School Week 8 - Letter H

Our new routine is to go to the library on Tuesdays when we leave Parents Day Out.  My children know that they are supposed to whisper in the library and there is a rug and couch that they are told to sit on and read a book quietly while I get books for our letter of the week.  Otherwise, we disturb everyone, or they pull several books off the shelves, or roll around on the plastic colored tube pillows (why are they even in there?), or better yet stand on top of the tube pillows (for lack of a better description) and jump off of them.  It's all in little kid fun, but for the library, siting still and being quiet are the rules.  I told the kids this Tuesday that if they behaved in the library we could go get a slushy at Sonic when we left.  This was also to reward Weston (2 yr old) for not biting anyone at school that day. . . . major accomplishment!  And it just so happened to be Happy Hour at Sonic - 1/2 price.  One child got one, the other did not.  I think this is a great new tradition.

The same sweet lady at church that gave us worksheets for "G" week gave us these worksheets for "H" week.  The kids loved them and it took out a lot of preparation time for me.  Alivia has really enjoyed thinking of words that start with "H" this week.  We recognize the letter "H" everywhere we go and say the sound that it makes.  These worksheets are great for teaching Alivia how to write and Weston traces the letters with his finger each week.

I also took the opportunity to start the "forced sibling Hug" last week.  I read about it on a blog somewhere and thought I pinned it, but now I can't find it to share the link.  The blog suggested forcing siblings to hug for a minute if they fight with one another.  This is like taking the, "Tell your sister you're sorry" scenario to a whole new level. :)  Instead of setting a timer, I learned that my kiddos did better if I counted out loud to 60.  They have to embrace with two hands or I start over, and after the minute is up, they have to say, "I love you ____" to one another and kiss each other.  They end up giggling and completely forget about the argument.

Memory verse: "Hear O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one." -Deuteronomy 6:4

I told Grant that one of the things I wanted to teach the kids this year was the books of the Bible, so he found (on iTunes) the Old Testament song from Wee Sing that he learned when he was a kid.  After a few weeks of singing it in the evenings, Alivia knows it and sings it all day and Weston is pretty close to knowing them all.  Now they can learn the New Testament after the new year.  Here's Alivia singing it a few nights ago. . . .

We also enjoyed singing this song this week:

Ho, ho, ho, ho-sannah
Ha, ha, ha-llelujah
He, he, he, he saved me
I've got the joy of the Lord