (circle the set that's greater, etc.). While reading lessons have definitely not been her favorite activity lately, she is still making progress. She added a new sound this week, b, and read a list or two of words and a brief story.

To start off our history studies this week, Bug requested that we make her a knight's helmet (Monkey's is too big for her), and the girls snuggled up with Daddy to look through a book he has about swords. We also read the section of the DK book about what jobs women had in Medieval times. I figured it was time to balance all the talk of knights and weapons, and real Medieval women certainly didn't spend all their time waiting around in fancy dresses to be rescued as the fairy tales would have you believe. Of course, the women of most interest to the girls were the wealthy landowners running large households. In particular they were intrigued by the concept of signet rings and wax seals on important papers and letters. We dug through my button jar to find a couple of fancy buttons (one of which actually does feature a design that looks like a coat of arms) and pulled out the playdough to experiment with creating our own seals. Bug even hung hers on a string and wore her signet necklace for several days this week.