Homeschool crafts: Make a feely box!

When I was little and my mom was in the middle of her career as a teacher, there were a few things she had in her collection of classroom learning tools that I was especially drawn to. One of them was a yellow box with a hand drawn on the top and a sock coming out of a hole on either side. There were all kinds of things inside the box, but you couldn't see them. You couldn't even peek because of the socks. You had to put your hand in and feel instead. I loved to feel around in the box, guess what I had grabbed and then pull it out to see if I was right. It sounds simple, doesn't it? But that feely box was so... so... mysterious! I can still remember reaching in and finding a soft, scruffy hairbrush.

The other day a Facebook discussion on homeschool manipulatives and activities made me realize it would be fun to have craft days to make some of these things. The feely box was the first thing that came to mind. It's versatile and easy to make.

The feely box makes for a fun, relaxing activity that can easily be revamped by changing out the items in the box. I'm thinking of keeping several sets of items handy and reloading them every month or so. You could also fill the box with items to go along with whatever you are learning at the time. If you are learning about the ocean, perhaps some seashells, sponges, driftwood, and smooth stones. You could combine the feely box with a sink-or-float experiment, asking the child to guess if the item will sink or float before they pull it out of the box. Obviously, the feely box would be perfect for teaching sense of touch, and it also helps develop vocabulary.

It's mostly self-explanatory, but here are the instructions for making the feely box. I took the time to cover mine and sew special tubes for it, but you could skip some of these steps and make a simpler box. Sorry there are no process photos; with the kids distracting me, I was doing great to finish my box at all!

Items needed:

sturdy corrugated cardboard box, ~10x10"

two socks (I prefer to use sweater sleeves)

poster board in a pretty color

duct tape in a coordinating pretty color

small paper cup or other circular item to trace (your hand needs to fit through)

brads

scissors

exacto knife or cutting tool

ice pick or other pointy tool

items to put in your box

1) Tape your box together and tape it shut.

2) Cut a square of poster board for each side. Don't forget which sides of the box are the non-taped ones. Put a dot or something on the center of two of the sides that are solid during this process (one on each side) so you will know for the next step. Cover the box with the poster board, and use the duct tape to secure the edges and make it look pretty.

3) Place your cup in the middle of the box on the two sides you marked and draw around it. Then cut the circles out with your cutting tool. You should be able to look straight through your box.

4) Use your ice pick to make small holes around each big round hole. I did 12 holes about 3/4" from the circle, arranged like the numbers on a clock.

5) Cut the top of your sock off so you have a tube a few inches long. Tuck the raw edge inside the hole in the box and secure it all the way around with brads. Do this on both sides.

6) All you need to do now is stuff your box with fun feely items! In ours I put toothbrushes, combs, seashells, erasers, baby spoons, tiny slinkies, scrubby sponges, little plastic maracas, wooden eggs, squishy stress balls, and some of those gummy/spiky toys that feel so neat. I included two of everything so we could play the following game.

One of my friends sends her sons to Montessori school and told me about a Montessori work that could be adapted to the feely box. I put two of each item into the box. Then I let Suzi put both hands in and feel around for a pair of items. Once she pulls out two things that are alike, she passes the box to Ivey. Ivey (almost three years old) is able to play this game too and it makes her so happy when she is successful. This game would work with one child or with a bunch of children having circle time.

To tell the truth, I still enjoy playing with the feely box myself. Brings back good memories. A big thanks to my mom for the inspiration, information, and help creating these!

May 21 - 25

It's been a rough week. Last weekend didn't offer us much of a break to get organized, and the kids have been wild and uncooperative. I've had a cold all week. And, we are heading right into a busy Saturday tomorrow! I'm looking forward to a relaxing Sunday. We did get some stuff done this week, though.

