School is going well this year. Our days have been flowing well, and the girls are really having quite a bit of fun with most everything that we do.  I haven't posted in awhile, so I have quite a lot of pictures that I want to share. I won't go into a lot of details about everything, but I will just briefly share something about what each picture is about.

In this picture Odessa was learning about clouds. We also (not shown in this picture) soaked a cotton ball with water, and talked about how when the clouds get heavy with water, that is when it begins to rain.

We talked about how when the Isrealites were in the dessert, they lived off of manna, and quail that God sent down from heaven. Here is a picture of Odessa flying her "quail" that she made. Of course Sophie and Nadia also wanted to make a quail.

We talked about how Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to talk to God and bring down the 10 commandments. When he came down he saw the people worshiping a golden calf. The girls made their own edible golden calfs out of peanutbutter playdough... well Dessa did. The other girls mostly just ate theirs.

Another day we made edible soil, and used different foods to talk about what the different layers of soil are like.

We talked about how spies went into Jerico and stayed with Rahab. The spies told Rahab they would spare her life when they came to take the city. Odessa created her own "wall of Jerico." She painted in the mortar between the bricks and then put at red rope on the wall to represent the rope that Rahab would hang, so that the Israelites whould know where she was.

One day as part of a math lesson I taped shapes on the floor for the girls. We talked about the differences in each shape and the girls walked around them and jumped in them. Sophie and Nadia had the most fun with this.

For science one day we descussed different types of grasses. I gave Dessa a paper that she made into three different sections. In one section she drew green grass. In another section she used crumbled multigrain bread to represent barley (another type of grass). In the final section she put oatmeal to represent oats, wheat, and corn (other types of grass).

Finally, one day we were talking about how Samual listend to God's call and he served Eli at the temple. There were tapestries hung in the temple. The girls made their own tapestries.

Well, after an exciting summer, we have finally started back to school this week. Grandma came and spent the majority of the summer with us, and we were blessed to take trips to the zoo, Nature Center, and the Children's Museum.

We started up again with LHFHG from HOD publishing (Little Hearts For His Glory from Heart of Dakota) on Tuesday. We had finished the first 3 units this past spring, so we started up again with unit 4. W have had a wonderful week!! :-) It is so good to be back into the routine of school again. All three girls love doing HOD (even the little ones tag along in their own way), and Dessa just lights up with excitement over everything that we do. I am continueing to do CMRS with Odessa (Complete Mastery Reading and Spelling Program) even though she is definitely an emerging reader at this point. This summer her reading really took off and she is now reading at a beginning third grade level. It is so exciting to see her reading everything in sight. In the car she reads signs on the side of the road, and in the super market she reads all the signs their as well. :-) Anyway, the great thing about CMRS, is that it will help her to read even more fluently, and she will greatly improve her spelling skills. I am also happy to report that I became a certified CMRS instructor at the end of the summer, so I may begin tutoring students this year, and will almost certainly be teaching a class or two next year. Oh, and Dessa will begin the emerging reader set from HOD in the next week or two, I didn't want to start EVERYTHING this week. I just wanted to get a general flow down. I think she will be excited to start reading those though. The only other thing we are adding to HOD (which I'm sure is NOT neccessary, but I feel like doing it anyway) is Rod and Staff math 1. There is no way that I would consider not doing Singapore Math (which is what works in conjunction with HOD), but I just love the approach the Rod and Staff takes as well, and since both only take very little time, we still get BOTH done in about 20-25 minutes daily... broken up into two seperate lessons.

I should also say that I have started doing a tiny bit of CMRS with Sophie now too!! She is so excited that for the first time she actually has her "own" school. :-)

I also wanted to mention that we are now using the workbox system (my trays) with HOD and it works fabulously!!! Having everything all laid out and ready to go in the trays each  day is WONDERFUL. Seeing it all there, ready to go, really makes HOD easy to implement (and it was easy before... now it's SUPER easy).

Anyway, here are some pics from this week.

Here are pictures of Odessa and Sophie working on creating Egyptian Collars from Unit 4 in HOD. We were discussing how Joseph was sold as a slave to the Egyptians. In Egypt at that time their clothes had colorful collars.

Here is Nadia eating breakfast while we worked.

Here is Sophie working on the "aaaaa" sound from the CMRS program. She is saying "aaaaa" while doing the associated "hand motion" that goes with it in this picture.

Here is Odessa doing a file folder game on the 5 senses.

Here is Odessa doing a page from her Doing it Carefully Workbook.

