We are using Mystery of History this year and the kids are loving it. I also purchased Illuminations (currently in beta testing) to go with it. I'm not using many of the components of that program but love the scheduled read-alouds, Family Study Guides, Graphic Organizers and Netflix movie suggestions to go with the lessons.

So far this year we've read:

Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick. I almost didn't get this book because it sounded a bit dry and studious. I'm SOO glad I did. It was great! It really helped me with the who's who in the Bible.

The Secret of the Scribe is a great book about a slave that escapes death and disguises herself as a boy to earn a living as a scribe in Ur. Exciting and full of good info on early Sumeria.

And this week we will be finishing up The Golden Goblet. This story is kind of a detective story that takes place in Egypt. Again, lots of references to the culture we've been learning about. This book is a real page turner. The main character, Ranofer, is involved in many difficult situations that make for good, "What would you do?" discussions.

 We've also watched:

-Greatest Places: IMAX

-Noah's Ark

-Dinosaur

-Project Dinosaur (recommended)

-Great Pyramids of Egypt

-Mummies

Below, the kids are excavating fossils from "dinosaur eggs". They were then able to put their skeletons together. I also have pictures of our Cuneiform tablets and Brayden's Zigurrat, but seem to have misplaced them. I'll try and find them and get them up shortly.

 I'm really pleased to have a curriculum that we are all (me included!) enjoying so much!

The Front Porch is hosting a First Day of School Challenge and it sounded like fun, so here goes. Unfortunately, I read about it AFTER the fact and failed to take pictures. However, I DID take pics from earlier this summer (I'll get to our school day, I promise).

I took these about 10:30 one weekday morning. Though I'm not totally comfortable with the idea of unschooling, I do find that my children tend toward fairly enriching activities on their own.

Brayden did some drawing. Note his leg up on the table. Apparently, that helps with creativity. He'd wanted to draw a skateboarder so we found a Google image that I printed out and he attempted to copy.

Skylar was checking out some US States flashcards. I swear, he pulled them out all on his own.

And Paige was folding clothes while listening to a book on tape. Yes, the folding is on her chore list!

So that was a typical summer day. Now on to "school".

We actually started what I call "school light" this week. Since we had Monday off, I'm still trying to work on the house and I have a meeting in Pendleton on Thursday, we're just getting our feet wet. I bought both Paige and Skylar planners, letting them choose one that they liked. They each have several subjects they'll be doing on the computer or that they can do on their own each day. I wrote these out on the appropriate days in their planners, as well as any activtivities we have coming up.

Both Paige and Sky are using Teaching Textbooks (5 & 7) this year. I set those up and they each did a lesson. Actually, Skylar enjoyed it so much he did two! Works for me.

I also loaded Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Paige did six lessons and Skylar did two. Obviously, they liked that as well.

I'm trying a Switched On Schoolhouse Language Arts module with Paige. We set that up and did a lesson. We'll see how it goes. Skylar did a spelling lesson from one of his workbooks.

I worked with Brayden on Saxon Math 1 and Scaredy Cat Reading. (He really likes this)

Then we all played The Farming Game for Kids. I have a lot of great games that I generally don't take advantage of. I'm really going to try and fit them in this year.

Next week we start "real school". I'm using a combination of The Mystery of History and Story of the World. I found a list online that combined the reading from the two. I also found a list that added corresponding Bible reading. I am really excited about this. I've added lots of good read alouds to the program and found 2-3 movies each week on Netflix that correspond to what we'll be learning. Our first book is Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick, though it still hasn't arrived. (Hopefully, by Monday!)

We'll also be using Artistic Pursuits once or twice a week and Exploration Science once or twice a week. There are quite a few craft/art projects included in our Mystery of History curriculum, as well as mapping and timeline work. Skylar and Paige will also be doing IEW Writing a couple of times a week.

I'm pretty excited about next week, as are the kids. I see my copy of, "It's Disgusting and We Ate It" is available on hold for me at the library! :-)

And no, he doesn't know why I'm taking the picture except that I'm so doggone impressed with his creation! LOL Ya just gotta laugh. I wonde how soon until this project can disappear.

We were in Seattle with the Suarez family (from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine) last week and it happened to be Skylar's birthday. He even got to visit the Space Needle on his birthday! (I'll post pics and blog about it soon)

Since we were at a Convention (WATCH) on his birthday I took him shopping in the exhibit hall and he

picked out this from the Timberdoodle booth (love those guys!).  Find them HERE.

