Family Schooling Summary

 Co-op School was cancelled due to the snow and ice. The kiddos were hugely disappointed. Luckily, there were lots of other things to look forward to this week.  Brother M had Joy School one day, free weekly readers came in the mail for A and the neighbor brought over a fun project that is just right for big sister A.  She has been popping beads together in various patterns and configurations all week. I highly recommend these, except you have to be careful to keep them out of babies' mouths.

 They just snap together - no threading strings required.  A took this picture of them.

Since my home school is registered with scholastic and I order books from them periodically, we get free packets of "Weekly Readers" newletters every so often.  I used to love these when I was a kid.  These are normally for second graders, but A has done a great job reading them aloud to me and doing the activities at the back. 

We experimented with architecture using coffee straws, toothpicks, and marshmallows for one lesson this week.

For history we are starting to read aloud the Molly books from the American Girl Company. We found that reading the Kit series was a good way to learn/discuss the Great Depression and I am hoping that Molly's story will help us discuss WWII.

We are working on some temporary sleeping arrangements until we can get the upstairs fixed up for the kids. In the meantime, A and M are sharing the top bunk and brother S is in the bottom bunk.  Leaving the crib free for baby L... yes, that is 4 kids in one small bedroom.   Here is what I saw one night when I went in to check on them. Awwh! I love that they get along so well. They are loving listening to cassettes together as they are going to sleep too.

We had our first playdate with the cousins since our hibernation. Baby S was not sure what to make of cousin E. She is so big all the sudden.

 Cousin E had a similar reaction to L.  Except that she decided to give her a nice slobbery kiss on the head in any case.

Here are the cousins enjoying dinner together at Uncle P's newly stained and finished dining room table.  The grey stain turned out great.