Posted in home schooling
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Before I get into posting a million and one pictures of our schooling update, I just thought I'd casually mention the election, since it IS Election Day and all. I haven't said one word about politics up to this point. Not a word. Mainly because that's not really what this blog is for, but also because I don't think anyone really listens to me in that arena. However, it is now 1:18pm Central time on election day, and I'd like to make the suggestion that if you haven't already voted, and actually visited my blog today for electoral advice....which would be ridiculous, but it could happen....then I'd like to tell you to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. That's how I voted. I voted this way because the Republican party traditionally upholds my moral and economical beliefs. I also like Sarah Palin's hair. Obama also scares the bee-jeebers out of me. He ranks right up there with Freddy Kruger, and the Burger King guy, Michael Jackson, and even Tom Cruise. So there. I said it. If you wanted my advice, which I doubt, you have it.
Now, what's up at Hilltop, our home school.... As I began to start uploading my pictures of what we've been doing over the last month or so, I realized I had a lot of project pictures. I have pics of two lapbooks that Harrison has recently completed and Annaleigh's science project that she did for her tutorial science class...and that's it. So that's what I have to show you. For those of you who don't lapbook with your kids and have no desire to, you might as well log off now because this is going to be boring. Nonetheless.... Harrison's BIRD lapbook for science...
For the cover he colored, cut out and labeled several of the birds that we studied. Here's the inside all spread out...
Most of the stuff I got from the Considering God's Creation curriculum that Annaleigh used several years ago. I've decided to stick with Sonlight for Harrison, but the latter still has some great resources in their workbook. I also got a few of the activities from an Evan-Moor book on general science. The pictures of the birds came from various Internet sources where I basically just googled the various bird names and chose the picture that I liked best. A labeled bird with all of its birdy parts...
Two booklets and an unfortunate photo of my hangnail...
Another booklet focusing on flight...
A couple of lift-the-flap activities on bird growth in and out of the egg...
(Sorry...didn't realize that one was blurry until it uploaded, and I was too lazy to go re-take the shot.)
What's inside a bird? C'mon...you know you've always wondered...
And then the back cover, simply decorated with even more bird pictures...
And now for the lapbook on VIKINGS... The cover...
Harrison colored the picture for the cover at the beginning of our studies, so he was unaware of yet that most Vikings were blond and fair, so thus we have our Latino or African-American viking. Oh well. Here's the inside view...
His labeled Viking, ready for battle...
A fold-out of traditional Viking weapons (and, yes, I do know that he misspelled ax)...
A run-down of where Vikings lived, including a map and then an illustration of a Viking village. The Viking village picture lifts up to display his report, but that didn't photograph well.
Here's an explanation of runes and a message that he wrote...
Here's the interpretation of it...
Awwwww...that almost makes me forget the fact that at this very moment he's supposed to be vacuuming the living room, but is instead sorting his Halloween candy. Almost. On the back cover, we made a pocket for his Viking family paper dolls, and then we pasted a Viking board game on the pocket...
Annaleigh completed her tutorial science project in great style and flourish. Never mind that we were down to the last eight hours before it was due.
Her project was on Ptolemy I, the early scientist who basically got the Solar System in the wrong order. He thought everything revolved around the Earth, which was a nice idea and all, but of course was false. She made her faulty Solar System from halved Styrofoam balls, and as you can see, he also had the sizes pretty mixed up too. See the big smears all over the board? Well, that's what you get when glue everything the night before. During her presentation at school, rivers of Elmer's glue were running down the board. Speaking of her presentation, if you have an extra five minutes and want to learn a little about Ptolemy, we went to the tutorial and taped it....
Just so you won't think all we've done since September is glue stuff onto a couple of file folders and procrastinate on science projects, I did find two more photos of school work. See, here's Harrison, hard at work reading and chewing on a mouth piece...
And then Annaleigh's bed...
I know she's not physically there at the moment, but just the mere fact that it is littered with books and papers, both up top and below should prove something....besides the fact that she is organizationally challenged. Well, that's about it. The next few weeks are going to be a crazy time as we are in crunch mode before the baby arrives. I may not get to another update until close to Christmas...or maybe even...gulp...January. |
Posted in home schooling
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Our school year is definitely in full swing here at Hilltop. You can always tell by the smell of smoke. Annaleigh is into the 1600s in history, and we have been neck-deep in all the political upheaval in Europe. She is so sick of hearing about Protestants and Catholics and all their skirmishes. It seems everyday we open the book someone is getting beheaded. It seemed a little better when we first began to read about Louis XIV...
...and his grand palace of Versailles, but then we learned that his extravagance was what eventually led to the bloody French Revolution. So, we decided to blow off a little steam, literally, by lighting a match to a model of London one afternoon, thus recreating the Great Fire....
It was taking a bit longer than we anticipated, and we were growing fearful of the neighbors' stares from their windows. Eventually all we had was rubble, thank goodness, and we could go inside to escape any further scrutiny and avoid a visit from our fine police station. I think we really need to live in the country...
Harrison also had his share of violence over the past couple of weeks, as we've been studying the Viking era. Big D's family is Swedish, so he's known for a while that there is some Viking in his blood and was excited to get to his roots. One day we were reading about a Viking group that raided and pillaged an Irish monastery (my roots, by the way), and he looked up from the violence-filled pages, and said, "Do you mean the Vikings were bad?" Well, if you consider murder, stealing, and other unmentionable things bad then, well, yes. He was shocked, a little disappointed, but not enough so to deter him from building a model of a long ship...
That came in our Viking Treasure Chest. I was pretty much convinced we would have had an easier time had we traipsed to a forest and felled our own trees about mid-way through this process, but we finally got it together. I thought we might as well set it on fire too, so great was my frustration, but Harrison vehemently protested. I think it was the Irish in me that wanted revenge. On a much calmer note, Harrison is learning a lot in all of his subjects. Here he's doing a measuring exercise with his worthy computer teacher for Saxon 54...
This has been a big transition year for him in math, and it hasn't been without its bumps, ones that have occasionally brought out the Viking in me. Oh wait...I'm not Swedish. Umm, well, it brings out the Irish in me, I guess. But, I think we are finally getting things figured out and getting into a rhythm with his lessons. Both kids are doing very well with their writing. Here is a two-point expository paragraph that Harrison recently wrote about his two favorite colors.... Two Colors
And then here is a poem that Annaleigh wrote as part of her Painless Poetry course...
For science one day, we were learning about the skin. One little experiment you could do was to draw a caterpillar on the inside of your elbow, which would demonstrate how the skin stretches by watching the caterpillar grow and shrink as you bend it. Well, while Harrison wanted nothing to do with a caterpillar on his arm, he did allow me to draw a fiercer, sort of, looking snake...
