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Over a year ago I came across a book called Sunflower houses by Sharon Lovejoy. I was able to check it out at the Library and found that she had some other books that I liked better: Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots - Activities to do in the Garden
This book has many fun garden projects in it to do with children - from constructing tepees, growing giant pumpkins, moon flowers that open up in the light of the moon. Lots of craft projects and many, many other ideas. Trowel and Error Over 700 tips, remedies and shortcuts for the garden This book is basically a tightwads guide to gardening. I have found the book to be very useful and full of lots of creative ideas to make gardening cheaper. Like using an old car for a green house, not that people usally have one laying around but if you do - there's an idea! The first thing that I have done in getting ready for our gardening adventure this year has been ordering many, many, many seed catalogs. There is a wealth of knowledge you can learn just from reading a seed catalog. I am not talking Gruney's or Stark Brothers - One's like Seeds of Change, Territorial Seed Co., and there is even one that is run by a Christian family (not sure if they homeschool or not), Heirloom Seeds. I have learned that there are organic seeds, heirloom seeds, and than just seeds. There are Chocolate Tomatoes, Tomatillo's, Pineapple Tomatoes, Lemon Cucumbers, even a Kiwi that can survive done to -30 below - hence the name Hardy Kiwi. I checked out a LOT of books on gardening from our local Library - preferably with pictures. We also visited several of our local nurseries so the kids could get a visual idea of this plant thing. We are getting a late start. I have found that a lot of plants I should have started indoors back in February so I will be buying these rather than trying to grow things from seeds. I have also found that some of the plants talked about in Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots are not very popular, like the walking stick Cabbage. It would have to be ordered. Along with trying to get the pasture area leveled, seeded, sprinkler system put in and fenced (pictures later this week) there hasn't been any time to work on the yard. I did finally tackle it though with the help of some church friends, they live within walking distance and looking for something to do, their Mother was wondering if I could put them to work - boy, could I!! So with their help, we started planting this past week. The first thing we planted was corn.    4 bags full that is!! This was the 4yo idea. His 2 favorite foods right now are corn and watermelon.We planted them in one big plot. I am thinking I am going to have to transplant some of them, to make the area a little bigger. If you have seen the movie Second Hand Lions you will have an idea of what this is going to look like.  Next we created our tepees. I had saved sticks from last year when we limbed the trees.  This tepee is for the Bird house gourds and there is a wire thing in front (you can't really see it) for the Pole Beans. There will be giant pumpkins planted around it as well.  This tepee is for the Moon flowers. Moon flowers open up at night and they are part of the morning glory family.  "Must Do" list - Plant, Plant, Plant If I am going to place an azure order, today is the day to do it. Homekeeping - What's that? Menu Planning - Anything that is simple! Monday - Spaghetti Tuesday - Hamburgers Wednesday - Enchilada Casserole Thursday - Something with chicken Friday - Quesidilla Saturday - ?? Sunday - Bible Study/Devotions - We are reading The Building on the Rock series. |
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Throw out those Text books and pull out the games!! Games can be a great way to learn (maybe even better) and you can have a lot of fun in the process!!  The first game of choice has been Tally HO! We have actually worn this game out and we have only had it for three months. It is a spin off of checkers, created in Germany, it helps work on those critical thinking skills. It is actually for 8 years and up but our 7 yo has gotten the hang of it. He just didn't win very many games but this really wasn't a problem. The tables have turned though. Some of the important pieces of the game are now "marked" which only 7yo's seem to be able to figure out so now the 7yo is whooping the adults. It has complimented our math program (math-U-See) quit well since it includes skip counting by 2, 3, and 5 and "re grouping" (or carrying). Tally HO has revived an interest in learning to play checkers and learning to play chess.  Sorry - even the 4yo can play this. It is helping him learn to count and building his attention span.  They greatly enjoy getting the "sorry" cards and sending someone back to start. No proper horse people can be without the game Pony - oply. This game requires counting, adding, and subtracting. Along with a little horsing around. The kids love it but, yes, it is a very long, long, long, long, long game. Do start in the middle of the afternoon.   Scrable Junior is the latest game we have been playing. The 7yo has been catching on to this.   Stay tuned for Part 2 - will be coming to another Show and Tell Friday some time in the distant future. |
