Tonight my little man and I made a batch of brownies. 

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First, he read the recipe.  He helped measure and add each ingredient.  Then he counted to 50 as he stirred the batter.  He was understandably let down when I told him they would take 30 minutes to bake.  But, he waited patiently... watching the timer very closely. 

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I just wish I had taken a photo of him enjoying them!

I've just finished rearranging our school room for the bajillionth time, it seems.  I'm constantly trying to figure a way to make things work more efficiently and maximize the small space that we have for our schooling.  Plus, I got some new educational posters a few weeks ago and needed to make room to display them.  This is how it ended up, and so far - it's working out great for us! 

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As you can see, the big desk in the middle of the room is mine.  There are two smaller wooden desks beside and right behind my desk for the two younger children to work at.  My 11yo usually pulls the small folding table over to the couch to do his work.  And, we have our big dining table there if we need a big area to spread out and work. 

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It's funny that we added this room on about 4 years ago, just because we needed more space and an extra bedroom when we had our 3rd child.  Little did we know then that we would be using this room for doing school at HOME just a few years later!  (Our two older kids were at a traditional school at that time.)  I guess that you could say that God knew we would really be needing this space more than we could have imagined at that point.  It has served us well! 

Never underestimate the power of Play-Doh, especially for little boys who learn best by using their hands.  Let's face it, Play-Doh is a lot of fun!  It's squishy and soft and able to be maneuvered into any shape imaginable.   So, why not use it as a learning tool? 

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My 5 year old will resist doing school work because he sees a lot of it as pretty boring stuff.  But put a ball of Play-Doh in his hands, and school work is the furthest thing from his mind.  Then, challenge him to make the letters of the alphabet with his Play-Doh, and you've got a fun game on your hands!  Better yet, ask him to add different beginning letters to endings such as "at" or "ag" ... and make a game out of seeing how many different words he can create! 

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When it's all said and done, he has had a whole lesson in Phonics while PLAYING.  And ya know what the best part is?  Spending time together, and having a lot of fun doing so. 

Here's Sis being a "bulldog" with her math paper.  Grandpa, who takes a very active role in the kids' schooling, always asks her if she's being a bulldog or a kitty cat when it comes to her schoolwork.  He encourages her to be a "bulldog", or in other words, to bunker down and get it done without whining and complaining that it's "too hard".  Why is it that she listens to Grandpa better than she listens to her mother? 

Here is another little guy who has learned a lot from Grandpa.  Grandpa taught LilBub how to read when he was 4 and has continued to be a huge encouragement to him with his reading.  Basically, Grandpa barters with LilBub - 1/2 hour of reading time gets 1/2 hour of PS2 time.  Works like a charm!  I mean, the kid can read can't he?  Something must have clicked! 

This is the one who is both my easiest, because of his age, and my most difficult... also because of his age.  He is 11-going-on-20, and likes to "challenge" his mother, so to speak.  He basically knows everything and doesn't understand why I am making him do school every day.  LOL!!! 

We've been studying "Explorers" for the past 5 weeks.  We've covered everything from Leif Eriksson and the Vikings to Marquette and Jolliet.  What an exciting study this has been!  I think that I've learned just as much as the kids have!  I'm sure that is pretty common with homeschooling moms, though.  I guess one of the most important lessons I have learned is that I don't have to know everything about a subject in order to teach it.  As "Miss Jessica" (Jessica Hulcy of Konos Curriculum) has told those of us in the online co-op, you just have to DO IT.  Just jump in and get started, and the rest will fall into place.  I've been just learning as we go along. 

Speaking of learning, have you ever had to come up with some clever ways to remember something?  We've been learning so many new names that it's been a little difficult to keep them all straight.  So, we came up with ways to help ourselves remember them.  For example:

• Q.  What is the name of the explorer who was the first to sail from Portugal, around the continent of Africa, to India, and back? 
• A.  Da Gama (we remember it by saying, "It wasn't 'da Grampa.... It was... Da Gama!")
• Q.  What is the name of the explorer who explored what is now Florida, searching for the fountain of youth?
• A.  Ponce de Leon  (We remember it by saying, "First he pounced on it, then he 'lay-on' it.")
• Q.  What is the name of the explorer who explored the southwestern parts of North America? 
• A.  Coronado.  (We remember it by saying, "He went just south of Colorado... so it must have been Coronado!")

