I don't think I've mentioned how much we're enjoying chemistry this year.  We follow The Well Trained Mind's recommendation of four-year science and history cycles.  This year's science cycle is chemistry.  The word "chemistry" can certainly be intimidating, but choosing good materials and being sure to have f-u-n is making chemistry turn into nothing more than pure joy this year. 

We've just finished Unit 1 from Christian Kids Explore Chemistry.  I've waited to say much about it because I really wanted to be sure it was working before I made any comments.  I'm so glad to report that it is working!  After one unit (five lessons, I think) my children have already been introduced to some very big concepts (biochemistry, elements, mixtures, compounds, periodic table) AND they are understanding it!  The book seems to move slowly, but I'm finding out that it's very deliberate - to concrete the concepts before moving on.  And concrete it has - both of my big kids scored 100% on their unit test.  :o)

My children like experiments that "wow" them.  Christian Kids Explore Chemistry hasn't quite done that - yet anyway.  So I've got a few books around the house with easy chemistry experiments for them to try on their own.  Solids, Liquids and Gases, Science in a Bottle, and Chemistry for Every Kid.

When we're finished with Christian Kids Explore Chemistry.  I plan to review several of the ideas using Kitchen Chemisty.  It's full of simple and fun experiments that cover similar topics we will have learned through the year. 

Earlier this week, we completed a periodic table scavenger hunt created by Makita.  The purpose was to help my children become familiar with the elements and their symbols - and what a fun way to do it.  Thanks, Makita!

Now that I know I really like what we're doing for chemistry, I'll try to share more of our activities.  I think we're making protons during the next lesson!

That's what we did yesterday!  All in the name of nature study, of course.  :o)  With some of Dad's older socks (one white pair and one dark pair) the kids were instructed to run through as many fields, patches of weeds, fence rows - whatever they could find - and then come back home in ten minutes time. 

Before

After

They took some time to remove as many different seeds and such that they could find and observed each one of them under a magnifying glass.  After talking a bit about this method of seed dispersal, they completed a notebooking page on their finds. 

Art study was in the form of an art club meeting this afternoon.  Kim had all sorts planned for the children.  They learned a ton AND had great fun.  Thanks, Mrs. Kim!

I just want to share a few "new to me" curriculum choices that are better than I expected this year....

Spelling Power and SpellingTime.com

We ditched all other spelling programs I was considering.  Spelling has been one of those subjects for which I've never quite found the perfect fit.  Spelling Power is helping me to quickly identify Mahayla's spelling needs, without wasting time on words she already knows.  I'll probably begin using this with Caleb soon, too, but right now he's enjoying (and learning from) SpellingTime.com.  I have a free year-long subscription for a review I did, but I'll consider actually paying for it next year if it keeps Caleb as motivated as he's been so far.

Easy Grammar

Wow!  This curriculum does an excellent job of teaching the parts of a sentence.  Mahayla's only completed 15-20 lessons so far, but is already leaps and bounds further in her understanding than any other curriculum has taken her.

Operation: English Grammar Lapbook

Mahayla completes one lapbook activity a week.  We're enjoying learning grammar rules in such an in-depth and fun way!

Right Track Reading

I don't follow this book as scripted, but it's been a wonderful resource for introducing Caleb to phonics rules, letter sounds and irregularities in a systematic way.  We've been taking one lesson a day and working through the day's new rule on the white board.  I can tell a big difference in his ability to decode during reading and think through how words might be spelled based on what he's learned.

That's it for now.  It's been nice to find a few great products for some of the subjects that have given me frustration over the years!

Today was a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L day in Central KY!  We took advantage of the perfect afternoon with a nature walk, um ride, to gather hedge apples and black walnuts.

Hedge apples are supposed to keep spiders away.  In fact, hedgeapple.com claims these pretty green fruits might keep other insects away as well.  This batch was collected for my MIL, who swears by their effectiveness.  I'll probably gather some for myself soon to place in the basement.

After a litte encouragement from Nikki, we decided to collect several bags of the black walnuts that are abundantly falling all over the farm.  I'm hoping to be able to freeze several quart bags full for the year's baking.  (I'm finding in hard to be able to afford nuts in the store these days!)  I'll be sure to let you know how easy/hard the harvesting process is (for us anyway.) 

The top picture is of my two big kids waiting for their ride home.  And in the bottom picture, little man is on his way to pick up those big kids.  By the way, if you live close, you're welcome to come take your own nature trek for hedge apples or walnuts.  We have plenty.

