Blizzard!
Just in case you missed the news, New England was hit with a blizzard Monday and Tuesday, and it proved to be the highlight of our home schooling week! Fortunately, it wasn't as crippling as anticipated, and we never lost power. We did, however, get almost two feet of snow!

The learning experience started when the girls joined Daddy and I on a shopping trip on Sunday to prep for the oncoming storm, and they learned all about the things one needs to ride out such as event (firewood, batteries, bottled water, chocolate chip cookies, etc.) They saw the snow begin to accumulate Monday afternoon and evening and were thrilled to wake up to LOTS of snow the next morning. They spent Tuesday periodically peeking out the window to observe the storm--noting the different snowfall rates, different sizes of snowflakes, the difference between falling snow and blowing snow (the day included some very impressive moments of the latter!). We also read a kid's book I got from the library about blizzards--the definition of, the scientific cause of, how to be safe in, historically famous ones, etc. The wind had died down by Wednesday, and we actually got all bundled up to play outside while Daddy shoveled the driveway (a new experience for him as well!). The snow was too cold and powdery to build with, but the girls made a choir of snow angels and got a huge kick out of tromping around and admiring just how deep some of the drifts were (Goose stepped off the side of the back porch and all but disappeared!)

A perfect snow angel (one of many, but it's hard to get a good photo)

Monkey was particularly intrigued by the path around the house
that the wind made and the striations in the snow next to it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we did our usual home schooling lessons, but on Friday we declared it a snow day for the purpose of playing in it! The weather was about 15 degrees warmer, and the snow had reached the perfect state of wetness for building. We even got a new dusting of snow that morning.  The girls and I built a "real" snowman--taller than they are and complete with carrot nose, hat, and scarf! Then we tackled building a fort in the snowdrift on the side of the house.

Monkey standing proudly inside our completed snow fort.
Bug is getting started on another one in the background.

Our first real snowman!

Besides just the sheer fun of all this, these projects involved a lot of planning and problem-solving--choosing locations, planning the size of both projects, figuring out how to get snow into big balls or tall walls and how to pack the snow to keep them from tipping over, deciding what to use to make the face and arms for the snowman, figuring out how to get a carrot to stick in a hard packed ball of snow (pre-dig a hole with the stick you're going to use for an arm), deciding where to put the stairs and benches in their snow fort, the list could go on and on.

I think my favorite home schooling moment, though, (and confirmation that the girls gain so much from our life of frequent travel) was when the girls noticed the striations and curves in the snow drifts made by the wind and compared them to ones we saw in rock formations in places like the Painted Desert and Arches National Park. We talked about what made those shapes and patterns and how long it took.

Library Day
Despite the lack of storytime, it was a big day for us at the library: Monkey and Bug have their own library cards now! They were both extremely excited to check out their very own books this week, and Bug even picked out her first real chapter book. The other thing the library card gains them is computer access. The children's wing includes a row of computers designated for child-use only, and my library card can only be logged into one computer at a time. We don't currently have a desktop or a decent laptop for playing games, so the girls have been missing their computer time. Bug in particular was excited about being able to get back online to play some math and reading games (even here her interest in architecture came out--the games she chose involved either building skyscrapers and knocking down buildings). Of course, we had a to come home with our usual large stack of books:
Ballerina!
Baby Bears Books
Carl's Snowy Afternoon
Little Flower
Ballerina Bear
Earl the Squirrel
Friends
A Seaside Alphabet
The Emperor's New Clothes
Blizzards
When Washington Crossed the Delaware
Kids in Colonial Times
Happy Pig Day! (Monkey's choice)
Dinosaurs after Dark (Magic Treehouse Series) (Bug's choice)

Vocabulary
Daddy read a statistic recently that said 4-year-old girls ask more than 300 questions a day. Just for the record I don't think that number goes down as they get older. In particular lately, I've been noticing the girls soaking up new vocabulary words like hyperactive sponges. They request the meaning of any words they don't know an exact definition for, and I realized my conversations with them lately have been sounding a lot like Fancy Nancy books (a sentence that uses an interesting word followed by, "That's a fancy word for [insert common synonym].") It's awfully fun to hear these little ones pulling out new words and using them accurately. For example, Bug came running up to me laughing about Daddy and Goose going opposite directions in our narrow hallway: "Daddy was unsuspecting, and [Goose] plunged between his legs! He had a really funny expression on his face!"

Promotion
Daddy promoted this week, and the girls and I were able to attend. We did a lot of preparatory conversation leading up to the event, so they would understand the significance of the event and the expectations for their involvement. They talked with Daddy about the changes to his uniform and how ranks work. The day of the event the girls did beautifully--especially the big girls. They all introduced themselves and shook hands with the grown ups when appropriate, then stood quietly in front of everyone with Daddy and I for the ceremony itself. Bug even commented on the way home that she was feeling shy, but she was brave and did the right things anyway.

Three Rs
For math this week, the big girls continued working on addition speed drills. Monkey's ability to focus has really improved, and it's become a much easier task for her. Bug continues her mission to beat her own times and was very excited to complete 50 problems in only 3 and a half minutes! They also worked on reading graphs and calendars and played a new addition bingo game.

For reading, Goose completed another couple of lessons and added E (as in eel) to her repertoire. Monkey read Happy Pig Day!, Ballerina, and My First Book of Girl Power. Bug read Ballerina, My First Book of Girl Power, and started Dinosaurs after Dark.

For writing this week, we completed a spelling unit, and the girls wrote about the blizzard.

History
For history this week, we did some follow up on our trip to Philadelphia and read a picture book about Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the couple of successful battles against the British that followed. We also read a book about children's lives during colonial times--clothes, education, chores, games and toys, etc. They also watched a couple more episodes of Liberty's Kids that included Patrick Henry and his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech as well as Paul Revere's famous ride.