Yes, those are pret-ty cheesy, I know!  But, do ya think my kids will forget them?

As part of our unit on Explorers, we've been studying Vikings and doing some fun stuff to reinforce what we've learned.  One thing we've done is make Viking shields.  We took a big cardboard box (from the dumpster behind SEARS...LOL.) and cut out three big circles.   I helped the kids tape off sections and then spray paint whatever colors they wanted for their shield.  Then we finished them off with black electrical tape.  Dh tacked a thin strip of plywood to the back of each shield for some extra support, and fixed a carboard handle to the wood.  The kids have had a lot of fun playing "viking". 

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Oh, and one of the neighborhood kids came by as we were working on this project one evening last week.  He said, "Aw, man - I wish I was homeschooled."  Not the first time we've heard that.  Just one more thing to love about using Konos, it really is a lot of fun. 

I gotta tell ya, we really, truly love using KONOS as our curriculum.  Who knew that learning could be SO MUCH FUN?!  I've posted several times in the past about things we've done w/Konos.  Below you'll find quick access to some of my previous entries, if you're interested in learning more about Konos.  Or, you can visit the Konos website at www.Konos.com.  You can also find out more at www.HomeschoolMentor.com, which is the site of the online Konos co-op. 

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At the Homeschool Mentor website, you can receive a whole week of free lesson plans and watch a series of videos about how to use Konos.  The instructor is Mrs. Jessica Hulcy, co-author of the Konos curriculum, and she is FABULOUS.  She literally takes you by the hand and guides you through the how-to's of homeschooling the Konos way.  This is our second semester using the virtual co-op, which is wonderful since we do not have a local Konos group.  It's only $30 a month, but the instruction from Mrs. Jessica as well as the encouragement and comraderie among the members of the e-loop is, well, priceless. 

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I would highly recommend paying a visit to the Homeschool Mentor Website and checking it out for yourself.  Even if you've already got your curriculum for this semester, you've really got to take a look at what Konos has to offer.  Trust me, this is learning in a whole different way than anything I had ever imagined.  And with Mrs. Jessica putting together the lesson plans and showing us on video how to use them every week, it really takes almost all of the work out of it for us moms.  All I have to do is watch the videos and take a few notes, gather the books and supplies we'll need for the week, and the rest is just a matter of doing what is on the schedule for each day.  It is totally, completely, without a doubt - wonderful. 

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Am I getting gushy here???  Can you tell I am passionate about this curriculum?  I am!  And the more important part is - SO ARE MY KIDS!    They love learning the Konos way! 

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Quick access to my previous "Konos" posts:

Homeschooling with Konos...

Frontiersmen Unit - Making a miniature pioneer town.

Orderliness Unit - Our Family Tree

Trust Unit - Learning about ships and floating.

Plant Classification Unit - our finale to the school year: Botanical Buffet

Plant Classification Unit - Making Nature Tiles

Books we've been reading for our

INQUISITIVENESS unit on EXPLORERS. 

Viking Ships at Sunrise (Magic Treehouse #15) by Mary Pope Osborne

Step Into: The Viking World by Philip Steele

A Viking Settler by Giovanni Caselli

Exploring the World by Julie Brown

The Vikings by Hazel Martell

SHIP by David Macaulay

Leif the Lucky by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

Columbus by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

Ships Past and Present by Neil Morris

Prince Henry the Navigator by Leonard Everett Fisher

Where do you think you're going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz

Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey

The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

I shared recently about our Botanical Buffet, and about the neat party favors we gave to each guest.  I finally remembered to take some photos to share of the party favors!  Let me explain what they are.  First of all, we were doing a unit on plant classification and had been collecting flowers and leaves and stems to examine, dissect, etc.  This project allowed the children to take those clippings and do something really cool and beautiful with them! 

