Inspired by Monet

 Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 19 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

Bon Jour! Today we traveled to France, made the French flag, learned a few new words in French, toured a bridge in our local native plant center, and created our own landscapes inspired by Claude Monet all thanks to our Mother Goose Time preschool curriculum!

Our day started out by finding France on our blow up globe from MGT.

After my daughter found it, we learned the words "Bon Jour!" and "Au Revoir" 

and practiced saying it and waving to imaginary friends out of our window.

We then compared the French flag to the Italian flag (which we learned about last week).  

Using torn paper and glue, my girl created the flag of France and I placed it on our wall.  

We had a beautiful picture provided from MGT of Monet's Garden in Giverny  .

Looking at this bridge inspired me to take my kiddos on a quick field trip to a local bridge that once overlooked a pond.   It's dried up now, but the ground is so fertile it has now transformed into a garden of the native plants of our area.  While we walked along the bridge, the children pointed to flowers, chased butterflies, and inspected plants.  

Although we didn't see any lily pads, we had a wonderful time exploring 

what God has graced us with here. 

When brother went down for his nap, my daughter and I headed to the table to make our own 

Water Lily Pond.  MGT supplied us with everything! Even this amazing bridge cut out.  The only supplies I brought to the table were scissors, glue, and crayons. 

I asked my daughter to study Monet's Garden in Giverny asking her:

-What colors do you see? 

-What things are pink? green? blue?

-How will you use your blue paper? green paper? What about the tissue paper?

-Will you make your own bridge or use the cut out?

Then we got to work.  I say we because I could NOT WAIT to use these materials to make my own artwork! :)   She drew a lily pad on her tissue paper and included a flower on it.  She needed a little help cutting it out which I did, but she also cut out some of it. 

I didn't take tons of pictures of the process since I was working on my artwork alongside her.

We did have great conversation!  She told me about the dead tree she was drawing, but that it could still produce orange apples.  The pond inspired her to make a frog on her green paper because you would find frogs on lily pads.  Using our Ed Emberly How to Draw Animals book, we went through step by step how to draw a frog, which she drew on her green paper.  I cut it out for her, and my girl glued her frog on her lily pad where he belongs. 

He's my favorite.

Our finished work. 

There is so much that I love about this lesson.  I loved making art, the conversation I had with my girl, traveling and learning French, and exploring a bridge and the nature surrounding it.

I am so grateful for the inspiration from our MGT lesson because these moments I treasure,

 and I know they probably won't remember because they are so little.

And that is the reason why I keep this blog.   They can look back and know.

Until then... have fun learning, friends! 

A to Zoo Field Trip

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 18 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

A few months ago my husband and I came to the realization that we hardly did any adventures as a family.  Yes we had fun at home, but asking us to get in the car and go somewhere made us both break out in a sweat.  You see, my son is not a great car rider.  However, we came to the conclusion that once a month, we would go on a family adventure.  It didn't have to be far and we didn't need to spend any money, but we were to be intentional about doing something together as a family and create lasting memories with our kids.

Our Mother Goose Time theme this month is A to Zoo which inspired us to head to our local zoo (about 30 mins away) and see what the animals were up to.  MGT sent us beautiful Animal Alphabet Cards ,and although we didn't have most of these animals at our local zoo, we did have some!

F is for Flamingo

P is for Porcupine 

G is for Galapagos Tortoise

C is for Clouded Leopard

It has taken my girl YEARS to climb the 6 metal see through stair steps and get into this train.

My cautious child is getting braver!

M is for Macaw

P is for Peacock

The peacocks roam freely all over our zoo.  It's quite a show when the males try to impress a lady friend.  I love how this female just walked on by! It was pretty funny.  God sure did make an amazingly beautiful creature with the peacock.  Finding peacock feathers is always a special souvenir although we didn't find one today.

L is for Lion.

This guy was fast asleep at the front fence!  We could get a super close peek at him.

J is for Jaguar

T is for Tiger

Every single time, she's got to climb on this lion statue and take a picture...

as do all the kids who come to our local zoo.  It's kinda a kid ritual.  

Oh you went to the zoo? Can I see your lion statue picture? Ha!

Everett just made lion roars at it.... so cute!

R is for Rhinoceros 

G is for Giraffe

Their long tongues stretched out of their mouths catching leaves!  It was quite a sight!

T is for Tortoise

Our zoo has lots of these guys.

E is for Eagle

S is for Sloth

This guy was moving all over the place!  I thought they were supposed to be slow, but he was really moving.  It was amazing to watch how methodical he was as he moved from limb to limb. 

O is for Otter

Avaleigh loved watching him dance and play in the water! Simple sticks make the best toys.... for both kids and otters!

S is for Snake

This was her favorite.  Not mine.  Get me outta the reptile exhibit pronto!

Our final stop was boarding the train that zips around the zoo.  So much fun! 

I know I am not really discussing one of our MGT activities, but this trip to our zoo was inspired because of our studies, and I know as we continue our learning adventure this month, much of what we witnessed at the zoo will be brought back up as we study the animals MGT has for us.

Go have fun! Make intentional memories and have adventures with your kids...

 even if it gives you the heebie jeebies a little!  

Pineywoods Fair 2017

It was Kids Fair Day this past Friday, and my cautious 3 year old rode some fair rides all by herself!  She didn't scream or yell or even look scared!  The look on her face was either shear determination to hold on or joyful smiles as she rode around.  So proud of her.

Our day started with learning about our first responders in our community.

Sweet Pea started her morning getting strapped to a stretcher and placed into an ambulance where the guys showed us different ways to take heart beats.

After the ambulance tour, kids were able to see different firetrucks, all the compartmnets on the truck, and time how long it took a fireman to put on his gear.  To pass the test to become a fireman, the men must put on all their gear including oxygen equipment in 1 minute 30 seconds!

After the fire trucks, it was time to tour the Sheriff's police car!  Hopefully this is the only time Sweet Pea will be in the back of a police vehicle. :)   The Sheriff also showed us some of his protective gear that he has to wear in certain situations.  All the responders were so nice and patient with all the kids!  Love our little community!

After the tour with the responders, it was time to ride some rides....for FREE!

This was such a great experience for all the littles.  They didnt have to wait in line, and they could ride a ride a billion times in true toddler fashion.

Sweet Pea's first ride was the motor cycles.  I was really worried she was going to scream and try to get off in the middle of the ride, but she was determined to hold on and ride that bike!  So proud.

Her absolute favorite was the jeeps I think.  Daddy and I might have to discuss getting her one of those electronic jeeps for Christmas...

Look at that face below! "Crazy drivers on the road..." hahaha!

Our day didnt end there either!  After riding the rides for awhile it was time to go to the petting zoo.

We went to the petting zoo back in July and it was a disaster.  Sweet Pea didnt want to touch one animal, so I was already in the mindset that she was going to bolt when I put her in the zoo.

I was so wrong!

She let the animals approach her and she pet just about every single animal in there!

There was a little goat that just wanted to smell her hand, a donkey who followed her around waiting for Sweet Pea to pet his face, and a Mama Llama that enjoyed her neck rub. 

What a wonderful day!  We were able to do this all before lunch, and Sweet Pea and I both took a great nap in the afternoon after this adventure.

I feel so blessed to live in a town where my little girl can have so many wonderful experiences.