Spring, lovely Spring

Last winter was a doozy. "The Long Winter" we are calling it. And spring has been slow. The past few days are the first ones where there's really been noticeable flowers.

We love winter. We love snow--but that got seriously tested this winter--and the bottom line is that when it's in the negative degrees and windy, no matter how well you dress you just don't go outside for any longer than you have to.

So for the first time in my memory, I was looking forward to spring. And in the morning when I open my backdoor to the world outside, I still feel a little thrill. 

And I wonder how long I'm going to feel that little thrill, honestly. Seems like it should wear off at some point. 

But regardless, we are loving spring, and being outside. We've wrapped up almost all of school for the year, and started in on some new stuff for the summer. These books are ones that I'm planning on us going through until next spring, as they go month by month. So far the kids love them. 

In celebration we are spending as much time as possible outside. We've taken to calling our backyard our nature preserve. It's fun to watch all year long, but especially fun in the spring when you can watch the green overtake the brown, every day, and the birds return and build and fight and play. It is a wondrous blessing of this home.

The canadian geese are both fun and annoying... For a few weeks there they were fighting constantly. Geese can run on water, in case you're wondering. It's noisy and wild.

She's always gotta climb the trees.

Nature Journaling.

Exploring. Constantly Exploring. Outside? Outside?

Daria's obsessed with birds. She instructs them constantly, and is continually irritated at the fact that they don't listen to her. She finally found one that would hold still for her.

She loves to throw "wocks!"

Keira and Brianna can't run at the gym, so as soon as the weather got good enough we started running outdoors. Proud of them both, as they have worked really hard to build up mileage.

Our natural-born runner. Right before this she told me that every time she got tired, she just ran faster. Must be nice! I'm pretty sure she can outrun us all. 

Daria: Are you alright? Oh, baby! Are you alright? Keira is doing awesome too. She has really committed herself to building distance and keeping up with dad. It's been so fun to watch her blossom as a runner.

Last week we joined the community garage sale. We haven't had a garage sale in 7 years, and with moving so much the last few years I haven't had time to really keep stuff well cleaned out. So, it was time, and it was a lot of work, but even so it ended up being really good and a lot of fun. My garage sale was pretty small compared to all the others I could see, but we still did pretty well.

 I am SO SO glad that we've gotten to experience Midwest Thunderstorms. I may retract this statement about mid-July when I haven't slept for three weeks due to constant thunder all night long, but wow. They are amazing.

 And the last few days have been warm and lovely. School outside, and playing outside, and doors and windows open.

A few more leaves on the trees... Geography, en plein air.

Daria learned how to put her pants on by herself the past few days. So she's been wearing multiple pairs at once, just putting them on as she can find them. 

Hope your spring is treating you well!

The Como Park Zoo and Conservatory

A while back my kids told me that they missed me blogging. I was a bit surprised, as I didn't really see that one coming. They explained that they loved reading it, looking back over the things we've done and the pictures. 

So, I tentatively promised that I would take it back up again. It's funny how you can fall out of the habit of doing something you love, or something that you know you should do. And then it becomes unfamiliar and awkward to take up with it again. All sorts of things, from allowing the dishes to go all day without getting done, to devotions, to case in point, blogging.

So this is my attempt to blog--again. If I remember how. I hope I do.

I figured I'd just pick a place, and start. It's weird, I know. But I can live with that. A subject pertaining to homeschooling seemed to be logical, since that's what the majority of my days are filled with, and it's a lot more interesting than other things my days are filled with, like say laundry, diapers, etc.

So this year, we've used this art curriculum. And we have LOVED it. It introduces so many techniques and art supplies, in easy little bite sized pieces. You can make them bigger and more involved if you want, but you don't have to. It says it's for K-3rd grade, and I'm sure that's true for some, but for myself, I probably wouldn't want to deal with keeping a Kindergartner on track with the lessons... I prefer waiting until they can keep themselves on point, because I'm grumpy like that.  

 Since Garrett works nights, a lot of our Saturdays are sort of um, lame. Because he must sleep through Saturday afternoon. So, we've tried to make it fun Momma/Kiddo time instead, and mostly succeeded, I hope. I like to leave the house because it's stressful to keep a loud little toddler under control. So we try to head out and do something fun. Sometimes we move our art lesson from Friday to Saturday, and take it out and about. We all look forward to this.

The Como Park Zoo and Conservatory has been a lifesaver this winter for leaving the house. Because it is so incredibly wonderful to have a warm, green place to go when you're SO SO SO tired of the indoors, and it is too cold to be outdoors.

