Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Van Gogh Week

The past week, our artist study has been on Van Gogh. I loved how the kids paintings turned out and had to share them. 


Cian chose The Starry Night:

Cian's:

Van Gogh's:

The girls chose Sunflowers:

Van Gogh's:

Grace's:

Zoe's:


Ellie's:
I love that she gave them faces! I didn't help her at all either!

This was the first time the kids all sat down to do art and Fionn got jealous! Luckily, I had just bought a My 1st Crayola on clearance! So Fionn got to "paint" too:

They all did a great job and had a lot of fun! I'm also happy to report they all still have both ears.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Metal Science Drawing

Cian's metal drawing was too cute not to share. I shared a story of when I was in High School and a girl broke a mercury thermometer and went to clean it up with her hand and the teacher shouted, "no!" 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Our New Chore Chart- Electronics Jail


I have been pinning chore charts for probably about a year now. I wanted something easy and practical. I also don't want to have to keep track of them earning a quarter here or there, nor do I want to motivate them only to help for money. I believe being part of a family is helping that family. Nothing I found seemed to "fit" what I was looking for in a chore chart. Then, I had a brainstorm! The kids have many things they enjoy such as watching t.v. in the evening or playing their Kindle when done with school work. Our behavior chart I made a few years ago (see it here) works SO well that I decided to model the chore chart after the same idea. The kids know they have to finish school before they can use their devices or watch a t.v. show, so why not the same understanding regarding chores?

When chores need to be done, they will be the "key" to unlocking their electronics from "Electronic Jail." 
Each chore can be added to the chart as needed. If something is blocking them from the devices, it must be done before they can watch t.v. or play devices. 

Here is a closer look at the chart:
The finished chore side says, "I did my part and did this chore, it's like the bail for electronics jail. I moved it here because it's done, when we work together we can all have fun."


I used the little sticky Velcro coins to attach the chores:

I made almost all the chores yellow so the kids could chose which one they want to do. I also made "clean your room" and "put away your laundry" in their favorite colors and they each have one of those. 

Here it is hanging up by our behavior chart:


We just started it this morning, but we are off to a great start. These two had already cleaned their room to "get Kindle out of jail" by 8:05 this morning. That NEVER happens! They are my worst messy room offenders. So, fingers crossed it's going to work well!
(Zoe found that while cleaning!)

Two minutes later: