Co-op

It's been a while since we had co-op. The kids were so happy to see everyone.

Jayden during show and tell

Caitlin during show and tell

Playing a game

Obstacle course

Bean bag toss

Jayden doing the limbo

Changes to the blog

I am remodeling the blog.

Every night before bed, I read to the kids for 30 mins. If you want to keep up with what book we are reading, you can see it on the right. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you will see that I have started keeping track of any chapter books we finish from now on. We still read other books on a daily basis, but they have so many that I decided to only keep track of the chapter books we read together.

I am also working on this year's school curriculum. Stay tuned for an update on the subjects and books we will be using!

Park

We have been taking advantage of a local park.It's not my favorite park, but the kids wear themselves out. Who can say no to that?

Games and School Stuff

We have been trying to make use of our games during this heatwave. The kids LOVE playing memory.

 We tried playing Hedbanz, but Cait kept telling us what we were.

 On one of the groups I belong to, someone posted a fabulous website, Cookie.com, with interactive games that work perfectly for Cait. They have educational games and worksheets for Pre-K up to first grade. They also have a TON of worksheets.

 Jayden is still doing his schoolwork, and excelling as always. We are currently working our way through a trial membership at ReadingEggs.com. Jayden tested at a 3.1 reading level- which means he reads at the level of a 3rd grader in their first month of reading. While I very much like the site, I do not think it will work out for us. This site requires his reading and language arts to be at the same level in order for it to benefit him. Even though he reads at a third grade level, he is currently at appx a second grade level for LA. I am elated at his progress though. This is all from a boy who just learned to read in April 2011. And he is not even officially in first grade yet!

I just got a new desktop so the laptop will soon be set up at their desk for school. I am excited that they will have their own station to work at!

Boott Mills Cotton Museum

We recently made a family trip to a local museum. The museum is dedicated to life during the Industrial Revolution. The whole first floor- the Weave Room- showed what the mills looked like long ago. Original documents are displayed in frames on the wall.

There are signs like this throughout the museum, describing and even quoting the workers

Tools of the Mill workers

A real loom used in the Mill

Restored looms that are actually running! They weaved cool patterns. It was VERY noisy in this room.

Inspecting a loom (not running)

We all had ear plugs to drown out the noise in the Weave Room. We got to feel the fabric the looms made.

 Upstairs we saw tools used by farmers who lived in the South.

 We saw (and were even able to carry) large bags that slaves had to use when picking cotton.

Model of the Boott Cotton Mills

 Checking out the tools used and feeling the cotton.

Quote from a Mill worker

 Clothing worn by wealthier people.

Overseer- Basically a manager of the mills

 As we were leaving we saw girls dressed as Mill Girls. I tried to get the kids in, but they were too shy to stand with strangers.

"Mill Girls"

 Then we went out for brunch where I asked them to smile if they had fun. Guess not.

This trip was a LOT of fun. We definitely plan on going back soon. There were lots of things we didn't get to see because we were on a time crunch.