Homeschooling at Harvest Moon - Homeschool Blogger

Our Pumpkin Patch & the Unexpected Visitor to the Bees

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 19:34:00 -0600

Sunday was a relaxing day. The girls went to Sunday School and had fun. Sophia is memorizing John 3:16 for the Christmas play. Olivia decorated a paper pumpkin and did a Bible story project in her preschool class.

Had a quick lunch and then Mary and Colton came over to pick pumpkins from our pumpkin patch. They found three rather large ones (I was surprised there were still ones out there that were that size).

Looked at pictures from their trip to Cancun and the surrounding area. They did a lot of exploring and really got a feel for the local culture, history, and arts.

Mike, the beekeeper, showed up as well today. Sophia went out with him for a while to see how the bees were doing. She came back a little later with the report: "Something was out there! Maybe a skunk...maybe a bear! The bees are NOT happy right now."

"Sould we go out there and take pictures like we wanted to?" I asked.

"No. The bees are flying all over the place," she said.

This is the first year in several that there's been something checking out the bees and their honey.

The honey for the season is out of the hives, but it hasn't been extracted yet. Looking forward to enjoying the honey this year. It's been a real sweet honey in the past (at our place alone there are apple, pear, and plum trees; clover, and goldenrod).

After the afternoon "quiet time," the girls played outside for a bit. Threw a tennis ball and a badminton birdie to them a bit, and then realized that they needed more work on hand-eye coordination.

So, I tied a couple of badminton birdies to ribbons and hung them from the apple tree for the girls to practice their hand-eye coordination when playing tennis. Olivia loved doing that...Sophia was getting frustrated. She just wanted to play tennis normally. "It's about building skills. If you learn how to do this and can hit the birdie every time, then you will be able to hit the tennis ball more times."

The girls finished their tree drawings they started this morning. I traced their forearms and fingers (but not the rounded tips) onto a piece of paper. They extended each side of the fingers to make it look like branches on a tree. They colored the trees in, and then Sophia added ladders and a door for the gnome that was living in her tree. She added snowflakes on the ground since "winter is coming."

We read "Rose Red and Snow White" and "Uncle Jed's Barbershop" today. The first one is a Grimm's fairy tale retold by Ruth Sanderson (who also illustrated it). She's a beautiful illustrator. The second book deals with segregation in the U.S., challenges African American people faced when segregation was prevalent, and a man's dream to open his own barbershop during the depression despite the collapse of the banking system (and the loss of his money). He finally opened his shop when he was 79 years old. He believed in himself and followed his dreams. The girls enjoyed both books.

Making a Theater Prop Bag

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:15:00 -0500

Next Friday, November 3rd, I'm doing a lesson for the Chisago Lakes Area Homeschool Co-op about making and using a theater prop bag. (A prop bag is a bag or a box or some sort of container holding really useful items - ones that come in handy during a theater class or dramatic play time at home.)

So today I went shopping at Family Pathways (a secondhand store) and the Dollar Store for items for a theater prop bag. What fun!! Found some great items for the children to choose from to customize their bags.

Here's some information about prop bags...kind of a "Why is there a prop bag in my homeschool?" and then the items you could place in one.

A prop bag serves as teaching tool for mom during a theater/dramatic art class or for children to use during independent dramatic play time. Pulling an item out of the prop bag can be that something new to grab the students' attention, or it can be used to make a point from class easily remembered. The student will be able to make use of the prop bag during their activities, helping them to increase their skills.

If a character is holding a telephone in a scene, having an actual telephone or representation of it is better than the student pantomiming it. That way, the exercise can retain its focus on the action in a scene rather than becoming a scene about someone holding a telephone. The props are used as objects for concentration, inspiration of creativity, and even as hand props.

Because each item has innumerable uses, they are worth keeping close at hand in a prop bag throughout the school year.

Prop Bag Items

1. A large square of white fabric- This can be used as a tablecloth, a surrendering flag, or any manner of garment.

2. A Slinky- This item could be inspiration for a movement, used as an instrument, worn as a bangle, or be a unique hand prop for a character.

