Week Five ~ The Work, The Rest, and The Mess

~ The Work ~

 Munchkin doing some drawing...

 Monkey working on maths...

 Monster working on his IEW paragraph...

~ The Mess ~

Sometimes I'm able to leave Munchkin to his own devices and he will entertain himself well.  Other times he entertains himself by getting out EVERY toy possible whether or not he ever actually plays with them.

 ... and occasionally he finds new homes for books as well!

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~ The Rest ~

Our read aloud selection for the week...

 We FINALLY finished off the last our of African animal books... these were WONDERFUL books but absolutely packed with information so it was S L O W reading!!

 I've started Australian History with Monster... we do our reading for this in the evenings after the other two boys are in bed.  Monkey is not quite old enough for the depth of information in these books so we read the information (non-fiction) books at night and share any picture books with the younger boys during the day.  I will repeat Australian History when Monkey is in Year 4 so he won't miss anything - in case anyone is concerned!

 Monkey chose to read this African Fables book one night ~ I grabbed it on a whim during a library visit and it turns out the boys LOVED it and we read it twice.

 Our plants unit study is going slowly ~ but definitely still going.

I started a daily read aloud and narration session with Monkey this week.

These four books were the choices for this week.

Week Four ~ Random Photos

A week of random photos ~ so here goes!

 We started the week out with a new game. I was able to pick up Blokus at the second-hand store up the road from us.  Three pieces are missing but it doesn't really matter and the older boys are LOVING the challenge and strategy of this game.

 Munchkin enjoys a good fine motor activity.

I found these restaurant style toothpick dispensers at Kmart and picked up a pair.

I dump the container out into a bowl and then Munchkin puts them back in one at a time through the holes.  It keeps him engaged for quite awhile - until mischief takes over and he dumps them on the floor!

 Unlike his brother at the same age, Monkey seems to LOVE doing bookwork!  It thrills me but I'm cautious at the same time because I don't want to over do it and burn him out.  He routinely sits down and completes 3-4 pages in his handwriting book, or picks 3-4 pages in his maths textbooks to work on.  His goal is to "catch up" to Monster and be doing Year 4/5 work by the end of the year.  Since as far as the government is concerned he isn't in school until the end of July, I don't push him at all... if he wants to do the work he does it but if he puts up a struggle I lower the amount I expect him to complete substantially.

 Monster has taken complete ownership of his blog.  He now uploads and edits his photos on his own, and types up his descriptions as well.  My only responsibility is to proofread before he publishes.  If his spelling and punctuation are correct but the wording is a little awkward I leave it... after all, I want it to sound like he wrote it... but if it doesn't make sense I help him re-word it.

 Munchkin will often play with water and Legos in the bathroom.  This is a great activity for him as long as he remembers to turn off the tap! We have had a couple of flooding incidents when I haven't monitored him quite closely enough.

A morning of playing together... snacks, good books, and Monkey attempting to teach Munchkin how to play Memory.

Finally our read aloud selection for the week which focused only on picture books for a change.

Week Three ~ The Birthday Week

Another learning week only this one is a bit disrupted with a birthday at the end!

We still managed LOTS of learning so here are my pictures to wrap up the week.

Some of the Munchkin's choices for the week...

His shelves set up with a selection of toys that "mostly" have to do with the alphabet or the Letter Aa though we still haven't quite got around to officially launching our Letter of the Week program as yet!!

The picture below is his selection of books that he is obsessed with.  Both daddy and I get asked numerous times a day to read ALL of them to him!!

 I organized this activity to work on his fine motor skills!

It was a great idea until the toothpicks ended up on the floor - then it just became downright dangerous since we all like to walk around barefoot!!

Both the big boys are still VERY keen to work on their handwriting!!

 During breaks they enjoyed piggy back rides!

 A couple of our read aloud books from early in the week.

We are almost ALWAYS reading something about reptiles or other dangerous animals, regardless of any other themes or unit studies that we might be doing.

We are doing a plant unit study this term (and probably next term as well) but it is slow going at the moment!  Reading aloud with a soon to be three year old is INTERESTING at the best of times!!

 Our baby fish are getting bigger!!

 Our chapter books... Charlotte's Web I'm reading to everyone (and when we finish it we will watch both versions of the movie) and Dingo: The Dog Who Conquered a Continent I am reading only to Monster as part of his Australian History studies this year.

 We read a wonderful selection of Aboriginal Dreaming Time stories...

 ... and an interesting book about animal homes!!

 Monster worked hard on his final draft of his IEW paragraph...

 ... while Munchkin "traced" pictures on the dining room window.  He has seen his older brothers do this (they print out pokemon colouring in pictures and then create their own creature by tracing and combining several different ones) so he thought he would give it a try.

 We got back into our daily habit of reading the Bible and finished off the book of Romans.

 12:15am on the 13th and officially the Monster's birthday... I take a picture of him sleeping every year!!

Friday was a non-structured day with a trip to their favourite park and a stop off at the library!  All in all it was a good week!!