Ta-da! Annaleigh continues to do very well at her tutorial class of Apologia's general science. She has a report on a scientist coming up, which I'm a little worried that she's procrastinating on, but I'm trying to bite my tongue. It's on Ptolemy I, who I think is the one who had it all wrong about the Solar System. Maybe I'll just do a google search, print some things out and place them strategically on her desk.... Her tutorial drama class is doing a November production of The Secret Garden, and guess who was cast in the main role of Mary and has 200 lines to learn by mid-October? Just shoot me now, okay? I've shared a bit about Home Ec endeavors. Well, I actually have Annaleigh going through a curriculum put out by Christian Light, and last week she had to bake a dessert from scratch. We chose a recipe for a Swedish Apple cake...
Above, I'm showing her how to chop apples without chopping your fingers. That went well, as she still had ten appendages on her hands at its completion. Then here she is with the finished product...
It was VERY sweet, but I still gave her an A. That's about it for around here. Tune in soon for a reenactment of the Thirty Years War. I'm just kidding....my neighbors can't take much more. |
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I've been pretty slack in posting pictures of many of our lapbooks, and recently I've been bombarded with questions in-real-life about them. It seemed much easier to me to just be more faithful in posting about them than trying to tote the little buggers with me when I'm out and about. Recently, Harrison started his third grade year of science by studying dinosaurs, mostly from a creation perspective, which was interesting because dinosaurs, in many ways, don't really fit into the scheme of creation science it seems, as resources for that are few and far between. If you're looking for a way to reconcile that issue, may I suggest this book...
We got it through using Sonlight Science 2, but it can be purchased separately through many different avenues. It's basically a large (64 pgs.) picture book that you could read aloud in an afternoon or two, depending on how squirmy your rug rats are. This book does a great job in explaining how dinosaurs fit into the Genesis account of creation, even once and for all settling the matter of whether or not they were on the ark! It also explains away many myths and much Hollywood hype which have turned dinosaurs into things for the horror movies, instead of the real, magnificent creatures that they really were. I learned a ton, and I think Harrison did too. While reading through this book, I had Harrison work on various activities that I found mostly here on www.homeschoolshare.com . In the end, here's how it all came together.... The cover, which was made from figures that I cut on my Cricut machine, using the paper doll cartridge.....
Harrison added the details with marker and googly eyes, and the title was made with just some scrapbooking stickers that I had on hand. The inside....
Here's a close-up of the left side....
That type of booklet is called the matchbook, and they fold up with a picture on the front. Inside he wrote the definitions. A close-up of the middle panel...
Above is a graph showing the approximate heights of various breeds, and then below is a booklet that Harrison filled out by researching (using www.enchantedlearning.com) four different dinosaurs of his choice. The right panel...
Above is a little booklet that displays the various characteristics of all reptiles, and then below is a memory game that Harrison made. We even played it one night as a family...
...and appropriately, Harrison won the first round. The rest of us were a little stupefied by all the complex names.
Then, finally, here's the back of the lapbook...
Above is a tab booklet that opens to each of the continents. Harrison stuck small pictures of dinosaurs on the maps where archaeologists found their fossils. Then below is a wheel that gives possible reasons for the dinosaurs' eventual extinction. Other resources that we explored are the following DVDs...
and...
The first is just a fun, computer animated look at dinosaurs. It was definitely evolutionary in nature, but after reading the book I already mentioned, that didn't scare me. I definitely want the kids to be knowledgeable about both perspectives. It's narrated by Ben Stiller, so it was pretty entertaining if you're around the age of eight. I think he says the word "poop" a lot, which is always good for a laugh around here for some reason. The second one gives a biblical perspective of creation. It wasn't as funny, but at least it's true. Now we've started on birds. Come back and few weeks to see how that one "flies"! |
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One of my favorite things to blog about is what we are doing here in our homeschool. Something about it makes me feel all tingly inside. I think it may be because on a day-to-day basis it seems like such a mess...like we're not getting anything done...like unproductive is our middle name. Yet when I sit down at the computer to edit pictures and display for you all what we've been studying, it always looks and feels a lot better, seeing the big picture. Anyway, last year I came up with the unifying title for these entries of "A Peek into Our Week," and then I would identify them individually with a volume number. Well, it was cute and catchy, but it was totally inaccurate because I wasn't posting them weekly, and the misnomer was bothering me. So, I've changed the name. I'm also not going to number them because that's confusing, and I'm pretty sure I missed some numbers last year. That's probably more information than you needed, but I just thought I'd start out with some clarification. We started school a couple of weeks ago, so I think I've now accumulated enough photos and stories to make this interesting. I hope. We started slowly, with just math and language arts and a few other minor subjects. I didn't do this because I'm a nice, considerate mom/teacher. I did it because I was ill-prepared. I had forgotten a couple of things in my ordering, so I was waiting for them to arrive, and I also had just spent the last few weeks before school overhauling my entire upstairs, so I was harried and rushed and frantic and desperate and....well, you get it, right? I did end up doing a review of sorts in history with both kids. Last year we studied the first half of world history, so I thought we'd have a refresher before we jumped in where we left off. It also gave me the opportunity to pull out a few things that I had forgotten were on my shelf. For Harrison, that meant this little gem...
Harrison was elated! For a boy that loves violence, there's just nothing better that you can study. His favorite part of this kit was the gladiator figure that you could dress up to be different kinds of fighters. Please join us for our impromptu gladiatorial fashion show (Warning: The following photos contain a bare-chested figurine!).... Behold, the Thracian...
the Secutor...
and the Myrmillo...
Harrison's only complaint was that the kit did not come with two gladiators so they could fight. I think this poor guy had to go a round with Darth Vader, and let me just tell you, those ancient weapons just don't hold up against a trusty lightsaber. Both have gotten into their reading times, and we're finding that we're doing just fine without your traditional school room...
Harrison is doing well with his new English program, Shurley English 3. So far, I really like it. Here he's already labeling sentences with the parts of speech, and this was only after the first week....
He's also learned the four types of sentences and made three little mini books that he wrote and illustrated himself. He says he likes it all except the vocabulary, so I think that's a good sign. I like for the kids to make notebooks for history. Story of the World has companion activity guides that come with reproducible maps and coloring sheets and ideas for other hands-on activities. Annaleigh, in particular, enjoys coloring the pictures for her notebook while I read to her. These make good visual accompaniments for her chapter summaries that she writes. She especially likes the scented markers that I bought for her a couple of weeks ago, but it is a little weird to hear your child say, "Mmmm...Mom, come here. Smell this. Charles V smells like fruit salad."
Another fun addition to our history program this year is the Geography Songs cd and book. I used this several years ago with Annaleigh, and now it's Harrison's turn. I'm always amazed at how quickly they can learn the names and locations of these teeny tiny obscure countries in just days when they are set to clever tunes. Here's a brief video of Harrison singing the "Continents and Oceans" song in true Harrison-style... Annaleigh is using the Usborne Intorduction to Art and then on Fridays completing a project from another Usborne art idea book. This is what she did last week...
