VII-X

We finished up the quality of numbers lesson block during the week of February 4th.  We started every school day with the usual activities, as well as work for Johanna on letter review with workbook pages, flash cards, bean bag tosses and games. 

On Monday, we talked about the number 7.

 This was the riddle I told to Johanna for the number 7:

These wonderful colors are the best

God showed them when the ark came to rest

From the clouds come only seven

What a magical number from heaven. 

Afterward, I read her the story of Snow White, and then we drew pictures in our lesson books.

 Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

 On Tuesday we talked about the number 8.

 

Here was our riddle:

I have eight legs to carry me around

I live in corners and close to the ground

To eat, I must spin and I can jump

Don't mistake me for a small bump.

After we talked more about 8, I told her a story about a baby spider who had to learn to make a web.  Once I was finished with the story, we drew pictures in our lesson books.

  

 Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

Julia also whipped up the following drawing, then added a heart in the middle and called it a Valentine's Drawing.

On Wednesday, we talked about the number 9.

The riddle for nine:

The number nine is so divine!

On tricks it does depend

For if you aren't careful

It may jump on its end! 

After I told her the riddle, I read to her another story from the Earthschooling curriculum called, The Missing Camel.  After that we drew pictures in our lesson books. 

 

Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

That morning the girls had decided to draw pictures of ballerinas.  Just so happened, they also received a Valentine Goodie Box from their Iowa Grandparents. In this box full of fun were ballerina dolls for the girls.  

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

They must have been feeling the ballerina vibe coming their way!

On Thursday, we finished up this lesson block by talking about the number 10, and reviewing all the other numbers.
 

I told Johanna another story from the Earthschooling curriculum called, Two Ways to Count to Ten.  Once a was done telling the story, we drew pictures in our lesson books.

Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

The girls also made some more ballerina drawings.

Johanna's Drawing 

Julia changed hers up, and drew monkey ballerinas along with hidden letters in the picture for Johanna to find.

Julia's Drawing 

Next week will be all about number review, letter review, and Valentine's Day!

 

V and VI

Our normal school routine was off a little for the week of January 28 because of morning appointments, girls feeling under the weather, and mom feeling under the weather. Despite all that, we did manage a few days of school. On both days of school, Julia did her best to jump in with Johanna and I while we were drawing our pictures.  She wants to be a part of everything!

On Monday, Johanna and I talked about the number 5.

The riddle I told her for the number 5 went like this:

If you counted us all you would have ten

From you hands we do extend

On one hand you just have five

Like worms who know that they're alive!

I also told her the story The Five Elements and the Five Colored Stones from the Earthschooling curriculum. Once I was done with the story, we drew pictures in our main lesson books.  

 Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

On Tuesday, we talked about the number 6.

I told Johanna the following verse:
 

Six windows there be for you and me

Through two we hear,

Through two we see,

One lets us smell,

The other tell.

After we talked about the number 6, and Johanna practiced writing it out, I told her the Grimm's Fairy Tale, Six Soldiers of Fortune. Once I had told her the story, we drew pictures in our lesson books.

Mom's Drawing

Johanna's Drawing

Julia's Drawing

That was all for us for that week. We will be back into the swing of things next week!

Rainbow Bird

Rainbow Bird

by Grant

Orlando Vacation - Day 6

I figure there's no time better than the middle of winter to get back to reminiscing about our trip to sunny Florida.  I have a few more days to blog about, and I hope to get them all done within the next few weeks.  Now, where were we......

The morning of Thursday, September 6th, was probably my favorite part of our trip. Cory decided to take a chance, and called to see if there was an opening to have breakfast with the princesses in Cinderella's castle.  Just so happened, the woman he talked to said if we could make it there by 8:30, we could get in.  Of course, it was about 8:15, we weren't quite ready, we had the drive into Disney World, then we had to park in the transportation center and take either a shuttle (fast), or a ferry (slow) over to the Magic Kingdom Park, and finally we had to walk to the castle.  Well, we decided to try our best, and it was looking like we weren't going to be too late until we got to the transportation center only to find out the shuttle didn't start running until 9:00, so we had to take the ferry (reminder: slow).  

At this point, we were going to arrive much later then 8:30, so Cory called them again from the ferry.  This woman also told us to keep going and head over to the castle as soon as we could get there.  We made our way to the castle, but no one at the check-in desk had our name, or knew what was going on.  Fortunately, they were very polite and managed to get us a table.  It was a really fun experience!  

First, we took pictures with Cinderella before we walked up a spiral staircase to the main dining room. 

Once there, we were seated, and a waitress approached our table right away.  She had worked at that restaurant for over 25 years.  Before we knew it, our glasses were being filled with orange juice and coffee, and a beautiful plate of pastries was sitting in front of us.  We ordered off a menu of very few, but very enticing options.  While we waited for our food, our waitress brought out another plate of pastries, and then our breakfast arrived in less then 10 minutes.  I had steak and eggs with breakfast potatoes and roasted tomatoes.  It was wonderful!  The kids all had french toast sticks with eggs and bacon.  As we were eating, five of the different princesses entered the dining room, one at a time. After a brief introduction over the speaker system, they made their way around the room, stopping at each table to give signatures and take photos.  The girls were so excited, especially to see Ariel! 

While we were there, they also did a Wishing Ceremony.  The girls got to keep a magic wand and their wishing stars, while Grant got a plastic sword and his wishing star. 

 On the way out we were given our Cinderella pictures.

It was a great start to a great day!  We spent the whole day inside Magic Kingdom.

Everyone tried their hand at the sword in the stone, but no luck.

We went on a "safari" boat ride, but after going on a real safari in Animal Kingdom, this one just didn't seem as exciting with it's robotic characters and animals.
 

The girls were excited to receive a sprinkling of sparkly fairy dust in one of the gift shops.

We got stuck in another down pour later in the day, and decided to make the best of it by buying some ice cream.  We sat down at a table, and tried to squeeze under a big umbrella while rain drops were dripping down all around us (and a few on us) to eat our Micky Mouse ice cream.  Yummy!
 

I was able to talk Cory into getting some rain ponchos so we could move about the park without getting totally soaked.  Dad and Grant made a run for a gift shop and picked us up five lovely ponchos.  We were able to get on a few rides before they closed everything down due to lightening. 
 

After a short time, the rides openend up again and we were on our way!  Fly Dumbo, Fly!
 

Eew Mom and Dad!

We staked out our spots on the concrete curb for the electrical parade about an hour ahead of time.  That gave me plenty of time to head into the sweet shop to buy us all a little treat.  We had to do something to pass the time, right?  That place was a sugar dream land!  I managed to escape with only some white chocolate Micky pops for Dad and Grant, and cake pops for the girls and I.

Let the parade begin! I saw the parade when I was a little girl with my family at Disneyland.  It was still as magical as I remembered.

As soon as the parade was over, we hustled out of there, caught the shuttle back to the transportation center, loaded into the mini van and headed back to our hotel.  It was a l..o..n..g, magical day and everyone went right to sleep with visions of Dumbo and Princesses in their heads.