Flipping!

It is hard to get school work done when you are always upside down.

Iddy says these are Pike,Wolf, Straddle, Tuck, Split and Regular Handstands.


and Iddy says these are: Tuck Handstand , Regular Handstand, Straddle Handstand and Goofy Brother.


Maybe if I put the math book on the floor...hmmm?

More Main Lessons...

Were still working on our Man and Animal and King of Ireland's Son blocks.

I am finding the drawing more and more challenging but the kids get a chuckle from my attempts and I think Iddy finds my imperfections comforting.

I am also finding the difference between Iddy's work and Ferdinand's so amusing...this week Ferdinand made sure to add blood droplets to the sword in his pictures. "Look mom he chopped off the crow's beaks !" Iddy just stared at me with a horrified look on her face and went back to telling me about how orcas are misunderstood animals that are really very cute.

Birthdays and Valentines!

The last few weeks have been so busy! Blue Eyes turned 5 and Valentine turned 3.
And of course Ferdinand received his annual "history" valentine card :)
Not sure about all my babies getting so big though!

Elf Sightings!

Man and Animal Week 2

We finished up our Octopus study with a Jack Prelutsky poem then moved on to cuttlefish. Biddy was fascinated by the creatures color changing abilities and horrified that someone would eat one. We then moved on to sea mammals reading about whales and dolphins and seals. We chose our favorite selkie stories from the library as well just for fun. We might have to rummage up our copy of the Secret of Roan Inish for a late night Mommy-Daughter movie night.

King of Ireland's Son.

Ferdinand is loving his blocks this year in contrast to big sis. He is especially excited about our current block on the King of Ireland's Son. He is terribly (and loudly) disappointed at the end of each day's story but feels quite put upon that he is required to any drawing or even worse writing! As long as I remember to toss out a board of practice math problems I am usually forgiven. He seems to have very good recall orally but needs a lot of prompting to summarize a few sentences to write in his MLB. We are still working on remembering those dreaded periods as well...Mommy was alway the queen of run-on sentences so I sympathize. :)

More Rainbows!

February seems to be rainbow season in the PNW and we have been seeing one almost everyday this month so far.
The 2 little ones decided they were done with snowflakes so we took them down in favor of rainbows.
Tissue paper is one of my favorite things :)

Man and Animal Block

We have dived into our first big lesson block since Dec. and it is going well. This year has been the most challenging for Iddy as far as the blocks go. Not sure if its the way they are being presented or simply that wacky mid-summer b-day causing an ill-fit. Our first block- local geography was a flop as far as "desk work" last September and in late fall our happy homeschool almost shut down over Iddy's first ever full strike over the Norse Myths...after a lot of tears and many conversations with Dh and Iddy and other homeschooling friends we backed up and did a short review block of Old Testament stories from last year. She was happy and worked diligently and produced some of her best work ever. We enjoyed a long holiday break and the last few weeks have been spent on enjoying nature and reviewing math work. Iddy is a little frustrated and hesitant about "having to do" this new Man and Animal block but seems to be gaining confidence in her artistic skills. Her book work is a little sloppy as expected after a long break but once prompted to begin she is needing very little help to synthesize her ideas and our conversations/readings into paragraphs. My only puzzle is all her written work comes out in an odd first person often humorous narrative. I am unsure if should be encouraging her "voice" in all her work or try to help her remove the narrative from her more "scientific" main lessons.

Many Years Iddy Biddy!

Nothing like waking up to a giant rainbow outside your window on your name's day!
Our Biddy enjoyed our usual gluten free oat cakes (actually getting good at making these gf!) and we used the last of our blessed candles just in time for tomorrow.