Welcome! This is our website for homeschooling. I am a stay at home Mom with almost five kiddos, ages 6, 5, 3 1/2, 1 1/2 months and baby #5 due in January! We are currently making up our own unit lessons. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:04:00 -0600 Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:04:00 -0600 John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." We worked on learning how to tell time today!  I have a little monkey clock that I got from the Dollar Store quite a while ago, where you can use dry erase markers to practice writing, and move the hands all around, etc. Jack can now tell time by the hour and half hour.  Ben can tell time from the hour, half hour, and quarter hour. I printed off worksheets from www.mathsisfun.com/worksheets/time.php and had Ben fill them out.  He did awesome!!!  We did two of them....one drawing the hands, and then the next one reversed it, and he had to fill in the numerical time. We have still been doing school, even though I haven't updated this website very often.  I'm sorry!  This time of year really slows down for us though....which is why we pretty much do school year-round. In January and February, we will be doing a different style of school, since our new baby will be here during that time.  We'll be using time4learning.com/education/first_grade.shtml  It is a fully online program that does all the subtracts, keeps track of progress, etc.  Both of the boys will do that.  I will feel so much better that they will still be doing school, when I can't keep up with it as much during that time, and they love being on the computer!  So I'm excited about that.   Our school co-ops are pretty much done for this semester!  It was fun, and we did some neat things!  There were a few that got cancelled or rescheduled, but that happens.  School is going well though, and I'm glad.  Another thing we've been working on a lot is our sight words.  Ben has mastered sight-reading all of his "c" words from the Dolche Sight Word List.  The cool thing, is that we are learning ALL of them, just just the ones that are 'supposed' to be for his particular grade level.  So he is actually learning up to 3rd grade words! Here is the list: gemini.es.brevard.k12.fl.us/sheppard/reading/dolch.html   He can recognize the "c" ones so far, and spell half of them.  Spelling is a lot harder!  We are working on the "b" words right now, and Jack is joining us as well! Thanks for checking in with us! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/750041/ Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:04:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/750041/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The kids and I worked on a Thanksgiving craft the other day.  Let's just say we'll be doing another one soon!  lol  It did NOT work out like I thought in my head.  The turkey came out looking more like a potato, or a reindeer, than a turkey!  LOL  Oh well.  I traced their feet for the turkey body (turned upside down), and then their hands were the feathers.  At the bottom, they told me what they were thankful for, and I wrote it down!  We had to guess on Kate's though, since she can't talk.  lol  Anyway, it was fun, but we'll do something different in a bit! The boys coloring their traced hands and foot! Meg coloring Kate coloring Kate's project Meg's project Jack's project Ben's project Here is also a picture of Jack's latest love.  Puzzles!!  He will work on them by himself all day long, several of them in a day, and not even bat an eye.  Twice this week, he didn't even come up for supper right away!!  He is VERY good at them, and just loves them. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/742935/ Sat, 7 Nov 2009 15:51:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/742935/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Tonight the boys had their first Science Fair!  They worked on an experiment together, called "Dancing Raisins." You fill a cup with clear soda pop, and add a couple raisins.  The raisins obviously sink right to the bottom, because it is more dense than the pop.  The carbon dioxide bubbles attach themselves to the raisin's nooks and crannies, acting like a parachute, and making the raisins float to the pop's surface. Once it reaches the surface, the bubbles pop, and the raisin sinks back to the bottom, where the cycle is repeated over and over again!  It's a neat experiment that always makes the kids laugh. They were SO CUTE!!!!  That was seriously such a fun time.  I think there ended up being 6 or 7 experiments total, with several kids missing.  Daddy couldn't come, because he had to go straight from work to a work meeting.  We were done with everything by the time he was just driving to the meeting. The kids' Aunt and cousins that live in town all came to cheer them on, and so did Grandma!  Grandpa also had to work this time.  