Year Three: Week Six: Here We Go!

I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.

~Ronald Reagan

My sidekick loves Mario. As in, Super Mario. You know, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, the whole gang. He can do all the voices, we make up Mario Imagination stories, his room is decked out with Mario, half his wardrobe includes these guys. He's a little obsessed. However, he's adorable so it's okay. 
When talking with him about what to do for our weekly theme, I should not have been surprised that he wanted Mario (and all his friends). So, I used all my creative skills and scoured the internet for ideas and here you go. Our Mario week of homeschooling! 

Ok, this isn't Mario themed. But one special thing that him and I get to do is go on "dates". We do coffee dates, donut dates, book dates, park dates, ...the list goes on. It's a time when I remember to stop our busy day and just enjoy his company. We already do so much together but this little bit of time is relaxed and all about him. They are some of my favorite memories. 

The sidekick wanted nothing but Mario things for Christmas. That's what he told Santa and that what he told anyone who asked. So me and all my elves (love my family!) searched 3 states for all the Mario we could find. He got action figures, board games, clothes, stuffed characters, the works! He was so happy! This was a Mario Memory game. He made the voice of the characters as he matched them. It was very amusing!

Again, this isn't Mario BUT it's a great scrabble game! This side has words on the board and the other side is blank for when he's older! So fun!

This is one of his Mario imagination stories. We also tell each other stories such as this after story time, in the car, and even whisper them to each other when we are in not fun places waiting for an appointment of some kind or another. I absolutely love fueling his imagination. 

For this one we did use Rory's Story Cubes. We bought ours at a bookstore but you can also find them on Amazon. They are a great way to make him think a little harder about where the story is going to go as he tries to work in all the cubes. 

Ok, no judging my drawing skills! I can only do so much in a rush! This was all my idea though! No Pinterest for this one. I took some of his favorite characters, attempted to draw them, and had him fill in the blanks as we learned about vowels. He had to sound out each name to figure out which vowel was the correct one. It worked really well for a spur of the moment idea!

So upper east coast got some snow. A lot of snow. More snow than I've ever seen without being on a mountain. 

Another Christmas present! Yahtzee! He doesn't quite get the entire concept of the game but, that didn't stop him from beating me. 

I saw several ideas using pipes. However, none of them seemed to be what we needed. So, I made these. Even and odd numbers 1 to 20. Sidekick did great and still reviews them as we continue on.  

This. This ya'll is big. My sidekick is reading more and more! To entice him to read more we came up with this: For every 10 books he reads we will go get a special treat of his choice. A new book, frozen  yogurt, pancakes, whatever he decides. We are already on our way to 20 at this point but I am so happy with his progress!

You are now caught up! We are taking a couple of weeks off because I have to concentrate on my own schooling for a bit. However, this is not the end! We will back in full force soon!

Year Three: Week Five: Or So They Say

Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the colour in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty, and your animal spirits, and you will pass for a fine man. 

"On The Conduct of Life" (1822) ~ William Hazlitt

Here is a quick recap of our days from around Thanksgiving until Christmastime. If you know me, then you know I could post MANY more pictures but here is enough to get by so I can catch you up on our days in the New Year. Enjoy!

 There is a wonderful place not too far from our home called Maymont. It is 100 acres that was donated to the people of Richmond by a couple, the Dooley's, who lived there until 1925. They have an interesting history and we love to explore the area. If you ever in the area, it is definitely a place to go in RVA. Click the link above to learn more; it is truly fascinating and great place to homeschool! 

Anyway! This is my sidekick, teaching fish about themselves. They also have turtles, otters, and environmental areas to learn about in the Nature Center. 

 Cousins! For Thanksgiving our cousin friends drove halfway across the country to spend time with us! It was wonderful! 

Since we are both homeschooling families, we did manage to wrangle the kids for a couple of lessons. Although, we pretty much just explored and let them play together. :)

These are their Turkey Feather Names! I can't find or remember where this one came from, there are many variations all over Pinterest but as I have none of them saved myself, we will just call this an original creation. 

 This was also a fun one! We worked in two holidays because...why not? The original idea came from HERE but I up'ed the ante a bit and had the kids work out simple math problems instead of just punching numbers. They did great! 

 After family left, it was time to prep for our travel days! We were about to spend a huge amount of time in a car so I wanted to give my sidekick some new things to amuse him. First up, an i-spy bottle! I had him pick out 5 objects, we used our seemingly endless supply of colored rice (made YEARS ago!), and a empty peanut butter container that I just KNEW I would put to use some day. :)

It worked out wonderfully and is still played with around the house. 

 For some reason, I don't have an after picture of this one. And if I were to take the time to take one and get it on here...well, you wouldn't be reading this now. Ha! I drew some mirroring projects (above), empty candy canes, and a blank tree for him to fill in during those slow times during our travels. It wasn't much but, it was enough to pass the time when needed. 

 Christmas at home was a stressful but happy time. Mr. Sidekick received many gifts and had a great time!

 After we got back home, it was back to work! We picked up with our writing and schooling in general to get back in the swing of things. 

 We also made cookies. Sidekick says he wants to be a cooker (i.e. chef) when he's 7 because then he will be able to open lids. Gotta love a child's thinking process!

 We also got some snow, which means we had hot chocolate! Also, we played Go Fish, puzzles, and every game in our closet while we were stuck inside. :)

Okay guys! There's a quick glimpse of the past few months. Blink and it's gone!