Happy 4th Birthday, Matteo!

Happy 4th Birthday, Matteo! Four year ago today, our not-so-tiny, 11-lb baby boy was born!



Here's the cake. There's a story behind this one. While I was writing Matteo's name, my bag of icing burst, leaving a huge glob of yellow icing on top of the "M." This happened as Matteo was standing beside me watching. He stared in disbelief for a couple of seconds, and then went running off into the living room yelling, "Mommy messed up my cake!!!!" He decided in the end that it was fixed to his satisfaction :)



Here are the traditional birthday balloons from Aunt Ginny!


Ahhhh, here comes my baby sister to steal them!!!



Here's a look at some of the present-opening!

Everyone has to join in the fun!


These are some very cool new cars from Aunt Ginny that can be taken apart and rebuilt, mixing and matching the pieces.



Here is Matteo trying out his new binoculars from Grandma and Pipa to gaze upon his balloons that have floated to the ceiling :) :)

Here is the birthday boy taking a break from opening a present from Aunts Mary and Dot, and cousins Heather and Katie, to investigate the jar of slime that came along with the box of goodies. This slime has been quite fascinating around here!

Finally, it was time to have some birthday cake!! (Chiara still has remnants of the pizza feast that we had recently finished on her face!)

And, now for a little singing!

Happy birthday, Matteo! We love you!!!

Homeschool Week 2/16 - 2/20

Here's a glimpse of some things we accomplished this week:

For art this week, we read a couple of library books: "Katie and the Sunflowers" by James Mayhew and "The Magical Garden of Claude Monet" by Laurence Anholt. I've neglected picture study this year, so this was an attempt to squeeze a little of that in this week. These are great picture books for children that are fictional, but they gently explore some fine art. There is a whole series of both of these books, and we'll definitely be reading more of them. We really enjoyed them!

In history, we read about the beginning of the Roman Empire, and it was a great opportunity to see the differences between my 2 oldest children. The 1st day of history, we read about the legend of Romulus and Remus. The 2nd day, we read about the influence of the Etruscans on the Romans. Cati really enjoyed the story of Romulus and Remus and chose to write her narration on this story and color the accompanying picture. She also spent a lot of time this week reading books of myths that I got from the library. Maria on the other hand, didn't see the point of the Romulus and Remus story. She wanted to know how Rome "really" began since this obviously wasn't a true story. We got the history encyclopedia out and somewhat satisfied her curiosity. She decided to write her narration this week on the Etruscans rather than "waste" her time on this fictional story :) Maria enjoys fiction during literature time but does not want it crossing over into history time. Cati's more of the "creative" one - as demonstrated by her pink wolf in the picture below :)

Cati finished memorizing her latest poem, Merry Sunshine, and she drew a picture to go with it.

Cati finished her study of reptiles. Here's her lapbook, in which we combined turtles, lizards, alligators, and crocodiles. We also made a lapbook about frogs, but I don't have any pictures of that yet. This week we'll begin our study of insects, beginning with bees!!

Here is Cati working on the lapbook.

Cati also finished level 2 of her spelling program and began level 3 this week! She's also enjoyed beginning her new level of math this week. It's a little bit of work for me because every math program assumes you're beginning in the fall after a 3 month break and has lots of review, so I really have to read ahead and plan. We're quickly going through these early lessons. She completed 10 lessons this week.

Maria did another science experiment about density this week, which she explains in the video below. She also started trying to grow crystals, but so far we're not seeing any results :) If it ends up working, I'll post pictures next week.

Here is Matteo working on reading. The 1st video shows him building sentences with individual words. The 2nd video shows him reading "silly" sentences, which explains why he says "ha! ha!" after each one :) He's doing very well with his reading and will move onto consonant blends this week!

Lastly, I have video of Chiara. She has a terrible habit of stealing people's chairs when they get up, even for a second. It drives the girls crazy :) Of course, Maria's swivel chair is especially fun! And, you can tell this is early morning because Chiara's hair clips are still in :)

Well, I actually posted our week review on Saturday instead of Sunday this week, but now I'm really behind of my Saturday chores!! Off I go to try to catch up! Have great week!

Videos of Chiara - part 2

Here is part 2 of my day of Chiara videos.

