We had a great trip to the aquarium this morning. Ran into some good friends and happened upon a hands on preschool program about geckos. Simon did a great job letting the little kids learn by not answering all the instructors questions himself. I did see him whispering the word habitat to Owen at some point!
Late this afternoon while Simon was napping, Simon and I found something about straw rockets in this Tinkerlab book (it’s by Rachelle Doorley). How have I never made straw rockets before?? So easy and so fun. We messed around with them for almost an hour before it became dinner time. Of course it morphed into straw rafts and whatnot…somehow my boys always end up in the water!
After dinner we drove out to check out some Christmas lights since daddy was working late on campus.

We have been trying to do a sensory activity on the mornings we are all home together. On Monday we made bubble dough and snow dough. I found the recipes via Pinterest. Bubble dough is just cheap dish soap added to cornstarch until you reach the consistency that is a semisolid. It feels really cool to work with.
The snow dough was shampoo added to baking soda. It smelled lovely because we had a vanilla mint shampoo!
Unfortunately the prep and clean up time lasted longer for mommy than the playtime for the boys! We kept the doughs in a plastic baggie though so they could be used another day.

I didn’t get much time to blog this week. Our new schedule for school work may have been a little full. That and the unpacking and laundry from Thanksgiving week took forever to finish up.
Simon did more work on telling time with this flower activity I found on a teacher’s blog. I put all the parts out and he glued them together then matched up the words on the leaves with the clocks and wrote the numbers on another leaf. He did this while I was getting Owen to nap and he did a great job on his own!
We also delved into decomposing shapes which went really well. We used some Melissa and Doug shapes to make up larger shapes that I drew on paper. Then he worked on the worksheet labeling shapes and fitting pieces together again to make up the larger shape.
We read a Ranger Rick article about some really tiny mice (I can’t recall what they are called right now!) and we did some informational text analysis.
There were other bits of work throughout the week. But those were some of the highlights.
We all worked on leaves together one morning. We’ve had a wet fall and it hasn’t been easy to get to the leaves!

It’s been a long day, you can’t believe it’s dinner time already. The kids have already watched their quota of tv. What can you make that is quick and yummy? Here is an easy one pot recipe that I love. The kids didn’t try it but Rick and I enjoy it.
Throw some olive oil in a pan, heat on medium high.
Add a random amount of red onion chopped. Sauté till softened.
Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas and then add to pan.
Add about a teaspoon of thyme and stir.
Sauté for a while.
Add a random amount of chopped Kalamata olives. (However many you feel like chopping!)
Stir and sauté until olives are heated through.
Add salt and pepper, top with feta.
I served it over couscous to make more of a meal. It is good on it’s own as a side.

We have been homeschooling for a month now. It seems like a lot longer than that! We have been having a good time and learning a lot! Of course we’ve also had our challenges. As Owen gets older it will certainly get easier in many ways. Even though we don’t have a strict school schedule, stopping for diaper changes, frequent spilled water, and other random toddlerhood events does make it harder than I like but we are still finding our groove!
We have gotten more of a routine going this week and have stopped watching tv first thing in the morning. I think that has helped a lot. We are working up a block schedule for 2 blocks before lunch and two blocks after lunch. Trying to rotate the work time with play and sensory activities. We have time set for a dance party or walk in the morning and chores too!
While I’m getting Owen ready for nap Simon does some independent work. When I come out the plan is for Simon and I to play a game or read together. After that Simon will have some free time to play or watch a show. While he is doing that I will have some “me time”. Most likely that time will involve prep or housework but if I’m doing it quietly or alone it’s better than with interruptions.
In my “me time ” this afternoon I decided to check something off my to do list. Putting up some inspirational thoughts. I repurposed some of those advertising magnets and have gotten some more helpful thoughts on the fridge. The purple ones are from Momma Zen by Karen Maezen Miller. I’ve had those up for a while and really love her book. Follow her on fb for some great insights.
Look for a sappy post about kids growing up when I have a chance to actually sit at the computer!