TWO: Weeks of 20 and 27 Feb

ABCs/Phonics:

Funnix is going well for Abby. As of yesterday, she completed lesson 89. I figure if we keep at this pace, she'll be finished by the end of March! She's now attempting to read titles of television shows and other things. For a child who is hesitant to try anything new, it is a big show for what she's accomplished to feel comfortable trying to read something NOT in her lessons.

In this picture she drew a tree, and then continued to embellish it with a hole and a little bunny to live in the hole. A couple of lessons later, she read the word "bug" and was supposed to draw it in. She chose to draw in a bug like her daddy's: a VW bug. :)

Emmett learned a bit on the letters "e' and "s." Apparently "e" was harder for him since he had a bit of a time remembering the sound it made. He surprised me, though, with "s" by knowing its name and sound before I had introduced them!

He was also excited to use his SpiderMan pencils that I found at the dollar spot at Target. He loves SpiderMan.

We also traced the letters in shaving cream. Abby and Emmett both thought this was great fun. Ellie was not a fan.

Literacy:

We had a celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday this past week! We read a ton of his books (Abby read the entire Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham). I wrote quotes of his on our windows (with dry erase markers), we had green eggs cookies (no pictures, though, because we gobbled them up!). We also colored some paper bags to look like the Cat in the Hat and talked about the pattern on his hat.

Abby felt the need to write "Today is Dr. Seuss birthday" on her hat (birthday appears on the other side). Emmett tried to write on his too, which is why you see a bunch of letters on top of Abby's. He asks her and she shows him how to form the letters on the top of whatever she's working on. The little squiggle under the "o" in "today" is something that appears in her reading lesson to indicate that the "o" does not make its traditional sound.

Life:

We also got our big box from Rainbow Resource this past week! It included our wall maps and a bunch of books for Five in a Row. The kids were rather excited about the maps portion. And of course, the large box that it all came in.

The hang on the wall by our dining room table and we have lots of discussion about where family lives, where Fancy Nancy wants to go (France), where Disneyworld is, etc, etc. I know they're not your traditional dining room decor, but it sure is a good visual!

We bought this Makin' Mud Pies toy when the weather was still cold. We pulled it out and it has been a big hit. Of course, I also got a new washer this week, which was good timing for the amount of mud they get on their clothes now.

We made a trip to the zoo with friends where they hardly looked at any animals; they just had fun running around! We did discuss animals that are nocturnal vs diurnal when we saw owls and bats, though.

Swim:

This past lesson, Abby and Emmett took their first jumps off a diving board! We were quite surprised. Emmett thought it was awesome and kept going back for more. They had to inform him that lesson was done about four times.

Mom and Dad:

I just finished units in all three of my classes. It included a week full of studying and audio lectures and all around craziness. In order to juggle it all, I decided to skip the assigned reading in my developmental psychology class. I was lucky enough, though, that the chapters were on pregnancy and infants. Those are two things I know quite a bit about.

Daddy just finished a week full of flying. His eyes cleared the exams and he flied twice in four days. They were long days for him. He even taught a brand new flyer for the first time. He also did get to accomplish a bit of reading for our psych class. I guess at least someone is reading the book! ;)