Jan. 29, 2009 - My Hubby!

I realized that I have introduced everyone in the family except for our hero.  So, let me take a moment to introduce my wonderful hubby and tell you a little about why we think he's the best.  He is a picture with Dh and Mimi at the parade.

I asked the girls to help me compile a list of reasons Dh is awesome.
1.   He loves us. -MiMi
2.   He signed me up for basketball. - Tatertot
3.   He goes out of his way to make us happy. - AllyCat
4.   He takes us to the dollar store. - Binky
5.   He watches Little House on the Prairie with me if I ask. - Mommy
6.   He gets up first on Sunday mornings and starts getting the girls ready while I sleep. - Mommy
7.   He comes to my ballroom competitions. - AllyCat
8.   He listens to me. - Tatertot
9.   He loved my girls from the first time he met them. - Mommy
10. He helps people a lot. - Binky
11. He works a lot. - MiMi
12. He plays board games with the girls. -Mommy
13. He goes to homeschool conventions with me. - Mommy
14. He started Movie Night. - AllyCat
15. He knows when I need quiet time with the Lord. - Mommy
16. He says that everything I cook is DELICIOUS. - Mommy
17. He takes my braids out. -Binky
18. He brings candy home. - Binky
19. He loves Mommy a alot. - MiMi
20. He wakes me up first so I can get on the computer. - MiMi
21. He gets really excited when his team scores a touchdown. - Tatertot
22. He likes motorcycles. - MiMi
23. He checks on us constantly when we are outside playing. - AllyCat
24. He tries to be really quiet when leaving for work in the morning so that he won't wake me. - Mommy
25. He laughs at my jokes. - Mommy
26. Mine too. - Tatertot
27. He wants to get an RV and hit the road. - Mommy
28. He records things for me on the DVR that he thinks I will like. - Mommy
29. He believes in me. - Tatertot
30. He loves Christ. - Mommy
31. He loves me. - Mommy
32. He makes sure the kids don't bother me when I am resting - Mommy
33. He goes to the thrift store with me. - Mommy
35. He writes me letters. - Mommy

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Jan. 28, 2009 - The Great Pharaoh Cluck Cluck

Pharaoh Cluck Cluck was a good ruler.  As good as any man could be.  He made sure that the hungry were fed.  He gave homeschoolers every Friday off.  He acknowledged that there is only one true God.  Pharaoh lived a nice long life and even though his expiration date was several days away his life was cut short.  We know that this is tragic news but fellow countrymen be strong.  We are all happy to have just known this great bird.

This was the eulogy written by the girls for the soon to be mummified Pharaoh Cluck Cluck.  We came to the first lesson on Egypt in MOH.  MOH along with a couple books we have on mummies had the girls begging to mummify something.  We looked online and found directions for mummifying a chicken.

AllyCat washing the chicken inside and out Drying the chicken Massaging chicken (read last paragraph for explanation)
Filling the cavity with salt Filling ziplock bag that is holding chicken with salt
We will check on him every week or so and change the salt out when it becomes moist.  Once he is completely dried out, which may take up to 6 weeks, we will oil him down, put sweet smelling spices on him, and wrap him in cotton strips.  Now to let you in on a little secret (but don't tell the kids).  Did you notice  that our chicken appears to have spices on him?  Well, that is because I did not read the directions exactly right.  So they actually put oil on him and spices before salting him. Oops!  Hopefully everything will still work out!

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Jan. 26, 2009 - Afros

Just had to share!  MiMi & Binky rockin' their afros!

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Jan. 25, 2009 - Week in Review

This was a short week for us.  We took Monday as a holiday and enjoyed the local MLK parade.  AllyCat was in the parade but because my camera is so slow I was unable to get a picture of her. By the time my camera took the picture she had moved on and I got the next group of people.  (note to self: get a new camera)  She is a flag girl/colorgaurd for a Christian band.  They were so cute.  We also ran into  Binky's godmother so we sat with her.
Binky, MiMi & Godmommy Tilisha.

That evening the girls all sat down to do writing assignments related to MLK.  AllyCat was suppose to wrote an essay to persuade me that MLK was an overcomer.  Tatertot wrote a letter to MLK thanking him for all of his sacrifices.  Binky & MiMi made birthday cards for Dr. King.  The front of Binky's card said "Happy Birthday Jr." lol
Binky with both her and MiMi's cards for Dr. King.

Tuesday was the inauguration.  We did school in the morning and got most of our seatwork done.  We enjoyed the watching the swearing in of President Obama and returned to school.  This week in MOH we read about Stonehenge.  Binky wanted to make a replica and was quite proud of her mini-monolith.