And finally, here is another picture of Odessa. Here she is practicing her Bible verse while throwing a handkerchief into the air.

And there you have it.... a brief glimpse into our first week back at school!! :-)

Just thought it was time for an update. I'll post some pictures of some of the highlights from the past couple weeks.

The girls made chocolate peanutbutter cups.

Odessa drew a figure skater with the help of her drawing book.

The girls playing outstide.

Odessa's "magnet zoo"

Well it seems like I get a lot of pictures of the bigger girls, but not as many of Nadia. Here are a couple pictures I took of Nadia this morning. She was eating a grahm cracker.

went well!! We started doing workboxes on Wednesday last week, so today has been our fourth day using them. Each day has been smoother than the one before as we are starting to get the hang of things. Also, I am coming up with more ideas to get things running smoother.  

Here is a short rundown of what we put in the boxes...

 I always start with a Bible story in box one. I read the story out loud to the girls while they eat breakfast. Then, when they have finished breakfast, but are still at the table (so I still have their attention) I usually do some sort of other short activity at the table (box 2). Then, box 3 is a "cooresponding" Bible song. The Children's Bible that I am currently reading to the kids has a CD that goes along with it. Each story has a cooresponding song that goes with it on the CD. When we move onto box 3, I always have the girls get dressed for the day while the CD is playing. I put the song on repeat, so they get dressed, and then we will dance and sing once they are dressed for another 5 minutes or so. Then it's onto boxes 4-7. These boxes are a mixture of various things from day to day. I think I will always try to put a read a loud in one of the boxes, and always some sort of craft activity. Also, I include some kind of hands on/puzzle/game type of toy. Boxes 8-12 are Odessa's "quiet time boxes." These are for when I put her sisters down for a nap in the afternoon. These boxes always have the same order. First there is a read a loud. Second, she reads a book to me (such as a Bob Book, or another very short, beginning reader type book). Third, she was a book with CD/tape and a timer. I set her timer for 40 minutes. For the first part of this time she listens to her audiobook. Then, for the remainder of the time she needs to sit quietly and if she wants to, she can look at/read books. After her time is up (and my break  ) she comes to the table to have a snack and does some homeschool. Usually I put something in these last boxes that she needs more attention from me. So, either something like handwriting, or some of her learning to read games/activities. So, that's the basic rundown.

Specifically last week we did...

Day 1:

1) Bible story (and breakfast)

2) Created a "Colorful flowers" book

3) Bible CD (Get dressed and then dance around)

4) Preschool activity bag

5) Matching activity

6) Read a loud story

7) Lacing Puzzle Toy

Quiet Time Boxes...

8) Read a loud story (right now we are reading one story from Milly Molly Mandy each day)

9) Dessa reads ME a story (Bob Book)

10) Book and Tape with timer set for 40 minutes

11) HWT workbook, 1 page (also snack at this time)

12) Reading Lesson. Using ink and stamps to make words

Day 2:

1) Bible story (and breakfast)

2) Talked about a specific Bible trait and did a song and action rhyme with it.

3) Bible CD (and get dressed and dance)

4) Count on Me Math activity

5) Read a loud story

6) Cutting page activity

7) Sequencing Puzzle Game

Quiet Time Boxes...

8) Read a loud

9) Dessa reads book to me

10) Book and tape and timer set for 40 minutes

11) Learning to read game

12) One page from ETC

So, that's the jist of it. On day three I put baking sugar cookies in one of the boxes. The girls were SOOOOO excited about that. I had made the dough ahead of time and then they got to roll it out, and cut out the shapes for baking.

Here are some pictures of our workbox fun!

What I really like about this system is that it really gets  me thinking ahead and PREPARED for the day! Before, I would have all the "fun" little activities tucked away, and it was just too much of a pain to try and go dig them out, sort through them, and see what was there. This way, I plan ahead the night before when the kids are in bed. This way the kids don't see everything and start asking about ALL of the toys and games, not to mention digging in and getting everything all out of order. We are all much happier with this system in place. Now I just need to stick to it.  We usually start the boxes around 8:30-9:00 in the morning and are finished with the first 7 boxes by about 10:30-11:00 in the morning... that's going at a relaxed pace. Then, the girls have had some concentrated time with me as well as some structure to their morning and are happy to have some free play until lunch, which is typically around noon. After lunch they have more free play until about 1:15 when the little ones go down for nap and the "quiet time" boxes are used with Odessa.