First, we needed some   (1) Sculpey Clay;

             (2) a rolling pin;

             (3) small knife;

             (4) a cookie sheet; and

             (5) plant clippings. 

The kids flattened out a piece of clay, large enough to fit whichever clipping they wanted to use.  (I wish I had photos of the process!)  Then they put the plant clipping on the clay and used a rolling pin to roll over the whole thing very gently, pressing the leaf into the clay evenly.  After removing the plant piece from the clay, I helped them cut carefully around the outer edge of the imprint with the knife. 

We placed each piece onto the cookie sheet and baked them according to the directions on the box of clay.  After they had hardened in the oven and then cooled off, we painted them.  I put out 4 different shades of green craft paint (acrylic) and let the children slather paint onto the hardened clay leaves.  Then we took paper towels and wipe the paint back off again, just leaving it on long enough to basically stain the clay. 

After that was all dry, I sprayed each one with a clear acrylic glaze.  And once that was dry, we hot glued small, round magnets to the back of each one.  They were lovely!

At the party, these trinkets were spread out in the middle of each dining table.  We told our guests to pick one to take home with them.  Everyone absolutely raved about them! 

So without further ado, here is a photo of the only two that we had left after our guests picked the ones they wanted.  One of them is an imprint of a Boxwood clipping,

and the other is from a piece of English Ivy. 

Just wanted to make a quick entry here to say that we are all well, at least for the most part.  There are still a few sniffles and scratchy throats, but the worst of it is over.  We are definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and now we know it's not a train.  Whew! 

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I've been taking advantage of some down time to get some reading and prepping done for school.  I love my friend, Heather's Konos-Planning-For-Dummies pages.  They have helped me immensely, and I highly recommend going there and taking some of that girl's advice.  She really knows her stuff.  (Don't forget to leave a tip if you decide to use her planners!)  So, I've been following her suggestions for planning for a Konos year and getting my handy-dandy notebook all ready!  I printed out blank calendar pages and filled them in w/the appropriate months and days for the 07-08 school year.  I then wrote on the calendar what we'll be (potentially) doing each week with Konos, at least as far as what unit we'll be on.  Now my personalized school calendar is ready to go and displayed neatly in protective sleeves in my binder.  My next step will be to make book lists for each unit, as well as supply lists for any art projects or experiments, etc..  I've still got a lot of work to do... but at least it's a start. 

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I also went to Kinko's yesterday and did something else that Heather (aka Sprittibee) suggests, which is having your mega-mondo Konos book sawed down and hole-punched so you can put it into a big 3-ring binder.  The cutting and hole-punching cost about $5, and the binder cost about $10... and in my opinion, it's well worth it.  I did this with my Konos Volume I that we used this past year, and it made a big difference by making that huge book so much easier to use.  I just take out what section we're working on and put it into a smaller binder that I can carry with me, instead of lugging the whole book around. 

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AND, I've been working on some folder activities to incorporate into our school days starting this fall.  I will actually be surprised if I can get them all put together by the time school officially starts.... but I'll try!  I'll write more about this in another post.  Right now, it's half past midnight and my brain is feeling a little squooshy. 

G'night! 

 Yesterday was like Christmas in July at our house!  First, the UPS guy showed up with a package addressed to me.   (WooHoo!  I got a present!  I got a present!  Hehe!)  I was so excited to see that it was from Alpha Omega Publications, which meant it had to be the new Switched On Schoolhouse materials I had ordered!  I decided to try S.O.S. for Language Arts and Math this coming school year (those are the two subjects not covered in Konos), and now I can’t wait to get them loaded on my computer and try them out.  A few hours later, there was a knock on the door.  It was the mail carrier with an armload of packages for me.  (Yay!  More presents!)  This time it was a package from Amazon, and another from Konos.  The Konos package was my new Konos Volume II book that we’ll be needing for the Konos Online Co-op this fall.  And the Amazon package was a book that my friend Heather (a.k.a. Sprittibee) recommended called “Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends”.  (Boy do we Neeeeed that book around here!)  And just now, just as I was typing this, the doorbell rang again and it was the mail carrier with another package!  Another from Amazon this time, with a book called ”How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and on to Learning”.  I just ordered this one because it looked like it would be really good.  I’ll let ya know after I read it.

