Little Gardeners

I forgot to mention that yesterday they had their little gardeners program.  The "yard" that they are growing in a roasting pan is sure growing good.... they got to cut the grass with scissors.  They planted some parsley in a cup yesterday   Today they did the baby circle - babysitting.   The one group that generally does the babysitting was full today (a few new mom's with kids to be babysat happened, I think) - so they got to go with the nursery school class next to our thing.  They have done that a couple of times (when the one group were short staff due to illness, etc.)   It is kind of cool, as Echo is technically too young for the nursery school class, but they say she does great in there (at least with Delta there.)  They also got to go to the large muscle room - which is an indoor jungle-gym setup.   But apparently Delta prefers the other group....  oh well.   Today Delta also had his violin lesson.   It didn't go too badly considering how little practice we did last week.   These evening, we did scripture mastery again - the kids pretty much have all 3 quotes memorized!   I've got to get a bit better on them I think... LOL.     Echo did fine with her cards - but I'm not ready to add on to them as there is still some confusion now and then.   Delta did good with his sentances - except he is definately trying to memorize them, and figure out the first few words then just "quote" the rest.  (the book warns that that will happen - so after they are reading the sentences well, it has other "silly" ones that start off similarily, and then end differently.)    I had him do a couple, just to show that he can't be memorizing, or guessing.   I also had him do some of the sentences in lower case - which is where the program introduces them.   He did pretty good - he knows the lower case letters - although it was definately harder for him.    I'm not sure how it will work when we get to that stage with Echo, as the book really doesn't have much in it about switching to using both upper and lower case letters.....  and she won't be able to make the switch very easily.    But that is a while away.   That was about it!

A few things

Boy - I haven't written much the last few days - did a bit of homeschooling stuff, but still not doing lots....

 

Delta had his last group violin class on Saturday - the spring concert is on Thursday.

 

Today:  Did scripture mastery.  Did reading cards with Echo - we have added "B" too it.   She wants to play ledges, but I can't get down on the floor to play ledges with them.  :(    I keep meaning to create some bingo cards with words....

 

Delta read all of the first 15 sentences in the book.   I need to print them out, so I can vary their order.   When he gets fairly smooth at them, I'll add in the silly ones with alternate endings...  (done to make sure they aren't just memorizing and reciting...., as well as to add humour...)

Zoo at 8.5mo pregnant!

Oh, forgot to mention - we went to the zoo this afternoon too. (Mike's idea, without consulting me.) I made it through the "barn" area, and then a little bit of walking towards some exhibits - and I just wasn't keeping up and doing well. At the first bench we came to (which Mike had already stopped at) Mike asked how far I was going to be able to go. I told him that that was about it - so they went through the zoo, and I made my way back to a bench near the entrance. I think they had a great time - but it makes me wonder if Mike really JUST doesn't get that I can't walk anymore!

More Reading

Kind of tired, so having problems thinking....   I did the scriptures with the kids again - I think they are memorizing them better than I am!   (probably because they can't read the card... lol).    Had Delta read some sentences from his book - he is getting better at everything.  Still sometimes doesn't blend well, but is blending a LOT better - and with the short sentences, he can figure it all out, and still know what the sentence was about.  With longer sentences (say about 5 words) he will lose what it was about - but that will improve.

 

Went through Echo's words too, and she is doing pretty well.  She remembered what her new letter sound was, and was doing well at blending.    Charlie was here (after being gone for over a week....) - and I think Charlie hasn't seen them read for a while....   and she was like "When did Echo learn G?"  "When did she learn H?"  etc.   I think Charlie was really surprised.

 

Penny Dumps

Had my "baby circle" today, so the kids got to play in the babysitting, including gym time....

 

Delta had violin lessons, and learned how to do "penny dumps" which he really liked.  (which is good, because he really didn't like doing the first steps to learning penny dumps)  - it is getting him to place his fingers on the strings.

 

Otherwise, that is about it....

Gardening

Still worn out!

 

Morning the kids had their little gardener program - the facilitators are great, and let me get away with not doing much (because honestly, I'm having problems doing much!).   Unfortunately, one of the facilitators is there for a practicum for schooling - and this is her last week.     Anyway, they checked the grass that they are growing (I wonder if it is cat-grass....   it had definately started growing!)   They also got to repot a plant that will be a flower.   They had some other activities.   Echo was a bit clingy, I don't think she is feeling 100%, or is maybe feeling the changes that are coming up?

 

It was too windy to really go outside today....  and I was so tired.   I put Echo in a quiet time (she was acting so tired - but apparently did NOT nap...).   Delta was playing with his lego - and I napped a bit on the couch.   Delta turned his ambulance into another race car (took a picture).   He then tried to follow the instructions to put the ambulance together (without having totally taken in apart) - and did a GREAT job, except the ambulance door wouldn't fit.   I think there was only a couple of mistakes, but when I tried to fix it for him, I broke it a bit - so I rebuilt it a bit more than I might have had to....

 

This evening, I had a YW (well, she is 18 now) come and give me a hand.  She lives a couple of blocks away, and is really sweet.   Anyway, I was able to have Delta and I practice the violin, plus they got the toys picked up so the place isn't a TOTAL disaster.   We also gave them a bath - and I did the scripture mastery with the kids.  Delta has 2 of them memorized.... and I mean memorized better than I have it memorized!   Echo seems to have them down pretty good too.

 

Reading Problems

Still not feeling great....

Delta had a group violin lesson today - there hasn't been any for a couple of weeks. It went ok - his focus wasn't great, but probably because of the break and me not getting him to practice enough this month...

We went to the Home Depot kids workshop - we do every month - but they were already packed up. We got 2 kits that we'll do with the kids in a few days... it is a planter (basically an open box....)

I wanted to let them play outside, but my back was so bad that there was no way for quite a while. They tylenol finally kicked in about 45 min before I needed to wake up Mike for work - so we went out. And I tried drawing my first pictures in my nature journal. They are ok, nothing fancy. Delta said I was a genius (while I was doing it... - no idea where he knows that word from, but has used it before once or twice...) I wasn't as pleased with Mike's reaction when I showed him ("What is that?")

After supper I did reading cards. Delta didn't want to, and even went and hid - but I put the cards away and got him to come out so I can talk to him. The upshot is (as I expected) is he is having problems with that last letter sound, and so he feels like it is too hard - that we went too quickly. I basically told him that I had been trying to take it slowly, but that he always wanted more and more until now. I also told him that we can just review and do easy ones that he knows. He was fine with that - and then only let me do his hardest cards with him - which he mostly got right anyway. Echo did good on her cards - but is still having a bit of fun with her last letter sound too. I'm thinking of making up some Bingo cards for another recognition game with them. I wish I could make up about 4 train-engine blocks (blocks with train-engine pictures), and some way to slide the cards I made into them so you could still read them.... If I can figure that out, then there is another practice reading game that Delta might like. I don't want to have to print out the stuff again on a train-engine card though.

We also read more from "A House at Pooh Corner".... although Delta's attention really wasn't there - Echos generally never is for that one.