Christmas Eggs

 As we were setting up our Christmas Decorations, Roo was asking where were the "eggs" It took me a few minutes to realize what he was taking about.  We have some plastic Easter Eggs that have scriptures in them, and little items to help remind us what Easter is all about.  I told him those were put away with the Easter Decorations.  Roo told me we should make some for Christmas, to remind us what Christmas is all about. 
As we read the Christmas story over and over again, Roo kept coming up with ideas to go along with each scripture or set of scriptures-  some items he made with melty beads (thanks Raellen for the inspiration!), and others we found laying around.  Today, he reminded me that we forgot Samuel the Lamanite- a Nephite prophet from the Book of Mormon who prophesied of Christ's birth- and thus he was added at the very beginning, and the gift at the very end to remind us that Jesus has given us the ultimate gift- Eternal Life.


So here it is:  Roo's version of "Christmas Eggs" (I think we're going to find some cheap stockings or boxes to put each item in, but we haven't found anything yet.

My little photographer-Roo

1- Helaman 14:1-4 And now it came to pass that Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written. And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five‍ years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign‍ at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. Therefore, there shall be one day‍ and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born. (sun)

2 - Luke 2:1-5 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the‍ world should be taxed. (And‍ this taxing‍ was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused‍ wife, being great with child. (tax- coin)

3- Luke 2:6-7 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn‍ son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (manger)

4- Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (sheep)

5- Luke 2: 9-11 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory‍ of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good‍ tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born‍ this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (angel)

6- Luke 2: 12 And this shall be‍ a sign‍ unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. (swaddling cloth)

7- Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory‍ to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (music note)

8- Luke 2:15-16 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (heart-,Mary, Hammer- Joseph)

9- Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born‍ in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. (king’s crown)

10- Matthew 2:2 Saying, Where‍ is he that is born King‍ of the Jews? for we have seen his star‍ in the east, and are come to worship‍ him. (star)

11- Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (treasures)

12- Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 And, if you keep‍ my commandments and endure‍ to the end you shall have eternal‍ life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God. (gift)

Happy 6th Birthday Roo!

Time flies on wings of lightning...you cannot call it back....
Roo is 6 years old today- He's such a fun kid!  He's so funny and cute.  He's getting to be a good little reader, and loves following after his big brothers.  He recently lost 3 of his 4 front teeth- such a cute toothless grin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROO!! WE LOVE YOU!

Roo can Ride

Roo is the most cautious of all my kids, and takes his own sweet time when he's learning new things- there's no rushing him. 

But he Finally learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!  I came home and saw THIS riding down the road towards me. 

I think the grin says it all.

Way to Go Roo!

Fishin with Dad

Ben and Roo got a date this week- and they decided to go fishing. (On the ONE beautiful sunny day we had this week- ugg!)  They caught this nice fat trout, and we cooked him up for dinner. YUM!

"Ok- I'll stand by you- but I'm NOT touching the fish"

Ewww!

Just a few- Roo-isms

I love learning along with my kids- it's one of my favorite things about homeschooling, is learning new stuff with them. Quite often, they are the ones teaching me- Last night Roo taught me a lesson. It was our family's turn to clean the churchhouse building, so Roo and I had our paper towels and window cleaner and were working on all the doors and windows in the foyers. We were just about finished when Roo told me "This is like cleaning Jesus's feet." I was confused. He told me "Yesterday at church we talked about how Jesus cleaned his apostles feet, and now we are cleaning his house- and it's kinda like cleaning his feet. We are serving others." I told him how right he was. I'm amazed at the ways he can remember his church lessons and simply apply them in other situations.

A few days ago he was upstairs playing with his cars and trucks, And told me that one of them was broken and went to the shop to be fixed. He said we were like cars. - me halfway listening- "ok Roo, how are we like cars?" "A broken car is kinda like a sinner" he told me "They have to go to the shop to be fixed, and a sinner needs to repent to be fixed"

Roo's Kindergarten plans

LOL- if you ask Roo is he's going to be in Kindergarten his answer is "NO, I'm going to homeschool" I told him that Kindergarten is "school for 5 year olds" I can't believe my little Roo will be in Kindergarten already. I remember when Bug was just starting out with Kindergarten, and I was SO thrilled to be able to find the perfect curriculum for our family- Five in A Row and here I am starting Five in a Row volume 1 with my 3rd and last little boy. It's sort of a happy/sad idea!

Workboxes worked so well last year- that we will be continuing them. Here's what will be in Roo's Drawers-

1- Math Folders- I love the way these worked last year- so we're going to use them again.

2- Pam's Math assignments- Just a simple Kindergarten workbook, and fun activities that Pam plans

3- School games, (phonics games, math games, puzzles, etc)

4- Five in a Row Volume 1, along with copywork using startwrite, and lapbook/notebook components from my favorite site Homeschoolshare and parts from enchanted learning- decided this one is worth the $20 per year to have access to their maps and such.

5- PE- Get up and MOVE!

6- Handwriting without Tears on MWF and on Tue/Thur he will be joining Doodle for Astronomy

7- Computer time- various online sites and other school games

8- Read to mom/phonics games, library books, easy readers,

9- Explode the code 2 & 3

Happy Birthday Roo!