Can you tell we’re getting geared up for another great school year?  I’m excited about our 2^nd year of homeschooling.  I am praying that it will be easier this year than it was with our first.  I think that it will be!

Lots of homeschool families have end-of-the-year ceremonies or celebrations of one sort or another.  This being our first year to school at home, I wasn’t sure what to do or how to do it.  Thankfully, Mrs. Jessica (Hulcy) who directs the Konos online co-op, had a great suggestion.  We had finished up the semester with a unit on Plants, so Mrs. Jessica suggested doing a “Botanical Buffet” and inviting friends and family to partake in some of the plants that we had been studying.  We thought it was an awesome idea!

At first I was expecting her to tell us to make dandelion stew or something weird like that.  Thankfully, she had much more realistic ideas in mind!  We ended up adding some ideas of our own to complete the menu, and this is what we came uP with:

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We sent these out with invitations to join us, and explained that each guest should try to guess what each food item was going to be.  I had one phone call asking if what we were serving was going to be edible, or if they needed to stop by McDonald's on the way.  LOL! 

  The kids had set the dining room table beautifully, complete with fresh cut ivy and yellow flowers from our garden.  DS#1 had made place markers for each guest and DD had the wonderful idea to take green and red pipe cleaners and twist them into rose napkin rings.  When the guests arrived, we had the kitchen curtained off where no one could see in.  The kids showed the guests in and helped them find their seats.  Then they served the appetizers - which were broccoli and cauliflower, wheat thins and ritz chips, and dip.

Once everyone was here and seated, dh went in and began quizzing the guests over what they thought they'd be eating for lunch.  It was hilarious to hear some of the ideas they had!  I think everyone was pleasantly surprised to see what we brought out next:

tossed salad with carrots, green onions, and tomatoes,

spaghetti w/sauce and meatballs; baked potatoes; green bean casserole; and

garlic bread,

and for dessert - fruit salad topped with whipped cream.

After everyone finished eating, dh got up and gave a short speech, honoring our children and the effort that they had put forth during the school year.  He also presented them each with a certificate saying that they had completed their work for the year.  It was very sweet!

Everyone raved about the party.  The kids were very pleased with how it all turned out, too.  As a party favor, each guest got to take home a gift that we had made.  We brought in fresh leaves from our plants in the garden and pressed them into Sculpey clay to make imprints.  Then we cut around the edges of the imprints and baked the clay to make it harden.  After it cooled, we painted each one and sprayed on a lacquer coating.  Then we hot glued a magnet on the back of each one, and wrote "Botanical Buffet 2007".  T hose were a big hit!I wish that I had taken pictures to share with you!

So that was the official end of the school year and the beginning of summer break.  I don't know how long our break will last.  I'm thinking we'll do at least some catch up work during the really hot days of the summer, since it will be too miserable to be outside anyway.  I recently purchased Quarter Mile Math for the kids to use during the summer, especially.  I know there are a few other things we need to work on as well, and maybe finish up our tabernacle that just needs a few final touches.

Since this is technically a "homeschool blog", I thought I'd share something that actually pertains to homeschooling today.  How's that for a change?    I wanted to give a plug for the curriculum we've been using, and tell you why we it. 

We use a curriculum called KONOS.  I remember thinking, "Konos?  What in the world does that mean?"  Well, it's actually a Greek word, which translates into the word "cone".  If you look at a cone shape that has been inverted, you'll see that there is a point at the top and a wide circle at the base.  The base is symbolic of our lives and everything we do, and the top of the cone represents God.  Konos uses this analogy to show that our hearts and minds should seek to do God's will in everything we do, including educating our children.  I loved this idea. 