I'm sure several of you homeschoolers out there have probably already heard about workboxes. I'm just now jumping on the bandwagon! Anyway, the workbox system that I am refering to is the one created by Sue Patrick. For anyone who wants to hear more about this system her website is here...

http://www.workboxsystem.com/

I have NOT read her book yet. Maybe someday I will have the money to buy it. However, I have learned a lot from reading in forums, and doing internet searches and reading blogs from others who are implementing her system. I am doing a variation of what she recommends. She recommends using shelves and clear shoeboxes. We do NOT have the space for that, and even if we did, my two toddlers would get into the boxes!!  I decided to use clear letter trays for our system. I have not heard of anyone else using this method, and honestly I am very surprised I haven't. It really saves on space, and is VERY close to what she recommends. We are doing a big stack of all 12 trays in one pile. You could also easily have two stacks of 6 trays, or 3 stacks of 4 trays depending on the space you wanted to put them.

*** Edited to add***

***I almost forgot, I got an AMAZING deal on these letter trays, making it very cheap to implement this system. Office max had a set of 6 trays on clearance for $6.50. So, I got all 12 trays for $13!!! At full price they would have been $13 for one set of 6... still not bad, but right now we are trying to save every penny, and money is very tight, so this deal was a huge blessing! :-)***

The basic idea behind Sue's system is that you have a set of clear boxes (anywhere from 6-15, most people are using 12) that are for homeschooling. Each night you fill the boxes with the child's activities/work for the day. The child can clearly see what he/she needs to do for the day and starts with box one. After box one is completed, it is set aside, the number is removed, and on to the next box. It is suppose to be a motivator to the child because they can actually see their work deminishing, AND they can also see fun things (like a puzzle maybe) in the later boxes that will motivate them to get through their work. It is also suppose to help the child work more independently. Odessa and I will still work closely together though as she is only 4! Here are some pics of "our version" of this system.

Here the boxes are empty. This is how they will be when they are ready to be loaded with "work/activities/projects" for the next day.

Here is a view of how the trays look from the living room or as you walk into the kitchen. They actually look "pleasing" and don't scream, "I'm a huge pile of schoolwork." Although, they are unfilled in this pic, they don't really look much different filled.

Here is how they might look when they are in use. We have not actually put this into practice yet. I'm still  getting things organized, however, we plan to put the next tray to the side and remove the contents when it is done. Also, you can see that we removed the number to the chart below, so Dessa will see that she has completed 4 boxes on her chart.

This pic show how easy it is to load up the "boxes."

And her is a pic of a tray taken off and brought over to the table to start doing the "work" inside of it.

This is really more to help me add a bit more structure to the day right now. I figure this way I will have things set out and ready to go for our day, so things will be less crazy. I plan to put things like cutting and pasting activities, games, puzzles, cds, books, tracing pages, sidewalk chalk, paint, books on tape, playdough, lacing toys, etc in the boxes. Somedays we may just have 6 trays, and other days we will use all 12.

Anyway, this is our "set-up" of the workbox system. I will post more once we start implementing!!

We went camping for Memorial weekend at Chain O Lakes State Park in Indiana, and had a great time. The weather was absolutely PERFECT for camping! What a blessing. This will actually be our last camping trip for awhile, as we sold the pop-up immediately when we got home. Unfortunately we need the money for other things right now. It was great that we got such a beautiful weekend for our last trip.

There was a beach and lake for swimming at the park. The first morning we went down just to check things out, but the girls decided to head right on into the water! We did return later in the day with swim suits and sand toys.

My dad and his wife (Grandpa and Michele) cooked steaks for us over the open fire one night for dinner. You can see from the picture below that they have a tiny little camper (in the background). It looks like someone sawed off the front of a "big" camper.

Here is Nadia waiting for steaks!

Here is Sophie taking her baby for a ride on her bike.

And finally, here is a picture of our pop-up just before we sold it.

The girls love to paint!

Here is Odessa busy with her paint, and Sophie was actually busy painting her foot!!

One thing that I love about where we do the majority of our homeschool and projects, is that our birdfeeder is right outside the window. We have so much fun looking at all the birds as they come and go. Odessa knows which ones are Gold finches and which ones are house finches. She also knows that the "daddy" finches have brighter colors. Here is a picture of one of the Gold Finches that visits our feeder.

 Here are a couple pics of the girls outside. Something weird was going on with the camera, but I kind of liked how the pictures turned out.

