Summer Piano Camp

In Samuel's words..."finally I am in piano class!"

For a whole week in June he attended Summer Piano Camp for 2 hours a day with 5 girls. They were sure to inform him that he was in a "girl trap"... Oh my!

During each class there is time for "keyboard sharing" and each student gets a chance to play a song at the piano, which is Samuel's favorite part of class. He chose to play Mouse, Mousie in D major.

Enjoy.

Samuel's First Choir Performance!

This was the second performance of Little Lights for Jesus. Their very proud choir director (me!) introduces them to the audience while they get ready. Little Andrew on the front row is still waking up! During our first performance last month, Samuel decided to hide behind the back row instead of singing, so this was his first performance. Aren't they cute? A choir of 4 and 5 year olds... (and a 2 yr old too) you never know what to expect.
Samuel was part of a trio singing "Praise Him, Praise Him" and he assured me that he used his head voice and not his throat.

In this picture he looks just like his grandma Pryce when she sings!

Building Plans

During the mission trip to Mexico Samuel observed a lot and now is ready to build real buildings. He drew this plan in detail, with 4 steps to follow.
Then he informed his dad about how and where he wanted it done.

And here is as far as the project has progressed. Can you just imagine his excitement? Not bad for a 5 year old. However in the bag you see above there are approximately 1000 craft sticks and beside it a bottle of wood glue. He is insisting on building the walls and roof out of craft sticks...

Handicrafts

Most homeschools include some type of handicraft. Samuel LOVES crafts and I am trying to find ways to make useful crafts, not just stuff that you end up throwing away. If it cannot eaten, worn or filed in his portfolio, then we probably are not going to do it. And this is one reason I am glad we have found Hearts and Trees . The winter kit we purchased includes (besides other projects) everything you need to make a fleece hat. Samuel is not able to do this on his own, but is able to assist in folding, measuring, cutting and marking. In 30 minutes it was finished. Only one measurement was wrong so...the hat is too small for Samuel's head, but it is perfect for Wuff! Now when we go out in 37 degree weather, like today, Wuff will be warm. And believe me, Wuff goes everywhere we go.
Does this mean we have to make another hat?

Adventurer Club

Samuel is an Eager Beaver of the Adventurer club at the Keene SDA Church. Last night they had worship and a Christmas Party. The teacher asked who would like to volunteer to lead the christmas song service with the praise team and Samuel raised his hand. He tells me this was the first time he had been up there (I am not usually at the meetings), which makes me extremely glad I remembered to take the camera.
Please view the video to hear their angelic voices!

Samuel's First Ballet

As we were driving home one day, Samuel heard the commercial announcing The Nutcracker ballet and asked if we could go. In December of last year we read the story, listened to the CD, watched the video and danced to the music. So of course I was ready to buy the tickets.

He was sooooo excited to walk into Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth. He went all the way up to the balcony and looked at the city, then came back in to see the orchestra in the pit. We had great seats on the main floor and he was a perfect gentleboy. He sat through 2 hours of performance (20 minute intermission) and almost made it through without squirming, but he sat on my lap for the last 30 minutes.

It was a great way to start this festive season.

Samuel's 1st Movie

"Mommy, I have a great idea for the blog!" said Samuel with much excitement.

"We can put the camera inside this color thingy (kaleidescope) and then I can sing "A Sukkah"!"

"But Samuel, A Sukkah is a song for Feast of Tabernacles, can you find another song?" said I...

"But Mommy, I like the Sukkah song."

"OK, let's do it"

And that is how we started Escuelita today, creating a movie for the blog.

Can you see his eye on the upper right side of the screen? Funny!