MiMi is moving right along in 100 EZ lessons.  I am tempted to slow her down because she often wants to do 2 or 3 lessons a day.  Tatertot worked on her lapbook on Asia. 

Wednesday we had a bonus student.  Trey's niece YaYa came to school with him.  She is very close in age to MiMi and they always enjoy playing together.  After watching the swearing in yesterday, MiMi decided that she wanted to be sworn in as a princess and since she had company we had to swear them both in.
This is them after the ceremony.  They are too cute.

Thursday was a math test day.  I only give the older ones tests, but lately Binky has been wanting to test also.  Trey scored an 85%, AllyCat  96%, Tatertot 95%, Binky 100%.  Trey is also working on research skills.  This week he worked on Dictionary skills and surprised me by asking if he could take one of our dictionaries home.

Friday we finished up our MOH week with a quiz.  AllyCat & Tatertot also finished their English paces.  Binky finished her Science page.  The older kids watched "China's First Emperor".  We finished reading "Gullivers Stories" this kids did not really enjoy this book and honestly neither did I.  We ended the day a little early because AllyCat had a ballroom lesson.
Here she is trying on one of her new dresses.

Well, that's all folks!

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Jan. 18, 2009 - Week in Review

I will try and post pics tomorrow, but I cannot locate my camera right now. I am also changing format.  I prefer going day by day than child by child.

Monday-I woke up not feeling well so the kids basically worked in their paces and did some reading.  We also watched a documentary on the Great Wall of China to go along with Tatertot & Treys study of Asia. 

Tuesday-We learned about the Ice Age in MOH.  We did one of the recommended activities (the easiest no prep one) and had a contest to see who could hold an ice cube in their hands the longest.  TaterTot won and of course she reminded us of this victory for the rest of the day.  We worked on our memory work (Isaiah 55:11) and two of the girls have the scripture memorized.  I also talked with AllyCat's new Spanish teacher.  She is very nice and said that AllyCat was making good progress in the class.  The girls liked the egg drop soup from last week so much that they wanted to make it again for lunch. 

Wednesday-Trey started his Word Building paces and passed his Math test with 94%!  WooHoo!  I am so happy for his success.  MiMi is flying thru 100 EZ Lessons.  Maybe that's why they call them easy lessons.  I am trying to slow her down a bit because I scared that she might miss something important.  She hates Click N Kids and I may have to stop this with her for a while.  I think it is just too much repetition for her. 

Thursday-AllyCat finished her essay.  Her essay for the week was to write about an overcomer based on a devotion we had on Romans 8:38.  I am amazed to see  how her personal relationship with Christ is growing.  Binky & MiMi memorized their continents and worked on coloring in a world map.  We also FINALLY finished Sounder.  This was the first read aloud that has made me cry.  I cried several times in during the reading I was not prepared for the ending.  The girls and I all took it kinda hard. 

Friday-We finished MOH for the week and the little girls did the next 2 entries in their history book.  They did a page on Noah's Ark and a page on behemoth.  TaterTot took her spelling test and got an 85%.  AllyCat took a math test and got a 96%.  We ended the day early by watching the Disney version of Sounder.  The girls kept making comments about how the movie was different from the book and decided unanimously that they preferred the book.  So did I.

Overall we had a great week.  I was sick all week, but  got lots of attention and babying once DH got home in the evening.

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Jan. 17, 2009 - What we are reading.

In honor of MLK Day, we are reading several books about him.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Young Man with a Dream by Dharathula H Millender         
• Martin Luther King Jr-Usborne Famous Lives by Rob Lloyd Jones
• A Picture Bok of Martin Luther King, Jr. By David A Adler
• I AM A MAN Ode to Martin Lutehr King, Jr. By Eve Merriam

Our Read alouds for last week were:

• Sounder by William H Armstrong (this book took us a couple weeks, not because it is long but because I cried my way thru the book)
• Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughean (to go along with our History study)
• The Bible Story Library Volune II From Jacob to Exodus

My little ones have been enjoying:

• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? by John Morris and Ken Ham (this also goes along with our History)
• A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno

Tatertot and Trey are doing a study of Asia and have been enjoying:

• The Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction to Asia

AllyCat has been reading:

• Left Behind The Vanishings 1 by Jerry B Jenkins & Tim Lahaye
• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

A book I have been reading/loving that did not make it into the picture is Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris. I am pre-reading it before giving it to AllyCat and can't wait to get it into her hands.  This is an excellent book for teens.

