Great Day

Having a good day I guess - didn't start off looking great - but is going good now!

 

The kids were colouring, and Delta was making letters, and asking me what it said.  He did STOP first, and TOP, and HOT, and a bunch of nonsense words too....  but it was cool.    He also on his own made 3 of his puzzles, and is currently making a train track.

 

I did the word cards with both of them - and tried not to help Delta so much with the blending.   I think I'm going to get from the library a few Dr. Suess books (we have a couple, but the one I know would be great is missing....).    I'm thinking I've got to get "Hop on Pop" as there is a lot of words in there that he would be able to work out.   Also, I think maybe Green Eggs and Ham - because although there are more words he doesn't know, I know it has very limited vocabulary.   I'll have to look.

 

We got distracted from the word cards, as a machine came by across the street to break up the ice and snow in the ditches.   (In our neighbourhood, there are no storm-drains - we have a sloped ditch that works its way to the river....  but in spring it is all blocked with ice and snow, and so the water from the melting snow on the yards would overflow if the ditches aren't broken up....)   So we watched from the window for a few minutes.

 

So then I read the other half of the story that we are in the middle of in "House of Pooh".   Delta listened to most of it pretty good - got distracted on and off.  Echo pretty much just went off and played, but that is fine...

 Anyway, after lunch, I figured it was such a nice day outside, that I'd take them outside for a bit.  The porch has cleared etc, so I figured I could sit and read.  Well, I got ambitious, and took them for a walk for about 1/2 a block.   Delta picked up a bunch of rocks and threw them in the water in the ditches....  Echo did some too.   Delta also enjoyed finding tire tracks.... ok, maybe not exactly nature study, but it is observation anyway!     We didn't go very far though - this is the first time I felt up to trying any walk at all!    So we came back, and I let them play in the snow in the backyard for a while and I sat on the stairs.   Delta then needed to go to the bathroom, so we came around the front (easier to keep track of them...).  Besides, I could hear the machine coming back.   So they played in the snow out front (harder on me as there is water puddles in the front too....).   Then when the machine was getting near, they were sitting beside me on the stairs - so I tried playing a memory game with them - it went not too bad for a first run.

 

It was basically you say "I went to the market and I bought..."   normally you would have to do it alphabetically (which is easier to figure out what is next.....)  but of course we didn't do that part.  although it happened to start that way....    We got all the way to "I bought  Apples & Bongos & Cheese & Donuts & Mittens & Mommies & Eggs".   I did a bit of helping them remember, but not too much.   By then, the machine was visible.  So we watched the machine - and we waved when it was by our yard, and the machine operator waved back.

 

So - that is our homeschooling so far!

 

oh, plus a discussion with Echo....  I asked her where the water came from that was on the yard - that it wasn't there the other day...  she didn't know.... so I explained that the snow was melting, and that it turns into water.

 

and of course we discussed (more with Delta) why the machine was breaking up the ice....