His First Missing Tooth

Doodle has had a loose tooth for a long time now- but he would NOT let anyone touch it or wiggle it or anything. Finally yesterday I went grocery shopping, and when I came home- he told me he couldn't eat dinner, because his tooth was too loose, and Dad would have to pull it out. So before dinner Ben pulled it out for him. He was pretty proud he'd finally lost a tooth. The Hole in his mouth-

Doodle holding the little Tooth.

Nature Notebooks

AAAAHHH! Maybe just Maybe spring could be on it's way! Finally most of the snow is melted- there's still a huge pile on the North side of the house and shed, and a small pile in the back yard where it slid off the roof. I am anxious for spring weather. We spent yesterday afternoon out in the yard working in the flower beds. Yesterday when the mail came- I got this book in the mail- I'd ordered it used on amazon, and I am excited to begin using it!

Sunday afternoon we went for a Sunday Drive out to the Bird Refuge. We enjoy going to the Bird Refuge- they have a great visitor center (which is closed on Sundays- so we didn't go in this time) Here and here are pics from a couple other times we've been there. (Sidenote- I love Sunday Drives! We put the kids in the car- listen to a book on cd and just drive!- Never know where we'll end up- sometimes we have a plan sometimes we just GO. A few weeks ago we ended up way out by the Great Salt Lake in Promontory.) Sunday afternoon we headed out towards the Bird Refuge- as we had heard that the Tundra Swans were here during their migration. There were THOUSANDS of Tundra Swans. We rolled down the windows and listened to them. It was amazing! We tried to get a picture of a few that were closeby. Not a great picture, but oh well.

We also saw some deer, tons of ducks, lots of Canadian Geese, and even a skunk- I've seen plenty of "Dead skunks in the middle of the road" (thanks Dad- for teaching my boys such a wonderful song) But this one was alive and walking around just off the side- Ben told Doodle to get out and chase it- to which he replied "No- then you wouldn't let me back in!" Smart kid!

So yesterday the kids and I started our Nature Notebooks. Warning- I am NOT an artist- I truly can't draw. But I'm willing to give it a shot I guess! Here's my first entry.Here's Roo's first entry- a Killdeer

And Doodle's picture of a Robin. I think he did great!

Bug took off outside with his notebook- and I haven't seen it- I'm sure it's half-ful already. We're going to try and do at least 2-3 entries a week in our notebooks.

Lessons in Pie

First off you have to know that Ben makes a great pie crust! I've attempted pie crusts before (when we did How to make an Apple Pie and See the World for School) and the poor pies just looked pathetic. The other day, Bug was looking for something to cook. He's really becoming a huge help in the kitchen. He makes cookies all by himself, and can make a few dinners as well. Well, he found a can of pumpkin. And of course- Pumpkin Pie is his favorite- so he said he was going to make some pumpkin pie. I told him I was no help- and got out of the kitchen quick! lol- But Ben came in and gave a lesson in Pie Making.

Here's Ben teaching Bug how to tell if it's the right consistency for rolling out.

Bug rolling out the dough

The filled pies ready to bake

Pulling them out of the oven
All done- Delicious

Only Problem- they were too hot to eat before Bedtime....Ssshhh! Don't tell Eric and Natalie I gave their kids Pumpkin Pie for BREAKFAST! (it's kinda healthy right? There's a vegetable in there)

Micah's Pumpkin Pie Recipe
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 t. salt
3 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
1 large can pumpkin
2 cans evaporated milk

Crust:
1 cup flour
some sugar
some butter or shortening
1 t. salt
water
(See here's why I can't make it- there's no measurements! But according to Ben you just mix it together until it looks and feels right)

Mix dry ing. cut in butter, add water to gather together, roll out and put in pie tins.
Mix sugar, salt and spices. Beat in eggs. Mix in pumpkin, Slowly mix in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shells. Bake 425 for 15 minutes, Place a piece of Tin foil on the empty rack abovet he pies, and turn heat down to 350 bake 40-50 minutes or until done.

Math games

The more I homeschool, the more I realize that it truly doesn't have to be "school at home" While I'm certainly not going to jump off the dock into unschooling- (Sorry Miranda!)- I've found a wonderful Math program- Math Their Way What's even better- I actually found it on Paperback Swap for FREE! Ben's Aunt Pam recommended Math their Way to me- she used to teach math and science in public schools, and said if I ever came across it to use it. Well, I looked a bit when Bug was little- but didn't see it, and just went with something more traditional. Since Bug has been going to "math class" at her house- she offered to teach Doodle math as well. Anyhow- Math Their Way is SO fun! We simply play games- Doodle spent over an hour yesterday playing math games, and then he said "oh, now I have to do math" and I said "NO! You already did math!"