I just love it, but she has vehemently declared that she now hates tissue paper and could care less if she ever sees another sheet of it. Ever. Annaleigh is attending a tutorial twice a week where she is taking classes in Logic, General Science and Drama. On her science days, she's only there for a little over an hour, which is not enough time for Harrison and I to come home and accomplish anything, so we have turned our van into a makeshift classroom for that day. Harrison isn't in love with this concept, but here he's completing his handwriting sheet without much complaint...
As if we needed one more stinkin' place to be in the afternoons, Harrison has started fall soccer...
So far, he loves it and comes home sweaty and exhausted, which are always good things for an 8 year-old boy to be. Don't expect a lot of commentary from me on this sport because I basically know absolutely nothing about it. In order to prepare for the upcoming upheaval of our lives called "The Arrival of Peanut," I have implemented a completely kid-planned-and-cooked meal every other Friday. They have to be ready for when I am physically unable to hold my eyelids open or actually have the little suckling attached to me. If they want food, they will need to know how to prepare it. Last Friday they did a great job...
They made cheese tortelleni alfredo, bread AND dessert. It was delicious...and they only tried to kill each other once. Maybe twice. Things are going surprisingly well, even though sometimes our days seem very long. So, have you started back yet? What's going on in your homeschool? Let me know, okay? Because basically I'm very nosey. |
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Last night Big D and I were sitting on our sofa watching 70 pound, 14 year-old Chinese girls beat our 105 pound, 18 year-old American girls in gymnastics, when suddenly Big D asked, "So, where exactly are you doing school now?". I found this slightly amusing since he was the very one who helped me demolish our former school room a couple of weeks ago. Remember this?
And this?
Or this?
Well, believe it or not, we've gotten it all taken care of. Harrison has a place to sleep, we have started school, and I'm still reasonably sane. I promised pictures, so I aim to deliver. Besides, it seems even my husband who actually lives here, needs the run-down. First, I'll show you the former school room, which is now about 3/4 Harrison's room and 1/4 the computer room and school closet. Eventually we are going to curtain off his room portion, so there's a little more privacy. He wanted a Titans football room, but I, being a die-hard Bears fan, balked a little at that idea, but we did go with the team colors and let him hang his posters and such.
See, now wouldn't that wall look better plastered with Brian Urlacher, or Devin Hester, or...oh, what the heck...even Rex Grossman?
Here's the desk area we set up for him, where I go over most of his lessons and he does his seat work...
The front part of the room still houses our computer and the school closet....
As you can see, we share the closet with an AC unit. It was tight, but I made it work. I still have to get some of the drawers labeled. Can I just say that I can't recommend those over-the-door hangers enough? I even use them in my bathrooms! Annaleigh also does a lot of her own work in her room....
She has a really nice desk, but something tells me she may prefer her bed....
And then both of them often gravitate to the sofa in the loft...
Speaking of the loft, here's what you'd see from the top of the stairs...
Almost all of our school books are housed there on the shelves....right over there behind the hideous, tortuous stationary bike that I can't ride because it hurts my hiney something fierce. I also read almost of all of our Sonlight books here. I sit/lie/curl up here....
I kind of think of it as a slouchy throne. Then here is my office/scrapbook area...
It is tiny and cramped but efficient. Here's another view from Harrison's doorway...
So, that was the rather long-winded answer to where exactly we're doing school. And now we just have to tackle this and turn it into baby-central in the next few months....
*sigh* Anyone good with a paintbrush? |
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In my browsing through some blogs over the past couple of weeks, I've seen many share what curriculum they are using with their kids this year. Call me 'weird', but I always find that kind of stuff highly fascinating. Man, there is a ton of great stuff to home school with! Honestly, that's why I had to have another child because two kids are not enough to try all the options that are available. So, what are we using this year here at Hilltop? Well, our mainstay/no-brainer/go-to stuff that we use every year is Sonlight. It is very literature-based with the limited use of actual textbooks. I buy the core packages, which basically covers your Bible, History, and Readers. I've used their language arts intermittently, and I've mostly used their Science. This year Annaleigh is using the Core 7 package, World History, part II....
She's also basically using the Core 7 science, which uses Apologia's general science book for their core, but I'm not teaching it. Hallelujah! She's taking it in a class at her tutorial with some woman who loves science instead of with me, a woman who breaks out in hives at the mention of science. Harrison is using Sonlight's Core 2 this year, Intro to World History, part II...
I covered most of this core with Annaleigh several years ago, and I can't wait to read some of those books again. Yes, they are that good! He's also using the core 2 science package...
...but I can't talk much about that. Hives, you know. For language arts, Annaleigh is using this...
...because, as strange as this might sound for a former English teacher but, I don't care much for teaching grammar. I never did. I believe one must have an understanding of the English language and how it works, but diagramming sentence after sentence and being able to define phrases like 'past participle', I believe, just doesn't have much value. I truly believe that kids can get almost all of the grammar they need from the prolific reading of good books and ample opportunities of writing. Almost. That's where Easy Grammar comes in. It's thorough, but not overwhelming. I am trying something new with Harrison...
...because it was highly recommended, and it was mostly free since I'm borrowing it from a friend. It's so new to us right now that I don't really have much of an opinion on it, but I can say that it looks like a balanced approach, and so far Harrison likes it...all two days worth. I've used this for several years now...
This approach has worked great for Annaleigh who is an excellent speller. The jury is still out on whether it will work for the long haul with Harrison, since we're just starting his second year with it, but so far, so good. I already mentioned this in a previous blog, but Annaleigh is using Rosetta Stone for French 1 this year.
I hope that it's a good program since I certainly paid a fat chunk of change for it. I may have to just take her word for it since I don't know a thing about French. Well, I know what croissant means. I took four years of Spanish, but Annaleigh who believes she may be called onto the African mission field someday, thought French might be a better choice for her. I'm going to try to start Power Glide Spanish with Harrison this year. The funny thing is I say this every year, but then it just sits on our shelf collecting dust, so it remains to be seen, I guess. That's about it for us except for healthy doses of taekwondo, soccer and ballet for PE and spontaneous art when we have the notion. Oh, and Annaleigh is also taking Logic and Drama classes at her tutorial. ****Update**** I realized on a second look that I had mentioned nothing about math....which is probably Freudian in its nature. We do study math. Both use Saxon. Annaleigh is using 8/7 this year, and Harrison started 5/4. Both are FINALLY using the DIVE cds, which is basically instruction on the computer and independent work that I just have to grade. In a nutshell, it gives me an extra 30 or so minutes in my day to drink a second cup of coffee, or fold socks, or clip coupons or whatever. Well, worth the price of the CDs! So, have you shared your educational plan yet on your blog? I'd love to see it! I still have time to change my mind on some things.... |
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Yes, today was our first official day back. While we did not start every single subject, it was a full enough day for some fanfare. We started the day with Big D's famous annual back-to-school breakfast....