Math - We used our Melissa & Doug abacus to work on addition up to ten. I'm trying to help Suzi learn to start counting from a number other than zero. For instance, if she is adding 3+3, she can slide three beads over, say "3," and then count "4, 5, 6." She is getting it, but with a lot of guidance from me. Needs practice. We are also still working on counting past 20, which needs more work, but during the last part of each month we practice it fairly often on the calendar. Her birthday is coming up on the 30th and she loves counting the days that have passed and figuring out how many she has to wait until her special day! We are also still counting by 10's. She can do it pretty well looking at the sheet, and I'm trying to help her learn to do it without looking at anything. Today we tried counting by 10's on our fingers.

Science - We talked about taking care of the environment by picking up our garbage and recycling. Also for science, we read our Oak Meadow story, which this week was about the journey of Rainbow Raindrop. We only just got around to reading the story today, so we'll have to do the suggested activities (watching rain puddles for evaporation, looking for a rainbow) next time it rains. Speaking of rainbows, I have been wanting a set of prisms for our windows for years, and today I finally ordered some on Amazon! Can't wait for them to get here. Lastly, Suzi is still interested in termites! I'm having a hard time finding any more videos or interesting material about them to show her!

Reading - She can now easily get through those first eight flash cards. We'll start a few more next week. As usual, we read some easy readers and I read some longer, just-for-fun books to the girls. Today we read "The Art Lesson" by Tomie DePaola because it went along with the rest of what we discussed.

Social Studies - I wasn't quite sure where to start with this, but I knew from questions Suzi has asked in the past that the subject would interest her. I decided we'd begin discussing different jobs in our community. Suzi's Busy Town drama class was an excellent start for this. They talked about different roles in our community, and in the play there was a teacher, a doctor, and a police officer. This week I talked to her briefly about police officers and EMTs, and taught her to dial 911. I'm sure I'll have to refresh her memory on that later. I'd also like to teach her her phone number soon. She already knows her address. Then we talked about teachers and read "The Art Lesson," which is one of her favorite books. Suzi says she does not want to be a teacher--not even an art teacher. She just wants to be an artist! I told her that one thing artists can do is draw the illustrations for someone who has written a book, or, like Tomie DePaola, write the book themselves and do their own illustrations. She says I can write the book and she will do the illustrations. I told her I thought that was a great idea! Write a book illustrated by my daughter - it's on my bucket list!

Clock - We are taking a little break from this. Suzi is sick of doing it and it turns her goofy whenever I pull it out. Do you know what I mean?

Money - She hasn't had a desire to do chores for money lately, but she is still learning the coins and keeping up with her own money. We practice naming the coins and telling how much each is worth at least a couple times a week and whenever it comes up in day-to-day life.

Health - We talked a little about different kinds of exercise, but I'd like Suzi to see/experience some new things. I want to take the girls rollerskating, but that's going to be hard with Robert--if Jordan or I fell while carrying him in the Ergo, it could be bad. I think sometime soon I might ask my parents to keep Robert while Jordan and I take the girls skating. Or maybe Grandma can come to the skating rink with us and we can take turns holding Robert, since Grandma loves to skate too. Also, I need to remember to keep my eye out for that children's yoga class! Maybe in the meantime I will try to find a yoga program online or on DVD and invite Suzi to do it with me.

Other activities this week included a friend's birthday party at the water park (my mom kept Robert so I could enjoy some time with the girls, hooray!), and on Wednesday my mom came over to help me and a friend make these for our kids.

Know what it is? Stay tuned for my next post!

May 14 - 18

Our Oak Meadow curriculum recommended finding a tree friend to visit frequently and to watch for changes across the seasons. This is ours. Suzi named him Treebo last fall.

We didn't get a ton of actual "work" done this week. We had some fellow homeschooling friends over Wednesday, went to the gym Thursday, and went berry picking Friday. I think, at least in my case, the number of outside activities a family can handle goes down as the number of children goes up. Especially when they are little children. I am trying to simplify--cut back on what costs lots of money, time, and energy, and keep the most worthwhile activities. After some consideration, I'm planning to cancel our gym membership. I can join the rec center that is local to my mom for a fraction of the cost, and she can help me take the kids swimming. There is a children's yoga class starting soon that I might sign the kids up for, too. Anyway, here is what we did...

