This summer we took some Junior Ranger classes with some homeschool friends...The Junior Ranger programs are wonderful and are offered/available in most State and National Parks...You can find out more about the programhere..
You can also find free curriculum, fun and games, and a guide to park Junior Ranger programs and a host of other fun and educational media created by the National Park Service here...
Thursday, August 13, 2009 - The 2009 Perseid Meteor Shower...
Tuesday night I set the alarm clock to go off at 2am which was the beginning of the peak time to see the meteor shower that I had been waiting for days to show the kids...Well, mother nature didn't cooperate with us and it was cloudy and proceeded to thunder-storm...
But being persistent, we set out to see what we could last night...
(wish our view could have looked like this one)
(but it looked more like this...)
And WE DID IT!!! I now have 2 kidlets that are thrilled about seeing the meteors and looking forward to getting up this morning and learning more about them...
Even though it was not the "prime" viewing time the astronomers had suggested, it was still beautiful and a reminder of God's awesome power and greatness... They were beautiful, some were fast and fleeting and some were large and slow and seemed to glow forever...
Here are some resources that I have found this morning while researching for lesson plans/ideas to use today with the kidlets....
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - Ok.. Week 1~ Day 3 of FULL-TIME school!!
It's been good and bad...
We've almost completed the Ice Cream Unit we started the last week of July (which happened to be National Ice Cream month) and we have also started our composer studies...
Most of our time has been great... The hurdles that we have been working on for the past couple of weeks getting into our full schedule have been tackled and some new ideas have come my way to fix the problem spots...
First, my DD HATES MUS... I thought it would be great for her, a perfect fit... Well, apparently, I was WRONG!! So, after several days of trying it and listening to her finally cry, I decided to try some old Abeka 1 math worksheets I had that my son had never completed ... and she is in heaven...Loves it...so, I am gonna be doing that and also supplement with the fun stuff from Hooked on Math and Family Math(which we used some last year and they both love) Both of which I got for some real deals last yeat.... I gave $25 for the HOM at a clearance sale (much cheaper than the $150 price on the website) and less than $5 (including shipping) from Amazon on Family Math...
Next on our fix-it list.... We are not going to be able to accomplish "EVERYTHING EVERYDAY" .... So I worked on a schedule yesterday (which I will post a little later after a few tweaks) in which we divide up several items (like history, science, and geography) ...Also this year, I am dividing up my history and science by semester... I like use unit studies so, I pick and choose info from living books, science books, textbooks, and other sources to meet our needs on the topic we are studing... I try as much as possible to use a chronological approach (more for my sanity) and the kids each have a book of centuries they are putting together, using a 3 ring binder....
Sunday, August 2, 2009 - Our New Year Is About To Begin!!
Yes, it is that time again... and after a VERY busy summer we are heading back to school in the morning...
My plan for this year is much more relaxed and easy... I am of course really not much of planner, but went into more detail this year than normal with hopes of easing the stress and increasing the fun...
I also let the kids choose several fun 1 week units to do this year... (around the 2 week plans I made) and of course there are always the "rabbit trails" which take us all over the spectrum...
My plan starts with our schedule.. We basically did a "school year" round plan this past year and it worked well for us as we were able to take off frequently and did light work (very light) during the summer... (and we still were able to take the month of July off for FUN) .. So this year, I am expounding on that schedule and going with a 4 week on and 1 week off schedule...This will allow me the needed time to order library books, gather supplies for science experiments and CLEAN THE HOUSE!! (need I mention catch up on the laundry? )
We love living books, so we are doing several short unit studies with lots of rabbit trails I am sure...Some of my favorite places for finding resources for these are:
I will be posting several other sites throughout the year as I use them in my plans and units...