We finished up Unit 3 in LHFHG this past week. It has been fun to get back into the swing of doing HOD again.  We read about Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob, in our history lessons. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup! Odessa isn't clear on what a "birthright" is, but she did understand that Esau was suppose to get a special blessing, but he gave that up for a bowl of soup. For science I put a small amount of spices on individual cotton balls and she had to figure out what spice was what by smelling the cotton balls. She did great! We used. cinnamon, cummin, dill weed, and nutmeg. We talked about how our noses work and our sense of smell. Esau must have spelled Jacob's soup and it must have smelled so good that he was willing to sell his special blessing. Here is a picture of Odessa with the spices.

We also walked around the house and tried to identify different smells. Odessa smelled playdough (that Sophie was playing with), bread, the stinky garbage, cookies, and peanut butter. Here is a pic of Sophie with her playdough.

Another day we continued to talk more about Esau and Jacob. Jacob ran away to hide from Esau. We made a picture where Odessa punched out the letters of her name with a pencil. It was hard to read her name (it was hidden... Jacob was trying to hide), But when we held it up to the light it was easy to read her name (God always sees us, and God saw Jacob. We can't hide from God).

Finally the weather is starting to become consistantly "nice." The girls have been having so much fun outside the last couple weeks. We have not been doing much "official school" these days, just learning from life.  And of course since my oldest is only 4, that is all we ever really need to do anyway.

Odessa and Sophie have made their very own "garden" behind the house that keeps them quite busy. Odessa also helped me plant seeds in the planters this year (unfortnately I didn't get any pics of that). Usually I just buy flowers, but I figured it would be a neat experience (and also cheaper) for Odessa to see how the seeds sprout. I hope they do sprout!! We shall see!

Here are a couple pics of the girls by their "garden."

Here are the "big girls" pushing Nadia in her swing.

Odessa had her very first Ballet recital this past week. She was a Patriotic Puppy. She did really well.  Here is a pic of her in her costume.

One indoor project that we did do this past week was to create paper dolls (although we laminated them with contact paper) and a little house for them. Thank you Jessi for this!! I found the link to a free site to print the dolls from her. Here is the site... http://www.makingfriends.com/friends/f_pick_freinds_color.htm. Here are a couple pictures of Odessa's dolls and "house."

We have taken somewhat of a break from "official school" this past week. We have still done a bit of phonics, but for the most part we have been celebrating Easter and celebrating several birthdays as well! The weather is finally starting to get nice here too, so we have been able to get outside more.

Here is a picture of decorating Easter eggs.

Nadia fell asleep in the Ergo carrier while the older girls were busy decorating.

Here is a picture of Nadia on Easter morning with her basket full of eggs. They were empty, but she was still thrilled.

Here are all the girls in their Easter dresses just before we left to go to church.

And here they are at church.

Here are a couple pictures of Odessa and Sophie making pictures to send to Grandpa for his birthday.

Nadia just celebrated her first birthday!! Here is a "cake" picture. Also, she received a truck from Grandpa which she absolutely loves!! I can't wait to take the truck to the beach this summer. I know all the girls are going to have so much fun with it.

Time to post an update.

A couple of our math lessons this past week have dealt with the numbers 6-10. One day I wrote out the numbers 6-10 on a piece of paper. She traced over the numbers with a crayon and then had to glue the "correct number" of cereal to each number. At first she was upset that she had to "put her snack" on her math assignment. But then I got her another dish of cereal and she was good to go.

Another math assignment we did this week was to practice counting an object (we used little plastic butterflies), and then tracing the same number in "gel." The "gel" was a little bag full of dish soap.

To work on fine motor skills this week, one of her assignments out of "Doing it Carefully," was to cut out squares that had pictures of fruit. She had to then find the matching fruit on her worksheet and glue her "match" in place. After that she colored the fruit.

For history this week we read about the Tower of Babel. Odessa and I then discussed that when the languages got "mixed up" the people needed to pack their bags and move. I tought Odessa how to fold some clothes (using an easy fold in half and then roll technique) to put in her travel bag. Here is a picture of her packing her bag to leave Babel!

Another fun thing we did this week (which has no picture) was to talk about the stars. We read a lesson in "The World God Made" about stars and how God knows each one by name. We have just started learning about Abram (later Abraham) in history and we know that God promised Abram that he would have as many decendants as there are stars in the sky! I gave Odessa a flashlight that she turned on toward the ceiling. We pretended the light was a star. She made her star blink and shoot across the sky. She also put her hand over the flashlight to be a cloud passing by.

