As promised here is a glimpse of our homeschooling this week. Our theme was Weather and we learned about W and the number five . Caidoc is very well versed in the weather since it is part of our daily activity so I’m not surprised he grasped the different weather types easily. I intentionally used weather as a theme knowing he was good at it however because I knew he would need to focus to master W and the number five (W is a difficult one for him to say, and he hasn’t counted up to five yet on his own).
Watching a bar of soap microwave to make his very own…CLOUD! We did this several times and had a lot of fun watching it!
Practicing cutting and pasting and countingtired of smiling…haha!Learning about rainbows with a prism. I loved this it was so hands on and easier for him to make on his ownI loved this one! He got to be the “wind” and blow paint all over the paper.
The “snowstorm” bottle he made almost completely on his own!Hide and seek with the letter of the week (five of them actually!!)
I glad to report it was a success. He counts up to five now and can pronounce and recognize both W and 5. Yay! I’m so blessed to have such a smart son. He is such a joy.
HI! Things look a little different here don’t they? I decided the blog needed a facelift. It feels a little more clean to me now.
Things have been BUSY. Let’t start with a quick recap before I plaster a bunch of pictures of my cute babes all over this page 😉
1. Our weekly soccer class has exploded into a small business! With a great deal of help from my web wizard friend Brittany we started a website, and expanded our class offerings. It has taken up a lot of time to get it going and prep for classes (which is mostly husband’s job). But, I think the result is pretty freakin’ cool. We hope that this will really take off as a part time gig, but also as a way for us to give back to our community. Since our littles are so, well, little, there is not a lot of trips to be taken or anything for the next couple years, so we can commit a good portion of our time to this program. Curious about what I’m talking about? Check it out!
2. Having the kids birthdays one day apart is uh, hectic. Well, it probably wouldn’t be if I wasn’t determined to throw massive birthday parties for them. What can I say, I LOVE PARTIES. Mostly the planning and prepping. It sounds crazy but I just love it. Do I have a future it in? I sure thought so for awhile- who knows, maybe I’ll be a wedding planner some day! After all, I am only 25 years young AND according to all the personality tests I’ve taken, organizational skills and people management are my strong points.
Wow, I got really distracted. Anyways, as I was saying, I’ve probably made a mistake in deciding to throw two huge birthday parties for Caidoc and Zelie a week a part. OH WELL. I’ve had so much fun and I can’t wait to decorate and see the party take shape.
3. I also signed up for my first 10k. Yes, I know I said I was going to do it in September, but I felt ready and wanted to just jump on it while I felt motivated. So I’m running in Sammamish May 23rd. Yes, I did pick a day right after the kids birthdays. Smart? Nope. Again, OH WELL. I’ve been trying to get in as much running as possible so I don’t die of shame on the trail. Here is hoping.
4. Zelie is TEETHING. I’m pretty sure teething babies is what hell is. Can you imagine? A bunch of babies just sitting around whining at you and crying and there is nothing.you.can.do. Yep, that’s hell alright. There is not much sleep going on around here. But there sure is a lot of coffee. I’m really missing yoga class at this point in my life. I’ve noticed a huge decline in energy and a huge increase in coffee intake. Woe. I’ve confided husband to do the yoga classes, yes, another time commitment. But I’me very excited for him to feel rejuvenated. Plus, he has a run to get ready for as well!
5. Homeschooling Caidoc. I feel behind in this! There is so much to do out there and sometimes I just WANT TO DO ALL THE THINGS!! But this week has been really good. More on that later since the week isn’t quite over. I’ll post about it this weekend…hopefully. This takes up a good potion of time, planning ahead, and executing while also trying to run the house. I’m still finding a balance between focusing on Caidoc learning something, keeping Zelie preoccupied and the other million lithe tasks that need to be done: laundry, cleaning, meals, gardening, etc.
6. Oh yeah, I started a garden. Hmm…so far so good, nothing much to report but I’m very hopefully I will have tons of veggies this summer. Ambitious is my middle name 😀
Allllrighty, enough of the blabber, here’s some adorable things the kiddos are up to, and some not so terrible pictures of the crazy couple who love to over commit ;p
We went to the Spring Fair and it was awesome. Caidoc loved the “moo”s and rally carsAll the lovies for her big brotherLoving the baby ducksspeaking of ducks!kisseshandsome guysshe was a champ and sat in the stroller for the fairSee those teeth?! Thats right, PURAL. Cutting two more right now!Pool time!Caidoc refused to get in, even though it was warm 🙁5 am breakfast= cute, but brutal
Lucky for me, we were able to visit the fire station the week that our theme was fire engines! What a happy camper Caidoc was !
He was quite taken with the engines, not so much the firemen. He had a hard time sitting still listening to them talk. I don’t really blame him, they expected the kids to sit and listen right in front of the fire engines! Caidoc just wanted to touch, tough, touch 🙂 which, he eventually did get to do.Zelie was extremely unimpressed and just wanted to nap :\Caidoc was very perplexed about the fireman crawling on the groundLooking longingly at the engines haha!Most of our awesome KMG crew!
He was so excited to touch a “weeooweoo” aka fire engine! Haha! Such a funny little man. At the end of the tour he got a super cool hat. I should have gotten one for Zel because she is jealous of it and put a it on whenever Caidoc isn’t looking. She’s such a funny girl!!
