We should have baby bluebirds in a few days. We’ve never had the mama stay on her nest when we tried to monitor, so we’re not sure how many eggs she ended up laying. I don’t know if she’s just more of a nervous nelly or if the weather being cooler has required more of her time.

Or maybe so. I’ve rediscovered the Peggy Kaye books (Games for Reading, Games for Math, Games for Writing, Games for Learning and Games with Books). I got them from the library but we are having so much fun with them that I had to order them from Amazon. I’ve really noticed that while I’m extending our “school” time by planning games, the kids really look forward to them and are learning from them. This week we played a writing game where we took turns rolling the dice and the number you rolled determined how many words you added to a group story. Even little A, my reluctant writer enjoyed playing. We are also playing sight word concentration with those difficult words for J like was/saw and went/want to help her practice telling them apart. I’ve already seen progress–at first she couldn’t tell the difference between them when they were side by side but she is really starting to now.

J has also been practicing a lot of addition with the addition strip board I made from http://www.montessorimaterials.org/math.htm#add

We’re starting to learn about Mexico. J is combining her new love of writing and her love of coloring/scrapbooking/crafting and has started a book about Mexico. Little A has NO interest in that, but he is enjoying the stories about the Mayans and the Aztecs. They are both asking a lot about speaking Spanish so we’ve been looking up words. I’ve come across some wonderful books by searching through the online library system. Oh how I love to be able to click on that “request hold” button on ANYTHING that looks remotely interesting. It is like a virtual shopping cart but I don’t have to pay the bill. Well, except for those pesky late fees. Next week my Chef little A hopes to make some Mexican food–especially some salsa. We made some before but it wasn’t quite enough like the stuff at his favorite restaurant.

Little A told me tonight while I was tucking in that the numbers are just everywhere and that he loves them and that he is a mathmaniac. He started rambling on about adding zeros to numbers and started adding up large numbers and telling me how he does it–such dreamy rambling. Yesterday we read Katy No-Pocket and then did a “game” about the concept of multiplication drawing pockets and adding pieces of Easter candy to each one. Heaven—math and candy.

My big mathmaniac finished the last chapter of Mathemataics a Human Endeavor this week. But there’s an appendix with more stuff! This week was all about cutting up Moebius strips and comparing the results of different numbers of twists. We all got into predicting what the final shape would be. It was interesting ot listen to little A and J’s ideas about what they predicted and why.

Even J got into math this week. I thought she was ready to try some addition without manipulatives and so we worked on a few of the more simple problems. She got them fairly easily and was so excited that the answers were popping into her brain. Working out problems in her head is quite a challenge and I was trying to help her visualize in her head. She gave me such a blank look when I asked her to try to form a picture in her head—I think she just experiences things so differently. She still occasionally has no problem deciding that the number 4 is a reasonable answer to 8+5, but her number sense seems to be developing a bit. Flushed with her success she grabbed up a pile of flashcards and recopied a bunch of problems to make her own set of flashcards for her room. Sigh—I hate flashcards and never use them but when some turn up, she is way more excited about them than she was with the Katy No-Pocket game—and trust me if it involves candy she’s into it.

Still reading poetry here. J has borrowed the poetry book and keeps copying down random verse on scraps of paper and leaving them around the house for me to find (and inevitably ponder the significance of). Then yesterday she sat down and wrote several sentences with mostly reasonable spelling in about two minutes. This was so huge for her. All the writing, even though most of it wasn’t even being read has really helped the writing process gel in her brain. Her usual constant singing—generally one never ending ballad highlighting her day moment by moment–has even taken on a bit of poetic rhythm.

Trying to get back into the habit of jotting down what we’re reading every week or so.

On my nightstand:
Games for Learning, Peggy Kaye
Games with Books, Peggy Kaye
Dog Days, Anna Marie Cox (haven’t started)
Just finished Marley and Me, John Grogan
Waiting for: Frommer’s Cancun, Cozumel and the Yucatan (Yes that means we will actually be going somewhere this year!!!)

A’s Bookshelf:
Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Shakespeare Stealer, Gary Blackwood
Tales from Shakespeare, Tina Packer
Waiting for Starlight, by Erin Hunter and Guide to Owning a Sugar Glider

In J and little A’s book basket:
Poetry Speaks to Children
Pirates
The New How Things Work
Human Body Explorer
Fifty Great Stories Retold
Geography Pop Up Book (much loved)
They’re reading: Frog and Toad Together and Frog and Toad All Year.

In the car audiobook:
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, Gail Carson Levine
Next up: Secret Garden

We have a bluebird nest box that we monitor in our yard. We submit our data to the Birdhouse Network. We’ve been noticing nest building activity and yesterday A checked and we have two eggs!

We were sitting on the patio tonight watching the full moon rise and listening to the owls call in the distance and a memory from last summer hit me full in the heart. It was in June, very late and as dh and I were going up to bed we saw flashes of light outside in the night. There were literally hundreds of fireflies and it looked like a net of stars blinking in the shadows of the tree branches. I snuck into A’s room and carried him outside and we lay in the hammock, looking up. He was just this side of sleep and lay with his cheek next to mine, that earthy little boy scent all around and we watched the flickering glow. I felt a little guilty sharing this moment with him while the other two slept, but then I realized that moment was just ours. He spoke a little, in a quiet voice so unlike his exhuberant daytime voice. We watched for a while until I could hear from the sound of his breathing that he had gone back to sleep. The next day he hesitantly asked me if I’d taken him outside during the night. I said yes and he said he was glad it was real and not a dream and he gave me a kiss and ran off to play.

J is in love with “her” new horse at the stable. She is sure that underneath that grubby winter coat is one shiny as a copper penny. The instructors and volunteers all say that Red has the sweets for my J and they are really starting to work together well. He was a rescue horse so he’s still a bit skinny, but he’s a sweetie. I get asked every day if it is riding lesson day.

Yup, the chicks never hatched. My current theory is that they got too cold on the drive home from the 4H center. It was unseasonably chilly that day and I think even with the heater on in the car it got too cold. The kids were very sad. The 4H had an “oh well” attitude and were not the least bit helpful. Good thing we started with eggs rather than goats or anything.

On a lighter note, there is full blown nesting activity in the bluebird nestbox and A is checking it every other day or so to see if any eggs have been laid.

And, though we can’t keep chicken eggs alive, the sounds coming from my chimney are making me concerned that we have bats. Eeek. I’m afraid to open the fireplace grate door to see for sure.