The kids were so happy to have them there and were excited to show them what they've been working on! Here are some pictures from tonight! Their sign, "Dancing Raisins" by Ben and Jack.  This was the only part of the project that I helped them with.  lol  Jack colored, cut, and glued raisins on here, and they both signed their own names! The boys all set and ready at their table!  Ben made all the colored signs you see.  (Raisins in Pop, Raisins in Water, Noodles in Pop, Candy in Pop.....all explaining what everything in the glasses were) A brief meeting with the kids before everything started. The other half of the room was set up for self-directed experiments, which you could do on your own time. The boys performing their experiment for Auntie C. and two of their cousins! Explaining it again for more kids passing by. Fielding some questions. In front of a bigger crowd! Explaining how the carbon dioxide makes the raisins float to the top! Ben was demonstrating what was in the other glasses. I was so proud of them!!  Here are two videos for you as well! ***To pause the music playing on this website, go up to the top on the right-hand side and press the pause button!*** This one Ben is explaining it to his Auntie C.  It's short and sweet, because her camera batteries died. This one is of the boys explaining it to the bigger crowd. The funny part (to me) is right away in the beginning. Jack announces that their project is called Dancing Raisins, and then he smacks Ben in the arm and says, "Ben!" LOL They each had their own "parts" in the speech, and he wanted to make sure Ben knew it was his turn now! lol Thanks for looking! We had such a great time. Every other parent there talked for their kids. Our boys were the ONLY ones that did it all by themselves!!!! WAY TO GO!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/741893/ Tue, 3 Nov 2009 20:14:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/741893/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." I was reading another homeschooling blog, and came across this: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2003/06/gratitude-community.html I read a couple of people that were inspired to give more thanks to God.  Not just at Thanksgiving time.  And this is not a list of "What I'm Thankful For."  It's a way to continuously list the wonderful gifts God gives to us each and every day! 1000 Gifts From God 1. My husband's kisses 2. Sleeping with my baby every night 3. Hearing my kids' belly laugh 4. Soothing classical music 5. Communion at church, and the peace it brings 6. Legal homeschooling 7. The absolute miracle of a baby being created 8. The tight-knit bond our family has 9. Hot baths, lavender oil and a good book 10. A church that I love, and a Pastor that I respect My goal is to post at least 10 things every time I come on here, and hopefully not repeat too many.   You should try it too!  --------------- So, I haven't updated on here for quite a while.  I apologize!  My husband's work schedule changed, and it really threw our daily routine out the door.  We spent ours days together as a family, like we normally would at night.  But then when he went to work, it was nap time, and then our nights were always hectic and crazy.  Let me tell you, I'm SO glad we started school right away in the beginning of August!!!!!  It was nice to take a break. We still did 'school things', just not every single day.  Some things we kept up with, like reading which I think is one of the most important things anyway.  We learned more about life lessons, like math through cooking.  We also still did our homeschool co-ops, which were awesome! We've been to the Denver Nature and Science Museum a couple of times, we went to a co-op at our church every other week, a couple park play dates, the boys had a class called "Elementary Chemistry", "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", a tour of the Denver Mint, and "Eye See You".  We missed two due to illness, which was a tour of an AM jazz radio station, and a night at the Chamberlin Observatory. I loved having him home during the day, and it was a good experience for everyone.  He was able to be alot more involved in homeschooling, and willingly went to the co-ops with us.  He loved the chemistry one!  lol  He got right in there and even made up some of his own experiments.  He was also able to be home and watch the kids while I went to my OB appointments with my midwives, and watched the kids downstairs while I started teaching piano lessons. He started back working days this week, and it's been nice going back to 'normal' again.  The kids are loving doing more schoolwork and projects, and I enjoy having him home in the evenings, when things tend to be a little crazier. To help us ease back into our routine, I made a school schedule for the week.  I made a list of all the subjects that I want/need to teach during the week, and then divided them up, according to what we already have planned.  