Cheddar or Cheater

Yesterday the boys sneaked into the candy dish sometime during the day. I usually work with them one at a time while the other does chores, and then they switch up. I think the sneaking must have occurred by each while I was concentrating on schoolwork with the other.
I noticed very quickly during Jonathan's seatwork time that he was not concentrating and was being very hyper. So I checked the candy jar and it had an obvious "dent" in it! Yes, they both admitted. "I had five" Justin said. "I had 3", said Jonathan.

It always affects Jonathan the most.

I was telling Michael about it when he got home and during suppertime we had "Mexican meat cups". The bag of shredded cheese was sitting on the table and Jonathan was trying to read what the bag said. He said "chee-dar" (instead of cheddar). He then said, "What if God is making that bag point at me and say "cheater" since I didn't try to do my schoolwork today?".
After I composed myself and stopped laughing I assured him that it said "cheddar" and that "no, God isn't calling you a cheater because you were hyper".

Safety

Today we read a book called Safe at Home. It discusses fire safety in one section and general home safety in the other section. It is more interesting than just a regular text book because it is in story form. It is story about a family who made their apartment complex safer.

We also had a fire drill (which the boys enjoyed immensely!). The boys pretended to be in bed and then I pushed the smoke alarm. The first test was really funny because they ran through the house, but I made them do it again. I explained to them that we do not panic or run but that we walk quickly. We discussed our meeting place in the back yard.

We also reviewed different things you should do in different situations (Crawling on the floor, feeling the door to see if it is hot, breaking windows to get out if the door is jammed(or hot), fire prevention techniques, etc.)

Overall our fire safety study went well and the boys enjoyed it much more than I imagined that they would. We will continue to discuss more safety issues in the future and review what we have learned regularly to make sure they remember what to do.

Homeschool P.E.

How in the world, do we as home-schoolers do Physical education?

Well, one thing we are teaching our children is how to live in the real world. Do most grown-ups play sports outside everyday? Well, no... of course not.

Do most grown ups have an early morning fitness routine? Probably not.

So, how do I teach my kiddos to have a good fitness routine?

By having an early morning fitness routine!!!

Get up. Eat & Groom. Devotions.

Exercise that includes the following:

1.Stretching
2.Sit ups
3.Push ups
4.Jumping Jacks
5.Leg lifts
6.Jogging, hopping, & skipping around the house. :-) This is great fun!


On sunny days, there is a back yard and a great park nearby.


On rainy days, sniffly-runny nose days (like today), or days when it is freezing:

How about a great game of Tupperware lid hockey???

This is where you take all the round Tupperware lids you can find (in my case some that do not go with anything) and try to hit them with a floor scrubber or broom.

The Tupperware lids must past under the chair legs.

Jonathan & Ryan , the goalies, are fearless when it comes to protecting their goal.

Justin is learning that a floor scrubber or broom makes a great hockey stick!

Update:

We took 2 days off school this week just to have some breather time. I needed to catch up on some housework, and the boys enjoyed just playing and relaxing. SCCA is having their fall break this week too, except they are starting with half a day Wednesday and taking Thursday & Friday off. But I felt like we needed it at the beginning of the week, so we took it then.

Believe it or not, that little "break" was just what I needed. I woke up today ready for school to start back again! One of my favorite things about "doing school" is taking each child aside and cuddling him while we study "facts" together. I love seeing that light of understanding dawn on his face after I explain something. I love watching his profile as he reads. It is hard to explain, but it's something I wouldn't want to trade.

We are still studying the character trait "attentiveness" in the morning before we start seat-work and the 3 R's.
I know I am spending a lot of time on it, but I think it's important!

The other day, I did google search on the word "attentiveness", and I found a lot of interesting things. One website, called "Character First" had a definition page, a story page, an analogy page and then a poem. Interestingly, they used a deer for the analogy. I think it's pretty funny because Michael picked up on the deer analogy and we used it a long time ago. They also had a story about Abraham Lincoln (my boys love reading about him).
I liked following the poem well enough to print out, and I am teaching it to the boys:

Attentiveness:

I will look at someone speaking
And I'll listen all I can.
I will sit or stand up straight
Like a soldier on command.
I will not draw attention;
I will guard against distraction.
I will learn to ask the questions
That will help me understand.

There is more to the poem, but I thought the rest of the poem was silly/unnecessary so I am just
teaching the part above.

I bought a book awhile back called Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. I copied this picture and the one of the other book from Amazon.com so that's why it says "click to look inside". If you really want to look inside you will have to go to Amazon.com and click their picture. :-)



I believe I mentioned it in a post before.
I had started reading it in the mornings to the boys, but laid it aside for awhile. I started it again today. It's cute since it is written by siblings for siblings. There are all types of cute cartoons through the book. The first cartoon is of a cat and dog fighting over dinner. The boys really like it so far. From the reviews I have read it tackles the subject in the light of having a servants' heart. That is what I hope to accomplish through the reading it to them.