Sometimes she likes to help clean up :)

I have to have a cup of tea with lunch to make it through the afternoon, and Chiara always likes to help with the tea bag. This video is a great example of how a simple task can turn into a 5- minute ordeal!

Chiara (and Cati) love to play on this fire truck after lunch everyday. You can tell she's about ready for a nap in this video :)

One last video for the day. This was cleaning time this afternoon. It's not just about Chiara, but I thought it was funny :) **But don't be mislead...cleaning time is rarely this joyful around here. It usually includes plenty of whining and complaining. I'll have to remember to use music more often! **

Well, I hope everyone got their Chiara-video fix! I'll try to remember to include videos of her more often - even if she's not quite ready for poetry recitation and science experiments :)

Videos of Chiara - part 1

One of my 6 brothers-in-law told Dany that he wished there were more videos of Chiara on the blog. Well, I made it my mission on Tuesday fulfill this wish!


Chiara showed up at the school room door like this earlier today. She did it all herself!

Chiara is always involved in our school work. Here she is during Maria's spelling lesson this morning.

Some nights Blogger uploads videos relatively quickly, but this is NOT one of those nights!!! So, I'll post this and post the other videos in seperate posts.

Homeschool Week 2/9 - 13

Another week has gone by! It's been busy as usual :)

The weather was nice, at least at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday, it was 65 degrees! No school work for us that afternoon!!!! The kids did do a little art outside on the quilt. Now, we're back to reality...cold and snow flurries. Oh, well. We enjoyed it while it lasted!



Maria drew some sailboats based on this picture.


She used her favorite art media these days: pastels!


In history this week, we learned about Alexander the Great. The first 2 pages are Cati's narrations. I don't usually include her narrations because they are in my handwriting, but I think they're fun to read! Next year I'll start working on having her write her own narrations.






Here are some more parts of the story by Maria.





On Friday, the girls played a game about Alexander the Great. Friday is usually a day when we read library books about our history topic of the week, but I was behind on reserving my library books...oops! I stocked up on Saturday, though!


Maria has 2 science reports this week. If you remember, her rust experiment from 2 weeks ago didn't work out. We rinsed out everything and started it over, this time adding salt to the water, which speeds up the rusting process. It worked!

Here she is marking the water level on the jar. The water level rises during the experiment because the oxygen in the air is used to make the rust.


You have to look very carefully to see the original marking. The water level rose significantly.

This is the new experiment that she did this week about density.

I don't have anything to show you for Cati's science from this past week. She did a lapbook about lizards, alligators, and crocodiles on Tuesday, but I haven't taken a picture. We were supposed to learn about turtles to finish our reptile study on Wednesday, but that was the warm afternoon when I let the kids play outside. I'll have pictures next week!

Cati finished Level 1 of the math program, Saxon 1, on Friday. Here is her final test of the book. She'll start Level 2 tomorrow. She's excited. It's fun to start something new in the middle of the year when you're kind of tired of the same old thing.

She started something new this past week: cursive! She has very nice print and has been interested in learning cursive, so here we go! I thought she did a nice job for her 1st week.

Matteo also loves to write! He would finish his handwriting book in a week if I let him, so I made practice sheets for him. I make them and put them in a page protector, and he writes on them with a dry erase marker. That way he can write as much as he wants, and I don't have to constantly print new sheets for him!! I hear all the time about how boys have trouble with handwriting, but I think Matteo is doing really well, especially considering he's not quite 4-years-old! He asks to do it all the time!

He's also doing very well with his reading, but that's not so easy to show you. Perhaps I'll get a video of him reading soon.

That's all for this week. Check the posts below this to see work that the kids brought home from St. Vincent on Friday and to see Maria's new braces that she got on Monday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Enjoy today's great excuse to enjoy lots of chocolate!!


Here are the kids opening Valentine treats from Aunt Ginny! Thank you!!
She even sent some very cute clothes for Elena (which Chiara keeps insisting are hers).

The kids made lots of Valentine-themed projects at their St. Vincent classes yesterday afternoon.

These are Cati's...some fish...

...and a Valentine bug.

Maria made a scrapbook page.

Matteo made a cat out of hearts. There is a face drawn on it, but I couldn't get it to come out with the camera.