As you can see from my empty spot there, Peanut and I quickly cleared our plate. Good job, Big D! After that we did some chores to let our food digest...
I don't know about you, but I just love images of the the manly gender cleaning bathrooms. Then we got down to business. I had a little pep talk about the school year, showed them their schedules that I had worked out, spent some time in prayer, and then we dug in. Here's Harrison taking his spelling pre-test...
I only caught Annaleigh at the computer a couple of times for photos. First, she was working on an assignment for Logic class, which she is taking at her tutorial this year.
I, for one, am excited about her taking this class because if she insists on arguing with me, at least now, she should be able to do it well. It will make life more interesting around here. Can't really say why home girl is wearing a jacket when our high today was 88. Perhaps it's because in a pregnancy-induced stupor, I turned the thermostat down to 65. Then later I spied her doing her first French I Rosetta Stone lesson....
I see the Logic class is already taking affect, as she has removed her fleece jacket. Finally, after several subjects where I was too busy to photograph any activity, we had lunch. Just in case you're wondering, the kids had turkey and cheese sandwiches, plums and chips....
I had left-over Shepherd's pie from the weekend. It was yummy but didn't photograph all that well. Here's Bridget's first-day-of-school shot...
That dog just loves school. Finally, dance class also started back today, and here's a shot of Annaleigh proudly displaying her full splits after she got home this evening...
I think, perhaps, the last three photos would fall into the "...and then some" category. Stop by later this week for a highly educational (yeah, right!) run-down of the curriculum we're using this year and a look at Harrison's new room! Also, my Flashback Friday will have a very special back-to-school theme this week....I'm just not sure what it is yet. |
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One of the many advantages of living in an area where there are lots of home schoolers is that there are lots of cool home school activities. Another plus is that the activities are generally organized by other more zealous home school moms, and all I have to do is show up with my kids in tow. Last week's Field Day for our county was no exception. Man, I loved field day when I was a kid. A whole day out of the classroom, running through grass, challenging your friends to relay races and balloon tosses. My kids loved it too....until it started thundering and lightening in the afternoon. But our morning was filled with running...
and Frisbee-throwing...
and backwards-walking (or whatever this is called)...
and hula-hooping...
and all sorts of other activities that didn't involve remote controls or video game consoles. They were just as pleased as punch with their flimsy satin ribbons. Annaleigh won 2nd place in that backwards walking, whatever-it's-called event and jump-roping. Harrison won 1st place in the broad jump and 2nd place in the Frisbee-throw and the shoe-toss. Living in this area, outside of Nashville, which is the capital of country and Christian music, you never know who you might see. Well, unless you're like me and hardly know what anyone looks like. I could run smack-dab into...oh, say....Kenny Chesney in the middle of Wal-mart (assuming he even shops there) and I might possibly never know it. I have had a few sitings of over-the-top celebrity sorts. Like last Mother's Day we saw Wynona and Naomi Judd at Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I would have never recognized the normal looking Naomi, but we all recognized Wynona immediately because she has this unnatural looking, super-long red hair. I regularly see Phil Joel, formerly of the Newsboys, but again, he has this outrageous set of long, blond, curly locks. I would recognize Willie Nelson or Dolly Parton in a second, but I've yet to run into either of them. Well, at our homeschool field day, I saw this guy (the one with the long gray hair)...
Anyone know who that is? Anyone? Anyone? It is Guy Penrod, formerly of The Gaither Vocal Band! (Update: Oops...my bad! It has just come to my attention that Guy is STILL with the GVB. Sorry, Guy....I have no idea why I had it in my mind that you left. Shows what I know about Southern Gospel!) Now, some of you may be wondering what a self-proclaimed rocker girl like me is doing recognizing and photographing a former member of a southern gospel group. Well, my grandma loved the Gaither Vocal Band and had a lot of their Homecoming videos, so I was subjected many times to Guy's amazing tenor vocals and recognized him almost instantly. And don't worry....he never knew I was photographing him. I have pretty good zoom on my camera. I'm a stealthy paparazzi! Finally, 4sweetums tagged me with an interesting challenge.... Here are the rules: So, here it goes, my six-word memoir... KIDS, where are my freakin' scissors?!? Actually, the word scissors could be replaced with any random object on any given day....calculator, keys, loose change, my favorite pencil, my house slippers, my lesson plan book, the glue gun (don't ask), the Night at the Museum DVD....you name it, and we've misplaced it. I'm going to fore go the tagging this time because I have company coming later this week, and I really should be cleaning my baseboards. Ta-ta! |
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Since the weather has turned gorgeous over the past few weeks, we have been frequenting this park, which is a mere five minute drive from our home....
Nice, huh? It's very new too, about a year and half old, I think. The city maintains it impeccably and continues to dump money on it for comfortable benches and covered picnic areas. There's a nice walking trail, which has views of the play area from every angle. Nice. Very, very nice. But do my children appreciate it? Do they use the hundreds of thousands of dollars of play equipment? Do they stay in the areas where they are visible to me from my shaded picnic table? Oh no. They like to play here...
Doesn't it seem they have left the confines of this small town park for the deep jungles of South America? Doesn't it look like an anaconda could swoop down at any moment and swallow them alive? That is a muddy creek which flows along the perimeter of the park. It is a magnet for my children. I cannot see them as they play unless I stand for two hours on the bridge which crosses it. I'm left to only listen for screams or splashes and only hope that it wasn't one of mine who just drenched themselves with muck and grime. It usually is.
I must regularly pluck ticks off the above child, so that he will not succumb to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme's Disease. And I must wash mud out of the child's hair below, so that she can go to ballet class in an acceptable manner.
So, again, I ask, are they some weird freaks of nature? Or are they just nature freaks? Maybe a little of both? I don't know, but something tells me this is ok. And something tells me that perhaps the city could just invest money into more creeks instead of slides and swing sets. |
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...or, an alternate title... Reason #127 Why I Can Never Send Him to School
or another alternate title... Why I'm a Little Concerned to Someday Have Harrison Read to the Baby *Sigh* The other day Harrison read this story out loud to me for reading practice. He got so tickled over the story that I wanted to record his reading it for posterity and all. It was just so cute how he was doing the voices and laughing hysterically at intervals. So I asked him to read it again, just like he did the first time. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, I guess. This time through he didn't do the voices and wasn't laughing. Well, he wasn't laughing until he decided to belch. That's always good for a laugh around here. Then, by sign language, I tried to remind him to laugh. I know that's cheesy, but that was the whole point, and well, if you watched the video, then you know how that went. Not that I'm really considering sending him to school, but do you honestly think he would burp like that if he was reading aloud in a classroom, with at least twenty other children? Something in me sorta hopes he would. |
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As you well know, this is more like a peek into the last month or so of our educational endeavors, but I can't change the name now seeing as how I'm on volume 8 and all. At this point, like many home schoolers, we're trying to cram as much into the next few months as possible, so that we don't have to spend our summers finishing our math texts. We've been super busy, but we have managed to squeeze in a few...and yes....zany things into our school days. Annaleigh continues to trek her way through The Usborne Complete Book of Science. Here she is doing an experiment about God-only-knows-what (I'm not very scientific)...
