little house

Today we got everything on our schedule done, plus a little more.

Mademoiselle worked on multiplication review with me, and S.A.M. learned about the terms quarter to, quarter after, and half past.

Mademoiselle got her spelling words for the week, and copied them a few times on her whit board, and S.A.M.  got his and practiced spelling them out loud, then wrote them each down on paper.  Tomorrow they'll each be writing sentences or a story using their words.

Mademoiselle chose to listen to a LibriVox recording instead of reading with me.  She listened to the first chapter of Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, and drew pictures as she listened.  Meanwhile, S.A.M. read the first 17 pages of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton, to me and Ben.

We did an art project together - marker outlines, filled with oil pastel, and washed with watercolors.  All four kids participated, and it was one of their favorite parts of the day.  Creating something is always rewarding!

We did a couple of science experiments together - we tried to explode a plastic baggy with vinegar and baking soda.  It didn't quite pop, but we had fun playing with it.  We also compared the difference between how damaged popcorn kernels and intact popcorn kernels act when heated.  We talked about the formation of gases, and what happens when gas forms in enclosed spaces.  Mademoiselle also did another project, trying to identify 3 mysterious white powders.  She recorded their various properties, mixed them with water to see how they reacted, and even tasted the.  She got 2 out of three correct, and pretty quickly, but the third I knew she probably wouldn't get since she's not too familiar with it. (they were flour, salt, and corn starch)  She endlessly wants to do chemistry experiments, and I'm getting to the point where my resource (of kitchen supplies) are probably not quite meeting her needs anymore.

We fixed up our double stroller and went for a walk.  Poor Benefactor hurt his foot on Sunday, and though he was doing much better, I knew a long walk on it wouldn't help at all.  He and James rode together, then S.A.M. hopped in towards the end just for fun.  The walk back was great exercise -  slightly uphill the whole way, and pushing the heavy stroller really made my legs feel great.

S.A.M. spent some time on the Classics for Kids website making songs with notes and listening to them.  Mademoiselle and S.A.M. together worked together on some spacial and cause and effect games online, too.

Together we watched an episode of Liberty Kids, a cartoon about pre-Revolutionary America.  Mademoiselle seemed to enjoy it, and get something out of it, but S.A.M. wasn't much into it.  Benefactor love it, though.

It was the kind of day that just feels good, you know?  We got a lot done, but more importantly than that, we were able to do so many things that were engaging and interesting to all of us.  I wish I could do that every day, but the truth is that I just haven't been able to.  I tend to be able to get great days here and there, and normal or very difficult days in between.  But, that's real life, isn't it?

Aside from schoolish work, the kids are blessed to have great friends in the neighborhood, and we had kids running in and out of the house all afternoon.  They had a lot of fun, and headed to bed tired an happy.

One of my very favorite things about having all my kids here all day is that they get to work on their relationships with each other.  Two of my children tend to resist each other, but after days like this, they end up arm in arm for family pray, hugging each other afterwards, and asking to all sleep in the same bed for the night.  There's nothing sweeter to me as a mother than to see my kids like each other, love each other, care for each other, and serve each other.  Does my heart good!