Jun. 16, 2006 - Photos from our book...
I got two copies of the book completely laminated, hand sewed the binding and then put some marbled paper over the spine. They look SO adorable! We're taking one of the copies over to Laura's today for her birthday party. She is going to FLIP out!!
The photos are too big to upload here, you can see a couple of samples here
Jun. 15, 2006 - The Animals Book we MADE!!!
I am half way through printing out our "Animals" Book by Laura, Mattie, Abyni & Paris. It is SOOOOOOO flipping adorable! It looks better than I even expected!
For those not in the know... the little girls in our little art co-op this year did marbling on paper... then, in a spurt of inspiration, I thought of having them do Eric Carle style pictures of animals. Once they were doing that, I thought we should have each of them do two animals, then write a sentence or two about their animal... then make a BOOK. So we now have in progress 14 books with 9 pages each of our very own Eric Carle style book of animals! The artwork looks so AWESOME printed out (I'll post some sample pages later) and for the writing, we actually had the girls write out their sentences, then I enlarged that a little on the copy machine, traced with markers and Viola' we have kids writing! Yay!!!
I'm printing it on cardstock, and having them wire bound at Staples. I am thinking that I'm going to laminate the cover page, and maybe even do hand bound copies for one or two copies.
We have made copies for all the grandparents, and the cousins. The girls are going to be SO thrilled once its all said and done. THey should be proud ~ its a GREAT job!
Jun. 8, 2006 - Sewing Lessons
Laura came over today, and Stephanie took Abyni. Laura and Paris had sewing lessons:)
Both girls made tops today that were SOOOOOO cute! We were low on fabric, so they had to do a little adjusting of the pattern, but both girls did far more than half the work (I sewed the finishing part of the bias tape, and helped get the elastic started). They worked almost straight through for SIX hours! They took a break to watch Arthur when I went to pick up the boys from camp, and had a lunch break as well... but they worked HARD.
They made a long, loose tank top with two ruffles at the bottom. Well, Paris completely ran out of fabric, so hers has one ruffle. Laura was SOOOOO estatic about her outfit, it was hilarious watching her open mouthed gaping at herself in the mirror! She was sooo shocked that SHE had done that!
Paris was thrilled, but not shocked. That girl has a bit more self esteem than everyone else in the house. As soon as she accomplishes anything, she has the immediate attitude, "Well of COURSE I can do/am good at that." Fortunatley for her, I'm the same way often, so I know its all a big bluff and she's just covering up the true feelings leftover from fear of failing. Its so scarey seeing a daughter who has so many of my volatile things... but at least I seem to be on track of guiding her into her own likes and desires... and she's very interested in designing and wearing her "own look" rather than what everyone else is wearing. Dh is very happy about that!
I will post photos tomorrow ~ they are so flippin adorable! I feel so good ~ they did SO great!! I know Paris is going to be going nuts to sew some more too, and Laura's birthday is this month. I think I'll buy her a pattern, a sewing kit and a "coupon" for another day of sewing lessons:) Paris can maybe pick out some fabric for both of them to make matching outfits.
Jun. 7, 2006 - Co-Op, Painting Kitchens, clothespin dolls
Heading over to my friend Stephanie's today for co-op. That will be a big change! We're going to help her get the rest of her kitchen painted. She's doing a ragging texture and just hasn't gotten it finished. A lot of it is above cabinets and stuff and the woman is very pregnant, I don't think she could reach them without fear of falling!:)
Anyway, I have enough experience painting walls and its really something that just doesn't take much time/effort on my part ~ so we're trading today and she's going to do art and writing with the little girls and I'm taking the screen printing kit for the older girls to do.
The girls and I got a bunch of stuff sorted through and got the reading room cleaned, vaccuumed, etc. Then we went to Stephanie's house and she and I got the rest of her kitchen ragged/painted in 45 minutes! The little girls made clothespin dolls and a big "floorplan" type house on a big piece of mattboard. That kept the two middle girls (7 & 8) busy for two HOURS.