3. A Rose (Artificial)- It could be a sense memory trigger, or the unavoidable "declaration of love" prop.

4. A jar of bubbles- Besides creating great atmosphere, bubbles can be used in warm up and concentration exercises. For example, blow several and everyone follows one until it pops, with their eyes or their bodies.

5. A roll of Aluminum Foil- Apart form its mundane functions, which might come up in an improvisation, foil can be molded into pieces of jewelry, armor, or can turn someone into a robot.

6. Several pairs of Sunglasses and Eyeglasses- A pair of glasses will help an actor get into character more easily, and will also cause one to gesture more meaningfully if he is holding it.

7. A Mirror - It could be used for practicing facial expressions, monologues, and concentration exercises.

8. A Flashlight - Used for instant special effects, such as a spotlight. It is also good as a starting point for an improvisation.

9. A Towel- Like the white fabric, it can be used for many different situations, but its thickness will change the ways in which it is used.

10. Puppets- The puppets' mouths should be moveable, because then it can imitate facial expressions more easily. It can be used as a teaching companion, an extra character in a scene, or a way to get someone shy to talk. Puppets work especially well with younger children, although even high school students can find amusement in them a la Sesame Street.

11. Hats- Ideally, have a bowler, a beret, a beanie with a spinner on top, a big floppy lady's hat, and a fedora. The urge to dress up and become someone else stay throughout a person's life, and a hat is the simplest way to signal a change of character.

Physical Education and Recycled Lunch Bags

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:01:00 -0500

Every Friday the Chisago Lakes Area Homeschool Co-op meets for phy ed and a project focused on the creative reuse of materials around one's home.

The girls learned about indoor bowling (and loved it!), and then started learning how to play tennis. The first lesson focused on how to control the racquet and ball. They were definitely enjoying themselves. Made me realize that I really need to add more things each day that get the girls moving and active. There are simple things we can do at home related to phy ed that they clearly were enjoying at the co-op meeting.

The second hour the girls decorated lunch bags made from jeans. Three of the mothers cut jeans and sewed the bags for the children (given that they only had 1 hour to do the project). One of the moms brought her sewing machine that sewed the child's name on their bag.

Then it was time to decorate. The girls cut fabric into different shapes and affixed it onto the bags. Sophia practiced her sewing by sewing a few buttons onto her bag. Olivia (who is 3 1/2) picked out buttons and I sewed them onto the bag for her.

To close the bag, you run a shoe lace through a fold at the top. We ended up using ribbon, but may end up with the shoe lace depending on how durable the ribbon ends up being.

The bags turned out really cute...and the kids were so proud of their work.

After the co-op meeting, Olivia had Lunch Bunch at Red Bridge. She ate lunch with 14 other preschoolers, made an apple muffin which she kept to share with Sophia when she got home, and played in the preschool room. She is becoming much more independent and excited about learning and interacting with other people - children and adults. It's fun to watch.

Inspiration from Artists, the 7 Arts, and 12 Senses

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 07:30:00 -0500

This is from the Wonder Homeschool website:

Here's a radio show (text) that I found which is incredibly inspiring and illuminating on the value of arts in our world - two quotes:

"That�s how I would save the planet. I would start with the senses and imagination. Now that may sound na�ve and impossible, but it can start in kindergarten, and it can start with the art teacher. So I see the art teacher as the eco-activists of our time." ~ Paulis Berensohn

"I don�t know if you know this, but German psychologists are saying that children around the world are losing their senses by 1% per year, and the senses for me are our connection to the living world. Like for instance, there are 90,000 sense receptors per square inch of human fingertip. So that when you put your hands on a piece of clay, there are 90,000 antennas receiving the information that�s in the clay, and 90,000 satellite dishes broadcasting what you know..." ~ Paulis Berensohn

This is from Mercurius:

The arts can be considered one of man's most noble opportunities to experience confirmation of his origins and destiny. In a different way than the humanities (philosophy, theology, etc.), the arts make it possible to more closely experience spiritual reality as well as to directly discover metaphysical truth.