Here's rundown of the various other curricula I am using for the kiddos:
Tommy:
Horizons Math 4
Rod&Staff LA 3
Spectrum Spelling (he loves it)
Various reading materials (living books, Junior Great Books, and CLP Nature Readers)
Latins Not So Tough
HWOT
Libby:
Math-u-See (Foundations)
First Language Lessons
Spectrum Spelling
Hooked on Phonics and various readers
HWOT
I am combining science, history, art, and music into our group studies and hope to introduce some Spanish once a week (that's a maybe, we'll see where it goes idea)
I am going to be using information and ideas from SOTW, Galloping the Globe, Apologia Astronomy, FIAR (Vol1-3) and the Explorer's Bible Study this year in many of our units... I like to pick and choose where to go and follow my own path, so I find it easier to pull out things that go along with what we are wanting to do at that time...
I also have started making out my meal plans again, only this time, I am planning for the full 4 weeks, which should make things much run smoother in the kitchen...
On my shopping list this year, I ordered several great games and am really looking forward to the chance to incorporate them into our year...
I bought Banagrams for spelling and LA
This is a great game from Highlights..It helps kids expand their knowledge of world geography. Each player is an agent on a top secret mission. Be the first to collect a correct set of data cards by answering geography questions and then reveal the suspect, the place and the missing item to successfully complete the mission and win!
The third game I ordered was this..It's called Map Tangle and it like a "Geography Twister"... We've already played with this one and the kids love it!!
Since Electricity was on the plan this year, I ordered these 2...Tommy is gonna have a blast with these...
Well, this is a brief rundown from the school on the "Windy Hill"... We are looking forward to a great year!!
Sunday, March 1, 2009 - Some thought-out decisions...
Well, this year has been a BIG struggle for me... I haven't been as focused and I have been worrying about the kids and their education...
Am I really doing what needs to be done?
Are they getting what they need?
Is there education going to be adequate?
These are all questions that have been running through my mind this year... In years past, I have truly enjoyed homeschooling and had no worries, but this year had been a toll.. I had been stressed and I just didn't feel good... I felt like I was always on a timeline and that if I didn't get things completed, we were failing what we needed to accomplish..
So after much in-depth prayer, soul-searching, and discussions with my DH.. We have decided to go back to our easy-going laid back eclectic style...Even leaning more on a delight-directed with a touch of "unschooling" approach...
We are going to continue to homeschool year round, but with the focus on family, fun with learning, and less stress...I truly think this is the path for us and I welcome comments from those of you who currently pursue it...
This morning, the kidlets decided to make breakfast... It was lots of fun...We worked some more on seperating eggs (which we then proceded to mix up anyway *L*) and made pancakes.. They had lots of fun mixing up the batter and turing the pancakes on the griddle...
I found a handwriting page on "P for Panda" for DD here and for DS fun facts tho be used as copywork from here.
Misc. information for kids about pandas can be found at this site.
Vocabulary: Extinct, Endangered
Giant Panda basic facts:
* Giant pandas are bears.
* Pandas are mammals.
* Where do they live? They live in mountainous bamboo forests in the country of China and is part of the continent of Asia (show on a map).
* What do they eat? In the wild, pandas' main diet is bamboo shoots and their leaves. Bamboo is a plant (a type of grass) that grows in the mountainous and rainy forests where pandas live. Pandas living in zoos eat bamboo, apples, sweet potatoes, carrots and other yummy nutritious foods.
* About 140+ pandas live in zoos, mostly in China and other zoos around the world.
* Their fur is black and white and perhaps it is to be able to find each other and to camouflage themselves in the cloudy forests.
It had been my plan to continue working on ThunderCake this week... I would like to take 2 weeks for each unit, but the kidlets had other ideas... They decided to go back to China... We looked at China when we worked on the Olympics, but they wanted to go back... So we are doing Ping this week... (luckily I still had some go-alongs and resources from the library)...So, we are doing Ping...
We watched Big Bird in China and talked about the "Monkey King", who was a trickster in Chinese Mythology.
Discussed the Great Wall and how it was built... I had a beautiful book from the library with incredible pictures of the Wall...
