Today began the first official day we started working on a unit study about the oceans. I had come across a neat activity book called How Deep Is The Sea? while I was still in the hospital and decided to use it as a springboard for a good study of the oceans and everything it contains.

We started off by reading Follow That Map! -A First Book of Mapping Skills. There was no relation to oceans, but it was something I felt my girls would enjoy. They are like me in that they are interested in things such as maps, directions and exploring. Dawn caught on pretty quickly how to differentiate the different cardinal points on a two dimensional plane (in the book), and I’m hoping to show her a more real-life application of it tomorrow when we go outside.

After that, we got into our first ocean-related book with Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Arthur Dorros. It contains a nice illustration about how water gathers from fallen rain or melting snow and ice to then converge into a brook, that flows into a stream, then into a river and finally the ocean.

Dawn wanted to draw sea horses afterwards, while I tried to get organized and find some resources for our unit study. I showed her how she could trace a seahorse onto white paper by superposing the paper and then drawing over the same lines.

At this point, Emily lost interest and decided to do some cleaning. She grabbed the duster to dost off my furniture, then took the Windex to clean the closet door (which is a large mirror). When Dawn finished her work, she wanted to use the Windex to clean the bedroom window, and an argument broke loose because Emily also wanted to do it. Thankfully, nerves finally calmed down in time to eat lunch.

I’ve decided to get the girls to make lap books. It’s a good way to emphasize what they learn and it leaves a memento of their activities. We’ll at least give it a try and see how it they take to the experience.

Dawn decided today that she'd 'stitch'...and she did! With minimal help from me.

Ok, So I’m a little late. I don’t think it could have been helped though, seeing as how yesterday (July 1) was such a beautiful day and we spent it in the company of friends exploring the festivities in downtown Edmonton.

There was music, entertainment, face painting, balloon artists, lots of food and more! It was nice that we didn’t have to go far for some quality family entertainment.

Dawn and Emily have been busy crafting, colouring, gluing and playing! It’s so nice to see them play together…it makes me glad that I had them close together. With 15 months only between them, they are becoming great playmates to one another!

Emily now knows most of her letters and she’s been starting to work on exercises such as matching beginning letter-sounds to corresponding objects and cutting in a more precise fashion.

Dawn is starting to decode words and is quickly figuring out how to read colour-words through colour-by-number worksheets, of which she has been doing many lately. She just passed her 4th birthday and she is proud of herself for now being a 4-year-old!

Emily practising her cutting.

Dawn working on her first wordsearch!

Emily is starting to match objects to their beginning sounds.

Dawn and her Lego tower.

Emily and her tower

Emily during her 4th birthday party playing with her friend's Leap Pad

We’ve been quite busy over the last couple of weeks with everyday life! Dawn had her birthday party and had a blast! We’ve also been out to park days and just exploring life at all it’s glory.

Rocky Road Cake...my was that good! It's simply a chocolate fudge cake baked from a mix with a chocolate ganache for the icing. There are marshmallows and ganache in the centre and the cake is topped with ganage, then a generous sprinkling of marshmallows, chopped pecans, crushed Skor bar and more ganache on top to keep the topping from falling off.

"Hurry up, mom! Stop taking pictures of me and light the candles!!

Emily wearing her 'new' dress.

Dressed as a baby.

Now this family came up with a really cute idea!!

Did I mention that it was Halloween?

The girls on their trick-or-treating adventures.

What an added bonus of seeing all these Canada geese taking a rest at the park!

A friend helps Dawn climb a tree. This is what I love about the homeschooling mentality. Many parents would tell their young children NOT to climb trees. Not us! Our response is usually "let me find someone to help you."

Baby, bottle, carrier, and food! ...Dawn spent most of the week between her birthday and the last park day constantly playing with plasticine. She decided to make a 'science project' and this is her result! A baby with her bottle, and it's carrier and a place of food.

It’s so rewarding to see when all your work (or non-work) pays off. Both Dawn and Emily are finally actively grasping the concept of reading.

The girls were sitting in the bed this morning and I found Dawn spelling out letters of a word (in an opposites board book), then saying the word. Too easy you say? Maybe, but given that most of them were not so obvious, I was pleasantly pleased to watch this unroll. Then Emily would start spelling out the letters in a word. What’s so great about that is now I know that she has learned her letters, despite my never having sat down with her to “teach” them to her.

I know that Dawn is above the proverbial bar IQ-wise, but I had always suspected Emily of being behind it. I am so glad that I am wrong with that assumption. The fact that she learned her letters off her sister confirms that she’s doing just fine!