What's good about living on a gravel road in a drought?  This....

The same child (who wants to be anonymous) made me an early birthday present.  It's a new broom made from alfalfa hay.  It leaves the most lovely covering of alfalfa leaves on my porch as I sweep. 

This week's Fine Arts Tuesday finished our study of Monet.  I've love his work and could probably spend many more weeks with him as our focus, but it's time to move on. 

We've been finding and hearing lots of frogs around the farm lately, so a picture study using three of Monet's "Waterlillies" paintings seemed fitting.  Lucky for me, Candace recently did a study of Monet relating to frogs, so I stole borrowed her idea.  :) 

Using three different art mediums, the kids created their own waterlily ponds with a sweet little frog sitting right in the middle.  Pastels were used for the water.  Oils pastels were used for the frogs.  (We also used I Can Draw Animals to help us learn to draw frogs.)  And tempera thumbrints were used for the lily pads.

Nature study focused on oak trees.  Observing, noting details, doing a leaf rubbing and writing a bit of info about them from our Fandex Field Guide: Trees.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed a field trip the the Hopewell Museum where they offered a class on quilting (which fit in perfectly with our Colonial history unit!)

Hope you're having a great week!  Thanks to my three friends who came over to play yesterday!!

Remember the Field Trip Journals?  We're still using them this year and I couldn't be happier with them.  They are proving to make great writing assignments, and I'm finding the kids absolutely love looking through them for the memories.  I love to watch the kids sort through brochures, ticket stubs and pictures trying to decide what to include and how to organize the memories.  They're going to make wonderful keepsakes!

What's an eight-year-old boy to do when he's been told he has chores to finish before he watches tv AND his mom asks him to watch the toddler for a few minutes?  Well, tie the toddler to a leash and make him do your chores, what else? 

(The sad thing is - Eli LOVED this and giggled the whole time!)  Can you see Caleb's leash?  It's two belts buckled together.  Yes, I'm very proud of my creative son.  Thanks for asking.

Our nursery at church is lacking in toddler toys, so I put out a plea a few months ago for our church members to look around for free or cheap toys that would be good for adding to the nursery.

Luckily - or so I thought - one of the ladies at our church is the Family and Life Sciences teacher (aka - Home Ec).  She told me the board of education had decided to do away with the in-school nursery and they were willing to donate to the church whatever we'd like.  Score!  All we had to do was visit after school one day this week, pick out what we'd like and cart it away.  

Back up three or four months for a moment.  As I was deciding what to buy for this year's homeschooling curriculum, the God's Design for S*x Series kept calling to me.  Mahayla is soon to be 12, so that sort of talk needs to happen *sometime*.  So, I bought the first two books in the series.  When I got them, the first one was no biggie, but the second one was TOO. MUCH. INFORMATION.  I decided to place it on the shelf for a conversation way down the road.  Way down the road. 

Fast forward again to visiting the high school.  After loading up a wonderful haul of toddler toys and buckling ourselves in for a happy little ride to church - the conversation started.  The conversation. 

It all started so innocently, I just don't know how it ended up so....so....deep.  "Mom, why was there a nursery at the high school?"

Now, I know I could've said, "Oh, it was for the teacher's children."  That would've been the end of it, surely.  But I didn't want to lie.  You can imagine where the conversation led - teenagers having children, how that could happen when you aren't married......And then one of my sweet children kept pushing.  I tried really hard to give the normal "surface" answers.  I tried really hard to divert the conversation.  But this child wanted to know.  The. Whole. Story.

After a few deep breaths and some quick prayers, I told the whole story.  The. Whole. Story.  Among many giggles, wide eyes, "No ways", and "Grosses" we made it through. 

The next day, I decided the book that was way too much information before was now a perfect addition to our "learning" time.  Many more giggles (from kids and mom) later, I hope we are finished talking about this topic for a while.  I thanked the Lord that He led me to buy this book a few months ago, but next time, Dad gets to read it! 

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine sent out some freebie units not too long ago from Highlights of Homeschooling and one of them worked perfectly for our Pilgrims unit study.  It's called "The Mayflower Unit Study".   (Thank, Nancy, for helping find the authors.  And, WOW, the units are very affordable!)

This isn't the typical unit that we do around here, as it's very language arts led and didn't required much by way of hands-on projects.  Considering the in-depth project-based study we just completed and the very hands-on study I'm planning next, this change of pace was perfect.  And, as I'm always saying, it gave the kids a different experience, which I see as a positive thing.

