The Umbrella is the story of a boy who goes into the cloud forest to search for animals. While he searches from high in the trees, all the animals he hopes to see crowd into his umbrella waiting for him at the bottom of the tree. It's a simple tale but introduces unique animals like the tapir and quetzal as well as a Spanish speaking tree frog. And the beautiful art keeps everyone staring at the pages.
We were fortunate to actually have rain during U week but wouldn't you know it, we could not find our umbrella. It's still missing...We just don't actually use an umbrella very often here in sunny southern California...we did observe the rain and talk about the water cycle while catching raindrops.
Occasionally on our daily walks, we'll hunt for the letter of the week. For example, for P we were hunting for pots. Well this week on our walk Adam found this U-shaped bush. I would never have even noticed but yep, it's a U. He was very proud and without hesitating said, "take a picture of me with the U."
One more thing I want to share about what we do every week...Beth, my proud first grader, reads the "Sound Box" books to Adam. There's a book for every letter and a character for every letter. "Little U" for example fills up her sound box with things that begin with her sound like umbrellas, ugly ducklings, and an umpire. They are silly and often non-sensical but Adam loves this part of the week because Beth reads to him. He asks and she proudly reads to him. And every week as I watch them together I remember one of the many reasons why I love homeschooling :)
(this picture is actually taken at our library before Beth heads to gymnastics, hence the leotard :)
We also read our book of the week, which Adam does still enjoy doing. It was Two Little Trains, a fun story of two trains, one real and one a toy, and their journey. 
The trains go across the prairies or across the living room. They go up a mountain or upstairs. Adam found it pretty amusing. It was simple but considering he is now happy to stay up and listen to me read chapter books like our current book On the Banks of Plum Creek, I don't mind reading him simple stories as well. 
The girls actually slept on their bed since they have a full bed and a small tent AND a rail to keep the tent from sliding off.
In other activities Adam likes these new pattern blocks we received as hand-me-downs from a friend. And he impressed me as I found them quite challenging and worried that he shouldn't even try them for fear he would be discouraged. Silly me, he had no problem. 
Most of the rest of his day is spent playing games with me (we love Skip-Bo, Cathedral, Uno, Dominoes, Crazy 8's, Sequence to name a few,) playing on the computer (he would do that all day if I let him. I have to use a timer to keep it under control,) and doing what Jason and Beth are doing. They color state pages and so he asks to color state pages. They copy their Bible verses and color pictures for them so he does, too. I love that I have a copier and hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by copying their curriculum to let him play along! This transition to participating in the daily lessons is exciting as I begin preparing for next year and Kindergarten when he'll have actual real daily lessons. I'm happy to know he'll want to be learning right along with his siblings.
Unfortunately, starting the day before, the flu hit our family. One at a time, it took a good 10 days of our life. Oh well...at least it was cold and rainy. We spent the week watching videos, being read to, and taking many naps! 
As the one week concluded and I was preparing for the next, I realized we did very little for V because of the flu, yet I was preparing to move on. But then I realized I don't have to move on, I can stay on V for another week, I have freedom! So V is for Valentine lasted two weeks :)
We had heart shaped pancakes on Valentine's Day (this flu bug did not involve the stomach, just fevers, achy, and congestion) and heart shaped sandwiches later in the week. We jumped up and down and felt our hearts beating. We made valentine's cards and crafts for family and friends sending literal hugs across the country. Our "cards" where our handprints cut out and stapled to a piece of string as long as our arms - a hug :) Adam really impressed me cutting out his own hands. I wish I had taken a picture of his but his got mailed off to Anja (happy birthday!) Here's one of Beth's, which is going to Grandma Mae, to give you an idea... 
Our books for the week were Clifford's Valentine and Winnie the Pooh's Valentine's Day. They are both easy readers, not high quality content but simply friends making cards to share their love for each other.
So we ate grapes and colored our Bible verse Vine pictures. We then talked about how when we remain in Jesus, we produce fruit. What fruit - the Fruits of the Spirit. And what is one of the fruits - Love! So we talked about love :) 
But last week was quilts with a story about a little girl. And the week before was P is for party, as in Jason's birthday. I realized this week that I somehow lost sight of the big picture. I'm doing preschool so that I can focus on Adam a little bit each week. I want him to know I planned something just for him. So, although he actually liked the Tales of Peter Rabbit, he didn't want to do any crafts about cute little bunnies. And he didn't want to read books all about rabbits and their habitat and long ears. He spent the week playing on the computer or begging me to let Jason play with him. I'm not saying we should cater to our children. There are times they will have to do things that they don't like but in this situation, I decided R deserved a do-over...
We learned about the history of space flight. Did you know the first living creature blasted into space was a Russian dog? We talked about the role of rockets in sending spacecraft beyond our atmosphere. 
We enjoyed the rocket exhibit at the Discovery Science Museum. Adam learned about thrust as he watched the rockets fill with water and then blast up when the pressure was released at the push of a button. 
I learned that he was actually paying attention when I asked him the next day whether airplanes could fly in space and he answered, "No because they don't have water pressing out of them." And to fulfill Adam's desire to play with his big brother, I gave them the assignment of building an International Space Station out of Lego. They rose to the challenge, and we learned about life as an astronaut living in space. 
Rockets definitely were a blast for us. 
We read A Quilt Story, a sweet book about a pioneer family and a quilt the mother makes for her daughter. The Quilt is a cape, a picnic blanket for tea parties, and comfort when she's sick or after a big move. Many years later, the quilt is discovered in an attic and gives a new generation the same comfort and familiarity. Adam enjoyed the story even though it stars a girl. He did not however enjoy any coloring sheets that had queens on them or girly looking quilts. I had intended to take on sewing as a project and even planned to teach Adam to make a small pillow with a scrap of Toy Story cloth I picked up some time ago, but my week did not go as Quietly as I would have liked. In fact it was Quite the week...Daddy was out of town. Jill colored her hair with lipstick (do you know how hard that is to wash out of hair?!? It required oil and lots of scrubbing and rinsing and scrubbing and rinsing.)
And then our week concluded with, what else, a party!