It only makes sense to me to teach my children the attributes of God first, and let the other subjects fall into place around them.  I've been amazed at how much there is to learn... about Attentiveness, for example.  Attentiveness is the first unit in Konos Volume I.  My children learned about what it means to be attentive, and how God is attentive to their needs every moment of the day.  They also learned about different characters in the Bible who displayed great attentiveness, such as Samuel when he heard God calling for him.  And, they learned how God has made them to be attentive, with their five senses.  We studied all the parts of the ear and the eye, and how they all work.  We even built a big model of an ear that the children were able to crawl through and explain how the things inside worked.  The children loved learning about Helen Keller and were amazed when we read her biography.  Honestly, I was enthralled as well and found myself reading about her even when the kids were not around!  I never learned all this when I was in school.  We even took it a step further and had a taste of what it would be like to be blind.  I tied blindfolds on the children and took them on an excursion to see if they could guess where we'd end up.  They did pretty well, but decided they much preferred being able to see for themselves. 

Another part of the Attentiveness unit was a section on the Frontiersmen and tracking and trapping.  We had some great field trips to the park for that unit.  They loved learning about Lewis and Clark and Sacagewea.  They still go back to our big wall map occasionally and run their finger along the trail that we marked, showing the path that the explorers took when they ended up at the Pacific Ocean.  They made their own coonskin hats, just like Davy Crockett's.  And, we went out in the woods to track animals and make molds of the prints that we found.  We also made journals of the tracks and where they were found, and collected leaves and anything else interesting that we saw along the way.   They learned that being out in the "wild", especially back in the days of Lewis and Clark, requires a great deal of attentiveness - just to survive!  I know they will never forget that unit because they got out and DID it themselves.  They were not sitting in a classroom or reading it in a book - they experienced it.  Now they KNOW it. 

(To be continued....)

In the meantime, check out the KONOS website.  It's chock full of excellent information about the Konos curriculum, and just homeschooling in general.  You'll be glad you did!

TRUST

A strong belief and confidence in someone or something;

To be anxious for nothing, knowing that the LORD will provide your every need.

(Jessica Hulcy)

This is our topic for the month of January.  Last week and this week, our focus has been on ships and floating.  We’ve done various experiments to find out what floats, what doesn’t, and why.  My children were pretty amazed to find that a “baby carrot” sank straight to the bottom of our pitcher of water, while a big navel orange bobbed at the surface!  We also thoroughly enjoyed conducting experiments at the community center’s indoor, heated pool.  We tried different ways of floating, and even tried sinking.  My youngest, age 3, got to be the visual aid since he was wearing his “floaty suit” which made him very buoyant. 

 We learned about surface tension by floating a needle on top of some water in a glass.  We also floated flakes of black pepper, and then watched as we touched a bar of soap to the surface and the pepper sank.  By doing these and other experiments, we learned that God put into place certain rules and laws that govern our physical world, and that those laws are unchanging and can be trusted.

 What fun it was to read the story ofArchimedes, and how he discovered the laws of buoyancy!  The children got so tickled at the thought of Archimedes running through the streets without any clothes on, hollering “Eureka!  Eureka!”  Then when the preacher that Wednesday night at church said the word “Eureka”, I thought my older two were going to fall out of their seats! 

 Songs that we’ve enjoyed include fun ones like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and “Barges”.  More somber discussions came about when we learned “A Mighty Fortress” and “It Is Well With My Soul”.  We all felt inspired after reading the story behind “It Is Well With My Soul”, written by Horatio Spafford.  What an extraordinary chain of events that led Mr. Spafford to pen the words to that song!   We’ve done a lot of reading about all different kinds of boats.  We’ve studied the Clermont, the U.S.S. Constitution, the H.M.S. Queen Mary, Titanic, and the Mayflower.  We watched a movie about the voyage of the Mayflower, as well as an extremely censored Titanic.  The children have used dozens of sheets of paper drawing pictures of ships and boats and submarines.  Today they even built their own “ship” in the family room!

