Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously. —G.K. Chesterton http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:50:00 -0600 Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:50:00 -0600 Well Thank the Lord, we're done with all the kids birthday parties for the whole year!!!  Yeah, I know, its only another month and a half 'til the end of the year, but still!  Actually, we're done until March.  Yay!   Sprite and Abyni had their parties this past weekend and had a blast.  We had princesses all weekend:)   My family ~ my brother, his wife and their three kids... as well as my mom and step dad AND my bestest friend from Iowa and her man and two kids are all coming for Thanksgiving weekend!  I get to finally have a "real" family huge Thanksgiving!  I am SO excited:)   Other non school updates ~ I put pink highlights in my hair just because I wanted to... I think its fun and it makes me gloriously happy ~~ honestly, I can't look in the mirror, see pink highlights and not smile:)   Oh ~ AND I'm selling Avon... I just love their products, and I thought maybe I could sell some to make a little extra $$... and pay for my own Avon skin care and makeup that I have always loved!!:)     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/237550/ Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/237550/ Abyni and Hope :)We're doing our Sistine Chapel project... The girls and their partners have to sketch out a picture of a Bible story ~ upside down, just like Michelangelo would have done:) Abyni & hope were stuck under the coffee table, since they're the smallest!   CM & MG were under a card table (about hald way through, they snagged the couch cushions that were abandoned for the other girls.   Paris and Laura hard at (upside down) work.Laura and Paris were sort of on the couch (we had a bit of a time figuring out how to go about this one, the underside of the table is textured a LOT!)  We took the cushions off, put our 8ft plastic table over the top, upside down, with the paper taped to their little "ceiling"... they had a time learning how awkward it was to draw upside down!   By the end of the drawing session, all the girls had found some sort of pillow or cushion to lie on... so cute:)   Meanwhile...The boys were in the kitchen building bridges with popsicle sticks and glue... and whatever else they could find.  They had a table full of goodies and were just let "go" with their creativity and a bunch of library books on bridges!  They did some really cool things.  Next week we're going to make suspension bridges.   Totally Unrelated:  Jaedin made an English Trifle last Sunday that was SO delicious:)YUMMMMMM http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/207420/ Fri, 22 Sep 2006 19:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/207420/ I just can not seem to find the time to post!   We're down to one computer, and with five kids doing a subject or two each on the computer, and my ebay stuff, I don't get very much time on it myself!   Anyway ~ we're studying Determination, now working a little on Bridge building.  I got a book at the library called "Building Bridges with Toothpicks."  That has the cooledt activities in it.  We watched the "Modern Marvels" on the Golden Gate Bridge and it was SO fascinating!  (I love Netflix!!)  All of the Modern Marvel dvd's that we've watched have been fantastic.  The kids usually watch them again later because they love them so much!:)   It also made us curious about some other aspects of American History, such as The Great Depression.  We're going to kind of segway into that next... well actually, we're going to start with Ellis Island.   I happened upon a book about Ellis Island once our last read aloud was done, so we started reading that.  I have some relatives who came through there, so we're finding that interesting to read this person's experience.    Speaking of which, we read a book called Red Midnight by Ben Mikaelsen.  It was AMAZING.  The kids absolutely LOVED it beyond belief.  It is the story of a 12 year old boy and his 4 year old sister living in Guatemala.  The book starts in Guatemala during the times of unrest between the soldiers and the guerillas.  One or the others burns down their village, killing their entire family, but they manage to escape.  The story follows their escape out of Guatemala, and across the Gulf of Mexico on a cayuco to Florida.  It was an absolute thrill ride, the author did a wonderful job of making you feel that you were listening to this boy walk you through his adventure ever day.   Now I'm looking ahead for our next read aloud.  We may do Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, but I'm not sure yet.  I also need to find Kainan a reading book that will really catch him, and stretch him a little to improve his reading skills.  Both of the boys have taken a breather from their "harder" books to read An Ecological Mystery  (There are several titles, they're each reading a different one) by Jean Craighead George.  They are really interesting mystery stories that help teach science and ecological facts through the fictional story.  