They are movable, posable guys called Stikfas. This is the G2 Alpha Male Outdoor Adventurer. lol Then we got this :

Which is their Stop Motion Animation kit. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to make movies, but we finally sat down with it yesterday and figured it out.

This is Skylar's first movie: The Canoe Trip. He did the movie and I did the title, credits and sound. (I couldn't figure it out until after he went to bed). You might want to right click and open in a new window as I couldn't get the video to embed.

And here is what he did this morning, all on his own. This move is over 400 still shots. And it involves three different programs to put it all together. So, the fact that he can do this, at only 9 years old, is pretty impressive!

I'm sure he'll get better and better as we learn to use transitions, sound effects and special effects. This was just our first attempt. I have a feeling this was a great investment! He even ordered another set of "guys" online with some of his birthday money.

That is the title of the new Ben Stein movie coming out this spring. In it, he talks with the many scientiests that are being persecuted for questioning Darwinism and allowing for the possibility of Intelligent Design. They are refused tenure and publication in scientific journals and just plain persecuted.

Do take a moment and check it this site. Click on Tralers & Video and then watch the Super Trailer for a good overview. This will be a good one to take the kids to. Under Leaders you'll find a downloadable Teacher's Guid and posters as well.

You can even enter to win free tickets.

If you don't subscribe to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, you might consider at least ordering the current issue. I wrote a unit on Following the Iditarod that is really tons of fun to do with your kids. You'll find all kinds of ideas and resources. The race starts the first week in March so you have plenty of time to get your issue and gather supplies and resources. This is really a great "real-time" learning project.

Oh yeah, there's other good stuff, too. Ha!

Sometimes I question my sanity in leading Cub Scouts when I've already got so much going on. What I like about it, though, is that it's social and educational and, basically, I just consider it "fun school".

This month's theme is Cub Scout Car Show. Naturally, the boys are working on their Pinewood Derby cars. Tonite we visited  a local man that builds Nascar racecars. I knew he worked with race cars but was really surprsised at the amount of work they had going on. This is all in a town with a population of less than 1000!

When we visited he had four cars in progress. Each sells for about $100,000 (Chuck is quick to say he can't afford one for himself!) with the engine making up about half of the cost. Five men work in the shop with one traveling over 2 hrs. from Yakima every day. Each car requires approximately 900 man hours to produce.

Anyway, it was fun to see and I got some neat pics to share.

Skylar & Brayden

Chuck answering questions

The cars. All were red, my favorite color.

The front seat. The gas tank is immediately behind - where the back seat would be. Kind of worrisome. The cars all have automatic fire extinguishers. He said they take them off when they're working on the cars so they don't go off when a torch or something gets too close. Yes, it's happened.

Pretty engine. Did you know I once made fiberglass car bodies? I didn't like it. But I did it. lol

Sky checking out the interior.

Some of the boys.

We have our Medieval Feast invites all ready to mail. Below is a sample. We then folded in thirds and sealed with candle wax. I had a fairy tale Stampin' Up stamp set so we "sealed" each one with a knight, frog or princess.  :-) (The black background was just so you could see the burned edges. The invite is only the parchment piece in the middle.

It reads as below:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Thou has been summoned to join

Lord John II and Lady Dena LaRay

at a Medieval Feast to honor the presence of

the most esteemed King John I and Queen Angelee

of the land of Starbuck.

Please arrive at the hour of one,

to join us for great feasting, entertainment

and merry making.

I hereby decree that the feast will

take place on the first day of December, in the

year of our Lord, 2007, at Wood Castle

in the burg of Waits

in the Great Hall.

Your presence will be a great honour.

Earn $10,000 by Creating Company Christmas cards

I think I'm going to point this contest out to my artistic son. A couple of years ago he made some notecards for a friend. They were cards with her Mom's two boxers on the front. (One young & sprightly and the other older & mellow) He also did a great drawing of our house that I then "watercolored" in Photoshop and used as the front of our family Christmas card. It got a lot of comments and was fun to do.

So, what does this have to do with a scholarship, you might ask? If you head over to Gallery Collection you'll find they are hosting a Christmas cards scholarship contest . And  the $10,000 iis nothing to sneeze at! Your card can consist of photos, artwork or computer graphics and you don't even have to have it finished by Christmas. Entries are accepted through Jan. 15, 2008. (The contest is for high school and college kids so I'm afraid Mom can't apply).