Math - I made a number chart for Suzi sort of like this one from schoolsparks.com. I can't print in color right now, so I printed one I made myself and colored it. I started Suzi out counting by tens, just counting down the column on the right. This is most of what we accomplished in math. It needs practice.

Science - We read our Oak Meadow curriculum story about clouds, and looked at the different kinds of clouds while we were out. It was a good week for this because some days the clouds were white and fluffy, and some days the whole sky was covered. Suzi looked at clouds and tried to predict whether or not they were rain clouds.

Reading - We continued our easy readers and flash cards. Suzi can now identify the sight words we started her on (it, is, I, pie, Daddy, we, did) except for one--who. These are all words from the first couple of books she started reading. We are reading more new books now, because I don't want her to get bored and tired of doing the same ones over and over.

Clock - We are still doing well with full and half hours, and are slowly working on :15.

Health - We talked about ways of protecting our sight and hearing, and discussed how some people do not have use of all five senses.

Drama - The girls finished their drama class and we attended their short performance at the end. It was a Busy Town unit. Ivey played Sally Cat and Suzi was Miss Honey the Schoolteacher. They did a good job and were so cute! I was especially proud of Suzi, because she really didn't want to play that part. I explained to her that when you're an actor you don't usually get to pick what you want to play; that is the director's job. She played the part and did it well.

Physical activity - We went swimming at the gym one day, but that is mostly a mommy workout! The kids also played in the yard with friends and ran around at the berry farm.

Art - My parents had the girls at their house Saturday and took them to a local arts festival. I had been so excited to go, but ended up spending the entire day sick on the couch. I'm glad the girls got to go, at least.

Here they are on stage singing "You Are My Sunshine." Looks like they had a great time!

Homeschool inspiration on a farm trip

Last Saturday (the 12th) we decided to take a family trip out to one of the farms we buy from. They were having a tour day, and while we frequently order meat and eggs from them through our local food exchange, we'd never seen the farm. So, off we went. It was a bit of a drive!

Billy's Goat Hill is primarily a goat meat farm. (Yes, goat meat is good. Try it!) When we arrived at this sustainable family farm, I was expecting to find an elderly bearded man by the name of Billy who took care of these goats. Isn't that what you would expect? Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I was surprised and impressed when the one of the owners of the farm introduced her 13-year-old son, Billy, who takes care of the goats, does all sorts of other work on the farm, and is its namesake. Apparently he is South Carolina's 2011 Junior Beekeeper of the Year. They moved to South Carolina from Washington State a few years ago, bringing some chickens with them. It's awesome what they've built in that time.

First thing Suzi did was find this feather. It made her day.

Then we met some goats. The little ones were hard to catch up with and pet, but this lady didn't mind at all!

There are dogs who look after the goats and keep them safe from predators such as coyotes.

The girls loved this mule--I think her name is Sally. She gave sweet slobbery kisses and Suzi got to feed her a treat.

We were excited to see this turkey, too--he may be where Suzi's feather came from. He was beautiful and looked so proud of his feathers!

I was excited to be able to say "see girls?! These chickens lay our eggs!" While we were looking at the chickens, we heard a loud cackle nearby. The owner said that chicken was announcing that she'd just laid an egg and was very happy! Since these chickens are free range, they get to eat a varied diet, which makes for a better, more nutritious egg. I've noticed brighter yolks and harder shells on the eggs we buy from here and other farms with free range chickens. It also means the the folks at this farm get to "have an Easter egg hunt every day!" Funny.

We ate lunch at the farm--goat burgers--and during lunch the girls got to have a "pony ride." It wasn't a real pony, but it was just as much fun!

Suzi's one complaint was that the "goat shop" did not carry toy goats. She was just certain they would have some, even though I told her they probably wouldn't. The girls got tiny honey bears instead.

There was all manner of interesting, useful information given about the animals, farming, gardening, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear much of it because Suzi was begging to go to the goat shop, Ivey was singing songs, and Robert was crying. Oh well. That's how it goes, and we went mostly for the children anyway.