A magnificent cathedral can as clearly and timelessly express the majesty of God as can the composition of an oratorio or the creation of a painting or sculpture.

The arts convey truths and insights which cannot be experienced scientifically.

Each of the 7 arts conveys different insights and skills. As a whole they reflect and represent the creative forces of the cosmos. If you go to the link above, there's information about these 7 arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry, dance, and social sculpture.

There's information too on the website about the 12 senses: hearing, word, thought, self, sight, taste, smell, warmth, balance, motion, life, and touch.

Through each of our 12 senses we enter into a certain relationship with ourselves and our environment.

With the sense of life, the sense of movement and the sense of balance we perceive our own physical existence and bodies. We feel happy or unhappy, move and take a physical position vis-�-vis our surroundings. The fact that we sense ourselves as entities within our physical bodies is the basis of our self-awareness.

Through the sense of touch we make contact with the world and learn more about limits when we apply pressure. And by experiencing extreme situations and limits, we ultimately gain self-knowledge.

Through the sense of smell, the sense of taste and the sense of sight, quality and matter are revealed to us. By using these senses, we differentiate between a good and bad smell, sweet and sour tastes, colours, meanings of colours, etc. In this way we learn to differentiate and form opinions. We develop taste and a feeling for good and evil. The sense of warmth enables us to penetrate the surface of bodies and objects and to perceive something about their condition.

The sense of hearing, the sense of speech, the thought sense and the ego-sense enable us to perceive our own egos in relation to other beings. All these senses make us social and responsible human beings.

Visiting Stillwater

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:12:00 -0500

Today we went to Stillwater (Minnesota) with two of the girls friends who they met through gymnastics. We were planning on going to the Teddy Bear Park, but once we got there we found it it had closed for the season.

So, we went to Valley Bookseller, and the girls enjoyed the finches they had there as well as looking at the great selection of books. Sophia saw several books she wanted; and wants to do some jobs around the house to earn some money to purchase them.

After that, we went to River Market Co-op, and the girls went grocery shopping. Sophia found a cucumber so we can make sushi (vegetarian with cucumber and carrots in the middle); and then Olivia and Sophia picked several items from the bulk section for snacks. We went to the cracker and cookie section, and chose several things from there. (Sophia has a dairy allergy, so it's nice to find products that don't have are dairy-free.)

We had a little "sample session" outside so the girls could taste some of the things I bought. They were pretty excited about their snack.

We continued down the street to Aprille's Showers - a tea room. The girls tried on hats and enjoyed seeing the Victorian displays. The girls love tea parties, and we haven't tried this place yet. There are some American Girl and holiday theme teas which may be something we do as a special treat as a way to celebreate their birthdays or adoption days (all of which are coming up in November, December, and January).

We visited a few more places along the way, and then headed back to the car.

After that, we went to Woodbury to visit a cousin and her son. Brought a winter coat and some clothes for the son. They are living on only $1,300 a month, with their rent at $950. That's not much leftover to live on. So, one of the ladies from the co-op that meets on Fridays works at the Sharing Shop in Lindstrom. She found a coat and clothes that fit him. Needless to say, they were thrilled.

Came back through Bayport and stopped at the library. The girls picked out some really good books. I keep the "receipts" that they print out listing all the books that the girls pick. It would be interesting to count all the books we've read in one year. It seems like we go through so many. They love being read to, and I enjoy reading to them. I'm hoping that they never lose that love for reading and being read to.

At home, I worked on another fall display on the dining room table. This one is a simple one. Found a fall-theme table runner and put on it some miniature-pumpkins, Indian corn, and then kept a couple rocks from Alaska and a couple sticks collected from walks up north.

Trip to the Apple Orchard

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:50:00 -0500

Today we went to Maple Leaf Orchard in Spring Valley, Wisconsin. It's quite a distance from our home, but it was worth it. We went with a homeschool group that just formed this year. I've known two of the moms now for some time. It's nice to be connected now through homeschooling.

