Adventures in Family: 2011

Friday, October 7, 2011

Adventures in MFW: Week 5

Here's a peek about what we learned about in Adventures this week

Bible: The memory verse for this week was John 8:12. We read other verses referencing Jesus as the Light of the World

Social Studies: The focus was Pilgrims this week. We learned about when they first arrived in America. The Pilgrims didn't have glass for windows so they oiled heavy paper instead. Buzz and Boo oiled paper and compared it to regular paper.

We made Pilgrim hats out of fudge strip cookies and mini Reese's cups. I saw the idea on To Show Them Jesus

We also learned about how Squanto taught the Pilgrims to plant fish along with corn seeds to help them grow. The Adventures manual had suggested planting corn seeds with fish as a hands on project, but I decided to go a different direction ;) Crushed up Oreos and chocolate pudding for the dirt, a yellow m&m for the seed and swedish fish for the fish.

We enjoyed our snack while watching "The Mayflower Voyagers" (Charlie Brown)

Science: We learned about stars this week. Buzz and Boo made constellations out of mini marshmallows and toothpicks. I saw this on To Show Them Jesus as well. Buzz loved doing it so much that he made every constellations he could find in our books and then made them all again for Daddy that evening!

Reading: Buzz started Dolphin Adventure this week

Boo finished The Reading Lesson this week!

She also started Andi's Fair Surprise

Read-Aloud: Henry Huggins

Extracurriculars/Family Stuff: Boo started taking horseback riding lessons last month and is totally in love! During her lesson this week the instructor let her ride off the lead rope for the first time (as in my little bitty five year old controlling a big horse all by herself!) She was beyond excited and proud!

Linked to MFW Highlights and Weekly Wrap-Up

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Bubble Snakes

I saw the fun idea to make a bubble snake maker on Come Together Kids and pinned it to Pinterest (which I may be slightly addicted to).

It was quick and easy and the kids had a great time! All you need to do is cut the bottom off of an empty water bottle, place a washcloth over the end and secure it with a rubber band. Dip the washcloth end in a mixture of Dawn and water and blow gently.

Buzz and Boo had a blast blowing bubble snakes and all three kids had fun chasing after them as they came off the end of the water bottle and flew away.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Adventures in MFW- Week 4

Here's a peek at what we learned about in Adventures this week:

Bible- The memory verse for this week was John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

To help us remember that Jesus is the Light of the World, Buzz and Boo both decorated candles that we set on the table and lit during dinner each night.

They also made lightswitch covers for their rooms

Social Studies- We learned about Native Americans this week by reading North American Indians. Both kids really enjoyed the book a lot! We also made model tepees and wigwams.

We have these Indian and Settlers toobs, so the kids used them along with the models to act out scenes.

Science- We talked about space and the kids were excited to share with me what they remembered from our space unit last year. The First Encyclopedia of Science is internet-linked and there were some fun links on the website that the they enjoyed checking out.

We also talked about gravity and did an experiment. We started with a nickel and a piece of tissue paper cut into the shape of a nickel. Both were dropped from the same height and we talked about why the nickel dropped faster.

Then we put the nickel and the tissue paper each in identical tupperware containers and dropped them. We talked about why even though the weights were different the two containers dropped at the same rate.

Reading-

Buzz finished The Littles this week

Boo is working on Andi's Indian Summer

Read-Aloud-

The Story of Dr. Dolittle

Extracurriculars/Family Stuff- In one of the classes that Buzz is taking at co-op they are learning about the Amazon Rainforest. The teacher told them last week to think about some fruits that might grow there. Buzz decided to do some research and make a poster to bring to class. He was so excited to bring it to share today!

Buzz also got his award for reading 100+ hours in the library summer reading program!

Linked to MFW Highlights and Weekly Wrap-Up

100+ Hour Reader!

This summer both Buzz and Boo participated in our library's reading program this summer. The rewards were earned for number of hours read instead of number of books read. Boo ended up reading 80 hours total and Buzz read 120 hours! All of the kids who reached 100 or more hours of reading by the end of the summer were invited for a special award ceremony this week. The librarians gave a speech about how kids who love to read can be reading ambassadors in their communities to help other kids who may not enjoy reading by sharing book suggestions. Each kid was asked to stand up front and share what their favorite book of the summer was and why. Buzz was really nervous about having to talk in front of so many people but he a great job!

Then the librarians handed out a certificate to each child.

Buzz was excited to be recognized for his love of reading and we are so proud of him! Way to go Buzz!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Great Wolf Lodge

Ruben is on leave this week so we decided it was time to head somewhere that we've been wanting to visit for years (ya know before we move away in two months and all): Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos.

We had originally planned to spend the better part of a week there but it was our first time staying all together in one hotel room since Bean was born and let's suffice it to say she's not a stellar sleeper even when she's in her own room so we decided to make it just a two day, one night mini-vacation.

As soon as we got checked in we took a look around before heading up to our room to put on our swim suits. I had requested a room on the top floor because I figured that way we wouldn't have to worry about people in the rooms above us jumping around and making a lot of noise. It worked out great!

Great Wolf provides life jackets for any child who needs one so we chose to have all of our kiddos wear them even though Buzz is a pretty good swimmer. Two parents, three kids, better safe than sorry. On our first day Buzz wanted to tackle the big water slides right away so he and Ruben headed off in that direction while I checked out some of the more tame attractions with the girls.

Boo loved the smaller water slides and the wave pool. I mostly just held Bean or she sat on my lap in the most shallow parts of the water. She isn't a big fan of water. After Buzz rode all of the slides that he was tall enough to ride (again and again and again), he begged me to go down a couple of them with him. I'm not a ride person at all, you'll never see me ride on a roller coaster and before this I had never been on a water slide, but Buzz was so excited that I just couldn't say no.

Ruben told me which slides weren't quite as fast and crazy as the rest and we started with those. I ended up having a lot of fun! We tried to convince Boo to try a couple of the slides but she wasn't feeling it so we left and got changed for dinner.

We ate at the at the lodge at the Loose Moose Cottage. There weren't a ton of options on the menu but we all found something that looked good and everyone enjoyed their meal.

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and loaded our bags back in the van. Check-out is at 11 but you are able to stay and use the water park until 4. We put our suits back on and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon having more water fun.

Boo decided that she would try a big water slide just once and as soon as she did she was hooked! She spent the rest of the day trying out each of the slides over and over again.