Simple Pleasures

Whether they're called lightning bugs,

 fireflies,

or (thanks to Robert Frost) star emulating flies,

the girls had a great time catching a jar full the other night.

We have SO many in the woods behind our place. I was determined (but sadly failed) to get a picture of them all (or at least one!) flashing around. Those little guys don't like to stay still and let my camera focus in the dark though! I think I need a little more practice (and maybe a few tips on taking quick pictures in low light). I'm sure the girls won't mind going out again!

Mother's Day 2012

My precious blessings!
I couldn't ask for anything better than being your mommy!

School Recap: April

I can't believe that we're only a week into May because April already seems like it was so long ago. Our extra focus for the month was plants. We studied and read a lot about different types of flowers and trees and what they need to grow, and they got in some practice by planting some flowers outside with one of our neighbors. They also made a 3D version of a flower and labeled its parts.

Of course, we had to do the old "flowers in colored water trick," and they enjoyed watching the flowers change colors as they soaked up the water. We also "dissected" some of the stems to get a look inside. 

The green turned out the best.

Thanks to an idea from pinterest, we planted lima beans in cd cases, so we could watch them sprout and grow roots. Problem is, the only thing they grew was some fuzzy green stuff. Still not sure why that didn't work.....

One LOVES to get her hands dirty, the other can't stand it!

 

Kerri learned how to write her name in cursive (and learned how to spell her whole name because I didn't even realize she didn't know how to spell Elizabeth!). Here's one of her first attempts:

We took advantage of some Easter candy to help out with some math problems. (Well, Kerri did. Emma Lee insisted that she didn't need anything to "help" but she did enjoy eating them!)

 We are also still putting our math towers to good use. I can't believe that they haven't gotten tired of them yet, but they really love them.

In grammar, they learned about common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, and seven rules of capitalization. We had fun playing some different learning games (their favorite kind - ones that double up as a snack!) to help us practice these.

They also got in some practice constructing sentences following a certain pattern and then changing some of the words by replacing them with synonyms and antonyms.

I found a wonderful free reading program (sponsored by Sylvan) called Book Adventure. You read a book, take a quiz, and earn points to exchange for prizes. Go check it out! The girls love it!

Hard to believe we only have a few weeks of school left in the year! Summertime, here we come!