              

                

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Jan. 9, 2009 - Week in Review

We had a pretty good week.  We were very consistent with school which always makes me feel good. 

AllyCat is continuing working thru her paces.  I have loved paces, but am starting to reconsider them for the oldest 2. (more about that later) AllyCat started her FLVS Spanish class last week and has really been enjoying it.  The teacher is awesome and is very quick to get back to her when she has a question. 

TaterTot is also continuing thru her paces.  Last week she said that her paces were not moving fast enough and that she was getting bored.  This complaint was specifically about Math.  So I had her take the test for the pace she was about to start and she passed the test with 100%.  DH then suggested that she take the test for the next pace and she passed that one also, but did not know the scripture for it so she did not get 100% but did get an A.  So, I am not sure what I should do.  Should allow her to skip thru only taking the tests until we encounter a problem or maybe just have her go thru the paces doing odd problems. 

Binky & MiMi began learning to tell time this week.  They worked on telling time to the hour and half past the hour.  Binky also finished a whole story in Farm Yard Tales without any help.

Trey worked on math drills and parts of speech.

Together they did MOH week 2.  They watched a video cartoon of Noah's Ark that we got from the Library. 

They are also studying Asia.  Speaking of which did you know that most of Russia was in Asia?  We didn't!  We did a little cooking this week to go along with our studies.  Tuesday they make Russian Tea Cakes to go along with their study of Russia.  TaterTot & Trey worked on these together.

 Pic 1 Ingredients, Pic 2 Trey mixing, Pic 3 Tot adding ingredients, , Pic 4 Rolling the cookings, Pic 5 the finished product

On Thursday they were studying China and the older 2 made egg drop soup.

The Ingredients

The Roman TeaCakes got 3/5 stars.

The Egg Drop Soup got 5/5 starts.

Have a nice weekend!

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Jan. 6, 2009 - Please allow me to introduce

two very important young men in my life.  As a mother of all girls it is a treat to have these two around.

The first is truly one of the loves of my life.  It is my baby nephew.  We call him fat daddy (cause he was a huge baby) and the whole family smiles as soon as he walks in the door. 

The next is our newest "classmate".  He is the son of a very dear friend of mine.  You know the kind of friend that you can call 3:00 in the morning.  The kind of friend that will take you to work everyday when your car is in the shop or let you use her car to run your kids to co-op while she is at work.  Well she is that kind of friend and her son Trey will be studying with us a few days a week.  Here he is hard at work.

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Jan. 5, 2009 - What we are using 08/09

Since I took such a LONG blog break I thought I would update with what we are using this year.

AllyCat (13) Math-ACE & Singapore Challenging Word Problems, English-ACE &Apples Spelling, US History - ACE, Bible - we were doing Kay Arthur's Discover 4 Yourself Series but are waiting to place an order for more so we are now going through a series I found online http://www.parentcompany.com/awareness_of_god/aogprgrm.htm Science - Apologia General Science, Spanish - FLVS, Painting - Private Teacher, Ballroom Dance - Homeschool Dance Team

TaterTot (10) Math - ACE & Quarter Mile Math, English - ACE, US History - ACE, Bible - ACE, Spanish - Barrons Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way, Science - Usborne Discovery Set

Binky (8) ACE for all subjects with a few add ons.  She does Click N Kids, Quarter Mile Math, & Sign Language

MiMi (5) Math - MEP, Reading - 100 EZ Lessons, Explode the Code, & Click N Kids

Together we do MOH1 & Geography & Science Unit Studies. 

We also have an extra student with us this year.  He started last week and will be coming 3/4 days per week.  Right now the plan is just to work on filling in some gaps and to reevaluate as we go along.  The girls are super excited to have a "classmate".  Today during school time he was talking while they were suppose to be reading quietly.  When I pointed it out he said "sorry class".  I thought that was so cute.  He is a pleasure to work with and as soon as his parents say that it is ok I will introduce him.

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Jan. 2, 2009 - Week in Review

Yes, school was in session this week.  We took Thursday off, but the rest of the week was business as usual.

AllyCat finally finished her Election & Government Lapbook.  In Math she was reviewing the units of measurement.  She also completed her FLVS World Geography class with an A.  She just started an FLVS Spanish class.  In English she was reviewing the Capitalization Rules, so the rules became her copywork for the week as well.  Apologia General Science is going really slow, but she did finish Unit 1 this week.  For Bible she is working on a paper about God being Sovereign.  Her book for the week was Catherine, Called Birdy.  AllyCat also had practice 3 days this week.  She is on the praise dance team at church and they usually practice once a week, but they are participating in the MLK Parade in a couple weeks so they are getting in some extra practice.