We talked about punishments for disobedience under the Emperor and his belief in eternal life and how he had a terra-cotta army created lifesize... We made our own terra-cotta soldiers out of red clay... and built the Great Wall out of blocks... DS got really creative and made arch ways... (he tends to be very detailed)
DD loved the little girls (dressed as ducks and dancing in the video) just like Ping... I think maybe we will try and make some "Pingess" headpieces like the ones the dancers wore and let her perform and dance of her own...
In hstory we talked about Eric the Red and how his son Leif the Lucky found North America 400 years before Columbus on our pre-Columbus journey... We are using the first little bit of school this year to learn about Columbus and Early America then it was math and LA... and we were done for the day!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - Our time with the Butterflies...
We had a wonderful time this summer raising butterflies... We did the "Painte Ladies" and it was a great learning tool...
Next year, I think we will try our hand a a swallowtail... A neighbor of ours raises different varieties of butterflies every year and I think we will try and get some eggs from her...
Sunday, August 10, 2008 - An addition to our bible studies...
we are using the Explorer's Bible Study this year for both kidlets and I am thinking about using some of the resources from here to beef up our bible studies... Going through the New and Old Testament, it has some great mazes, coloring pages, and word searches... I also hope to find some crafts to supplement with.
Ok... I am now gonna be posting websites to share on Wednesday!!!
So for today's WEDNESDAY WEBSITE post, take a look at this trip through SPACE with vocals... I love it and the kids and I have tried singing it all afternoon... The words are printed there with all the facts about the Milky Way... and this wonderful universe... You can check it out here...
Well, today was a great day... I had to work a 12 hour shift, but we only had 1 baby which left me and my co-working BFF lots of time to get other things done...
So, I started on my summer HS plan and also got a jump on our schedule for next year...
It seemed to fly by, partially because I didn't have my 2 kidlets asking me all sorts of questions and I guess that I have finally become more relaxed about our homeschool life... I hope to get several lapbooks done and work one some notebooking this summer...
Friday, April 11, 2008 - What we have been doing...
This week has been really unorganized for us...*L* Sometimes it just seems that no matter ho much you plan, you just don't get everything done...
We continued with "Handwrting without Tears"...DS really loves doing cursive with this program... He absolutely hated the ABeka cursive... We quit it half way through the year last year...
DD worked on counting to 30 and writing her numbers to 20... She can write all her ABC's on command now and knows her vowels...(YEAH!!!)
We started working some more with plants and started some seeds.. (Marigolds, gourds, Impatiens)...
We did some more with our "worm" habitat...We now have some egg shells breaking down for them to eat...
We started history this week with another go-around with "Story of the World"...This time it's going so much better as DD is older and understands more of it.. We also made a cardboard loom and worked with some yarn andpretended we were early farmers using the wool from our newly tamed sheep / goats... They loved doing this... We also did some more "cave" paintings using finger paint this time...DD was fascianted with the story of the young Nomad girl... DS thought it was cook they ddn't have to take a bath...*L*
We talked the "Fertile Crescent" and where it was located and found it on the globe and the map...DD kept referring to the fact that it really wasn't shaped like a moon... (that's a 5yo for ya'...*L*) Even thought it is similar in shape, I thought...
I used Abraham in our teaching this week as he too was nomadic and we talked about the struggles early man had compared to out comfortable life today...
We are still working on 3 digit addition and subtraction...I think in a couple of weeks we may begin on the multiplication tables with DS....
I need to order our butterfly house and the larvae... I also need to get our tadpoles ordered... I am hoping to get to these for May.... I am ordering them from Earths Birthday Project... They donate percentages to conservation / habitat growth.... They also have butterfly and rainforest lesson plans online...
Well, that was pretty much it for us in a nutshell this week... Hope you had a great week!!
Monday, February 25, 2008 - Our study of Penguins...
A couple of weeks ago, my DS had a animal science class at our co-op where they learned about "Penguins"... He became really interested in learning more about them, so we are going to do some more with them this week... We're going to do a unit on Mr. Popper's Penguins... I found a unit to help with this here.
