Walking by the Way - Homeschool Blogger

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch--

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:17:00 -0500

Little Simon was too sleepy to pick a pumpkin

Yesterday, we went to the Pumpkin Patch. It was so much FUN and the best patch we have ever been to! We did so many things, I don't know if I can remember everything, but I'll try--

Played tons of games--
Pin the nose on the Pumpkin
Bean Bag Toss
Bowling with Milk Jugs
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Found (and hid) mini pumpkins in a wooded area

Other activities--
Listened to stories from a LIVE scarecrow!
Ate a pumpkin bar snack
Went on a tractor hayride!
Stuffed/made a scarecrow
Went through a hay maze complete with a slide
Petted goats and watched donkeys
Jumped in a giant pumpkin with lots of orange balloons
Stood around a bonfire to WARM up!
Picked out a pumpkin (of course)

Stuffing a Scarecrow with Friends

Hayride!

Our week with Three Names

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:59:00 -0500

At co-op we compared the past with the present (clothesline vs. clothes dryer, indoor plumbing vs. outhouse, lightbulb vs. candle, etc.). Then we played games from the past.

We played
French and English (tug-o-war)
Puss, Puss in the Corner
Hide and Seek (a game similar to hot/cold-- only you yell "you burn!" and "you freeze!" depending on how far someone is from the hidden object)
Potato Sack Race
Marbles (Elijah's favorite!)

We studied the following science topics at home--

*Dogs (Enchanted Learning + some go-along books -- Our Puppies are Growing, Usborne Dogs and Puppies)
*Shadows (Read Let's Read and Find Out Science-- What Makes a Shadow)- we made handshadows on the wall at night-- even dad joined in!
*Tornados (Read LRFOS Tornado Alert! and made a "tornado" with our tornado tube and two 2-liter bottles-- we were able to see what a vortex is and how it works)

For our field trip, we went to Conner Prairie and participated in a program called "Churning Up Chores"

We churned butter, dipped candles, and made *delicious* cornbread on an open fire by covering the pan with coals! (See pictures below). When we got home from CP, we tried making butter with some heavy cream in the stand mixer; we did it! It was really cool to actually watch the cream undergo the various transformations as it turned to butter and to see all the milk left over.

Our guide, Gladys, shows us how to churn butter. It's quite a work-out! It took all five moms plus all ten children to churn the butter (and 90 minutes worth of work!)

Elijah dips a candle

Elijah helps make the cornbread

Happy Happy Birthday Boy!

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:05:00 -0500

Here are a few pictures from Elijah's fifth birthday party. He wanted a dinosaur theme, so that's what he got!

Elijah and I worked on the large paper mache eggs that each guest got to take home; they used them for the dinosaur egg hunt that we had after a BBQ dinner. After the egg hunt, we had dinosaur cake (made by Aunt Lisa) and ice cream then opened presents before everyone headed home.

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Learning to Draw with Ron Mazellan

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:51:00 -0500

These are from our second field trip. After spending a week on Make Way for Ducklings, our co-op visited IWU's Ron Mazellan (who is an illustrator and has illustrated children's books including The Harmonica).

Mr. Mazellan taught our students about perspective using images from the movie, Ice Age. Each student was encouraged to draw a picture of the squirrel from the movie, too (see picture of Elijah drawing above). They were taught to draw by recognizing the different shapes in the animal and simply drawing those shapes; the kids did really well. Also included in this art lesson was some basics on how to draw shadows and some hands-on experience with real clay.

Who can draw? We can!!!

Better Late Than Never

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:39:00 -0500

Here are some pictures from our first field trip this year (in August). We went to a Natural Dyes Workshop the week after we rowed A New Coat for Anna.

Our guide took us through the woods letting the children test different leaves, flowers, and berries to see what color of dye might come from each item.

Another highlight of this field trip was painting with different dyes that our guide had made up ahead of time. She made dye from carrots, beets, tea, and many more other natural items!

Here is Elijah's robot painting -- he used raspberry dye and elderberry dye to make this picture.

Elijah's Poem-- Round is a Balloon

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:05:00 -0500

We used the template at Homeschool Share to help Elijah write his own "Round is" poem like the book we read, Round is a Mooncake.

He did great, but got really tired of thinking of round things by the end (he pointed at the laterns on the string in his room, but wouldn't say the words!). I added the "round are apples on a tree" and he approved with a head shake and a smile.

Oh, and mushroom is code word around here for marshmallow, but we kept mushroom for sound purposes! :) Plus, it will be great to look back someday and remember that he thinks marshmallows are "mushrooms" :).

Round is a balloon

Round is the clock
Round are the animal faces on my birthday card

Round is a light that I found
A potato head nose that makes no sound

Round are hats in my room
Round are little white mushrooms

Round is a can of beans

And the laterns on a string

Round are apples on a tree
What other round things do you see?

