Social groups, ASL, and decorating

December is a wicked busy month, isn't it? This is apparently why I know a whole host of homeschoolers who take the month of December "off".

December has brought with it an opportunity to join another homeschooling group in our area. We've been with them a few times this month and had a blast! Besides the "learning activities" we do (like building gingerbread houses and making Christmas candy),



its also great socially for the boys. Playing is important, but I think its equally as important for the boys to learn that just because we are in a group of kids, that is not license to immediately assign everyone a Star Wars character name and run around together defeating the Sith. Its been an interesting transition to watch. Not that I'm trying to squash any natural creativity or anything like that...it would just be nice to be able to walk into a room of people and know the kids can sit for longer than 30 seconds without exploding into a Transformer.

We've been working hard on our sign language. I can't believe all the signs the boys have learned...and actually remember. We are to the point now we can have short conversations without speaking. I found a cool place online to look up signs that uses a video to show you the sign. I learn better from seeing someone actually do the sign instead of trying to figure it out from a book, so this place has been a big help.

Other than that, there's been a lot of art and decorating going on. Since we moved here, we haven't been able to get to our Christmas box (bottom of the pile in storage) so we didn't have ornaments or decorations. The boys have taken care of that, however. Our tree is full of homemade ornaments (including an angel tree topper created by Iggy) and the walls are plastered with other such lovelies that they spontaneously create. I am pretty sure I have the most beautiful Christmasy house on the block!