Summer Lessons - Thursday

Spelling Day! I use Spelling Power with Hannah and this and that with Josiah. Today I decided that we would use letter tiles from our Scrabble game. Today I actually taught Josiah how to spell caterpillar by putting cat and pill together with and er and ar placed appropriately, because he has been rescuing the little critters from our pool and keeping them in a jar. He can't stop talking about them and watching them.

I also thought the tiles would make a good skill builder activity for the words that Hannah needed to work on today.

You choose all the tiles needed for the words, turn them upside down. As you turn them over, you make your words and then you are through.

Josiah even made a word for me. How sweet!

Hannah also has been working on her cursive handwriting.

Summer Lessons - Wednesday

Art is the focus for Wednesday. We've used a book a little, but mostly it has been freestyle, whatever the kids come up with to create. Josiah draws robots and rockets and sometimes flowers which are very nice.
Hannah recently made popsicle stick puppets and has 5 different puppet shows that she does with them. She turned a card table on it's side to use as a theatre.

These are the characters for THE BEAR AND THE BUTTERFLIES.

Here is CINDERELLA with her step mother and step sisters.

Here is CINDERELLA with the Fairy godmother and her new gown.

Notice how she changes with the flick of a wrist.

The following is Hannah's rendition of THE ROBOT AND THE RABBIT. The sound did not come out well, so here's the basic script.

The mighty robot goes to the store and sees a lovely doll that he wants and so he buys it with his robot credit card. He loves the doll and he hugs it and hugs it until it breaks. He runs into the woods and cries. A rabbit hears his cries and comes to see what is going on. The mighty robot tells him that he has broken what he loved the most. The rabbit tells him that he must learn to be gentle. The robot asks how he can be gentle since he is so strong. The wise rabbit tells him that gentleness is strength under control. The robot then asks the rabbit how he can know so much about strength, when he is just a small rabbit. The rabbit replies that at home he has some ants and every Thursday night they watch a movie and eat popcorn together. But the popcorn gets butter all over their toes, so he has to very carefully clean the butter off their little toes. To the ants, he is like a mighty robot. They laugh and they laugh and the robot promises to be gentle. He wants to save his money and get another doll.

Summer Lessons - Tuesday

Tuesdays are Math Days. We have been having fun with Right Start Math Games. Hannah and I play Corners. When you place a card next to another one, the color has to match and if the total of the two numbers is divisible by 5, you get points. If you put your card in a "corner" you can get more points if both numbers are divisible by 5. The first person to 200 wins.


Josiah likes to play "Go to the Dump", which is a mathematical version of GO FISH. You try to get pairs that will equal 10. The person who has the most matches after all the cards are gone is the winner.

Our game actually has a dump truck (Josiah's idea).

Summer Lessons - Monday

This summer we've been focusing on one subject a day, to allow time for freedom and creativity. Monday is music day. Hannah and Josiah are in the second semester of Kinderbach.

We've been doing this program for a couple of years. Maybe we'll finish this year. Recently, the kids did an activity where they put together their own little song, then played it on the keyboard.

The children are guided through the lessons on a DVD. I've learned a few things myself. I never took piano lessons as a child. When this is over, I might actually be able to play a little, too.

Thanks to "Uncle" Eddie, who left us his keyboard. It has really come in handy.

Parrot Mountain and Forbidden Caverns Trip

Friday and Saturday, we took a trip up to Tennesse. We started with a visit to Theron's parents, Ray and Helen Rose in Ducktown and then we drove on to Pigeon Forge. We got to our hotel about 10:00, got a good rest and headed out in the morning to Parrot Mountain. We spent the morning there and had lunch in their gift shop and deli. Then we drove to Forbidden Caverns. We had been listening to Jonathon Parks Volume 2, Bone of Contention, where they have adventures in a cave, so it tied right in. Hope you enjoy the slideshow. It's pretty long because we took alot of pictures.

This picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Robin at the Fountain

Yah! I finally caught a bird enjoying the newest water feature.

Wordless Wednesday

My Birthday Fountain

I was hoping to be able to share a nice picture of a bird enjoying it,

but alas the birds are quicker that my camera.