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My tightwad tip for this week is build your own shelving. It is extremely cheaper than buying it and all you need is some screws, a screw gun, and some boards. Yes and maybe a saw.  This project went along real well with the 7yo's math lessons this past week. The 4yo put screws in the holes. The 7yo holding the boards in place. Notice their fancy aprons. The got them for free at the Home and Garden show this past weekend, they were very proud of them.  The 2yo worked on sanding a little. Here is a picture of the shelf in the office. The nice thing about building your own, you can customize them to any size you want, just be sure to put in lot of bracing as well.  This book shelf is in our office. This is were all my books are stored.  This is the one we just built. It is for all the games and miscellaneous things one collects while home schooling.For more Tightwad Tuesday tips - visit Mary at Canadagirl |
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The 7yo is now reading. YAY! He is reading everything now or trying to, sometimes shocking me at what he can actually read. I will hear him reading stories to the younger kids while in their room looking through their story books. This is nice because it gives me a break but it also brings with it a new challenge, having to find books that are age apporpriate, at his reading level, and, the biggie, he will enjoy reading as well!! One home school Mom lent us the 1st set in the Pathway readers. He has enjoyed reading these as it is about an Amish family that live on a farm and have 4 kids, two boys and two girls. It is about their everyday life and different little things that happen in their family. He enjoys being able to relate with Peter and his family. Peter is the oldest of 3 younger siblings and , of course , he likes reading about the animals on the farm. One of the stories was about a donkey and he told me that he would like to hear a donkey bra in real life because he only knows how it sounds with his voice. Lately the stories have been about winter and playing in the snow. The children had built a snow family so since we had snow, not a normal thing here, he went out and built a snow family too. Another home school Mom introduced me the Cowboy Sam series. These were a hit and he has greatly enjoyed reading these. I can't imagine why  . The first book, Cowboy Sam, he read three times in less than 24 hours. There are 15 books in this set which are now out of print. Our library has most of them and I have been able to pick up two more.Books sitting on my self waiting to be read are Watch Out for Joel, Christian Liberty Nature Reader book 1, I Wonder (the first book in the Mennonite reading series), and the Cul-de-Sac kids. And speaking of finding books to read: Marsha at drewsfamilytx was holding a contest to win some free books and I WON!! Yay! They look like they maybe some good books for boys to read also. |
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I found these great measuring cups the other day while out shopping. I thought they would be great for learning fractions. All of the measurements are included and they are color coded. Hopefully it will make learning fractions easier. |
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In my last post I mentioned that in the history book that we are doing, Story of the World, that I skipped over reading what she had to write and just had my 7yo dictate back to me what he knew. I did this because 1) she did not give a very accurate explanation and 2)I wanted to see how much he actually knew and I did not want to add confusion by what she had written in her book. I was asked what we had read that he knew so much about the Hebrew culture. You know I actually had to think about it for a few days before I could come up with an answer, than I thought that it might make a great blog. My first thought was the Bible. Whether it has been different Toddler Bibles that my husband has read to him over and over and over and over again for at least two years straight, the Bible its self, the many different children's books that recount this. We also have the first set of Your Story Hour Cds. I should mention that he is a great listener and I will find him acting things out quite often. I don't have to worry about his reading comprehension skills. Second, when we read something to him we always discuss it with him in more detail. We try to draw more of a word picture for him as well. We will show him where it happened on the map, and I try to find books that might help with whatever we will be discussing at the time, whether it is Bible history or anything. If it is something that my husband and I are interested in and we want to find out just for our own knowledges sake this draws the kids in as well because we will be discussing it as we are driving along, eating supper, while we are working, etc., etc. Because of this reason, I ended up getting a book explaining more on Egyptian History called Unwrapping the Pharohs. This proved to be a very good book that