My how Time flies! When my babies were babies- I'd get frustrated when people would tell me to "enjoy them, they grow up too fast" I guess I just didn't "get it" Now I do. Wow! Time has simply flown by, and my baby has grown like crazy. 5 years ago today we were blessed with another son. Roo was always a happy, content baby. He loved to smile and his big brothers were the best entertainment ever. Roo's first Birthday Roo is still a happy camper- and quite content to be dragged along on whatever expeditions (or as Winnie the Pooh in our bedtime story says "expotition") our family goes on.

Snomobiling at the cabin as a baby-
Yellowstone School" almost 1
Exploring Escalante when he was 1 1/2Hiking to White Pine Lake (3)- I still can't believe at 3 he hiked the WHOLE way! Hiking in Moab last fall
Roo likes learning- and homeschooling is working great for him. He loved learning about volcanoes a few months ago- and making this volcano. (I remember making this same type of volcano with Bug and Doodle when they were about the same age- what memories!)
All this to say "Happy Birthday Roo!" We love you!
Silly kid!

Place Value Game

I've often noticed how many kids have a hard time with place value- understanding that a 1 in the 10's column is actually 10. We've used a lot of Math their Way games in our homeschool- one of the favorites is called Zurkle in the Math their way newsletter- (it's on page 8 as you scroll down) It's explained better in the Math their way book. (we found a copy on Paperback Swap) In the game you move cubes from the white "ones" side to the blue "10's" side, and regroup them as needed. The beauty of this game is that you play it with all different bases- not just 10's- so it's easy to get familiar with the concept of regrouping. It's a simple game- ring the bell, and add cubes to the white side then when there's the correct number- you regroup them and move them to the blue side. The catch is that with different bases- there are different numbers to regroup at- and not just 10. We've come up with our own silly words for each number- Roo decided to call 4- Bajonko So first we practice counting- 1, 2, 3, Bajonko. We also have silly words for all the numbers 3-9 and play with the other numbers too. I wrote the silly words down on the back of our blue/wite paper, so we don't forget the names we choose. Anyhow- Roo made a short movie to show how we play the Bajonko game.

Nature Walk with Roo

Each week someone in our family gets a date (or rather 2 someones). This week it was Roo and My turn to go. A few weeks ago after Bug's science fair, we went to a small park/zoo and Roo was fascincated with the Owl there. So for his date he wanted to "drive by the zoo at night and hear the owl 'hooing' in the night" Well, since I wasn't sure how driving by at night would work, I suggested an alternative- The Ogden Nature Center -- For Christmas my parents gave us a Dinosaur Park Family pass- and it also gets us into the Nature center- so we decided to give it a try. We were impressed. We will definately go again, take the whole family with us, and bring our Nature Journals. :D

Roo and I had a great time hiking around the trails, exploring the nature around us. The trails were perfectly marked, the observation tower and treehouse were tons of fun- and of course- we got to see 3 different types of owls, a couple of hawks, golden eagles, a bald eagle, a pelican (all injured, so they were in cages -but still cool!) and lots more in the wild.

A whole herd of deer that crossed our pathWild Turkeys that almost chased us- and Roo's favorite- the Saw Whet Owl

Roo's first Tooth fairy visit

Roo has had a loose tooth for a long time- yesterday it was finally loose enough that Ben pulled it out for him as he was checking to see how loose it was. He seems so young- but I guess he is almost 5- and Bug started losing his first teeth at 4 1/2 as well.

Here's Roo with his tooth
The gappy grin

This morning when he found the money the tooth fairy left.

Reading games with Roo

Teaching my kids to read has been one of my favorite things about homeschooling. I LOVE seeing them make the connection between letters and sounds, and sounds and words. I can't believe he's getting so big already-but Roo is learning to read. Now nothing complicated- but he's learning to sound out short 3 letter cvc words. So what do you do to teach a 4 yr old to read? FUN and GAMES. Everything needs to be a game. First off- when Bug was little I bought a used version of Happy Phonics. It's simple, sweet and fun games. There are games for every step of learning to read. But we tend to take a long time on some of the steps, and need a bit more variety in our reading. So here's a few fun games Roo's played lately.

The bear mat is our gameboard. There's a Token (read more about our token system here) at the end that he gets to keep when he wins the game. He moves the red unifix cube along the bears, when he's at the end of the alphabet he wins. Of course there's my favorite fishing for letters. Here I have the letter "a" and he fishes out 2 consonants to see if he can make a word. He enjoys sounding them out, and making silly faces when it's a "silly word" (or when it's not really a word) Sometimes I'll help him arrange them so he makes real words, and sometimes I just let him make them on his own.

Another fun fishing game- fishing for words- same idea, only I have words that he can sound out and read. Later we'll take it one step further, and arrange the words into sentences.

How to entertain a 4 yr old for hours at a time

Roo is so Silly sometimes. He usually does a very good job of entertaining himself. But every once in a while he looks like THIS:

Way #1 to entertain a 4 yr old- BUBBLE WRAP!!! Oh he danced and jumped around on this for hours!
Way #2..... Sandbox river filled with water....Sorry Lindsi- I know you just LOVE it when your 4 yr old comes home wanting to put on her swimsuit to swim in our SANDBOX!

Yeah- Monday night we were all ready to go to Pam's house for dinner and Family night- and Where is Roo!? Out swimming in the sandbox. UGGG! Had to throw him in the shower before we could leave. Stinker!