Slices of Life

Thanks for stopping by and joining us again this week as we host another virtual refrigerator arts and crafts link up. Trough the years I have tried to lead the boys in studing some of the masters in painting.  We've read books about famous artists and tried to paint in their same style.  I quickly outlined the books we read and the projects we've done below but you can click on any artist name to be taken to the original blog post if you'd like some more details. Georgia O'Keefe We read Through Georgia's Eyes and followed up with a painting on canvas. I encouraged the boys to look through her works of art and pick one to try and mimic.  I think they did a really great job too! Claude Monet We started with the story Linnea in Monet's Garden , Getting to Know The World's Greatest Artists Monet,   and also used the Usborne Children's Book of Art .   To follow- up our stories we made water lilies.  We took our watered down

I have one boy that just adores reading. He DEVOURS books and has ever since he began reading at age 4.  He taught himself to read and was reading books far beyond his level in no time. My other two boys tolerate reading.  They enjoy listening to stories but rarely will read more than the 15 minutes of reading I require each day.  They prefer picture book and easy chapter books that are definitely considered below their level... and I let them!  I want them to love what they read and associate reading with laughing and having fun.  Yet, there is no denying that the list of books my boys "read" each month is quite long.  So how do I get them to read so much?  By reading aloud to them, by listening to audibooks, and by allowing them to read book that they enjoy (even if they are "below their level"). My boys each have a chapter book that they read from each day.   We have a family chapter book (or two) that we read from each day; usually at breakfast.  

My boys were all sick with the flu this month and we lost more than a week of school waiting for everyone to feel healthy again.  They were unable to read when they were so under the weather and that makes our list  a little bit shorter than usual this month. That said we did read and listen to some really great books! Magnus Chase Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan - In this final and thrilling book of the Magus Chase series Magnus is sailing to stop Loki from starting Ragnarok. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan-- Alec has started re- listening to all of the Percy Jackson books again while he colors in his room.  He loves this series so much and in book 2 Percy is sailing through the Bermuda triangle on a mission to save his best friend Grover. Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan-- In the 3rd book of the series Percy and his friends head out on a mission to find the missing goddess Artemis. Ms. Joni is a Phony by Dan Gut

I joined up with the ladies from The Blended Blog and a bunch of other women for a Spread the Love Gift Exchange. By signing up we agreed to participate in a gift exchange of some small accessories like earrings, a scarf or hair pieces.  Our only other guideline was that our gift(s) should be between $10-15 dollars. I was paired up with Dara from Not in Jersey!   Have you checked out her blog yet?  You really should! She's wonderful. After e-mailing a few times back and forth and getting a feel for each other's tastes we headed out shopping.  It a bit nerve wracking shopping for someone I had not met in real life before.  I fretting about what she'd like and asked my poor son's opinion a bunch of times. I finally made my selection and mailed her gift off.  A few weeks later I received a gift in return.  Before I even opened them up I loved the adorable pink gift boxes! Her gift was accompanied by this adorable hand made card with the sweetest little no