But before we left there was something I had to know. I asked Billy's mom if he was homeschooled. She said yes. (Knew it!) They incorporate the farm activities into their curriculum. Some of the tasks on the farm, such as vaccinations and fecal testing for parasites, make for some pretty advanced science material. But I don't think that is the best part. Billy is incredibly knowledgeable. He answered lots of questions people had on the tour about the plants and animals. He is accomplished. How awesome to spend your time working on something so worthwhile, helping build a business that offers something of value to others, and making a name for yourself and your family.

In my mind, it boils down to finding your relevance in the world. How and where do your gifts and talents fit in? I'd say you're incredibly lucky to figure that out at any age, but at 13? What a wonderful blessing.

This farm trip has brought me clarity on my #1 reason to homeschool. I want to help my children find their thing. I want them to have plenty of time, almost unlimited time, to figure out what they love and do it. I want that thing, whatever it may be, to get the best of their energy and focus. That means working on it during the day, possibly right after they wake up, or whenever inspiration hits. We will work everything else around it. When they arrive at adulthood, they will not just be filled with general knowledge across all the usual subjects. That too, perhaps, but more importantly, they will have spent years learning about and hopefully diving into their passion. They will have already begun their life's work. Their spiritual, intellectual, and physical gifts will be doing something of real value.

Because of this, they will stand out. They will have something valuable to show for their first 18 years of life. Something impressive to mention on college applications and in job interviews. Whatever they choose to do, they will already be on their way.

That is my vision. My recovering perfectionist self needs to remember this when, perhaps someday, not all of my children are excelling in every single subject. No one is great at everything, but we are all great at something. What could make someone happier than finding her God-given gift and throwing her heart and soul into it? Yes, I am inspired. Thank you Billy's Goat Hill.

One more thing. As Billy's mom and I talked about homeschooling, she gave me some advice. My favorite thing she said was that if you ever get stuck on something, you should just put it down and go in the kitchen to make cookies. With the measurement, there's your math, and it involves science too! She is so right. It was a good day meeting this lovely family and hearing a little of their story.

Joining a homeschool accountability association

There are three legal options for homeschooling in South Carolina. I won't go into the first two options. Let's just say they require more work and offer less freedom than the third and most recently legislated option, which is what we are going with. Option Three states:

In lieu of the requirements of Section 59-65-40 or Section 59-65-45, parents or guardians may teach their children at home if the instruction is conducted under the auspices of an association for home schools which has no fewer than fifty members and meets the requirements of this section. Bona fide membership and continuing compliance with the academic standards of the associations exempts the home school from the further requirements of Section 59-65-40 or Section 59-65-45.

The rest of the detailed requirements are listed here if you want to read them. Basically, the association is the middle man between the homeschool parent and the state. We pay the relatively small annual fee, and they send us membership cards or a certificate stating we are members. We send them the required records and reports (which isn't too huge a task) and they report to the state on our behalf. I will not have to report to the school district or have my children tested. For me, choosing option 3 was a no-brainer.

Then I started trying to figure out which association to join. There are lots! Some of them require the bare minimum in accordance with state law. Some want more. One of the associations holds semi-annual "check-offs" at which the teaching parent must physically bring her plan book or journal in to be inspected. Jordan agreed with me that that wasn't for us; it reminded him too much of notebook checks in elementary school. So that one was an instant, unanimous no. I had narrowed it down to Palmetto Homeschool Association and Insights on Education and asked for advice in a Facebook homeschool support group. People started suggesting other ones, like my favorite so far, School's Out Support Accountability Association. It caters mostly to unschoolers and relaxed homeschoolers, which is what we are, over here learning in our PJ's. I love the trusting, positive tone of the School's Out website. People have wonderful things to say about their director. Overall, I just have a warm, fuzzy feeling about it!

So why haven't I joined yet? While the other two associations offer a transcript and diploma service, School's Out doesn't. If we end up homeschooling through high school as I'm hoping, will my children be better off applying for colleges and/or jobs with a diploma from an association? I'm not sure.

