INTRODUCING.....

CLIFFORD!!!

He is one of Santa's elves. He has come to stay with us for the holiday season. Every night we get Clifford ready for bed by tucking him into his bag. He sleeps on the kitchen counter and drinks water and eats crackers. We sprinkle him with magic North Pole Snowflakes too. The snowflakes give him the ability to come to life at night.


The very moment Benjamin falls asleep Clifford wakes up and begins his magic. Sometimes Clifford's magic gets him into mischief (like making messes). Every morning, the moment Benjamin wakes up, Clifford turns back into a doll and he is stuck where ever he was playing at. It is then Benjamin's job to get up and find him! Clifford brings excitement for Benjamin every single morning.


This is what he has been up to so far.


The first morning Benjamin found Clifford had gotten into his DVDs and picked out his favorite to watch with Benjamin.


Silly Elf.


The next morning we found him playing with the tracks that he had set up.


After that, we found Clifford in the playroom with a tent he had made in the night.


A BIG Tent.


The next morning Benjamin discovered that Clifford had set up his marble game and had been playing with it.


Next Benjamin found Clifford in the playroom again. This time he had pulled out some games and a puzzle to play.


He was very close to finishing the puzzle, so Benjamin helped him out with the rest of it.


One morning we found Clifford working on a Christmas activity book.


The next day we saw that he had been busy building Lincoln Logs.

Oops, looks like he got a little carried away!


The following morning we found a trail...


leading to the Thomas tent that was set up!


Inside the tent Clifford was hiding with a DVD to watch, a conductor's hat, and a comfy chair.


He also set up some tracks, had a model train magazine turned to the Thomas page, and a good book to read.


Benjamin loves Clifford's magical surprises.


One morning he had stacked up some books real high.


And he was ready for a game of checkers.


I wonder what he will do next?

This is where you can find Clifford's friends:
elf-magic

Operation Christmas Child

This year we participated in the Operation Christmas Child project. We went to the store and bought a plastic shoe box. Benjamin chose items to fill it with that another four year old boy might like. He picked out coloring books, cars, crayons, stickers, candies, etc. and wanted to put in a Christmas card.

When we got home we watched this video and I was surprised that it brought him to tears. He said that those kids were so happy to get their presents and we needed to send ours out fast so that "my kid", as he called him, could have his present too.




It was difficult for him to understand that we didn't know who exactly was getting the present or where it was going. When I told him that God knew who the little boy was and that He would make sure it got to him, Benjamin said a prayer for him.

We also included a picture of Benjamin, a letter, and paper and a self-addressed stamped envelope, so that if the little boy wants to write to Benjamin he can. I know Benjamin would love to write to the little boy again.

Benjamin has been praying for "my kid" everyday. I am so thankful that we were able to participate in this ministry this year. This will definitely become a family tradition.

Reptile Week

Hunting for lizards.




Gecko.



This week we made a notebook of Benjamin's work on reptiles.


Reading list:

KingFisher Knowledge: Dinosaurs by Nigel Marven
Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner
Yucky Reptile Alphabet Book by Jarry Pallotta
Dinosaur - An Eye Wonder Book by Sarah Walker and Samantha Gray
The Science of Living Things: What is a Reptile? by Bobbie Kalman
A New True Book: Reptiles by Lois Ballard
Fun Facts About Turtles by Carmen Bredeson
Animals After Dark: Alligators and Crocodiles, Hunters of the Night by Elaine Landau
What Do You Call a Baby Turtle? by Emma Nathan
Snakes by Gail Gibbons
The Visual Dictionary of Dinosaurs by DK Publishing
Geckos by W.P. Mara
Steve Irwin Wildlife Warrior by June Eding
Dinsaur Hunt by Rolf E. Johnson and Carol Ann Piggings
All About Turtles by Jim Arnosky


Turtles.



Lizards.




Benjamin narrated a reptile story to me. Here is chapter one:

Brother Lizards

They come to the junction, on the track Bill and Ben comes. They scared the lizards. Alligators come! There is a dinosaur. It scares Bill and Ben. They go home to Tidmoth Sheds. Dinosaur leaves; he's really scary. The tracks are clear. The lizards get off the tracks.

Then it is playing time. They play chasing each other. It is a game. Then it rains, and rains, and rains, and rains, and RAINS! Then it gets sunny, and sunny and SUNNY! Then the tracks are clear.

There is a railroad crossing. They apply their brakes. Then stuck in the mud. Bill and Ben can't help, so Rusty and Mavis get the lizards out of the mud.

The End.


Crocodilians



Where to find crocodilians.


Here is the second chapter:

Alligator is in the mud. He chomps and drinks and eats crocodiles. Way over there.

The End.


Snakes




Dinosaurs





His final chapter:

The dinosaur helps Bill and Ben out of the mud. It rains. Then it stops. Then there are rocks. The rocks get bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER. The dinosaur eats the rocks. He eats them all.

The End.




On the back I attached a workbook that we got at the DMV about Sea Turtles.


Here a a few of the pages.




He designed his own sea turtle.


In the summer I was able to buy a complete set of animal encyclopedias from the library for $2. This is where we got a lot of our reptile pictures.

Most of my printouts came from Homeschool Share. I used the Crocodilians Lapbook, the Dinosaur Lapbook, the Lizard Lapbook, the Sea Turtles Lapbook, and the Snake Lapbook.