Yesterday morning the boys went to art camp from 10-12 and Calleigh was in school from 8:30 -11:30. It was strange to be alone for 1 1/2 hours. I relaxed and had a nice cup of tea in the peace and quiet.
I decided I didn't feel like going to the beach for some reason. We are normally there every day and the day before the water was kind of rough and it makes for a very exhausting day when I am alone with four kids on the beach. The boys are amazing in the ocean but they are still on six years old and I have to watch them like a hawk. Basically, I stand on the water's edge with Calleigh and watch them. If it's calmer water I go in with Calleigh since she loves it. Anyway, I digress...
We were all home by noon and with no beach we had to come up with some stuff to do and I was determined not have them watch tv. My kids don't watch that much TV but I don't want them to start watching too much either.
For the next seven hours we did so many activities! We had a nice lunch and Calleigh went in for her nap. First, we rode bikes, scooters and skateboards. Cormac learned to ride his new big bike without training wheels thanks to Ciaran's encouragement. He could ride his smaller bike with no training wheels but was intimidated by the new 20 inch bike. Now, he can ride it.
The boys have been interested in cartooning so we made up our own cartoon characters and drew them and made up stories to go with them. They were very interesting. We read a ton of books. We are doing the 100 book challenge and I know we will be a success!
Cormac's cartoon was "The Puppy Squad" They were Super Hero puppies who protected those who couldn't protect themselves. The girl is their owner.
Colin's was about an Army man (go figure) whose name was Jack. He was taking target practice and teaching another man to shoot.
Ciaran's picture was too light to take a picture since he drew it all in pencil. He made a story about a Cowboy who had a horse named Ciaran along with another horse named Dante. The Cowboy had special powers.
I plan on letting them add pages and make them into a book for them when they are done. It was fun and the kids loved the idea of creating their own book.
We played with Playdoh. The boys were very creative. Cormac made a Cobra that was really good. Ciaran and Colin made all sorts of funny things. 
We played dominoes. I love this game. I don't think I ever played it in my life until the past year. The boys love it too. It's so great for counting and matching.
We played the Super Why board game which I thought would be babyish but turns out is awesome for reading skills. I really liked this game. Some of it was a little young for them but other parts were not. Since they are all at different levels of reading it worked. Only problem is Calleigh loves Super Why and she kept stealing all the pieces and running away.
We read some more books and more books! We have a set of "Now I'm Reading! for beginners". I love these books. At the end of each book there are questions to ask about the book. There are words they have to use in a sentence and a scrambled sentence they need to unscramble. The boys all like them.
But what did we do most? We talked. We talked about everything we did. We learned new words and practiced old words. We listened to each other. We laughed together. We cuddled while we read books. We used our minds and our imaginations. And at the end of the day we were all tired and ready for bed but it was an awesome day! All the kids slept for over 12 hours last night.
No comments:
Post a Comment