This is our homeschooling family. We have a bright 6 yr. old, Mason. An adorable 4 yr. old, Payden. A lively 3 yr. old, Logan. And our 2 yr.old girl, Mya Eden. We love Charlotte Mason's way of learning. This is a place to watch us grow in God and knowledge http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 -0600 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 -0600 Following the weekly project at 'unplug your kids' this week's theme was CATS.        Mason's C-A-T acrostic poem.     We made clay cats and read some interesting books.     Here's some neat facts we learned: *Cats hate water because their fur doesn't insulate well when it's wet.  *Cats hear better than dogs. *A cat usually has about 12 whiskers on each side of its face, arranged in rows.  A cat also has whiskers on many other parts of its face, as well as on the backs of its front legs.  *Whiskers protect the cat's eyes, since the hairs trigger the cat to blink if something touches them. *Most cats have 5 toes on each front paw and 4 on each back paw, for a total of 18 toes. Make-shift craft for a lazy day Newspaper dolls We crunched paper into a ball for the head.  Than took a spread and crunched it vertically, taping it to the head, for the body.  A spread crunched horizontaly taped to the head and neck became arms.  Another spread crunched vertically and bent was taped to the bottom of the body for the legs.  Lastly, we taped all over.  They weren't the greatest, but they kept the kids busy all afternoon. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/745781/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/745781/ Following the 'Handbook of Nature Study Blogspot' we did an outdoor hour challenge this week, and checked out some local oak trees.  We learned, from Anna Comstock's 'Handbook of Nature Study' book, there are two classes of oak trees Black Oak and White Oak The tree we observed had... dark bark leaves with pointed lobes some acorns remaining in the tree  Through this we concluded it was a Red Oak Tree, which falls under the Black Oak Class. Black oaks have bitter seeds, where White oaks have sweet seeds.   Interesting Oak Tree Facts * They can live to be 200-400 years old. *Acorn production does not start until age 20-50. *Even the healthiest oak tree can not produce a healthy acorn crop two years in a row.  A large crop is produced every 4-6 years. * Wood is used to make ships, furntiure and wagons.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/744817/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:42:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/744817/       I love the color purple.  'Purple' was this weeks unplugged challenge.  We had so much fun getting together with friends to make purple candles and purple popcorn.  Candle making was easier than I could've imagined.  We cut the wax then melted it.  After it melted we added the color and scent.     We poured the wax and waited while it cooled.   I think the kids really got a kick out of this project!   Just in case candles weren't enough, we whipped up some purple popcorn too. Some corn syrup, marshmallows, powdered sugar and food coloring turned into this yummy purple snack. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/742773/ Fri, 6 Nov 2009 21:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/742773/ After feeling like nature study got pushed to the back burner for too long, we headed out with some friends to check out the cattails near our house in the glorious season of fall.  With our Nature Handbook, 9 kids and one crazy dog in tow we looked, gathered, drew and learned. Checking out all the seeds.  Here's Mason's nature journal entry for the day.     We recently  tried some new letter crafts. I made the letter with masking tape and had the kids scribble all over.  This is Payden's. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/742768/ Fri, 6 Nov 2009 20:35:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/742768/ Haven't been blogging much lately, not sure why.  Though today I thought I'd catch up.  Not long ago we went to 'Living History Colonial Days.' A bunch of really talented, knowledgable and well dressed actors put on a reenactment of the events leading up to America's freedom.  There were also 7 or so stations to further explore Colonial life.  Poor Payden thought this boy was really shot! Checking out the honey comb---maybe eating some too.   Some of the stations included; artillery and ammunition, food production, weaving, fort building, music, woodworking, candle making, bee keeping, and games. The kids really enjoyed their day learning here! I'm blessed to be part of a really awesome Charlotte Mason group.  We do monthly Mom's meeting nights and monthly kids poetry picnics, craft, or nature walks.  Recently one of the Mom's was gracious enough to teach 20 kids to finger knit or spool knit.  Mason has really taking to the handiwork.  Here's him working on his spool knit snake.