Sylvia and the Purple Crayon

The other day I found Sylvia coloring purple on our living room wall which really irritated me because she hasn't done that in a long time.  I scolded her and gave her a wash cloth to clean it up.  (I have to buy one of those Magic Erasers next time I am at the store.)  Later that day it dawned on me that the day before I had read her the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon.  I asked her if she was trying to be like Harold and she said, "I drawed the moon!"  For those of you who haven't read the book, that means, yes, she was trying to be like Harold. WHAT WE ARE GOOD AT LATELY:

Sylvia:  I think her attention span is getting a little longer (HOORAY!)  She can sit and look at books for quite a while now.

Isabel:  She is doing great at sign language and likes to form sentences.  Example:  "Mom, come and play today."  Also she's been drawing every day in her sketch book I got for her.

Luke:  As always, he is great at his personal reading.  He just finished Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and downed a few Secrets of Droon books.

Joey (dad):  After dinner he is always so good to have us read scriptures together and then he does Science with the kids.

Me:  I am good about having the kids do their math each day.  Also, I've been pretty good about keeping the house clean (clean for me) and helping (forcing) the kids to keep their rooms clean.

Rest in Peace Paper Bodies

We finally had the brain and heart lesson. Luke, Isabel and Sylvia got to finish off their paper bodies.

Now I can throw them away so I can touch up paint over the crayon (thanks Sylvia) in the loft (old schoolroom) and hall. Now what to do with the empty loft?....hmmmm, trophy room? conservatory? parlor? We shall see.

A Chilly 78 degrees

This week we've been back on track. Having our schoolroom be a bookshelf in the kitchen is working out so much better. Being downstairs in the kitchen is where the hubub always is anyway, so having papers, crayons, books, etc. right there makes things very convenient. Before every meal I have at least six pictures Isabel has drawn that I have to clear off....which is great! I guess I need to have a special place that she can put all of her drawings, but the point is that they are getting into drawing, maze making, letter writing and whatever else on their own because it is all right there. The Signing Time dvds are great. Isabel learns so much more from that then from me trying to teach her from a book. We have been making flash cards of the words we've learned and the stack is getting thick! Here is a great ASL dictionary online.

I planned that today after they finished all of their chores, school, and piano, we would go to the pool, but since it is an oh so chilly 78 degrees outside, Sylvia and Luke helped me make cinnamon muffins and we read Little House on the Prairie together.