You might take some time to check out the types of cards they offer to determine the style that would be appropriate as these are largely business-type cards.

Due to popular request, I'm sharing "cowpie assembly" instructions below. Somehow, this is something I never expected to be blogging about. Go figure! They're actually quite simple. (See picture of finished product in prior post)

* Have each child spray some foam insulation onto a paper plate in the "shape" of a cowpie. This stuff is nastier than I thought so you may want to have them wear latex gloves. We (Scouts) managed OK without but you REALLY don't want to touch the stuff while it's wet. (We didn't use the brand below - your local hardware or DIY store will have something. This stuff is intended to seal gaps around windows and such) 

*Let the "pie" dry. This takes an hour or two. Before it dried, I had the boys stick in some pieces of straw to add the the effect. In retrospect. I think I might have them glue on some straw AFTER the pie is painted.

*Paint the cowpie with spray paint.

*The pie will be tightly stuck to the paper plate (good reason to use the cheap/flimsy paper plates). Just pull it off - it doesn't matter if you have some paper stuck to the bottom.

*Display in a place of prominence in your home. Makes a lovely conversation piece!

The Homeschool E-Store is offering a free Modestly Lapbook this week. I downloaded it and it looks pretty good. I think my daughter and I will do a simplified version of it, using only some of the booklets. You can find it HERE.

I've also been considering a Passport to Purity Weekend with my daughter (turning 11 in January). Do any of you have experience with anything like this that you would like to share? Or even just something you've done on your own?

Here are some pics from the last couple weeks of our Konos Obedience study.

We put the castle together today from the link in the below post. Skylar is still working on cutting his out.You can add additional towers and walls to make it as large as you like. And yes, we realize the doors on the towers should be opening INTO the courtyard, not out. But it was too late by the time we recognized our error. Made for good discussion, though, and Brayden doesn't care.

This pic is Skylar and Paige making their 3-D swords. The cross in the middle is raised and Skylar's has bolts around the outer edge. I need to get a pic of the finished product. We painted the field metalic silver and then they added color to the details. Brayden just made a cardboard sheild.

This is a shot of the kids whittling soap - inspired by Robin learning to whittle in A Door In The Wall. Brayden's boat ended up breaking but we had JUST read the part in the story where Robin's cross breaks and he gets angry and throws the chisel. We were able to laugh it off as, "That's the same thing that happened to Robin! I'm glad you didn't act like he did."

My little guy has been crafting away at a Castle for days now. He spends hours each day cutting and taping. While he's done impressively by my standards, he finally experienced frustration today. (I love to let the kids learn by discovery whenever possible and prefer to stay out of the way until they decide they need help) Today, I promised we'd build one together so pulled out the posterboard this evening. I set him to cutting battlements while I took Paige to play practice thinking I'd figure out the details tomorrow.

Back home, with everyone soundly in bed, I did some Googling and found some GREAT resources. (Free, of course) One, for an amazing Castle that I can print right onto cardstock. Check THIS out! I tested a page just to make sure they work well and it's wonderful. Tomorrow I'll print onto cardstock and he can color his walls. We'll then tape them together to make this impressive Castle. I'm sure he'll have lots of fun personalizing it. I think we'll add some extra walls to leave lots of room inside for stables, gardens, etc.

I also found the below items from the Tapestry of Grace site HERE  These are additional activities to go with their curriculum.  There are so many great ideas here! 

The  coloring pages are excellent and my kids will love to tour the amazing  Lego castle. Be sure and click the main link and take advantage of all the great resources offered here!

My 6 y/o guy isn't much into "school". He does what he has to and usually plays or draws while we read. Every once in awhile he'll run over to look at a picture.

Well, he's been fixated on our Middle Ages study. I think he's traced knights from every library book in the basket (and that's a lot of books!). In the last couple of weeks he moved on to creating a cardboard castle. He's doing it all on his own and it's pretty impressive.

This morning, however, he's become a bit frustrated. As I work, he keeps coming in and lamenting the different issues he's having with his project. He keeps trying but was obviously getting somewhat upset over the situation. (I did promise to help him later, he just didn't want to wait)

However, he just poked his head in and said with a smile, "I know!! I'm just like Thomas Edison when he was inventing the lightbulb. He figured it out by doing it wrong a lot of times."

Who knew the kid was even listening?

I did tell him that Edison had the help of his "muckers" and he would have the help of his "mommy" and we'd get it squared away, no doubt!