Stephanie and I sat down to "help" Abyni and M.G. do the hair for their dolls after the painting was done, and ended up sitting there, putting yarn hair on dolls for about 30 minutes ~ having a blast ~ while the little girls were on the floor coloring their "house" ~ which, BTW ~ has a hot tub:)
Sprite, Kerra and Caitlin got their designs done for the screen printing T-shirt they're going to do. It was realy cute:) And only took them about three months to finally thing of one! Caitlin will be in Sprite's Biology co-op next year as well as doing the same Starting Points curriculum as well. She brought Sprite a T-shirt that has the old Sprite logo on the front, and says "I like the Sprite in You" on the back ~~ awwwww! We have been looking for a "real" Sprite T-shirt forEVER!!
Now I'm tired and ready to rest...
Jun. 6, 2006 - Abyni and Math
I'm sitting on the floor this morning sorting the five tubs of "sewing goodies" into a garage sale pile and a keep pile when Abyni asks, "How long til the garage sale?"
"Two weeks" I reply.
"How many days in a week?"
"Seven."
She immediately, seemingly without thought says, "Oh, so its in fourteen days?"
"How do you know that?" I ask.
"Because seven plus seven is fourteen."
"Okay, how much is eight plus eight?"
"That's easy," she says, "Its just two more, so its sixteen. And nine plus nine is just two MORE again, so its 18."
I was astounded. Most of the other kids had the HARDEST time getting that concept. She just picked it up somewhere! She's five:)
Jun. 5, 2006 - Paris and Sewing/Design
I made Paris a dress/long shirt today out of her LIFEKIDS T-shirt. I loooove remaking clothes. I'm thinking of doing something of that nature on ebay as well. It only took my 30 minutes and some other T-shirt that didn't fit anyone anyway!
We're re-doing the "reading room" into a sewing room for the week (at least) and I'm going to give Paris some sewing lessons... as well as catching up on that box of mending! So this has become "Home Ec" week!
I finally have photos for ebay. I'm going to "practice" today and upload a few things for sale and see how much I mess that up. I still have to decide what to charge for shipping and handling and all that... and I have to find boxes for mailing.
The boys started DayCamp for scouts today. I am soooo glad they get to do this! They (we, everyone) SO needed a break this week. The girls and I have decided to have a sewing-cooking week. Paris wants sewing lessons (she helped design her new outfit:) and more cooking lessons. I'm thinking for Christmas next year she'll be getting a cooking show on DVD!
May. 30, 2006 - Tuesday Co-Op ~~ Our NEW POOL!!!
This weekend, I happened upon a 15 ft aboveground hard sided pool for sale in the area. It included NEW accessories, all the pumps, filter, steps, hoses, skimmer, etc were only used for one summer ~ and they are like new! The pool is older, but all we'll need is a liner... and that isn't bad at all for a $300 pool!
Anyway, Dh prepared the ground a bit yesterday, although it then started raining before we could do the leveling or anything. We need to level the ground, then put up the sides, put in the sand... and then install the new liner. We should have a "new" BIG (for us) pool within the next two weeks!
Co-op today was nice although totally unstructured for the most part. I did some painting with the girls, Kerra pretty much finished her painting. The boys all started paintings... they all chose animals ~ go figure:) Kainan is doing a painting for Grandma Barb, so I wont' describe his picture here:) Jaedin is doing a horned lizard, and Sprite is doing a beach scene. Oils are different ~ really different ~ but I LOVE them. I dstarted a painting last week while the girls were doing theirs. I still need to finish it though.
Laura and Paris made clothespin dolls today, and Abyni and Mattie made a "floorplan" type house for the dolls. They were all working diligently (and quietly!!) for over an HOUR on their new project! It was nice.
I have garage sale stuff everywhere in the living room. I have almost every article of clothing in our house sorted in the living room at the moment (except Sprite's clothes and the current things Dh and I have in our room) and I just have a TON of clothes for the garage sale. I have a big tub for each child for winter/to grow into clothes ~ and the rest are GONE soon! I am so happy to be having the sale! It will help defer the costs of the swimming pool too.