For example, today we had a 2 hour co-op for Ben, so I knew it would be a bad day to tackle math, since that takes the longest.  So I wrote down more simple things to accomplish, such as our reading, sight words, Bible study/verse and working on our upcoming Science Fair project.  I love that I don't write down ANY times on this 'schedule'.  Simply what I'd like to get done for the day.  I put an 'x' by it when it's completed, and it's taped right in front of my on my desk.  The kids have input whether they want to do their writing assignments first, or history, or art, and it doesn't matter!  I love homeschooling.  I adore the flexibility it brings! Speaking of our Science Fair.....that is coming up fast!  It's next Tuesday, the 3rd, from 4-6 PM.  It will be in a local library's meeting room, and open to all the kids in our homeschool group!  Should be a big one. Jack is doing an experiment called "Dancing Raisins".  You fill a large glass (or vase, if I can find one) with clear pop, like 7-Up.  Then you add a couple raisins.....5 or so, depending on how big the glass is.  Watch them dance up and down!  They immediately fall to the bottom, because they are more dense (weigh more) than the pop.  BUT...the carbon dioxide bubbles in the pop move around and attach to the raisin, and raise it up!  It floats to the top, the bubbles pop, the raisin falls back down, and it is repeated over and over.  We'll probably do some tests with colored pop, flat pop, warm pop versus cold pop, trying to put a penny in it, etc. Ben is doing one on static electricity and Rice Krispies.  You put some Rice Krispies on the table.  Then you put a plexiglass (raised by two blocks on the sides) over the cereal.  You rub a wool cloth or sweater over the plexiglass, and watch the cereal jump up and down!  It's pretty neat.  We'll probably try this with different cereals, and vary the distance of the plexiglass.  My sister and her kids, and my parents are all coming to the Science Fair.  I can't wait!!!  It will be very simple, not a lot of words or pictures, since they are still quite young, but it'll be a good experience for them, I think. Well, it's very late here and I should get going to bed.  I really wanted to start posting again more, and especially to make that "1000 Gifts" post.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/739922/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/739922/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Today our homeschool group went on a tour of Hammond's Candy Factory!  We had been there a year ago, but the kids didn't remember it.  It was fun to go again!  They have a long step in front of the window for the little ones to step up and see what's going on.  No secret ingredient to their candies, we found out.  Just corn syrup, sugar and candy, boiled to 330 degrees!  Add different flavor and colorings, and voila! We saw them pour it onto the table, spread it out, put it on a puller and stretch it, make ropes for candy canes and ribbon candy, cut it into pieces, and even package it all up!  We all got free pieces of vanilla sugar sticks, a piece of taffy, and extra large candy canes.  Can you say 'sugar high!'  lol  None of the kids took a nap today, needless to say.  Kate finally just crashed in my arms as I'm typing this story, and it's 6PM!  Here are some pictures from our tour! Jack taking his free piece of taffy, right when you come in the door!  Stepping up to see through the window, looking at all the workers! A guy shaping a huge piece of rolled candy Candy in "the puller" Free vanilla sugar sticks! The tour guide was showing us where to get our free candy canes In the gift shop The kids and I! We also celebrated the first day of fall!  It's a tradition we've done for the last 3 or 4 years now.....we color different kinds of fall leaves, cut them out, and tape them to the front living room window!  When October comes, each of the kids gets to color their own pumpkin, and we'll tape them to the bottom of the window, under the leaves. Meg's pink leaf! Jack busy coloring Ben colored a brown one! All the kiddos working hard Kate pondering something! All done and taped up! SMILE! Meg (3 1/2), Jack (5), Kate (1 1/2) and Ben (6) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/729490/ Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/729490/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Today we had our first homeschool co-op class! Just to explain in case you are confused........... There are two parts to our local homeschooling group.  The first part is your basic playdates at the park, talking online and getting support, advice and ideas from other homeschooling moms in your group, field trips, etc. Then, if you want to take it a step further, you can enroll in co-op classes.  It's optional, and adds more things to your schedule, but well worth it.  We didn't do it over the summer, but are doing it this fall.  I think they basically do it 3 times a year.  