Trying so hard to get more pictures of myself WITH my kids. When you're always behind the camera, that's not easy to do. I'm not a huge fan of selfies, but in limited amounts, with purpose, they're alright, right? Especially if you want record of the fact that you were actually WITH your children. 

 On this trip we were using oil pastels. Keira loves oil pastels especially, and she was excited. The previous time we did a "do art" trip to the conservatory it was all pencil sketching, so she was thrilled to get some color in on the action too. She chose the amazing Bird of Paradise they had, and Brianna chose the beautiful Spiral Ginger plant.

I was highly amused and felt like a ridiculous cliche on this day, because the conservatory was PACKED. And the girls chose the place that everyone walked by to sit and do their flowers. So funny and awkward. So everyone is looking and talking to the girls, and saying, "Oh! You must homeschool!" Haha. Yep. You called it. I should have worn my denim jumper and brought a goat. (I don't have a denim jumper, to be clear. Just in case the fashion police are reading this. Or a goat. I don't have one of those either. Just Daria, who likes to pretend to be a dog. So that could count, I suppose. In a pinch.)

It was fun though, because there was another artist with acrylic paint, and one with watercolors, so the girls got to watch other people for a while. They loved that.

Daria was particularly attached to Keira this day. I had to include this picture because I love how alike these two look here. 

The fruit and spices of the world room is our very very favorite. It has cocoa trees! It's amazing. I heard a frantic "Mom! Mom! Mom!" from across the room, and nearly had a heart attack.  Thankfully, it was just Brianna, who'd discovered a Jack fruit Tree. She'd just learned about how important Jack fruit was to India that week, and was really excited to find one in real life.

The tropical rainforest room has a free-roaming sloth. It's become a "spot-the-sloth" tradition for us every time we visit. I'd never actually managed to see him before, but on this day he was in plain view, so we got a picture to commemorate. 

 After we spent a long while basking in the warmth and greenery of the Conservatory, we headed over for a quick run through the zoo part. It was still pretty cold, so we did that part as quickly as we could with a grumpy toddler who will not be strollered, or carried, or hold anyone's hand while walking. And every time one of us held our hands out for her she would neatly fold hers on her chest, and get this stubborn face and say, "No! Mine! I walk." She's a real team player, that one.

 Thanks for coming along with us!

The Monday After Friday

So, after the previous sunshiney Friday joy and a whole weekend of sunshine, most of which we spent outside, Monday came with doom and gloom and more rain in the forecast.

While I was setting up for school the girls huddled, and then Keira (my diplomat who knows her mother and my dislike for this weather very well) and suggested (her words, not mine) that perhaps we should hang onto the joy of the beautiful weekend for a bit longer and disregard the fact that it was gray, and head for the park with lunch to do school.

This plan sounded brilliant to me, so we did. And it turned out pretty awesome, because we were the only people at the park for most of the day. Mental Note: Mondays are good days to hit the waterfront.

I was worried that they would be distracted and have a hard time getting everything done, but they ended up doing their book work a lot faster at the park. I think because I was worried about them getting cold, so I'd have them do a few pages and then go play for 5-10 minutes to warm up a bit. That incentive worked very well, and they blazed through everything quickly.

SO, SO, SO gray!!!

Pretty Pink Navel Oranges.

What Garrett affectionately refers to as our "Pacific Northwest Tuxedos". Keens and North Face Jackets.

Counting drills on the slide makes counting drills much more fun! 

Always upside down and backwards on the slide for this one.

I love this peanut butter and jam face, with the wind tussled hair. She's working her way through counting by three's here.

These are MY socks!! They fit HER feet. I DO NOT like this.

I told the kids we could play till three, and then we had to go home. It was gray and mildly drizzly all day, until I took this picture at about 2. Then it was still dark and gray where we were, but we noticed the break in the clouds south of us. 

Yes, they know it is cold, and they just don't care. I think it could be snowing and they'd still insist upon taking their shoes and socks off to play in the water. We have an agreement that as long as they don't shriek and dance around like little girls because the water is cold then they're allowed to do it. 

My baby. She is BEYOND excited about being "the middle kid." Apparently it's the best of both worlds to be the middle kid--you have one older than you, and one younger than you. :-)

In Wenatchee we had quails everywhere. Here we have seagulls. I keep telling myself they have their own kind of charm. They like to sit on my chimney and CAW! This is amplified by the chimney and fireplace acoustics, and is very, very, very loud.

