Another Mother's Day

While Doodle did let Mark and I sleep in until nine, it was no where the luxurious lie in I imagined I would get on Mother's Day back before I became a Mom. I did, however, get chocolate chip pancakes with extra syrup. Mmmmmmm yummy.

While normally we attend church services every Sunday but after so busy for the last week I made the executive decision to take the morning off and do family time. A visit to Michaels to restock the craft table and a stop by the book store to pick up James & the Giant Peach, a hug to my mother and Mark and I took off to pick up his daughters. MissyMae and MissyLou had made me a flower pot with their hand prints on it for Mother's Day. Quite an unexpected surprise and such a touching gift.

With plans to homeschool Doodle this summer the first thing Daddio and I have opted to focus on is reading and books. Doodle is able to read a good handful of words without help and many of his beginner reader books he has memorized. I am proud of his interest in reading and Daddio and I have decided to branch out to some select chapter books. Our hope is to continue with his easy reader books but also introduce him to some more mature literature to keep him interested and challenged.

Our first book is James & the Giant Peach. The chapters are quite short, usually 2 - 3 pages, and a perfect length to read through, stop and discuss, and continue reading.

Doodle (3) and MissyMae (4) have fallen in love with this book so far.  Once we finish the chapters Daddio and I will be renting the movie to let them watch. We are going to continue this with several different kinds of chapter books throughout the summer, with a focus on books turned into movies as rewards.

Doodle also will be getting a large amount of craft time this summer.

To work on his science we'll be focusing on gardening and growing plants. Doodle also is obsessed with maps right now so we've placed them all around his room and will be talking about different places on them, an early introduction to geography but very timely as MissRuth will be traveling to Kenya this summer, Mark is from England and I have family around the states. I also have decided to make use of our washable paints and allow the kids to use the fence in the backyard as a writing board for letters, numbers, and shapes. Each week I'll be focusing on a different shape and painting them on the fence and creating a game. Since Doodle lacks any interest in writing, this might help him learn how to write. Low pressure, high creativity and fun.

Math skills will continue to be based on RL situations. Counting what we have in front of us and slowly introducing the idea of addition and subtraction without visible numbers, just objects. (Three strawberries, eat one, now how many are left...) I also want to continue some focus on personal hygiene and time/calendar. Getting Doodle to be able to use the restroom start to finish without any assistance is a big goal for the summer, at this point he still needs help washing his hands. And understanding the concept of days of the week would be awesome. :)

~ SA