This afternoon Odessa was coloring at the table by herself. Not long after she had been there she came to me with a paper. "Look mommy," she said, holding up her paper, "Flowers smell." I was thinking that she had drawn some flowers... and she had on a different sheet of paper, but what she was showing me was actually "flowrs smel" that she had written all by herself!! OK, so she didn't spell it exactly right, and she ran out of room for the "s" in flowers and put it below the rest of the word. However, I have to say that I was so proud of her!!  Not bad spelling for a 4 year old, and the fact that she even THOUGHT to write it down kind of blows me away!

Grandma has been visiting this week, so we haven't been doing much "official school," but we did find time to do a couple "lessons."

We did a history lesson where we read about Noah and the big flood. We then did a follow-up science lesson. First we read about a few different animals in "The World God Made." We read about dinasours, ostriches, elephants, and zebras. Here is a pic of Odessa doing a "dot to dot" that went along with the zebra page.

These were big animals, so we discussed how important it must have been for Noah to listen carefully to God's instructions on how to build the arc. Noah had to build the arc very sturdy! Next, we did a boat experiment of our own. Dad made a boat out of foil. We were instructed by the HOD guide to float the boat and then gradually add weights and count them until the boat sank. Well, dad built a VERY sturdy boat. I have wooden animals from a Noah's arc set that I have and we ended up loading 54 animals along with Noah and his wife and the boat STILL did not sink!  Dessa had fun loading on all the animals though. She made waves in the water by swirling her hand around. She also blew air at the boat for "wind" but quickly discovered that the boat did not respond as well to her "wind" once we added more than a couple animals.

Here is a pic of some of the figures and the boat before we put the boat to float.

Here is Odessa adding some animals to the boat.

In this next picture you can see that we did indeed add a LOT of animals and STILL the boat would not sink.

Another fun thing we did this week was one of our math lessons. Odessa got to make pretend cookies. I gave her a sheet of paper with 5 circles on it. The circles were "cookies." I then gave her some Reeses Pieces to add to her cookies. I would call out a number (between 1 and 5) and then she would have to write that number on top of the "cookie" and then add that same number of candies to her "cookie." Of course when she was done she got to eat the candies!!  Here she is...

We did a lesson on Cain and Abel yesterday. We talked about how Cain was not able to hide his feelings from God. God always knows what we are thinking and feeling and can see our hearts. We did a project where Odessa colored a paper with bright colors and then colored black over it. Then we etched out a heart to show that God always sees how we feel. Here are some pictures (one of Sophie too).

Later in the day Odessa did a "reading lesson." We are working on blends. I had different blends taped to the outside of cups. I then had a pile of words for her to choose from that had the different blends highlighted in them. She picked up a word, had to find the blend in the word, and then find the cup with the blend on it as well. Then, she would say the sound of the blend by itself and then read the word. After she finished reading the word, she would drop the word into the correct cup. Here are some pictures.

We just finished up the second unit in "History For Little Pilgrims" yesterday. At the end of the unit was a suggestion for an activity... drawing a picture of the Garden of Eden. Here is the picture Odessa drew.

And here is the Sophie drawing a picture while Dessa was busy drawing her picture.

Later in the day we did a "game" about the Garden of Eden. I taped a square on the floor to be "the garden," and then gave Odessa various instructions such as, "walk around the edge of the garden," or "sit down outside the garden, sadly." Here is a picture of Odessa "being a tree inside the garden." She is swaying back and forth because of "the wind."  Of course Sophie was just fascinated by the fact that there was tape on the floor and was walking around on the tape!

This morning we were working on Odessa's Bible verse for the week, Ephesians 6:1. We were rolling a ball on the floor back and forth to each other. Each time we got the ball we would say the verse, "Children Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." We are only on "day 2" for the week and she has no problem with remembering this verse. Now if only she could fully internalize it in her heart!!

And a couple more random Nadia pictures.

The girls went outside for a short while this morning to play. It didn't last long! Although we have had some rather nice days in the past couple weeks, today was back to being rather cold.  Spring has not completely sprung yet in West Michigan, but that is not all bad!!  That just means that the girls were able to enjoy a special treat of hot chocolate when they came inside. This may be our last "hot chocolate" day for awhile.

Odessa did an entire days worth of work from HOD today. We are pretty much going along at half speed for the most part, but after the weekend she was ready to go full speed (and then some if I had let her). I have to say though, I am so greatful that she begs me to do school with her!! At least the summer should slow her down some. We will be having long days at the park and the beach this summer, along with the occational trip to the zoo!