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/739372/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/739372/ We started following Ambleside's Artist/Composer study last year and the kids really enjoyed it.  This year I decided to stay with their artist study, but get a little more in depth with some composers.  We're using Opal Wheeler's book, 'Mozart The Wonder Child' (see book shelf.)  I fell in love with this book right from the start---picked it up and didn't put it down the first night.  The kids have also enjoyed Miss Wheeler's warm accounts of Mozart's fascinating childhood.  At the end of each chapter is a peice of music Mozart composed, we listen to them on 'youtube.'  Along with Mozart we're studying the Italian artist, Raphael.  Today we looked at 'Vision of a Knight. '  Here's Mason's painting.   We're trying to get back on track with scripture memorization.  Here's Mason's copywork of Psalm 13:6.  I asked him to draw something that shows God has been good to him---he drew pizza.   And......our volcano experiment.  My husband did a great job making it with the kids.  We talked about the magma chamber, vent, crater, ash cloud and lava.  We also discussed the differences between composite and sheild volcanoes. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/729771/ Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/729771/ We're exploring caves in science.  Here's Mason's notebooking page about our experiment.       We used...         We mixed the epson salts in warm water until the water was cloudy and no more would dissolve.  Next we tied paper clips to either end of a peice of yarn.  We hung the yarn between two jars.  A saucer between the lowest part of the string and the experiment is complete...well, minus the waiting.  It took three days for us to see some formations. We observed how dripping water can deposit minerals and make a formation---similar to staglamite in caves. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/725164/ Tue, 8 Sep 2009 19:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/725164/ One of our favorite places to hang out is Barr Lake.  We headed there last Monday with one of our favorite families to nature walk with (kimalita.)  The kids checking out the view with some binoculars.     The view of the water with some canadian geese.    Stopping to study a spider's web.       See the hoofed deer track?   A beautiful butterfly pausing long enough to let us capture her picture.   Cottonwood tree with a quiet squirrel.       Lots to check out inside--like these furs, bones, antlers, snake skin and feathers. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/724754/ Mon, 7 Sep 2009 15:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/724754/ We headed to the zoo with some friends to focus our study on one of God's glorious creations, the giraffe.     The world's largest mammal is quite interesting.  A special on PBS recently found that these social animals are not silent or limited to bleating, hissing and coughing.  They actually communicate using infrasound, not audible to the human ear.        Also interesting is the maneuver they must pull to drink water in the wild.  Bending over like the above picture makes them vulnerable to predators.  Because of this they drink 3-4 gallons at a time and eat acai leaves, which contain a lot of water.  This allows them to go several days between drinking.    A cool pair of glasses that allowed the kids to experience what it's like to see like a giraffe. Intently checking out the giraffe hide. The kids drew while we talked about some giraffe facts.  This is Mason's artwork. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/723107/ Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:11:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/723107/ Mom has been feeling a little under the weather these past weeks.  So, learning time has had a more flexible approach.  Mason and Payden worked on drawing a map when we read 'Lentil' with Five in Row.  With this we talked about compasses and direction.  While driving lately I've been asking them what direction we're driving (the mountains out here make that a fairly easy task--they are always to the west.)  Mason has gotten quite good and can typically tell me which direction we are going or turning.  Today I had him direct me to the store...and he did it!  What a great way to learn and test =-)   Here's Mason showing off his earth.  This shows the core, lower mantle, upper mantle and crust.  Did you know the crust is 6 miles deep?  We also learned the inner core's temperature exceeds 5,ooo degrees F.   Payden has been working on the letter 'L.'  Here's his cotton ball L's.   Eden doing her thing---she's the first kid we've had that will color for more than 5 minutes. We're headed for a camping trip this weekend, I'm sure we'll find lots to learn!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/721690/ Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kibblekids/721690/