Caroline Learns To Read & Todd's Birthday

Caroline started her week learning how to read.  She began with the "-at" family and learned mat, cat, hat, sat, rat, pat, & bat.  She was so excited to learn these words that she didn't want the lesson to end.  After telling her we would do more the following day, she went to find The Cat in the Hat so she could read it to me.  I read most of the words, but every time we came to "hat" or "cat," she would read it.  A whole new world has opened up to her.  She's so excited and smiley.  It's a great beginning to reading.

In Josiah's Essential's class each week, the tutor gives the students who want to read their writing assignments aloud, the opportunity to do so.  The second she asks for volunteers, Josiah's hand shoots in the air.  He loves reading his papers.  This past week, he had to rewrite a story about a toad that helped a crocodile and they become friends. At home, he had to take the original story, which was three paragraphs long, and make a "key word outline" for it.  Then he had to retell the story, in his own words, using only his outline.  Then we edit his paper and he rewrites the final draft.  This has been the typical week.  Josiah, however, wants to get incredibly creative and detailed with his retelling, and there has been a problem with him not being able to write as quickly as he can think.  So this week, I decided to type his paper allowing him to get the story out quicker (and not lose his train of thought).  After all our edits, his story was 2.5 pages long, typed, double spaced.  He loves to tell a story.  The best part in class is that after he finishes reading his paper, it gets passed around the classroom so that the other students can leave encouraging post-it notes on it.  Lots of "Good job!" and "Grate job!"  (they're 9, they're working on spelling).  Josiah loves, loves, loves to read the notes.

Reading his story in class.

The boys were elated to get a package from HEB early in the week.  HEB is a local/Texas grocery store.  We discovered that they had a summer reading program in which you only had to write down 10 books that you read and they would mail you a free t-shirt.  The boys jumped on that bandwagon and a few weeks ago we sent away for their t-shirts.  Little Miss Caroline told me that she didn't want to do it.  I threw in a few "Are you sure's?" just for good measure.  She was sure.  So, the shirts arrived this week along with a bookmark, pencil, and certificate.  Guess who was upset she didn't get one?  Henry graciously gave her his pencil and then held up his t-shirt and said it would fit her, too.  He can be so kind. Next year, I think she'll get her own.

In Botany this week we dissected a flower.  The kids had fun taking it apart and labeling it all.  Henry somehow got all the parts on his paper, but we had to take apart a few flowers to get them.  Henry's hands are a bit more bull-in-china-shop than delicate.

We have been discussing how flowers reproduce and next week we're discussing bees and more about pollination.  It just so happened that we had a field trip to the Nature Discovery Center in Houston this week, so we could see some of that in action. The Discovery Center had several animals/insects onsite. They were all injured in some way so that they could not return to the wild.  But we also walked around their grounds and looked at their fish, flowers, bee hives, and we looked under rocks to see what lived there.  The lady that was giving our tour said that originally this part of Texas was just all prairie with tall grass.  The only trees were near the banks of the rivers.  She also pointed out a plant there that we have in our backyard, which I had thought was a weed, so now we'll keep it. I hung out with the "little kid" tour, while the boys were in the other group.  They had a sheet that talked about habitats and what each animal/insect they saw ate.     

Injured pigeons

Looking at what lives under logs.

The mosquitoes around here have been unbelievably bad.  We doused ourselves in bug spray at the Nature Center before the tour, but at home they are just too bad to go out and play.  They're bad all day long - even worse at dawn and dusk, but still bad all the time.  Because we haven't been getting outside as much, we went with friends to the trampoline park mid-week.  It was a homeschool jump and a final count had 100 jumpers!  Fortunately, it's a big place, so it didn't feel like that many.  Henry told me that it was more fun than it looked, although I thought it looked pretty fun.  They had jousting, a trapeze bar, dodgeball, and giant foam pits to jump into.  The kids were running all over the place the entire time and despite the high risk of injury, I only noticed three kids with ice packs in the two hours we were there (and none were our kids!).  Most of the pictures are of Henry and Caroline.  Josiah made himself scarce nearly the whole time.

The Park (at least part of it)

Josiah jousting

When we left it was time for the boys' karate class.  Josiah didn't think he could go because he felt too sick from all the jumping.  Then for a few days he was complaining about his stomach, but it seems that it was his muscles that were hurting.  That's what two hours of jumping will do to you.

Driving in the car one day, the kids were all talking about what they wanted to buy at Disney World.  Henry said that he was going to spend half of his money on sushi.  He is dead serious, too.  Then Josiah kept asking me about bread.  Do they sell bread at Disney World?  Could he buy some bread, some garlic bread, and save it to eat the next day?  I guess?!?  We keep telling them we have their food covered.

We spent the weekend celebrating Todd's birthday.  We celebrated All Weekend Long.  Not really.  But he did wake up to a beautifully decorated downstairs courtesy of Josiah.

The rainbow carpet to walk upon

He got donuts and a Come and Take It t-shirt.

The kids gave him their cards.  Henry's card showed perspective and it was an aisle in the grocery store.  On the top left is a shelf of OxyClean and at the bottom of the shelf is a row of Cheerios.  In the back are eggs.  On the right are cookies.  Obviously he knows Todd likes food.

Josiah's card was a scavenger hunt.  Josiah took Todd's birthday coupon from Zaxby's and hid it.  Todd had to follow the clues from his card to find it.  He eventually found the coupon.  The same coupon he gets every year, though I'm not sure he's ever used it.

We never made it out to celebrate a birthday lunch because our children are in the midst of an extreme bickering phase and we cannot take it anymore.  Lots of snide remarks among the three of them.  It has been incredibly frustrating.  Why are you guys so mean to each other?  Todd usually comments, I don't understand siblings.  And then to me, Is this what it was like to grow up with siblings? Uh, sometimes.  Only one child made it to cake time.  The other two were sent to bed early.  Although, as we were eating the cake, the two that had already been sent to bed sang Happy Birthday from their beds.  It was actually pretty sad to hear it because they weren't downstairs with us.

So this week we are hoping for some kind, loving, encouraging words from everyone in our family. We need to take a page from Josiah's Essentials papers and leave each other encouraging notes.  Caroline learns the -AD family tomorrow.  We are RAD and GLAD, not SAD or MAD or BAD!