Go, Dog! Go!

Isaac's teacher sent home one of their Literacy Bags this week. We were supposed to get it last weekend, but Isaac forgot it. The book is Go, Dog! Go! and it is not a book we have at home. I don't know if they have read it at school, but Isaac knew it.

I mean... Isaac read it to me. Not the whole book, because he got tired of it after a while. And some words he needed help with. But for the most part he read it to me! I grabbed my camera and got most of it on video. (honestly, it is not the most gripping book in the world. It was a little...yawn.)



Click on the picture, and Isaac will read the book to you too! (of course you'll hear his siblings in the background. It couldn't be avoided.)

Homeschool Day 1

I refused to let the kids turn on the tv when we got home today. I expected more complaining than I actually received. No one cared! Hmmmm... I'll have to remember that.
Isaac did try to escape upstairs, where he knows how to get past the child-proof door knobs, to get into my bedroom to watch tv, but he came back down when I called.

I didn't want to overwhelm Isaac on his first day. Today we simply introduced the memory verse for "A", and practiced tracing it. I could tell he works on his letters at school. He kept telling me that the letter 'a' has a belly- which I have never told him. His form while holding a pencil is getting better too!



While Ike was hard at work, the twins were working with their puffballs again. This time, we made patterns.



Andy's



Abby's

They got tired of that soon enough, and Andy wanted his puzzle (from Aunt Beth's quiet bag) and Abby wanted the picture cards. Whatever.



So, Isaac traced his memory verse while we worked on the song that goes with it. (we got it from the 1+1+1=1 website)

Here is Isaac!!



We sang that song the whole time he was writing! Abby and Andy did a little too. Getting Ike to say "soft answer" was difficult. He kept slurring his words. But, you can see he is tracking his print as he reads!

Here is the song again as he shows you his work.



Tomorrow we are going to cut and paste the verse in order. I have some cut and paste pages for Andy and Abby too. They will be working on graphing while Ike works on fluency.

* you know what I like most about this post? The fact that I KNOW that as soon as Uncle JD reads it he is going to 1. share it with his co-workers, and 2. call as soon as he gets off work to see if Isaac will sing his verse to him. Now we'll see how long it takes JD to check the blog and read it! :)

Little Einsteins

My kids might be loud (right, Aunt Boo?), and obnoxiously energetic, but they love their school time! They fight in the car over who is going to school, and who is just going to "new daycare". (They still call is "new daycare" even though they've been there almost a year now.) They all love telling me that they have a "smiley face" for their behavior! (Isaac has a behavior folder) I almost feel bad for Ms. Patty, the twins teacher, because she has to listen to Abby talk about Isaac's school all day. :)

Anyhoo- the kids will come running when I say it's time for school. Our classroom is our dining room, and one of these days, I'm going to decorate it and make it look good! (or at least clean.)

Last night I was working on my other blogsite and the twins were wanting to be entertained. Well, ok. Let me turn on my super-mommy powers and come up with a quasi-educational activity that will keep them focused for minutes on end.

Enter, the felt board. This miracle board was given to us by Aunt Beth in a Delk Quiet Bag. I keep this bag in my car for traveling emergencies and pull activities out as needed. Thanks, Aunt Beth!!





Roar!!





Now, I will admit to arranging the pieces, but the kids loved moving them around, making noises, and telling me all about the different dinos!

After the magic board, we got out the puffballs. I bought these the last time I was in M'boro and I didn't know what I was going to do with them. Now I know!



I separated the balls, made some colored circles on pieces of paper, and told them to have at it!





When the finished their paper, they traded and kept going! After a while, Abby put the balls in different circles and said, "Look, Mommy! I'm being silly!"