For Math today, I would call out a number and then Odessa would count out the same number of manipulatives (little plastic butterflies). Then she would practice writing that same number on the white board.

Here is a picture of Odessa working on a page out of "Doing It Carefully." She traced the lines first with a pencil and then with a crayon.

And here is a random Nadia picture.  Here she is just "hanging out" while I'm busy doing school with Dessa.

We have officially finished our first Unit in LHFHG. We have had wonderful time and I know that we will continue to have fun learning for many weeks to come!

Yesterday and today we have been talking about how God created man from the dust of the ground, and then later on God created Eve by taking one of Adam's ribs. Odessa was really fascinated by this and was asking lots of questions about it. This morning, shortly after doing one of her lessons she came over with a piece of paper that she said was a "book." She then proceeded to share with me the story of God creating Adam and Eve. Inside her book she had drawn both Adam and Eve. Here's a pic of her sharing her story...

This morning was our final review for this week's memory verse, Matthew 19:14. I asked her if she remembered what it was and she sang it for me (basically the way they sing it on the cd). She got it perfect when she sang it! When she just says it regularily she tends to slur her words together, and not innuciate well. I definetely think the CD helps her slow down and remember her verse better.

This week at AWANA was crazy hair night. I couldn't resist sharing Odessa getting ready to head out for the night! Of course, since Odessa had crazy hair, Sophie wanted crazy hair too!!

Well, I covered "writing" in my last post, so today I will share some of our reading (learning to read AND storytime) and math lessons.

One of the things that Odessa does with her CMRS program is to make books each week. We (the parents) are provided with the sentences to put in the books each week. I write the sentences in for Odessa, and then she has to read the sentences and illustrate the pictures. We purchased some blank books from www.barebooks.com to use for this and Odessa LOVES making her books! Sometimes she uses stickers, and other times she just colors the pictures herself. Here are a couple pictures of Odessa working on one of her books.

So far, story time with "The Adventures of Reddy Fox," has been a success as well. I have been reading aloud 2-3 chapters to Odessa each week and then asking her questions from the HOD guide to help develop her analytical skills and also aid her in comprehension of the story. It is a stretch for her to understand everything, but she is getting the "basics" out of the story, so that is great. We usually read the story together right before her "quiet time." Even though she can't read this book herself yet, and it does not have much in the way of pictures, she still likes to have the book with her to look at for a bit as she has her quiet time. Here is a picture of her looking at her book...

For our math lesson today, I taped a number 2 on the floor with masking tape, and also a number 5. At first I just had Odessa walk along each number while saying the number (Sophie joined in too  ). Then I put out little butterfly figures (2 on the number 2 and 5 on the number 5). Then Odessa walked around and would jump over each butterfly as she went... counting each butterfly. Here are a couple pictures... one of Sophie, and one of Odessa.

Well, as is typical of Odessa, she was asking to do homeschool today (even though it's Saturday).

We ended up doing a handwriting lesson from HWT. I will certainly not be blogging about EVERY handwriting lesson, but I know that some of you might not be familiar with the HWT process, so I thought I'd share our lesson along with a few pictures.

We purchased the wood pieces and accompanying mat that go along with this curriculum, so at the start of every lesson, we begin by making the letter out of wood pieces. Basically the wood pieces consist of "big lines," "little lines," "big curves," and "little curves." Today we were working on the capital letter "D." Here is a picture of Odessa using her "big line" and "big curve" to make a capital "D."

Next we got out a small slate board to practice the letter "D." I drew the letter first. She then took a damp sponge and traced my letter (which of course erased it). After that she drew the letter with only her finger on the board. Then, finally, she drew the letter by herself with the chalk. Here is a picture of her tracing the letter with a sponge.

Finally, it was time for her to practice writing the letters herself in her workbook. It's just a small page. I think she ends up just printing 8 letters with every lesson right now. It's definetely about quality, not quantity!! Here is a picture of her writing in her workbook.

Also, at the end of ever lesson is a small picture at the end of the page that the child can color if they would like to. So far, Odessa has really enjoyed coloring the pictures with each lesson. And that sums up our lesson with HWT.

Of course no handwriting lesson is complete without a good nap...

I thought that Nadia was happily playing in the other room while I was working with Odessa at the table, but it had been quiet for awhile. When I went to investigate, I found that Nadia had crawled into her little blue chair with her stuffed froggie and fallen asleep!! This is truly a miracle. For those of you who know my children, you know that they do NOT fall asleep easily.