Have Ride - Will Bowl - 3/28/11

     Well today didn't happen quite like I planned it. Last night my husband took my oldest out to practice some turns so she'd be ready to go get her driver's license today. Unfortunately, the night of practice ended in a car accident :(  Luckily both of them were ok. Of course lots of scenarios run through your mind when something like this happens. But trying to stay focused about being in the NOW helps. None of those awful things happened. So there is no point in dwelling on them. Of course I am concerned about what this will mean for the future, but none of the stories I am imagining in my head about the future are real. There is no point in worrying about them or wasting time and energy dwelling on them. Best to just deal with the moments as they come. As for now, I had 4 kids who wanted to go bowling and no car!

   After some scrambling around and some offers by various friends to help, we ended up getting Grandma to come over and give us a lift to the bowling alley. That made for 4 happy kids!  Before we left though we were able to get in a little bit of school. BUT, first things first! J needed a site change for his insulin pump. He only had 3 units of insulin left so he had to get a shot for breakfast, so we needed to get that done asap.

After that Jem and Scout worked on their handwriting and did watercolor pictures. Flossie and Freddie did watercolor paintings too. The good thing about us doing preschool now is that my big kids will get more art time. It is something we have done less and less of just because we have been needing to get more school subjects done, but art time is so much a part of preschool, that I know my kids will love joining in :)

Freddie and Jem worked side by side with pattern blocks.  One of the cool things about homeschooling is mixed age grouping. Sometimes you can get this in some schools, but not often. Today I got to see this in action. Jem has been working with pattern blocks for a long time and loves making intricate designs. Freddie saw what he was doing and sat down next to him and then copied his design. Then he went on to add to his own design . The ability of a child to observe and copy the work of older kids and then to move on and expand their work with their own ideas is an invaluable benefit of mixed-age classrooms.

 After that Freddie and Flossie did a little bit of table work on color pattern cards that I printed from here using fruit and farm animal sorters. Freddie also wanted to do a letter B worksheet from Tot School.  We know how he loves his school!

By this time Grandma's taxi service had arrived! Diabetes supplies packed. Car seats installed. Water bottles all around. Off we went.  The bowling alley was offering homeschoolers 2 hours of free bowling plus shoes rental. They had it all set up for us with bumpers and light-weight balls. They talked to the kids about bowling etiquette, and how-tos. They were really well organized, friendly and helpful. We of course got some bowling alley food and the kids had lots of fun. Freddie got a strike on his very first turn! Flossie needed help at first, but by the end was saying she would do it by herself and was doing just that. By the end of two games we were all pooped out and ready to head home for lunch and naps!

While the little guys were napping, Jem worked on his math. After working in his Singapore Math workbook, he pulled out an Evan-Moor Math Center. I love these because he can do them on his own once he knows the directions. He like to do them again and again and they are good for continued practice on a particular skill. Today it was subtraction.

Scout listened to her History lecture. We do History at Our House. We LOVE it! We have all learned so much. This year the subject is American History. The half hour lectures are given every day except Friday. On that day she does History of the Americas where she learns about the history of Mexico and Canada. On Thursdays the lesson is a History through Art one where they study a history related painting. On Wednesday she joins the group in the live phone lecture. The other days she listens to the recorded lecture.

After that both kids listened to their Music at Our House lecture. This is a new program this year. We are also enjoying this program. It is given twice a week. They are being exposed to music they would never normally hear, and are learning the history of the progression of music. Today we were listening to and comparing Renaissance music. Very cool!

After naps we had storytime. We re-read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear? by Eric Carle. Preschoolers love repetition. They love to be able to predict what will come next. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and builds their self-esteem. It is also great for early reading skills when you can point to the words in a book they have already memorized so they can see the words and seem to be "reading" it. We also read Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson - one of J's favorites.