Well, it's been awhile since I've been on here, but it's been a very long winter for our family.  Between my health, my husband loosing work, and the children being children, I did not get a chance to blog about our work.

In Jan. I had the opportunity to travel to Colorado for a Pampered Chef conference.  It was a beautiful city with lots of emphasis on a clean enviroment.  I was very impressed with how clean it was.  I enjoyed the conference and learned tons of stuff to help my business.

As far as school goes, we started doing chemistry until we got to a part that needed us to purchase items for projects so we stopped.  We finished up our nutrition study and have all been eating healthier.  We've also been doing the normal math, grammar, spelling, keybrding, reading, and goofing off.

At the end of March and early April, I had the pleasure to visit my sister who lives in Washington State.  Eli had so much fun flying for the first time, and I loved spending time with my baby sis and helping her with the kidoes (3 and 1). 

Now that we are home, I'm pleased to say we are back to school. Today actually went well.  I'm planning on schooling all summer in the mornings to help the kids get caught up to grade level in math, grammar, and spelling.  We might do a unit study hear and there.  We love our summers, swimming, reading, and playing.  We might even travel some more.

We did start a study on Greece today.  We have not done history for over a year.  So Zachary was very excited to review what we had done and start his "favorite" subject again.  We use "The story of the world" and had planned on finishing one book per year, well, this is our 3rd year and we are only in the middle fo the first book.  Oh well, I guess that's one of the perks to homeschooling.  I hope to maybe keep up a little better now that spring is hear and I hope to be feeling better.

Today the kids learned about the location of Greece, and made a salt/dough map.  I'm trying hard to get them to work together, and it was hard this time.  Zach always seems to know everything.  They did a 3D type of map and colored the dough to represent the land. (I can't get my pictures to download so I'll do that later) Check in later.

Since our field trip to the capital and meeting with another mom for some ideas on how to make this unit more fun, I've decided to stop all the writing part of the study.  Instead I'll spend time over the weekend and pull out 5 or 6 questions that I want the kids to learn relating to the Elections and Government and we'll discuss them.  We've also got tons of books from the library that we are reading.  So far it's been going much better, Zach still thinks it's boring, but so do I to be quite honest.  So this week we discussed the following things:  

• What is government? 
• What form of Government do we have in the US? 
• What forms of Government do other countries have? 
• What is an Election?
• How did people vote along time ago?
• Describe the three levels of Government; Executive, Legislative, Judaical
• Talk about the seven steps a person takes to become president
• How are candidate's chosen?
• What is a primary and a caucus?

We actually got through all those questions without to much pain.  I'm still using Amanda Bennent's Unit study on Elections, so I have the web links that she uses which really helped me find the answers to some of these questions.  We even pretended that Matthew and Zachary were running for President under the same party and how we finally got to one person being nominated.

Along with all the discussion, I found a fun recipe to make to keep with our RED, WHITE, and BLUE food theme.  It was super easy! 

Melt some butter in a saucepan and add some marshmallows (see where I'm going)

Add your favorite food coloring! We also did Blue

You then add some Rice Krispies

Take some of the rice krispies and make them into balls

We then added a little pull apart licorice to make a loop and they were Election ornaments

Hopefully everyone has a recipe to make rice krispie treats, we just colored ours and made them into balls, they did not last the whole week and I don't think Kenan got one.

Each week I'm trying to find something new to do with our Election / Government study.  Since Zach is in 8th gr. he will eventually need this class, and why not start the others on it.  The thing is, I hated Government in school and really don't understand it.  Plus, how do you make it fun?  I'm still researching this, but for now we are using food to make it fun.  We made mini cakes and frosted them red and blue and the cake was white.  It was yummy and fun!

If anyone has a fun idea let me know.  I'm in the process of trying to tour our state capitol, I hope to do that soon.  Matthew had way to much fun frosting these cakes, he did a faboulous job.

