Itty Bitty Snow Angels

Keeping the tree house nice and tidy

Monday we went to homeschool co-op. I was really disappointed. For Creed's age group the parents were required to stay and I was really happy about this to begin with, however it proved to be a huge distraction, at least for Creed. First class was music, second class was letters and third was supposed to be gym/snack time, but we didn't make through the second class before I decided that it wasn't for us at this time. Creed learns way more at home during a non-school day than at the co-op. The whole point for us attending the co-op was for the well-discussed "social skills" everyone freaks out about. There just wasn't any structure and when one of the teachers asked if there was anything the parents could think of for the children to do 20 minutes until the next class was scheduled, that pretty much summed up our experience. BSF (BIble Study Fellowship) is completely structured. The pre-school curriculum is based on the lessons the adults study. It lasts the same amount of time and mama is able to learn, study and discuss the bible as well. I was pretty impressed with BSF from the beginning. I've got really high hopes for the Montessori handwriting workshop in July.

After we left homeschool co-op, Creed and I spent some time at the library. He played on the computer for a little bit, while I researched books about winter for homeschool. He lost interest and started playing with the wooden dollhouse and before long another child joined him and they played as if they had known each other all along. Be still, my beating heart, listening to the conversation between each character they both beheld. He's socializing all on his own. I really want to get him a wooden dollhouse, one that's more boyish. Plan Toys makes really nice ones, one even looks like a tree house.

Creed knows what coins are, especially quarters. They are his favorite. His first love affair with them started last December 2012 when daddy received a four foot gum ball machine for Christmas. He quickly found out that even if you didn't have a quarter if you jiggled it just right, bumping it up against the wall, you'd get an ample amount of candy - for free. In addition to counting the circles on really big foam dice, Creed learned how many quarters (really cool much like the real thing plastic quarters from Teachers Aide) make a dollar and how many "dollars" (paper) he had. We took turns rolling the dice, each sitting beside our own dinosaur coin bank. Creed took the initiative to roll both of them at once and added them together. I love it when he does this sort of thing. It really seems if something is his idea, it's much more of a game than homeschooling. In fact, we've been playing a lot of games lately. I found a really awesome game at goodwill that teaches sizes in small, medium and large, (Mama and Papa Bear and Baby Bear) colors and counting. From Learning Resources, it's called Bingo Bears Game. We've played it countless times and have only had it a few days. It' fun for me too. 

I was all jazzed up to make snowflakes using raised salt painting, but could not find the salt, so we bundled up and played outside instead. Creed wasted no time climbing up the side of the side of the tree house before whooshing down the slide through the little snow/sleet that accumulated. He asked daddy to make him a snowball and then hurled it at him. Jumping on the trampoline with snowy-sleet underfoot proved a little tricky, but a perfect opportunity to make itty bitty snow angels.