Nov. 6, 2009 - School updates
Well we've been having lots of fun with school - I love doing school during the holidays as it really gives us more to study and do. With my husband having gone to the ER by squad on October 29th and staying until late Saturday the 31st, we've been very, very busy. Thankfully we haven't been sick, sick. Two of the children do have stuffy noses and I'm thinking it's more allergies than an actual cold so we're continuing life as normal. The girls and I continue to be busy with our Nutcracker rehearsals and this weekend marks every weekend rehearsals from now until the show!! My surgery is rescheduled for the day after Thanksgiving - and yes I'm still mulling over how to get in some after Thanksgiving sales LOL Anyway on to some pictures of school from about two weeks ago.
Bethanne studied Madeline and she started her first lapnote for this and she really enjoyed feeling like her big sister.
One of the projects she did was a Madeline 'doll' using a toiler paper roll.
Both girls with Bethanne's finished Madeline 'doll'
I don't have pictures of Hannah's lapnote so I'll take pictures later to show about J is for Japan unit. We did study the solar system and we made her own solar system which lost air very fast with a little boy who thought the planets were fun to squash so now all we have is pictures. Pluto is there, we had to draw it in - it's to the right of the blue balloon.
Here is some bread and cookies I've baked and frozen. The bread is pumpkin bread and the cookies are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
And just because I can't leave my little guy out, here is a picture of Christian.
There will be more pictures coming from our field trip to Carriage Hill Farm - a historic working farm and other pictures of our school year so far. I'm working on updating as our days get back to normal.
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Sep. 14, 2009 - Starting our 5th week of school!
This week marks the begining of our 5th week of school! It's hard to believe, we've come this far already. We have had one holiday vacation, labor day, as I've said in other posts we follow my husband's work schedule - it makes it easier for us. Hannah has been making great strides and loves to read, right now her favorite books are Junie B. Jones and she is showing interest in the Little House series (which makes me much happier than Junie B. Jones). I am also requiring her to read missionary biographies this year - she doesn't want to but I've told her it's beneficial to learn about those who go into all the land and spread the Gospel. We also began our homeschool group again in which we have a co-op with lots of fun classes. I am teaching a lapbooking class which went very well. The first day is always a little crazy (remember those first days and trying to find all your new class rooms?) but it's a wonderful exciting feeling. Lots of new families as well so that is also a blessing. Here are some pictures of a few things Hannah has done.
Today's art lesson using mediums of pencil and water color crayons from ARTistic Pursuits. We discussed how artists use their imaginations sometimes and discussed the picture called Birthday by Marc Chagall
This is the picture Hannah painted in her elementary art class at our h.s. co-op. It's made mixing white glue with acryllic paints. The teacher/mom taught them some about an artist who used this method but Hannah forgot the name so when I find out I'll update this post.
Next is a lesson we did in math on symentary, which was a bit redundant but fun nonetheless.
Today's math lesson consisted of measuring and to some of bring the lesson home (I think measuring would have made more sense to me sooner had we been allowed to do lessons like these in public school). We made apple cookies (recipe following)
Apple Jack Cookies
1 cup light brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped, unpeeled apple
-cream sugar and shortening
-beat in egg
-mix and add dry ingredients
-beat until blended
-stir in apples
-drop by balls on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes
As a side note here is a picture of the frog that my friend caught to turn back into the zoo and we were told that it didn't belong to an exhibit so it was set free again. The picture really doesn't do the frog justice, he was a beautiful, bright green.
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Sep. 4, 2009 - Zoo Field Trip
Yesterday the littles and I went to our homeschool group's annual field trip. My friend Pam came along with her 5 littles and we rode together. A BIG thanks Pam!!! Here are just some of the pictures I took yesterday.....
Here are some goats. There was a petting area where the children could groom the goats. If we ever get moved to the country - I think I know what Hannah or one of the children's 4H projects will be LOL
Next we went to this little house thing where it was intricately painted and was so pretty! Christian is sitting on a huge mushroom and for some reason my flash wouldn't go off. They have a kitchen area to show you how to be 'green' in the kitchen Christian liked the fridge it looked like it was carved from wood.
Here are my three with their 5 friends climbing on a polar bear statue. Yes, Christian is crying.
We went to the Aquarium where we made it in time to see the diver feeding the fish and sharks. She put her hands against the glass when the children touched it, Christian really liked that. There are two manatees (sorry about the reflection).
One of Bethanne's favorite animals are penguins. It doesn't matter what kind of penguins as long as their penguins. These are Humboldt penguins. The one picture with the lone penguin my DH really liked - so we're thinking of getting a copy made and framing it for either her upcoming birthday or Christmas.
