I have been married to my husband David for 21 years and we have one daughter, Mackenzie who will be 9 years old soon. We had never considered home schooling until she was in the first grade at a christian school in New York and struggling. Public school was not an option for us so we decided to home school even though I said I could never do it. That was 3 years ago and here we are in our 3rd year of home schooling and enjoying it. Our plans are to continue to home school through high school. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 8 Dec 2008 14:46:00 -0600 Mon, 8 Dec 2008 14:46:00 -0600 At our house today we made gingerbread houses.  Instead of using real gingerbread we used graham crackers.  We (my daughter and I) enjoyed ourselves so much that I think we will make this a family tradition.  Maybe next year I will get brave and try real gingerbread.  I made royal icing (powdered sugar, cream of tartar and egg whites) and substituted meringue powder and water for the egg whites so if she wanted to eat it she could.  In the beginning stages. We had to let the sides dry before putting them all together. Here is the next step. Now we can start decorating. I told her she should do all the sides of the house the same and she told me that was boring.  So I decided to let her do what she wanted.  It was creative. From the front. From the side (notice the 3 bears sitting around the campfire bottom right) And here is a picture of mine and Mackenzie's.  As you can see her's is the one on the right that is not boring. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/629573/ Mon, 8 Dec 2008 14:46:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/629573/ Today we read the book Annika's Secret Wish by Beverly Lewis.  This is a book about a Swedish Christmas Eve Tradition.  We discussed our traditions as a family.  One of our traditions is to make a "kiss" advent.  It is made from candy kisses and the idea is for the child to exchange a "kiss" each day with mom or dad until Christmas.  They must give you a kiss before they can have the chocolate kiss.  Mackenzie has fun counting down the days until Christmas and having a "kiss" each morning. Just count out the kisses and place them down the middle of a piece of saran wrap.  Fold the saran wrap over the kisses and tie ribbon between each one.  When you are ready just cut the ribbon and get a "kiss". This is a close up of our "Kiss" Advent.   We will be doing a unit study on the 12 Days of Christmas and hopefully starting some new traditions this year.  We will be making  gingerbread houses so stay tuned for those. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/626601/ Mon, 1 Dec 2008 15:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/626601/ We woke up to a  couple of inches of snow yesterday and decided to go out in the afternoon and take advantage of the snow because it may not last long here in Indiana.  The weather was nice and the snow was packing great.  Here is our snowman. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/626595/ Mon, 1 Dec 2008 15:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/626595/ The last few weeks we have been doing unit studies on Australia and then just completed a study on marsupials.  We read the book The Pumpkin Runner which was inspired by Cliff Young, a 61 year old farmer from Victoria, Australia, who defeated younger opponents in an 875-kilometer run between Sydney and Melbourne.  He won $10,000 for winning the race, which he split with the other runners. Here is our picture of our Pumpkin Runner lapbook. And here is our Marsupial lapbook.  Except instead of using a file folder I am using a spiral bound book which can be purchased through Bare Books.  I got this idea from my friend Ami.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/621467/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/621467/ We have been doing Apologia Science this year and are completing  astronomy.  This week and last we have been studying the moon.  We were to make a telescope to view the moon with.  The only problem is that it has been cloudy and we have not been able to see the moon after making our telescope.  Here is a picture of our telescope. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/621456/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:15:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/621456/ On Friday we took a field trip to Mississinewa War of 1812.  We are studying Indiana History this year so this fit right in with our study of famous battles. Mackenzie grinding corn Soft Shell Turtle Storyteller Wearing a wolf hat British Soldiers French Fur Trader telling his stories http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/603618/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/603618/ We rowed the book When the Frost is on the Punkin this week a poem written by James Whitcomb Riley and completed a lapbook, and enjoyed spending time outside in nature.Here is her Fall Poem it says: I like to see leaves fall down and find them on the ground. I like to carve pumpkins and make lanterns so pretty, that light our way at night like the Son that shines so bright. But my favorite part about fall is I get to celebrate my birthday. And her copywork Here are the funny nature faces we made thanks to my friend Ami's idea.  We collected different things in nature and drew a circle with chalk on the driveway  and made funny faces with the things we had  collected.  We had lots of fun. Even I got in on the fun. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/602382/ Thu, 9 Oct 2008 16:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/parker2008/602382/