However, I do know that she is using a hand mirror to reflect a prism onto her wall. I just don't know why. Both kids are studying Ancient World History this year, but at slightly different rates. Harrison is just finishing up Ancient Greece. He loved The Usborne Book of Greek Myths, probably because it was pretty violent...in a kid-friendly way, of course.
He liked reading about the Trojan War so much that one afternoon he spontaneously built the Trojan horse out of Legos.
I thought this part was particularly clever...
Both kids then planned and executed a Greek feast and Olympic games. Here is Annaleigh overseeing the hummus...
For the feast we had Greek chicken, pita, hummus, Greek pilaf and Ekmek for dessert.
Most of the recipes were from the Story of the World, vol. 1 activity guide. Everything was really good. We totally messed up the syrup for the Ekmek, but I substituted regular maple syrup, which I'm sure made it taste nothing like what it was supposed to, but you do what you have to do. Considering I almost caught my kitchen on fire, it's all I could come up with at the time. Here are the Greeks in their togas, getting ready to chow down...
Yes, Indiana Mimi is making the peace sign. She can be a real handful. Speaking of our togas, we all wore them. They were just sheets, secured with safety pins. Nothing elaborate, but I don't own white sheets, so we turned out to be a colorful Grecian lot.
Harrison wondered whether one could do a jump-sidekick in a rather restrictive toga...
...and we found the answer to be no.
We conducted the Olympics in our school room. We had an obstacle course, a discus throw, and wrestling matches. I would just like to say, for the record, that in the following picture I am not attempting and failing to do a push-up for our obstacle course. I am pretending to be in a Febreze commercial and smelling our carpet, because I can totally do like 50 push-ups. No sweat.
Annaleigh won the obstacle course and was crowned with a laurel wreath...
Big D won the discus throw because he has big muscles. That's why we call him Big D, in case you didn't know.
And then the wrestling matches....boy, were they wild! First, I wrestled Big D, and I let him win. See, here, I'm all over him...
Big D then took on the mighty Annaleigh, but he overcame her as well.
Indiana Mimi would not wrestle because she is scared of me. She has seen me do 50 push-ups in 30 seconds with one hand tied behind my back, so I can't blame her. See the fear in her eyes....
For the bored and the restless, here is a little minute and half video of the final wrestling match for the laurel crown, between Big D and Harrison. I will warn you that Harrison is shirtless by this point. He saw in his history book that the Greeks actually wrestled nude, so he thought he would try that in part. I would also like to say that the room is usually not this messy, but it got a little dicey in all the preparation for the feast and games. Plus when we started sweating, togas were flying everywhere and landing in little heaps.
And then the half-naked winner was crowned...
In non-Greek news, Harrison has started baseball. It was absolutely insane for us to add another thing to our already hectic schedule, but if you're a regular reader of this blog, then you already know I like to flirt with insanity. Here he is at his first practice...
I took this from my van because it was really cold outside. Harrison's the one in the maroon hoodie. And now for the contest! Simply leave me a comment and tell me, "Enter me in the contest!," and then also let me know how many push-ups you can do with one hand behind your back. (Probably not as many as I can, I'm sure.) I will draw randomly from the entrants after Sunday, March 31 at 9:00pm, Central Time. The winner may then choose from the following....
or Uncle Josh's Outline Maps CD ROM or...
a bull-honkin' stack of 12x12 scrapbook paper To be honest, I don't know how many sheets, but the stack is nearly an inch thick.
It's mostly patterned paper in every color of the rainbow. I have 3 stacks of this, so be watching for more opportunities if you have your eye on this particular prize. Even if you don't scrapbook, it would work great for cards or your kids' crafts and/or lapbooks. I have a California Redwood's worth of paper in this house, and it was just time to weed some of it out. And, finally, I'm taking a week's break from my usual Flashback Friday. Tune in next week for more Flashback fun! |
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Geographically, our state is right above Crossview's, but that didn't stop the "oohs" and "aahs" as I pulled the items out of the swap package we received over the weekend.
Several weeks ago Crossview put out a feeler on her blog about having a state swap with various other homeschoolers. I immediately signed up, and it was so much fun packing and putting things together, trying to represent my state with little tidbits that I was to mail away. The kids were enthralled with the cotton, and I'm quite sure they had assumed that it felt like their tee-shirts and didn't give much thought at all to where it came from. Harrison pulled out the pine cone and said, "What's this?" I was amazed that he didn't know what it was. But then I remember that he was less than a year and half years old when we moved from South Carolina, and while we do have pines here, they are not as prolific as further south, so he had never held one or seen one up close. It was fun to read through Crossview's small town newspaper. And now I'm wondering how I can get to a Harvey's grocery because they have a really good deal on smoked hams this week.... We have been to Georgia a handful of times. We even have family that live in Georgia. Yet we still learned many, many things by reading through Crossview's hand-outs. The kids each had their own favorite portions of the package...
and...
We have bought Reese Cups for Annaleigh before, so I'm not sure why she felt the need to kiss these. And Harrison has decided that he is, in fact, willing to chew the Bulldog gum even though he is a big UT fan. Thanks, Crossview! I hope you enjoyed our package as much as we enjoyed yours. And, readers, hop on over to her blog and take a look at what they received from good ol' Tennessee. |
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OK, people. You can stop contacting me asking me when in the world I'm going to publish another "Peek." You can stop calling. Stop writing. Stop e-mailing. Stop stalking me at Publix. I am finally posting one. Seriously, I got a bit off-track over Christmas. I have found that I like to start school early every year, so that we can take a nice, long break around Christmas, and this year was no exception. We don't abandon learning, creativity or teachable moments altogether, but we do put aside our curriculum and generally just blow off some steam. Over our break the kids did things like this...
That is a fort they constructed in the middle of our loft/family room. It was ingenious really when I began to study their building methods. They used zip ties...
and Big D's quick grips...
and, my personal favorite, chip clips.
I was only slightly concerned that the top was secured to the ceiling fan with yarn and more zip ties. And it only took them nearly two weeks to clean it all up. Actually I am still finding the occasional zip tie attached to a coffee table leg or stair banister. We have finally....FINALLY...finished with our Egypt studies. I now have a lot of empathy for the Israelites, wanting to leave Egypt so badly, feeling like a slave to it's every whim, praying for a deliverer. That was me during our last couple of weeks. If I had to say the name Tutankhamen one more time, I was going to scream. Here are the kids putting the final touches on a sticker map that sort of reviewed all that they had studied over the past few
I hesitate to post the next picture for fear that you will think that all of Harrison's math lessons involve food. That is not the case. They are just the only ones exciting enough to photograph. Here he is learning about fractions using peanut butter crackers.