Then we visited Australia. We went to the lorakeet exhibit and for $1.00 you can buy a small cup of nectar (sugar water) to feed the lorakeets. I found this funny because you're told not to touch them because they do bite, but you can feed them. Whatever. I wasn't going to let mine do it but after seeing my friend's children have fun doing it I digressed LOL. Bethanne was totally afraid (I think it was too loud for her) Hannah dumped some nectar as she didn't like them being on her but I did get a good picture of her with one on her shoulder - a Christmas present too? Christian wanted to try it but the lorakeet bit his thumb (nothing terrible) and he started crying so I sat it next to him and let the lorakeets eat next to him. He was okay with that. The first picture is my friend's oldest son feeding the lorakeets.
Then came the Koala's which is Aborignee (I hope I spelled that right) for "no water". Isn't it amazing how great and wonderfully made God's Creation is?
We took the children on the train ride - I figured that was better use of money than buying a suvenior that would be soon lost - and they loved it. We left and my suvenior was a migraine LOL but we had so much fun it was worth it. My friend has a picture of me with a lorakeet on my shoulder so once I get that and it looks okay (I was already feeling bad once we got to the lorakeets) I'll post it.
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Aug. 30, 2009 - Apologia Astronomy Lap Binder
As some of you know I enjoy lapbooking with my children, it's a great way to gain rentention as well as having fun while learning. It made Hannah's first ever homeschool assessment a piece of cake, so it can also ease the burden of proving what you've taught over the year. Another added bonus is they have something to look back on over their school years as a keepsake - not just work book pages. I am branching out this year and we are going to be doing a Lap Binder (I don't know if this is actually trademarked or not, so if it is I apologize) which is notebooking/lapbooking put into a 3-ring binder. Since there is going to be more added while we study Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright., we'll need more room to expand as we study God's creation than file folders will allow.
Here are some pictures, the cover of the binder, the inside is the first chapter/lesson titled "What is Astronomy?" with the mini books already glued in and Hannah just needs to do the writing. All the drawings, pictures, writing assignments will be added. I found the free lapbook at Notebooking2Learn Yahoo Group.
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Aug. 24, 2009 - Summer memories/Field Trip
I feel bad for not updating this blog very often with more personal/homeschooling stuff so I am going to do some updating now. We didn't do too much this summer what with have two children having their tonsils out but we did do a few fun things..... the first up is my husband and I taking Christian, by himself while our daughters were at my inlaws, to the local dairy. Young's is a tourist attraction in Springfield and the children love to see the animals almost as much as they like the ice cream. I love their seasonal pumpkin ice cream and the gelato is also good - but usually we skip buying the ice cream. So here is Christian with the goats. He did actually kiss one but he moved to fast before I could get the picture LOL
The next thing we did was go to Carriage Hill Farm, it's a working farm that was owned by an Old German Baptist family back in the 1880's. There are re-enactors and period farm animals and implements and there are many demonstrations through out the year that provides wonderful hands on history learning al disguised as fun, of course when you homeschool you don't have to really disguise learning because the children love to learn!
Christian petting one of the horses, picture taken by my oldest, Hannah. She did a rather great job too. These horses are huge, I think there draft horses, this picture does not do their size justice.
One of their chickens, can't remember what kind they were called. We were allowed to pet them but when you have one excited 3 year old the chickens aren't crazy enough to let themselves be caught.
The day we visited the homemaker was doing a period sewing demonstration! On a treadle machine and hand sewing. I love talking with the homemaker as I learn all kinds of things and what I wouldn't give for some of those dresses LOL My daughter Hannah was allowed to help the homemaker hand sew an apron. The homemaker said she did a very good job! Here is Hannah hemming the apron.
Next up was Hannah's 4H Cloverbud Show and Tell at our county fair! It's such a great learning environment with no competition that prepares them to be regular 4Her's :D These pictures are of Hannah explaining her project to a 4H volunteer and in front of our 4H booth.
Then it was time to celebrate Christian's birthday. We had to celebrate late, his bday is actually on July 26th but we had to postpone his party due to his tonsilectomy. We did celebrate on his actual bday, just the 5 of us but his party was on the 1st. So here are his cakes which are made from scratch including the icing :)
Then we took an unofficial, before school officially starts field trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. I was happy to see that a lot of stuff that had been destroyed by years of use and unsupervised children had been replaced and several areas fixed up. We visited on my birthday although we do have a season pass, thanks to my inlaws, we don't get to go a whole lot due to fluctuating gas prices and numerous things going wrong on the van. We had an enjoyable visit though and my mom tagged along.