TaterTot worked on division & was introduced to fractions.  She is currently reading Rollerskates.  For Science she is working on an Electricity lapbook.  In English she is working on adjectives and adverbs.  TaterTot uses paces for Bible and is currently in the book of John. 

Binky is working on adding 3 numbers & telling time for Math.  She is doing Click N Kids for reading as well as using paces.  She is currently reading The Farm Yard Tales.

MiMi worked this week on finding same/different.  Completing patterns and did lessons 22-25 in 100 EZ Lessons.

Our current read a loud is Sounder.  We have also been watching and loving the Discovery Earth Series. 

Together we all did MOH week 1.  Okay I know we started MOH like 2 years ago.  We just never got really far with it.  I decided way back then to give it a rest for a minute and well a minute turned into months and we aer just getting back around to it.  So we started again with week 1.  The older girls are doing a timeline, but the youngers are going to use file folders to make their own little history books.

This week put creation and Adam & Eve in their file folder book.  On one side I traced 7 circles and they colored a picture in each one to represent what God did on that day.  On the other side they drew one picture to show what life was like for Adam & Eve before sin and a second picture to show what life was like after sin.

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Jan. 1, 2009 - January 1

Wow!  I cannot believe that it is January 1, 2009.  It seems as if last year just flew right on by.  We attended church last night.  It was awesome!  AllyCat, Tatertot, and Binky sang at the youth service.  MiMi slept the entire service.  We woke her up as the year was changing to say "Happy New Year" - her response "What does that mean?"  Do you ever have those moments when you find out that your kiddos don't know something that you just assumed they would. 

We also had this happen with MiMi (age 5) about a month ago.  A family member, who is 100% against homeschooling, was visiting and asked MiMi to sing the abc's.  MiMi said "how do you sing the abc's?" I did not hear this conversation, but a few days later another family member called and asked why MiMi had not been taught the alphabet, if she was in ps she would have learned the alphabet by now, etc.  I could not even sneak a word in to tell her that although MiMi doesn't know how to sing the abc's, she does know the alphabet and in fact is reading Bob books. 

So just for fun I decided that MiMi would not be deprived the opportunity to sing her ABC's. LOL! I went to youtube and found a version we love, she has learned to sing it, and all is well in the world again!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlFqhHJczDs

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Dec. 31, 2008 - We're Baaaaaack!!

Ok I know, my blog has been neglected.  I am posting now for the whole web world to hold me accountable-I will begin posting regularly again.  So, I am sorry to the grandmas, aunts, & friends that have been asking for updates.  I promise to do better.

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Sep. 17, 2007 - Chocolate Lapbook

Here are the photos from our Chocolate Lapbook.  We had lots of fun doing this study and putting it all into a lapbook was a great way to review what we learned.
Front Cover
Inside Main Section.  We have a types of chocolate flapbook with the names on the front and definitions inside.  Chocolate candy wrappers the girls designed.  A book on where chocolate comes from.  A small book with a few details on how the Mayans used cocao beans as currency and a report on the Mars company inside the Mars wrapper and a report on Milton Hershey in the Hershey wrapper.  A History of Chocolate timeline and a little triangle book on the 3 types of cocao beans.
Here is a photo of one of the pages from the inside of the "Where does Chocolate come from?" book.
We added a flap to the middle section.  Here is what is underneath.  I found a great site that AllyCat used to make the pie chart showing what % of cacao comes from different countries.  http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx.  We also did a history of the American Candy bar.  The map shows the regions of the world where the Cacao tree grows.
On the back cover we put pictures of chocolate and some chocolate quotes.  I love quotes.

Making this was lots of fun.  I especially like the fact that all 4 girls contributed to the lapbook and all 4 are having fun showing it off to everyone that comes over.

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Sep. 16, 2007 - Let's Catch Up

We have been extremely busy lately doing all sorts of things.  So I will take today and tomorrow to catch up.  Over the past couple weeks we have had many celebrations.  We celebrated the birthday of the worlds best dad and granddad.  We had a wonderful dinner at a local Italian Restaurant.

We also had a celebration for AllyCat.  We had all of the woman in our family as well some of our very good friends to come over and celebrate with us.  They brought gifts as well as words of wisdom to help her celebrate this new season in her life.
We also had a baby shower for my little sister.  Who is going to be having her first baby next month.  For the shower AllyCat, TaterTot, and I made a diaper cake.  It came out fabulous.