So, I'm fairly exhausted, so I'm going to go veg out and read or something.... whew!
May. 26, 2006 - I did it! I ordered Sprite's School AAAAAND the boys' room is clean!
Downsized the boys' stuff BIG TIME. They are limited now, (like the little girls) to ONE blanket, pillow, stuffed animal... plus their Legos. That's IT. Their room was a disaster... again. They have three weeks until the garage sale to keep it SPOTLESS or the rest of their stuff goes in the sale. If they can't keep it clean with that little stuff ~ they have bigger issues.
ANYWAY~ Felling ultra productive. With tax returns, we got caught up/ahead on bills, so I was able to order Sprite's high school curriculum stuff today (wow!) I'm thinking I may be able to actually buy the Rosetta Stone for learning Spanish this year. (That would jsut be SO great)
Anyway, I wanted to let you know of this "homeschool links" community... I've already seen some AWESOME links! Such as...
LANGUAGES: Greek and Latin - Free Texts +
TextKit.com is a free resource for learning Greek and Latin, with a huge library of free downloadable texts and workbooks, from beginner to advanced
ART: Interactive Ballet Dictionary
ABT Interactive Ballet Dictionary
MATH: Downloadable Full Algebra Texts
Totally Free Math has an Elementary Algebra textbook available online or to download, both in PDF format. Answer keys are included.
Understanding Algebra is also available to view or download a printable version.
The site also has useful small online programs like like a graphing applet, prime factorization machine, prime number list and quadratic equation solver/plotter.
E-Field Trips: Ben & Jerry's How Ice Cream Is Made
Ben & Jerry's "Cow To Cone," a well-produced series of fun flash movies showing how ice cream is made, starting with the cows and working all the way up.
I am SO excited!! And they are all FREE!!!
May. 25, 2006 - Summer School Schedule
Summer School Schedule
Of course, its somewhat loosely scheduled for Summer, but I do want the kids to get at least 3 days in each week. Especially keeping up with Math (otherwise that is a horrid thing to try and remember after two months!), reading and math. I got a couple of logic puzzle books, algebra puzzles, crosswords and whatnot, so I'm adding a subject "logic" for the summer. I know I could call it critical thinking, but "logci" just sounds more fun:)
We're going to be studying a lot about money, budgeting, finances and investing as well.... but I think that will probably be on our "off" days ~ un official school. I don't know. I am feeling VERY decisive today:)
Co-op is going to be art, and some other topic(s) we haven't decided yet. Stephanie and I are going to plan that out further on Tuesday. Although she'd due with her 6th baby in 6 weeks, so we'll have a short summer for that:) We're thinking a newspaper type thing once or twice, for the kids to use their new writing skills. The boys are going to try a building project, and we'll also have a trip to the zoo or Leonardo's Discovery Center (awesome place!) Between the two of us, we have enough people for the minimum required to get a group discount!:)
| Time | Subject | Days | |
| 10:00 | Bible | 5 | |
| 10:30 | Logic | 3 | |
| 11:00 | Math | 3 | |
| 11:30 | Indep. Reading | 5 | |
| 12:00 | Lunch, Chores & Recess |
||
| 1:30 | Read Aloud | 3 | |
| 2:00 | History/Konos | 3 | |
| 1 - 4pm | Co-Op | Tues |
May. 24, 2006 - Awesome Library Catalog System for your home!!
Free for the first 200 books, then $25 for a lifetime thingy after that!
Holy cow, it is SO awesome! You can catalog them, "tag" them so you can search for books later, put book reivews on your account, etc. Awesome!!!
May. 19, 2006 - Planning out High School
I have spent the past hour online trying to find the best deals on (or find at all!) the curriculum that Sprite is going to be using next year for High School (I can NOT believe I will have a high school aged child!!!).
She'll be doing a biology co-op with some other friends next year (yay!) so that was set ~ Apologia Biology.
She's also (most likely) doing Starting Points World View Primer for literature, history and Bible, and the girls in her little co-op are doing that one as well, so they'll have a book discussion each week after biology.
