Our Community Helpers (According to 1st Grade)

This week it was firemen and policemen.

Paper Dolls

In first grade, we are doing a unit on community helpers. I was looking for art projects and came across 1 where he would have had to draw uniforms on blank figures, but I thought that would be a little too much. So I "googled" police paper doll and found this: MakingFriends.com . It was a neat little site that I thought I would share.

I hope to be able to post pics of the finished project later.

"My Big Brown Pony" by James

My Blue Eyed Prince*

Today is my 1st graders birthday. He is 8 years old, funny, smart and so very helpful. When we walk in the house, he can hardly get his own coat off for trying to help me get out of mine. He tries to carry groceries in 3 and 4 bags at a time... we have to stop him. He helps with sorting laundry by laying each item out, flat on the floor, stacking all pants, shirts and socks together very meticulously. He loves cars, trucks, but especially NASCAR! And he loves to dance.

Happy Birthday, Kid!




*When James was about 5 1/2 yrs old we were cuddling and I ask him if he was my baby and he said, "I your blue-eyed prince!" The endearing term stuck.

Bowling & Success

We met with our home school group for a Valentine Bowling and Pizza party and...

wait for it...

We had FUN!!!!

And....

We met new friends!!!

The children made card holders last week and since we had so many empty Enfamil cans around thanks to our littlest Rottie, that is what we used.

They were so many children and so much candy that the lids could not fit on the cans after the party. Thanks for all of your words of encouragement and support after our last event. It gave us the courage to go back.

By the way...my preschooler is a phenomenal bowler. His balls are slow, but his aim is amazing.

Broken Rules = Broken Phone

First, the funny thing about this post is that it was my 10th grader's idea. I had not even thought about turning it into a post, but here it is. Not related to homeschooling , but a part of our life.

The cell phone has been a source of trouble from the get go. I was reluctant to even get my son a phone as the ole' "Everyone else has a phone!" argument was used and that usually brings the "no" wall right to the front of the conversation. The biggest infraction has been talking to girls that have not been ok'd. The rule was that he could exchange numbers and converse with actual people that he meets (not virtual people) and if it was a girl, that he had to get her parent's permission to call her. That worked fine for us in the beginning, but then a "girl who had dialed a wrong number" friend showed up that decided to call and text all throughout the night, send inappropriate text messages and etc...

There was the minutes situation too. I was buying minutes for him as needed, (it was a prepaid phone)but it seemed that whenever I needed to call him he could not answer because he "ran out of minutes." I was buying them, but never got to use any of them. The solution: he had to buy his own minutes. Well with that responsibility came this certain freedom of ownership of who he called, when he called. It became a constant issue where I had to baby-sit the phone during times that the phone should not have been in use. He was no longer allowed to have the phone in his bedroom.

Two weeks ago Tuesday, at 12:45 a.m. as I headed for a nature trip, I saw the light was on in his bedroom. I went to the door to see if he was okay and he was sitting suspiciously on the side of the bed. I knew immediately that something was going on so I ask for whatever it was that was interrupting his sleep. He reached under his pillow and pulled out the phone. I had had enough.

It is with deep sympathy that I report that his phone tragically fell on my hammer....7 times!

I have changed my rules. The phone is now in a zipl*ck bag. He can have it in his room all he likes now.

Art Class & The Up-Right Horse

Ist grade is studying about the angel Gabriel and for art class and made a toilet paper role angel. This template can be found at DLTK-kids along with many other great crafts.

Preschool's theme this week is horses, the letter N and the color brown. Here he made a TP role horse that had me rolling on the floor because he made the "arms" and legs so that the horse could stand up like people. Too cute and very funny. Oh, and there is a tail on the back of it.

Pajama Day

I did not have any clients today and did not have to work so we decided to stay in our pajamas all day. I love pajama days.

This child loves his robe.

The Princess in pink.

Footed pajamas are his "favwitz".

Oh oh, caught not working.

Bop It!

We cleaned out our linen and game closet this weekend and found/rediscovered our Bob It toy. It was so fun. We played so much Bop It that I was singing the song in my sleep. LOL! My 4 year old was too busy dancing to the music to be able to follow along and 1st grade....bless his little heart, he just is not quick enough to bop, pull or twist it. My 5th grader is very intense and dramatic and does the actions with great flair and very little timing. I did okay, but my 10th grader, well that boy can bop, pull and twist it like a champ! He is coordinated, focused and rhythmic. It was so much fun.

Have a good week all.

Peace!

3-Day Weekend

We are taking a 3 day weekend just because! We need it. We worked hard this week and first grade actually finished all lessons and quizzes for the week already.

P.E. was fun today as the younger 3 all got new roller blades/skates. Our YMCA has a rink and indoor skate park and we had it all to ourselves. My first grader, who does not understand when skating with a crowd that everyone goes in the same direction, had so much fun zig-zagging across the rink without collisions. LOL!

Have a good weekend.

Peace

The Story Writer (2)