Beginning of May

The beginning of May was busy! Our pup got spayed so we spent lots of time loving on her.

The kids went to a comic book store on free comic book day.

 

 We finally hit the beach for the first time in nearly two years!

 

The water was cold, the day not so sunny...

but it was beautiful and relaxing nonetheless!

We walked around a bit until we found the overpriced fried dough we all so desperately wanted. The kids wanted theirs drenched in chocolate. Cait, who isn't a big chocolate lover, ended up hating hers and I (very) grumpily gave her my beautiful powdered sugar fried dough, and tossed hers in the trash.

 The kids attended their weekly gym class. 

 

 

 

 J & C took math work to the library, while I worked on my final assignments for school.

 They finished just in time to make maracas for 5 de mayo.

 Lots of floor hockey pics!

           

 

 

 And finally, the kids earned a new stripe on their karate belts!

 

End of April!

April finished off with a book club meeting for our book of the month Follow My Leader. In this book a freak accident leaves a young boy, James, blind. He has to relearn everyday skills he once knew how to do, such as getting dressed, pouring a drink, and even walking around his home! After he has mastered all of this he gets a guide dog of his own, Leader, who helps him on his journey to independence.

Jayden was sick so it was just Cait and I for book club.

After discussing the book the kids had to do several activities blindfolded, to get a tiny glimpse of what Jimmy's life was like. They played "Pin the tail on the Leader".

They had to transfer water from a small jug to a cup without spilling it or overfilling the cup.

They drew self portraits with their eyes closed.

They had to sort through outfits and figure out what the code was for matching outfits. In the book James had a method for selecting matching outfits. For the activity, outfits were sorted based on matching paperclips that were attached.

And finally, a table was set up with various items that could only be identified using every sense but sight.

More April!

In history we have been working on Ancient Rome. Key words we learned are empire, roman numerals, forum, and toga.

Jayden had his final writing class of the school year. They worked on some of the uses and cases of pronouns, including pronoun reference issues. They also talked about what the entries in the dictionary actually mean, how to use the pronunciation guides, and compared dictionaries to see how they differ.

Caitlin started her instructional floor hockey league! She picked her t-shirt number... #1. Anyone else surprised?

 

This month the kids went to their first ever (drop off) camp day. Thankfully I was working so I didn't get to be that nervous mom that dropped them off and lurked in the bushes. Instead, Juan dropped them off and they had a BLAST! It is an outdoor science program with it's own private lake! I was able to get these pictures from their facebook page, and it was comforting to see candid, happy shots of them!

The kids worked on a unit called "Lake Ecology". They explored the water cycle, water sheds, and water conservation.  

 Here the kids are having a "water cycle dance off". 

 

They even got to go on the lake! Caitlin went in a canoe and Jayden went by himself (cue my heart attack here) in a kayak!

During one of the classes this month a lot of kids were out, so the kids got to practice new moves with a smaller teacher/student ratio.

 Jayden and Caitlin started doing some Khan Academy, practicing math online.

 We also started a new challenge. The kids have to make healthy choices every day, including fruit, veggies, and exercise. If they complete all three tasks daily they get to fill in a happy face on a chart I made them. They can cash in their 7 happy faces on Sundays for ice cream! Here they are eating a grain free paleo chicken pot pie. Instead of broccoli I used sweet green peas, but it was delicious! Jayden thought it was "so so" but ate it anyway, and Juan liked it enough as well.

 Here is Jayden's floor hockey practice pics this week.

 

 And finally, here are their gym class pics. The kids played dodge ball, capture the flag, and tag.