Jen Desmarais

This is such a cozy movie. I had planned on writing during it, but the music and animation drew me right in (even though I’ve seen it before many times). Pegasus loved it. He says “I loved everything about this movie and want to see it again.”

Dance

As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.

Music

His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He’s only 20 pages away from finishing the first book.

Basic Information

We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.

Printing words

We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. He really doesn’t care about spacing.

Counting objects/math-type activities

He pretended he didn’t know what his numbers were. He would count in French, and then say “What number is that?” It was incredibly frustrating.

Math worksheets. He did them both on Monday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He didn’t need my help at all, and when I pointed out that 6+6 wasn’t 11, he knew instantly that it was 12. Hence my frustration with the counting above.

Storytime

We have no French library books this week, so he read some French books through Boukili.

Activity

Make a fairy door – He was very enthusiastic about both making and painting his fairy door. He pointed out that the paint changed colours when they touched and was excited to see what each new colour would be.

Make tiny furniture – I asked him which piece of furniture he wanted to build, and he decided on the bed, just like his sister. I had hoped that we could also make a miniature bookcase with some books, but I lost steam this week and we ended up not building that. He sewed most of the pillow himself (I did the hidden stitches after stuffing it.)

Make a hair clip – He chose this soft green fabric (which I had used to make my Vanelloppe cosplay in 2013). We didn’t glue it like the instructions said, but sewed it instead. I made the setting stiches, and he added more to secure it, and tied off the thread. He was very proud of himself.

One of the things I love about this movie is how they animated the Boxtrolls. They don’t speak human language, so their hands and facial expressions have to do the talking for us to understand (unless Eggs translates for them). But I’ve found (with both kids) that they’ve understood what the trolls are saying without Eggs’s help. It’s impressive. Pegasus was very upset near the end of the movie (no spoilers) but really enjoyed it by the end.

Dance

As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.

Music

His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He’s only 20 pages away from finishing the first book.

Basic Information

We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.

Printing words

We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. He really doesn’t care about spacing.

Counting objects/math-type activities

He missed four of the images in the middle of the worksheet, but was fine with adding them in when I pointed them out to him.

Math worksheets. He did them both on Monday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He didn’t need my help, and calmly took my correction regarding which way the 7 was supposed to face on page 1.

Storytime

We have no French library books this week, so he read some French books through Boukili.

Activity

Learn how to draw a box – despite Pegasus insisting that he already knew how to draw a box because his sister taught him, he sat down willingly enough to follow the instruction video. He didn’t want to erase the guidelines, which… it doesn’t really matter, right? He had fun, and that’s what this is about.

Make stop-motion movie – He took the pictures on Monday. Éric had him help with the set-up of the lighting. He did a much better job with the timing of the pictures this time, and only got my hand in the shot once. We recorded his voice on Wednesday, which was a lot of fun. He was willing to do several takes to get the voices just right (maximum 3 times unless it was really short) and had fun making his voice sound different to imitate the villain. Pegasus helped put the dialogue onto the frames of the pictures on Friday, and then recorded the music overtop on Saturday (delayed because Éric wasn’t feeling 100% this week).

Pegasus loved the movie and wanted to rewatch it immediately after it was over. It really shows the universality of these movies, that they’re still so loved by kids over 30 years later. He watched it again in English on the Wednesday and still wanted to see it again.

Dance

As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.

Music

His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He’s only 20 pages away from finishing the first book. I don’t know where the 4 pages idea came from – probably Pegasus himself exaggerating!

Crochet

We haven’t started this yet.

Basic Information

We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.

Printing words

We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. He really doesn’t care about spacing lol

Counting objects/math-type activities

He did very well with his numbers this week.

Math worksheets. He did them both on Tuesday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He didn’t need my help, and only made one mistake, which he corrected when I pointed it out (on page two, he added instead of subtracted 9-6. He did get the right answer if it had been a plus, and was very disappointed that it wasn’t). He was very proud of his rectangle. He was very excited about the letter sequence.

Storytime

We have no French library books this week, so he read some French books through Boukili.

Activity

Plan stop-motion movie – On Monday, since the eclipse was happening, school didn’t really happen, but I did spend some time cuddling him before fully waking up in the morning, and we discussed what he wanted to make his movie about. Then on Tuesday, he dictated the scenes that would be in his movie and the dialogue that would go along with it. On Thursday, we built the glider for the villain to fly on. The cardboard was already cut from when we had cut off the excess when making his touch and feel book, and after looking at the glider from the show for reference, we folded the glider into a similar shape. Then we made straps for the villain’s feet (conveniently, his shoes are curled up at the toes, so he’s actually quite secure!) and taped them down. It’s decently built, but he’s not allowed to use it as a toy until after filming. Then I cut the pieces of yarn to use as webs on Friday.

Make a soot sprite – Once again, we were able to use cardboard excess from the touch and feel book, this time as the pompom shaper. Pegasus wrapped the yarn around it, I tied the knot (it needs to be VERY tight; no, tighter than that), and then he glued the eyes on. He’s very pleased with it and said he wouldn’t have complained that wrapping the yarn was hard if he had known it would be that easy. Right…