Handsome dude
More than one person commented that, ” that hat just belong on him” since he looked so handsome. I wouldn’t mind if he just sat behind a desk though 🙂 I think his toddler years are giving me enough gray hair as is.
This week was a big success with homeschooling, we covered the color red, letter F, and number 3, with the theme of firemen and fire engines.
He really enjoyed getting covered in paint while making this fire engine out of a box and toilet paper rollsReuse, reduce, recycle!
This week has been INSANELY busy. I’m definitely over committed right now. It should get better in the next few weeks, but till then I’m trying to not let all my stress overload on hubs and the kids. I also tend to stress eat. So I’m trying to run instead. I only have a few more sessions of my yoga classes and I’m trying to fit those in as well to help cope with all the stress. At least that’s thew plan!
More updates later on all the plates we have spinning …
Happy Bright Week! Per the Byzantine Catholic tradition we will be celebrating for the next ten days! Here are some pictures of our extremely busy but fun day. It was Zelie’s first Easter and Caidoc showed her all the ropes 🙂
Working on posing in their fancy Easter clothes !There we go!Caidoc is being a champ and holding Zelie still for us, haha!SO HANDSOME!!My beautiful little flower who refused to smile all dayHappy family!A rare wife and hubby pic!Zelie’s very first Easter basket. She was very excited 🙂
Getting her all pumped up for her hunt at my parents house
house
Caidoc was so excited and focused ! He took off like a jetDaddy is showing princess how its done! She was very savvy and picked up several eggsHe’s a pro!Got her little chick bucketZelie was very skeptical about the whole hunt and glared the whole time haha! She sis not understand why we were so excited about these eggs that tasted so bad! Haha!“I don’t get it…why are you all so excited these don’t even taste good ..”Me and my boy . He made a haul!Yay!Ahhh victory is sweet!
So far Spring has been lovely. Keep it up Seattle!
Lookit mom!A post hot yoga sunriseCan’t wait for summer
So beautifulIs not fond of the cameraA attempt at a cute sibling picture.Sunshine!Lining up an animal paradeMy latest read. It’s frank and helpfulSome grilled noms
So, this post is a week late, my first offical week of homeschooling was last week. We did it! Caidoc sis so well. It was more challenging than I thought it would be but I think the natural flow of things will come with practice. It is also so challenging to hold his focus, but that was one of the main motivators to start homeschooling this early; practicing Caidoc’s listening (aka obedience) skills.
Our first week was focused on the letter S, the color yellow, and the number 1. The theme was Spring. I’ve written the curriculum to have the letter reflect the theme, rather than go straight through the alphabet. I’m very glad I did, it seems to really help letter comprehension for someone Caidoc’s age so have letter learning be a byproduct of a more interesting concept for him (like flowers and rain and bugs 😉 .
We start each session with a look at the weather, and he picks out a card for that and puts it on the board. He also picks out how he is feeling. This is one of my favorite things because its pretty funny to see what he picks. This day was “good” “sick” and “sad” . He rarely picks these so I asked why he felt that way. Apparently it had to do with not getting to watch the “tow tee” (Cars) movie. Bahah.Working on making a Spring tree
I wish I was able to capture more pictures but I got as many as I could while still staying very involved with Caidoc and haranguing Zelie (who just always wanrsnro be involved !)
It took about ten times to get him to hold still for this. Needless to say, there won’t be many pictures of homeschooling
An “apple juice” tree. Caidoc is obbessed with apple juice. Not a clue why because he never has juice! I think he might be talking about Jamba Juice. Which is the special treat he gets if he gets ten stickers on his extra chores and good deeds chart in a week.Since our focus was the letter S I worked that into the week as much as possible. This was a hit. I play a song and he can dance around but when I pause it he has to have two feet on the S. This works on listening, large motor skills, and letter recognition.
S is for star! Made from tin foil. He is very fond of gluing things 🙂
The little student
I’m using good ol’ Bob books ! These are really helping with his sounding out letters, we read the one for the letter of the week twice a day that week. Or more.
Some of his spring crafts.This is Caidoc’s apple tree. He planted an apple seed in the soil. He got to get the dirt and jar. He tossed he seed in and was very pleased with himself. Hahaha!
We did a lot of other things that I was unable to get pictures of. We went out and picked flowers and talked about how the spring rain makes the flowers grow. He also did several pages in his pre k workbook on S, the number one, and yellow. If at all possible I make learning tactlie. So, we made yellow S’s out of playdough, cut ONE yellow S out of paper and played hide the thimble with it (another BIG hit), trace 1 and S in paint, and read several spring themed books that we got from the library.
Whew. It was a lot of work, I’m not gonna lie. This week, I’m sad to say, has not flowed as smoothly, but I’ll have a separate post on it once its over.
All in all, the first week went really well. It was priceless to get to watch his little mind grow and be curious. I’m so lucky to have the privilege of being Caidoc and Zelie’s mommy.
Speaking of Zelie…
This little lady loves books. She’s gonna be a reader too! This is her favorite currently. Its called Baby Faces. She is such a social butterfly, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that other little faces fascinate her.
I got Zelie involved too 🙂 She probably sits still longer than Caidoc these days !
Look she can already write A! 😉 Paint in a zipock taped to the floor !
Caidoc was very pleased to show Zeilie exactly what to doAn attempt to get a nice picture of our first week of school. Stinker. I’m tempted to male this face when he gets older and wants pictures .