Then she'll add the high school Institute for Excellence in Writing with Kerra (a continuation of the writing course they started this year)... and viola' we're done... excpet for Math.
I would LOVE to be able to afford THIS as she loves the few pre-algebra videos from this company that our library has. It would make things SO much easier on all of us ~ if we are able to sell the bus, I think this may become a priority for me!
I would also love to be able to afford Rosetta Stone for the foreign language (Spanish makes the most sense, although I would prefer to learn French or something more) but I'm not sure if that will fit into our budget. It would be something that all the kids can use, and although its expensive, it has the best "real life" reviews of anything I've talked with others about.
I'm babysitting today for a couple of kids (Ozzy and Sholanda) that got out of PS yesterday, so I'm using this as an organizational day...
May. 16, 2006 - Oil Painting
Today the older kids all did art together. We did a still life with a goblet and an oddly shaped candle for our subject. The kids all got a piece of canvas that I cut off of our big roll to paint on. I thought it would be good to try out the oils and see how they worked before trying to do individual paintings.
I think that my mom MIGHT be here next Tuesday ~ that would be awesome, so she could help and be the "real" teacher. Since she has a looooooot more art-teaching experience than me, we might actually get something done!!
Sprite did her math video this morning since she ran out of time yesterday, she seems to really be getting a lot out of the algebra videos. I am soooo thankful that we found those!
May. 16, 2006 - live journal
For the summer months, although we will still be doing part time schooling, I doubt I'll have a lot of school/family type updates.
For those interested in keeping up with us more, you can check out my livejournal account. It is mostly friends only (especially for photos of the kids and whatnot) so if you want to read most of the posts, you'll have to get a livejournal account (which is free) even if you don't use it, just so I can put you on my friends list to open the filtered posts for you! You can post to my journal or send me an email and I can add you to my friends list.
May. 16, 2006 - Eric Carle style...
For art class last week, we all marbled paper.
This week, the 4 younger girls (ages 5 & 8) each did two backgrounds pictures with fingerpaints and different utensils to make textures of different types. Then they made a pattern for their animals.
We're cutting the animals out of the marbled paper ~ Paris is going a snail on one page, and an alligator on the other. Abyni is doing a seahorse and a fish; Laura is doing a turtle and a tree frog; Mattie is doing a leopard and a snake.
Opposite each colorful animal page will be a white page with a fact about the animal ~ "I am a turtle, I live in the pond and I love to swim!" or something of that nature. We'll have copies made onto heavy paper and give each of the girls a copy of their book!
They are looking AWESOME! I'll post photos next week if the camera get remembered!:)
May. 16, 2006 - School Stuff... summer time callin'
I found that I'm allergic to the old book I got from the library for our read aloud. I get a HORRIFIC headache whenever I read it. Its awful, a major sinus headache that wraps around to my ears. Ugh. We shan't be reading "The Reb and the Redcoats" anymore! I guess I'll be looking for a new read aloud for tomorrow. Since we have art & writing co-op today, we won't be doing read aloud today anyway.
We're all in that mode of "its so nice outside" that we are having issues getting school done. That, and since its finally so nice, I'm getting house stuff done (the hall AND the sitting room are wall papered!) and that takes time. The house is even mostly clean at the moment! Whoa... cool beans!:)
However, although the structured Konos type "group" stuff isn't getting done at the moment, the kids all have their interests that they are all reading about ~ often on their own time as well as school time. That, and they's all doing math religiously (Thank the LORD for the "ACE" teaching videos on algebra from the library!!!!)
May. 12, 2006 - Normal Day!!!
I'm so excited! ... the day has been dull, boring and NORMAL!
Okay, maybe not normal, but it was nice and uneventful. We had plenty of giggling times and didnt' get a whole lot of school "officially" done, the kids have all been sitting around for the last HOUR reading books I got for them at the library!! (Craft books for Paris, Outdoor projects for Jaedin who wants to build a greenhouse; and books on the stock market for Kainan)
We almost left Jaedin at the library because he immediately took his next Redwall book in the corner and was reading, didn't even notice we'd left!:)
It feels good to have had such a plain ole' day for once!
