Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thankful for Preschool
This is Mrs. Karyn. She is amazing.
She is the preschool teacher at our co-op this year and has done an unbelievable job. The students have a daily calendar time, stories, various crafts, games, and all sorts of activities. She even did some cooking with them last week and hopes to attempt it again this coming week.
Her fulfillment of this position is WAY above the typical "call of duty" for the co-op preschool, but she tackles it weekly with her amazing energy!
I am particularly grateful because there wasn't anything at our co-op for D (age 3) last year. He was at an "in-between" age and made to stay with me in the nursery.
This year I have watched him flourish and blossom under the love, creative energy, and enthusiasm of Mrs. Karyn. He comes home singing his letters. he has learned most of their sounds, and he always has a creative craft to show us.
Even his father, who had to deliver him to school a bit late one day, couldn't believe how excited he was to go to school. D just hopped out of the car and was ready to take off! He LOVES co-op, which is quite the opposite of his poor little brother.
Here he is being the "Letter A" with his friends at school.
At home, we have a "Thankful Tree". The kids add leaves to it each day with something they are thankful for. Want to know what D's first leaf said?
Mrs. Karyn.
He is thankful for Mrs. Karyn. And I truly couldn't agree more.
Her fulfillment of this position is WAY above the typical "call of duty" for the co-op preschool, but she tackles it weekly with her amazing energy!
I am particularly grateful because there wasn't anything at our co-op for D (age 3) last year. He was at an "in-between" age and made to stay with me in the nursery.
This year I have watched him flourish and blossom under the love, creative energy, and enthusiasm of Mrs. Karyn. He comes home singing his letters. he has learned most of their sounds, and he always has a creative craft to show us.
Even his father, who had to deliver him to school a bit late one day, couldn't believe how excited he was to go to school. D just hopped out of the car and was ready to take off! He LOVES co-op, which is quite the opposite of his poor little brother.
Here he is being the "Letter A" with his friends at school.
At home, we have a "Thankful Tree". The kids add leaves to it each day with something they are thankful for. Want to know what D's first leaf said?
Mrs. Karyn.
He is thankful for Mrs. Karyn. And I truly couldn't agree more.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A rough age
Dear C (age 14 months),
You will owe Grandmom BIG TIME when you are older. She has watched you ever Friday from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM. You are her little buddy and she takes you on walks and to the mall. She feeds you lunch and many snacks, plays with you, and just loves on you!
And, WHY do you get all this attention?
Because you are absolutely miserable when mommy leaves you at co-op. You screamed basically the entire three hours one week and it about killed me. That is when I called in your Grandmom for reinforcement.
She came to co-op with us, hoping you would adjust to the nursery more easily if she was there.
This is you on that morning, terrified to let me go. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the snuggles for a few minutes.
Once I left, the screaming began. Horrible screaming. Until your Grandmom put you in the stroller and took you out of the building on a little walk.
You were finally calm for about a half hour...that is until she tried to take you back into the building.
You started screaming again as soon as you got to the front door.
And it pained your Grandmom's heart, so she got the car seat from me and took you home.
And she has been watching you on Friday mornings ever since.
Yes, my boy, you owe your Grandmom for this one day.
Big time.
You will owe Grandmom BIG TIME when you are older. She has watched you ever Friday from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM. You are her little buddy and she takes you on walks and to the mall. She feeds you lunch and many snacks, plays with you, and just loves on you!
And, WHY do you get all this attention?
Because you are absolutely miserable when mommy leaves you at co-op. You screamed basically the entire three hours one week and it about killed me. That is when I called in your Grandmom for reinforcement.
She came to co-op with us, hoping you would adjust to the nursery more easily if she was there.
This is you on that morning, terrified to let me go. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the snuggles for a few minutes.
Once I left, the screaming began. Horrible screaming. Until your Grandmom put you in the stroller and took you out of the building on a little walk.
You were finally calm for about a half hour...that is until she tried to take you back into the building.
You started screaming again as soon as you got to the front door.
And it pained your Grandmom's heart, so she got the car seat from me and took you home.
And she has been watching you on Friday mornings ever since.
Yes, my boy, you owe your Grandmom for this one day.
Big time.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Science Center Field Trip
Once again, we kicked off the year with a trip to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Each year the Science Center offers homeschool classes for $5 for the first three weeks of September. The class fee includes your admission to the science center that day, for moms and siblings as well! General admission, without a class, is $2 for homeschoolers during the three week period.