I know you're impressed. :)

On the Isaac front, I want you to know his teacher is very impressed with his abilities. They sat in circle time, ready to read a big book, and Isaac started reading the book to Ms. Cheri! She told me that she was very impressed and syas he's already doing Kindergarten material. :)
Now if we can only get him to follow directions the first time. *sigh*

Well, hopefully I found a solution. My new favorite website 1+1+1=1 has wonderful lessons and Pre-K packs geared towards our young learners. My favorite part is her Raising Rock Stars lessons. RRS are Bible based lessons that use Bible verses to teach ABCs, writing skills, and critical thinking skills. Perfect for Isaac!

I've downloaded everything I can get my hands on! Most of is is free! (like 99%) So, I've started a binder for Isaac's RRS lessons.



I found this picture when I was printing out his first lesson. Yea, Grammy Pat!



Nice lesson planning pages and separations.



The first lesson- letter "A".

I also printed out a camping Pre-K pack that I found at Homeschool Creations. Not sure why I chose Camping as our first theme, but it looked good! (Jenny- they have a Star Wars theme! If you look at their Read! Build! Write! boards, you'll find them)

I'll keep everyone posted on Isaac's progress!

Cute idea for Halloween

I found this cute little Pre-K pack at Over the Big Moon blog. I thought I would share it with all of my devoted fans! (this would be fun to print and have for when the Delks come visiting! Hint-hint!)



http://overthebigmoon.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-pre-k-pack.html?showComment=1316921533040#c1127524331425710706

Lake Winnie

Joe's company picnic at Lake Winnie was today. I'm sure Joe will get on here later and tell all about it, but for now I can show you how prepared the kids were.



All happy with their backpacks. Abby and Andy are sporting their Thomas the Train backpacks from Aunt Jenny.



Isaac is being the responsible older brother and is carrying the "real" backpack with the supplies for the day.



If you'll notice, Isaac is also rockin' his new shoes from Cousin Joshua.

I enjoyed the day alone by going out and doing errands that I've been wanting to do. Then I came home and did laundry while watching the new movie of Jane Eyre.

Joe and the kids didn't get back home until 4:40 and they took late naps. We made sure to run them around the house to get them tired again. Check the posts under this one to hear their beautiful singing!

Blue Skies and Rainbows

As sung by Abby

Our God is an Awesome God

As sung by Isaac. (with sibling accompaniment)




And again by Andy

Pretty Abby!!

Pictures from yesterday when Abby got to wear her new pretty dress.



Twirling her dress



The model walk and strip.



Andy passed out on the floor as soon as we got home.

Throw away day!

Don't worry, the kids are safe... for now.

I was just sick and tired of seeing broken toys and shredded baseball cards. I got out the trash bag and went to work.



My inspiration.
I waited until the kids were upstairs for their naps. I trashed any broken toys, puzzles, ripped books, and random things that have made it into the house. The last time I did this, I had trash bags and donate bags. This time, it was only trash.



I cleaned out and straightened their books. All small board books found another home, along with the cloth books that Grammy Delk made for the kids. I wanted them to be more easily assessable.



These are the only "large" toy structures I kept. I kept them because we still had the parts, and the kids still play with them. I also kept the trains and tracks- they are in the red wagon. (no picture, sorry)



Here are the only toys left downstairs. Balls, trains, and Transformers. Honestly, if Joe had not made it home when he did, some of the Transformers would have disappeared. There's always next time. :)
Then there is the box o' books. Small books ready for small hands to grab them.

Joe vacuumed after I put everything in the trash.

So, what does this mean for the Delk home? NO MORE TOYS!!!! PLEASE!!!

Birthdays, Christmas... these are times for new clothes, books, or gift cards. (Barnes and Noble for the kids since they rule the Nook) Or, better yet, visits! The kids would love visits more than anything! We can get pictures and make new picture books for the kids based on their experiences with YOU!

p.s. Isaac is really doing well in Pre-K! This week he got 2 straight faces :/, and 3 smiley faces :)! Yea! I was talking to Ms. Cheri, his teacher, and most of his class already knows their ABCs, letter sounds, numbers, colors, and shapes. She said she was glad that she had such a big group of kids ready to go to the next level. Yea, Isaac!







