Observe & Conserve!

We're finally getting back into a routine around here. I've been so busy with trying to get the house back in order and take care of Ken that the boys and I had totally stopped doing all the things that I love to do with them. But at least it has given me a chance to appreciate that spending the time with them doing all the little extra things like incentive pads, storytime, journaling, FIAR and prayers really, really does make a difference. In the time that we had stopped Christopher started having some difficulty focusing in school, Eddie's penmanship and attention to his work lapsed and in general they were just not listening or behaving as well as I know they could. It feels sooooooooooooo good to be getting back on track and spending that special time with them again.

We've started a new FIAR book.....Owl Moon by Jane Yolan. At first I was reluctant to start this one now because it takes place in winter and I like to read books in season. But we did it anyway and I'm so glad we did! We are learning about kids and maturity, the moon, nature, metaphores & similes and of course owls! In fact, tomorrow I am going to take them to the Environmental Center to see the screech owl there. We will also bring our binoculars, cameras (theirs and mine) notebooks & pencils and will be Naturalists for the afternoon. Observe & conserve! I might even set up a little nature lab for them here at home -we'll see how "into it" they are.

In keeping with the owl theme we also read another cute book tonight, Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel. Not exactly educational but very cute & funny! We loved it!

We're also overdue to create our garden. Since last year I've wanted to section off part of the garden for the boys. They can each pick a plant and decorate their section way they want to with rocks, small toys (animals, etc.) I would love to try to get this done this week or by the end of the weekend.

There are sooo many books I want to read with them this summer... Charlottes Web, the Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little - all by EB White. I'd love to get back to the Magic Tree House series too - we left off at #13. I also have several by Roald Dohl, the Bobsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, the Boxcar Kids.....and many, many more!!!! It's a good thing we don't have any big plans for the summer - hopefully we'll be able to get lots of reading in!

Speaking of the summer....I am sooo ready for the school to be OVER!

My goals for this summer are to create a reading list for the boys - some for us to read together and some for them to read on their own, get Christopher ready for Kindergarten (OMG!), work on money & time with Eddie, journaling for both of them (Christopher just writing his letters, name and numbers) and Eddie working on the 5 W's - who, what, where, when & why along with punctuation and penmanship. And I would love to have Christopher reading totally on his own by the end of the summer! He's getting there!

Yay Summer!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo