Leading up to Feb 5

We had a few different kind of days.

Later on in the day on Wednesday February 3,  Fina decided she wanted to start another creative writing piece. (We will have to work on completing a task before starting another one. We have a few incomplete stories on the go). She started with drawing a pic and coming up with the title "The Unknown Land." For those of you following along, that was the name of our latest Parables of Nature story. So, connections. Great!

She dictated the story to me and I wrote it out in pencil. Not a great idea. But here is the transcription. We moved directly to the computer for Chapter 2.

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"The Unknown Land"

Chapter 1

Once long, long ago, there was a baby snake. His name was Snakey. One day, Snakey was slipping in and out of the leaves. Then he said “I think that someone has given me a clue. I think there’s a key in one of these leaves to get into the Unknown Land.” Snakey went home and played with a box of gold marbles. He went back outside. He met a falcon. The falcon said “Good evening.” Snakey said “Good evening to you, too, Mr. Falcon!” Mr. Falcon said: “I have great news for you, Mr. Snakey. I, Mr. Falcon, met a talking leaf that said to me. ‘You, Mr. Falcon, shall find the key to the Unknown Land. Look in one of my boughs. There is a keyhole. Look in one of my other boughs. You will find a little trolley. Inside, there is a package. Inside, there is a great secret. You must open it. Inside, there is a beautiful key. You must insert that key into the metal locket. It will click.” And, in a puff of smoke, the leaf disappeared." 

[mom's note: don't you love the story within a story thing. She was able to keep it straight that this whole thing was Mr Falcon telling us what happened to him and that the leaf spoke within there and we actually hear the leaf speaking!]

Next, Mr. Falcon found little Acorn, a chipmunk. He had been holding an acorn at that moment, that is why he had such an unusual name. “I went to the Unknown Land” said Acorn. “That is how I got a gold-leafed acorn hat and acorn. The people in the Unknown Land said that the acorn was good food.” [mom's note: it was originally "that the acorn was savory food." She changed it the next day, upon rehearing it, to "good food."] There was a big cluster of trees. In that big cluster of trees there was a great door. Mr. Falcon opened it. He said “My. Oh.” He opened it up. He’s come into the Unknown Land. He decided to tell his friends. He too went to play with a box of gold marbles. I’m going to go get my friends and show them this door.” But when he returned with his friends the door had become invisible. He felt around for the golden doorknob and found it. He turned it. All his friends came in.

[mom's note: the door within the trees, leading to something under grass? Look at that chimney!]

Chapter 2

Mr Falcon and his friends said “Ooohhh,” and “Aaahhh.  Why are we in this place?” They all said “Why are we here? Is this the Unknown Land?”  “Well,” said Mr. Falcon, “I just opened the latch and I got in this place.” “I think it is the Unknown Land” said Snakey. “Let’s go home,” said Snakey. “I think, if we go home, we could tell our friends and then we could go and play with a box of golden marbles,” said Snakey. “Yay!” says everyone. “I think it is a super idea,” said Mr. Falcon. “Yes, it is, Mr Falcon” said everyone.

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Cute, or what?!?!

On Thursday, February 4, we went for a playgroup at dad's school. Fina had fun and made a new friend. A little 4 year old girl that just moved in to the community in January. After the playgroup, she got to spend some time painting with Acrylic paints, which she loves to do. I someone managed to fail to take any pics, but I will get them for you at some point. She continued working on her previous painting of dark night with moon and lots of sparkly paint. She also did a David Bowie portrait for dad. She had a great time.

We then decided to go to the huge used book sale in the city. They hold it a few times a year. I was able to get 20 books from our AO list for $25. I was pretty proud of myself.  It was a long day!

For a bit of mother-culture, I saw someone post this Scripture Writing Website for the month of February. They have a full version of the Scripture Writing Plan, and a short version. I printed off the short version for myself. I figured it would be good cursive practice for me, and a way to read a verse or two a day and "linger" over it while writing. So far, I like it.  I could see using this for copywork for Fina. It is just so much easier when you have something specific to write and you can check off the day as you go.

On Friday February 5, we did a lot of general housework and tidying up and more. We were able to read our Bible passages for the week about Samson. Judges13:1-25 and 16:4-31. She narrated them to me. They were quite long. I'm thinking I need to be more careful and break them up over a few days when they are like this. By the end, I'm not sure if she figured out the whole story! Fina spent some time playing with her MUS blocks, creating little scenes with them.

We got a great afternoon out to play with our friends. The weather has been quite mild this winter and it is continuing. Saturday has a high of 0 degrees. In Manitoba? In February? Unheard of! So we will definitely take advantage and try to get many hours of outside time!

Back to the old watering hole!