We always have a veryshortspring.

So whenever I could, I tried to move the "classroom" out of doors, and take advantage of the cool morning air.  As we speak, the highs of the day are in the 100s and although it is about 11:30PM right now, the temperatures are still in the 80s. Seriously.

 

ANYWAY, back to the matter of you and er, "school".  I can't bring myself to say that we are "homeschooling", because I have no experience whatsoever, and whatever it is that I am actually doing, seems so inadequate. ( I AM trying, though. )

But you, my boy, are learning by leaps and bounds, and actually read our bedtime stories to me. :)  And when we do our "lessons", you actually read the instructions.

One of the books we did in the Spring ( I know it isn't officially summer yet, but has anyone told the weather that? ) was "The Story about Ping", which was about a little Pekin duck who lived in a boat house, and his (mis)adventures.

We did several "outdoor" activities tied to the story, including a "Will it Sink or Will if Float" experiment,

a "Why ducks don't get wet" experiment,

and did a little bit of origami, folding a little sailboat, and drawing "wise eyes" on him.

You are also starting to want to spell just about everything by sounding out the word.

Here's you spelling HOSPITAL ( or HOSPITL phonically ), all by yourself when I wasn't looking.

Like, Woah!

Literature as a Toddler/Preschooler

I don't remember if I have mentioned that we are doing work based loosely on the BFIAR curriculum.  We are reading books in the recommended book list, and doing activities which ties in with the books.  We are also still working on 'riting, reading and 'rithmetic at the same time.

Does all of that seem too much for someone who is barely 4 years and 1 1/2 months old? Well, you seem to just soak it all up, and love love "school time" :)

Recently we read "Katy No Pocket", and so we tied in learning some simple things about Australia and the continents,

Learnt about some Australian animals,

And tried our hand at some Aboriginal dot painting. :)

We are also doing some simple time-telling exercises.  Right now we are merely learning the "hours", but we aren't in that much of a hurry, are we? :)

Adventures in the Woods and Beyond....

A few weeks ago ( while you were still sporting the Jon Snow hairdo ), we ventured off with the dogs to Abilene State Park for you AND the dogs to romp.

You, my boy, seemed to thrive on the open spaces and ran about exploring everything.  You were most curious about the yurts.  Even though we have been here when you were younger, you said you didn't recall ever being there before.  I'll have to show you some blog posts or show you the photos when we get a chance :)

 

Having said that, you also like little nooks where you can have a secret hiding space :)  We found a little shaded area surrounded by short trees/shrubs, which you immediately claimed as "The Secret Hiding Place".

On our way home through Buffalo Gap, we passed by Jim Ned school.  It was after school hours - or maybe it was a Saturday? - and so there was no one there.  We parked and your eyes widened when you saw that there was a never-been-to-before playground to explore. :)

We didn't realise that we would be playing in an area where the ground would be little rocks, so you spent a little bit of time removing little pebbles from your shoes, showing off your dexterity and nimble little fingers when it came to the velcros and whatnot.

You have been adamant about doing a lot of things by yourself as far as I can remember, and you are getting really good at a bunch of them :)

Playground Discovery

First off, there's going to be some discrepancy in hair lengths in the next few blog posts, I'm certain.  All this because I've been really bad about posting events from last month.  Meanwhile, there's been a haircut as well as a trim on top of that :)

ANYWAY, we were going somewhere the other day, and ended up trying to find out where some really heavy black smoke was coming from.  The smoke er, settled before we could find out where it was coming from, and ended up discovering a playground we had never been to before :)

It was close to Dyess Airforce Base, with a large compound, which we walked all around.

 

Stay gold, little boy :) 

Stay gold. :)

Do you know the Cookie Man

We are reading the books that are recommended by BFIAR, and a few weeks ago, we did Corduroy.  One of the  things that I saw on Pinterest that other mothers/educators were doing to tie in to the book was making Button Cookies.  We had some Ginger Bread Cookie mix in the house, and so we donned on your Chef's hat and got you working on some baking :)

Well Child Visit

We were at the doctor's office a couple of days ago for your 4 yr old well child visit with Dr. Wiley.

Don,t I look tough with them shades and Angry Birds er, temporary Tattoos :P

I had told you the night before that we were doing that, and so you weren't too anxious or anything.   The visit went well enough.... you weighed in at 45lbs ( 95th percentile ) and measured 43 3/4 inches in height ( 97th percentile ).

I mean, look this one screen capture.  You're OFF THE CHARTS! lol

 

However, at the end of the visit, when you found that you had to have shots, you were quite apprehensive.  It didn't make things any better that you had to lay down with me holding your arms and hugging you to me while some strange ( well, you know what I mean ) lady poked you THREE times with a needle.

:(

You wailed for less than a minute, and when I told you how brave you were, you tearfully shook your head and said, "No, mummy, I wasn't brave. I cried."

Awwwww... I then told you that you WERE brave, because even after being told that you needed your shots, you didn't bail or run away screaming or anything like that.  Yes, you were anxious and scared, but you were still very brave :).

When we were getting you ready to go to bed that night, you were a little tearful remembering the day's events, and said, "Mummy, I don't like going to the barber shop. I don't want to go to the barber shop again."

I think this was because you were still thinking about the "Small Potatoes" video we had watched while at the doctor's waiting room.

I was going, "Er, do you mean the doctor's office?".  You giggled a little and said, "Oh yeah, the doctor's office."

We love you, little boy, and are glad that you are growing big and strong and yet remain the sweetest little boy ever. :)

"Mommy, What kind of Food Monster is this?"

Oh, the stress of having to produce AND name Food Monsters for just about every meal - but especially breakfast.

HOY.