brought a lot of visual to what we had been discussing in his History book as well. Along with that, right now in our little home fellowship group we just got done reading through Genesis. We read one chapter every Sunday and than discuss the different things that happened in that chapter, this has led to some interesting discussions not only at church but at home as well, not just with the children but between my husband and I also. This was another reason, I had him dictate this back to me was to see how well he had been listening at church . One of the main goals of our home fellowship is having the kids be more involved. They will do different things like have the kids look up scripture and read if it is something that pertains to the chapter we are discussing, over dramatize something, be more detailed in their discussion, try to draw more of a word picture.Now, in doing this, I didn't look for any right or wrong answer. He is only 7yo and he will see things how a 7yo boy is going to see them. I also prompted answers through asking questions.  This was his little building project this past fall. He took boards out of the junk pile and started hammering them together.  His Dad lent a hand one night. Trying out his new framing nailer. Here he was putting a "header" up for the door way but he figured out he had nothing for the roof, actually I think he used the cardboard box for a while as a roof but it didn't keep the rain out so the project got abandoned. I think he found that it didn't keep the wind out very well either. |
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For math this week we are learning Solving for the Unknown. So I cut three apples into wedges for our mid-morning snack. I put these on a plate. I took three bowls, one for each of us. In the 6yo's bowl I put 2 apples then I asked him how many apples he would like. He said he would like six apples. So I asked him how many more apples he needed to make six. He then had to figured this problem out. This is also helping the 3yo learn how to count. He can count to three and can recongize 2 and 3 objects now. He skips one at this time. |
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A firend had mentioned to me before that she had some home school books that she no longer wanted and had wondered if I wanted it. At the time I had declined. I had understood that is was A becka text books and I thought it was more for Kindergarteners and we are beyond that. But...They happened to invite us over for dinner a couple nights ago and I got the chance to look through it. It happened to be 1st grade readers which I am going to be needing!! Yahoo! One of the books was the first book in the Chirstian Liberty Nature Reader's series which I have wanted!! I was soooo blessed. We are also getting ready to go on our last camping trip this weekend as well but we are not sure we are wanting to go. For one some things have came up in my husbands bussiness and (2) it's raining here so there is sure to be snow in the mountains. We are fare weather campers I am afraid. |
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I am planning a school year this year and hopefully we can make it through most of it, without getting side track. I do like to have more 'learning adventures', As I call them I do want to stay with the basics though as far as "school" is concerned (this is where I fell to be a unschooler). I am not big on busy work, mind you, but I do want to know that we are getting the basics down for my own peace of mind. I would say that I am an abstract home schooler but they don't have a catagory for that. Math-U-See for Math - my Son is a visual learner and I am hoping this will help him learn math a little easier. (By the way the DVD's do work, it was our DVD player that wouldn't read them) For reading we are finishing up Alph-phonics. I supplement with Bob books and I also have Happy Phonics as well. This has comes in handy when we are "stuck" on something. We are finishing up the constant blends, then on to Long vowel sounds, then we are done!! I am already very impressed at how well my son is reading for as little as we have worked on it. I would say that he is reading at the first grade level. He will probable be reading chapter books by January. God's Creation Series - I wasn't going to use a science curriclum but I found this in the I Love To Learn catalog. I decided to get it because it has a strong emphasis on creation, it is also mainly all reading, and it has memerization as well. It seems simple enough. Again, Colter is more of a visual learner and I am thinking about buying using some creation DVD's for now. The 3yo can be a part of this too. Until Colter has a real interest in a certain area, this is my plan. Keep it simple. So, that is my plan, we will see how we do. |
, and try to do as much 'hands-on' learning as possible. I am always messing with something or experimenting with something and the kids are usally involved with this. I am a high adventure person. Looking for the next best "hands-on/real- life " learning experience. My husband is always saying "wonder what Mom has planned for this weekend?" I figure everything is a learning experience. 
