The fair and other random activities

I've been slow to get pictures  posted. These are from a couple of weeks ago. We went to the fair with our homeschool group.

It's always nice to be around other families to reassure me that silliness is very normal in boys.:)

Some have asked what we do with the little ones while the older ones are homeschooling. As I've mentioned before I have tried to narrow our curriculum choices down to ones that can be done mostly independently. Of course I'm always available to answer questions for the independent work and then we do some subjects as a family: Bible, History, Latin and Science. 

I've been working with Joseph and Zoya on fine motor stuff. As you can see Joseph knows how to color  but prefers to color directly on surfaces rather than paper. Here he is transferring water from one container using a bulb syringe. He loves this activity!

Once I started working with Zoya I realized how developmentally delayed she is. She will really benefit from therapy, speech and OT, and we are considering enrolling her in school so she can get some of the special services offered there too. She still scribbles very much like a 2 year old. I'm trying to teach her to draw circles and lines and color in the lines. She will get there, sweet girl.

Jude and Liesel wanted to do something nice for their music teacher who just moved into her new house. They made her a cake that said 'Welcome Home' and bought her a housewarming candle, with their own money. I thought it was really sweet and they thought of it all on their own. Mrs. Bass is a great teacher and I highly recommend her to anyone in the area. She teaches piano, voice, and guitar.

Joseph loves the cat but I'm afraid the feeling is not mutual. 

Last week I took the girls to lunch and shopping. Do you notice how Zoya plugs her nose while drinking from a straw? Her daddy taught her this. She has also learned that by plugging her nose she can make sounds she never could make before. Like "p" and "b" and "s".

While we were eating I noticed Hope's bottom tooth hanging by a thread. I asked her if I could wiggle it, knowing I could yank it right out without her even knowing. Yep it came right and and she was thrilled. She has been watching her siblings, including Ava, losing teeth for years, and it was finally her turn. Yipppeeeee. 

I've mentioned three of Joseph's things are

1. paper

2. water

and 

3. being naked.

Imagine the fun he had doing all 3 at once!

Add motorcyles to that list. I thought he was trying to say 'mama' but it soon became clear that it was motorcycles he wanted.