This is the picture of the court/jail. I think every parent needs one of these installed in their homes - especially when mom needs a nap LOL Just kidding but the possibilities are endless - like a spotless home LOL
There is a special exhibit on dragons both real and make believe. We discussed the dragon issue from a Biblical stand point, where we believe that there were actually dragons (not the fire breathing, fairy tale kind) and that they walked beside the dinosaurs and Adam and Eve. So it was more or less just something fun.
There is a 'wishing well' thing that you could press different buttons to hear bad and good dragons doing things, my son's was the bad dragon eating which produced a chewing and then loud burp noise. Did I mention he is all boy! LOL This was a neat way to drive home manners, unfortunately most of the children there forgot the lessons once they left.
Next they had dress up clothing, Hannah is the princess, Christian is the knight and Bethanne is well....the dragon LOL I think the way they choose to dress up reflected their personalities in some way.
The dragon's breath, you'd press a button and it would 'breath' and it did smell although no one could agree as to what it smelled like. Bethanne insisted it smelled like pizza.
The girls put on a semi-puppet show LOL
There were cutouts that were painted and the children put their faces in the holes. I have one of Bethanne but couldn't find it so again here is Princess Hannah and Sir Christian. This wasn't discussed but we have before discussed how Jesus sees us as His special Princess and Christian is a Knight in relation to protecting his sisters.
And now for the educational part of the dragon exhibit, real life animals with the title of Dragon somewhere in their name, forgive me for not remembering which animal is which and these are just a sampling of what they had.
Okay and now for something actually related to school....I keep all of our math manipulatives kept up as we are not able to purchase something just because something got lost so for frugal reasons I usually don't let the children play with manipulative and definitely not pattern blocks but apparently they keep children occupied for hours! Here are just two of things that Hannah and Bethanne made out of pattern blocks (after math was completed) Hannah made the girl and Bethanne says hers is the bird.
Bethanne's bird: The big red blocks are wings, the purple on the left is the eyes, the purple on the right is the beak, the light blue is food (a bee and a fly) and the dark blue is the feet/claws and the dark blue under the purple is the body.
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Aug. 3, 2009 - New School Year (2009-2010)
The new school year is upon us and I need to work on getting my notification and all the lists that go with it ready to be sent in to our super of our school district. It isn't too hard or demanding (other States have it a lot worse and then some countries aren't even allowed to homeschool!) so I am not complaining. This year I will be having a 7 year old who is doing 2nd and 3rd grade work (by the end of 2009 she should be all in 3rd), my soon to be 5 year old is going to be doing Kindergarten work (mainly math, phonics, reading, writing) and my 3 year will be doing preschool. Below is my list of resources that we will be using for this year, I am not seperating out each child but it should be obvious as to what curriculum is going to be used for each (except for the preschool where I don't use any set curriculum).
Books and Other Resources (2009-2010)
1. Bible and Character Study
A. The Holy Bible
B. FIAR Bible Supplement
C. Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett study (If interested it's free at Shiver Academy's blog)
D. various biographies and autobiographies on missionaries and church history
2. Language Arts
B. Alphabet Island Level 1
C. New American Cursive from Memoria Press
D. Selected literature based unit studies from Before Five in A Row, Five in a Row, Beyond Five
in a Row by
E. Copywork pages
F. Scot Foresman online grammar and writing handbook.
G. various books and classics based on age, morals, godliness appropriateness.
H. Portraits of American Girlhood by Cindy Sotelo
I. Simply Grammar An Illustrated Primer (Charlotte Mason) by Karen Andreola
3. History and Geography
B. The Star Spangled Book and Workbook by Joel F. King
C. Portraits of American Girlhood by Cindy Sotelo
D. Five in a Row and Beyond Five in a Row by Jane Lambert
E. Book of Continents (ebook) by Ann Tatum
F. various books, tapes, CD's on famous people and places as well as on countries.
4. Mathematics
A. Saxon Math K
B. Saxon Math 2
C. Saxon Math 3
D. various math games found on internet
E. Times Tales
A. Co-op science class
B. Science in the Creation Week by Unfred
C. Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day (Apologia) by
D. Science for Christian Schools 2
D. various DVD's and other resources as needed from the local libraries
6. Fine Arts -
C. free art, drawing, painting, creating with clay, markers, crayons and various other mediums
D. various CD's and DVD's of classical music available at our local libraries.
E. Ballet and performance in The Nutcracker and other plays
F. art class in our Co-op
7. Foreign Language
A. Sign Language instruction from dad
8. Physical education
B. Basketball
C. Wii games involving physical activeness
D. Ballet
E. playing, walking, running around outside
