Halloween Fun

Halloween was a day of memories. While E tumbled his heart out at gym, e and s had a blast here at home. They water colored, played outside, carved a pumpkin, hung on the bar, sang....then dressed up, put on real makeup (a huge deal for e, as I don't even own makeup!), did a recording session with C of Let it Go, trick-or-treated around the block, and handed out candy.

 

I used my ninja improv sewing skills to create e's costume the day before Halloween. I see so many mistakes, but she adores it. Whew!

Life is full of opportunities to play, is it not? Above was made by Elsa and Anna with flashlights, and below is my e a few days after Halloween, playing with candy. We can't eat it, so we mash it up and treat it like play dough. Fun stuff.

Next comes Martinmas....have you made your lanterns yet? That's what our watercolors were for...

 

No More Reversals

E's zoology block is coming along nicely. Not as fast as I would have wanted; we got a bit stuck on the octopus, as it is his favorite. Part of me freaks out a bit that we are already to November and still on the block we began with back in August...no Old Testament, no geography, and we have not even covered birds and insects within zoology. Sigh. I had hoped to cover those and begin grade 5 topics in January.

 

Luckily the rest of me is a bit more sensible. Does it matter if we miss OT and geography? We missed OT in grade 3 as well. He will hear it in e's lessons next year, and perhaps absorb it better because it isn't aimed at him. That, after all, is how he learns best...

 

As far as geography, he's more interested in countries right now than states. Next year e has a Native Americans block, where the peoples are introduced not by tribe but by region. Peoples of the Ice and Snow, Peoples of the Forest, Peoples of the Swamp, Peoples of the Rain and Mist, Peoples of the Desert, etc. That could be a great time to connect the states and capitols to the regions for him.

 

Interesting to look back on this post from his Native block. Reversals are a thing of the past! So much changes in a year. It is okay to give children that time, as well as ourselves. Don't rush. We'll all get there.

Introduction to spider maps. This is my writing; we made it together and there was no point in having him copy it.

On to the amphibians. We were always fascinated by the frogs in Alaska. Northern Wood Frogs freeze solid during the long winter!

 

The frustration I wrote about a few months ago regarding E's art has vanished. He still worries that his drawing will not come out right, but it no longer paralyzes him. He's back to enjoying his crayons and pencils. Whew!

Spider map....

I gave him a YouTube clip to watch and a blank piece of paper. This is the paragraph he wrote, re-copied to (mostly) correct a few spelling errors:

Then he searched through a book for a picture of a frog skeleton and drew it.

 

This was one of those moments that keep me going! Rather than a few weeks, he whipped this out in a few days. Rather than writing as little as possible, he gave a full narrative! It is organized, complete, and neatly done. He did not balk at the corrections or writing a final draft.

 

Yes, I see the lack of capitalization... I also see the lack of reversals. He's come a long way.

 

Art, Art, Art!

We've been all about art lately! Very little book work and a whole lot of crafting and creativity.

e is pretty taken by these little boxes we made for place value. We must have 50 or so of them now!

Meanwhile, E has been creating masterpieces of his own, both with paper and yarn.

No patterns for this boy. Experimentation all the way! Above is his stuffed fig...

and a pouch that he crocheted the edges together BEFORE he knew that was the way to do it. Default should have been mattress stitch from his knitting days. Clever kid.

 

Below is who-knows-what. :) More experimenting.

A ball! He is loving the flexibility crochet allows. No patterns! No right way, no wrong way. Nobody's rules but his own.

 

Then there's free-rein watercolors.

A house in a field at sunrise

And a fairy door under a rainbow!

See my knitting? I finally used a skein of yak down I was given over a year ago to make myself a cozy, warm cowl!

 

The kids have been very creative outside as well. Crazy games and costumes every day!

Hotdog, pumpkins, and a little white creature by e- needle felting with friends!

