Pumpkin Time!

We had a MOPS 'play date' at Pumpkin Hill the yesterday morning then we had our annual pumpkin painting last night! It's always a little stressful going somewhere with the 4 of them by myself, but we managed and they had a great time. They enjoyed getting to pick their own pumpkins.

The kids have been painting pumpkins for several years- at least since Maggie was really little- we started the tradition in Birmingham and kept going b/c they enjoy it so much. I was never very good at carving pumpkins anyway, so this is a fun alternative. We let the littles go first because I only had two paint brushes which turned out to be nice anyway 'cause I could really watch everyone paint and get some pictures.  

 Allie kept saying "paint that side, get that side" it was so cute

 Displaying their creations on the front porch this morning... Jakey being so sweet with Mags. Love you guys! Yay for another year of pumpkin patch and painting!

Ant Study

This semester we're doing several things for science- nature study, various science projects, scientific method, a little space and some other things sprinkled in. I may continue nature study next semester as well, but wanted to get in another study before the weather gets too yucky to comfortably sit outside and study. I decided studying ants would be fun- some great principles we can apply to our life on work ethic.

To really supplement our learning, I thought an ant farm was the best way to make this study fun and interactive plus really make it stick. The ants arrived on September 29th and boy am I glad Daniel was home! I followed the directions but they were not easy to get into that farm. They started going everywhere and Daniel had to pick some up and get them in that farm. I was freaking out a little. But once we got them in, they started working almost immediately.

Allie was very interested in watching them. They all spent time watching the ants work, especially those first few days. It was sad when they started dying, but amazing to even watch them take care of their dead. We were able to apply everything we saw with what we read, colored & labeled. So cool. Glad we did this.

After they were all gone, we studied a little more and today we made ants on a log as a fun treat to finish the study. The kids didn't enjoy these nearly as much as the worms in dirt for our earthworm study. Shocking... celery vs. pudding.

Overall this was a really fun study and a good learning opportunity for the kids. They enjoyed it, I enjoyed it and I think we all learned something new. 

Maggie reads!!

Woohoo!!! Learning to read is a such big accomplishment for all kids and an exciting milestone for parents to watch their kids reach. I am super excited to announce that Maggie has reached this very important milestone! That's right, our sweetheart Moosie girl read her first sentence on September 30th! "Fat Cat on a Mat" is actually a title of story, but she read it nonetheless. There just aren't enough exclamation points!!!

We've been working out sight words lately. The phonics program I picked (Explode the Code) is fun and enjoyable for Maggie but this level just focuses on recognizing the letters in print and learning their sounds. Well she already learned all her letters in preschool and knows most the sounds as well. Plus she learns really quickly, so I knew it would not take all of Kindergarten- or even half- to finish this first level. To challenge her a little more and gear her more toward reading, I started with some simple "at" and "it" words. I simply wrote them on some index cards, we've been practicing them for a few weeks or so with results mentioned above. Yay!!! Then today she read all of these sentences and again was so proud of herself!

I love you my Maggie Moo and am so proud of you! Soon you'll be able to stay up all night reading books! Well, not really, you'll still have a bedtime. But it's exciting to think about! And being completely honest, it makes me feel a little better and like I'm doing an okay job at this homeschooling thing. :)

Then we all went outside to play and she just pulled herself right up in her "Rapunzel Tower" and stood for quite awhile. More fun outdoor pics of all these cuties:

Working & Playing outside

The older the kids get, the more responsibilities I want the kids to have around the house- fitting to their age and abilities of course. Honestly, I usually think about chores and jobs inside the house, but Will has expressed an interest in working in the yard and I am all about that! Not a fan of yard work myself, I'm happy to take him up on that offer. And last week, I did just that:

 Jake, on the other hand, is not working. Just playing.

We like to have fun outside as well... I have tons of pictures of Will in the trees, but now I have some of Jakey too. He loved it up there! Not quite the monkey that Will is, he needed a little help to get in the tree and basically hung out in one spot. But I'm proud he branched out and tried something new. :) That's punny.