The boys woke up and played and eventually I convinced myself to emerge from my warm covers to make breakfast before they realize they are hungry and start raiding the cupboards. We had homemade muesli (Greek yogurt, rolled oats, fresh strawberries, sliced almonds, dried dates, and honey). After we brushed our teeth and got dressed we were ready to start school.
We always begin our day with "opening circle". We light a little beeswax candle, recite some poems to welcome the day and sing songs. Today we read the poem "Queen of Hearts", sang "Wheels on the Bus" with personalized verses (the Meo's on the bus say I want a cookie for example), some fish and bubble song I don't know the name of, and "Mary Had a Little Dragon" (the boys made this one up...it's to the tune of Mary had a little Lamb but there is a dragon whose scales were red as fire and the children in the school run away to see a dragon in school). Then the boys blow out the candle together which they look forward to.
After that we did our math work. We have been studying different shapes and forms and today we reexamined circles and spheres by playing with bubbles then drawing pictures of bubbles. I always draw along with Meo so that he feels encouraged and has an example of me taking my time and being thoughtful with my work so that he can mimic that work ethic. He really enjoyed this drawing and was very proud of the end result. Link drew some circles too.
Then we worked on our handwriting assignment for the day from our Handwriting without Tears curriculum. Today he copied a short poem about a spider that he really got a kick out of. His writing is coming along nicely and he is getting better at remembering the sounds each letter makes to read words occasionally.
After a banana snack, we packed up the car with our snow gear and an excited puppy to go explore a new trail with our friends.
The kids spent most of the time sliding down hills on their butts then struggling to climb back up the slippery slope. Meo and Soren pretended to be super heroes of course and had sticks as weapons for the duration.
Link used a partially gnawed tree to help himself up the steep slope.
Even Inga couldn't resist some fun sliding.
After that we stopped at Orchard Ridge Farm to have a snack of fresh homemade donuts and visit the animals. We were especially excited to meet the piglets that were born two days ago. They were so darn cute, I could barely stand it!
The boys got a kick out of chasing a loose chicken back and forth. Eventually we had them stop so the chicken wouldn't be super stressed out, but they were laughing pretty hard.
Then the turkeys came out and started running along side the boys and gobbled at them which made them laugh even more.
We are running low on food in the house so I picked up some fresh eggs then headed home for lunch. Meo went sledding in the front yard while I unpacked the car. He had fun until he landed in a shallow pool of water and got soaked. So I helped him warm up inside with some dry clothes and scrambled eggs, peanut butter and honey toast, and oranges.
Then we read a picture book and the boys fell asleep for a little nap.
After nap they enjoyed a Larrabe fruit and greens bar while I enjoyed a second cup of coffee. We did Meo's health assignment for the day at the same time. This week we are learning about support systems. Yesterday he drew pictures symbolizing some of the people he loves and today we talked about all the people who have taught him things. Then we discussed something he would like to be taught and who could teach him. He said he would like to learn how to ice skate really well and fast and that his friend Greyson could teach him.
We finished up his school work for the day with science. He has been observing the growth of this sweet potato in water for 12 weeks and drawing it in his lesson book. He also made a terrarium and he had a look at that to see if it is surviving and changing in any way.
Meo had violin lesson today. He worked a lot on keeping his violin held high (sometimes the violin gets pretty droopy) as well as did some pitch and rhythmn reading exercises.
Back at home, they had a carrot stick and humus snack and then they wanted to play the game Zingo together. This is one of their new favorite games.
Finally, Daddy came home. Meo decided to lounge on the couch and look through a new book we got today while I decided to lounge upstairs and read my novel. They made pizza for dinner, and ended the night with a bubble bath and reading lots of books together.
Have I mentioned how much I love these guys? Homeschooling keeps me busy, but it's a lot of fun and I'm so fortunate to be able to watch them develop and grow and learn everyday.
And now one of them has tip-toed into my bedroom and fell asleep snuggling my pajamas.
