(And All My) Work Be Praise

This week we focused on a collection of easy readers. I went to the library intending to pick up Tales of Oliver Pig , and there I discovered that there are actually several volumes of stories about the Pig family!  I personally did not love this set. Oliver is not very nice to his little sister, Amanda, and -- well, let's just say the consequences of such treatment would be a little swifter and a bit more severe than Oliver experiences. :) But, it was good practice in talking through the sort of "our family does things differently than their family" issues that will likely surface, with increasing seriousness, as the children get older. Except for maybe two or three isolated stories (each book contains 4-5 stories), the rest of the series was mildly amusing. Levi, however,  loved  these books. Though he enjoys reading, it's rare to find him sitting still with a book, with the notable exception of the Magic School Bus books. Several times this week I caught h...

Ah, the dreaded b/d reversal. Owen's averaging about 60% right now on getting them right, unless he recognizes the word at first glance. I know it's early for him to know them solidly, but he's so eager to read at the moment that we're going with it. Owen started off writing his name completely backwards, so it's been a fight from the beginning to get him facing the right direction, so to speak. I am seeing improvements as we work gently through reading and writing!* In all of my internet searches for preschool ideas, two things about b/d reversal stuck in my mind. I can't remember where either of them came from, unfortunately. (I did a quick search and found this article from All About Reading , which has the same principle though it's not where I first encountered it.) The first would be great for a poster, if I were that artistic (I'm not), so we just talk about it: in a b, the b-b-bat comes before the b-b-ball. In a d, the d-d-doorknob comes before...

This semester, Levi is working through a Bible study called Because I Said So: A Study on Obedience . He's doing the junior version, geared towards children ages 4-7. My husband suspects it might be a little over his head by the time we get to the end, but for now (three lessons in), I'm really enjoying it. We read a Bible story together and answer a few discussion questions. As with science, for now I'm writing down his answers so that he's not hung up on the writing part. Then later in the week, he draws a picture of the story and writes down the main part. So far we've covered Jonah (obey without delay), King Saul (obey completely), and Noah  (obey without question). When it works out (yes for Jonah and Noah, not so much for Saul), I'm incorporating related crafts and activities for all three boys. My aunt (the former daycare lady) gave us a stack of watercolor and sticker books that correspond to the Beginner's Bible that we use a lot (come to thi...

We're usually pretty no-nonsense about breakfast around here. Isaac and Silas both wake up famished, and while the rest of us don't care much when or what happens, we still try to make it to the table fairly quickly in the mornings. Mondays and Thursdays are oatmeal, Tuesdays are pancakes , Wednesdays are waffles (which we make in big batches once a month or so and freeze, so that if we're running late to Bible study we can eat in the car). But on Saturdays, if there's nowhere to be, I love making crepes. I don't do it often enough to be an expert, but this morning, at long last, I only ripped one  crepe out of the whole dozen or so, so I thought it was high time I share my beloved breakfast! (I should have taken pictures, but I didn't.) I start with this whole-wheat crepe recipe . While the batter rests, I cook down a blueberry compote of sorts: bring 2 cups blueberries (organic, if you can, they're high in pesticide residue) and 1/4 cup-ish (I never...

The third (and final, though there are more books) week of of our " If You Give a . . . " series! This one was not my favorite, as the story seemed a little more outlandish than the others, but they're all cute enough. Also, if you care about such things, this is the first one (that we've read) that featured a girl as the main character. Also, I should confess publicly that I did NOT take the opportunity to discuss cause and effect, as I said I would in last week's post. The best of intentions . . .  Food : piggie pancakes, of course! Many thanks to my husband for making pancakes (not just this week, but every Tuesday morning!). Owen, of course, remembered that last  time we made piggie pancakes, the eyes were banana, so after this picture was taken, I added some banana-coin eyes. He does love routines, that one. Crafts : I found this pancake craft here . I cut four simple circles out of brown construction paper and had the boys glue them to paper pla...

The second week of our "If you give a . . . " series ! One thing I like about these books is that it has been very easy for both Levi and Owen to memorize the story line. Without ever talking about it, they're learning sequencing and story lines (in order to tell them to Daddy at dinner time, of course!). We haven't talked much about cause and effect yet, but I think I'll make that a teaching point for the next book. Crafts : moose antlers and construction paper moose. Owen was having a hard time one day while Levi did school, asking repeatedly for an activity or craft to do. I often leave relevant websites open on the computer for such times, so that I can quickly glance over someone else's ideas for any given theme (find this week's open tab here ), and the antler headband caught my eye. I googled "moose antler template," chose one that looked about right, printed it off, copied it onto cardstock, then had him color them brown while I ...

This year's stay-cation was a bit less action-packed than previous years, for a number of reasons. Toby's at the age where several naps a day are pretty important (but he's not so good at sleeping other places anymore), it was unbelievably  hot for most of the two weeks, and smack-dab in the middle of it all, our air conditioner broke, causing us to re-locate to my in-laws' for four nights (and causing Isaac to have to be at home for repair guys on two separate days). We managed to fit in a few fun activities, some new and some repeats. My MIL graciously agreed to keep the three big boys for a whole afternoon while Isaac and I (and Toby, of course) drove to Richmond, Indiana to complete the Indiana Chocolate Trail . It's a really fun idea, for a daytime date: stop by the Richmond Welcome Center to pick up your Chocolate Passport, then drive all around town picking up free samples from all sorts of places, from ice cream to candy to brownies to chocolate-scented...

We're not doing book themes every week this year, but for the first few weeks of our school year (and a few more scattered throughout), all the subjects lined up nicely. Digging through a box of books my ex-preschool-teacher-aunt gave us, I found three of the "If You Give A . . . " series and decided to do all three in a row. We started with the original, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie . Levi reading the book to Owen. Craft : cardboard mice, using the flip side of a cardboard box (Wheat Thins, I believe), Sharpie (I drew the outline), brown paint, googly eyes, and a pipe-cleaner tail. Owen made one, too . . . not sure why my pictures are all of Levi! Painting the mouse. Gluing on eyes and ears. Cute little mice! Art : I snagged Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals  for a few dollars on Amazon. Levi and I worked through this first one together, but I suspect he'll be able to do it on his own by the end of the year.  While Levi...