Pizza Store

I was trying to think of a new way to do spelling.  Chunk O'punk is trying master the concept of money...hmm... ideas... Pizza Store!! The kids copied their word onto slices. They were then given some spare change from my jar. The worker could sell the slices for any amount under a dollar. The kids could buy as many slices as they could spell correctly. I love it when the kids are learning and they don't even realise it. 

Princess Pants eating her spelling words.

Counting and practicing his money skills.

"Thank you! Come again!"

Thank you God for their silly smiles and sweet spirits.

Little House on the Prairie Party

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- we have an awesome homeschool community. The Little House on the Prarie Party is one example. 

Last summer we read the Little House on the Prarie series. We enjoyed it immensely, especially Farm Boy. The boys loved all of the freedom that the kids in that era enjoyed. Less school, more life! That is definitely more like our life than sending the kids away and living separate lives from my husband and me. Any who, enough soap box.

We enjoyed some of the activities that pioneer era americans would have enjoyed. Ava and I tied quilts and chatted with the other moms. The quilts were then donated to a local children's shelter.

The boys did flour sack races.

The kids pulled each other over during the stick pull.

And for every activity that the kids participated in they earned a penny to spend on some hard candies at the penny store.

Thank you God for such awesome people to inspire me to make education fun.

Making lemonade

We have a food co-op out here called Bountiful Baskets. You pay $15 and get whatever fruits and veggies they can get a good deal on. This week we got lemons, lots of lemons (among other things). So, when life gives you lemons you make homemade lemonade ;)

Lemonade Recipe:

1 gallon cold water

2 cups lemon juice

Sugar to taste (about 1 3/4 cup)

We heated up about a cup of the water so the sugar would dissolve. Then added everything else. Yum!

Valentine's Party

Happy Valentine's Day! 

We're blessed with such amazing friends and a great homeschool community. We went over to a friend's house for cookie decorating...

Chop Stick Pick Up...

Races...

Musical Chairs (played with plates instead of chairs)...

and a Valentine Exchange. Here is Ava's unicorn Valentine's box.

Alex's Minecraft creeper.

Josh's Pokemon Pikachu.

Thank you God for the fun friends we have!

Using the Intelligence Sticks

Josh decided that he was going to learn his multiplication with Alex. Josh is really motivated and smart! I admire those qualities in him. I'm excited to see how he'll use them as he grows up. 

The boys are practising math facts with a homemade version of memory. Josh is currently loosing. Cue the sad face:

Last week I was talking to a neighbor (who is a school teacher) about how Ava just isn't grasping math. I was saying that it is interesting to me that Ava was having a hard time because she is so smart. She caught on so easily to reading. She understands things that we learn about in science. I was marveling at the complexities of Ava's brain that has such a huge capacity for loving animals, anything small or pretty, loves to read, etc. but just can't grasp addition. 

It had gotten to the point that I had put away Ava's math books a couple times because I didn't want her to get frustrated trying to understand something that she just isn't developmentally ready for. But, when her brothers get out their books she wanted hers, every time. I looked on pinterest for ideas. We did a couple little math crafts. We used crackers as manipulatives. We used her fingers to try and grasp the concept.  She used my fingers. Her brothers tried to explain it to her. We switched math books to one with pictures to add. She just wasn't getting it!

I'm tempted to say that this was frustrating, however, that isn't correct. There is a quote by Estrada that states, "if children don't learn the way we teach then we should teach the way they learn." The frustration wasn't in the fact that Ava just plain ol' didn't get it. The frustration was in my inability to be creative and find a way for her to learn.

Enter that helpful neighbor. She gave Ava these intelligence sticks. Ava's problem with addition is that she didn't understand the idea that the number "2" was the same as the spoken word "two" which was the same as two of any given object. The intelligence sticks totally helped with that! She was able to create the problem with the wooden numbers, say the problem then count out the sticks to get the correct answer. It's been about a month since the neighbor gave us this gift. Ava is doing better in math. She just needed time and a different explanation. 

Thank you God for all of the helpful people you send our way.

Odds and Ends

What have we been up to?

Here's Josh making sugar crystals. They didn't work :/ 

We'll try them again soon.

Ava making a blanket for her hunny bunny baby.

Practising for dance. She's getting good!

Making mini-pizzas for lunch.

Lunch with Grandma

We were able to go to lunch with Grandma Gloria at Cracker Barrel. It was a pleasant afternoon.