Jaedin loves them, Kainan, not so much, but then, he really doesn't seem to want to read much of anything other than Encyclopedia Brown! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/206514/ Thu, 21 Sep 2006 12:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/206514/ Wow.  I haven't had much of a chance to update anything here.  We've had relatives visiting and a birthday, co-op and whatnot.  I've got tons of photos though:)   We're planning Jaedin's Redwall birthday for tomorrow... and we're almost ready!  The front porch is decorated like a castle, we have tunics, crafts ready to go, games planned and my hubby is helping Jaedin find ideas for building catapults.  The boys will get into two teams and each build a catapult, then have contests for seeing whose team built the bext one by shooting waterballoons at targets:)  I think we'll also do old fashioned slingshot type things as well.   The photos of our decorations and crafts are on my lj http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/198761/ Fri, 8 Sep 2006 14:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/198761/ We have been watching a lot of Documentaries lately (thanks to the Discovery Channel sale and Netflix!)~ its helped us all get a better understanding of the Arctic, Antatics, Iceland, The Ocean and even candy.  Here are some of our favorites thus far:   Globetrekker:  Iceland & Greenland  ***This wasn't what we were expecting at all, it was a trip/tour through the modern cities in Iceland and Greenland (I didn't read the description too thoroughly) Its worth watching solely for the reindeer butchering incident:)  Really, it did help us to better understand how people live in the freezing climates now ~ as oopsed to the way things were before... The description:Offering arctic weather and a lot more besides, Iceland and Greenland are two of the most spectacular places in the world to visit. Breathtaking scenery runs throughout both countries, including much snowbound terrain, most of which houses some weird and wonderful creatures. This guide begins in the relatively normal surroundings of Reykjavik, then ventures out into the wilds to discover dog sledding, Eskimo's, and the local dish of fermented shark!   Modern Marvels:  Candy  *****This was fascinating, interesting and informative, just for "fun" learning.  If you like touring candy making factories, learning a little bit of history along with it, this is perfect.  The kids watched it twice, Dh and I each watched it as well... and Abyni asked to watch it during her "rest time" ~ of course, they were all craving chocolate by the time all was said and done!The Description:  Romanticized in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the stuff that dreams are made of, candy has charmed its way into the stomachs of Americans, who gobble 7 billion tons it every year. Making stops at real-life candy factories such as See's Candy, Schimpff's Confectionary and Hershey Chocolate World, this installment of "Modern Marvels" reveals how some of your favorite products are made and sheds light on candy's sugary history.   IMAX:  Antartica *****This was FANTASTIC!  The part with the penguins had my kids ROLLING on the floor with laughter.  The whole thing was engrossing even for me, the distractible one!  Awesome filming... well worth watching!  We wathced this one more than once too.The Description:  Custom dictates that IMAX films erupt with breathtaking cinematography, and Antarctica is no exception. Beginning with an undersea ballet courtesy of some resident penguins, the film then takes viewers through a submerged, crystalline grotto and examines climate changes to the frozen frontier. This 1991 documentary captures Antarctica's grandeur, from the continent's glorious glaciers to the meteorological treasures locked in its ice sheets.   Galapagos Island:  *This one was kind of boring for me... I wasn't interested and left it to Dh to watch it with the kids.  Definitely with the evolutionist slant.  A marine biologist from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History leads this astonishing expedition to the Galapagos Islands, a world that is still relatively new and evolving. Descending to depths of 3,000 feet, the scientists find a window into the past and a frontier for exploration.   Microcosmos  **** Interesting, really cool camera work, up close in the world of bugs and critters.  Jaedin was mesmerized.  This was a documentary with very little narration, so it was very much like actually observing nature on your own.  You could see things happening and playing out without someone telling you what was happening... and even I could figure it out:)  REALLY cool.Critters of the small kind are featured in this interesting look at the seldom-explored world of insects, snails and other undersized creatures as they go about their daily lives. By using unique microscopic cameras and powerful specialized microphones, this highly praised French documentary gives new meaning to "a bug's life."   Those are the Netflix DVDs ~ I'll have to review the Discovery Channel ones that we bought later... its SCHOOL TIME:) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/192279/ Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/192279/ Today during Bible time I was reading about Cherubim.  