Homeschooling affords a kid all kinds of free time. I'm pretty sure that by the time Suzi is 17, she will have a portfolio of projects and accomplishments that will speak for itself, and hopefully her SAT/ACT scores will also be good. I know most colleges value and accept homeschoolers, partly because they usually do have something unique to offer to the academic community. My kids will probably be fine without an association's transcript and diploma. I think. Of course, Suzi is only five, so I could go ahead and join School's Out and then switch later if I really need to. I'm doing a little more research on this before I decide.

Have you faced a decision like this? Do you think the official transcript from an association is important? I'd love to know what you think, especially if you have older kids!

May 7 - 11

I realized this week that we are probably not going to get anything done on Fridays. We tend to have playdates and fun things scheduled for Friday, and since it's the last day of the week, there's no time to catch up on what we miss. The girls spent the night with Grandma on Thursday. I picked them up in time for a playdate Friday morning and we spent three hours with our friends at the park. Then we went to the grocery store and home to rest before going to a cookout that evening. I'm probably going to take Friday off our schedule and let it be a fun day. We had an educational family field trip to Billy's Goat Hill on Saturday, which would count as a day if we were counting. We're not counting yet, but I'll probably start sometime this summer.

Here's what we did the rest of the week:

Math: This week we continued to practice measuring things with a ruler, in inches. We measured a few items off Suzi's desk, and she told which was longest. We'll keep working on this--it's very rough measurement right now, of course. I tested Suzi to see if she had a handle on positional words such as near, far, up, down, below, above, beside, next to, between, over, and under. No point in revisiting that, as I think she's understood them all for quite a while. Wednesday we used our counting bears to introduce the concept of graphs. On the clock, we reviewed full and half hours and introduced :15 times.

Science: Monday we read "Walter the Baker" by Eric Carle and talked about the sense of taste. I told the girls to go play while I made up the snack plates pictured above. I blindfolded them and fed them a taste of each thing so they could guess what each was. Suzi spit several of them right back out. Neither of them liked the spinach, and some of the things were unfamiliar. Above, Suzi and Ivey are continuing the game on their own. Suzi fed an unsuspecting Ivey a mouthful of spinach. Ivey didn't really trust her anymore after that! Wednesday we discussed and watched a few short videos about the life cycle of frogs. The girls both found this interesting. To catch up from last week, we played a sink or float game in the kitchen sink. We rounded up a variety of household items, guessed at whether they would sink or float, and then tested it out. I multitasked by giving Robert a bath in the other side!

Art: Monday, I gave the girls cardboard boxes and scissors. Ivey decided to play Tinkerbell. She cut hers up into "lost things" and handed them out to us.

Health: We reread "I'm Growing!" and I asked the girls to make a body out of play dough. Then I encouraged Suzi to put on a play about what she had learned so far on this subject, but she ended up putting on a play about something else, and Ivey helped. At least they had fun!

Reading: Suzi picked out two new easy readers to work on--"Easter Bunny's Lost Egg" and "Tale of the Christmas Mouse." We spent a few minutes working with her flash cards. She gets excited when she remembers the words. Also, I let Suzi borrow my computer and play on starfall.com for a while.

Writing: We've posted Suzi's name and a couple of words of her choosing up above her desk where she can refer to them as needed. She does write some, but not a lot. I don't want to push writing on her, because it's something I want her to enjoy and feel relaxed about. We are mostly watching and waiting to see her take off.

What I'd like to try next:

1) My parents gave Robert a membership to the children's museum for his birthday. We've only been once and I really want to go back sometime next week!

2) On Friday I talked to two of my homeschooling friends and decided it would be fun to start a homeschooling play group for our area. Hopefully it will take off and help us meet some new families. Suzi needs friends to play with during the day, and I would love some moms to talk homeschooling with!

Learning about money

When I was a child, I loved learning about money. Which coins were most valuable? How much did I have? What could I buy? How could I get more? It was fascinating! Suzi is about the same age now as I was when I started learning about money. I wasn't planning to start money with her quite yet. Her counting skills are still coming along to the point where she will be able to effectively count her money up to dollar amounts. But it wasn't just about the math. Suzi needed to learn how to appropriately use money. We kept hearing "you didn't buy me anything!" and "I want this, could you get it for me?" She is kind of a material girl sometimes. I was too. I remember asking my parents for toys, and when they said you have to have money to buy toys, I told them "you can just go get money from the money machine! It's easy!" I had no idea you had to put the money in the bank first.