1. We will be finding out where they live
2. Naming / labeling the continents
3. Making Antartica with sugar cubes
4. Doing a science experiments on why ice melts
5. Review thermometers and their use
Then we will talk about the penguins.
1.What they look like
2. Label the parts
3. Make some construction paper penguins
4. Talk about their waterproof feathers for science
5. Label the different species of penguins
I have a penguin video and we will also be watching "March of the Penguins"...
Enchanted Learning has all kinds of worksheets and information to use with the penguin study...
Belinda Mooney also has some great "Penguin" printables that we are going to be able to use with both kidlets for math and some games...You can find them here.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - Tuesday at our house...
Today we spent part of the day talking about nutrition and the food pyramid... I found 2 great books at the library and got some free info, worksheets, and posters from the USFDA...
So here is some of the things we used for our lesson... One of the books is a "Reading Rainbow Selection" by Lorren Leedy... The other is by Gail Gibbons...
We took a look at our favorite foods and talked about where they would fit in the pyramid and then we looked at our house menus and if they were balanced and healthy...(I could use some work in that area..*L*)
Then we cut up some magazines and made some posters of "Healthy Sally" and "Junk Food Johnny"... We just made peopl using the pictures of food from the magazines... The kids loved this...
Yes, time for that little rodent to pop his little old head up and look around...
We actually started our precursor to this day earlier in the week by reading about a family in Ontario who were going out into the "forest" ... On their journey they saw a groundhog and that led us into the discussion about the animal and the upcoming "holiday"...
So, here is what's on our plan for some fun today...
You can find some neat printables here. And you can find a really neat and FREE lapbook from HSShere. It is all about the groundhog and has vocabulary, habitat, diet, class, etc... a complete science lesson...
Enchanted Learning also has a lesson / worksheet set on Groundhog Day and the animal... Complete with a craft.
The cute little Groundhog Mask also from Enchanted Learning..
Saturday, January 19, 2008 - A new way to learn Math....
I was surfing the net (surely not playing on the internet, yes...I was!! *L* ) and I came across this website.
It is a "Math Blog" and has some great ways to learn math using decks of cards... From addition to subtraction to multiplcation... and how cheap can that be, plus the kids love a variation in the usual day...
So next time you are at the Dollar Tree, pick up a few extra decks and see what you can come up with...
Monday, January 14, 2008 - What we have been doing...
So far, we have gotten quite a bit done that I had set out to do with our list...We have gotten about half of our winter unit done...It's been alot of fun and informative as well... I have ordered a book from Amazon called "The Big Snow" , which I hope comes this week so we can incorporate it in our unit this month...I also got "Mr. Popper's Penguins" to use...I found a free unit stdy to go along with it here. We are also gonna try and watch "March of the Penguins" and National Geographics' "20 years with the penguins" which the kids got for Christmas...
Tonight we watched the "Backyardigans" movie on Nickleodeon... It was pretty neat... I wished I had taped it as it would have been fun to watch later on when we were doing our unit on "Knights"... *L* Oh well, i I could only figure out the VCR...*L*
Then, we sat down and worked on DS's "Crystal Growing Kit". So, for an hour after we placed the chemicals and the starter stone together, he came in and out of the school room watching...Trying to not miss a single bit of the growth...I hated to remind him it would be a week before we had crystal growth... *S* But he was so excited to watch it... Not bad for a $6 kit...
Well, I have to run for now... So much to plan and get going for the rest of this week... I worked this weekend and it always throws my Monday off after my work weekend... (I don't know why, I guess it's just a change in our regular schedule)...
Every semester I try and write an overview of what we will be doing for the upcoming period... So far, I really haven't even started for this term, and we are "officially" starting back to school Monday... It looks as if I will be spending Saturday afternoon and Sunday working on plans...
So, here is a rough draft that I have come up with so far...
We will continue to use Abeka for our math and language arts while supplementing with Follett Spelling2 and World of Language 2...
