(And All My) Work Be Praise

I haven't given a full list of Levi's curriculum for this year, but I've been mentioning his subjects here and there. I don't think I've touched on his literature study yet: First Favorites Guide (Vol. 2)  by Veritas Press. We don't do this every week; I've mixed the books from this guide in with other books I want to spend time on. These literature guides -- a mixture of all sorts of activities, like answering questions (full sentences!), fill-in-the-blanks, write a postcard, color a map -- are really perfect for Levi right now. Most  of the time I'm a big fan of reading just to enjoy reading, plus a craft or activity to make it fun. Levi started reading so early, however, that I've never been quite certain about his comprehension level, and this is helping me know what to expect when he reads books on his own. Included in this guide are two selections from a series I'd never heard of: Nate the Great . They're longer stories but not yet...

As I sat down to write this post, I thought to myself, "gosh, another childhood favorite. I wonder why I'm using so many of my own books this year." And then it hit me: getting to the library with all of the children, without ruining any naps, requires a mid-size miracle. So it is that we pulled another fun one off the shelf this week: The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash  by Trinka Hakes Noble. Craft:  snakes, of course! ( Idea here .) Paper bag, paint, foam cut into triangles, glue, and the ever-present googly eyes. Silas wanted in on the painting action this time. These boys are serious about their gluing. (Never mind the weird lighting. It was not the middle of the night, honest.) Snakes! Science:  I got several library books on snakes -- hold up. Didn't I say above that we never get to the library? It's mostly true. But my favorite local library branch is open on Sundays, so once a month or so I sneak off by myself in the middle of ...

Last week we re-visited another old favorite, Corduroy  by Don Freeman. I'm pretty sure the copy we have was mine as a child. We covered bears a little bit during our berry month over the summer, but there is no shortage of bear stories and activities in the world! Levi reading the story to his brothers. Food :  teddy bear toast  with banana and blueberries. Cute and easy! We also made these  peanut butter button cookies . It might interest you to know that the holes in Corduroy's button are only pictured on one  page in the entire book: at the end, when Lisa is sewing his new button on. (It might also interest you to know that I spell "Corduroy" wrong first every single time.) Even though it's a two-hole button, we decided it would be okay to make both two- and four-hole button cookies. Poking holes in the cookie dough with a straw.  Silas joined in the "flattening" (er, smashing) of the balls of dough. Unflattering pictu...

This week we re-visited an old favorite, Caps for Sale . I had corresponding activities tucked away from both ABC Jesus Loves Me and Before Five in a Row . Levi's monkey drawing . Are you familiar with this book? A peddler stacks caps on his head and walks around town trying to sell his wares; Silas loves to fill in his call: "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!" One day nobody is buying, so he walks into the country and takes a long nap under a tree. When he wakes up, all of his caps are gone: monkeys in the tree above have stolen them all! There follows a delightful "monkey see, monkey do" sequence, which Silas especially loves to mimic. In the end, the peddler is so angry he takes off his remaining cap and throws it to the ground. All of the monkeys follow suit, and he gets his caps back. The whole story is just perfect for acting out, from wearing hats to good posture (to keep hats from falling off) to shaking fingers at the monkeys. Pi...

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...

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 ...