Did you know...

...that a pencil will make marks under water on a porcelain surface? Elisabeth proved this to us just the other day.

The artist...


The artwork...


Fortunately it came off with a simply cleaning. :)

School update

School is going great. One of the reasons I haven't blogged much is I have been working hard on putting together things for the kids to do. I haven't found a curriculum that I can stick to. I have been piecing different things together. When something isn't working or I find a problem with it, I look for something different.
I started something kind of like work boxes, which seems to be big among homeschoolers. I just couldn't see us having 12 boxes on a rolling shelf for each child setting around my school area. I used supplies that I already had and created a file system for each child. We do six folders for each in one box. The folders are color coded. Any work that we all do together goes at the front of my box. Josiah is all excited about doing his folders each day. I let him go first each day because he will not stop asking until we do it. He usually begs to do it on weekends, also. Each evening (usually after kids are in bed) I put the papers, books, flashcards, or projects in their folders for the next day. I find that I am getting more done with it organized this way. Before I would just write down on a paper what I wanted to do, but half the time I would loose the paper or still forget something.
We do Bible together first thing in the morning. We sing a few hymns. (It is great to hear my kids singing hymns while playing or in the restroom.) They each have a favorite hymn. We then read from the Bible. We are reading through Genesis right now. I usually do half a chapter a day since they don't sit quiet very long. Abby and Robert help do some of the reading. Then we work on our Bible memory. We are memorizing Ecclesiastes chapter one. Even Josiah is getting in on it this time. He surprises me with how much he can say.
After breakfast and chores, Josiah does his school time with mom. He is learning the sounds of the alphabet and starting to blend two letters together. I am currently using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I found it at the library. I love the library it is my favorite place to go in town. We use blocks with abc's on the for him to "build" words. In math he is working on counting and recognizing numbers.
For our second all together time we are using Five in a Row (FIAR). FIAR takes a book such as Peter Rabbit and uses that story to teach math, language, art, science, history for the week. We do one suggested activity or lesson each day after reading the story. The library is my may source of books for this curriculum. I found the FIAR manuels there and the books. I have started buying a few books used that the library didn't have.
Late morning and after lunch I work with Abby and Robert individually. Both reading well above normal for their age, doing simple addition and subtraction, and learning to write neatly. With the warm weather they have not been doing much of their individual work, but have been enjoying playing outside and learning to ride their bikes without training wheels.
Rueben is almost halfway done with his last year of school. Not sure what his plans are after he is done, but we are encouraging him to date, and talk to girls.