So I decided to get started. First, we identified the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, and I told her to feel for the ridges on the edge--those are worth more! I made her a money reference card and placed it in a ziploc bag with the corresponding coins. On her own, she decided to make another one. We've been reviewing coins whenever the opportunity arises. We have to be careful not to drop any in the floor where Robert might find them!

We are offering her the opportunity to earn a little money by doing certain jobs around the house. This has the added benefit of teaching her some basic housekeeping skills! I am super excited about that part. So far, here is her job list:

Cleaning Robert's high chair with a Norwex cloth - 10 cents

Putting away a load of kids' clothes - 25 cents

Washing a small sinkful of dishes - 25 cents (I dry and put away)

Bringing laundry downstairs - 10 cents

Sweeping - 10 cents (this will change to 25 cents once she can do it by herself)

With this mixed bag of chores, there is usually something she can do. Sometimes I ask her if she wants to and she says no thanks. That is okay. She does it when she is ready and does it cheerfully, and eventually she'll realize that saying yes means having more to spend. Also, I know this price list might make it look like I am getting a great deal. Right now, though, Suzi is just learning. Sometimes it would be easier for me to just do these things myself, but I know that if I help her learn now, in a matter of months she will be a great help to me, and it will help her learn responsibility. In addition to paying her for these jobs (and we hope to add gradually to the list), we have decided to give her $1 each week for allowance.

We put a savings jar on her desk and bought her a little zipper pouch to take shopping. Of course, Ivey wanted one, too... And of course, Ivey wants money to put in hers, too. I can't do that, because I know the money will end up in the floor where Robert can find it and put it in his mouth. I'm thinking of making up some paper "Ivey bucks" to pay her for jobs until she gets a little older. Hopefully that will work.

Now if Suzi asks us to buy her something and we don't want to, we can tell her we will help her figure out how to save up and buy it. It'll be empowering.

How have you taught your kids about money? Any tips?

April 30 - May 4

We went to a fun playdate Friday morning and came home to take a nap before going to a cookout with friends that evening. There was no time for homeschooling that day! We will either do the Friday stuff tonight or work it into next week sometime. Here is what we did Monday through Thursday....

Math: First we reviewed what we did last week. Suzi's pretty much got all of that. Then we talked about different measurements--length, weight, and temperature. It was a lot at once, but really we just started without going into too much depth. It was a natural choice to talk about temperature the same day as the sense of touch. I gave the girls glasses of warm, cool and ice water to feel and they told me which was coldest, warmest, etc. We ended up talking a little about ice and why it melts. I took their temperature with a digital oral thermometer, because we don't have a large outdoor one or any other kind, yet. For length, I showed Suzi how to use a ruler to measure some wool strips in inches. We didn't do much with weight--just talked about who out of the three siblings weighed most and least, and compared the weight of some household objects. We also decided it would be a good time to start learning about money, but I'll have to do a separate post on that later.

Science: We talked about the sense of hearing as we read "Curious George and the Puppies." To see our sense of hearing in action, we played a game of puppy hide-and-seek. The girls and I took turns playing the puppy and running off to hide. The other two of us counted to 10 before shouting "bark, little puppy!" and following the barking noises to find the puppy. Yep. I spent some of our homeschool time standing in a closet barking at my kids! And it was fun. The sense of touch was next. We read "The Seashore Book" (Zolotow), which is full of beautiful beach imagery and illustrations. We looked for all the things in the book that could be felt, such as "wet sand under our feet." Then I brought out our seashell collection and let the girls feel the smooth inside of the shells and the rough, ridgy outside, as well as smooth and hard stones. This led to open-ended pretend play with the shells.

Thursday morning during breakfast, Suzi asked me an interesting question about termites! It turns out she is pretty interested in them, and wanted to know how they knew something was wood. So I told her what little I knew about them and then we spent about 30 minutes watching educational videos about them on YouTube and discussing what we saw. Fascinating, actually!

