Laid Back Learnin'

I made the executive descision a couple months back to take the whole month of December off from school. Now, that's not to say we won't be doing any work, but just that it will be more flyin' by the seat of my skirt kinda learning. Reading lots of great books, doing some crafts and projects, letting the kids guide a little more and , of course, focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. I have been up to my eyeballs in crafting for the holidays. I have so many neat projects I want to do, that I'm making a new list every day. I have finally realized that I need to stop looking, settle down and focus and get to work or I'll never get it all done.
Today, we read "Mirette on the High Wire" and I introduced the kids to their story journals. I saw a similar idea like it on a blog that I can't remember. Instead of elaborate lapbooks, this mother bought some blank scrapbook notebooks and added only a few little mini books or pictures for each story (each book got it's own page). I really liked this idea, cause , although I love to do lapbooks, until my children can be more involved in the making part, it's too overwhelming and not as much fun as it ought to be. Well, then my sister , oh wise mamma as she is, suggested doing pockets instead. So....here's the collaboration of the two ideas. Just a regular cheap composition book with some cardstock pockets taped to the pages. A pack of index cards , glue sticks and an itchy Google Image Search finger later....voila! Self-guided learning at it's finest...




The cards have information written on the back so they'll make nifty little flash cards for more advanced readers, while even the littles can use the pics to jog their memory. We had Geography of France, Niagara falls, Bellini's travels , French landmarks, and French artist cards. I also threw in a little mini book on the circus that I found and they tuck them away in their little pockets. It's a very handy and more simple alternative to lapbooking. For a craft, we made torn paper collages ala Henri Matisse, a french artist we learned about. No post would be complete without an assortment of pictures of my kids...




Here's Chloe...eating....again. I know it must seem like that's all the kid does. Well, that's about right. Here she is with Lillie and Jack's rejected bowls of soup the other night. Chloe's kinda the clean up crew around here. Everyone gives her their scraps....:) Just for the record, she only ate her bowl and some of the next in line.Here's some pictures taken at Thanksgiving...If you're a PETA supporter, you might want to look the other way...this bird's been picked!






Tanner doing what he does best...riding on Jack!
Livy Grace doin what she does best...being too darn cute!

Hunter doing what he does best...cheesin' big time for the camera.

She even looks cute when she sweeps... The next generation of Kitchen Duty...

Don't let the looks fool you...they are rotten...and adorable.

This was the before dinner pic, I didn't take an after dinner cause it wasn't pretty...neither was the clean up!