Here's Doodle's Favorite Game- it's a variation of a couple Math their way games- He calls it In the Cave. We have a number we are working on that day- today was 7. So we each have 7 counting items- (he loves the transportation counters- a thrift store find.)
Then we hide a certain number of them in our cave (a bowl or cup- we used the counting Bears cups- Roo was playing with the bears- so we borrowed their cups.) Then you say how many you have inside the cave, and how many are outside the cave. (For example with 7 bears, I put 2 inside and 5 outside- then I say out loud- 2 and 5)

It's so simple- yet he realized quite quickly as we were playing with 7 today- if he has 4 inside he has to have 3 outside- every single time. If he has 6 inside there has to be 1 outside. With 7's 6 and 1 go together, 5 and 2 go together, 3 and 4 etc.. Then we played a variation on this- where I'd put some under the cave, and he'd have to guess how many are under there- but knowing I have 7 total- he was pleasantly surprized when he knew the answers. (Of course with Doodle- anytime I plan a game- he has to throw his little "twists" into the game- so we played with a dice to tell us how many to put under the cave- I'm okay with that- rofl- but I think his favorite part was zooming the dice across the floor to me!)

Another fun game was with the geoboards and rubber bands. I have a pattern of a geoboard in a plastic page protecter- and use a dry erase marker to make a pattern on it. Then he tries to copy the pattern onto the geoboard with rubber bands. This was surprizingly tricky for him.

Overall I'm pleased, we are having fun, and will be starting lots more fun Math Their Way games in the coming months.

March field trip

We had a wonderful time at our field trip this month- we went to the University Flight school, and airport- and learned all about Airplanes- If you know my Roo- you'll know he LOVES airplanes- and is going to be a pilot when he grows up- (Thanks Tim- he is STILL talking about his ride in Alpha Alpha almost 2 years later!) Roo was in Heaven. They let him climb up and look in the cockpit- and see all the instruments. As he moved the stick back and forth the parts of the wing and tail moved, and he was SO excited! After the trip to the Airport- we make a quick stop at the small park/zoo- Doodle was hoping to see the turtles- but unfortunately there are "off display" until the weather is nicer (along with Roo's favorite, the monkeys) But the coyotes, foxes, and bobcats were awake and wandering. Usually they are fast asleep when we stop in there. All three kiddos watching the ducks. It might be a small zoo- but it's cheap and a ton of fun.

Learning notes for the week-

I LOVE how Miranda over at The Outer Edge of Normal posts learning notes about what her kids are doing for "school" (loosely said) So in an attempt to show myself that yes they are indeed learning something and I'm not just Throwing Marshmallows Here's a post about our week-

Roo- for school this week we read If Jesus Came to My HouseIt is a sweet rhyming story about a boy who imagines what he would do if Jesus came to his house. It talks SO perfectly about the Golden Rule- and about how when we are serving others we are serving God. So we hit on quite a bit in the way of scripture stories.

In the Story- the boy says he would build a palace- so here's Roo building his palace and throne with blocks.

The story mentions that he imagines Jesus would be "about the age that I am, and about the height of me" So Roo used links to measure how tall he is, and made chains to show how old he is, and how old everyone in the family is. Here's how old Doodle is."Mom- you can't be this old- cuz it's as big as I am"

In the story- the boy talks about how sometimes at night he's scared of the shadows. So Roo and I did an experiment with shadows- You have to look close- there are 5 outlines of shadows on the sidewalk. Roo went outside about every hour- and stood in the same spot- and we outlined where his shadow fell.

He had a FUN time with his experiment- and he'd set the timer to know when to go back out. He was thrilled to show his experiment to Dad.

Since the story has pictures drawn in black with just a bit of red for accents- Roo painted a picture with Red and black paint.

Here's Doodle's Week- He really really really wanted to learn about Turtles. Ok- whatever- But there's no FIAR stories about Turtles- so I was scrambing (I can put together units- but I really prefer to stick to what's been done) But we learned about Turtles, and he is making an animal notebook. Here's the first pages in it- All the lapbook compontents are from Homeschool Share The next pages are his copywork sentences- I just LOVE Startwrite for handwriting- I pick a sentence from the books we are reading- type it in to the startwrite program and select the font- I use HWT (Handwriting without tears font) it's simple, no frills, and what we used when first learning how to write all the letters. Then I print the page, and it's ready for Doodle- he copies the sentence (we're working on using capital letters and periods where they belong- throwing in a little grammar as well). The funnest part is when we are reading the story- he LOVES to listen for his sentence.

Overall I think the Turtles week went well. Next week Doodle wants to learn about Alligators and Crocodiles- again- no FIAR title- so I'm winging it again. And the week after that Giraffes....I feel a zoo trip coming on!

Star Wars Pack Meeting

My boys are Star Wars Fans- Bug and his friend (who he calls Yoda) both love a great light sabor fight. We have light sabors (or as Roo calls them- life savors) in every color they come in- and at least 2 of some colors (I guess we need enough for the whole neighborhood- because Doodle asked for more lightsabors just before Christmas) So my big boys were in HEAVEN at Pack Meeting on Sat. night- as there were Star Wars Visitors who came to visit. Isn't the Chewbacca costume AWESOME!! Roo unfortunately was scared to death ---or in his words "Those guys freak me out" LOL! Here he is hiding in Dad's arms. Silly kid!