Another week...

It's my favorite time of year! I love the cool, crisp weather (especially since it's sunny right now), the sense of holiday expectation, shopping for special gifts for people, and the way people are so much nicer this time of year! The kids are really enjoying it too - long walks through rustling leaves, hot apple cider, Advent calendars, etc.
 
Right now we are working on some Christmas activity books printed out from Enchanted Learning (great site). We're also doing math - usually a lesson a day, both sides because C.O. goes through it pretty quickly. He's doing a lot of word problems and writing out number sentences. For science we're studying insects - we made some really cool insect castings with clay, plastic bugs & plaster! They came out very clear and well-defined. In reading we're still working on early readers of course. I'm looking at adding Phonics Pathways to our library of resources as I understand it is a very good book. We've been doing HWOT, but I also got a book on "modern" manuscript writing to see which is actually easier for C.O.
 
We wrote and illustrated letters to Santa this week, plus worked on pen pal letters. We've now got penpals in 4 states and Canada! The kids are very excited and love to draw pictures for their new friends.
 
We also chose a couple of names off the Giving Tree at my work - both girls wanting art supplies. Since C.O. and C.J. love art so much, they can easily understand why other kids would want art stuff too. They helped me pick out a few things, and we'll add a few more over the next few days. It's not very expensive, and it's a nice thing to do for someone else.
 
Goals this weekend - finish sorting through the kids old toys - we're getting rid of a lot of stuff that they don't play with anymore. I'm working on donating books of mine, and we have a TON of clothes to donate. I am hoping by Monday, we'll be ready to drop off a bunch of stuff!