There's not much in the way of waves here. But, when a ship comes through we know its coming before we can see it--the waves get huge, comparatively speaking, and then dissipate as it goes by. 

And at about 2:55 the sunshine finally broke free of the clouds for us, right over head. I stubbornly announced that it was time to go, and was met with outraged howls, as if I'd personally planned the day so the sun would come out as it was time to leave. I was met with resounding choruses of "BUT THE SUN JUST CAME OUT!" as if they'd just spotted Big Foot, and I'd suggested it was time to leave the forest. Their logic did not escape me, so I gave them 15 more minutes.

Then knowledge of my daunting to-do list at home took over, and I herded them up to head back to our castle.

It was a really great day, and I'm glad we did it. I'm really proud of how well they did on their work in a different environment, and mixing it up a bit really seemed to help morale... mine and theirs. It also really seems to help us deal with this weather--to just go out in it, instead of holing up at home. I MUST remember that. We'll have to do it again soon.

MiniLUK - Critical Thinking

Today I thought I'd share a little bit about our Critical Thinking Curriculum for this year. It's called the MiniLUK, and we LOVE it. We got the starter pack as well as the Perception Pack 1, Perception Pack 2, and Critical Thinking Pack. There are several different packs that provide different activities as well. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do justice to it in my description, but I thought I'd try because we have really enjoyed it, and I definitely think it's been a great resource. Also, it is reusable for kid after kid after kid, so while the initial cost might be a bit much, it is cheap to add new books to it if desired, and the best part is that it definitely is something that would last for years in a home school library--there are ZERO consumable parts to it, so everything you buy is a lasting investment. (Provided that they don't get lost or chewed up, of course. Haha.)

The kids love it because it is fun... hands-on, tiles that are easy to hold, and a clever little system of checking your own work so they can do it themselves.

I love it because it is fun--they enjoy doing it, and actually ask to do it outside of school time. Also, it is something they can do themselves. So, while I am focusing on one-on-one time with one child, the other can be working independently on their own. Very rarely do they need my help with this subject, but they are so fun that sometimes we end up doing extras together. 

The idea: A plastic "folder" with grooves for the tiles to sit in. A solid backside, and a clear front side. Each tile has a number (1-12) on it, and on the back of the tile is a color, as seen below. 

 Each page in the book has a different puzzle on it, as well as instructions on what the kids should be doing or looking for in this puzzle (on the middle left), and what the colors on the back of the tile should look like (shown on the middle right) if they solved the problem correctly.

So, for this puzzle below, the child needed to take the 7 tile, and place it on the clear square farthest to the left, because as seen in the clue above the violin, they were solving for the green drawing, not the red. They need to take the 8 tile and place it on the green cat, (not shown), and the 9 tile gets placed on the green moon. And so on, and so forth.

 Then, when all the child's tiles have been placed to solve the puzzle they flip the red plastic piece up to sandwich the tiles between, and flip it over to the clear side to see their color pattern.

 And, if they did the puzzle correctly they should have the same design showing as the answer key in the middle of the page.

Then they open it up again, and turn the tiles over in the red plastic grooved area to start another puzzle. This is just as much fun as the puzzle solving. :-)

 And here's just a few shots of a few different puzzles we've done so far... it was SO HARD to decide what puzzles to take snapshots of, because there are SO MANY cool ones. This is not a representative sampling, by any means. Each puzzle is different, cool, fun, and the kids LOVE opening up the book in the morning to see what puzzles they get to solve for that day.

 Visual Perception--Discriminating Close-ups

 Logic and visual perception-finding the correct halves to each picture, even though they aren't in the same place or whole pieces as above.

 Follow the fishing line from the fisherman to the correct fish.

 Build the train properly--sequencing.

As we've gone on they've definitely gotten more challenging, although I can tell the kids are getting better too. This one above was a stretch at first because you can't see ALL the blocks you're counting, even though they must be there. Now they can do these puzzles perfectly. Since I've taken pictures for this post we've definitely come to some more that have been more difficult, in a good way. Challenging, but also very doable independently with some thought and focus. :-)

 They LOVE getting them right all by themselves. We all have to stop and cheer however many times that happens in a day. Usually it's accompanied by some dance moves. :-)

 Usually while one child and I are working on dictation/reading, the other one does the MiniLUK. Then whoever finishes first gets quality Angry Birds time.

Hey, whatever works. :-)

I definitely am glad that we invested in these puzzles, and I'm going to be looking to complete our set as time goes by. They have been a worthwhile investment for our curriculum inventory.