Today started a new day as well as a new study.  I'm excited to be teaching a 6 week study on the elections.  There are so many resources on-line, but I decided to use a unit study from Amanda Bennet, you can view her studies at www.unitstudy.com .  It is broken up into two levels, a lower and upper.  So it will be easy to teach all three on their own level.  I tried to get them excited about starting this, see Zachary is not to thrilled with starting government, but oh well, I told him he did not have a choice in the matter.  We found some red, white, and blue balloons, an American flag and celebrated the kick off of our study.  I might try to find some food with those colors to keep the celebration going, just a side thought.  Anyways, we also sang American the Beautiful.  I hope by the end of the study they will be able to sing the whole thing.  We then went to the library to get some books and movies on the subject.  We came home with a bag full, enough to keep us busy along with the study material. 

The study comes with family activity suggestions, so each child is incharge of doing one.   Zachary is going to teach us all how to play chess (which he has been dying to teach me).  It teaches thinking skill, strategy, prediction, and is of course fun for those that like that sorta thing.  Eli is planning a field trip to our State capital or regional offices.  Matthew is keeping track of the state caucses on our wall map.

I really hope they have fun learning about how important the elections are and what affect they have in our world.   I also want them to see both sides, Republic & Democratic, not getting to deep into things tht they won't understand it, but enough to know there is a difference.  I'll try to keep you posted on our activities.

This entry is a little late but, better late then never is my saying. 

We started our school year with a bang.  It was awesome watching the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.  I found myself watching them all hours of the night and then again the next day.  The fun thing is that the kids really liked it as well.  We sorta held our own olympics while we were camping. We also did a unit study on them.  Matthew was able to do all the worksheets, they were not on a level for Zach and Eli.  Instead, Zach and Eli had to choose a report style and do an oral report on what we learned.  This was the first time two of them had to do something on their own, so I was happy to see the finished results.   I think this was a great way to start the year.

Working on our Medal Tracking Graph (math)

Eli's Finished report on Gymnastics (reading, research, planning, keybrding, design, art)

Zach's finished report on swimming (reading, research, art, layout designing)

Matthew lit our torch and was happy to do it!

The fnal results - Team USA kicked but, HOORAY

Today was such a fun day for us.  Since we've been studying US Geography since January (I know a long time, but there are 50 states) I thought it would be fun to make a map you can eat.  It was very easy:

2 cps smooth peanut butter

2 1/2 cps powdered milk

2 1/2 cps powdered sugar

2 cps white corn syrup

blue icing (for all the rivers, lakes, oceans)

chocolate chips (all the mountains)

m & m's (cities, captials, land marks)

You mix everything together except for the icig, chocolate chips and m & m's.  Zachary tried getting out he peanut butter and Matthew mixed it all up.  He's all boy!

We then picked the state we wante to shape and decorate, can you tell which one?

We then topped off the lesson with doing a foam US map.  So I'd say it was a pretty productive day.  By time they are done with this study (two more weeks) they will know all the states, captials, and be able to spell them all.  WOW, so will I!!

This week we've taken a little jog down a different path.  I actually planned ahead and had stuff tucked away just for this week.  We have been studying the Passover and Easter.  It has been a fun lesson and even I have been touched by what I'm teaching the children.  I pray you enjoy time with your famiy this week.

Last Easter our church participated in a Sedar Meal.  This was something totally new to me, and very unique.  I never really understood the Jewish customs, but now I understand just a little bit better.  While at the Sedar Meal, presented by "Jews for Jesus", www.jewsforjesus.com , we experienced what it was like for Jesus and his disciples in the upper room.  The food we partook in represented several things.  I purchased some materials to help us understand better this year.  We've enjoyed learning about the different Jewish Holidays and why they are celebrated.  I have been impressed with their beliefs and customs.

We also were given a website that had some great ideas to do with your children this whole week.  Yesterday was fun making homemade pretzels, they did not taste the best, but we enjoyed making them.  Today we talked about the sweet fragrance that Mary poured on Jesus' feet.  This lesson really hit home for me.  You can get these lessons and more at http://www.christianitytoday.com/holidays/easter/features/activities.html 

These are some of the books we've read and studied. 

