Fortune Telling Fun

7 March 2012

I couldn't sleep and so I got up at 2:30 this morning and worked on the blog. I reformatted it and added a new blog. You can get to it from the Ah-Ha tab. It is for my personal Ah-Ha moments in my self education and researching home school and parenting. 

My mother, Grandma Debbie came over to do Singing Time today. We reviewed the songs we already learned, The Wise Man and the Foolish Man and Nephi's Courage. We talked about the different kinds of boats and the difference between rowing and paddling. Then we learned the song, Row Your Boat. We even practiced singing it in rounds. It wasn't terribly successful, but we were getting better! Next time I think will go very well.

We were supposed to work in the yard today, but since it snowed all evening it was far too cold, and snow covered to be outside. So we spent our day inside. We cleaned a little bit and played mostly. I made some oragami fortune tellers and wrote some fun activities on the insides. The activities I used were fun and simple. Make a play using a picture book for the script, complete with costumes; Count to 99 by 3's; Draw a picture of the scariest thing you can think of; Pretend you are a pirate searching for a hidden treasure; Make up a dance to a song; Play in a secret hideout; Recite the colors of the rainbow in English and German, and one more I can't remember right now.

The kids made some of their own fortune tellers as well and spent the rest of the day walking around asking people to "pick-a-number" and telling them their fortunes. After several hours of dancing and playing pirates and whatnot I had to take a nap.

At dinner we had some more deliciously nutritious food I made from Rill's Menu (which I now have a tab for at the top of the page). The hubby put on some YouTube clips of Proximity Flying because Ra has been telling me that she wishes she could fly. It looks amazing, though extremely dangerous. Something I may have to put on my bucket list. Just watching it gives me a rush!





For Story time I read Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr Seuss and Ra read some of Mickey and Minnie Look At Paintings. It is so fun to see Ra want to read! I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

The Wise Man and the Foolish Man

9 February 2012

My kids and I spent the night at my sister's house last night and so there is not a whole lot on the agenda today. My mom had asked to be involved with the homeschooling I am doing as so I asked her if she would mind doing a singing time with the kids.

We decided on the song "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" from the Children's Songbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My mom prepared a whole lesson around this song that started with the scripture passage the song is about and an explanation and discussion with the kids about what the sand and the rock and the house represents. Then she put a pile of dirt and a rock in her bathtub, each with a plastic cup balanced on top. She turned on "the rain" and we watched the effects of the water on the earth. We sang the song several times and watched some YouTube videos people had made with the song. It was very fun and the kids enjoyed it a lot.

I finally finished The Chosen by Chaim Potok. A very good book with an extremely meaningful ending. The remainder of the day was spent playing with cousins until 6:30pm when we drove home. We read two more chapters in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and then I settled the kids in bed and soaked in a much deserved hot shower. I am now going to settle down for the night and start reading Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton Porter.