Abyni started giggling.  Then I read the word again later and she started giggling harder and saying , "Cherubim!" in this odd little way.  Pretty soon she was rolling with laughter, tears flowing from her eyes.  Everyone was laughing by this point, and it took us a while to get through the whole lesson.  By the end of it, Abyni had literally made herself cry.  She was crying and laughing, we couldn't quite tell if she was actually happy or overwhelmed!   We read some more of 20,000 Leagues today.  The boys are convinced that it can't "really" be a submarine... so I guess they'll have to find out.  Abyni drew a picture of the men thrown from the ship and the monster coming up out of the ocean to get them:)   Other than that ~ a normal day.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/185638/ Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/185638/ Today we did our regular school morning, then we went to McD's to use the kids coupons that they received from doing the library reading program.  Then we went to Krispy Kreme (big treat!!) and used those coupons too.  Usually I get so caught up with schoo starting, that we never remember to use the coupons! We found out at Krispy Kreme they do field trips for any type/size of group and each child who goes through the tour gets to make their own doughnut at the end.  I'm hoping to set one up with our little co-op.   We came home, did some more reading and that was it!   BTW ~ We are at the point in 20,000 leagues under the sea where they have found the monster.  The kids were all begging me not to stop reading:)  Its actually a cool book.  I'd never read it before, and honestly, I was expecting to find it somewhat boring... not my style.  I'm pleasantly surprised!      http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/185635/ Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:10:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/185635/ Kainan started The Incredible Journey yesterday.  He's also started trying to read the Redwall books again.    He and Jaedin have been setting up their Klutz castle cards as well as a normal playing card wall around the keep and playing for hours.  They use their LOTR Risk playing figures on the castle and re-enact the Redwall stories.  Jaedin has read seven or so of the books and loves them.  Kainan kind of struggles with them.  I let him listen to the first one on audio book, hoping to get him used to the language and inspire him to read some of the others on his own.  It was still apparently too much of a struggle until Jaedin got him playing Redwall:)  Yay for play and curiosity!!   Paris is still doing vocab for and reading Matilda.  She's doing really well.  I wasn't sure if it would be too hard for her or not, but she's just flying through!    Abyni takes breaks more than the other kids, but she seems to really be enjoying school this year as well.  I have a goal of teaching her how to tell time before Christmas.  It drives me crazy (and her too) that she can't tell time at all.  She's got the addition and subtraction down, she's got the knack for measurement and really picked up on fractions easily, now I just have to get her through money and time and we will be doing great!    Sprite has settled into Biology and Starting Points and is doing well.  She still is having issues with the first days' questions, but the rest has went much more smoothly.  THAT is a big relief.  I think she'll do great ~ and she's been very committed to doing it well, and staying on schedule.  She is awesome!   We're getting use out of the DVDs I bought from the discovery channels big sale, as well as Netflix documentaries.  The kids really enjoy sitting and watching them.  I thought they'd balk at it, but they love it.    Well, off to prepare for another school day!      http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/184148/ Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:43:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/184148/ Jaedin got a Redwall Cookbook for his birthday... and has been cooking up a storm!  He has baked a bunch fo things out of it and the recipes are just AWESOME!!  What a great gift (thanks, Grandma!) and he is definitely getting a lot of use out of it.    I've had to buy things I've never even bought before, leeks, rutabagas and shrimp.  Yes, its true, I've never bought shrimp before.    Anyway, just bragging on my awesome boy:)  He's been posting in his LJ about it, and its so good to see him interested in something new!  Of course, to him, this ties in very well with his major interest in gardening!  He is all excited abotu growing things next spring that will work in his favorite recipes.   I am sooo blessed with such awesome children:) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/183518/ Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/183518/ This Homeschool site has some cool homeschool shirts. They're on sale for $5.99 this month. I thought my homeschooling friends might be interestsed! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/181410/ Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MsByn/181410/