We started our Kings & Queens Konos unit this week. The kids are loving it. This unit is four weeks long and will culminate with a medieval feast. We are inviting another family and will eat with our hands using trenchers, have music, games, entertainment, costumes and more. The kids are really looking forward to it.

Last week we studied Light and Color and I'm amazed at how much we learned in one week. From how our eyes work, to the history of lighthouses, to the color spectrum and mixing pigments. (Did you know that light mixes red/blue/yellow to create colors but pigments mix red/blue/green?) Our printer was even having an open house and I was able to take the kids through where we have our programs printed. I hadn't even thought about it tying in, but it did beautifully, as we watched the colors being applied to the presses.

Anyway, the kids were so cute as they concentrated on making their "tapestries" today as I read that I had to take a picture.

And it's so funny that my friend ,Jaminacema, is also finishing up a Middle Ages study! She mentioned a Magic Treehouse book and I had Paige run to the library to see if ours (VERY small library) had it. It's not the reference book Jamin mentioned, but is a fun little book called Knights at Dawn. A quick, easy read that we nearly finished this afternoon. Great for the younges, though. Tomorrow we start A Door in the Wall which Paige has already read with Sonlight, but Sky will enjoy. (And Paige doesn't mind repeats!)

What fun! Check out Rocks In my Dryer for literally HUNDREDS of blog giveaways going on this week! And I most certainly want to jump on board!

Those of you who frequent my blog may or may not know that I'm a partner in Trigger Memory Sytems. Our claim to fame is Times Tales but our new Clean N' Flips have been extremely popular as well. Our website focuses on Creative Learning Products - we offer our own products and those that we recommend from others.

A longstanding favorite has been our Preschool Activities in A Bag book. This book offers instructions for making a variety of Activity Bags to keep your preschooler busy while you're working with your older children. And, if you don't homeschool, just consider them fun, enriching activities. The book is even set up so that you can join with a group of moms (MOPS, church, co-op, etc) and do a "bag swap" where you each make several of one bag and then swap! Note: Contest is for the print version of the book.

If you would like a chance to win one of these great books, leave your comment below. If you like, I'd love to hear a favorite "back to school" or "first day of school" tradition. We will choose some favorites for our August Education Through Imagination Newsletter. (Sign up below for free monthly creative learning ideas, tips and resources - full of "out-of-the-box" learning ideas)

I'll have one of my kiddos choose a number between 0 and the number of posts I receive. The winner will receive the Activity Bags book. (Please, US and Canadian commenter only due to high shipping costs) Winner will be announced on Friday. You will need to leave a link to your blog, email or check back on Friday and contact me if you don't leave contact info,  in order to receive your prize.

Now....Have fun with all those giveaways!!

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This is a fun, hands-on way to better understand the need to reuse and recycle.

First, use masking tape to make a long line on the floor or draw a chalk line down your sidewalk. Mark the line in increments of 2-4 weeks, 1-6 months, 1 year, 10 years, 100 years, 500 years and 1000 years.

Now, give your children the following: a plastic grocery bag, a cigarette butt, an eraser, a banana peel, a cotton cloth, a milk jug, a piece of wood, a pop can and an apple core.  Ask them to place the items along the line where they think it will take the item that long to decompose.

Discuss what this means in terms of our dumps and what can be done about it. Have them find some more items of their own and first guess, then research to detemine how long it will take them to decompose. Were they close?

Answers to above items: apple (2-4 weeks), banana & cotton cloth (1-5 mos), cigarette butt (2-5 yrs), wood (10 yrs), diaper (25 years), plastic (25-30 years), can (200-400 yrs), glass bottle (1000 yrs!).

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to receive similar hints,  tips and resources delivered to your inbox each month? If so, subscribe to our FREE, monthly Education Through Imagination Newsletter

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Are you in need of some homeschooling encouragement or motivation? If so, head on over to Principled Discovery for the 81st Carnival of Homeschooling. They're considering "teacher's inservice". We all need a bit of that, don't we?!

Welcome to the 81st Carnival of Homeschooling, where we are taking some time off teaching for some professional development. Teacher in-service days mean no school, so help your young scholars find something to do while you peruse the offerings. Whether a quick tip or research into how children learn, each presentation is designed to help you become a little better teacher and parent, with just a touch of controversy to keep it interesting.

Related Tags: carnival of homeschooling, homeschool, homeschooling, homeschool helps, encouragement, motivation