Ms. Cheri and Mrs. Monica (the director) got all the kids copies of The Kissing Hand. How sweet is that?

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...like Abby is going to be the death of Daddy's wallet in the future. Abby is a serious Fashionista!

Luckily, I have wonderful friends who have daughters just big enough to grow out of clothes just as I need them.

The school's Media Specialist ('Librarian' for all you not in education) has 2 daughters who love to grow out of clothes, and she sent me home with a HUGE bag full of clothes! Well, I'll admit that they have been just sitting in the bag for a while. Abby opened the bag today, and surprise! New pretty clothes!



"Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!"






She put this dress on over her outfit. Can you see her blue shirt?




In her new Princess Abby outfit.



I'm glad she found this one! We can wear it now before it gets too cool!

Don't worry Jen. The Christmas dresses are 3T, perfect for Julia's Christmas next year!

Check it out!

For the one other person with small children who actually looks at this blog (that would be you, Jenny) go look at the homeschoolcreations blog that I love. Click on the button on the right and see if anything looks cool to you. I plan on checking it out!



Anything that I download will be used for this guy! Doesn't he look handsome and ready for school? This was taken on his first day. :)

You would never know they were sick

Today I stayed home with Abby and Andy since they have strep. (it was going around their class) However, you would never be able to tell they were sick! They played, laughed, Abby never stopped talking! So, I got some pictures of them being silly.



Abby wearing my shoes. She was a pretty princess!



Andy also wearing a pair of my shoes. Macho boots.






They're feeling better and they've been on meds for 24 hours. Back to school tomorrow!

More Labor Day videos

I can't load a lot of videos at a time, but Abby has to be seen being cute! The twins and I stayed the night Saturday while Isaac and Daddy went back to Ringgold. These videos were from Sunday morning.



Abby singing to Pooh Bear her rendition of "Rock a Bye Baby"



Itsy Bitsy Spider. And Grammy and Papa Joe eating breakfast. :)

Enjoy!

Labor Day Weekend

Last weekend I packed up the kids and headed to the 'Boro. We got to see the whole crew: Grammy and Papa Joe, the Davis family, and Aunt Boo. And let's not forget, Uncle Jason's Ipad.



They were all enthralled.

Isaac decided that the crowd around the Ipad was too great, so he requested the Nook Book.



This has been the best early- Christmas present ever! The kids love the books and apps that I've downloaded. Isaac is willing to ride to church with me, instead of daddy, if he can play on the Nook Book. Abby will sit QUIETLY and listen to stories. Andy is working on his vocabulary with the Little Critter books. Thank you Grammy Pat and Papa Joe!



Julia didn't want to have to share the Ipad either, so she got mommy's phone. It amazes me how tech-savvy these kids are! (not that they have a choice, really. They ARE related to Jason.)



Here Abby gets her turn with the Nook Book. It's a rare thing for Isaac to give it up, especially to a sister.

Grammy Pat's kitchen is a magical place. In it, my children have been introduced to new and exotic foods that have never before been seen in the Delk house. For example: cantaloupe. Well, this weekend, Issac was introduced to another fruit. Red grapes.
This might not seem significant, but until this day Isaac did not know that grapes came in colors other than green.



Here he is. Eating red grapes AND cantaloupe! It's a Labor Day miracle!



Of course Abby couldn't be left out of getting lunch praise. Good job, Abby!



This video refused to load where I wanted it. Oh well. Here is Andy with Uncle Jason's Ipad playing Samurai Fruit. You can tell Andy doesn't really care about the game so much as he cares about making colorful swipes on the page. Whatever, he was entertained. I have since downloaded the game on the Nook.

We had the girls playing a game of "Wake Up" on the love seat. The game is played as follows: 1. lie down. 2. Pop up. 3. Giggle. Think you can handle it?



Getting ready for the pop up!



Andy giving the girls "good night" kisses.



Good food, good family, and good shopping trip the next day. What a great way to spend a weekend! Thanks Grammy and Papa Joe!