January School

This month we added in a literature based unit study on winter and snow to our regular school activities. Which basically means we read lots of good books and tried to include a project or craft to go along with each book. Unfortunately we have not experienced snow this month!

Snip, Snip, Snow by Nancy Poydar: We cut out paper snowflakes and hung them in our kitchen to have a snowstorm inside. (Which, is the only snow we have seen this year so far!!)


The Mitten by Jan Bret: We colored pictures of things we would like to fit in mittens.

Bearsie Bear and Surprise Sleepover Party by Bernard Waber : We set up the air mattress one night downstairs so Luke and Ben could have a sleepover. They played games, watched a movie, and had fun...until it was time for Mommy to go to sleep upstairs at which point they decided to sleep in their own beds as well! :)

The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story by Neill Waldmen and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin: We made q-tip snowflakes. You design your snowflake on wax paper with q-tips and then add glue and glitter and let dry overnight. The boys loved this craft, although it became a good lesson in safe scissor use because Mommy took a chunk out of her hand while cutting q-tips! (thankfully not a big deal, but not fun either!) Note to self, no craft is worth an ER visit for stitches!!!

Our focus on all of our "snow" studies has been God's creative design and handiwork. Each time we make a snow craft it turns out different, just like real snowflakes, just like how God made us.

We also read The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen, Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keates, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs, Snow by Uri Shulevitz, and The Jacket I Wear In the Snow by Shirley Neitzel. The Snowman was probably one of the boy's favorite books. It is actually a wordless book. We "read" it by taking turns coming up with the story for each picture.

Although we have not had snow, we have had what seems like a lot of rain. We have gotten a little stir crazy to be outside. We have had to become creative in finding outlets for energy. This month the boys and Gracie got some good practice "chair fishing" with Daddy. They can't wait to fish for real this spring or summer.

Even Gracie learned how to cast from her Daddy's lap!

To help us get some energy out one afternoon we surprised the kids and headed over to a spot with huge inflatables to jump in. We must have gone at the right time because there was only one other family there. We had the entire place to ourselves! The boys called it their "field trip" for this month! We were hoping for some good snow play time to add to our snow studies....but maybe in February instead??