First lapbooks of the year!

The boys have each finished their first lapbooks of the year and wanted to share.

Tot did a Hermie and Wormie tot book :) He loves the Max Lucado characters and their movies!

Rex did a Knights lapbook...

 He really liked lining up the timeline...

Captain is doing Confession of a Homeschooler's Scientists and Inventors study this year.  We take about a month for each inventor and complete the lapbook. We purchased all of the books for each (he LOVES this series.  They are very informative and have funny cartoons too.  He reads them over and over.  We used them for artists last year and are using the composers for co-op this year.) We finished the first one last week...

That's all for today!  God bless :)

Asia Continent Box and challenge!

Last year I tried to put together some continent boxes and study one continent per month.  Well, it only lasted about 3 continents!!!  Such is life.  So this year I'm hoping to accomplish it!  I saw Carissa's Continent Box Challenge and thought the kids would love it....and was I right!  So much more exciting to have a 'challenge'!  They can earn prizes for filling in X number of boxes.  I didn't want to spend money on prizes so they're easy like "2 hours computer time", "candy bag" (to eat as fast or slow as they want - put together by mom of course), and the highest is "2 nights up late"!  They LOVED it :)  Funny how exciting the little things are :)  I couldn't get Carissa's pdf's to be rewritable, so my husband made me blank templates to fill in.

I would love to collect items from various continents over the years, because we don't have any now...just books and activities...

Captain has to fill in all boxes to get the top prize, and Rex less.  The boxes range from super easy (find on globe, color a flag)  

to more time consuming (completing pin map).

I got most of my printables from Montessori Print Shop and some others elsewhere free online.

Tot always wants in on the action so here he is matching up the Asian animal 3 part cards.

That's all the pictures I got of our Asia study :)  I am using it alongside Erica's Expedition Earth for Captain.  We love it. They even get a passport with their picture on it and we stamp each country we 'visit'  Each week we focus on a different country and the continents last about 6 weeks so it's perfect! It helps involve the other two in learning about the continents.  Honestly, if I tried to get them to do "extra school" without the challenge, no one would want to! Of course :)  But the challenge makes it exciting to earn prizes :)  It's some work on my part, but I'll keep it from year to year so it's worth it! Fun, fun, fun...

First Reconciliation!....already!

How is my sweet Captain getting so old?  Wasn't he just born?  He's turning out to be such a wonderful little man and I'm so proud of him.  I can't believe I'm even writing that he's received his First Reconciliation!  I find a hard time finding words to express what I felt the moment he was first in the confessional...

 after his first penance...

Proud, proud mama!

opening some of his presents from his teacher and a sweet little lady prayer partner whom we've never met.  He was the only one to receive one from this 'prayer partner'! He was very excited! 

They held a pizza party for them :)

Here he is putting the finishing touches on his Confession lapbook (purchased at www.catholicfilefolders.com - they have a ton of beautiful ones for all the sacraments and more).  He finished the little First Memories book. My favorite - one statement said "After my first confession I felt..." and he put "like there was the biggest party going on in my heart"!!!! He kept saying that for the whole first day! So sweet.  He loves it and wants to go every week (how I pray for that grace to continue!)!

I made him his first brown scapular.  I've never made one before, but Shower of Roses posted these beautiful handmade ones on etsy and I thought "I can do that!" :)  I had all of the materials that I bought 12 years ago when I was in college to make for them missions....ummm...that never happened.  It turned out nicely - he loved it!  He's going to be enrolled on Friday by Fr. W...We read the whole story (which I learned a lot too) and I fell more in love with my scapular!

Have a wonderful, warm, beautiful spring week! yeah!

Our Dr. Seuss week

The beginning of the week I posted that we were going to do a Dr. Seuss week for his birthday.  It was a lot of fun!  Here's some highlights...(tons of pics, so I'll try to not write much to make it a little shorter)

Reading Horton Hears a Who with our Who ears..

 Rex using his 'big Horton ears' to pick up the letter as I made the sound.

lots of Seuss worksheets..

 ...measuring things around the house with our feet...

 ...clothespinning the correct number of apples...

 ...'atch' sound eggs on Horton's nest...

 I loved Captain's writing project...making his own crazy animal for "If I Ran the Zoo" :)

 (above) Tot found roll and graph..
(below) reading Yertle the Turtle and making our turtles...

 At the end of one day with our ears on watching a 1970 Warner Brothers "Horton Hears a Who" on youtube (it was really good).

Playing "The Cat in the Hat" board game I bought  long time ago for .50 and never played...super fun.
Rex had to spins in two circles with the fan under his right arm.

 Captain walking backwards around the trickamastick with a book between his elbows.

 Tot trying to feel he was playing too.  He'd just grab something and do something funny.

 ..slide under with a rake on your chest..

 ...hop over it with a boat under your chin...

 He kept putting it under his chin and walking to the kitchen and back :)

..and finally our opening day zoo trip :) Yeah!

 Dr Seuss coloring..

 Captain wore his thing 1 and thing 2 shirt I picked up last week for .25 :)

 Tot following along with her reading :)

 So happy!

 ..and a little more zoo fun :)

 We got to feel a lion's mane hair :)

 Learning about monkeys..

 Tot was AMAZED!!!

 The monkey's snacks...

...and that's it!!! Sorry for all the pics.  I tried to keep it quick!  Have a great week!