Lazy morning...

After a day trip to the zoo yesterday, the kids woke up nice a late and got right into play. I enjoyed several cups of coffee before I had to put out the first fire! ;)

He is easily reading this book to the little kids! He's so proud.

Finished art

Ashlynn's leopard pig

Emery's blue bullet (our van) and the barn

Oliver's tornado (he's fascinated with extreme weather)

Oliver's Bowser

Ellie drew this (in regular marker) on the white board. It's so characteristic of her art that Seth and I both knew who did it at first glance!

Rainy Day Art

Today as we ate lunch, Emery decided that he wanted to paint. We have never really done much painting around this house as so many little kids and paint is a recipe for an intense mess! However, he got the idea in his head as Oliver was watching the "How Great Thou Art" DVD that we ordered from Barry Stebbing's art class that Ashlynn and Emery took last fall. So, I dug out the paints and easel.

He has now been painting since noon (it's 6:40 pm) with a short break so we could run to the Scholastic Book Fair for teachers and get some new books.

He started with a painting of a camel, then moved on to Noah's Ark in the flood, then Noah's Ark after the flood (complete with rainbow), then our big blue van, and is now painting the farm. He has a list that he brainstormed on the way to and from the book fair and he's working his way down. A portrait of his mom is next on the list! :)

Emery's first painting of the day, a camel.

 Of course, once the other kids got wind of his idea they wanted to join in the fun. Oliver and Ellie each made two finger paintings before Ellie moved on to her Kumen coloring book and Oliver used real paint to paint a tornado, Bowser, and finally a beautiful rainbow (Seth taught him ROY G BIV a couple weeks ago and he's been obsessed with it since).

Oliver and Ellie's first finger paintings.

Emery's finished camel picture.

I asked him how he learned to make waves like that and he said that's how they look in the movies! Amazing.

 The big girls came up a bit later and wanted to paint, too. Ashlynn painted a purple unicorn complete with a bloody wing (I took the photo before she added the red paint) that a lion took a bite out of. What imagination!

Ana mostly copied Ashlynn, but that's her style. Her painting turned out wonderful as well.

Ashlynn's purple unicorn.

Emery's third painting of the day, Noah's Ark after the flood.

Ana's abstract painting.

Deep concentration.

What a wonderful day of impromptu art! I never would have instigated this because I think it's such a mess and I spend the majority of my day cleaning up necessary messes (think dishes, laundry, etc). But, how thankful I am that I got on board with the idea. Emery is now certain that he'll be an artist when he grows up - and maybe play video games just on Fridays! ;)

Oliver and Ana are bike riders!

After an afternoon of practice, both Ana and Oliver learned how to ride a two wheel bike down the driveway! They are both quite proud of themselves.

Now all kids in our house five and up are independent. They are loving it.

Shoelaces

Emery (7) found some shoes in the next size up that I was saving for him. They fit him now. Only thing is, they have laces and he can't tie shoes.

He wants to wear the shoes.

Five minutes later he has them tied and has repeated it for anyone who will watch.

Give a kid motivation and he'll move mountains.

Un-schooling the week of April 24th

This week we:

Played Playmobil (Ashlynn, Emery, and Oliver)

Made ice popsicles

Baked a chocolate sourdough cake (Oliver)

Made a video of baking the cake (Emery and Oliver)

Life of Fred math book

Built a tree fort (Emery and Oliver)

Rode bikes (Ashlynn and Emery)

Worked on learning to ride a two wheel bike (Ana and Oliver)

Played babies

Cared for the goats

One of our new pregnant Nigerian Dwarf does, Snow White.

Played dolls

Learned a bit about our state

Went to Wednesday Play Village

Gathered eggs

We have 13 hens, 1 rooster, and 8 chicks. One hen is broody and is sitting on an egg!

Learned to crawl (Aubrey)

Learned to write name (Oliver)

Did three puzzles (Ashlynn)

Built things in Minecraft (Ashlynn, Emery, and Oliver)

Cut first tooth (Aubrey)

Read aloud six chapters of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Gathered worms to feed to the chickens!

Yummy!

Had family prayers every night (and sometimes in the morning, too!)

Went to Community Bible Study

Oliver (5) and Ellie (3) as Sin Cara and Diva (with someone elses mask on)!

Had an adventure in the "woods" (Emery and Oliver) which included losing a new Croc in the mud - it was eventually found by Dad!

Played soccer in the yard

Drew pictures on the deck in the spring sunshine

Railroad tracks. I think she got the inspiration from Emery's art video.

(this list is by no means exhaustive!)