Fencing

Abishai got to try fencing in gym class.  So fun!

Asher playing with his cars and trucks.  He plays with an assortment of cars all day long.  I tried switching things up on him by setting up a barn with animals, but he ignored the animals and put his cars in the barn instead.  Right now, cars are his thing.

Abishai is learning proper nouns of places where some of his extended family live in Canada.

He wrote a letter to his Grandma from out of town.

Micaiah added a picture to the letter as well.

If you look closely, Asher is holding his pencil correctly.  He draws like this most of the time.  How he knows how to hold a pencil, I don't know.  Can he really be watching us that closely or is it just instinct?

Micaiah played peacefully with his lego before he started math and writing lessons for the day.  He made the mistake of leaving the lego out while he homeschooled in the dining room.  Asher came along and spread it generously around his room.

An Asher-storm!

All four of us got on the floor to help clean it up. Even little Asher helped, and so did I with my 9th month pregnant belly!  Abishai went under the bed to retrieve missing pieces and Micaiah volunteered to vacuum the dust bunnies.

Micaiah's bed making!  He did a good job.  His efforts make me proud.

After the big clean.  I was dissatisfied with the arrangement of Micaiah's room.  It had been bothering me for months.  Sometimes furniture placement can be all wrong.  Then we added in a desk and chair for Micaiah to craft and do lego on during quiet times in his room.  We still have to paint the room (even though Micaiah is loving the pink walls right now) and I still have some final little details to make the room that much more complete, but it will have to wait for now.

We did deep sea fish for life science this week.

And we went to see the Mummy of Pesed at our local Museum.  

Micaiah wrote a Halloween poem.

Abishai wrote his own Halloween song.  I over heard him quietly sitting on the couch one morning writing a song.  I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down what he was singing.  I later copied it neatly onto Halloween paper to keep in his school record book.  His song had consistent rhythm and I had planned to dig out my djembe drum so that we could play around with his song, but time slipped away on us.

7:30am pumpkin drawing.  

 Responsible toddler.

Carving pumpkins in the setting sun.

Lilies of the Field

Our Bible lesson this week was from Matthew 6...

 ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

Children tend to understand this passage better than adults.  You don't often find children worrying where their next meal is coming from or if they will have clothes to wear tomorrow. Their parents take care of all their needs.  In the same way, adults need to put their trust in God.

We made paper lilies to remind us not to worry. While we did that, Asher beaded.

We also made and coloured paper dolls to learn what kind of clothing the Israelites wore in Jesus' time, as well as to remind us that God takes care of our every need.  

The boys enjoyed colouring the clothing, but had no interest in playing with them.

Common clothing of Jesus' day.

Rich clothing of Jesus' day.

In addition to making paper lilies we took a look at the water lily paintings of Claude Monet. We also read some stories about his life.  After, we attempted to "paint" water lilies with oil pastels.  It's fun to smudge with pastels.

Monet's water lilies.

Our water lilies. 

Smudging fingers.

My quick attempt while trying to keep Asher occupied in his highchair with apples to eat.

Doing math in the library while Asher plays with his cars.

Wolverine running around our yard.  

And then into his burrow.

Our history lesson was on the Jewish people.  It was a great add-on to our Bible lesson. Abishai is colouring a comic on Joseph in Egypt.

We picked up a book from the library on how to draw Halloween things.  Micaiah attempted to draw from it.

The boys taking turns sawing the wood that we gathered in the woods. It really takes some practice to get a rhythm.

Learning to play Croquet. They weren't following the rules at this time; just learning how to swing their mallets.  It's nice to finally have a yard big enough to play Croquet in.

One Saturday, the boys woke up wanting to craft.  We crafted as a family on and off from 6am till 5pm. The boys artwork is displayed on almost every window of the house.  I made the bats and Daren made the birds.  

2 Already!

Asher turned 2!  
Cake and present time!

Going crazy with his new present from Grandma and Grandpa!

Stunt driving.  Is that his left foot up on top of the seat?

A couple weeks before Asher turned 2, he started riding the balance bike.  He rides it almost everyday.

The older boys found new heights to climb.

I finished my project of turning an old picture that I didn't like anymore into a chalk board. I plan to hang it in the front entrance and do chalk art according to the seasons.

The boys helped me make apple pies.  Healthy apple pies!

Taking out the garbage bins.  They are becoming so helpful and responsible at 6 and 4 years of age.

Racket ball for Abishai this week.  The ball was flying everywhere, but they all came out alive!  Abishai is the one wearing orange shorts and a grey shirt.

Micaiah working on his letters in the peacefulness and quietness of the park.

Our tub tap was dripping.  Daren is teaching the boys how to fix it.  They learned where to shut the water off in the basement, how to choose the right tools and how to open up the tap to find the problem.  They were so eager to learn.  Then they went off to Home Depot to buy the new part.  

A "practical living" learning week.