Spring Snow

I think my parents brought New Jersey weather with them to Virginia! 

 A daffodil in snow is just not right.

 Luke, Ethan and I went for a walk Sunday evening and they 

decided to make some snowballs as we walked. 

We pushed, rolled, carried those snowballs all the way home. 

I was laughing so hard that I was snorting. 

Sort of felt like we stole snow from the neighbors front yards. Is that illegal? 

(Don't worry. This is our yard... we just stole snow from the edge of the neighbors yards.)

walking buddies!

After school this morning, we went out to play. Here is what you do if you don't have any hills in your yard for sledding. You make your own hill using the deck steps. :)

Ready for take off!

Not sure why I didn't get any photos of Aaron. He was with us playing today. oops!

So glad to see the white stuff melting. Maybe it'll be in the 60's for Easter on Sunday?

3rd Grade Update

If you've been reading along, you know that we started the year off with Luke doing his school work in the dining room in a special "3rd Grade Work Zone." It worked pretty well for him. Then in January, we were blessed with a larger dining room table that crowded him out of his quiet thinking space. For January and most of February we relocated him to the school room with his brothers.

Anyway, he has become a good student (so thankful!) but he is so curious, competitive, and easily distracted! I'm almost positive these thoughts were running through his head every day in the school room. "What is Ethan doing? How many workboxes has he completed? Am I going to finish my schoolwork first? What is Aaron doing? Oh that looks fun! Maybe I'll squeeze Aaron's soft little ear. Hmmm... Ethan is reading his book upside down with a chair on him. Maybe I'll sit on him?" You get the idea.  I'm not sure why it took so long for me to realize that it was NOT working to having all three in the same space. And then once I realized it, why did it take me as long as it did to act on it??? duh!

After brainstorming with an experienced homeschool friend, I finally made some decisions and acted on them. Why not move his desk to his bedroom? He has the space and then he can sit at his desk while he does his morning independent work. Instead of using his workboxes, I've divided up his work into "independent work" and "work with mom." He has a bin for each.

Every morning after breakfast, Bible time, and science, I send him upstairs to his room with his bin of independent work. He stays up there working quietly in his room until he is finished (unless he has questions). This is working marvelously! Praise the Lord! In his bin of independent work, I have made a spreadsheet with all his work for the week. As he completes his work, he marks it off with a highlighter. (He enjoys scribbling with the highlighter a bit too much. He has already used up two in 3 weeks!) When he is finished with his independent work, he comes down and we work together at the kitchen desk.

We've been really pleased with his curriculum this year. I love the math (Christian Light Education - 3rd grade). We've gotten into a good rhythm with grammar (Rod & Staff) spelling (Spelling Power), phonics (Explode the Code), reading, and writing. 

For our history/geography component, we've been using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. The boys love this. Especially our monthly co-op meeting with other families also using this curriculum. (That's a topic for another blog post.) We've also been using the science that comes along with Exploring Countries and Cultures. A highlight has been making our vocabulary cards every Friday. Luke loves this and we are learning a lot!

We are in the final stretch of 3rd grade! Hooray! Our goal is to finish up by the second week of May before end of the year testing and our annual family beach trip. I'm really proud of my 3rd grader and how hard he has worked. I'm thankful for his inner motivation and determination.  Oh... we've had our challenges. He doesn't love writing and we have to work hard on handwriting and spelling, but we've come a long way this year. 

Useful Buckets

Aaron spends as much time as possible dribbling his basketball and shooting hoops in the garage. 

Darin made a makeshift hoop for him from the rim of a bucket and it has been a hit! 

Don't you love his outfit? Borrowed soccer shirt, tall soccer socks and always a tongue hanging out! :)

Meanwhile, his brothers drum and drum. It's almost like we're at a real basketball game... almost. 

Celebrating!

We have been doing a lot of celebrating this past month! We celebrated my parents 45th wedding anniversary. My brother and his family joined us for a family lunch and an adults only dinner out. We had a great babysitter who watched all 5 boys (ages 8, 6, 5, 4, and 3 years old). K.A. did a great job and got them all to bed while we enjoyed our dinner out. Hooray!

A few weeks later, we traveled to Maryland to surprise my brother and celebrate his 40th birthday. 

The crowd waiting for Jeffrey. 

Surprise!!

Three happy boys with bellies full of yummy food and cake!

My sister-in-law planned and organized a great party for my brother. I'm all partied out. ;)

Preschool Update

A couple weeks ago Aaron finished learning all his consonants and he is zipping along in his phonics skills. We have loved using the "Get Ready for the Code," "Get Set for the Code" and "Go for the Code" series by Nancy Hall. We started Explode the Code Book 1 last week. I highly recommend these workbooks!

As we face struggles and challenges homeschooling (and there are many!), I have to say one thing that really encourages my heart is to get to experience my children learning. To see the lightbulb light up as they understand something for the first time and to see them bursting with new knowledge makes up for the other challenges. (If only I would stop to take note of these precious moments more frequently. Too often I'm too busy whining to realize the great things happening.)

It has been such a joy to see Aaron take off with reading. With all three boys the experience with learning to read has been entirely different. They each have their own strengths and I have to say, Aaron has surprised me. Just this past summer, he hardly knew any of his letters and believe me, I tried to teach them to him. He had zero interest. I'm realizing in hindsight, he just wasn't ready. This fall, something clicked in developmentally and he has flourished. I can't take credit. I didn't do anything spectacular. He was just finally ready and willing to soak up everything I offered him.

I love that Luke and Ethan are eager to sit and listen to Aaron read!! Precious moments!

Here are his remaining "Letter of the Week" consonant projects: (He had help from either Luke or Ethan on each picture.) ** I used the help of various blogs and websites for these ideas. They are not original!

   

 "s" is for snake and "n" is for nest

"h" is for horse and "v" is for volcano

 

"d" is for dinosaur and "c" is for caterpillar

 

"g" is for giraffe and "z" is for zebra

"q" is for quail and "x" is for x-ray

"w" is for worm

"y" is for yak

"Ll" is for ladybug and lion

Lego Kids Fest

Last month we all went to the Lego Kids Fest. We didn't tell the boys where we were going, and just told them we were going on a field trip. They couldn't stand the suspense. They were so excited for our surprise adventure!

Could they look any happier? hee hee

Ethan was convinced we were going to an aquarium that would have glow in the dark fish. Aaron was convinced we were going to a baseball or basketball game. Imagine their surprise when we arrived. Luke was thrilled, but Ethan and Aaron were a bit disappointed. ;) 

They came around and we had fun just being together. It was really crowded though and my shy guys were not very assertive in getting to the play areas. They had fun playing in the huge pile of bricks. 

That's a lot of legos!

Watching their structures get added to the outline of the United States. 

Aaron made the best of it, but his favorite part was throwing a fast pitch. 

The local minor league team had a display to advertise. 

Spoiled

I need to document this moment so I don't forget. I have no pictures, but I was completely spoiled this weekend. I was invited on a weekend away with 3 other women and my dear husband joyfully agreed to be solo dad for two nights and two days. No guilt. No complaints. Just a gracious, "Yes! You need this time." I enjoyed quality time talking, resting, reading and more. The weather was gorgeous for running, walking and sitting on the dock soaking up the sun while I studied God's word. And to top it all off?? I came home to a spotless kitchen and clean house! Did my husband spoil me or what? I am so thankful. Let me not forget this blessing...