For science, we are using some Sonlight and some great books I have picked up with experiments...
For history, we are still doing the Story of the World...
And then we are gonna do a few units along the way and some books from HSS and FIAR... (this is the best part of my kids day, they love the cuddle and read time) My kids like to do this stuff even on the weekends... which means they really enjoy it... (My 4yo dd asks to do school all the time)...
Topics to cover:
Winter (using a free unit study) and read the Big Snow (HSS)
Creation (using some books and units from HSS & FIAR to go along with it)
We are doing this also in the Contenders class at our co-op with Dinosaurs...
the Great Kapok Tree
Night of the Moonjellies
Pocket Full of Cricket
Madeline (for DD)
Mike Mulligan and a unit on Knights and castles (for DS)
Looking at it in print makes it seem like too much even though we only use portions of it all and are sorta eclectic in our approach... But hopefully it will be fun for both of them and fun for me as well...
If you have a schedule for the next semester and units that you are going to do, I'd love to hear about them...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - School for us this week...
We are taking it easier this month because of the holidays and I want the kids to have the opportunity to enjoy the season and really appreciate what it is really a celebration of...
We are going to be finishing up "The Quiltmakers Gift"... we started it last week and the kids have really enjoyed reading it...
We are doing some "Gingerbread" math... I have a website that will generate math worksheets with the Gingerbread theme... We are playing a really cool game where we roll dice and based on what we roll, we draw parts of a Gingerbread Man... The kids are loving it... It's actually math that my 4yo and 7yo can do together... I just use 2 die instead of 1 for 7yoDS and let him add them...
We are working on the continents for my 4yo... and just reviewing them with my 7yo..
We are reviewing "stars" for science... And discussing the North Star... and the Northern Lights.. We are reading a great book called "Children of the North Lights"" (I was amazed when I looked this book to buy becuase my kids love it, over $300 US)... and Norway, Sweden, and Scandanavia...
We are learning some Christmas related vocabulary words and doing our regular spelling list this week...
DD is doing some cut / paste activities with plants and animals...
and then we are gonna play the rest of the week by ear.. (like baking cookies, having a playdate, and just snuggling and reading books together)
Here are some of the crafts and things we have done for our study of Thanksgiving...
DD's Turkey made with feathers and a pine cone beak... DS's Wampanoag village complete with a wetu... and the kidlets playing with their Pilgrim paperdolls... and the "walnut" Mayflowers we made...(they actually floated)...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - What we are doing this week...
We have begun our unit on Thanksgiving this week... We are reading Goody O' Grumpity this week and doing the unit from HSS and I also have a unit we are doing along with it I got from Budget Homeschooling... The kids like to hear the letters from the Mayflower and the Tribe which we have been getting by e-mail from Scholastic... and we discussed where certain phrases used in modern culture actually came from, like "minding your P's and Q's"... Hopefully, we will be productive this weekend and actually make the spice cake recipe in the end of Goody O' Grumpity...
Yesterday we made little Mayflower boats from Walnut hulls and pretzel sticks and cardstock sails... They actually floated... and DH loved eating the walnuts...*S* (I will post pictures of these tomorrow)... I think we will begin on our Wampanoag long house next weekand we are going to be making some felt medallions like the pendants worn by the Wampanoags... I also have a craft idea from Family Fun for making little Pilgrim boy and girl napkin rings from the kidlets pictures... They will really like that...
Hi!! I'm Lisa... Homeschooling mom to 2 wonderful kidlets and this is a journal to share our family life and learning adventures with you...We use an eclectic mix of "child directed" Charlotte Mason studies... So sit down, set a spell and enjoy our homeschool journey...Have a great day and thanks for sharing it with us!!!
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The third game I ordered was this..It's called Map Tangle and it like a "Geography Twister"... We've already played with this one and the kids love it!! 
And you can get some ideas for the book 
So next time you are at the Dollar Tree, pick up a few extra decks and see what you can come up with...