We'll be spending the afternoon baking and decorating sugar cookies :)

Maria gets braces :)

After wearing head gear at night for 4 months, Maria finally got 4 front braces added for her enjoyment :) She's doing well. She's complained of a little discomfort. Her main disappointment is not getting to eat popcorn, which is one of the kids' favorite snacks. She got the braces Monday morning, and we were already back in the office this afternoon to adjust her night brace because it wouldn't fit anymore. For some reason, they didn't try it on after putting on the braces. She's probably be wearing all of this for around a year. Then, she'll get everything off for a year or so, and then she'll get a full set of braces to finish off things.

Homeschool Week 2/2 - 2/6

We had a busy week this week. It was our first week with all of our activities. The weather wasn't as bad as it has been. Here's a peek at some of the things we did.



Matteo did a few school things this week. Here he is counting. I found out that he recognizes all of his numbers through 20! Lately, he's been spending a lot of time counting down the days until his birthday at the end of the month!!











Here he is matching capital and lower case letters.



Cati began studying reptiles this week - one of my least favorite subjects!! She completed a snake lapbook this week.

Maria's science project for the week will not be finished until the upcoming week. We're waiting for some steel wool to rust - it takes longer when you actually WANT it to rust!

Here is Maria working on another project. One of her homeschool requirements for the state is to study PA state history. So, over the past couple of weeks she has been reading about Ben Franklin. She read a picture book, How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning, and a Landmark history book about him. As she read this longer book, she took notes about his life. I typed up these notes, then she cut them out and organized them.

Then, I organized them on the computer as she did. She was amazed at how easy this is on the computer! Then, she read over everything and told me how it should be divided into paragraphs. As she continued to read over everything, she kept thinking of new things to add. It was fun watching her develop her essay. She was very proud of herself, too. Since it turned out to be rather long, and because I didn't want to put a damper on her excitement, I didn't make her write it by hand. We printed it, and we will add it to her portfolio to turn into the school district.

Ben Franklin was important in U.S. history because he tried to make people’s
lives better as a statesman and an inventor. He was born in Boston.
His friends liked him because he was always thinking of something new to
do. When he was eleven, he invented swimming paddles. He worked for
his brother as a printer when he was a teenager. His brother treated him
so badly that he ran away to Philadelphia where he married and became an
inventor.
Ben Franklin invented many things. He invented bifocal glasses.

He learned that lightning was electricity, and he invented the lightning rod. Lightning
used to catch houses on fire before he invented the lightning rod. He
invented the Franklin stove, which gave more heat than other stoves. He
learned that dark colors keep in more heat than light colors
do.
Besides inventing, Ben Franklin did other important things for people.

He liked reading, so he started the first lending library. He helped start the first hospital
in Pennsylvania. He made the first volunteer fire department in
Philadelphia.

Ben Franklin’s inventions made him very popular. He was so popular
that he was made part of the government of Pennsylvania. He made many
friends, young and old. He tried to get the King of England to let the
American colonies become their own country. He asked France to help
America in the Revolutionary War. He signed the Declaration of
Independence. Ben Franklin made everyone’s lives better.

In history, the girls continued learning about the Greeks. This week, they read some more stories about the Greek gods. Here's Maria's narration on one of these stories.

They also learned about the Parthenon. Cati loves color and really didn't understand why they left it white instead of painting it :) Here's is the way she saw it.

They also learned about some of the Greek wars. They learned about when the Persian empire tried to take over Greece. They also learned about the war between Athens and Sparta. Here is Maria's map about these wars. The girls complete a map exercise with each history chapter. They have learned so much geography about this part of the world!

Cati learned some new math facts this week. She also learned about polygons.

The kids had their 1st classes at St. Vincent for this semester on Friday.

Here is a necklace that Matteo made in his class.

Here is a lion class that Cati made in her Animal Art class.

Here is a fish that Cati made in her Under the Sea class.

Maria said that they painted a smock in her art class that they will use in class in the upcoming weeks. She didn't bring anything home from her classes, so I don't have any pictures to share.

Here are some poems that the girls finished memorizing.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for pictures of Maria with her braces that she's getting tomorrow morning!