Speaking of food, isn't it great when your kids begin to learn to cook and are actually competent at it? I was really tied up making dinner one night, but I needed a dessert for the Bible study we were hosting, so I put Annaleigh to work making these.
Her industry freed me up for more gourmet and sweat-inducing cooking like this...
I actually had to chop up some of the vegetables for this crock pot minestrone. For PE, the kids both tested recently for their next belt levels in taekwondo. Harrison tested for 1st degree, level 4 black...
Annaleigh tested for brown.
We are on the fringe of Tornado Alley, so here is our version of a tornado drill:
We troop down to our half-bath and hang out for a while until the weathermen tell us it's safe to come out. Harrison always feels better wearing his Titans football helmet, and Annaleigh always feels better using my cell phone to call everyone she knows to tell them we might be having a tornado. I usually wander around the house, snapping pictures, eating Wheat Thins and organizing my mail until we can go back upstairs. I will leave you with a little video that the kids put together for a Bible lesson. Usually, Annaleigh has written activities to complete, but this time her book suggested putting together a play to illustrate one of the stories she had read, and she was all about doing that. Please note that it is necessary to rate this clip PG for simulated knife violence to a teddy bear playing the part of sacrificial beast. Annaleigh is Elijah and Harrison is a samurai sword-carrying Baal worshipper. Bridget, our dog, is a rubber-necker. Enjoy....
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There comes a time when every 2nd grader must learn about measurements, and a nice, creative, fun way to do that might be to make brownies or some other calorie-laden treat. Here is how I imagine some institutions might handle this... "Good morning, class. Today for math class we are going to be learning some new measurements. Because there are more than 30 of you we will not be actually baking the brownies, but if we just meditate on the brownies and visualize the brownies, it will be practically the same thing. Plus the school board has recently banned all sweets in our county, so even if we baked them, we could not eat them, or I would lose my job and end up on the 5 o'clock news. Alright, let's begin!" "This, class, is one cup."
"In the cup, you would measure one cup of white....er, I mean Caucasian sugar. Now, I'd like for everyone to write 'one cup' on their paper. What's that, Matilda? You don't know how to spell 'cup'? Oh well, that doesn't really matter as long as it is phonetically acceptable. Use a 'c' or a 'k'....your choice." "Next, class, I am going to show you a set of standard measuring spoons."
" You can see that they come in all different sizes, ranging from one tablespoon to 1/8 teaspoon. You can also see that they are blue. I chose blue because I couldn't think of any people group who has blue skin, except for the Smurfs who are fictional, and therefore no racial connotations could be construed. But please note that I have nothing against small blue people, just in case any ever present themselves. I also chose blue to show that it is perfectly acceptable for boys to cook. Tomorrow I will show you a pink football, so that you will know that it is perfectly acceptable for girls to play that sport." "This, class, is an egg."
"It will be cracked and mixed into the brownies as well. Eggs have been around for millions and millions of years. Right after our world exploded into existence out of thin air, an amoeba crawled out of a puddle and laid one. Then it hatched and out popped a monkey, who is really your great, great, great, great, great grandfather." "And speaking of crack, don't forget that our "Just Say No" program meets today after school. And also do not forget that any day now, we may have a drug bust where snarling ferocious German Shepherds will come and sniff your desks and bookbags for drugs. I just warn you because you're only seven, and it might be a little scary. Please prepare yourself by watching CSI:New York tonight at 9pm." "And speaking of eggs, that reminds me of something else. Again, I know you are just seven years old, but someday, perhaps in just a few years, you may want to....ahem...take part in the fertilization process. That is perfectly normal. When you begin to want to do that, whatever you do, do NOT discuss it with your parents. That is what the school nurse is for. She will tell you what you need to know and give you whatever it is you need, so that you may experiment with it however you chose." "Alright, class, that is all for our lesson on measurement. For homework tonight please write a one-page essay on why we should not eat brownies. For extra credit you may invent an alternate, less offensive name for brownies. Now it is time for recess. Please remember that you will be expelled for playing dodge ball, Red Rover, or any competitive game where someone might lose." And here's how we did this lesson today.... "Oh, look Harrison! For math today you're learning about measurement. Why don't we go make some brownies?"
Hmmmm...I wonder which lesson was most effective? *********************************Reminder**************************************** Many of you expressed interest in participating in my Flashback Friday. Please know that you can post about anything from the past....from Benjamin Franklin to your first day of first grade to friendship pins on your Reeboks....whatever! And pictures are optional, so don't worry about whether you have a scanner or not. Google image search might have something similiar to what you need too. Just have fun with it! |
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Ever heard of this? Me neither. I just saw a link over at my friend Hallie's blog and clicked. Wow....that is an impressive site! Anyway, there are nominations going on right now for over 20 categories. I thought about nominating myself for something, which you're totally allowed to do, but I couldn't find a category for "Blog with the most Bad-Cat pictures" or "Silliest Blog Contest," so I just nominated some of you. You should mosey over and check it out! (Quit looking. There are no wreaths in this post. I have a baby-sitting engagement this afternoon, but tonight I'm posting a new component to the contest that does not involve wreath-hunting.) |
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My last "Peek" was posted on October 15, and frankly I'm a little baffled about how we spent our last almost 3 weeks. It is a hazy blur of TKD, pumpkins, a birthday, play practice, laundry loot, chicken wings, caramel apples and, of course, wreaths of mint. I sit here and stare at the computer screen, wondering, "Did we even do any school at which to peek these last 19 days?!" Well, my Photoshop picture manager says we have, and it's a reliable source. So here's what I could scrounge up for you thrill-seekers.... Annaleigh culminated her Ancient Greek studies by putting together a lapbook. This one was not a kit. I gave her a list of items to include, and then she was pretty much on her own. She did a great job, I think. If there was ever any doubt that this child is my daughter, just check out the title she came up, completely on her own....
She's never even seen the movie. She also color-coordinated the whole thing in shades of yellow and blue. Need I say more? Methinks the apple falls not far from the tree. Here's the first part, which includes a Greek god mini book, the definition of democracy, lift-the-flap books on Greek columns and a fold-out time line:
A close-up of a page of the mini book (Hi Zeus and Hera! Looking good, you two!):
A close-up of the columns (just in case you have a burning desire to know, the one being shown is an example of an ionic column):
Here's the second section, which includes a comic book of the Trojan War, a Venn diagram comparing Athens and Sparta, mini biographies of Alexander the Great and Homer, an envelope filled with Greek paper dolls (on the outer flap) and a fold-down of a report on the Olympics:
Here I tried to take a picture of the paper dolls, but they weren't dressed, and Annaleigh (or Mini Me in this case) had drawn pink boxers with hearts on her man figure. Since my blog is already rated R, I decided to err on the side of discretion and just give you a teaser:
And here is the lapbook artist herself, either doing her math on the computer or listening to our iPod (pink earbuds can be deceiving):
While his sister left him for other cultures, Harrison is still camped out in Egypt. He enjoyed reading a pop-out, fold-down, shoot 'em up book on Pyramids that I bought at a used curriculum sale.