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I am still 'young' in my home schooling adventure and I am still trying to put something together that works for me but this has been my home schooling experience thus far. I started with "preschool" in 2004 with my then 4 year old. I had been given a Bob Jones Teachers Manual so I decided to go through it with my son to see what it was all about. I am not big on "traditional" learning, in fact I am very opposed to it, a result of a bad experience. I didn't have all the workbook pages so I made up activity's as we went along. I got some stencils of the alphabet and my then 4yo stenciled them on to Maple leaves that I cut out of orange, red, and brown construction paper to represent Fall. When we went shopping, I would point out the letters on boxes and so on. He quickly learned the upper and lower case letters this way and we jumped ahead in the book about 20 lessons. I also found he already knew some of the things they would have us work on - like small, medium, large. I begun to relize at this point that he learned most of this while helping me around the house - like doing dishes, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping, cleaning the bathroom, cooking. I am finding the same thing with my 3yo now and I spend more time pointing out the smaller object or the bigger object, things that are the same and the differences, etc. Everything we do is a learning experience as long as Mom will take the time to point this out. In March of '05 I relized he already knew most of what was taught in "Kindergarten". This was confirmed to me through my Sister-in-Law who was teaching kindergarten at the time. She was always remarking on how "smart Colter was", that "he knew more than most of her kindergarteners," and then she would ask, "How old are you again?" So, I wanted to keep things more hands on, play fun learning games, puzzles, and do more problem solving things and the only thing that we would do for "school work" would be Aplpha-phonics for reading. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Timberdoodle and got ready to start our Kindergarten year as soon as we finished our Wal-Mart workbook. No need for Summer vacation, why when "school" only takes about an hour a day anyway!?! In May we found out we were pregnant again with our third baby and when I am pregnant I am really, really sick. We ended up not even touching any of the stuff that I had bought and we were forced to do more unschooling. The only thing that I consentrated on was learning how to read and, still, that was very sparidic. But my Son learned a great deal and since I am always "comparing", in my opinion he is not "behind" other kindergartens at all or first graders since he would be going into first grade this year. I would say that he is still far ahead. He is reading on a 1st grade level. He knows quite a bit about States, bugs, animals, and the world at large just from reading books. We don't have a TV (except for a DVD player in our computer) so we read to our kids all the time. Even the 'now' 3yo will sit and listen to a chapter book. Not because he isn't a "busy" boy but that's just what we do. (I get that all the time, Well my boy is just to busy, he can't sit and read a book. Hmmmm. I have a world map hanging on my wall and we would point out to him were we are talking about. He will ask us now where something is located or where a certain animal lives. He can Add and Subtract too. He has trouble with doing the book work but if its applicable he can do it. He loves word problems. Like a friends was cooking sausages. As he was putting them in the pan he said one for you, one for Roper, one for me and two for your Dad, how many is that? with out missing a beat Colter replied 5. The man was little surprised. He knows many life skills. He can make oatmeal from rolled oats, dish it up and put it on the table. He can make cheese sandwhichs (not grilled, just mayo, cheese and bread). He had to make his brother and him breakfast and lunch while I was sick(and me too.) This came in very handy after the baby was born. I could ask Colter to go make the oatmeal while I nursed the baby, changed diapers, etc. and it would be sitting on the table waiting for me when I was all done!! What a blessing!! He can help with just about all the chores. Laundry, dishes, sweeping and mopping, vacuuming has to be his favorite along with mopping of course. Anything to do with water. This has helped out greatly to since I can ask him to do the easier part till I can get up and help. He has been able to go with his Dad on different construction jobs. He has got to help mud sheet rock, pour concrete and set it up, framing, and now finish work. The last time he went on a concrete job (last week some time) he knew all the tools by name and was able to get them and hand them to his Dad. He also has his own little lawn mower that he uses to mow the lawn. This has greatly boosted his self-confidence and has made him extremely outgoing. Socialization, what's that? We don't answer for our kids, Colter knows everything about him and his brother and anybody who asks will know as well. He knows ages, first and middle name - for him, his brother and now his sister! We know no stranger. It is amazing to me how Dumb people think kids are. They don't let them be involved in something because 'they are to young' or 'they won't understand that' or 'it's to dangerous' and they send them outside to play. (In doing this their kids our dumb.) I have found the total opposite with my kids. If you explain what you are doing, why you do it and let them help they eventually will get it! They do not need to know the whole formula NOW or understand it! When you have kids it's not about YOU! When they are older and you want them to help, they won't want to. They will be running off to be part of someone else's family or learning from people you don't want them to learn from. So, there you have it. My experience so far.
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I spent the rest of the Summer(and most of the fall) sick on the couch. We never finished our work book and my plans were put on hold. I was a little put out about this. since I was enjoying it so much and I had such great plans. And, well, I will admit that we were going to be wwaaaaayyyyyy ahead of the public schooled kids. 
