T is for Turtle

T is for Turtle - I don't quit; I persevere! This week we learned about no matter how hard something is or how long it takes we should never quit but to keep going! We put this into pratice by cleaning the toy room; it was a big job and it took a long time but we didn't give up! Sawyer also did some new worksheets other than his typical letter writing ones. One was to put a dot on all the letter "T" in the story. Then there was one where he had to put a dot on all the letter "T" and when he did it created a path for the Train to get to the Tracks. I just realized that I never took any pictures this week. So here are some pictures of Mason doing his Tot School!

(10.04.12)

Mason has been developing a love for books. He not only brings them to the counter to read while eating breakfast but I will also find him reading books in his bed even after Sawyer has fallen asleep.(10.13.12) Focus Books: "The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare" by Kristyn Crow "Hi, Harry! The moving sotry of how one slow tortoise slowyly made a friend" by Martin Waddell "Mr. Putter & Tabby Run the Race" by Cynthia Rylant "Yertle the Turtle" by Dr. Seuss Resource: My Father's World www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

N is for Nest

N is for Nest and God takes good care of me! Just how God takes care of the birds in their nest He also takes care of and protects us! The highlight of our week was being able to go outside and enjoy the beautiful all while collecting things that birds make their nest out of. We then took everything inside and made our own nest. After the boys glued everything onto the paperplate we then put some blue eggs in the nest.

Sawyer is doing an awesome at learning his letters. At times he does confuse the "A" and "N" when writing them but other than that it's going great. Focus Books: "The Magic School Bus Flies from the Nest" "The Best Nest" by P.D. Eastman "Are you my Mother?" by P.D. Eastman "Spike's Best Nest" by Tony Maddox Resouce: My Father's World

A is for Apple

A is for Apple; If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit! Who wouldn't have fun learning about apples?! There is just so much to do with apples and they taste yummy!!! We were very busy this week trying to get all our fun projects done that we wanted to do. We started with the most important project; making apple crisp and applesauce with Mie Mie!!! As you can tell by Sawyer's face I think he ate as much as he was peeling!

Carter tried a little bit of the apples but wasn't to sure why Sawyer loved them so much.

We also went through magazines and cut out pictures of all types of fruit. Sawyer did a great job identifying what was a fruit and what was not. We then went to the store and bought lots of different types of apples so that we could observe and talk about how they were different. We cut them in half two different ways to see the core and the star that's inside. Then we took our apples halves, dipped them in paint and went crazy stamping! (We saved the paper to wrap Daddy's birthday presents next week.)

We also went on youtube.com and watched the story of Johnny Appleseed. Finally we traced our hand and arm to make a tree, then cut up green leaves and used red paint to make the apples!

Focus Books: "Ten Red Apples" by Pat Hutchins "A Tree is a Plant" by Clyde Robert Bulla "How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world" by Majorie Priceman "Apples Apples Apples" by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace "Grasshopper on the Road" by Arnold Lobel Resource: My Father's World

L is for Leaf

L is for Leaf and I will live and grow in Jesus! We learned about a leaf gets its food; water, air and sun. Just like the leaf needs the tree to grow we also need to "live on" Jesus to grow! We went outside and collected different shapes, sizes and colors of leaves from our yard. When we brought them back in we talked about how each one was different from the other ones. Then we put the leaf on the counter with a piece of paper over it and took a crayon and rubbed it on the paper to make a sketching of the leaf!

Mason did a great job at cutting up paper into little pieces!

We then had a lot of fun making colorful leaves! We took a white paper and cut into a leaf shape, tapped it into a tray, put different colors of paint down and then rolled marbles around! We have beautiful leaves on our walls now!

Focus Books: "A Tree is Nice" by Janice Hay Udry "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina (This was Sawyer's favorite) "I am a Leaf" by Jean Marzollo Resource: My Father's World 2 Teaching Mommies

Carter is 7 months old!

I just can't believe that you are 7 months old and seeing all that you accomplished this past month is amazing! You had many "1st" this month and are growing every day into a little boy. We are super proud of you Carter and can't wait to see what next month has in store for you!

1st official time rear-facing! You did have one ride in Mie Mie's van rear-facing before this. (08.29.12)

Sitting on your own for the 1st time! (08.30.12)

1st time eating food! (09.13.12)

Let's just say he didn't like it!

Sitting up for the 1st time! (09.17.12)

M is for Moon

M is for Moon and reminds us that we are the light of the world! I really enjoyed the concept of this unit. The unit was about where the moon gets its light from; the sun. We are like the moon because we are to be a reflection of Jesus! We learned how the moon reflects off the sun by going into the bathroom and turning off the lights. We then took our dinosaur flashlight (the sun) and shined it into the mirror and the light that came off was the moon!

We then learned about the different phases of the moon and how the moon changes shape but is still the same moon. Sawyer really enjoyed this activity because I don't share my Oreos all the time! We also had a lot of fun learning and singing the song "This little light of mine."

Sawyer really loved learning about space shuttles. We watched videos on youtube.com of NASA shuttle launches; you should have seen his face!!!

