We made a miniature city today.  We built a school, police station and neighborhood out of blocks.  Then we drew in streets with signs, parking lots and a park.  The kids had a blast driving their cars around from their house to school, etc.  We'll definitely have to repeat this activity soon.  It teaches spatial orientation, map skills and social skills: what is a police station, where do people go to work, etc.

Crafts

Our crafts this week: spring trees and masks.  Random combination, I know.  The masks were very much an on-the-spot idea, as you can probably deduct from the way they turned out.But it's a great craft idea, one which we will have to plan ahead next time.

The trees were a blast to make. I cut out the different parts ahead of time, and after explaining how in the spring the trees grow new leaves, and flowers bloom in the grass, I handed off the bottle of glue and let them have at it.  With a bit of direction from my part (ok, a lot of direction) they pasted the tree, the leaves, the flowers and even a few clouds.  Oh, and the icing on the cake? Some glitter.

Go Dog Go!

Last Tuesday Seth and I went to see a production of Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman at the NW Children's Theater.  Seth already knew a few of the lines in the book by heart, so he had a good time watching this book come alive (literally).  He sat in my lap and laughed at giggled as the dogs danced and sang on roller blades, and had a big party.  The best part was the grand finale when Hattie came out with a 14-foot tall hat made of almost 200 balloons!  And as Seth is crazy about balloons, he was just besides himself.  Oh, and thank you Lelia Mann for babysitting the girls--couldn't have done this without your help! (or suggestion for that matter).

Dipping time!

Today for lunch the theme was dips. We even learned how to spell the word "dip" while eating! On the menu: baby cucumbers with ranch dip, tortillas and cheese with salsa dip, and for dessert, graham crackers dipped in applesauce. It is a well known fact that toddlers love to dip. They love to dip bananas in almond butter, fries in ketchup, pretzels in chocolate...and their toothbrush in the toilet. So why not let them?! (with the obvious exception of the toothbrush)

Here we go!

For a little under a year now I have been delving in the wonderful world of home-schooling. I was hit with the reality that my kids are growing up too fast, and that I want to not only savor, but take advantage of every moment I have with them. I started taking notes on the diffent stages my kiddos are going through, and what they should be learning and doing at each stage. My notebook grew over the past few months, and now I decided to put it all on a blog. Mostly for my own reference, and for the pleasure of documenting all the crazy adventures we have here at the Toader household. I hope some of the links and ideas are helpful to any moms out there who enjoy sharing teachable moments--and just plain fun moments with our kids as they grow up.

Make sure to check out the curriculum I am putting together. Click "SCHOOL TIME" on the menu on the right.