Click here to see Jacob doing this experiment!

Pour milk (not skim…it needs to have fat in it) into a shallow dish. Add a few drops of food coloring. Then add a drop of liquid dish soap, and watch what happens to the color!

Food coloring is water based and does not mix well with the milk, which has a lot of fat in it. The soap breaks apart the fat molecules, allowing the milk and the food coloring to mix together and produce the swirling colors. 

Here are a few things that I am thankful for this spring:  

1. Muddy kids

2. Flowering trees

3. A lawnmower that starts

4. Gatorade

5. Short-sleeved shirts

6. Family time outside

7. The beauty and wonder of God’s creation

Share your own list if you like, in the comments or on your blog if you have one. There are many things to be thankful for!

Jacob was so excited yesterday when I told him that it was the first day of Spring! He proceeded to inspect every plant and tree, identifying the buds and growth that indicate the leaves and flowers are on their way. He is also ready to start planting. Last year he planted sunflowers and green beans in large pots in our back yard, and some flowers in the front. He is trying to decide what to plant this year. He really enjoys watching things grow. We can only garden on a small scale where we are, but the few things we plant along with the apple and flowering trees we have provide a natural and fun learning experience. We can talk about God, science, and a have a little dose of patience all at the same time!

We had great weather for the beginning of Spring. We took advantage of it to wash our car and clean out the inside, while the kids played in the yard. They were a muddy mess by naptime! Spring is a wonderful season, as things that have been dormant and sleeping become active again. Everything just seems refreshed! Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to make sure our souls are active, too, that we haven’t become dormant during the cold winter, and that we are working to grow and bear fruit. Enjoy your spring!

 We had fun stuffing! I ordered some kits from Stuff A Friend, and let the kids stuff a Chocolate Bear yesterday. They really liked it, and the bear is soooo soft and cute!

We also put a sound chip in ours so he says “I Love You” when you push his belly.

  
You just pull off some stuffing and put it in the back of the animal. You can use the stuffing stick to push the stuffing into the legs and arms, then you fill the stomach area. It closes up with a zipper and Velcro in the back.

As you can see, my kids were very happy with their new friend!

I have to give credit for this idea to Amber from a Yahoo group that I have been in for a while. You can see pictures of her “hop maps” on her blog. I have taken her idea and made hop mats with words on them as Jacob is learning to read. He is so active, sitting and just reading a list of words is difficult for him. Sitting still and doing anything is difficult for him! One day he was getting bored and frustrated with reading his practice words, so I told him we would just stop for the day and do something else. Well, I grabbed some pieces of shelf liner that I had and wrote some of the words on them. I put them on the floor in a small circle, and he stood in the middle. Then I told him to jump onto the word that I called out. He loved it! Then I lined the words up and had him read each one, then jump on it. The words that he was just having trouble with in the workbook, he was reading with no problem on the hop mats! It was all about keeping his attention and making it fun. Now we have enough to make a big loop through the house, and he jumps from word to word reading each one. Sometimes I will line the words up to form sentences and stories for him to read. This has become Jacob’s favorite activity. After practicing the words on the hop mats, then he is ready to read his books. He is still doing well with Hooked on Phonics; the hop mats are just a good activity to supplement the workbook. Preschoolers just aren’t made for siting at a table for long periods of time!  This way he can read and burn off some energy at the same time. He always asks to do “schoolwork” but I am trying to think of ways to keep it fun and active for him. Skylar tries to imitate him by stepping on each mat. If she ever starts talking, she may be able to read .

I recently opened an account with Upromise. If you are not familiar with Upromise, it is a program to help save for college. You can open an account, register your grocery store cards (like Kroger, Giant Eagle, etc.), pharmacy cards (like CVS), debit cards, and credit cards that you use for shopping. Then when you purchase products from participating companies, the companies donate a certain percentage to your Upromise account. Anyone can open an account, and it does not cost anything. If you don’t have children, or your children are already finished with their educations, you can list other children to be the beneficiaries. This allows you to contribute to the college funds of children of your extended family or friends. You can add children later after you open the account, too, and the money is just divided up among all of the kids. There is also a way to connect the Upromise account to other college savings funds so that the money goes directly into your other funds. I had heard of Upromise before, and decided to look into it a little more. It looks like a great program, and I just thought some of you might be interested in trying it. By the way, if you don’t have kids for whom to save now, you are welcome to save for mine !

Get out my own clothes.

Put my clothes on by myself (if the shirt has a picture on the front).

Wash myself.

Dry myself off.

Make my own toast and toast for my sister.

Fix my own plate.

I’m 4 now, remember?”

Yes, Jacob has hit the big time since he turned four. I must admit, I think I started this trend. He is capable of putting his clothes on by himself, though he does sometimes get them on backwards on his first try. But he often wants me to do it for him, probably because dressing goes much faster that way and there are other things he would rather be doing. I, however, want him to do as much as he can for himself, by himself. So a few days ago, to encourage him to put his clothes on himself, I said, “You are 4 now. Aren’t 4-year-olds supposed to get dressed by themselves?” Well, now he thinks he can do all kinds of things because he is 4! I’m sure I have left some things off the list above that I have heard in the past few days, but you get the idea. Now if we can just keep his ego in check, we’ll be alright.

We took a few pictures while doing schoolwork yesterday. Jacob is doing well with his reading! He is working on words with the short i vowel sound in the middle, such as big, pig, did, and sit. He is also learning a few “helper” words: and, the, on, is. He has read several stories now in his Hooked On Phonics program, and of course he really likes the computer games that go along with it.

I posted once about the counting activity that we did. We now have cups numbered 1-20 that Jacob uses. Yesterday we used cereal (Trix and Cocoa Puffs). When I got the things out for Jacob to start counting, Skylar wanted to do it, too. She is really in a “I want to do everything that Jacob is doing” phase, and schoolwork is no exception. So, I gave her a bowl of cereal and some styrofoam cups. She carefully transferred each piece of cereal from her bowl into the cups, eating a few as she went along. I am just waiting for her to sit up and start counting, saying ABC’s, or saying the Books of the Bible one day. She just takes it all in, and I know she is learning and remembering even though she is not saying much yet. Jacob was so verbal at that age, there was no doubt what he knew. He pretty much said everything that was in his little head, and still does! Skylar is saying more words now, but she is still not very verbal. She understands a lot, and I think she is just soaking it all in. They are both learning all the time, and I’m glad I’m doing it with them.