Happy Spring!  It seems the dragging winter days put a lull in my blogging . . . but a new season is here and I better get back at it!  On the Equinox we woke up to find snow on the ground.  The boys and I cleared off their nature window of all the previous season's crafts: paper snowflakes, heart Valentines, Fall harvest collages, and more.  The kids dusted and polished and washed windows and by the time we were done the snow had melted away and the sun came out.  They went to play in the sun with the baby calf they are helping their Dad care for.  Here's a bit of the fun and learning we've been up to:

Caleb is reading so much now!  In addition to a variety of story books from the library, he read a chapter book called The Animal Rescue Club.  He really enjoyed it and spent several days writing about the different characters in the book.  We are still making our way thru Dr. Doolittle which I read aloud.  It has turned into quite an exciting adventure with so many endearing characters; the kids really enjoy it.   I've also been reading lots of Amelia Bedelia, which they find hilarious, as well as other fun library books.

Smiley continues to practice his letter sounds through a variety of games and projects.  Now that he has learned all the uppercase letters, we do practice whenever we can, writing letters, copying words, and guessing what letters different words starts with.

Caleb continues to enjoy and do well at math.  He did a unit on subtraction and borrowing with three-digit numbers.  He also had units that covered the days of the week, the months of the years and counting with tally marks.

Smiley practices counting, writing numbers and adding.  He doesn't have a formal lesson book so he practices with problems we make up in his notebook, on the white board, or with anything else we can find (counting and adding Mom's spools of thread, counting while we cook, etc.)  In this example we were pretending to make a fruit salad and he drew the fruit as we counted it.

The kids always enjoy cultural stories and studies and this month we spent quite a bit of time learning more about Ireland.  We read fun Irish legends and stories about St. Patrick, found more Irish music to add to our collection, studied maps, and more.  On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, the kids decorated a special box which was left outside in hopes that it would impress leprechauns enough that they would fill it with goodies (which they did).

Nature, animals and seasons continue to fill the boys' enjoyment of learning science.  Caleb is working on writing about animals while learning and identifying different animal traits.  Smiley enjoys seasonal stories and also hearing about and drawing animals.

Caleb finished knitting a little blanket for one of his stuffed animals and Smiley has been enjoying painting and coloring at his Wednesday class.  They have also been busy helping Dad on the farm, writing letters and emails to relatives, playing board games, reading and drawing for fun, playing store and practicing with money, playing on musical instruments, riding bikes on a few sunny days, taking walks on stormy, cold days, and lots more!