Because the unit was short and simple, the explanation is, too.  The unit includes a short story from which all the activities and worksheets can be completed.  I gave the kids a notebook with all the reproducibles I expected them to complete and they were responsible for spreading the work out over a week's time.  The only restriction I gave was that the notebooks had to be turned (finished and neat) by Friday. 

We read library books about the Pilgrims (their voyage, their beliefs, their reasons for coming to America, their hardships and the Native Americans who helped them) daily to add other perspectives.  As usual, Mahayla had an assigned chapter book to read.  From the Dear America series, she read A Journey to the New World: A Diary of Remember Patience Whipple.  Because of the amount of writing involved with the regular unit, I gave her a break on doing a project to go along with the book.  She was grateful (to say the least), but thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Now we're on to a very in-depth, hands-on look at the Thirteen Colonies and life in Colonial Times.  I look forward to sharing all sorts of pictures and projects with you in a few weeks. 

Happy first full day of fall!  Today's Fine Arts Tuesday took us on a nature walk to look for signs of the new season.  I had planned to do a slide show of all the seeds, dried flowers, nuts and tinges of color we found, but *apparently* I still don't know how to take up-close pictures yet.  (insert eyes rolling)  A few pictures did turn out - notice that play is always part of nature study?

We took some clay along with us.  The kids were asked to sculpt one sign of autumn and make some sort of autumn print. 

We enjoyed reading during our walk so much a couple weeks ago, that we packed our blanket and tea time books (although no tea or snacks came along today.)

And to round out the day before heading off to a swimming (P.E.) party, we played Made For Trade to go along with the Colonial Life unit we're starting this week.  Our game box is a little battered, but buying it for 25 cents at a yard sale is worth taping up the box!

Has anyone ever harvested black walnuts for baking?  I'm interested to know if it's easy to do and worth the effort.  Oh, and if they taste good!  If so, next week's nature study may be collecting walnuts.  ;)

For those of you who know Melissa from blogging, consider yourselves blessed.  But, if you're lucky enough to know her in person, how much more blessed you are!  It was such a treat to spend time with her last week.  Not only that, she took on all three of my children while I spoke at the THINK meeting AND hosted us overnight so we didn't have to drive home late.  Thank you, Melissa.  I know I owe you one for sure!  (Toddlers who know how to escape out of the house are so much fun, aren't they??)

On our way home from Melissa's Wednesday morning, I spied a sign for Big Bone Lick State Park.  It had been so long since we'd been there, I decided to take an impromtu field trip.  This is a place where bison, mastadons, wooly mammoths and the like came for salt many years ago.  Of course, that means Native Americans and explorers found their way to the area as well.  We even found (and smelled) a sulphur water spring that became a supposed "healing water" hot spot in the early 1800's.  If you can't tell, the water is almost a creamy white coming out of the spring.

Answers in Genesis has really helped me to be prepared to speak to my children about "millions of years" when we're at a place like Big Bone.  Nearly everything we read talked about the animals roaming the land 300 million years ago, when SO MUCH proof was right in front of our eyes that pointed to a world-wide flood.  Imagine, they found fossils of sea-like creatures smack-dab in the middle of Kentucky??  Imagine, large deposits of salt were found in Kentucky??  I'm so proud that my children can point out the obvious.  They do listen to me! 

Notice the tape measure in the two pictures above.  Caleb just happened to bring along a tape measure and binoculars on our trip.  When I asked him why in the world he would have packed those things (not having a clue we were going to do any sort of nature study), he said, "Well, you never know when they might come in handy."  Indeed they did!  :)  (I wonder what else he had packed!!)

We were again blessed later in the week when my parents took care of the kiddos and hosted us overnight so I could talk at the CACH meeting.  On Friday, we were able to talk my Dad into a tour of the lab in the hospital where he works.  We're studying chemistry this year and seeing all the lab equipment, chemists and live "experiments" in person turned out to be a great visual for the kids.  (My dad used to be the lab manager and I remember spending many a day watching all the lab techs do their work.  I only wish the lab were as safe now as it was then.  I was probably over-protective, but I didn't want to take any chances with all the lovely things hospitals deal with now-a-days.)

The coolest part by far was the pathology area.  The pathologist was in and gave the kids an awesome look into his world.  We watched him dissect gall bladders, tonsils, colon polyps, knee shavings and more.  He even offered the kids a chance to open up a gall bladder.  I think the picture below shows their answer best.

