Monday, October 27, 2008

Pumpkin Time and Jumping in the Hay


Every year we take Esme to the same spot to choose a pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern. Today she learned that pumpkins are actually a fruit and that the average pumpkin weighs twelve pounds. Last year was the first time she was big enough to jump in the hay pile, and today she had it all to herself. I think that was her favorite part!

Our First Ever Halloween Party


Esme's Halloween party was a big success! She had 5 guests. They made Halloween fairies out of fabric samples, cardstock, vellum wings, sequins, and buttons. They made their own pizzas, played a couple rounds of pass-the-pumpkin, and of course had plenty of time to just play together! We loved having everyone over - it was a great time!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Homeschooling this month.....

We finished up our homeschooling State Park series with a very cool trip. We visited a center that has dioramas of habitats all the way from the ocean up through the forest, following a local river. The interpreter walked the kids through each diorama and showed them little hidden secrets along the way.

Esme is playing soccer again - she is on a different team this season and the games are just starting now. I am worried that it is going to be COLD by the time we finish! She is loving ballet and has attended bring-a-friend-to-dance classes with both Kaitlyn and Sarah. I am pretty impressed how quickly she has learned to remember the different ballet positions.

She is also continuing with Daisy Girl Scouts, and we have starting preparing for our mitten drive. We wanted to offer something back to the library since they let us meet there for free, and the children's librarian suggested that we work together to do this. Last week we made posters and this week we'll make the actual tree.

Esme is continuing in the Math curriculum we chose and progressing nicely. She is also doing very well with her Bob books - I can see that we'll have to purchase the next set soon. However, she is resistant to trying to read anything but those books, so that is something we will be working on in the coming weeks.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Dinosaurs


We decided to check out the dinosaur tracks in town in preparation for sending our Summer/Fall box to Nebraska. I was so proud because Esme said, "Shouldn't we read about dinosaurs before we go?" She found a book about dinosaurs from her library and we read all about their life cycles, how they ate, what they ate, etc. Then we grabbed some crayons and paper and headed down to the tracks. They were amazing! We found three very distinct types, and read that they were created approximately 190 million years ago. This was a fun side lesson for all of us!