The Continuing Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde

Happy Halloween from Bonnie (Cinderella), Clyde (the most fearsome pirate), and their cousins Luigi and Guido!

And for fun, we did “potato-head” pumpkins instead of carving this year. Bonnie and Clyde did the two large ones in the back. Baby Dillon’s pumpkin is the front right. And mine? Mine is the front left – what my kids say Mom looks like after a day of homeschooling.

Happy Halloween and safe trick-or-treating to all who wander the streets tonight.

I was told there weren’t enough pictures on the blog lately, so I took some at TKD today.  Talk about happiness – Bonnie and Clyde had to spar against one another since there were mostly adults in the class.  Pure joy!  Hitting and kicking their brother or sister and mom wasn’t even mad.

I think Bonnie has the better form, though she’s not as strong.

But Clyde had fun punching his sister, too.  Look at her laugh!  She didn’t realize she could be  hit with the pads on, and it wouldn’t hurt.

After a hard workout, the owner had a little fun with the kids.  I like that they show the kids the fun inside the discipline.

The kids are enjoying TKD – which is a good thing as we are signed up for the next 3 years.  At least we’ll always know what we’re doing for PE.

Every now and again I’ll update Bonnie and Clyde’s blog with the narrations that we do.   Last week we read about St. Augustine and how Christianity came to Britain in Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World, Vol. 2.   The kids especially enjoyed the stories of the monks in the scriptoriums.  I think they were fascinated by the fact that books were so rare and expensive!  They love to read, and the idea that they couldn’t just check out a book from the library was astounding!

Here are their narrations from today:
The pope sent Augustine to Britain so Augustine could teach them about Christianity.  King Ethelbert thought Augustine was going to cast a spell on him, but Augustine told him about Christianity and the king agreed to let them live in Canterbury.

Monks were men who prayed to God at least eight times a day.  Some of the jobs they did were making things, curing people and copying books.

The monks made the parchment by stretching and soaking animal skins.  The best way to make it was to get a whole mouthful of beer and spit it all over the skin.  They wrote with goose feathers and with ink made from soot.  They copied the books in the scriptorium.  They couldn’t leave until they were done.  One of the monks even wrote in the corner of a book, “Curse that mouse!” and “I wish we had a bigger fire, but Brother John won’t let us.”

School’s underway, and things have been a bit hectic, but I know folks are asking – what are we doing these days?

Bonnie and Clyde each passed another belt test at TKD.  So Bonnie now has her blue belt, and Clyde now has his blue belt with a white stripe.

The kids are keeping busy with lots of extra activities – brownie scouts, cub scouts, piano lessons, art lessons, TKD, chess club, and a PE co-op.  For at home work, they’re learning German, covering the Middle Ages in history, working through math and language arts, and next week, starting chemistry.

The chess club is fantastic for Clyde – he loves learning the different strategies, and has been practicing on Majestic Chess whenever he can get on the computer.  Bonnie likes to play, too – and tags along to the chess club to pick up a few hints as well.

All in all, the year is moving smoothly, and I’ll try to do a better job to keep up to date each week or so.