Tape Resist Watercolor Paintings

The girls and I have had fun making tape resist watercolor paintings lately.  We had a rough couple of homeschooling weeks, and I realized that I needed to make more of an effort to read aloud more and do more art projects.  O(6) said she wants to do an art project EVERY day!  I don't think that's possible, but we'll try!

We did tape resist watercolor paintings 2 days in a row, and they really loved it...especially O.  We started by making their initials on cardstock using painters tape.

O(6) didn't like the O that I made, so she made her own.

We used homemade watercolors on the first day (that's another post that I'll write eventually).

E(3) was VERY happy with her E!

O(6) was a little disappointed with her O, but I love it!

On the 2nd day, O decided to paint a landscape and a house.  We used our liquid watercolors, and they were much better than our homemade watercolors.




Things got a little dicey when she was removing the tape because the paper tore a little.  Luckily, she was able to control her tears and found a way to make it all ok.  Phew!  (Lately, we've been talking a lot about handling our emotions in the face of disappointment...it's tough to be 6 and 3!)

All About Reading Level 2???

We've just started All About Spelling, and we really like it (we're only 2 lessons in).  I'm considering getting All About Reading (Level 2), but it's somewhat pricey.  I'm wondering if we need to do both...All About Spelling and All About Reading?  Any thoughts?

Lakeside Nature Study

Elliott found a teeny, tiny turtle in the lake a couple of weeks ago, and the girls were SUPER excited about their new "pet."  They named him "Turtle-ee."


We set up a small habitat for Turtle-ee and observed him for several hours. 

 The girls became very attached to Turtle-ee even though we made it very clear that Turtle-ee would be returned to the lake...eventually.


Evidently, Turtle-ee really wanted to be ours because he was still in our swimming area the morning after his release.  We spent another day observing him in his small habitat before putting the habitat under the pontoon where he escaped to freedom.  Luckily, the girls were happy that Turtle-ee had returned to his family and were not upset about his departure.

O's Poetry Journal

I ordered this poetry journal for O(6) from Lakeshore, and she LOVES it!


Sadly, she says that reading is her least favorite part of school, but she's always excited to read her poem of the week.  We read it together 2 or 3 times before she reads it on her own.  After reading it a couple of times, she usually memorizes it.  She LOVES for me to introduce her to her family and friends so that she can perform her poems!


She looks through the book each week to choose the poem that she wants to read next.  She read "Jellyfish" while we were at the beach, and she was SO proud to read a birthday poem to her daddy and E(3) during their birthday weeks!

Harvesting the Aquarium Garden

The girls were VERY excited to harvest the vegetables from our aquarium garden.  O(6) said "homegrown carrots are SO much better than store bought!"  And she is so right!


My plan to see the carrots growing below the soil in the aquarium garden did not work.  I'll buy a root-vue container one day.

"L" Week

E(3) enjoyed her "L" ABC Fun Pack that she received in the "mail."  (I put each fun pack in a box that is addressed to her and leave it on our porch for her to find on her own).  Here's a (not very good) picture of the items from E(3)'s "L" Fun Pack.  In the pack were 2 wooden lighthouses (from Michaels), organic lollipops, a growing lion, and printables from 1+1+1=1.  Both girls were VERY excited about the organic lollipops!


Both girls loved painting their lighthouses.  They gave them to their daddy for his birthday.




E(3) loves to use her dot painters on the printables. I'm not sure why she was using her forehead to push down on the painter...




She really likes the ABC mazes, and she's very good at them!


I taped a piece of contact paper (sticky side out) on one of our doors, and she and I had fun collecting leaves and making a leaf collage!  We learned the names of the trees and plants as we collected the leaves (she already knows more than I do in this area!).


She was especially excited about these mammoth Basil leaves!  She loves to smell them!


We had fun reading a Lion book.


She always enjoys tracing her sandpaper letters and matching objects to the letter.


We read the Amazing Action Alphabet story for L.  Both girls LOVE this book!


We made a lollipop tree for her birthday party.  She wasn't that interested in this activity, but O and I had fun!


She painted on her easel...she was painting something that started with an L, but I can't remember what it was.


She loves this little ladybug in a box.


We had fun exploring the items from the L phonics bag.  Both girls especially loved the lips whistle.


She dressed as Laura (Ingalls) and made butter.


She put her growing lion in a bowl of water and was excited to watch him grow!


She made lemonade while dressed as Laura.


We looked for lizards, saw lemurs at the aquarium, and played with legos (no pics of these activities!).  What a fun few weeks of L we had!

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