LOTW-Letter A with Tert and Stella

Hello to Alma Mater's Readers!
I am finally ready to post our first LOTW (Letter-of-the-Week.)
First let me give credit to Erica at: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com . She created the printouts and the whole LOTW curriculum is on sale at her site for $10 for ALL the letters of the alphabet! (This is for the download version. You can also get it on a CD that Erica will mail to you, but that's slightly more expensive.) It's a great curriculum, and we would recommend it-but first let me say: you should find some good cutters. (Many, many thanks to E for her help with the cutting! Couldn't have done it without you cuz!) :-) The printouts require quite a bit of patience, but the result is great.
Each letter takes one week to complete. The curriculum comes with a schedule (verrry helpful!) ;-)
Anyway, I'll quit talking about the curriculum and post some pictures instead! So-without further ado: LOTW-Letter: A!

We started out with the memory verse of the week: 'All have sinned; we all fall short of the glory of God.' He had this down pat by day 3!-well except for the verse part. Instead of 'Romans 3:23' he would say: 'Romans 3: Romans 3.' Oh well :-)

 Next it was time for shape cards...

Then we did tracing. I finally got him to understand 'Uppercase' and 'Lowercase.' ;-)

Then we did our giant floor numbers. These were so fun! I called out a number and helped him jump to the right number!

 Next came Tert's favorite: lacing! He did an amazing job...

Proud Boy!

 Tracing in his Pre-K Workbook...

Then we did magnets, putting one magnet on the top of the workpage and another one on the bottom. We kind of had to do makeshift magnets, but I'll be posting instructions on how to make 'Pom-Pom Magnets' for color sorting and Erica's LOTW Magnet Pages.

Then we did a puzzle (I don't know if you can tell, but what he is staring at is a 6-piece puzzle that he put together.)

 Next he did cutting...

...and he was very proud! 

Then he did this Letter A on the Geoboard all by himself!

 Next he did an A Poke-Page, poking the As with a skewer.  He loved it, but I had him do it on the carpet so that he wouldn't scratch our breakfast bar :P

Okay....

-Next he did this coloring page-

 And then came Do-A-Dot Markers...

...with the finished product! ;-) 

 He loved this activity! He took little squares with numbers on them and put them next to apple halves with a the same number of seeds in them :-)

Here he is...counting the seeds!

 Cut 'N Paste Page 

Finished!

 Then we did a Uppercase/Lowercase Letter Match...

Look at that huge binder! And it took two of those for the whole curriculum :-O Whoa...

Next we did his size sorting! He did this almost entirely by himself; I was very impressed!

 Workin' Hard!

Color Match; I cut these colored apples in half different ways (horizontally, diagonally, zig-zag) and he had to match them...

 Patternin'

So much work! He's goin' cross-eyed...

Shape Match! (Again, apples cut in half with matching shapes)

 Here is our LOTW Coconut Tree! It goes with the book Chicka Chicka-Boom-Boom! We read the Chicka Chick Boom-Boom book and then put the letter up on the tree.
*Note: This tree was made with posterboard and construction paper- construction paper for the coconuts-posterboard for the tree and leaves, and the letters are printed out on cardstock. Every time we learn a letter we'll put it up on the tree :-)

 Pinning up 'A'!

 Not too bad if I may say so myself! (Love his face!)

Tert is a wonderful student and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year! 

Great job Tert!

Happy Birthday Leo!

Hello Readers! Leo has just turned...11!

Congrats Leo, and here are some pics. from your special day ;-)

 This is Leo's birthday cake made by Tert and Stella and Filia (sort of :-) ) The HUGE ice cream cake lasted for several desserts ;-)

-Hardy Boys Computer Game-

Hmm, what's inside?

 It's a new Jonathan Park set!  We love listening to these-while going on a long (or short!) car ride, or just passing a quiet evening at home :) They have 8 CD sets of Jonathan Park. The one above is #4.

-A new Target-

Survival Wristband

It's a ripstick!

These awesome shirts were purchased for all the boys! They wear them ALL the time ;-) The night they got them they wore them to bed with pj pants, and the next morning they appeared with them on again-this time with jeans :P

Happy Birthday Leo! We hope you had a great day!

Our Trip to Greens 'N Beans Farm By: Rus

THE FIRST THING WE DID IS WE FED SUM ANIMALS

THEN WE WENT ON A HAY RID IT WAS FUN AND 

BUMPY THEN WE WENT IN A CORN MAZE A CORN 

MAZE IS A MAZE YOU WALK IN WITH CORN 

SURROUNDING  YOU AND THE WAY IN IS THE WAY OUT 

THEN WE WENT  ON THE HAY RID  AGAIN                                                              

THEN WE HAD LUNCH IT WAS A GOOD LUNCH  

THEN WE PATTED THE ANIMALS 

THEN WE GOT PUMPKINS

 THEN WE LEFT

By: Rus Age:6

Note from Stella: Here are some pictures from our trip...

 Getting ready to go ;-) 

 Hayride

 Corn Maze Confusion :P

 Say Cheese :-D

 Hi! You know the way out?

 Filia would not leave the cow, goats, pigs, and chickens ;-)

Feedin' the Goats

 Gourds

 This was the coolest thing! Greens 'N Beans call it their 'teepee' 

This was the funniest thing! Filia went up to the pig and the second she touched it, it flopped over onto the ground and looked like it'd been knocked out, eyes shut and motionless. We were relieved to see the tail move, but then we saw that Filia was moving it.  Turns out that pigs can literally just drop down onto the ground and fall asleep-just like that...Anyway-here's Filia and her 'dead' pig ;-)

We had an awesome time at Greens 'N Beans Farm. Thanks to Rus for sharing the trip with us!

~Back to School 2012~ By: Stella

Can you believe it? It's that time of year already! Yes, school has started. We have just finished our first week! Here are pics. from our first day and the days leading up to it... 

 We started out our year, by a week or so prior to starting school receiving a large package in the mail.  We opened it and to everyone's surprise and delight, it was full of school things! Many thanks to (Aunt) K for sending this thoughtful gift!

Tert, as always is ready for a picture ;-) 

Filia received bracelets (essential for a little girl's schooling ;-) ) and immediately struck this pose

 Hooray! Desk Markers and Addition Flash Cards!

 Ooo! New Matchbox Cars!

 Princess Stickers and a Tinkerbell Flashlight for Filia! (The face says it all...)

The first day of school came quickly. Everyone woke up the morning of and we dove into our work...

'Sissy's' first job is to get Filia ready :-) This morning she cooperated so I could do her hair in braids!

 Filia is officially in the process of being pottytrained.  She had been trying to pottytrain herself for so long that we decided we'd give it a try.
How is it going?

...

It's a work in progress

 Tert was very encouraging ;-)

Tert is now fully in preschool.  I work with him (and will be posting once a week what we've been up to :P) and Mom works with him, so he is kept pretty busy ;-)

 Tert played with his brother's 'Pattern Blocks Manipulatives.' We left him for a little while, and when we came back this is what we found:

We were very impressed! He did this 100% by himself  :-D

Science Experiments, like working with Acids (Vinegar and TUMS) to learn about Concentration...

 We had S'mores with Reese's and Peppermint Patties for Chocolate with a big cookout to celebrate our Back to School.

Cookout Menu:
Eggplant Sandwiches
Burgers with Blue Cheese, Tomatoes, and Lettuce
Pringles
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Corn on the Cob
Everyone agreed it had been a great day...