66-67

We did a regular day of school last Tuesday, but I can't remember what any of it was! I think I read Cassie's Journey by Brett Harvey, The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen, and The Fourth Question by Rosalind C. Wang. Probably there was more, but I can't think of it now. And of course math and spelling. Over the weekend E got to bake some cupcakes with the little mini set she bought with her birthday money.

Today we started with Polar Bear, Why is Your World Melting? by Robert E. Wells, then Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner, and Warm as Wool by Scott Russell Sanders. While we were on the subject of wool, we looked at a little folder with samples of wool at different stages of manufacture that I got free from Pendleton. Then I read The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in Imperial China by Joanna Cole. After lunch and spelling I read I Know How My Cells Make Me Grow by Kate Rowan and then E did math. Over the weekend we did a lot of getting-ready-for-Christmas stuff, like making an advent wreath at church and making paper chains to keep track of how long until Christmas (and keep T from pestering me: "Is it tomorrow, Mommy?") and we started listening to the serial radio program (from the 1930's) "The Cinnamon Bear" which we got from homeschoolradioshows.com.

24-26

My computer's been acting up.

Wednesday: piano lesson and then we went to the beach for a "not back-to-school party" with other area homeschoolers. Lots of fun!

Thursday: should have gotten more done, but I was in a very very bad mood due to the computer. Started Westward Expansion with The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal by Cheryl Harness, and E did spelling and math. We also watched part of an extremely lame movie about ancient India. Very disappointing.

Friday: art class for E and tumbling for T, then in the afternoon E and I made an elaborate and yummy Indian dinner.

80

This morning we had a field trip to see/hear the Imani Winds quintet. It was pretty good, though T was restless and annoying in that special way only a 3 year old can be. It's a gloomy day, and on the way home E said "Can we not do school today?" and I said "Sounds good to me." Of course, we might just make scones (home ec, math) read a book (lang arts) or play Fast Track (math). But that's not school, right?

18

This morning E and T were playing so nicely together, I just couldn't break them up. So they got out all their winter gear and went outside to play winter (it was about 75 degrees out there, but what the heck...). I got some cooking and laundry done, and if E didn't learn much, T did. A big sister is the best preschool teacher around, if you ask me, and he just loves to learn everything she wants to share with him.

Then finally it was time to come in and dress more appropriately to the weather, and I read some more of Platt's _Egyptian Diary_, then we put together a mummy case (I got the pattern from The Egyptians by Rachel Wright). E is going to decorate it with markers and hieroglyphic stamps (from the Ancient Egypt Treasure Chest) and then we'll "mummify" a doll I got at the dollar store and stick her in. During lunch I read the last chapter of Lacey's _What's the Difference?_ (turtles and tortoises) and a few more sections of Dewey's _Antarctic Journal_. E finally finished her math, (with help from her cuisenaire rods) and then she baked cookies, doing all the recipe reading and figuring herself.

I let T watch Peep and the Big Wide World on the computer (E watched too) Now she is downstairs hopefully finishing the Draw Write Now page from eons ago. Finishing not a big priority with this girl.