We ventured to the science center twice this year. The first round was just the girls and me. K (age 7) took a class and T wandered the science center with me. Then the three of us had a great time touring the place. I didnt take my camera on that trip because I didn't have the stroller.
The next trip was the entire family AND Grandma. The girls were signed up for a class with their friends and we spent time touring the museum together, focusing on the toddler room.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
And every year we come at least once with our dear friends, The Fauths. The first time, our 4 kids total sat in these footprints. Now, we fill up the footprints with our crew!
We ventured to the science center twice this year. The first round was just the girls and me. K (age 7) took a class and T wandered the science center with me. Then the three of us had a great time touring the place. I didnt take my camera on that trip because I didn't have the stroller.
The next trip was the entire family AND Grandma. The girls were signed up for a class with their friends and we spent time touring the museum together, focusing on the toddler room.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
And every year we come at least once with our dear friends, The Fauths. The first time, our 4 kids total sat in these footprints. Now, we fill up the footprints with our crew!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Book List Review
We've been working through the 100 Children's Books list and having a great time!
We are working through the books order for the most part, but we have to skip around as we are waiting for some of the books to come in.
We decided to revisit books that we are already familiar with on the list. It's been great sharing so many old favorites with D (age 3). He absoltely loved, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom." We own the book, but the girls keep it in their room. It was a great reminder to pull out some favorites to share with him.
We have used the list as a starting point to read books that aren't on the list, but are written by the same authors. Of course, one of our favorite authors is Mo Willems. We grabbed, "Knuffle Bunny" in addition to, "Don't let that Pigeon Drive the Bus," as well as a bunch of his easy readers to revisit. David Shannon is another one of our favorite authors. We loved reading, "Duck on a Bike," again as well as some new ones we have never read by David Shannon. And we grabbed some extra Froggy books by Jonathan London too! My little three year old, D, has loved the Froggy stories.
The girls loved, "George and Martha"! We all got a good laugh reading the short stories in the first book. Another fun find was, "Abuela". This book mixes some Spanish vocabulary in the story. I loved the illustrations in this book as well.
It's not going to take too long to get through the list, but there are plenty of lists to choose from!
We are working through the books order for the most part, but we have to skip around as we are waiting for some of the books to come in.
We decided to revisit books that we are already familiar with on the list. It's been great sharing so many old favorites with D (age 3). He absoltely loved, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom." We own the book, but the girls keep it in their room. It was a great reminder to pull out some favorites to share with him.
We have used the list as a starting point to read books that aren't on the list, but are written by the same authors. Of course, one of our favorite authors is Mo Willems. We grabbed, "Knuffle Bunny" in addition to, "Don't let that Pigeon Drive the Bus," as well as a bunch of his easy readers to revisit. David Shannon is another one of our favorite authors. We loved reading, "Duck on a Bike," again as well as some new ones we have never read by David Shannon. And we grabbed some extra Froggy books by Jonathan London too! My little three year old, D, has loved the Froggy stories.
The girls loved, "George and Martha"! We all got a good laugh reading the short stories in the first book. Another fun find was, "Abuela". This book mixes some Spanish vocabulary in the story. I loved the illustrations in this book as well.
It's not going to take too long to get through the list, but there are plenty of lists to choose from!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Graduation
Our co-op ended with a very long lovely graduation night.
The entire K-5 crew learned how to sign the Lord's prayer and the 23rd Psalm, so they performed it for everyone.
Then it was time for each individual grade to have some time in the spotlight. First the class of kindergarteners, including my T, walked in for "graduation".
A local radio DJ (hubby to one of the wives) interviewed each kindergartener, asking what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Completely unprompted, my sweet little T (age 5) immediately responded, "a mommy".
K (age 7) recited a poem she wrote. Each second grader took a turn to recite.
Finally, a group photo of all of the hard working kiddos this year! It felt great to be done.
The entire K-5 crew learned how to sign the Lord's prayer and the 23rd Psalm, so they performed it for everyone.
Then it was time for each individual grade to have some time in the spotlight. First the class of kindergarteners, including my T, walked in for "graduation".
A local radio DJ (hubby to one of the wives) interviewed each kindergartener, asking what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Completely unprompted, my sweet little T (age 5) immediately responded, "a mommy".
K (age 7) recited a poem she wrote. Each second grader took a turn to recite.
Finally, a group photo of all of the hard working kiddos this year! It felt great to be done.
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