Painting Day

We bought some painting supplies with Zach's school funds, the kids had a grand time painting, it is hard for me to do things like this because I hate the mess but it sure is great for them. We have all kinds of shape and alphabet sponges, I gave Maddie the right letters for her name, as you can see, they were applied very randomly.

Maddie Sings

Push play to see Maddie's adorable rendition of "Yankee Doodle"

Halloween

Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays so I'm always surprised by how much fun I have dressing the kids up each year. They are just so cute! This year we attended a little festival at a local church where the kids attend AWANA. They had lots of fun and it was just their speed with very simple games. They were also joined by their cousins, Jack and Abby.


One of their favorites "treats" was a little orange Bible you see in Maddie's hand here, I thought it was so sweet that they loved this as much as all the candy.




Zach thinks he looks particularly fierce in this picture.


Two ladybugs and a pirate, what cuties!

Homeschooling Fun

As most of you know we've set out on the adventure of homeschooling this year. Zach is in Kindergarten and doing extremely well and we're very happy with our choice. Some days it seems overwhelming to me to add one more thing to my days but let me share a little story about why this has been so great and why I think it's a great option if anyone is considering it!

Zach got out some of his word flash cards and wanted to set up a game. I warned him to be careful not to be too hard on Maddie (after all, she's only 3) because sometimes he gets a little impatient with her. Anyway, he took the couch cushions off and put different words on the cushions. Then he instructs Maddie, "Jump to the word 'at', that would be a-t (he spells it for her.) Guess what, she jumped right to it (much to my surprise!) Then at the end of the game, he says, "Now let's do the test", and he says the words but doesn't spell them. She got 4/5 right, then he set it up again and she got 5/5 out of right (different words the 2nd time.) They are being so adorable and having a great time and they're both learning (and I'm not even involved!) That's why I think this is so great, learning is allowed to just happen, it doesn't have to forced or structured all the time. I can already see that Zach will be a great teacher to his sisters as well, making my job even easier.

Zach is already reading quite well, adding and subtracting and I'm also able to let him explore the areas that most interest him such as reading animal magazines. Plus he gets a lot more time to do completely unstructured, imaginative play which I believe is very important to his development. We also have a unique situation here because there is a charter school in Hemet he attends 2 days a week that is for homeschoolers. He has learned all about government and the constitution there and this month they are studying inventors and explorers so he was telling me all about Benjamin Franklin yesterday. He loves school and gets to play on the playground and enjoy other children through that outlet.