December 17th and 18th

Today was the last day (until January) for some of our extra curricular stuff, so the girls were giving gifts and wishing Merry Christmas to Karate, Speech and Ballet Teachers. Before it all began though, we tied up some loose ends with school. Skylar took a math test, Taylor did her narration on a book from last week, and Alexa joined us for science at the table. I read about Pine trees and they colored pictures of a pine tree, a closeup of the pine needles on a branch and a pine cone. They also labeled the different parts of these things. I'll admit I was a little crabby from lack of sleep last night, but it was short-lived and the girls did great. I also read from the Flower Fairies Book of Winter. I read the Pine Tree Fairy and Christmas Tree Fairy. These are fun to listen to and read. I also read a story I got on line that is written as a poem. It was cute. We will put these in their Nature Journals. During Alexa's speech class, I read 1 lesson in the Catechism to the older girls. And during Alexa's dance I read them Francis, Poor Man of Assisi by Tomie dePaola. That book ties into our religion and nature lessons this week.

Tomorrow we will read Night Tree by Eve Bunting. This is a great book about caring for nature at Christmas, as we should all year long especially during winter. The plan is for the girls to narrate it, then draw a picture from the book....maybe their favorite part. Then we will put those in the nature journals, too. And once Evan is napping we will head outside to hang some bird feeders and a suet feeder in the trees behind our schoolroom window so we can watch them eat and maybe see some squirrels, too. Then I want to bring the girls in for hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows. In the book they set a blanket right by the tree, but I think we'll do better inside.