Of course every little boy needs a space helmet to go to the moon and a space shuttle! I guess 4K is a lot of work for the Daddy's too!

We also made space shuttle that we could launch ourselves with a straw.

Focus Books: "Little Bear Goes to the Moon" by Else Holmelund Minarik "Goodnight Moon" by Maragaret Brown "Happy Birthday, Moon" by Frank Asch Resources: My Father's World

S is for Sun

S is for Sun and reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world!

Sawyer did awesome learning about the sun. I was very surprised how much of the material I skipped over because after aksing him a question regarding the sun he already knew the answer! We did make sure we conquered what sound the letter "S" makes. We had fun painting pictures of the sun and making the sun out of play-doh. He also worked really hard at writing his name; I think he is getting really good at it!

Focus Books: "Wake Up, Sun" by David Harrison "Bear Shadow" by Frank Asch Resources: My Father's World

1st Day of School 2012 Pictures

Sawyer 4 years old ~ Mason 2 years old

Creation Unit

After our busy summer months we decided to do a little "summer school" before the year officially started to slowly get back into the routine of things. This year we will be using "My Father's World" curriculum and so far we love it! Our first unit was on Creation and I was so impressed with how quickly Sawyer learned what God made each day and that he is continuing to remember it!

Day 1: God made light when there was none. We talked about how in the beginning there was nothing and we closed our eyes for a while to get a concept of this.

Day 2: God made clouds and skies so blue. We sure did have a lot of fun looking at all the beautiful clouds in the sky.

Day 3: God made flowers and plants and trees. Today we went outside and picked flowers and leaves that God created.

Day 4: God made sun, moon, stars galore! Today we made a mobile to hang from our dining room that had a sun, moon and stars!

Day 5: God made birds and fish alive! Today we made sure we went outside and feed our birds.

Day 6: God made animals and man that day! The boys had fun finding and cutting out animals and people they found in magazines.

Day 7: God rested in His Heaven! What better way to spend a day resting than having popcorn and watching a movie!

It was a lot of FUN discovering all that God made! He even learned a song (the actual words are listed above with each day) and this is how Sawyer sang it. Day 1 God made light when there was none Day 2 God made water and skies so blue Day 3 God made flowers, plants and trees Day 4 God made sun, moon, stars galore (which sounds like "dalord") Day 5 God made birds and fish alive Day 6 God made animals and us Day 7 God took a break in His Heaven!

Marshmallow Fight!

This week Tom will be working 6 days and they are 10-12 hour shifts. Weeks like these are always rough because not only do I miss him but I am tired by the end of the week as well with not really having much help with the boys and I have gone to work twice this week as well. Today at lunch Sawyer said to me "I just really miss my daddy". My heart broke for him and I knew we needed to do something fun to get us through the rest of the week. Thanks to Pinterest I found this great idea from www.celebrateeverdaywtihme.com and a GREAT idea it was! Tom's face in the second picture was worth it all. Yes there were marshmallows everywhere but they were cleaned up in no time with Sawyer and Mason picking them and eating them (okay I did too!).

High Cliff Camping

Our first stop this camping trip was at Mud Creek Coffee in Stockbridge, WI; Tom and I fell in love with this little cafe/coffee shop. We arrived at our campsite #105 on Tuesday July 20 and we stayed until today (the 20th). It was a very exciting first night of camping. Right after we finished setting up our campsite and Sawyer and Mason doing a lot of rock climbing on the HUGE rock at our campsite we jumped into the truck to check out the rest of the campground. When we arrived at the lake we realized that due to the extreme heat of the summer the water was green and nasty so we crossed swimming off our agenda immediately. We then noticed the sky and how dark it was turning. We found a Park Ranger and he did not seem very concerned so we headed back to our campsite. Right when we got there the Park Rangers were already going through the campsite telling everyone to take shelter! We left the boys in the truck, secured all our belongings and headed out. We drove back to Mud Creek Coffee to have dinner; the people there were so nice and even allowed us to stay there past closing time just so we would be safe. We had a relaxing time visiting with them while they cleaned and drinking the coffee they were about ready to dump out. The worst of the storm had passed but it was still drizzling just a little bit so we continued driving South and visited Uncle Tony, Kaylee, Kennedy and Cameron (Aunt Rachel was just heading out the door when we got there to go to work).

Our second day there we enjoyed time taking hikes around the campground and enjoying the beautiful scenery of Lake Winnebago. We also went and visited Aunt Amber, Treyton, Alexa and Audrey. The kids had a lot of fun together running around and Sawyer loved wrestling with Treyton.

On the third day we headed up to Bay Beach in Green Bay and had a FUN packed day there as well. Aunt Amber, Treyton, Alexa, Audrey, MieMie, Emma, Ava, Cousin Marti, Lexie and Julia also joined us there. It was kind of a drizzy, cold day but we still had a blast. Afterwards we all meet Aunt Toni at Serious Burger for dinner.

The final day there we did some more walking around at High Cliff and even got Sawyer to climb the tower; Mason had no problem going to the top but Sawyer was much more cautious. After every camping trip we all come home tired and filled with lots of memories!!!