Things we've been doing

It's been a busy and tiring few weeks...

I'm taking Jacob to a parent-run co-op preschool
once a week. Jacob has a lot of fun here and it gives
me a good idea of what we need to be doing at home.

This picture and the one above it are from the New Years
theme at Playschool. The 'Happy' is Jacob's writing, but
he's gotten so much better since I've been making a
conscious effort to have him practice his letters.

We've been making a lot of ice cream from scratch
since Jacob got this ice cream maker for Christmas.

And focusing a lot on recycling and other sustainable
practices. We mailed these containers back to
Stonyfield Farms to be recycled. Click on the picture
for the address where to send them.

Jacob's been consistently going to gymnastics
since September. I swear he's the best kid in
his class!
We've also been going skating once a week or so.
Daddy's rink closes in a few weeks so we've really
been taking advantage of it while we can.

Dominoes are a great thing to do to work on numbers
and matching, and all those other skills that I'm not
sure what to call them.

Jacob's also been doing a lot of what I like to think
of as 'freestyle baking'. He pulls random things out
of the cupboard and starts mixing them with the idea
that he's making a cake....mmm, this looks disgusting!
Trial and error...

It had been a while since we'd been to the firehouse
so Uncle Bill invited Jacob down for another tour.

Here we're holding 'science class'
I let Jacob go to town with water and corn starch.
We learned about isotropy...well, I did so I can
explain it to him when he's older.

Activity books - duh

Jacob got some gift cards to book stores this Christmas and since we've got about all the books we can handle, I realized we should be buying some activity books. Jacob is starting to get sick of me putting blank pieces of paper out for him to write his name on so this is a great way to make it fun for him. He's really into the books and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. He's been doing stuff with the letters that I didn't realize he could even do!

The Name Game

Jacob's been working on learning how to write his name in a variety of different ways. I've gotten lazy around the holidays and it's pretty much the main focus of our 'homeschooling' right now because I don't have time to think about much more than that. But Jacob is doing pretty good with that.

We've also been going to Playschool, a parent-run co-op preschool. After a couple months of trying to work it into our schedule, I've settled on taking him there once a week. And we would have been going for the entire month of December but it got cancelled three Mondays in a row due to heavy snow falls and ice storms. We'll start January with a new commitment to it though.

We've also been baking and cooking a lot. Applesauce (below), muffins, soups, etc. Jacob loves to help and has been named the official garlic peeler of the house.


Since it's entered the truly cold weather, we've been taking advantage of the junior museum that is just down the road. Jacob has met some really interesting animals and made a lot of cool crafts at the five week class he took there. Below is the 'terrarium' from the last day of class. We currently have it growing on our kitchen windowsill.

Geography Lessons

Jacob got this puzzle that is a map of the United States for his birthday. He loves it and for a while was doing the puzzle five times a day. He does the whole thing himself and he can name about half the states. He still loves to talk about all the states we went to on our trip and all different facts about the states.

Forgotten

I totally forgot to post about this, but in early October we did our first official homeschool group activity, or whatever you want to call it. A local nature preserve was hosting a hike which was to feature muskrats. We only got there about 20 minutes late, but we found the group and caught up with them. Papa came with us and we had a great time. We didn't really see any muskrats, but the tour took a turn as other little 'teaching moments' came up so we did see a lot of interesting stuff. Jacob also took a bunch of pictures on Jamie's camera on this little excursion.