Vacation

Last time I mention our vacation. We didn't take a moment to relax, but we had tons of fun and here is a photo montage of our trip...

Como Zoo in St. Paul on Monday

Driving School at Como Town (next to Como Zoo)

Science Museum on Tuesday

Mall of America on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. A certain little mister of our has become a fan of roller coasters with his favorite being the log flume...go figure.

K Kick Off Field Trip

Yesterday was our first day of school, but on Sunday we had our kick off. What better way to kick off the Kindergarten year than a field trip to the zoo? A field trip to the zoo with dinosaurs and legos! We went up with my Mom and Dad, my siblings and brother-in-law. There were many animals to see at the MN Zoo, even some new ones since the last time we were there. It has been about a year since we last went. We used to have a membership and go every few months so it felt like going back home to me.

Right now they have a dino exhibit going. Jayne was a little scared at first. The dinos are life size. They move and look right at you. They also make dino sounds. It was pretty cool! Plus our first day of school had a lesson about dinos.

Crocie the crocodile is our school mascot and that means we had to get a shot with a real croc at the zoo! This is the doggy whimper face that someone has picked up in the last few weeks. Thankfully he is just using it as his photo pose here.

Grrring as he rides a wolf. He howled at the window and one passed right in front of him! After the zoo we hit the Lego Store at the Mall of America to get legos or Jayne's birthday party favors and Lego sheets for one of our bedroom make over projects. Jayne got to build with legos while we were there and pick out a Lego star wars set. It was a long day, really long, but it was a ton of fun! Next year I think we will kick off with a smaller trip but I am still glad we got to go on this one.

Homeschool Fun: Zoo

This week we worked out of the All About Reading sample work books. This is the reading program I am planning on using next year for Kindergarten so it was great getting a chance to try it out first. It was such a hit! Jayne loved rhyming with Ziggy the zebra as he cooked silly foods and getting to cut out the story cards and arrange them in the order that the story went. We used his Ziggy Zebra beanie baby as Ziggy and he loved that Ziggy talked to him. He will really love the set next year as it comes with a large Ziggy puppet. (Get the sample packs here)

We also did a giraffe art project from our Mailbox book, Day by Day Preschool Plans. It was a super easy project but he still really enjoyed it. Step 1 cut out giraffe shape. Step 2 put brown paint thumb prints all over it. Step 3 let it dry. Jayne hung it up in his room. He was very proud of him little masterpiece.

We also did a scavenger hunt for lights this week as part of his Awana Cubbies curriculum. It was fun going out at dusk and finding all the sources of light that we could.

Next week is fire safety week. What are all of you doing for this special week of the year?

MN Zoo Contest

They anounced the MN Zoo photo contest finalists today! I did not make it into any of the categories, but I thought I would share the 4 pics I entered.

Takin on the Northern Trail

Rooster on the farm

Not entered, tiger on the northern trail

Pengins of the African Coast

Tropics Trail monkey

Homeschool Fun: Ocean



Jayne size sorts



We had an awesome ocean week! We did so much, especially since Adam had the week off. We worked with the preschool pack from homeschool creations. Jayne played with the size sorting whales the most and the puzzle. He is getting really good at sorting, that has always been a good "subject" for him. If I could only get him to put that sorting talent to work in his bedroom, I would be one happy Meme! We didn't do many of the worksheet this time around, but we had a very busy week.

Caught a  fish

Jayne's favorite at home activity was his sensory bin. I put water in it with a Barbie fish tank. Jayne had to fill the fish tank with water and then catch the fish to put inside. He really liked using different things to fill it up with and leaned toward the quicker items. He was so excited when we had the big bin reveal and it was the only thing he wanted to do all week. Thant is until...

A South African Penguin

We went on our big field trip! We went up to the Minnesota Zoo. It was a great as ever, though considerably busier than we are used to. Their new entrance threw us off a bit as it moved near the discovery bay area. It was beautiful though. They also opened up a new penguin exhibit. They were great showmen! You would think the penguins were performing. They were very active and they swam right in front of us. We spent lots of time looking at all the ocean animals and took lots of pictures. Jayne also fed the goats and got lots of practice taking his own pictures. I do believe we could have a little photographer on our hands.

With less than 3 weeks till the official start of school, we are nearly ready. Are you?