We did a mini unit on the Election, focusing mainly on the qualities we should be looking for in a leader. I think they came up with a pretty great list!
Nolan has been such an enthusiastic puppeteer for the church Christmas program. He took it upon himself to find some puppets and props at home so he could practice on his own! Great job, Nolan!
Nolan made these beautiful fall leaves using oil pastels, liquid watercolors and salt. It turned out gorgeous!
Gabrielle and I have stepped into leadership roles at Trinity, leading the elementary age ministry for the semester. It has been a fun adventure and nice getting to know more of the kids. Our kids are loving dinner church nights!
We tackled a pretty involved art project for our book, "Eagle Drums." The story is about the Inupiaq tribe in Alaska, and how the eagle elders taught them how to rely on each other. We decided to have the kids write their own myth about an animal and then made an animal head out of celluclay. Nolan did an amazing account of how the panda came to be; Olivia made a sweet story about how the fox became red; and Simon wrote about how a tiger got its stripes. They first made an armature out of recycled materials like egg cartons, aluminum foil, paper cups, and bottle caps. They they molded the celluclay paste over the top. They painted their creation with acrylic paint, and added details with paint pens. They used wooden beads to frame the edge of the canvas board and they turned out so unbelievably cool. It took us several weeks, but it might be my favorite project they have ever created!
Olivia and I went to church choir practice together and I treated her to a lunch at Tilly's afterward. Love one-on-one time with my girl!
Miles is helpful with schoolwork.
I have been playing piano for the high school musical again this year. It is Footloose and it has been a timesuck, but a fun one! It's been 3 hours a night of rehearsals several nights a week, not to mention the practice at home to get these rock and roll songs to happen. I'm proud of myself for undertaking the challenge and it's fun to stretch my music muscles a bit in this way!
You have to drink tea when you're learning about the Boston Tea Party, right?
We made a thankful lapbook, exploring gratitude around Thanksgiving. They did a great job!
The first snowfall of the season is always so exciting!
After years of waiting, we began watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy with the kids recently. To our delight, they've been super into it. We have been working on adding some details about the story into our literature journals and Simon wanted to draw some pictures too. I love the curly haired Frodo running for his life in all of the pictures!