His favorite subject of late has been science, since we're studying the animal kingdom. Here he's engrossed in doing his activity questions on birds:
And that's about all that Photoshop tells me we.....wait a minute...what's this?
What is Ripley doing with our Nile model?! Doesn't he look sneaky? He has no idea I'm watching him thanks to my new camera with super-zoom.
Uh-oh! He's decided we've left it sitting so long on that table that it's free game, and he's going to eat it (And, no, becominglikehim, we cannot play "Where's the Nile?" next).
Wait! He's not eating it....he's tomb-robbing! He's stealing one of the Pyramids of Giza!
Nice try, kitty-man, but we caught you orange-handed...er, I mean pawed...even if you did manage to swallow the tip. Little do you know that polymer clay is a little rough on the stomach! (Actually, I don't know this personally....but I've heard!) DID YOU SEE THE WREATH? E-mail me at kellieann@adelgren.com to get your points! ***A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place have already been awarded for this entry....within the first 10 minutes of posting actually! Way to go, ladies! Watch for another chance sooooooooon! Everyone is still neck-in-neck, so even if you're just starting, you can still be competitive! Oh...and make sure you check out the original prize details post to see a picture of the prize provided by Jeep Collins! |
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For those of you that have been waiting on pins and needles for the past two weeks for a "Peek" installment, never fear...the wait is over! We have been B-U-S-Y!!! The kids have a taekwondo tournament coming up, so I've been trying to get them to as many classes as possible. And then I made an announcement earlier last week that Annaleigh has been cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past in "The Christmas Carol," so forgive me if my "Peeks" from here on out appear blurry. It is not your clouded contact lenses or a glitch with your computer screen. It is just the speed with which we move...we are speed! Harrison continues to excel in just about anything he puts his mind to. He just has to complain about it a little before he puts his mind to it. Here he's posing with an address book that he made for language arts:
He also wrote a lovely letter to his grandparents, which I have temporarily...ah...misplaced. In this picture he's learning how to divide a set of objects in half. The book suggested colored tiles, but we chose mini M&Ms. I swear I missed my calling in writing curriculum! I would have called it "Math with Chocolate," "Language Arts with Chocolate," "The History of Chocolate," "The Science of Chocolate," etc.
For history, I found a little pyramid that you can break open and find a little Egyptian artifact inside. The kids worked on this together.
Above they're just getting started using the little tools that came with the this 88 cent contraption.
Here they decided to break out the more serious, heavy-duty Play-doh tools.
And, finally about 30 minutes later, a little hieroglyphic tablet emerges. They had fun doing it, and both decided to never become an archaeologist. I decided that I REALLY need to take down the Starlite mint wreath. Annaleigh, despite her busy schedule, still graces us with her presence from time to time. Here I found her on the surprisingly clean floor of her room doing math, in a red shirt and pink socks, no less.
She's still in the middle of her Ancient Greek studies. For a project she made a Greek God Family Tree.
I think she thought that the names were going to take up more space than they actually did, but other than that, she did a great job on it. Ripley thinks, "School is no big deal. I can do it with my eyes shut. {Sigh}...I love the color orange."
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I feel a little discombobulated doing our "peek" now because we haven't really finished our work from last week. We had company stop in for Friday afternoon and evening, and we didn't do anything academic as a result, but each child got a crash course in Home Economics, as they were made to overhaul their rooms and help scrub the bathroom. Annaleigh could also probably get a music credit as I'm pretty sure I heard her humming the the theme from "Cinderella" as she slaved away. As it stands I'm not sure when we're going to squeeze in our neglected math lessons and spelling tests, but it's a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, and I'm in "Who really cares?" mode. It'll happen. In the mean time, here's how we spent our more purposeful Monday-Thursday. The kids dug into our spelling activity idea box (I'm serious...we really do have one of these. It's an optional part of the Spelling Power program) and found the suggestion of practicing your spelling words in instant pudding, spread out over a cookie sheet. So, by golly, they wanted to try it.
Annaleigh is seen here spelling out her solo word for the week, "accidentally," as in I accidentally licked the pudding off my fingers as the kids practiced their words. After they practiced a few times, they both grabbed spoons to dig in.
Annaleigh likes to sniff her chocolate before she tastes it. I think sorta like wine drinkers slosh their glasses around and sniff. I've always hated that in restaurants where the waiters want you to do that before they pour. I rarely drink wine, but on the occasion that I do, it's always White Zinfandel, and I don't really care how it smells. My concern has always been why it's called white when it is clearly pink. Anyway.... Annaleigh finished her Egypt study just as Harrison was beginning his this week. She has now moved on to the Greeks, which I'm sure will eventually produce some very interesting photos, like all of us in multi-colored togas, since I don't own any white sheets. In the meantime here is a photo of Harrison's attempt at hieroglyphics:
I don't know what you think, but there's something very comical and just a tad creepy about that photo. It sort of reminds me of the "Kilroy was here!" cartoon.
See? Weird, huh? We talked Big D into joining us one evening for a review game that was a part of Annaleigh's history. Annaleigh won, rightly so.
And then here's an extremely flattering picture of me helping Harrison to complete a puzzle of Hatshepsut's temple.
I do not recommend puzzles of Egyptian scenes. It really teaches you nothing about the culture, and everything is sand-colored, so it took us nearly an hour to finish this little 8.5x11 puzzle....ugh! We squeezed in two movies this week. This, of course...
And for good measure, we're going to throw in the cartoon version this week. Strictly for a compare and contrast. I promise. We also took three days to watch this:
Both kids have hit this already in Bible, and then it was also a good Egyptian visual for both of them. Of course, I had to field the normal questions with its Biblical inconsistencies like "Was Moses really in love with the Egyptian princess, Neferteri?" "Did Moses' Egyptian mother really come with the Israelites for the Exodus?" "Did Moses really rescue his Hebrew mother from being trapped underneath a huge stone?" All of these I could handle. The one from Annaleigh that stumped me was, "Was Moses really that cute?" And on that note I'll leave you to ponder that deep, theological mystery. Have a great week! |
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This was a full week, but funnily enough, as I was uploading the pictures that I snapped, it looks like we weren't too academic. Actually, we were, but I think I just forgot to photograph any of our more scholarly moments. So the photos and write-ups that I'm including this week are much more action-packed and exciting (so much so that we all used stunt doubles....can you tell?), so buckle up your seat belts, and let's go.... Monumentally, this week, Harrison finished his Charlotte's Web lapbook, and in celebration we formed a mosh pit and body-surfed until dawn, but the pictures were waaaayyy too blurry, so you'll have to settle for these: Harrison, with the cover:
You may notice an unfortunate splatter of glitter on the web. And you may remember that I have an aversion for glitter. The splatter is supposed to say "Some Pig," but in reality it looks like shiny vomit. And now every time I, or anyone else for that matter, have come within 3 feet of this lapbook, they wind up looking like they've been doused in the samples from Claire's boutique at the mall. We are all walking around with our sunglasses on because of the cover of this lapbook. I really, really hate glitter, and this is....I promise....the one and only time you will see glitter on any of our school projects. Here's a look at the inside:
Here we included a crossword, a "Wilbur" acrostic, a pig activity book, and the results of our favorite character survey. Charlotte, albeit posthumously, won with Wilbur as a close second. This is the second panel, with more of a spider emphasis:
Included are a color-by-number, a sentence writing activity, vocabulary, a "MY favorite spider" booklet (he chose banana spider), and a spider anatomy fill-in-the blank, which I kept closed so as not to disturb young viewers. Here are the two side panels. One has a pocket for his book report, and the other has a write-up on EB White.