Meanwhile, E tries out some new tutorials on you tube:

Let us not forget the octopus.... (E's and mine)

Octy the Octopus, by E. Pretty awesome! He's been stitching away a leg at a time for two months!

This has to be the coolest discovery yet. These are origami claws! They fit on the kids' fingers and are just oh so much fun.

I love our crafty life. :)

 

Place Value Adventures

e has started place value! Sunday evening she told me she just could NOT wait until Monday morning, so we began! She caught on immediately. It was interesting to hear her questions- why is 111 not just one acorn in each column?

 

But when she sat down to math on Monday morning, she had forgotten her times tables, how to add, subtract, multiply, divide...in fact, didn't even know which sign meant what. Just as her brother had done at just this point three years ago. It is as if my children cannot add place value to their brains without dumping everything else!

After a lot of tears and frustration, I was able to lead her through a review.

Thus it wasn't until Tuesday that we continued on with place value.

The trees kept dropping more acorns to help us with addition:

But why is this not the answer? She thought about this one for a while. I sat at the table with her, but my attention remained on winding embroidery thread. This was her puzzle.

Ah, there we go.

I showed her what carrying looked like in numbers, but do not expect her to master this aspect until the next math block.

We have since done much addition and subtraction of acorns. Many trees drop acorns, and many hungry squirrels come by for snacks and meals. She is far from proficient but is on the right path!

 

Autumn is Here!

In the summer, our house is usually 76-83 degrees. In the winter, 62-69. Except G's room; she has her own heater to keep her room 69ish degrees. This is why:

Even though she has fur, her little bare feet get chilly! How to knit tiny slippers that she wouldn't chew to bits? Anyway, now that autumn is here, our house has dropped to 68. A super puffed-up fluffed pig meets me in the kitchen for breakfast, and when she stands on my feet her toes are like ice! Let's just say she's been getting a lot of snuggle time under towels and blankets in our laps these past few days!

Our dragon candles, burning bright, devouring our worries in preparation for Advent. e is very happy she is strong enough to light them this year!

S read The Knight and the Dragon at our Autumn Equinox/Martinmas gatherings few weeks ago. She gathered the young ones in the tipi while E pretended to be totally uninterested. After she began reading, he quietly went to listen from the doorway...and quickly moved away as she read the final page!

 

Really, who wouldn't be interested in a story read by S? She's our official story-teller, ever since Lammas when she read Blueberries for Sal complete with little tin pails for each child to make their own 'kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk' sounds. She thinks of everything. What I want to know is how she fit herself and four children into the little tipi!

 

Printing

My very crafty friend S gave my children a new art experience as part of our Michaelmas celebration: printing!

E cut his and used a stamp pad. He preferred free handing it:

The girls (e and S's daughter s) made their stamps with pencil, styrofoam, and acrylic paint.

It's Dragon!

e was a bit miffed that she wasn't allowed to try E's method, but in the end was proud to show Daddy her dragon print. I am in love with this new art form...all sorts of ideas are buzzing around in my head!

 

Octopus and Dragon

It seems we have hardly been home the past two months! Going, going. Now physical therapy for E is finished- 40 miles less driving each week! Whew! Now we can settle in at home more and learn about some more awesome animals and begin our autumn crafting.

 

We have managed to study hydrothermal vent life in between appointments and gymnastics. Pretty incredible environment to thrive in! E is most fond of the octopus. He even has a felt octopus in progress.

 

We tried our hand at colored pencil- mine is on the left, E's is on the right.

Then watercolor. Oh my this came out fantastic!

Meanwhile, e tried her hand at color mixing. So pretty!

We used some earlier watercolors for form drawing paper.

The final product is beautiful...but of course e practiced quite a bit first!

Continuing on with Where the Mountain Meets the Moon:

 

 

Our Michaelmas was spread out over several days this year and included a dragon meatloaf and a new craft: printing! More about that after I get the pictures off my camera. Happy autumn!