We are finishing up The Wizard of Oz.  I would have to say that this has been their favorite read aloud to date, and that's saying a lot since we've read a lot of chapter books aloud.  Luke is not big on sitting through long readings, but even he was getting engrossed in the story and asking for another chapter.  And today he reread a chapter on his own, voluntarily.  Max has been paying attention too, and was telling his dad all about how the Tin Woodman chopped down the tree that the Scarecrow was stuck on, in order to help the Scarecrow get down from where he was stuck after the flying monkeys had thrown him there.  It's pretty cute hearing a three year old give a narration in lispy preschool language. 

We read this version from the library, it's the complete, original story by L. Frank Baum, but also has illustrations from Michael Hague.  It's a really pretty copy.

We finally got all of our books for Winter Promise Animal Worlds and started  today.  I think this program is going to be a good mix of some higher level reading, and picture books that Max can enjoy also.  There is a lot of non-fiction in this program, which might appeal to Luke more than chapter book after chapter book. 

So today the kids made the covers for their animal notebooks.  I helped Max but he wrote his name all by himself,  Maddie did her's completely by herself; including making the giraffe, and Luke wasn't interested so he just used the cover that came with the notebooking pages.   Luke did really enjoy doing the habitats page and inserting it in his notebook though, and that was surprising. 

After that we read the Dk Animal Encyclopedia.  Maddie and Max really liked the pictures, and we just pointed to things and said their names.  (We were reading about skeletons and exoskeletons and organs).    We also read a few pages out of a book from the animal behavior series, called Animal Defenses, and I noticed that Luke couldn't help getting interested in this one.  We're saving our reading from Richard Scarry's giant storybook for bedtime. 

Luke and I had our one on one time after that and he did a lot of Explode the Code, Spelling Workout (his choice, I usually just have him pick one or the other), and Miquon math.  Then he read me his choice of a reader, which was Mouse Soup.  His reading proficiency and speed has improved so much- he read me the entire book about as fast as I could have read it, with no mistakes, and only asked how to pronounce one word out of the whole book.  I would say that the book's level was on the easy side for him  and I'm so pleased with his progress.  For the three younger kids, my main goal for now has been to get them all to the point where they're strong readers, and it feels good to have accomplished that with one of them so far. 

Max had his turn for one on one time with me next, and he chose to cut some things out of his Kumon cutting book while I watched.   While he was cutting, he told me that without his bones he would not be able to stand up, and then stopped cutting to demonstrate by laying down on the floor.   I think this came from the reading we did about skeletons today.  He also told me that God made him good at cutting.  Then he pasted his cut outs onto some construction paper and made a new picture.  When I asked him what color paper he wanted, he said 'Kid blue, not baby blue."  It took me a second to realize he wanted the darker blue construction paper instead of the light blue.  LOL.  Funny kid.

After that, Maddie and I did Miquon and Explode the Code and read me a Dr. Seuss book,  then it was time for lunch.

Zach is just starting the middle ages in Sonlight Core 6.  He's doing well with SL language arts, Math U See, and some other things mixed in.   I can't wait until he gets to read The Great and Terrible Quest, that's a great book and I think he'll really like it.

We took all of the kids to the pumpkin patch last weekend and this weekend we're hoping to find time to go to the zoo and see all of the animals we're studying.   We are finally, just this week, enjoying cooler temperatures.