The weather was very cold for being outside...about 38 degrees and light rain. There were even some snowflakes mixed in.

Anyways...there were 3 families and about 8 children who went on the hayride through the orchard and farm.

The farm has over 4,000 trees - 3,500 which are apple. The rest are maple, pear, and cherry trees. There are also grapes, bees, and a whole maple syrup operation.

The hayride was really nice. Absolutely beautiful. We stopped a couple of times to taste some apples, learn about pest management, pruning trees as a natural way to reduce insect damage (they prune the trees every year so air and light move through the trees).

Came back to the building where the apples and other products were. The children watched the apple polishing and sorting machine. The girls each chose 5 apples each.

Then Olivia and I picked three bags of apples from the seconds (only 40 cents per pound!). Chose about six varieties for applesauce, apple pie, and drying.

I also let the girls pick out some miniature pumpkins, Indian corn, and a couple of small gourds to decorate the home. Then we chose 2 birdhouse gourds. (I'm curious to see if we can get them to dry and then use them for birdhouses next year.)

We got a quart of maple syrup and a gallon of apple cider (both of the products are made there at the orchard).

Driving home we saw the big bison ranch. The homeschool group thought that a field trip in the spring to see how maple syrup is produced plus a visit to the bison ranch would be interesting.

Came home and added the miniature pumpkins to the fall display. Now it's done. The girls really like looking at the display while they eat their meals.

Needlefelting a Fall Display

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:40:00 -0500

Yesterday I made a fall lantern. I put it on the table where the girls eat and I have a display that changes on an on-going basis.

Decided to put some colorful wool around the lantern (yellows, oranges, and reds). It was fluffy and very pretty. Sophia suggested that I needlefelt it. I pulled out my supplies and started needlefelting the wool, and soon it took shape as a wreath that could be placed around the lantern.

I said the colors reminded me of the beautiful leaves that cover the ground each fall. Perhaps we should add some browns and greens under the "leaves." The girls found some wool and suggested places to needlefelt it.

Sophia thought adding gold flecks (kind of like a very fine tinsel) would be nice, so she pulled off some pieces. I needlefelted that onto the wreath.

Soon, the piece was complete. I placed it on the table, put the fall lantern in the middle, and then the girls added some pinecones, a couple of rocks, and tiny dolls dressed in fall colors to sit on the wreath. We found 2 yellow sunflowers and 1 red flower (artificial) to also place around the wreath.

The girls were SO excited about how it turned out. At each meal now, we light the tealight and enjoy the orange and yellow glow in the center of the table.

Making a Fall Lantern

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:08:00 -0500

Today was a great day...the girls and I did lots of fun things together today. The highlight was going to the Minnesota Waldorf School in Maplewood. Miss Mary Lou (one of the Kindergarten teachers) taught a class for parents about fall festivals. Then we did crafts for fall.

Fall Lantern

One of the crafts was a lantern. There was watercolor paper that had been painted using the wet-on-wet technique that we could choose from. The paper was cut in about 4" x 8 1/2" sections. You folded each section in half, and then on each end folded it over about 1/4". In each 4" x 4" section, cut a window or shape.

On the inside, glue a sheet of wax paper over the window (use a gluestick). Using a gluestick, glue the front of a pressed leaf onto the wax paper. Then, glue on a glassine-type sheet of paper over the leaf and wax paper.

Glue the sections together so you have a square lantern. Put a tea light on the inside, and light it. I chose yellows and oranges, so the lantern has a pretty fall look to it.

Decorated Beeswax Candle

The other craft was taking a beeswax candle and then using small sections of thin, colored beeswax and pressing it onto the candle. It looks like watercolor or mosaic. If the candle was larger and neutral color (e.g., ivory, cream), she said you could make pictures with the colored wax.

While the parents were in the class, the girls enjoyed playing in Miss Eileen's Kindergarten classroom. They played with the dolls a lot they said.

