Weekends are for

Brunch

Skypeing with family in New York, Mississippi, and Scotland.

And last but not least, some local roller derby.

 

Until next time.....

~Kayte

From the yard

Fall has unmistakably settled onto our little plot of earth. This may be the last weekend to enjoy the outdoors for any extended period of time. So to mark the passage of time, I couldn't help bundling myself up and heading out to snap a few pictures.

Until next time...

~Kayte

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  A la SouleMama, Head on over and join in the comments, there are so many great moments.

  Until next time.......

Kayte

stART & Money Week Part Two

Today we talked about money from around the world. They had a really fun time comparing the foreign money I set out for them with our own.

Then I printed copies of paper money for them to play a matching game with. This ended up being too hard for Mateos because of the amount of detail in the pictures. But Jael and Ezra really got into it. 

For stART this week we are working off of all three of the books we read.

The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money by Stan & Jan Berenstain

One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money by Bonnie Worth

Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst

So instead of doing one project we did two.

First we painted new banks for their money. I found these plaster banks at Michael for 4 dollars each. Over all a little pricey for a craft project considering I also had to buy more paint. But it was simple and therefore made my life easier. 

Our next project was the General Store. 

This is probably my favorite activity from the week. I emptied out a cabinet that had board games in it for our store. The kids and I had so much fun setting up our products and then selling them to each other. We had clothes, food, toys, books and magazines. They each had to use the money I had given them at the beginning of the week to “buy” things. It was the perfect opportunity for them to use what they had been learning about money. 

  Until next time.......

Kayte

P.S. I've also linked this up at  Read.Explore.Learn.

Brothers

Sometimes sweet, usually silly. Watching them together makes me smile. One of those inward ones born of contentment. Ezra was three when we traveled across the Atlantic to Addis Abba to meet his brother for the first time. Mateos was a shell shocked one year old taken from everything familiar by a funny looking woman who was now calling herself mama.

From the beginning, Ezra's gentle disposition and affectionate nature drew Mateos out of his shell. When Mateos cries Ezra usually does too. And when Ezra tickles him Mateos always laughs. People still sometimes ask if they are brothers when we are out. My heart always constricts at this question. Worried that this may be the day they understand why people might assume they are not. Thankfully that day hasn't come yet even though I know it eventually will. For now they just smile and answer yes.

Growing up with only sisters has given me an appreciation for the bond between brothers. They can fight tooth and nail one moment and be off on an adventure the next.

It's moments like this that make me feel so grateful to be their mother.

Until next time.......

Kayte

Money Week

I've found that homeschooling with multiple age groups takes a little extra planning. But it's very important to me to find ways to involve everyone in learning. So each week I choose a theme that can be fitted to each child's developmental level and learning style. We all seem to get along better when we have activities to share.

This week I chose Money as our theme. It lined up nicely with what the older two were doing in math. The books for this week are:

The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money by Stan & Jan Berenstain

One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money by Bonnie Worth

Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst

So far we've done some coloring pages.

And learned a fun poem.

             Coins

Penny, penny,
Easily spent
Copper brown
and worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel,
Thick and fat,
You're worth five cents.
I know that.

Dime, dime,
Little and thin,
I remember,
You're worth ten.

Quarter, quarter
Big and bold,
You're worth twenty-five
I am told!

Half dollar, Half dollar
The biggest coin
You are worth fifty cents
And hard to find!

The kids have been receiving an allowance for a few months now and are really into the concept of purchasing. So I gave them each a Ziploc bag of coins to carry with them all day. I told them that throughout the day certain things were going to cost money and they each had to pay out of those coins

 

Here is Ezra paying for his lunch. 

We've all found it to be quite a fun activity. It's helping Mateos recognize the different sizes and colors of the coins while Ezra continues to learn their values. I've been challenging Jael by asking her to make change and adding prices together. Tomorrow I think we will cover foreign currency. Time to start looking for all the souvenir money I've saved from traveling.

Until next time.......

Kayte

The Halloween Post

For weeks costumes have been worked on; ideas pulled from magazines and cook books. The excitement was at fever pitch yesterday morning and culminated in a fantastic party. The morning was spent situating the last of the decorations.

After everything was set arranged we needed a snack to get our energy up. So as our guests arrived we all congregated around the candy bar.

A little creepy reading was in order. And no Halloween is complete without some Edward Gorey.

Then we mucked it up for the camera.

Trick or treating was hilarious. Ezra kept walking up to every person he saw saying “I’m Napoleon!” In the loudest voice her could muster. Needless to say Napoleon and Marie Antoinette were quite a hit with the neighbors. Mateos ended up being a knight. Or as he told most people “an eeevvviiilll knight.” The Mr. and I were just having too much fun at this point to get many pictures.

Dinner was a simple affair.

With bloody cupcakes for dessert.

All of our guests played clue. And I got to hang out with my nephew on his first Halloween.

All in all it was a success.

I woke up this morning with the remnants of a wonderful night that needed to be cleaned away, but not before I snapped a picture for the memory.

Happy November everyone. Now bring on Thanksgiving!

Until next time.......

~Kayte