Reading: We made a few flash cards for words Suzi sees frequently in her books. I never really envisioned myself making flash cards for homeschooling, but Suzi seems to enjoy being able to recognize the words as long as we don't overdo it. We are working on eight right now, and most of them are very short and easy. Since I think she is getting bored with her first two easy readers, I'll probably introduce a new book or two next week.

Writing: We made a word list to hang over her desk. Once she is able to recognize a word, she can refer to the list to see how to write it. We're also still encouraging her to try writing her first and last name. No pressure.

Health: We talked a little about what a body needs--food, water, rest, exercise. I was surprised by how much Suzi already seemed to know. Then we talked about items we use to protect our bodies: sunscreen, insect repellant, hats, gloves, helmets, knee pads.

Art: As usual, I didn't have to beg Suzi to make anything! One day the girls used our window markers on the sliding glass door. Suzi made me a rabbit "toy" that I am using as a bookmark, and also did the drawing at the top of this post. It's Suzi standing beside an apple under the sun coming out of the darkness. On her other side is a blueberry bush. The girls went to their drama class with Grandma, and our trip to see The Ugly Duckling also counts as art.

Physical activity: We tried to go to the park Wednesday, but by the time I got the kids rounded up and out the door, it was almost 2:00 and miserably hot. We only stayed about 15 minutes. Luckily we were invited to a fun outdoor playdate on Friday and the kids got to play outside for several hours with their friends. Then Friday night we got to go out and play again at a cookout. Now that our yard is mowed we're hopefully going to get it cleaned up for spring so the girls can go out and play every day. They can already jump on the trampoline anytime.

Ivey enjoying herself at the cookout

Things I'd like to try next:

1) I want a big thermometer, or preferably two. One big one for outside that we can look at to see how hot it is, and one to use for, say, measuring the temp of water.

2) I want to get a long jump rope and teach Suzi to jump while someone else turns. My mom has one but I want to get one for our house. Then we can do some jump rope rhymes. That would be fun!

3) At a yard sale Saturday, I bought a neat book of simple science experiments to do at home. It has an index, so I can look up demonstrations to go with whatever we're working on. I'm excited to use it.

Taking Suzi to a show: The Ugly Duckling... in lights

from corbianarts.com

We are really lucky. While we live in a small town, we are neighbored by a college town that provides fun educational opportunities, sometimes at an amazing price. Over the past few months, Suzi and I have enjoyed attending events at a local performing arts center as part of a program for area schoolchildren. Many of the local schools pick a couple of these events and plan field trips around them. Of course, homeschool families can attend as many as they want. Admission is $2/person, and some of them are free! The only catch is that you have to be three years old to go. This is where Grandma and Grandpa come in.

Suzi has attended eight shows this season. She went to one with her Grandma, and I took her to the rest of them while Grandma and Grandpa watched Ivey and Robert. Today was the last show of the season. We saw Corbian Visual Arts and Dance & Light Wire Theater perform The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare. We loved it. I'm finding it difficult to explain, so I'll use what they call it on their website, which is "electroluminescent puppetry." The puppeteers (dancers, actors?) were not seen--they only animated the characters, which were made up of brightly colored strands of light, all that was visible in the darkness. Yet the heartbreak of the rejected duckling shone through. It was also funny. The audience full of children roared over potty humor and the ridiculous personality of the racing hare. I thought I might cry when the mother swan came out at the end of the Ugly Duckling. Beautiful.

So I got to share this with Suzi and call it a school day. She sat in my lap and asked questions the whole time. On the way out she told me she liked it a lot, but that it was a little scary. Then she started brainstorming ideas for making her own costumes and puppets. I am thinking this might be a fun ongoing art project for her. Maybe I could make a portable puppet theater to hang in a doorway. She'd have a fit over that, and her birthday is coming up. Hmmm.

Thought I'd add that we did do a little school after we got home and had lunch. We can do school in the afternoon, but so far I do think it's working better in the mornings. She's fresher then.