Other fun things that we did today:

- Sophia and Olivia both had gymnastics. The preschool gym was decorated for fall which was cute.

- Olivia and I went grocery shopping while Sophia had her lesson. Olivia picked out the grocery cart that had the little car in the front and was THRILLED that she got to "drive" the cart around the store. She helped picked out items and put them in the cart. At the checkout, she crawled up onto the bag-packing area and started bagging. She was very proud of herself...and I was proud of her!

- Sophia and I went to the store during Olivia's lesson to get some craft supplies for some fall projects we'll be doing together. Grabbed lunch for us all at Subway.

- The girls and I went to the Dollar Store and purchased items for the Operation Christmas Child boxes we will be assembling and donating this year. This is a project we've done now for 3 years, and both the girls are very excited about doing OCC this year again. They made some very thoughtful choices as we went through the store about what children would need (e.g., toothbrush, toothpaste, comb) as well as may like to play with (e.g., doll, teddy bear). They both wanted to create a box for an infant and really wanted to make sure the baby had shoes and socks to wear. Next week we'll put together the boxes.

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Found this idea on another website called World Culture Net:

Make Holiday Lanterns from Cheese Containers

Here�s another easy way to make a lantern that you can light with a tea candle (careful!) or glow stick for festivals such as the Harvest Moon Festival or St. Martin's Day. This will give you a cylindrical lantern that is easy to decorate in many different ways.

You�ll need: a cheese container � the round, wooden kind used to package Camenbert (If you don�t have one, you can use two 3-inch strips of cardboard, about 1 inch wide, and a cardboard circle of 3 inch diameter.), about 10 x 24 inch piece of wax paper, scissors, glue, pliers, wire, a darning needle, a tealight (or glow stick), and a wooden dowel or stick to carry the lantern.

Instructions:

1. The cheese container, or your cardboard substitute, should consist of a round bottom with a rim, and a top ring. This will be the structural element of the lantern.

2. Decorate the wax paper, which will be the lantern. Some ideas for decorations:

- glue grasses or colorful leaves to one side of the paper.

- color the wax paper with crayons, place a second sheet against the crayon and iron the 2 sheets between layers of newspaper. Pull them apart while the wax is still wet and you�ll have a beautiful decoration.

- color the paper with markers.

- glue beads, sequins or feathers to your creation.

3. Roll the paper into a cylindrical shape, with the decorations on the outside. Glue the cylinder against the rim of the bottom of the cheese container. Glue the top ring of the container against the inside of the top rim of the lantern. Glue together the 2 edges of the paper cylinder.

4. Use glue or wax to attach the tealight on the bottom of the lantern.

5. Use the needle to make 2 holes on opposite edges of the top rim of the lantern. Thread the wire through the holes, and create a loop at the top of the wire.

6. Make a small notch about 2 inches from the top of your stick to fasten the lantern.

7. Light the inside of your lantern with a glow stick or � very carefully � with a tea candle that you light with a long match, and you�re ready to parade your lantern.

Pumpkin and Fall Lapbooks

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:49:00 -0500

We started working on our pumpkin and fall lapbooks yesterday. So far, Sophia and Olivia have in their lapbooks:

- a sensory pumpkin pie. (Cut a brown circle and orange circle from construction paper. Glue the orange on top of the brown to look like a pie. Take glue and spread it over the orange part. Sophia smelled pumpkin pie spice first. Guessed what spices were in it. Then she smelled each one on its own: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. She sprinkled each onto the glue, and noticed which spices were lighter and darker than one another. She tasted some of them.)

- read "The Prince Mammoth Pumpkin" - an excellent parable. Sophia really enjoyed it...particularly because she worked in our pumpkin patch this summer and could visualize elements of the story.

- recipe for pumpkin bars. Made those on Sunday and the girls enjoyed them for dessert that night.

- a journal entry about a nature walk on Monday, October 16th. Noted visual observations (leaf changes), sensory observations (cold), and activities (pressing down with her shoe on gopher tunnels and holes).