) I would find books on Amazon that fit what we would be talking about, then see about checking them out at the library. I can order all my books on line through the library and just run down and get them or my Husband can stop and pick them up on the way home. It worked out wonderfully this past year.Posted in Homeschooling Adventures
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7-Legs, the villian in all this, jumped on Long Legs and put him out. There wasn't anything to Long Legs to eat - he was about a size 0 - so he just died. Maybe we should have called him slim? To late now. The Funnel spider did away with the wasp shortly after his arrival to the mix. It was then down to the Funnel spider and 7-legs. Who would survive? They were stale-mated for several days. We waited for the action to happen but nothing happened. 7-legs built himself a home at the top of the jar and funnel spider ruled the bottom. We waited. We went camping. We came home to find a couple pieces left of ...... 7-legs! The funnel spider won!! Vengence has been done. |
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Seeing as the last Spider Fight did not satisfy the cry for vengence my Hubby decided to try again. This time there had to be more of a fight. What would give this spider a run for his money? Put his life at risk...make him suffer a slow and agonizing death.....? But What? He searched the yard. He wanted a big spider. A Huge spider. The 5yo suggested a wasp! Yes! That might be a sight to see but getting it into the jar ??, that could be tricky. The yellow-sac wants out. Any time the lid of the jar is distrubed it runs to the top of the 2 cup jar. Again the mighty male species, out for blood and revenge, proved to be successful! The wasp was captured and the spectators gather around for a spectacular battle. Two lions of their worlds now colliding. Who would win? The spider ran towards the wasp, a little scrimish took place and then the two circled the jar. The suggestion: How about placing another spider in there and see what may happen? A battle for the food maybe!?! Hubby looked around the house again. He saw a spider crawling across the ceilling of the living room. Further inspection proved that it was.......... Another Yellow-sac! This time in the house!!?? This could be the fight! The match of the century! The blood-thirsty (??) spectators shook with excitment! Again it proved to be tricky to capture the spider, while keeping '7-legs' in the jar, along with the wasp but again the feat was accomplished by the mighty male species. Women and young children went to the ketchen. The lid was back on the jar, we gathered around the jar once again. The spiders dualed |
The spider finally settled back down into his nest. It is now a battle of who will out starve the other. Seeing as a yellow-sac can live up to 6 months without food and the wasp may have a week, the outcome is obvious. The spectators turned away disappointed. Their cry for vengence was met with dissatisfying results once again.
and agreed to stay out of eachothers way and that was that. The spectators booed but it was time for bed, surely someone would be dead by morning! No, it proved not to be so, everybody is "stale-mated". Nobody is messing with anybody and definately not messing with the wasp. Hubby found another spider, a huge funnel spider, while mowing the yard and decided to put it in the jar also. There are now three spiders and one wasp in a two cup jar. Who will survive.......... 7-legs, long legs, wasp or funnel spider. Agitation is evident! Somebody must die! Or could they be plotting against the white-folk. Do we dare remove the lid for another capture!?! Posted in Homeschooling Adventures
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As I said, we did find a spider on the scene of the crime. At first we thought it was for sure a HOBO spider. We now think it is a Yellow-Sac Spider which is a cousin to the HOBO which is a cousin to the Brown Recluese. So, now the past week we have had this 'spider' on the computer desk sitting in a jar. This is really grand when you stay up till 3 in the morning trying to post a picture and this spider is watching you. This morning when my husband got up for work at 5 something, he found.....another spider. First, he had to get the spider into the jar. I was of no help to him. I stayed on the bed till the lid was back on. We then gathered around the jar to see the outcome. The HOBO(?) didn't stand a chance. As he was gathering his wits about him the Yellow-sac came up and smacked him. For the next 45 minutes the HOBO(?) wondered around the jar like a drunken sailor. As soon as he layed down to die the Yellow-sac jumped on him and started to suck the blood out of him. He spent the next 3 hours sucking his blood. There is nothing left of him. I don't think it was a HOBO though, I think it was a plain wolf spider which are very agressive also (they are part of the HOBO family), but he didn't stand a chance against the aggressive Yellow-sac. Just an interesting note (or is it): Did you know that spiders groom themselves? I wouldn't believe it myself but the spider looks like it is grooming its self. Just like a cat preening its self after catching and eating a mouse. |
Confused, so am I. We are going to go get it indentified though.
He immediatly thought it was a HOBO. As he was going to kill it, another thought came to him, Spider fight.
The mighty HOBO (?which we don't know if it was a HOBO or not) or the Yellow-sac spider.
It was an awkward task. Could he keep the first spider in the jar while capturing the other spider?
My husband being a professional, accomplished the task. Whew!