Summer, fall/winter and winter/spring. Co-op is free.  In order to enroll your child in any classes or activities, you need to lead one yourself!  It can be learning about schoolwork, a field trip, or just getting together and doing something fun.  Since this is all new to me, I opted to host something 'fun'.  I opened a Christmas Cookie Decorating co-op on December 15th.  (Off the topic, but only 1 family signed up!  Haha!!  My listing was on the 2nd page, and not many of the 2nd pages classes were chosen.  My sister is coming over with her 3 kids on that day as a pity slot!  lol) Anyway, people post different classes, what it's about, and the age restrictions.  In a couple posts ago, I wrote exactly what I signed the kids up for. Today was just for Ben!  It was called "Grammar Games".  They learned all about synonyms and antonyms, alliteration, onomatopoeia's and homonyms.  Whew!  It was held at one of the local libraries, in a meeting room. He had a blast!  I explained to him ahead of time that I might have to leave and just keep checking in on him, because it would be really really boring for Jack, Meg and Kate, and hard for them to sit there for 2 hours and be quiet!  lol  I was right.  I stayed for about 15 minutes and that's all the other 3 could take.  So we left the room and went into the children's section.  They loved that!  They played with some table games, read books, and just entertained themselves.  We kept going back every 20 minutes or so to check in on Ben.  He was doing just great! There was a lot more writing involved than the teacher had said, and that worried me, but Ben actually did fine.  There was another 6 year old boy across from him who couldn't write many words at all, so it made me feel better.  The class was for ages 6 and up, and there was even a 10 year old in the group!  So I was concerned Ben would be a little over his head, but I think it's also good for him to be around kids of all ages.  Definitely not something he would get in a traditional school!! It was a hectic day though, because we had taken yesterday off for Labor Day, and then we had to get all of our school in this morning before lunch!  Co-op was 2 hours long in the afternoon.  Then we came home and only took a 30 minute nap before Daddy got home, and then we had to go run an errand!  Whew!!  Luckily, we don't have anything 'extra' planned for tomorrow, so we'll be able to resume a more relaxed pace. Here are some pictures from today! The teacher was reading books about each specific type of grammar they were learning about. Ben is in the yellow shirt in the middle. The rest of the group played so nicely in the Children's area! Jack read books to himself. Meg read books too! Kate even looked through books!  I'm so glad they all love being read to. When I came back to check on Ben, they were all writing examples of alliteration on their paper. Hard at work! Alliteration is words that all start with the same letter.  He didn't get time to finish all of it though. They wrote their names and then had to think of 2 words for each letter! BEN B - Basketball, ball E - Eat, eels He really had a lot of fun, and felt like such a grown-up little guy!  I was glad too, because it gives him a great chance to socialize with kids of ALL ages and families.  Also, I love that he knows how to respect other teachers besides mommy.  That's important too!  I probably wouldn't have thought to teach them this kind of grammar stuff at this age either, so it's good for them all to be learning so much!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/725240/ Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:09:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/725240/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." So, Meg is 3 and I don't really do too much school with her.  She picks up quite a bit, but I don't push her like I sometimes push the boys.  I would rather sit and read with her, do puzzles, play with dolls, and things like that. She knows all of her shapes (well, the common ones), her colors, and numbers.  But letters aren't her strongest point. She found some alphabet flashcards and really wanted to do them, so we sat in a chair together and I started flipping through them. Me: (showing the letter B) Meg, what letter is this? Meg:  E? Me:  No, not quite.  Which letter is this? Meg:  B! Me: (surprised) Yes!!  Great job, Meg!! Me: (showing the letter P) Meg, what letter is this? Meg: B!  Me:  No.....close.  What letter is this? Meg:  P! Me: Yes!!!! Me: (showing the letter E) What letter is this one? Meg:  B! Me:  No, we already did that one.  This is a new one.  What letter is this? Meg:  E? Me:  Yes! Me: (showing the letter J) Meg, what letter is this? Meg: B! Me:  No, try again.  What letter is this? Meg:  E!  Me:  Hhmm.  No, not quite.  Do you think you know what this letter is, or should I tell you? Meg:  (opens her eyes wide and smiles) I know!  