What we've been up to

Here's what we've been doing lately, in pictures.

After our homeschool co-op one Monday, Suzi found a fungus growing on a tree stump.

We made pumpkin puree to use for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  The girls' job was to remove the seeds.  Suzi loved it.  It also turned into impromptu counting practice.  Still trying to get her to say "30" instead of "20-10!"

Suzi asked why the mirror gets foggy when we take showers.  We set her up for an experiment with a glass of cold water, a glass of hot water, and a handheld mirror.  Pretty interesting that only the hot water created condensation on the glass.

This was our PE.  The funny thing is that as we were riding by, I think the kids at the school across the street were having PE too.  I like our version.

 She's got a library card and is proud to use it!  She could only check out one book as a new borrower, but next time we go she can get up to 20!

 Suzi loves making clothespin people.  When I saw this wooden castle at the thrift shop for $1, I knew she'd love it.  She colored it and put her clothespin people in their new home.

This is me when I was a little girl.  I had to help her with the hair.  I love Suzi's arts and crafts.

This is at Science Day in a homeschool friend's backyard.  All the kids brought a little project or something to show and tell everyone about.  We brought magnets.  These are our favorites, floating in air as they repel each other!

Also at Science Day, the kids had a pretend archaeological dig.

It can sometimes be like pulling teeth for me to get Suzi to practice her writing when I want, but if I leave her alone she'll go to her desk and start copying from her word list of her own free will.  She's also expressed that she wants to be told when something is backwards or otherwise incorrect so she can fix it.  I previously had not been pointing out every little mistake because I know how frustrating that can be when you were trying to write for pleasure.

This is what Suzi wants our pumpkin to look like.  We are going to have to get at least one more pumpkin, because Ivey has named our pumpkin Patterson, after a pumpkin in a book we read, and I don't think she's going to want it carved someone else's way.

I've added a section to Suzi's notebook of sample work.  We've been talking about classification of living things.  So far we've been over what it means to be a vertebrate versus an invertebrate, and mostly we've worked on identifying the different classes of vertebrates--birds, reptiles, fish, mammals, and amphibians.  The Sunday before last was a family school day for us.  We went to the zoo (I forgot the camera, naturally) and I took the opportunity to help Suzi classify different animals.  She's pretty good at recognizing the different types of vertebrates, and I'd like to explore invertebrates soon!  The fancy dog pictured above was her response when I asked her to draw her favorite animal.  Behind that sheet there is a sheet for vertebrates, and behind that for each class of vertebrates.  I do have a sheet for invertebrates, but not all the different classes yet.  I'll get that done soon.  The idea is that whenever we study an animal, we can file whatever we draw or write in the appropriate section of the notebook.

Countdown to Halloween!  We made this calender together, first of all because we are really excited about Halloween, but also to help Suzi understand calenders and how they work.  Now she gets to cross the days off and count down through all our big days in October.  It's going to be a fun month!  Hopefully I'll remember the camera for most of these things we have planned...