December 14 - 18

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

The highlight for both Preston and Marissa was the same today.  They got to perform in a virtual piano recital that was recorded for grandparents to watch at home.  Preston has been working so hard and did such a great job playing "We Three Kings."  

MARISSA

Marissa loved getting dressed up for her Christmas recital in her Christmas sweater and Santa hat.  She performed "Little Drummer Boy" but also worked on a separate song since she learned her first piece so well.  The other song she learned for Christmas is "Ding Dong Merrily On High."  I will have to try to get a recording of her playing that one as well.  

CALEB

The highlight of Caleb's week was another game of Monopoly that lasted two days.  He loves practicing his math using games.  We put in new flooring in two bathrooms this past weekend so Caleb and Marissa were excited to have a box to create a fort and get their game going.  

OTHER

SNOW

The kids got to play at grandma and grandpa's house while we finished the bathroom remodel.  They were so lucky to have some snow and be able to sled while they were there.  

They also put together puzzles, played Uno and did their reading and math.  Preston is working on the 6th Harry Potter book and Marissa is really enjoying "The Critter Club" series.  She was so excited to find a Christmas one in the series to read this week.  

December 7 - 11

November 23 - December 4

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's been working really hard on his math this week. He's learning how to add, subtract, multiply and divide negative numbers. When he gets confused, he waits for help and then gets right back to his learning. 

MARISSA

Marissa's been working on her cursive writing the past several weeks. To practice her letters and very faster, she decided to copy a poem from our poetry book this week. 

CALEB

Caleb finished his "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons " book this week. He was so excited and earned a Lego set he's been waiting to get for months! 

OTHER

ART

Marissa made several art projects this week.  She loves it! 

November 23 - December 4

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's favorite thing this week was finishing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."  He informed me this is his least favorite of the Harry Potter books so far, but he is still super excited to have finished.  He had a goal to read 50 chapter books (which I finally decided was an average of 200 pages per book so we are counting the bigger books as more than one book).  He's on the last one that will put him over his goal and earn him a fun Lego set that's been waiting for him in my closet for several months.  It's so much fun that he set such a big goal and worked for so long to achieve it!  

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite things always include building and creating.  We read a fun poem called "A Good Play" that reminded the kids of building forts so Marissa and Caleb built a fort outside and later built one in the house as well.  Gotta love it!  

CALEB

My favorite thing was putting his building and engineering skills to good use to make a Gingerbread House.  He loved every second of it and used every spare candy we had available.  The other kids had a great time as well!  

OTHER

THANKSGIVING

We read a couple of fun books last week for Thanksgiving.  Our two favorite books were "The Plymouth Thanksgiving" and "Squanto's Journey."  Another really fun book we read was "Outlaw Thanksgiving." 

It was a really weird year for our family this year.  Our extended family decided not to get together for Thanksgiving due to Covid and especially thing to protect grandparents and great grandma so our family of six had our very own Thanksgiving.  It was fun and delicious...and a little sad.  But we made the most of it and played some gratitude games, ate lots of delicious food and read more books.  Oh and of course we watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" to complete our celebration.  ;) 

It was a really weird year for our family this year.  Our extended family decided not to get together for Thanksgiving due to Covid and especially thing to protect grandparents and great grandma so our family of six had our very own Thanksgiving.  It was fun and delicious...and a little sad.  But we made the most of it and played some gratitude games, ate lots of delicious food and read more books.  Oh and of course we watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" to complete our celebration.  ;) 

ART

Preston got to do a pastel art project as part of language arts.  It was pretty fun.  Marissa couldn't help getting involved and starting her own art projects.  

Marissa ended up creating her own crown.  She also took some time to sketch her own inventions, most of which were inspired by her list of chores that she felt was too time consuming.  ;) I'm always happy to be part of inspiration and learning!

Marissa got to do a grateful book for language arts this week.  It was perfect timing falling the week of Thanksgiving!  

Marissa spent time teaching Caleb how to do a backbend.  She's training him so he can learn tumbling like big sister.  

Caleb worked on more reading and writing skills this week on the Reading Eggs app, his 100 Easy Lessons and writing on his chalkboard.  He's doing so well!  

Yes, he's wearing his sister's jacket...because it's warm and fuzzy!  :)

Another favorite this week was the book "Finding Winnie" which is about the true story of how Winnie-the-Pooh was written.  It was such a fun book!  

November 16 - 20

 WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's favorite thing this week was learning about Machu Pichu in our geography sticker book.  We found a couple really fun videos and really had a great time.  He could not believe how precise the architecture was on the stones that are cut throughout.  

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite thing this week was sewing a pillow she started with her Abuela (grandma).  She was so excited and now wants to learn more types of sewing and other crafting skills.  

CALEB

My favorite part of the week was watching Caleb get excited about a book Marissa was reading called "The Princess in Black."  He was flipping through it in the car and went back to get it after we got home.  I caught him trying to read it on his own and flipping through the pages in multiple positions for about 20 minutes.  It is awesome to watch his excitement for books and reading grow!

OTHER

GEOGRAPHY

We read a couple of fun books this week for geography.  One was called "How I learned Geography" and was about a child who lived in Poland during the Warsaw Blitz.  He talked about leaving the country and having nowhere to live and very little food.  One day, his dad came how with a map, and he learned to love the world from his study of that map.  It was so beautiful to watch the kids realize not everyone is as blessed as they are, and also to see how others have made the most of their situations and lived in their imagination.

The other book is called Miss Rumphius and talks about all her travels and adventures and how she made the world a better place by scattering lupine seeds everywhere she went one year.  Loved both books and what we learned about the word from them.  

ART

The kids had a great time with art this week!  Marissa drew several pictures using different media (pastels, water colors, colored pencils, etc.). 

Preston used his art skills to draw Baby Yoda.  

MATH

This week, in addition to our math books, we spent time putting together puzzles, playing Chess and other logic games.  It was so much fun to have a week with some extras.  Marissa listened to musical multiplication and worked on her memorization.