Okay, so I might not have a pathologist in the family, or a med tech, or anyone who goes remotely near a hospital on purpose.  God knows what He has in store for them and I'm excited to see what awaits! 

We had a busy week, but it was a good one!  And by the way, Happy Birthday, Daddy!! 

And thank you VERY much THINK and CACH for allowing me to come visit with your groups.  You are both full of very friendly and encouraging ladies (and gentlemen.)  It was a complete joy for me to share my heart with you.  :o)

Last week's fine art Tuesday was so much fun for the kids - while short and simple for me!  I asked them to collect items from nature that could be used to create animals or people.  When they got home, I simply gave them a hot glue gun, turned on some Beethoven (our current composer) and left them to use their imaginations.  Take a look at some of their creations. 

In preparing to speak to the THINK and CACH homeschool support goups this week, I haven't had (and probably won't have) much time to blog.  I'm very excited about both of these meetings because I get to see a few long lost homeschooling friends AND meet a few blogging friends!  Not to mention, I get to visit with Melissa since one of the meetings is in her neck of the woods!  :o)

Before I sign off for a few days, though, I thought I'd leave you with another Eli post.  Toddlers make for great writing material!  He's just  20 months old.  You might think that's too young to be a coniving little stinker, but I'm here to prove you wrong.....

He and I walked into the office where he had overturned a chair. 

Him:  (Pointing ) Oh!  (means: uh-oh)

Me:  Oh, no!  Who did that?

Him:  (without hesitation or batting an eye)  Bubby.

Me:  No, Caleb didn't do it.  Who did it?

Him:  (again, without hesitation)  Thithee. (sissy)

Me:  No, Mahayla didn't do it.  Who did it?

Him:  Daddy.

Me:  No, Daddy didn't do it.  Mommy thinks Eli did it.  Did Eli do it?

Him:  (covering his eyes thinking I can't see him)

Me:  Eli, did you knock over the chair?

Him:  (smiling a devilish little grin with his head tilted and eyelashes batting)  Uh-huh.  (in a joyful sing-song voice) 

Boy, am I in trouble.

The walnut trees are beginning to change colors and drop leaves in Kentucky already.  While they're still full of nuts, I wanted our nature study time this week to focus on these trees.  (Side note:  Have you visited Homeschool Launch?  I recently set up an account to share my homeschool files and found that it's a treasure chest of printables and activities created by homeschool moms willing to share their "stuff"!  I found this notebooking page on Sheri's page at Homeschool Launch.  Thanks, Sheri!)

Mahayla made some Apple Cinnamon Muffins that we took on the road for a modified tea time.  After notebooking pages were filled out using info from the Trees Fandex Field Guide, I read a book about our current artisit - Monet - and a book about our current composer - Beethoven.

Back at home, the kids tried their hands at  Monet's Impressionist-style outdoor art.  They both found interesting places to sit and paint. 

Beethoven's Symphony #3 is our listening piece of the week.  Something about classical music playing during work time really keeps them focused and peaceful.  Hmmm....I may pipe classical music through the house at all hours of the day!

I suppose this is what I get for going back on a promise to myself.  After canning well over 200 quarts of veggies and freezing over 30 gallon bags of fruits and veggies, I decided I was done.  Finished.  No More.  I made a promise to myself and let everyone in the house know that I WAS NOT canning or freezing anything else this year. 

Then came a great big bag of free apples.  I certainly couldn't turn away a great big free bag of apples.  And, hey, why not add one more staple to the pantry shelf while trying my hand at a new canning skill - applesauce??

According to the canning recipe, I had just the 21 pounds of apples needed to make a canner load of seven quarts.  That big ol' bag didn't seem like it would be too hard to cut, core and slice, UNTIL an hour and a half later when I was finishing the last few.  Cooking the slices until soft didn't seem like it would take a long time, UNTIL 45 minutes later when I was still stirring the 12 quart cooking pot full of sliced apples.  And sending the apples through the food mill didn't seem like a daunting task, UNTIL I nearly pulled a muscle trying to get a teaspoon of sauce to come out. 

After pulling out the blender (plan B) and finally having a sauce resembling what I buy in the store, I was excited to know that I was almost there.  Applesauce, here we come.  Only 2 hours and 45 had passed!  (insert eyes rolling) 

Would you like to see the fruit of all my afternoon labors?

