January

January has come and gone, it has been unusually warm most days, in the mid 40's to 63 2 days ago! The kids and I have been busy reading, we are now reading several books: Children of the Depression, Little house on the Prairie, Minn of the Mississippi, Anacaona, and F is reading his series of books at night, J is reading her fairy book series and A is reading the Mercy pig books, Bob books, and Dr. Seuss books. Practicing math, mostly using the Ixl math program, as well as some math books, and math in real life. F is also doing various things that interest him, Free Rice, stock market, Nova, researching things that interest him, the list varies. J got another science kit for X mas from her god father so we did a few science experiments, I found a site about the human body and we learned all about how the ear works, which is actually very fascinating. One of the experiments that we did was to get a pot, put some clear plastic tape on the top, wrap it tightly, place either rice or something like it on the wrap and bang a cookie sheet with a wooden spoon and watch the grains of rice jump. This shows how the vibrations from the cookie sheet (which is loud) travels and affects the rice. It was a simple but very cool experiment and the kids loved it :). It tied in with how the ear works, and who doesn't like to see little grains of rice jumping around.

Filed trips include the Bklyn Botanical Garden with a few homeschooling friends, it was such a beautiful day, the kids ran around played in the stream, played all sort of games and looked at the beautiful flowers and plants that were starting to bloom early because of the warm weather. There is so much to learn about nature, and all for free :).  

Another trip took us to the Prosp. park zoo to see the animals, it's great to have the place all to ourselves most of the time we go. The animals are more active during the cooler months, so we got to see the emus, the baby wallaby, the river otter, as well as some interesting ducks that we've never seen before. I wish I had remembered to take my camera! The beauty of homeschooling is that we can take our lessons outside on a beautiful, warm winter day. 

The kids have also been riding their bikes, hanging out with friends at a meeting place in the city, playing pool, ping pong, and various other table games. 

J  started a diary of sorts that she now takes outside with her to write down her day, her thoughts and drawings of various favorite things of hers. She is also writing a lot, short stories, notes, shopping lists, little notes for whatever game her and her sister happen to be playing etc.. she loves to write things down, she reminds me of myself, it's scary! Her spelling is improving a lot this way, as well as F's spelling. He is still writing his few short stories that he started while taking the writing class during the Fall. He has since finished two of them and is close to finishing a third and started a fourth story. I think he has a natural gift for writing short stories, he doesn't think so but I do! :)  

I am considering starting another blog, this one about healthy food and healthy eating habits, along with recipes. Maybe this will help me to be even more adventurous about the kinds of food we eat, not that we are shy about trying new things. My kids love to eat as much as I love to cook! :)  Makes me happy to see them enjoy all different types of food, which happens to be healthy, and home made! I wonder if people would be interested in reading it....