Little Passports

Our lucky kids were gifted Little Passports (World & USA) subscriptions for their birthdays. We got the first month's activities last week, and they were really excited... Degen wanted the whole year right then! I was surprised how serious Degen took the whole thing- even attempting some of the activities (successfully) that I thought were a little too old for him. I put up both the maps that came with the first kit, and the kids (unprompted) took time to study them and point out where we lived and places we had been or were going to visit. I am looking forward to the learning the year ahead will bring them! (Thanks, Aunt Jess & Uncle Jack!)

Kyrie working on an activity.

Degen putting his name in his passport.

Easter Eggs 2014

In the past, dyeing Easter eggs has been either a rushed or completely skipped activity, but the kids enjoyed it so much last year that I decided to put more effort into it. I had leftover dye kits from the year before and hard-boiled a dozen eggs (that I used for deviled eggs for supper on Easter Sunday). We wrapped rubber bands around some of the eggs before putting them into the dye (that was too difficult for Degen to do without help). We also had clear crayons and stickers for when the eggs dried. The kids really had a lot of fun and were proud of their creations! 

Striped egg made using a wide rubber band.

All our beautiful eggs!

Homeschool: Easter & Spring

Here are a few highlights from our Easter/Spring unit. We also learn about Passover during this unit. Holiday units are always lots of fun. We have a lot of good books to read and a ton of supplemental activities, as well as all the fun that goes along with the holiday itself (which I will cover in other posts). We started our unit by reviewing the Passover story, talking about the symbolism of the Passover Seder and making paper matzah covers (shown below). 

Kyrie's matzah cover

We continue our unit with stories about Easter and spring with a focus on rabbits and flowers. The kids had fun with their unit folder when Degen decided that he wanted some of his flowers to spin, and Kyrie thought that was a great idea. Each child attached a few of their flowers to their folders using brads to create this fun effect. They also had fun building flowers with Legos, stamping spring pictures and putting together spring/Easter-themed craft kits. Our special unit lunch was bunny pancakes, which the kids gobbled up with honey! Of course, there were lots of holiday activities to reinforce the theme and lots of time spent outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather this week! 

Degen putting together a Lego flower.

Kyrie showing off the necklace she made.

Degen making a picture with spring stamps.

The kids showing off their bunny pancakes.

Homeschool: What's Hatching?

Working through our spring units, we had a lot of fun learning about oviparous animals. We talk about egg-laying animals, but focus more on birds as we will cover insects, reptiles, amphibians, dinosaurs and fish in upcoming units. Our main goal for this unit is to understand what types of animals lay eggs and the characteristics of birds. Kyrie delved deeper into the topic with a study on different types of bird beaks (and their uses). She also compared & contrasted the characteristics of different birds. 

Degen's folder

This unit has a nice collection of supplemental activities, including tangrams, pattern blocks and mosaics. The kids' favorite craft activity for this unit was making their own birds. Kyrie chose a cockatoo and Degen chose a parakeet. The heads & bodies were attached to a TP tube using a brad to allow for movement. We attached a pipe cleaner for carrying or hanging and the kids made tail feathers using long, scrap-paper pieces. 

Kyrie's folder

Degen's kinda freaky smile as he puts together a mosaic.

A little extra on the subject of birds at our "zoo school" class this month. 

Kyrie participating in a discovery activity about skulls during our zoo school class. 

Our Amazin' Degen!

Degen at age 5! This boy has had a big year! Though he is still (& will always be) my baby boy, he has done a lot of maturing this year. He is independent and a bit of a perfectionist... an active & competitive little boy who would spend hours on the iPad if we let him. He loves swimming and gymnastics, dance and tennis. He is heading into his third year of piano lessons this summer and starting to play chords. He started his first year at German School in the fall and loves all his activities. He has completed one year of speech therapy (for an articulation disorder) and has shown improvement in his speech. It has been a delight watching Degen try, learn and achieve this past year.

Degen is learning lots during homeschool. We are almost done with our first round of the alphabet. He is practicing: letter identification, phonics and handwriting. Our focus on pre-reading is looking at picture clues and "reading" from memory (ie. I read then he retells the story.). For math, we are practicing: shapes, numbers, counting and several early math concepts (eg. addition, subtraction, greater/less than, etc.). Degen likes cutting & gluing, but is not very excited about doing art projects. However, he enjoys building with all sorts of manipulatives, including putting together puzzles, tangrams and making pictures with pattern blocks. I am very pleased with Degen's progress. He will continue with pre-kindergarten objectives through next year. 

Degen loves to play with his sister and friends. When there is nice weather, they join the neighborhood kids at play. He likes to bowl and play arcade games at Chuck E. Cheese. He will spend hours in the bathtub watching movies, playing with bath toys and going underwater. He is a sweet boy who carries disappointment heavily. This year, Degen has gotten to be a lot more independent and tries his hardest to be brave. He helps clean the house each week and can often be heard singing loudly while he runs the mini-vac. He has an amazing giggle! We LOVE this little boy! 

Degen at Age 5

Weight: 37 lbs. (18%-ile)

Height: 3' 6" (21%-ile)

Kyrie's 8th Birthday!

Our darling 8 year old daughter! We, of course, started the morning with a birthday doughnut! Love this girl!

 Kyrie's birthday dinner was actually the day before (on my birthday). Our schedule on Kyrie's birthday included her weekly riding lesson (which was great because she REALLY LOVES horseback riding right now), which goes too late for us to go out to eat, so... after gymnastics on Tuesday, Kyrie picked the restaurant. Unfortunately, the evening didn't go quite as planned because Darren got stuck in awful traffic for nearly an hour on his way to the restaurant. 

After riding on Kyrie's birthday, we picked up her favorite sandwich on the way home. Then she opened presents and we had cake. A great ending to a great day celebrating this awesome girl we are lucky to call ours! Happy birthday, baby! I know that we have another amazing year ahead of us!

Kyrie's SK8 Cake

So, when I was trying to figure out what cake to make for Kyrie's birthday party, I thought a lot about making a cake that looked like roller skates. I knew that it was something that could run into problems, so I decided against it as a party cake, but thought the challenge might be fun for our family cake. 

When I baked the pieces for Kyrie's party cake, I also baked 8 mini-cupcakes and two mini-loaves. I used those and 3 of the leftover square cupcakes to put together the skates. I admit that I rushed through this process a bit. If I made this cake again or did it for other people, I would be sure to put a piece of cake under each loaf and between the 2 sets of mini-cupcakes to provide more stability as I did have some issues with the mini-cupcake wheels getting crushed during the process. So, basically, I used icing and a toothpick to put the mini-cupcakes together to make the wheels. I then put the mini-loaves on top of the 'wheels' and topped that with a square cupcake (round would probably work well, too). I also used icing and a toothpick to attach the 'brake' to the front, which was just 1/4 of a square cupcake (a mini-cupcake could be used instead). This design (minus the 'brake') could also easily be decorated to look like a train engine... or take off the wheels and you have a hiking boot or high tops, there's a few possibilities. 

As I said, I did rush the icing/decorating on this a little bit, so just sorta close one eye when you look at it, and it will look a little better... ha! Rush or no rush, Kyrie was really happy with how this cake turned out and that smile is what makes it all worth it!