We had a good week, staying warm inside by the pellet stove, while the temps outside stayed well below freezing.  Here's a bit of the fun and learning we've been up to:

Smiley practiced letters and learned the letter X.  One page he drew is a treasure mark where X marks the treasure.  Another page he did shows a railroad crossing sign.

Caleb practiced writing sentences and paragraphs, illustrated a made-up rhyme, and made some lists about the vowels A and E, showing the different sounds they make.

The kids continued to work in their continent coloring books.  Caleb can identify the different continents on a world map, and also learned the four oceans.  The kids have together been reading animal-themed nature stories and we've been talking about different animal habitats.  One afternoon, while working with sand, they created different animal homes, like a hole in the ground for a mole, a tree stump for insects, a bush for birds, etc.

Smiley practiced counting and began working with colored math blocks to lead into learning addition.  He also spends time sorting things like marbles, rocks, or Bendaroos and we use them for exercises in comparing order, size, and similarities.

Caleb's began subtraction of multiple digit numbers.  He learned how to "check" subtraction answers by adding.

We finished reading the Tale of Solomon Owl and started The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle.  The kids are really enjoying listening to the fun tales of talking animals!  We also read Winter poems, a Korean folktale, the Adventures of Tin Tin, and Caleb practiced reading aloud.  He is reading from the I Can Read series of books we find at the library.  The boys also worked on art projects at their weekly class (a rainbow coloring book for Smiley, and knitting for Caleb), colored pictures at home, practiced math skills while playing card games, board games, and a made-up store game, Caleb began learning to play the wooden flute, and lots more!

We had a good week last week, getting back into the routine of things in the new year.  They boys are back at their weekly classes where they enjoy a variety of projects, songs, and stories.  Here a bit more of the fun and learning we've been up to:

Caleb finished the math section adding multiple numbers in the hundreds, reviewed subtraction facts, and worked on rounding and adding multiple numbers in the thousands.  Lots of addition these days, but it is noticeably improving Caleb's addition skills.

We finished reading The Tale of Solomon Owl, worked on a variety of other stories together, and Caleb practices reading out loud regularly.  He is reading aloud for longer lengths of time these days, reading whole stories from Frog and Toad in one sitting.  Caleb wrote paragraphs about a few of the different chapters we read, some with illustrations, and wrote word lists.

Smiley practices letters on the white board, chalk board, and with crayons.  He learned the letter W, shaped like a Wave.  He made a water picture with waves in his book.

Smiley also continues to work on counting and recognizing numbers.  He enjoys filling in the blanks, like in the picture below.

The kids have been having a great time with their cultural studies.  They got large, fun coloring books with themes of different continents.  The pages include beautiful pictures of the region's animals, food, people, flags, maps, and more.  You can see Caleb working in his Africa book and Smiley working in a book about Europe.  The kids also worked with a sticker book making scenes from South America.

The boys hiked and spent time outdoors, practiced with their archery sets, completed puzzles and did a variety of games together, started and cared for seedlings indoors, worked on their simple sewing and knitting projects, picked out books and read lots, observed and cared for the new baby calf, and lots more!