April 11th-April 17th

***Everyday the kids have been checking on the plants with Michael***

Sunday- Today we went to the park. The kids made a new friend and exchanged numbers. We then walked to the store for exercise. Then their friend Kiryn came over and played for 4 hours. It was a great friend and exercise day!!

Monday- Today Ava read 7 pages from "Max and Poppy: The big wave" and Amara read 2 pages from a book. We went to the library where the girls read and played games on the computer. They each picked out books to read. Then we went to the community center and played in the gym. We had the gym to ourselves so the kids got to run around freely and play where ever the wanted. They were very excited about that. We stopped at Walmart to grab meat and while there, Ava read 3 pages from a Scooby Doo chapter book she picked out from the library. We came home for lunch and then the kids played outside in the yard. We then watched "Krakatoa" a PBS documentary about the eruption of Krakatoa. It was very interesting. The kids decided to put on a "Circus" for us! Ava made us crowns (I was the queen and Michael the king)and they performed their acts. Amara was the ring master and announced every act and a bear tamer. Ava was a juggler, a bear that did tricks and a acrobat. We then made carrot cake together. The girls took turns reading the recipe and measuring out ingredients. They worked well together and didn't fight once over whose turn it was. I was so proud, Amara read the fractions properly. IT turned out delicious!

Tuesday- Today was a very "traditional" school day. In the morning, Michael had the girls write out and spell 15 Dolch words each. He had Amara add and subtract and work on telling time. Ava added and subtracted both with/without borrowing/carrying over. She also worked on telling time to the minute and second. For lunch, we made a Shepard's pie together and then while we waited for it to bake, we learned about Ireland. We researched Ireland online and found a few great sites that talked about the history of Ireland, about the Nation (head of state, flag colors, languages, national symbol etc). We also watched a video on youtube.com "Flying through Ireland" that showed an aerial view of different locations around the country. Lastly we watched a video about Irish folk dancing and read an Irish fairy tale "Silvertree and Goldtree" which was very similar to Snow White.

Wednesday- Today was BEAUTIFUL outside!! The kids and I went for a walk to the library (Michael ran some errands and met us there). On the way we stopped at a construction site and watched the construction workers work on a new building they are putting up on Washington Ave. They were working on the roof and we talked about the different steps of constructing a building (from pouring the foundation to building the frame to siding and roofing). Then we watched a train go by and talked about how trains work. Finally we got to the library where Corbin and I read books about bats while the girls played Wii and did arts and crafts projects. Then we had a picnic at the park. We played at the park for like 2 1/2 hrs (there were a lot of kids there which is rare!). The kids flew their kites. Then we came home and watched "The Magic School Bus: The Human Body".

Thursday- Ava read 10 pages from "Poppy and Max: The big wave". She finished the book. Amara read 4 pages out of a Hello Kitty book. We then read a few pages out of "Map Mania" and each of the girls drew their own graphs of a room in the house. Ava then answered questions about the location of items in the room she picked. I drew a map of our town and gave it to Ava so she could give her dad directions to gymnastics. They then went to gymnastics. When they got home, I read a book to the kids "A year in the life of a dinosaur". It is a great interactive book! Then the girls picked their 2 favorite dinosaurs out of the book, drew pictures of them and wrote down their proper names. Then together we watched Destination Truth and Ghost Hunters.

Friday- Today Ava played educational games on the Jumpstart website. She decided she wants to learn to type properly so we discussed which fingers push which buttons and proper finger placement. She practiced while playing Language arts games on the jumpstart. Amara then played the jumpstart and practiced counting to 50 and matching beginning/ending sounds. Amara added and subtracted single and double digit numbers. I read Amara a book "The history of blood suckers". IT was an interesting book, but my feelings were mixed about it. It is a kids book but it talked about some pretty adult topics (Ivan the Impaler and The Blood Countess).
We watched a segment of a video about Yellowstone. We are hoping to take a trip there this August. Amara and Ava both wrote and read 10 dolch site words. The kids then watched "Bill Nye: Pseudoscience".
After we read more from "Map Mania", the girls decided they wanted to do a treasure hunt. I drew them a treasure map, wrote pirate lingo clues on it and they searched for their treasure. After which we decided to have a pirate night and cooked pirate (beef) stew with rolls and oranges (to prevent scurvy) along with pirate Rum (sprite and juice). We watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" and compared it to what we already knew about pirates.