March 14th-March 20th

**ALL WEEK LONG** The kids have been helping Michael keep an eye on the veggies they planted together. We already have seedlings! The lettuce is growing like crazy. So the broccoli is not far behind. Its great for them to be able to see where food comes from (NOT just from the grocery store!)

Sunday- We were all turned around today because of day light savings time. The day didn't offically start until the afternoon. The kids watched Bill Nye "Amphibians" and "The Sun". We reviewed the Dolch sight words. Ava can spell most of them and read all of them. Amara can spell a few and can sound out about half. The kids spent a ton of time in the playroom (they were supposed to be cleaning but spent more time playing than cleaning) while Michael and I cleaned upstairs. The girls webchatted with their grandma Sue (who read them half of "High Clouds" by Paul McCartney). Ava played on Nickjr and Amara played guitar and sang. Ava played Strawberry Shortcake on the PS2 (which I know some people don't count video games as educational, so I will list the ways she learned 1. She subracted numbers into the 100's to figure out how many jewels she needed to purchase a prize. 2. She used hand/eye coordination 3. She used logic figure out how to pass the trials in the game.)

Monday- The girls played educational games on the computer in the morning. We went for a walk today because it was so beautiful out. We went to the library where Corbin played with puzzles and the girls picked out books to read. I read another chapter of "Theodosia" to them.

Tuesday- The girls took turns playing their v-smile instead of playing on the computer. We went to the park today. IT was a bit chillier than yesterday but 90% of the snow is melted and the kids really wanted to play. We were at the park for like an hour and the kids still wanted to play in the backyard when they got home, which they did. They watched "Bill Nye: Biodiversity". It was a great video to teach them how the world is connected and how what we do as humans affects the rest of the world.

Wednesday- I am sick today so Michael took over school. He and the girls played in the basement doing cartwheels, hand stands (Ava worked on her backbends). He had the girls work on telling time. THe both also read. Ava read a whole book "That bad bad cat" (which I think was below her abilities but getting her to read anything is better than nothing) and Amara read 4 pages from "Pizza for Sam". I was feeling a little better in the afternoon so we took the kids outside. It has been so gorgeous out that it was hard to pass the opportunity up. The kids rode their bikes and colored with chalk on the side walk. After lunch, the girls worked on writing and reading 20 of the dolch sight words. Ava can read all of the 220 words, spell about half and it is helping her writing. It is one of the more structured things we do, and we do it because I believe it helps Ava feel more confident in her reading.

Thursday- Michael worked on math with the girls today. They practiced adding and subtracting. I made flash cards for the 220 dolch site words for the girls to work on. The girls reviewed about 25 cards each today. I hope in the next few months both girls will be able to read/write/spell all 220 words on their own. We went to the community center and played in the gym for a little over an hour. Michael taught Ava how to dribble a basketball, Amara and I played soccer, we all played tag and raced around the gym. At the end, we all ran/walked 3 laps around the gym to get our heart rates up. The girls also had gymnastics today. Ava showed off her backbend that she learned on her own this past week. The teacher was impressed. After dinner we finished off the night with "Ghost Hunters" and "destination truth" where the main themes were St.Patrick's Day stuff (GH investigated a Irish pub while DT investigated leprechans).

Friday- We spent about 1 1/2 hrs at the community center. We played ping pong, basketball, walked the track 3 times (which is about a 1/3 mile), and took turns coming up with different kinds of races. We then went to the library where the kids played on the computers, played with the puppets and the puzzles. We had the girls write/read 25 more of the dolch site words. At K-mart after seeing decorative thermometers, I showed the girls how to read a thermometer and what each line/number means. They then took turns reading the temperature on the thermometer. At bedtime Michael read Corbin a Batman book while I read "The Princess and the White Bear King" which is based off an old Norweign folk tale.

Saturday- Today we went out to Fargo and the kids played at the Dino playland in the mall. We let the kids try on a bunch of Easter outfits and model them for us. It is always a blast doing that! Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day.