Late Winter Review

I know... It's spring, right?

This morning I awoke to an outside temperature of 19 degrees.... and as I fed the fire I watched the sunrise glisten off of the thinnest of ice that had formed over the pond I'm pretty sure that Ol' Man Winter is still lingering around.

Despite the cold, our homeschooling days have been so very fruitful. It seems like our days go by so very quickly. I fell like we have concentrated a lot of training time on correct responses... obeying right a way (with a smile)...understanding authority and trying to yield to it... not crying immediately when things begin to anger or frustrate... and what to do when your baby sister knocks down your stuff or tries to snatch away anything more interesting than what she already possesses. It has been a very strong season of homey togetherness - lots of time for indoor play, for sharing, and learning what to do when. And lots of fun chores! Little ones just love to help out! Here are a few pics of some of Gavin and Ivy's work!

Some folded clothes to wear again later...




A bed made by a four-year old! Not too shabby!

Ivy helping to clean the.... wait a minute - that's not helping!

Oh! Here she is helping to pick up one tiny piece of her creative mess!

BIBLE:

We've focused on the life and ministry of Jesus during our time in the Bible. I guess I followed this idea after the Christmas season - it seemed logical that since Christ came, we should read how the Baby Jesus grew and how He began His world-changing ministry.

Here we are practising how to care for one another!

Boy - does it feel great!

PHONICS/ MATH / SCIENCE

We have studied the later letters of the alphabet in phonics, their initial sounds at the beginning of words, their shape and qualities. We've done quite a bit of measuring, counting, sorting and predicting... lots of mathy and sciencey type activities. We are still logging the growth of our amaryllis plant as we patiently wait to see if the third leaf will do anything different than the first two.

And the big news... We have pets! We are so greatly enjoying our tadpoles and our snail! We call them "The Guys" and what fun it has been to watch legs slide out of little slits and grow into useful tools. Ivy especially lingers at the tank. She wants to feed them "tim tims" - their fishy flaky food all the time. I now give her an empty cumin container for her to pretend. And then she walks around inviting the family to smell from her treasured box of smokey wonder. (Just an aside - Ivy seems to be so interested in animals. She listens acutely whenever a neighborhood dog begins to bark, asks to visit Cooper and Ginger, our nearby canine companions, exclaims,"Guugle" every time she spies a squirrel on the bird feeder or bounding across the backyard. She is very aware of the animal world, wanting to hug, kiss, pet and love whomever might come her way.)

T is for tadpoles... and teeth (it was dental hygiene month!)

U is for up and umbrellas... V is for volcanoes and vegetables and so on...

I suppose as the warmer weather slowly approaches and we spend more time outside, we will forget all about the long snowy winter we have joyfully grown through. The Lord has blessed us with joys and struggles over the season and we are all the stronger for it. Mike has recently begun an amazing new job as the program director for an elder day service. It was a bit of a surprise move for him - but such a good one! We call him "The Big Boss" and although it's been mentally taxing, he is adjusting quite well. There is a lot to learn and many changes are on the horizon, but he is such a natural leader and will surely bring the Lord glory as he works to care for the elderly.

Whether it be snow, back troubles, extra doctor appointments, a new job, better nutritional choices and stronger meal planning, .... we will continue to be yielded to the Holy Spirit and seek wisdom for our family.

I should have posted this one long ago... we finished the alphabet in early June and we are having a marvelous summer. I don't get to post blogs like I thought I would. I would rather read a story or go play with my little ones. I am learning to be content with what remembering and recording I can do... and this is it.