My Father's World Kindergarten: P is for Penguin

This week we learned the letter P and talked about penguins! It's the end of February, but here in Louisiana it feels more like spring than winter. We still enjoyed the topic this week!

MONDAY:

Zeke colored and cut apart his sound cards, and he put them in an envelope. I printed off a few extra penguin worksheets from The Mailbox for this week, and he did this one today where he had to fill in the missing numbers. 

We read through his word list for this week, and then we reread his story "The Sled" from last week. I'm so glad he actually enjoys this reading practice. He wants to just recite the story instead of reading the words, but it's all part of the reading process. Sounding out words is still a little confusing for him, but he really does get better every day.

TUESDAY:

Today Zeke did his handwriting and sound discrimination worksheet. He was trying to spell "penguin" by himself, and he wrote down "pngw" - pretty phonetically close! He could hear the sounds in the word and that was pretty impressive to me.

He did this page from The Mailbox - he had to listen to the words and fill in the missing short vowel. He got most of them correct, but as most beginning readers do, he confused the short /i/ and /e/ as it's harder to distinguish.

We did a page in Abeka math, and he learned about telling time to the half-hour. He does great with his addition problems!

He also completed a few pages in his Rod and Staff workbooks, which he loves, and he read his word list again.

THURSDAY:

No school on Wednesday because we babysat for my oldest daughter's two little ones, Daniel (3) and Mikenna (5 months). We're getting pretty good at condensing school into four days lately!

Zeke started out by reading his word list again, and he did fantastic today! Then we did his blend ladder worksheet and his cut-and-paste worksheet.

We measured how tall an Emperor penguin can get to (3.5 feet!) on the post in our kitchen, and we measured Zeke. He is just a smidge under that height! They weight up to 90 pounds, and Zeke weighed in at 43.6 today.

I found a cute worksheet on The Mailbox where Zeke had to sort the pictures by what a real penguin would do, and what a real penguin would not do.

We did a page in Abeka math, and he is getting pretty good at recognizing the number words to ten. We need to do a few more games/activities to help with this! He is also getting quicker with his addition problems. He did several pages in his Rod and Staff workbooks. I love how he gets so much extra work using his critical thinking skills and fine motor exercises with these workbooks.

We read two Tacky the Penguin books that we found at the library.

FRIDAY:

We started today with a new calendar for March, and we're going to use rainbow colors to make a pattern with the dates. Zeke did his Abeka math page first, and I'm so pleased with how quickly he picks up new math concepts. 

I had one more penguin themed worksheet from The Mailbox - a rhyming worksheet. He caught on to the rhyming concept today, and he got all four correct. 

He drew and labeled four pictures that begin with /p/ - pencil, penguin, panda, and popcorn. I love his big popcorn tub!

We didn't work in the Rod and Staff workbooks today, but we read his word list again and his new story - Sam's Pet. He did pretty good with sounding out the words, but after reading it twice he had it memorized. He kept "reading" the story, which is great practice since he was pointing to each word as he recited it. 

Zeke did our Arctic World puzzle.

Lastly, we painted a penguin! We looked at the picture in the God's Amazing World book, and I think Zeke's penguin turned out so cute.

So sweet to see them together like this.

That was our week in homeschool kindergarten! Next week - kangaroos!

Friday Favorites: March Begins

I'm linking up with Friday Favorites, sharing some of my favorite moments from the week. 

Titus had another baseball game on Monday night! He was only on the roster for the first game this week, so we were home by 8:30 instead of 10:30. I was thankful for that because I was pretty exhausted. 

I watched Daniel and Mikenna on Wednesday so Mikaela could go to her hair appointment. My mom came and helped - a 5-month-old, 17-month-old, 3-year-old, and 5-year-old can be a bit much! We had a great time, though, and Mikaela loved how her hair turned out. I should have taken a picture.

Zoey has been taking long naps for the past week or so - like two-hour naps! This is such a change from her usual catnapping, but I am so excited for it. I can get a lot done in two hours, including resting, if she will keep up this marvelous trend.

Mercie had to make a plant-cell cake for school this week with a partner, and I think it turned out pretty cute. 

Eli left on Thursday, flying out to Nicaragua! He is getting married on Saturday. He will be staying for three months before flying home for a week and then back to Nicaragua for another three months. I'm going to really miss him, but I am really excited for him and this new chapter of his life. 

- Eli and Gendeling -

I've been cross-stitching a picture that I designed. It's 12 blocks that each have a symbol for that month in the box. I think it's going to look really nice when it's finished and framed. It's going to be a 3 by 4 grid. I'm working on March now, and it's turning out so cute! Any guesses what March’s symbol is? 

I changed my nail wraps to a pretty pink color, but I'm about ready to change them again. 

We've had a mix of weather this week - sunny, windy, rainy, stormy, cool, warm...no wonder we're all suffering with sinus issues! I always love the view from my back porch, seeing the cows and horses. Sometimes they come right up to the fence, and we can watch the little calves play.

What was your favorite moment from the week?

Monthly Musings: How to Survive the Winter Months

 I'm linking up with Patty and Holly again this month for February's Monthly Musings. I'll have to be honest though, we don't have a rough winter here in Louisiana compared to some people! I feel like my answers are really short and basic this month, but here they are anyway.

1. WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE WINTER THAT BRINGS YOU JOY?

I love curling up under a blanket with a good book or a good TV series on! I also love that I get to wear sweaters and jackets - most of the year it's too hot for those. I've been reading the Annie's Attic mystery book series and enjoying it. 

