February was a month full of books in our household. Not that we aren't a book family anyway, but we really maxed out my library card that month and had to use the kids' accounts as backups for the overflow.
Part of the reason was our new Apologia unit for science. We dug into studying about all kinds of caniforms from different types of bears to otters, raccoons, skunks, etc. we dove deep. Caleb's favorite thing was probably the pizzly bears because he loves any time two animals are mixed to create a new type.
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| Our new piano has made a great extra table for all our resources. |
Aside from homeschooling, we've also had a influx of books due to Mommy going back to school. Yep, in order to keep my teaching license I have to get in a couple classes by next year, so I went ahead and took a children's literature class to try to knock out at least one before the baby arrives. Before Caleb was born, I took a Spanish class through University of Phoenix online to get that subject area added as an endorsement on my license since I was teaching it when we lived in Maryland. At that time, the class was very easy, especially compared to the graduate classes I was taking to finish my Masters. This time around though, the four week course kind of kicked my rear end. Not that it was difficult really, but it was definitely time consuming requiring about 3 hours on average a night that I, of course, don't have to spare. That said, honestly taking the course was really a blessing when it came to motivating new ideas in our homeschooling. I began to break away from our groove a bit and instead of just sticking to curriculum we'd been using I was inspired to incorporate a few new things that I'd kind of forgotten about doing since I'd been out the classroom for years. One of the main activities I introduced was independent reading.
As I mentioned in other posts, Caleb loves reading animal books on his own and often will devour them in the car before we even get home from the library, but we weren't consistent about setting aside a time each day and he wasn't been pushed to really branch out from nonfiction. Since then we've created a reading log and I've tried to get him to read a variety of genres, rating what he thought about each book after he's finished so that he learns to sample lots of different types of literature and create his own preferences for becoming a life long learner. In the library itself he wasn't real motivated to pick out his own books so I had to start by just pulling a bunch I thought he might like and then letting him choose from those when we got home. Our library's website has the option of typing in your child's reading level to help them find appropriate texts that I discovered recently too and this was a more effective option for us as we browsed online together, looking at the titles and descriptions and then reserving them to be ready for pick up when we got there. I also tried to start reading more in front of the kids myself so that they could see me as a reader - not just someone who reads to them, but as someone who loves books myself since modeling can make such a difference in perspectives. See what I mean? Even little Reid wanted to get in on the fun...
The class also introduced me to so many different types of picture books I'd never heard of before and challenged me to try new genres that normally I would have skipped over. It made me think of how I choose books, making sure that I pick ones that the kids can relate to but also that can stretch them to thinking about cultures and people who live differently than us in order to create a more well rounded world view and develop a sense of empathy and understanding for others.
Thankfully, the library was also running a winter reading club in February, so we were able to log all these new books we were reading and the kids were very excited about the prizes. Hadley choose a book called Purplicious as her prize one week and now it's become her favorite. She has memorized a lot of the text verbatim and likes to "read" it to us over and over. Some of the vocabulary is impressive so it is so fun to hear these huge words coming out of such a little mouth.
While we did spend a lot of time sitting around reading books, don't worry we were plenty active running from here to there too. Lego robotics continued and Caleb was actually pretty distraught when it came to an end at the conclusion of February. Dave decided to buy the kids their own robot so that he could continue to work with them at home though, which was a pretty good trade-off in the end.
Through the class, Caleb's interest in programming, coding, etc. increased, which Dave loved of course. The two of them spent hours talking about engineering topics and bonded over circuits. They are definitely cut from the same mold. Caleb would even get up early in the morning or spend his free time during the day just to practice drawing circuits. He kept trying to talk to me about it and it was way over my head. He'd sit and try to explain it over and over to Hadley and wanted to tell the adults at our co-ops or his grandparents about all he was learning. Thankfully, his daddy shared his enthusiasm, so he had a listening ear there even if the rest of us didn't get it. Hadley was somewhat interested too and even tried her hand and drawing circuits like her big brother.
We continued our Curious George STEM class as well until the end of February, exploring plants, modes of transportation, etc.
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| Cutting practice was good for Reid even if he didn't quite understand the lessons. |
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| Learning plant parts |
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| Proud to have scissors |
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| We learned that we eat different parts of plants. Sometimes the roots, other times the leaves, and, of course, the fruits. |
Soccer Shots also continued through the end of the month. It was great for keeping the kids active and was especially perfect for Caleb who, being more introverted, did much better with a small group versus a whole team. The coach had just the right amount of silliness and encouragement about him mixed with enough control and discipline that his style fit Caleb's personality great, which I was grateful for. Hadley just jumps right in anywhere she is and was thrilled to have another social opportunity. She loved when she got to answer questions the coach asked and got them right as well as playing the games. She definitely looked forward to being there every week. Poor Reid, on the other hand, had to do a lot of sitting around waiting on his siblings, hanging out for two classes/ But, he could have joined in if he wasn't being so stubborn and stuck on Mommy. He's got time to grow though and we did a lot of running around and reading to keep him entertained while we waited.
Hadley also continued with her ballet lessons to keep active. She loves the girl time and is so looking forward to her recital in May.
Caleb's loving his new thing - Christian Service Brigade - too. The guys meet every other Sunday after church and started out learning about rocks.
At our mini co-op, we did all kinds of fun experiments this month. For Valentines, Jennifer brought candy hearts and we went through the scientific method, trying to determine how our candy would react to being dropped in different types of liquid - water, alcohol, vinegar, and soda.
Heidi found another fun experiment that involved lighting sugar and baking soda and watching "snakes" grow out of it. As with most things you find online, it didn't quite go as expected and we spent a couple different sessions trying to get it to work, which still didn't end up as we envisioned. The kids were hands off for this one, but we did review the scientific method as part of the lesson and they enjoyed watching Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Heidi as they tried to figure it out.
We continued doing our normal circle time, Bible, and reading routines too as well as doing some fun indoor P.E. and learning about the phases of the moon in science.
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| Crossfit kids! Amanda had to get a little creative with indoor P.E. |
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| Are you learning about phases of the moon or eating Oreos there, Caleb? |
While we missed out on the Lego lit day the first week in February at HEARTH due to sickness, a few of us went bowling the following Wednesday. Reid didn't want to try it, but Hadley and Caleb had a good time. Another week, we had a Valentines' party one week where the kids got to decorate their mailboxes and trade Valentines with each other. Our final meeting that week was a book sharing opportunity. Each of the kids brought a book they enjoyed and had a chance to do a little public speaking as they did a mini commercial about their book. We watched Reading Rainbow to see a few examples.
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| For a Valentines game, the kids had names of famous couples on their backs and had to go around and ask for clues to try to find out who they were and who their partner was. |
We also had beautiful weather amazingly that month and spent quite a bit of time outdoors visiting playground after playground in town.
On my mom's birthday, February 24th, the kids were even wearing shorts!
We had our share of cold days too when art projects...
...building...
...and ganging up on your big brother with a soup ladle and pancake flipper were fun ways to pass the day.
In other big news, Hadley and I really jumped into her new McRuffy curriculum. Here is one of her categorization activities. She cut out lots of pictures from a grocery store ad and sorted them in a variety of ways. She was so proud of herself and loved having her own school work as usual.
In addition, Caleb wrapped up his McRuffy first grade book and got to move into second. He wasn't quite as excited about Hadley to be starting something new, but I was proud of his accomplishment as he moves right along.
I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but there is February in a nutshell.
