Christmas 2023 and Deer!

This Christmas really flew by, but the kids don't go back to school until January 8, so they still have nearly two weeks off.

I had my Sunday School class party on the 15th at the bowling alley. I bought pizza and gave my students a gift, and then they bowled and laughed and had the best time! I love teaching my class - it's the 4th through 6th graders and they're so much fun. I have four that come every Sunday, and two that come sporadically. Our "core" group came to the bowling party.

- Titus, Liam, Keller, and Kolson -

- Titus saw a friend at the bowling alley so he bowled with them a game -

We had our church Christmas play on the 17th. This was the fourth play that I've directed (with the help of my sister), and it turned out so well! It was called "We Three Kings" and was about the "star" that Gabriel sent to find the three kings - but the star went to the wrong century and to the wrong "Kings." It was so funny, and the kids knew their lines so well! This was Zeke's first play, and he knew his lines without any prompting!

We went to my husband's brother's house on the 23rd and had Christmas with that side of the family. We played the Saran Wrap ball game - it was hilarious! Mikaela was the lucky one to open the very center of the ball - $60 cash! My mother-in-law got Zeke a set of Imaginext Jurassic Park toys and Zoey a Little People Barbie car. I didn't get any pictures but I did get a lot of video of the game!

After we finished there, we went to my parent's house to visit with my sister, Heather, and her husband and two kids. We don't see them much since they have been living in Oregon for the past ten years or so. They recently moved to Missouri, so we're excited that we will be seeing them more often!

- Zeke and my nephew Liam -

- Mercie and my nephew Bryton -

- Mikaela and Mikenna with my niece Wraivyn -

- Me, Heather, my dad, and my sister Ashlie

- Most of the grandkids with my parents -

- my nephew Sawyer, my mom, Silas, and Titus -

Sunday we had our Christmas Eve service at church and then Mikaela, Ken, Daniel, and Mikenna came over for lunch and gift exchanging. We grilled some stuffed porkchops and I roasted some mini potatoes. We also had lima beans, a salad, and some yeast rolls. Mikaela got all of her siblings a gift, and we had tons of gifts for them! 

- Ken, Mikaela, and their two kids Daniel and Mikenna -

Monday morning we woke up and had Christmas here with the kids (minus Eli who is spending his Christmas break in Nicaragua). We all got way too much, but it was such a fun time. We went to my mom's for Christmas with my other sister who flew in from California Sunday. We ate some more and spent the afternoon visiting since we decided to forgo a gift exchange this year. After that we went to my husband's grandfather's house and visited with him for a bit. It was a fun and full day.

- Zoey and Zeke in their matching pajamas -

- Titus and Silas, buddies and brothers -

- Zoey got princess castle blocks to match Zeke's castle blocks -

- new Hey Dudes -

- lots of clothes for Mercie -

- Zeke was excited about his Branch Blocks -

- football for Titus and beaded western belt for Silas -

- Gotham Jail and Bat Cave for Zeke -

- Laylah, Sawyer, and Silas are a "cousin group" since they're around the same age -

We had a wonderful Christmas, but it will be nice to spend the rest of the week relaxing and resting! The kids have been hunting, and Eli killed a nice 10-point before he left for Nicaragua, Mercie killed a 7-point, Silas got an 8-point, and Titus killed his first buck, a nice little 6 point.

- Mercie and Silas killed their deer the same day -

- Eli's 10 point -

- We're shoulder mounting this one -

- Silas's 8 point -

- Mercie's 7 point -

- Titus's 6-point -

I've enjoyed my Christmas break, but honestly I'm ready to get back into a routine with Zeke and Zoey. We're going to start back with kindergarten for Zeke and tot school for Zoey on Monday!

How was your Christmas?

Week in Review: Week 6 in MFW Kindergarten

This week's theme was letter A for Apple in My Father's World God's Creation from A to Z. We had a busy week, as usual, but still did so much more than I thought we were going to!

Monday:

Zeke loves pattern blocks, so I printed this free activity from Teachers Pay Teachers for him. He had to fill in the apple shapes with pattern blocks and write how many of each shape he used. I then had him trace around the blocks and color them in. He really liked this, so I'm going to try to find some more of these for him to do.

He also colored and cut apart his picture cards for the letter A and put them in an envelope. We reviewed the other letters he has learned so far (s, m, l) and he sorted them all by beginning sound.

We read the Apple pages in the God's Amazing Creation book by My Father's World. This is the best improvement they've made to this curriculum! 

Tuesday:

I set out some red, green, and yellow felt and our Learning Resources Apple Attribute sorting set for Zoey. She sorted a little by color, and then just played for a while! I'm trying to include her in some of Zeke's activities as well as introduce her to some concepts, like colors and sorting.

Zeke did a Roll and Add activity in his morning journal. He loved rolling the dice and writing down the addition problems, so we will probably do this again soon.

I created this Fruit of the Spirit cut-and-glue activity. He loves the Fruit of the Spirit song, and can say (or sing) all nine fruits.

Zeke completed his handwriting worksheet and sound discrimination worksheet for the letter A. 

He also finished his Apple Pop Art project.

Wednesday

I cut some green, yellow, and red paper into small squares and he graphed the "apples." He has done graphing before, but he enjoys repeating activities.

He also did an Attribute Grid and his cut-and-paste sound worksheet.

He made this free Johnny Appleseed poem wreath. It turned out adorable! He water colored the apple template, and I cut the apples out for him when they dried. He glued the poem to the middle of a paper plate, and then glued the apples all around. 

Friday

He drew four pictures that began with the short /a/ - apple, alligator, animal, and ax. I dictated the words to him and he spelled them out below. This is such a great activity, and he loves doing this each week!

We traced his hand and arm on brown paper, and I cut it out along with a green tree top. He glued them to cardstock and then used his finger dipped in red paint to dot apples on the tree. I cut out a small yellow bird for him to glue in the tree, and then we glued the poem included in the lesson plan on the tree. Such a cute craft!

I also found a Parts of an Apple worksheet for him to color.

He found the geo-board and spent over an hour making designs on it!

Daily

Every day we write the date on the calendar and then say the days of the week and months of the year. He has the days of the week memorized but we're working on the months of the year!

I also have a journal page for him to do each morning in a blank sketchbook. He loves this and it is a fun way to get transitioned from playtime to schooltime. 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday

He works in his Before the Code book and Rod and Staff workbooks each day, and I occasionally have a math worksheet from Abeka Math that he does. 

Books We Read

Monday, Zeke packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. 

Wednesday night we had TeamKid at church. Thursday was co-op day and speech therapy afterwards. My mom watches Zoey while Zeke and I go since it's nearly an hour to co-op and another twenty minutes to speech therapy from there. It's a long day for us, and Zoey has much more fun with my mom than she would in the car all day.

We love using My Father's World for Kindergarten! It's such a fun curriculum, and it is so easy to add in extra activities (which I always do!).

How was your week?