The Story of Jakes by Elijah

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:51:00 -0500

I tried to record this dictation exactly as it was told to me (this is based off of The Story of Ferdinand):

The Story of Jakes

Once upon a time in Jupes on a farm, there was a little pig and his name was Jakes. All the other little pigs would throw mud at each other but not Jakes. He liked to sit and roll around in the mud.
Sometimes, Jakes' mother would worry about him. She would say, "Jakes, how about you go back to the other pigs and throw mud?" But Jakes shaked his head and said, "No, I Just like to sit and roll in the mud." But, she saw that he was happy, so she understood, even though she was a pig.

As the years went by, Jakes grew and grew until he was fat, big, and strong. All the other pigs got big, too. They would still throw mud. They wanted to throw mud at the big pig fights but not Jakes. He still sat down and rolled in the mud. One day ten big pigs got in a car for a little bit and then came home. Then Jakes sat on a Jack Beetle! If you were a Jack Beetle, you would bite a pig! Jakes was huffing and puffing and running and snorting quick and quickly and fast and faster!

He stopped at the red light and he stopped at the stop sign. Ten farmers laughed and told Jakes, "You are the funniest pig ever!" And all the pigs said, "You are the best pig!" And all the pigs threw mud and all the pigs rolled down the hill in the mud...with Jakes.

The End

Record Keeping 10/03-10/06

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:23:00 -0500

Unit Study (Homeschool Share): Round is a Mooncake

Geography/Culture
Found China on the map and placed storydisk (reviewed storydisk throughout week)
Colored Chinese flag/outline map of China
We also made a flag for China using red construction paper and two different sizes of gold star stickers

Discussed the Chinese Moonfestival
Made our own "Moonfestival" --
Created a money tree out of construction paper and put envelopes on it for each family member
Made a string of laterns for Elijah's room complete with white lights Aunt Lisa brought us REAL mooncakes from a Chinese bakery! We ate Mooncakes and drank Jasmine tree under the laterns one night (everyone sampled the four different kinds of mooncakes-- red bean, lotus seed, pineapple, and date; one kind made me gag and another smelled like soy sauce-- I love soy sauce, but not in a mooncake! I couldn't believe that Jason and Elijah tried something I wouldn't! Pineapple was the favorite among the adults, but Elijah liked the date one the best).

Made a Chinese Meal
Aunt Lisa and I made some egg drop soup (FIAR Cookbook recipe) and some Fried Rice. We all ate our meal with chopsticks (Elijah had to have help from me), and Elijah really liked the Fried Rice!! YIPPEE! This is something I am going to add to our regular menu (cheap, easy, and yummy!).

Math
Looked for *more* shapes in the story (round things, rectangles, and squares)
Played with tangram puzzles (we used some that had outlines and some that we had to figure out on our own; some are really challenging!) We learned that tangrams are great brain builders!
Reviewed shapes (and introduced pentagon and hexagon)
Made a shape book from Enchanted Learning -- read over the shape book each day to reinforce the names of the shapes

Language Arts
Read the unit study book each day
Discussed some of the words in the back of the book

Wrote a poem in the same style as Round is a Mooncake

Science
Read What's Alive (Let's Read and Find Out Science)
Discussed what's living/what's non-living
Went through the book (Round is a Mooncake) and made two lists (one for non-living and one for living) using the items/objects in the text and illustrations of the book

Looked at the harvest moon (the "Moon Festival Moon" as Elijah calls it) on Friday night (October 6)

Art
Discusse name chops; I gave Elijah a special E stamp that he can now use as his name chop to sign letters, cards, and thank-you notes that he sends.

Phonics
ABeka K-5 Phonics Lessons 40, 43
Read BOB Books
Played Get on the Ark!
Sight Word of the Week: the

Handwriting Without Tears
L- pg. 14 in Letters and Numbers for Me
Grey Block Paper Writing Practice

Other
Kumon My First Book of Mazes pgs. 24, 25, 26, 27, 29
Kumon My First Book of Cutting activities 10, 11, 12
Card for Aunt Lisa
Learned the basics of how to play checkers
Dinosaur Activty Fun Book-- Counting Dinosaurs and Follow the Dinosaur Activities
Played with Wikki Stix

Record Keeping 9/25-10/02

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:49:00 -0500

FIAR Unit Study- Ferdinand

Geography/Culture:
Found Spain on the map and placed story disk (reviewed each day)
Colored Map of Spain/Outline Map of Spain
Learned to count in ten in Spanish, learned words for mother and father in Spanish, learned how to say hello in Spanish, too
Listened to Teach Me More...Spanish
Made Spanish/English Dictionary at co-op (learned color words and words for seasons)