 It’s been a fun unit, but I think we’re all just about “shipped out”!  We’ll be more than ready to move on to “flight” next week.  I’ve already got several books and videos checked out from the library.  We’ve even lined up a plane ride for the kids and dh!  Should be lots of fun!

Last week we began a unit on "orderliness" and one of the assignments was to put together a family tree.  We decided to literally make a family TREE.  My 9yo DS was in charge of Daddy's side of the family, while 7yo DD took Mommy's side of the family.  I let them use my circle cutter to cut out lots of little circles.  They decorated each circle for a specific family member. 

Yesterday we put up the tree on the kitchen wall.  As an afternoon art assignment, all three kids (even the 3yo!) cut out lots of leaves to go on our tree.  After dinner, the whole family decorated the tree with the family member "ornaments" that the kids had made.  I thought it turned out pretty cute, and the kids LOVED it.  They are hoping I'll let them keep it up until their Grandparents and other family come for Christmas. 

Here is a photo of our family tree. 

Note: This was a perpetual project that took about a week.  We didn't tackle the whole thing in one day. 

I thought I'd share with you a fun activity that we did yesterday while it was pouring down rain and gloomy all day.  We're currently studying the Frontiersmen Unit in our Konos Vol.I.  I found a website that has printable templates that you can assemble to make your own pioneer town.  At first I looked at it and thought that my kids wouldn't be interested in it, and that I'd just be wasting paper if I printed it out because they wouldn't want to do it.  But, for lack of anything else to do on a rainy day, I went ahead and printed them out onto cardstock and showed the kids how to color and cut the buildings out, then fold and glue them together.  You would have thought it was Christmas around here with all the excitement!  They colored and cut and glued for at least an hour.  Then they spent at least another hour setting up their little town, making roads and other scenery to go along with it.  I helped them make a little paper covered wagon.  Then they gathered little toy horses and people and had a whole make-believe village! 

I took some pictures because I thought it was so cute and I wanted to remember this fun afternoon forever.

Click on the title to this post to visit the pioneer town website and print off templates for your own little town!  It's a load of fun!

For our first week, I decided to kind've go by the suggestions given in the Konos Compass.  There is a very thorough sample of a daily schedule, and since I don't really know what I'm doing yet, I thought I'd better try that first! 

My day went something like this:

6:00AM - Alarm goes off.

6:30AM - Actually heard the alarm and got up.  (still trying to get off my summer schedule!)

              -  Showered, got dressed.

6:45AM - Dh left for work.  All 3 children get out of bed.  (A bit early for the

                 3 yr. old who refused to fall asleep until 10 the night before!)

              - Put up new chore chart, explained to kids what their new responsibilities

                 will be. 

7:00AM - Let kids pick what kind of oatmeal/fruit they wanted, fixed it for them.

              - Kids finished morning chores while I cleaned up the kitchen.

8:00AM - Bible class.  Read I Samuel 3:1-14.  Talked about how Samuel was

                 attentive to the Lord's calling.  Children acted out the story.

              - Talked about the definition of "attentiveness".

              - Discussed why we should pay attention.  Listed several reasons on

                 white board.

              - Talked about how God created us to be attentive, with our 5 senses.

              - Talked about how it feels when it appears that the other person isn't

                 listening.  Gave writing assignment on this subject.

9:30AM - Math

              - Mom helped with math and gave some attention to 3 yr. old.

10:30AM-Break time. 

11:00AM-Lunch (we were soooo hungry!)

12:00PM-Dh came home for lunch, kids were excited to tell him all about their

                 morning.

1:00PM  - Dh was back at work.  Older kids worked on their writing assignment

                 while Mom got the little one down for a MUCH needed NAP.  Mom

                 even closed her eyes for a few minutes.

6:00PM -  Reviewed our day with Daddy while eating dinner.  Daddy talked to

                 the kids about how he has to be attentive at his job.  Kids were in awe.

                 LOL. 

We didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  I ended up having to spend some time putting up the timeline, since I had forgotten to do it over the weekend.  All in all, it was a great day.  :)