I know! Me:  Okay, what is it? Meg:  B! Me:  ............. Meg:  E? Me:  ............ Meg:  No, it's B! Me:  Meg, we JUST did B and E, so it's not either of those.  Can you think of which letter it might be? Meg: (whispering)  That letter means the snow is coming! Me:  (totally confused)  What????? Meg:  It's E! Me:  Actually, it's J.  Okay, I think we're done for today.  Good job, Meg! I think I'll stick with my first instinct and save the flashcards for when she's older.  LOL http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723973/ Fri, 4 Sep 2009 15:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723973/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." To all you homeschooling moms out there.....you probably know what I'm talking about.  The dryer is buzzing, the boys are wrestling and the girls are getting into your makeup.  You announce it's time to do some school and try to get everyone's attention! Ahh....finally.  The boys are sitting down at the table, trying to do their math homework.  It seems like they both have questions at the same time, and you are trying to answer them, fold laundry, and make sure they are using correct penmanship.  The toddler is crying because she wants to be held, and the preschooler - who WAS nicely coloring at her little desk - is now coloring on the basement concrete floor, and has marker on her legs. So, what do you do with your little ones??? I feel blessed that days like those are rare. Most of the time I can do short bits of school here and there, and keep them all mostly occupied.  But some days are difficult, no doubt!  I am glad the little ones love me and just want to be near us, and are interested in school, but some days it feels more like a distraction than a blessing! I was thinking about getting a big blanket just for my girls.  I would lay it out and they would have special toys just for those times, when everything is happening all at once. I think I should be more consistent about doing Circle Time at the start of the day too, so that they are included in our school more, and feel like they have learned and contributed and feel special.  Then maybe they wouldn't think they 'need' me so much while I'm working with the older boys?  I'm open to any suggestions, and tips that you do! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723821/ Fri, 4 Sep 2009 01:57:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723821/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The kids are enjoying the new and improved school room so much!  It's fun to be in there, and everyone can do their own thing.  Here are some pictures from the other day! Jack doing his math homework. Meg was tracing her name into a notebook and drawing shapes. Kate was looking at books on her little couch. Ben was starting to read a "Young Scientist" book. This is my FAVORITE picture!  All 4 of them were being quiet, learning and having fun.  It was so nice!! Jack was so happy to do school work! Ben was reading books to his sisters, and did a great job! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723598/ Thu, 3 Sep 2009 12:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/723598/ John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." I desperately needed to clean and reorganize my school room.  It was all clean before, but never truly organized.  At least, not the way I wanted it to be in my head.  We had boxes and boxes of craft and school things given to us by various people, and Justin brought them all downstairs from the garage.  We were given a free computer, but that took up their whole school table, which I never liked.  I wanted my table back!!!  So we had to come up with a new table just for the computer.  It was almost frustrating, because the cleaner I got the room, the more time the kids wanted to spend in it!  LOL  Meg sat at her little plastic desk (next to the school table) and said, "Okay Mommy, I'm ready to learn!!"  How cute.  Jack immediately sat down and started reading books, while Ben worked on puzzles at the table.  Each one of them were completely occupied, quiet, learning and having FUN!  It was nice to see......just NOT while I'm trying to clean!  Haha!!  It will be so nice to actually have our school room back again. It's not completely done, but it's a HUGE start!  My sister loves organizing things, so she came over and spent the whole afternoon at our house.  She left around 5:30, and I kept going all night long!!!  I probably unpacked at least 6 boxes of books, games, school kits, puzzles, etc.  I have 3 more boxes to go, but I'm happy! Here are some pictures to show how much we accomplished today!  (I'll split them up, so you can see the before and after side-by-side.) BEFORE AFTER! (Computer area and clean table!) BEFORE AFTER! (Reading corner/Circle Time) BEFORE AFTER! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/722366/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thesuparats/722366/