And, finally, the back, where we placed several coloring sheets and little descriptions written by Harrison:
One thing I try to do as a homeschooler is work in a healthy dose of life-skills on a daily basis. This is basically so that they don't grow up to be a complete dolt, like me, when it comes to domesticity. So, fairly regularly lately, I've been having Annaleigh come in to assist with dinner. I'll add Harrison to this activity when he can stop pretending to be Jack Sparrow or a Power Ranger for intervals of five minutes or more. One day this week, we made pork chops, and here she is dipping them and breading them:
I have a reward system set up in our school, where I made and printed "school dollars" that I give out for A's on tests, hard work during the week, and reading books. I fill a little box with some goodies and assign dollar amounts. On Fridays, they can use their dollars to shop at the store. When they were younger, it was mostly dollar items, but Annaleigh was quickly not caring whether she earned and spent her dollars or not on cheap plastic items that broke about 2.3 minutes after they were opened, so last year I started picking up clearance items at unbelievable prices. Harrison has been saving since the beginning of the year to buy a Lego set that normally sells for around $50 at Target, that I got for $9 (but shhhh!...don't tell him, since I was charging $40 in the school store!). Here he is posing with his prize that he waited and saved for 7 weeks:
We took a fun field trip to Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yes, you read that right. We read a chapter in Homer Price about the doughnut machine that goes awry, so we thought we needed a hands-on. Our Krispy Kreme has a big window where you can see the machine making the doughnuts, so it was a totally legit trip....and for good measure, we went on Saturday, so we didn't cut into anything academic. Here are the kids enjoying their "breakfast":
Annaleigh was mortified that I made her wear the paper hat. Does she think she's 11, or something?! If you look past me in this one (I'm the one holding the all-important beverage and trying to get the child's hat to stay on my big head with my big hair), you can see Harrison watching the machine:
And, yes, I'm still doing my "life style change," but everyone needs a break sometimes. Plus I've lost 4 lbs!!! Our on-going PE is taekwondo for both kids, and this week they were both awarded their new belts. Annaleigh is now a blue belt, and Harrison is now a 1st degree, level 3 black belt. So, in other words, don't mess with us. We don't play.
Oh, wait...here is one honest-to-goodness real learning picture! The kids doing a science experiment:
Or is Harrison just drinking a very large Bloody Mary? No, it is definitely science. My kids just have the unique ability to take something totally factual, academic and pure and turn it into pure goofiness. He is learning, by the way, how water will travel. In a few days the veins of the celery will be red like the Bloody Mary. Er...I mean dyed water. And then to end out our week we had a real, live open house. We do this every 4 to 5 to 6 to 20 weeks or so....basically whenever we've accumulated enough interesting work to show Big D and Indiana Mimi. Here they are perusing the kids' work:
One of the kidlets even made a sign! Harrison recited his memory passage, Psalm 1, and Annaleigh gave an oral book report on Mara, Daughter of the Nile.
Note to self: work on eye contact with Annaleigh....oh, and take down the old, crusty Starlite mint Christmas wreath. It is September for pete's sake, and that's been hanging on that doorknob since 2005. And with this last photo, I will leave you in peace...literally. Bridget and Ripley attended a species reconciliation seminar where they learned to appreciate the other's differences, share, be kind, etc. and this is the result:
Awwww....I see some pets who are getting a little more kibble in their bowls. Till next time... |
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Well, I didn't really give you a peek into our week 2 weeks ago. We really ended up trying to cram too much into that week. We took off on Labor Day and had this, which I've already blogged about:
And then it was also Annaleigh's birthday, which added to the chaos of an already shortened week. But, hey, you only turn 11 once. It is quite a feat to turn an age, in which you've run out of fingers for...
I guess little brothers are good for something after all. This past week, however, was normal....well, relatively speaking. Here's an update on our Nile:
As you can see, it sprouted. We also added sand, and Harrison insisted on sculpting some clay Pyramids. We've flooded it a few times, which the kids enjoy doing, and we've also discovered that it discourages the cats from thinking we've bought them a new, fancy litter box. On our list next is to mummify a chicken. I'm pretty much dreading this since I can't stand to touch fresh raw chicken, let alone 6 week old, salt-soaked raw chicken, but I guess we'll try it. I just have to prepare my gag reflexes... Here's Annaleigh hard at work, watching a dvd for grammar.
Remember the old "School House Rocks" clips from Saturday morning cartoons? They now have them all on dvd, and I found a supplemental program that actually built a curriculum around the songs. My kids are loving them, and I find them a good reinforcement. Now if I can just get "Conjunction Junction....what's your function?..." out of my head... Here Annaleigh really is hard at work completing one of her Story of the World activity sheets. I believe this one was on Moses and the Plagues.
Both kids enjoyed making their version of Phoenician glass. Their favorite part? Why, shaving the crayons, of course. My favorite part? Why, scraping shaved crayon off my dining room table, of course. It may look like they're being neat and all, but it is a total farce. Don't let them fool ya'.
Harrison had a fun review of fractions. He likes fractions because it usually involves cutting or dividing something, which is violent.....for math, anyway. He was a little disappointed here that he only got to use crayons to divide a square into eighths and that he wasn't required to shave them.
I finally started an art program with Harrison. I found one of the Start Smart kits last spring at Hobby Lobby on clearance, but just hadn't found time yet to fit it in. The first lesson was all on shading, and he seemed to enjoy it and did a good job, even though it was a little sedate for him. Again, I think he'd rather be shaving the crayons instead of shading with him.
We finished our first read-aloud for the year, Charlotte's Web. {sigh} That has to be one of my favorite stories of all time. Even though both movies have been very good, there's just nothing like actually reading the book. We're working on a lapbook with this, so I'm sure I'll have pictures to post in a week or two.
Why he's acting like he's at a Guns-N-Roses concert instead of having just finished a quaint children's book, I do not know, but I stopped trying to psychoanalyze my children long ago. I think maybe it means he liked it. Maybe. That about does it. I think I'll go read Great Expectations while playing the air guitar. 'Till next time.... |