- leaf paintings using fall colors (red, yellow, and orange). Talked about how red and yellow make orange, and kept adding yellow paint to the red paint until the orange was the color we wanted. Used single colors and blended colors on the leaves.

- did fingerprint paintings in orange. These will become pumpkins once we use a marker and add faces and stems.

- various worksheets that have a pumpkin theme. (The worksheets focus on letter recogition and patterning/math.)

Olivia was at preschool from 8:10-12:20 today. She LOVES it. She went to speech therapy, heard the story "Leaf Man," explored a sensory table of leaves, decorated a construction paper pumpkin, painted a leaf (made from a grocery bag and painted in fall colors), played in the gym, and had snack.

In addition to the above, I worked with Sophia on activities from the Oak Meadow (Waldorf) curriculum. This week, the focus is on the letters B and C; and numbers 1 and 2.

She is working on an alphabet book right now. Last year she put stickers in the corner of each page at the top (one letter per page). This year, she is (and will) draw a picture incorporating the letter into the picture. For example, for the letter A she drew a gate with the letter A in it after reading a story about Peter Rabbit and how he escaped under the gate.

Last week she drew a picture of bear inside the letter B after I read Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Today she drew a butterfly using the letter B as the body and wings. She drew the picture after listening to a poem about butterflies (sung to the ABC song), and story called "The Butterfly Story."

After that we explored the concept of "one." I read "The Story of One Big Sun" which she really liked. She drew a picture in her math book (she'll work on this during the year). She did a title page with flowers and sun plus her name. Then she flipped the page so there were blank pages facing one another. On the left side she drew a picture of the sun and on the right side of the page the number one.

We talked about how there is one sun, but many rays (enough for everyone and everything); one forest, but many trees in the forest; and one family, but several members in the family.

We had lunch, read some books, and then rested.

Sophia had her first Brownie meeting today in Marine on St. Croix. What a nice group of girls! There are 3 homeschooled girls (including Sophia) and 9 girls that go to Marine Elementary School. Sophia knew many of them from church which helped.

The girls painted a picture using apples and paintbrushes (they will send their picture to another girl...they drew names from a pumpkin); frosted cookies and made them into scarecrows using candies and other decorations; and then enjoyed hot dogs, fresh vegetables and dip, grapes, and s'mores. It was a really fun time.

Came home and Mary (respite care) was doing puzzles, playing games, and reading with Olivia. Mary stayed until 8:00 reading and playing with the girls.

We had a lot of fun today!!

Day 4 - Hawaii - Waterslides and a Lion

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 06:41:00 -0500

Today we spent the morning swimming at the resort. We went to the Kohala River Pool, which is three pools connected by waterslides; and then slid down the 176-foot twisting waterslide. Went under and between the various waterfalls at the Kona Pool. It was so much fun.

The girls are both gaining more confidence in the water which is great to see. Sophia can't get enough of the big waterslide (Olivia is too short yet to go on it).

Olivia was pretending she was a lion on the edge of the pool. She was crawling and kind of went into this "zone" where you could see in her eyes that she WAS a lion and was looking for prey. It was really neat to watch. I think she'll be great at theater and expressing herself as she gets older.

We ate lunch at the restaurant near the pool. We were all so hungry after swimming for a couple of hours.

Went back to the room to get out of the really hot sun (trying to protect our skin!), and worked on lapbooks and rested.

Took the little train (aka as "the caterpillar" to Olivia since the train was green) to the little mall nearby. By the time we got there it was POURING! We ran quickly to the nearest restaurant. Ended up being a good choice - excellent food.

We were served by a really nice woman who was from Brazil. She was so impressed with how polite the girls were and their manners that she ended up giving them her bracelets. We tried to give them back, but she insisted. The girls were so excited with their new jewelry!

Went back to the resort and took the train back to where we were staying. (There's a train that connects the entire resort. The train and the boat are two ways to get around if you want to take a break from walking.)