Little Black Bug, Where Have You Been?

Little black bug, little black bug, where have you been?  I've been under the rug, said little black bug.  Little green fly, little green fly, where have you been?  I've been way up high, said little green fly.  Bzzzzzzzzzzz. Little old mouse, little old mouse, where have you been?  I've been all over the house, said little grey mouse.  Squeak-EEk-EEk-EEk-EEk. (Margaret Wise Brown)

Where have we been?  Well, we've hung out mostly at home this week, keeping things simple.  Matt had the opportunity to attend the Together For the Gospel Conference in Kentucky.  He got to hear some incredibly good speakers, including David Platt, pastor and author of Radical.  I would challenge everyone to watch the video of his message  The Call to Death-Defying Missons. (matt)





Miss Cupcake is proficient in the recitation of the above poem.  She has illustrated it (with help from a drawing book) for her notebook, as well as "The Little Turtle" (the one that lived in a box, swam in a puddle, and climbed on the rocks). I am amazed that a child with attention issues has taken a liking to the poetry.  It seems to slow her down just for a moment.  We worked on numbers 10-19 with our number puzzle pieces.  She successfully learned which ones are in "10".    Why oh why, could we not have oneteen, twoteen, and threeteen?  It would be so much easier for the little ones and would make much more sense.  Letter "N" was our focus for the alphabet.  She can distinguish the sounds of "m" and "n" to speak them, but is still having trouble distinguishing the beginning sounds of "m" or "n" in words.  I know, slow and steady, we'll get there.... Eventually.  I also decided to read Chatterer the Red Squirrel, by Thornton Burgess, one short chapter per sitting.  Then I give her the mommy shortened summary at the end.  She seems to understand at least some of it, and more importantly asks for it at school time.  I'm thinking the Beatrix Potter collection might be a great fit next. 


Both girls attended our library's Winnie the Pooh indoor picnic and party.  I loved how the librarian used flower pots to look like Pooh's honey pots.  There was a lot of laughter coming from the Cupcake over Pooh and Tigger's antics.  She kept looking back during the movie to see if mommy thought it was hilarious too.

To Miss Muffin's delight, and everyone else's for that matter, the birds have finally noticed the soda bottle feeder outside our school window.  She was able to identify it from one of our bird guides, as a house finch.  We think we have a male and female that repeatedly come to the window.  It is good that Matt has returned so he can refill it.  They have eaten most of it up.  So, our beautiful feathered friends have provided a bit of a distraction this week.

 In other news, as of Wednesday our Muffy is now nine!  At least we aren't in the double digits with her yet.  We will celebrate her birthday, her daddy's birthday, and her auntie's birthday tomorrow.  Her request for no school on her birthday was denied, but I did allow her reading assignments on her comfy bed.  Her music teacher granted her a no practice day on her birthday for violin and piano to which I also agreed.  Her daddy sent her flowers since he was away, which she absolutely loved, and I made the requested birthday breakfast-- chocolate chip toffee walnut scones.   Most of school was a continuation of everything from last week, but we did add Wind and the Willows.  I'm reading ahead and LOVE it.

S and E have been busy finishing up World War II.  They also learned about Ghandi and the partitioning of India, forming Pakistan, as well as the partitioning of Palestine, thus, creating Israel.  It has been fascinating stuff!  We have shelved the science and grammar to be resumed in the fall, so we have extra time to finish the book lists of prerequisites for AO and our other courses.  I'm proud of both of them.  They are working so hard at their big list (would have been nice for them if I'd decided all this earlier).  It is wonderful to see boys their age enjoy good literature.

I managed to keep school going, kids clothed, and fed, but that is about it.  There was very little time to read or do anything else.  Maybe I'll accomplish more next week.  Cupcake spoke the sweetest words this evening when she shouted "Daddy's home!".  

Have a good weekend everyone!