2. HOW DO YOU STAY WARM AND COZY?

I wear socks in the house when I normally go barefoot. I like to make soups and chili and bake warm cookies and brownies. Wearing sweaters and cardigans is also cozy!

Zeke looks adorable in his Carhartt beanie.

3. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WINTER?

Our winter is almost over. In fact, we've had plenty of days in the upper 70s where I live! I am looking forward to winter officially ending and spring beginning - especially when we "spring forward" and get another hour of daylight!

Typical day in February - no jacket!

4. FAVORITE WINTERTIME ACTIVITIES?

We don't get much snow, so we don't have the opportunity for sledding, skating, or skiing. My wintertime activities include watching the birds and squirrels in the yard and cleaning up flowerbeds for spring planting! Not your traditional winter activities, but when you live in Deep South then that's what it consists of. 

I also feel like I do more decluttering in the winter, probably because I'm cooped up more than in the warmer, drier months. I also tend to do more redecorating and rearranging!

- We rearranged the boys' room to give them more floor space -

5. FAVORITE MONTHS OF WINTER?

I love December for Christmas. It's such a festive and jolly month, with decorations and lights and music wherever you go! It's also a busy month, preparing for Christmas activities like the church play, wrapping presents, and planning menus. January is usually cold and muddy, and February is a mix of icy weather and sunny days for us. 

- Hanging of the Greens at church -

6. FAVORITE DISHES TO MAKE IN WINTER?

I haven't made this one yet, but last week at church we ate Stuffed Bell Pepper soup, and it was delicious. I do plan to make it for Rod soon since he missed out on it. 

I also love to make chili, and my recipe is so simple and delicious:

Brown your meat. Add in two packages of McCormick mild chili seasoning, a can of mild chili beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and a huge jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce in your favorite flavor! Simmer and serve with Fritos and cheese or crackers. 

7. GAS OR WOOD-BURNING FIREPLACE?

We have a wood-burning fireplace! It's so cozy in the winter, but it's also so messy to have a fire going! I'm constantly sweeping up debris from the firewood and cleaning the ashes. It's worth it, though, to have the extra heat source.

- The stockings were hung... - 

- Zeke loves to sit by the fire -

8. FAVORITE WINTER HOT BEVERAGE?

The only hot beverage I enjoy is hot chocolate, with big marshmallows!

9. FAVORITE WINTER MOVIES?

I love the Santa Clause trilogy as well as the Home Alone movies. I am also willing to watch any Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie in the winter! I watched a cute movie on Pureflix called The Spruces and The Pines.

10. HOW DO YOU STAY HEALTHY IN THE WINTER?

I take Vitamin C in the winter and try to drink more water to stay healthy. I think we eat more comfort-foods in the winter, especially baked goodies, which isn't too healthy. Getting outside even in the colder weather seems to help as well. I do wind up with bronchitis a few times each winter though.

What about you? Which question did you enjoy reading my answer to the most? 

Here is the monthly topic list for the rest of the year if you want to join in!

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Ten

Zoey completed week ten in ABC Jesus Loves Me this week. We are using Year One, the free curriculum. Zoey turned 17 months old this week. Here is a picture of her lesson plans and weekly objective poster from this week:

MONDAY:

Zeke spent the night at my mom's Sunday night, so Monday morning it was just Zoey and I (and the older kids since they were out of school for President's Day). We read the book Barnyard Dance, which is one of our favorite books by Sandra Boynton. I found our horse stamp from our Melissa and Doug farm animal stamp set and showed Zoey how to push it on the orange ink pad and stamp the horse worksheet. She liked this, so I'll have to use stamps more often with her! 

Next, I gave her an empty ice cube tray and some orange pom-poms. I showed her how to put one in each compartment, but she didn't really do it. She put about three in and out of the same one! She played with this for about five minutes before losing interest. I kept it in the dining room to pull out again this week.

TUESDAY:

I used a rubber band to attach an orange marker to an orange truck, and Zoey "drove" the truck all over the H is for House worksheet. She liked this, but she kept wanting to take the rubber band off and play with it!

I put some orange craft sticks inside an empty plastic Miracle Whip container for Zoey to dump out and put back in. She did this several times throughout the day, and I'm glad I left it out for her!

She also used a crayon to color her Color Train worksheet. One more color, and we'll be finished with this project! 

WEDNESDAY:

We're cycling back through the shapes now, and instead of water-painting a shape, we're supposed to be using a spray bottle on a coffee filter with the shape drawn on with a marker. The spray bottle I had was difficult for Zoey for squeeze, so I 'helped' her spray the coffee filter. I'm going to try another spray bottle for next week.

Then I printed out a page with four houses in four colors and laminated it. I gave her a transportation counter in each color and showed her how to sort them by color. She did this several times!

THURSDAY:

We started off playing with her pop-animals from Melissa and Doug and reading Barnyard Dance. She likes to pop these animals together, but she can't take them apart yet. It's fun to mix and match them, too!

Then we talked about Abraham, and I handed her orange stars and circle stickers to put on the worksheet. 

We danced around the living room, doing the moves as we read the book, Barnyard Dance. 

She pushed her Cozy Coupe around the porch - with Zeke in it! - which fulfilled the 'push toy' gross motor activity this week.

And that was it for this week's tot school! Click the title above to read about other weeks with ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One.