Language Arts:
Short Story Writing Lesson at co-op (introduced to four short story elements-- setting, character, conflict, resolution); given a book to write his own story at home
Animal Fiction Lesson from FIAR Manual
Wrote short story in book given at co-op (template used from Ferdinand; Elijah wrote The Story of Jakes; I will post his story later)

Vocabulary Cards (acted them out/discussed them/found them in the story/filed them in his box)

Art
Drama lesson from FIAR Manual

Science
Cork Tree lesson from FIAR Manual
Read different books about trees
Tell Me Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Life of the Forest
Meeting Trees by Scott Russell Sanders
A Tree is a Plant (Let's Read and Find Out Science)
Our field trip was science related. We learned all about trees-- the lifecycle of a tree, all about apple trees (even tasted some cider), learned how trees make food/get water, observed a large tree cookie (and a small one), learned new terms like xylem and phloem. Elijah also made a vest that turns him into a tree complete with leaves, xylem, and phloem.

Phonics
Completed ABeka K-5 Phonics Lessons 35, 36, 37, 38, 39
Read BOB Books
Played Spell Time

Handwriting Without Tears
K- slate work
pg. 13 in Letters and Numbers for Me
reviewed all letters learned so far using grey block paper

Other
My First Book of Mazes- completed six mazes
My First Book of Cutting- completed activities #7 and #8

Played Animal Lotto a few times
Went on a "leaf hunt" -- we brought the leaves home and made them into fun leaf people!

Record Keeping 9/18-9/22

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:09:00 -0500

9/18- Field Trip; I hope to post an entire blog on this tomorrow...check back for details (and pictures!).

Unit Study- I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato

Geography/Social Studies
Discussed Sibling Relationships
Found Greenland in our Great Big Children's Atlas; placed a story disk there
Colored an outline map of Greenland
Colored Greenland's Flag

Reviewed Greenland on the map each day

Language Arts
Read the story each day
Vocabulary Words-- fussy, rare, nibble, gobble
Elijah listened for the words as I was reading and help up the appropriate card
Filed cards in box according to alphabet tabs
Creative Thinking-- came up with new names/stories for foods Elijah doesn't like

Supplemental Reading
Green Eggs and Ham
Usborne Flip Flaps- What Happens to Your Food?
Growing Vegetable Soup
Eating the Alphabet

Math
Measurement: Cooking- Orange Twiglet Dippers and Dip

Art
We really spent some time discussing the details of the illustrations. The illustrations are made of cut-out drawings, textures, and real photographs. Elijah identified all three parts throughout the story. We made a replica of the page with Lola on Mt. Fuji eating "cloud fluff"; I wrote "I love to eat cloud" on the picture, but that wasn't good enough for Elijah. When I went back to look at the picture, he added "fuf" with a purple crayon. He told me, it says "fluff! -- Lola loves to eat cloud FLUFF!"

Science
Read about Jupiter. Colored an Enchanted Learning page about Jupiter. Elijah knows that "it's the largest planet" and "it has a red spot"
He wants to field trip to Jupiter, but I told him that's just not going to happen!

Health
I printed a copy of the food pyramid for 2-6 year olds. We discussed each group (grains, fruits, veggies, milk, and meat). We classified the foods Lola and Charlie ate for dinner (tomatoes, potatoes, fish sticks, peas, and carrots); we decided they should add a glass of milk, some bread, and grapes to make the meal more balanced. We started a chart (from the food pyramid website) to mark off what Elijah is eating so he can see if he is getting everything he needs. It will also help him to remember the different food groups.

Phonics
We did a few pages in his workbook Letters and Sounds
I also found a folder with some fun phonics sheets in it that I had printed off a long time ago. He put them in his clip board (has a clear top) and used a dry erase marker to complete MANY of them. I think we did A-C, D-F, G-I, J-L, M-O. He had to circle the correct initial sound. He did all of them *perfect*
Read Bob Books 1,2,3,4.

Handwriting Without Tears
Completed Letters and Numbers for Me H page.
I wrote some random letters across the top of the grey block paper and he completed two rows of the same letters.
Practiced writing his name.

Other
Kumon- My First Book of Cutting Activities 1,2,3,4,5
Kumon- My First Book of Mazes -- pages 1-17! I had to make him stop!
Coloring Pages
Pattern Blocks
Wrote a thank-you letter to Ron Mazellan (field trip related)
Made a birthday booklet for Nana
Played a Memory Game along with our Unit Study using the foods from Lola's NO list

Final note: I think this book has really gotten to Elijah! :) He tried (and LIKED) duck and crab. In fact, he wants more crab legs! We went to Red Lobster and spent more on his meal than on ours! What are we going to do? He really wanted to try lobster, but we just couldn't do it...maybe someday