The girls have also spent lots of time just being super SILLY.





I promise that we got some school work done in this time also.  We finished up our unit on chocolate, did a mini unit on 9/11 and started our Animal Notebooks.  I will post photos of school stuff tomorrow.

I was also asked my some where the girls got their homeschool shirts.  We got them from http://homeschoolboutique.com/ .  They have lots of cute stuff on their site.  See you tomorrow.

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Sep. 5, 2007 - Allycat in the kitchen

As part of our chocolate unit Allycat was to make brownies and pudding.  This ties in some Home Ec and gives us snacks for the day.  Here is a picture of her with her plate of brownies.

And since these were delicious we thought we would share the recipe with our readers.
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LOL!  If any of you would like to volunteer to come over and teach her the "from scratch" version of making brownies -- you are more than welcome!

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Sep. 5, 2007 - I never thought I'd say this but...........

I am ready for this chocolate study to be over.  We made our own candy stores and wrote out an advertisement for the newspaper to announce the grand opening.

They got to name their stores.  Here is a pic of Binky and MiMi's.

Here is Tatertot's.
And here is Allycats.
We tried to make these last until Daddy got home so that he could see them, but by the time he got home all we had left were the pictures and some achy stomachs.

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Aug. 30, 2007 - The Chocolate Factory

We were able to visit a local chocolate factory yesterday and it was fantastic.  The factory was small and the girls and I were given lots of personal attention from the staff.  The owner greeted us and talked with us about the different kinds of chocolate and even let us taste test.  We were able to taste pure cocoa which was BITTER as well as white, dark and milk chocolates.  They gave us a tour of the storefront part of the factory and explained the process involved in making a few of the different kinds of handmade goodies they sell.  Here is a picture of the store front.
We were then given a little tour of the back of the store and factory area. The girls were given the chance to select molds and make their own goodies to take home with them.
Here is AllyCat placing her chocolate on a vibrator to get the bubbles out.
MiMi filling her mold.
Binky decorating her chocolates.
Tatertot watching and waiting to taste the fruits of her labor.
The lady giving us the tour allowed the girls to make chocolate guitars for their grandfather (his birthday was yesterday).  Here they are all bagged up.
One last photo of all of the goodies we made.

It was a fantastic day.  The girls were given so much attention.  The staff was excellent answering each and every question the girls had.  We had an absolutely delicious day!

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Aug. 29, 2007 - What do their shirts say?

One of my absolute favorite bloggers left a comment and asked what the shirts my girls are wearing say.  I absolutely love these shirts because they answer 3 of the most common questions I get from strangers when we are out during "school hours".   

Here is a close up of the shirt on AllyCat.  I will be posting tomorrow when I have more time about our trip to the Chocolate Factory today and the girls will have these shirts on in the pics.  No they don't wear them everyday but they wore them on our first official day of school and they wear them to all field trips, but I promise they do have other cloths.

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Aug. 28, 2007 - Great Link

I have to share this great link I came across today.  This site has tons of videos to watch online that show how things are made.  Here is a brief description from the site.

 Learn how things are made. Cool Stuff Being Made is the Internet's largest collection of over 50 videos of the manufacturing process. We have over 8 hours of virtual plant tours of the manufacturing process. A new video, free to watch, can be found here each week.

http://www.nam.org/hidden/podcast/video.xml

We watched the"How Chocolate is Made" video and it was excellent!

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Aug. 27, 2007 - The most DELICIOUS unit...

We started our year out with the most delicious unit study ever.  CHOCOLATE!   The girls are having a blast and we get to enjoy lots of guilt free chocolate.  'Cause its not cheating on your diet if you are simply sampling what you are studying right? Here are some pics of the girls during a chocolate taste test.  We blind folded them and gave them 4 different types of chocolate.  They identified all 4 samples!  They are geniuses! or maybe we just eat way too much chocolate around here.
Before
During
The Surveys

The books we have read so far are:
The Chocolate Touch
Curious George goes to the Chocolate Factory
Chocolate (Usborne)

Sites we have loved are:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/about.html
http://www.hersheys.com/discover/tour_video.asp
http://www.thinkingfountain.org/c/cacao/cacao.html

We also designed our own candy bar label.  You can find the template here http://cheerleading.about.com/library/nhersheyblank_white.htm .

On Wednesday we will be taking a trip to a chocolate factory and of course I will get lots of pictures.  See ya then!

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