Can you tell what we talked about here?

The boys were measuring out the ingredients (math time, they almost looked confused!)

Rolling out the dough

Getting them ready to bake, they look yummy!

Time for tasting! Looks good but does it taste good?

Hi everyone,

We are well into our 11th day of boot camp.  What is boot camp you ask? Well, according to Matthew (9), he does not think it's anything different then what were doing.  However, the rules have changed dramatically.

The Children rise and shine by 6:00 a.m., by 6:30 they have to be dressed, teeth brushed and had breakfast.  Kenan is up at that time as well, and is ready for them to start math drills.  They do 20 min. of drills on various math problems, and get a little break.  Then at 7:00 a.m. Kenan has them sitting at the table explaining their math lesson for the day.  We use Saxon, Eli and Matthew are using the same grade, but Eli is surpassing both boys.  They have till 8:00 a.m. to finish their lesson and then they start chores.  I've come up with my own chore chart for each child.  They have a kitchen, laundry, and general household chore.  At 8:30 we begin our studies.  We get 2 1/2 hr. breaks, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and a 1/2 hr. for lunch.  We work till 3:00 p.m.  I have a sheet that says what they should be doing each hour and completing.  If it's not done, then at 3:00 p.m. they have to finish.

By now I'm sure your going, OH MY, IS THIS MILITARY SCHOOL OR WHAT???  I completely agree. However, things in the Adamson home school started getting out of control.  Since we were so busy at the end of last year doing a big christmas program we did not school for 5 weeks.  We did more life lessons then anything, and learning how to serve at church.  But we all, (including myself) became very lazy.  I was sleeping till 9 or 10 and not really doing a whole lot with the children.  The children forgot how to work hard, and how to respect their parents.  Needless to say, Kenan was tired of hearing me crying each day about what the children were doing to me, basically I had been licked by my own children.

It was time to get disciple back in our house.  Time to remind the children how to work hard.  Eccel. also says their is a time for everything.  Well it was that time for us.  Since we started boot camp, I've had pros and cons about the whole adventure.  Of course my biggest con is that I don't get to do things my way.  However, that is the biggest pro.  Why? You might ask.

See growing up I did not have lot's of consistancy.  Because of that it's shaped me into who I am, I change things regularly, I'm not happy with what I have, always wanting more, and always trying to do what everyone else is doing.  With Kenan giving us a written schedule and saying, this is how it's going to be, I was OK with that.  I was OK to follow that schedule and say to the children, "it's 8:30 get out the books" and if they were not done by the time they should be, it got tacked onto the end of the day.

So I can officially say, I"ve survived boot camp, and I am enjoying have a consistant schedule. 

On a side note: A great friend of mine at www.homeschoolblogger.com/westward helped me find an awesome book "The checklist" http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/checklist.html I have found it very interesting because it lists out what your child should know from k-12th gr.  It's a book of 195 pages.  I'm highly considering getting it simply because I need some guidance on what to teach the kids.  We are very random in what were doing.  We have been studying geography for 3 weeks and taking a break this week.  We enjoyed going to the courthouse with Flat Stanley tagging along.  I wish I had a way to show you all the pictures I've taken, maybe one day.

This week we are taking a two week adventure into the white house, being president, and state elections.  It's a baby step into government.  (By now Zachary should be studying much more, however, I'm still trying to catch all of them up.  So getting this checklist book will be very helpful.  Also, doing school all year around would be another benefit.)  I tried to find some free lapbooks on-line but it was all way to deep for us, and to much for me to get together in short notice.  I hope to save up and get some of the one's I found at www.homeschoolestore.com .  So off to the library we went this morning.  We did really good and found lots of great books on elections, presidents, congress, etc.  We also checkout a couple cool movies.  We have decided to have our own elections and see who can be the Class President.  Each child will come up with their own campaign.  And by the end of our two week study we'll have a class president.  Stay tuned for more at the Adamson home school.