Oh ~ and Sprite reserved the Charlie's Angels Full Throttle CD for me... and it had the MC Hammer song "you Can't Touch This"... such a happy little song:)
Happy days........
May. 11, 2006 - Bird Funeral
Jaedin's bird died this morning. There was a smal gash or something on its chest that we missed apparently that was all sore looking this morning and she was really lethargic. We fed her some corn syrup water stuff with an eye dropper (just putting drops on her beak) and she perked up a little, but then she just didn't make it. Jaedin is in the guest room having some alone time with his bird... sad morning for my boy.
May. 10, 2006 - The Bird
The sparrow that Jaedin rescued from the cats' mouth yesterday wasn't very injured as it turns out. He wasn't able to fly well last night, but he could a bit. He was sitting on the kids' fingers ~ boy, were they thrilled beyond belief! Until it flew and jumped on me! ACK! I screamed and jumped... and ended up knocking it off ~ BAD homeschool mommy!!!
Anyway, today the bird was much better. It has a small spot at the base of one wing that is feather-less, but other than that it seems to be fairing well. Jaedin has it living upstairs in a cage we got at a garage sale. I told him that he could keep it one more day (as long as he makes sure to feed it, etc) so it can have time for its wing to heal and hten tomorrow it can be set free. He was in tears earlier because he didn't want to let it go ~ but he felt bad keeping it inside as well. Poor boy. I don't know how to help him, other than to keep pointing out that at least he saved the bird in the first place!
It is a very cute little bird. It perched on his head today while he was reading:) He sat in his room today for his reading subjects... so he could hold his bird. With cats in the house, (and a non-animal friendly mom) it isn't good to just let it fly. With the big paper mache tree in the boys room, the bird probaby feels at home!
Anyway ~ we started reading The Reb and the Redcoats today. Its set during the Revolutionary war as well... but is set in Britain with four children whose father is fighting on the British side of the war. They end up living in the same house with a "rebel" prisoner in England. It gives a different perspective.
After that we're looking into reading some books on the French Revolution ~ to see what was going on elsewhere int he world!
I thinks that's the gist of any changes for the moment.
I have an audition tonight for a local play... fingers crossed;)
May. 9, 2006 - Art and Writing... and Jaedin found a bird
As Stephanie and I and our younger kids were eating, Jaedin was outside rescuing a bird from our cat's clutches. He brought in this little sparrow and put it in a box. Ever since writing class got over, he's been on the net searching for care tips... its not actually injured that badly. It took off flying after Jaedin took it back out of the box. I don't know if it was really flying, or if it was more "falling with style" ala Toy Story, but it was moving.
Right now he has it upstairs in a cage and has taken it a branch to perch on and built a base for a nest.
The kids and I all did paper marbling today for "art" class. Not terribly artsy, maybe I should call it arts and crafts. My PLAN was to have them do marbled paper and then make mother's day cards, but the paint isn't dry at all yet. I guess that will kind of be homework.
The IEW writing course is almost over ~ what'll we do??? I want to still keep getting together. At least every other week. The kids would go nuts! I hope we can figure something out!
May. 6, 2006 - Redwall Cookbook
Jaedin has been devouring the Redwall series (he's now 2/3rd s of the way through the fourth book ~ last night I had to pry it out of his hands at 11:30 and make him go to bed:)
Last week we were looking up the next book in the series at our library website and we stumbled upon The Redwall Cookbook! Jaedin was thrilled to pieces at the thought, so we reserved it.
It came in yesterday, and he has been after me since then to let him make something. He finally found enough ingredients to make shortbread and a nut-brittle type thing (I'm not using the proper Redwall-ish terms, shhh! Don't tell Jaedin!!)
His shortbread turned out great, and the candy-stuff is cooling. We didn't have a candy thermometer, so we used the cold water method and I think it will turn out fine.
Anyway, I was just so proud of him for having the initiative and then doing a good job both at following the recipes and cleaning up... Yay! Another cook in the family:)