Yep, four quarts.  Only FOUR quarts!  In all, including the canning process, I spent almost FOUR hours canning FOUR quarts of applesauce!   I'm considering this a lesson learned.  I imagine I'll appreciate the 99 cent cans of applesauce I buy from Save-A-Lot a lot more, too.  ;)

I've been waiting a long time to become a mommy.  Up until now, I've been a mama.  Don't get me wrong, I love being a mama, but there's just something extra-special about being a mommy.  :o)  This weekend, that sweet word started rolling out of Eli's mouth and I just can't get enough of it!

"Dada" became "daddy" a couple of weeks ago.  Caleb has been "bubby" for a while now.  And Mahayla has been "thithee" (sissy) for a very long time.  I've been waiting patiently be called "mommy".  Listen for yourself and tell me it isn't precious!

Our Native American unit was a tad more independent than most units we've done in the past.  I'm trying to allow Mahayla to take on the freedom in learning that she desires, while pushing Caleb toward taking more responsibility for his learning.

Each day's study started out with all of us reading something about Native Americans together - either fiction or nonfiction.  Then, we'd try our hand at a game, craft or cooking project that I found in two of the main books I used for ideas -

Native Americans Thematic Unit

Native Americans Cooperative Learning Activities

Finally, they had research and project time.  Each of them chose a tribe to research.  Their assignment was to create an information board and at least a model of the tribe's typical home.  They were encouraged to complete other models or things to show during their presentations.  I was knocked out by their presentations this time around!  They "get" it this year.  After me holding their hands and giving more than a fair share of suggestions last year, they took the reigns wonderfully this year. 

Mahayla studied the Shawnee tribe.  She had all sorts of maps, population charts, facts, and such on her backboard (which was made from a diaper box.)  She had created games to teach us Shawnee words, typical foods they ate and gave us a Native American quiz.  She also prepared some authentic cornbread to share with us and passed around some arrowheads and stone tools we have found on our farms over the years.  Her model home site was very detailed, including a woven rug, a fire, a cross section of the chief's home, a river beside a forest and even a coiled clay pot full of vegetables.  If I gave grades, an A+ would have been in order!

Caleb studies the Cherokee tribe.  I helped him research on the internet and in a few library books.  Together, we talked about what might make a good backboard and model home site.  I helped him make copies of maps and such.  He looked over big sis' shoulder several times over the two weeks to get "ideas" for his project.  Of course, sis and I had to talk about how he was simply looking up to her as a model for excellent work and she should be proud that he wanted to share her ideas!  In time, I'm sure all his ideas will be his own.  (He's only eight!)  One of my favorite parts of his presentations was the display of Cherokee foods.  He would tie each example to a string and pull it up from behind the display board (in very dramatic fashion, I might add.)  By the way, he wasn't mad in the picture below.  He was pretending to be a strong and gruff chief.  :)

Mahayla's assigned reading for this unit was The Double Life of Pocahontas.  The activity that went along with the book was to write a blog entry sharing her reactions.  Finding out the "real" story of Pocahontas (as compared to the Disney version) was very unsettling to her and she gave the book a poor review.  Oh well, real life isn't always as glamorous as the movies, and I suppose that's the biggest learning experience!

Two of our favorite picture books from the unit were:

Pocahontas

The Rough-Face Girl

Next week, we're off to a quick study of the Pilgrims before heading to a very in-depth unit on Colonial Life.  I love history (now that I'm living it with my children!)

I recently received TWO wonderful bloggy awards!  Shanna from Learning at His Feet has passed on the Smile Award to me.  Life is so much happier with smiles, and I'm very glad to know that I've made at least one person smile through this blog!  :o)  And just for the record, Shanna's blog makes me smile, too! 

(The award was created by The Babblings of Mere and you can find the rules and such for the award here.)

And Michele of My Blessings From Above passed on the I Love Your Blog Award.  Well, who doesn't like hearing that??  I think she already knows that I love her blog just as much!

Thanks so much both of you sweet gals!  For both awards, I'm supposed to pass them on to others.  I may find the time to do that very soon, but for the time being, I'm - um - swamped (again!)  Imagine, me being overloaded!  Farm life, a toddler, homeschooling, a toddler, a couple of speaking engagements, a toddler, church responsibilities and.... a toddler are keeping me busy.  Farming is slowing down (thank you, Lord!), so hubby will hopefully be around more to help out with things like....the toddler!  :o)

Fine Arts Tuesday was another hit this week.  I don't think any of us are going to get tired of it anytime soon!

Early morning nature study was a summer scavenger hunt made by Amanda at Hearts and Trees.  Thanks, Amanda!  We were able to check off everything except a ladybug.  :o)

Art and classical music were combined this week.  I've done this activity with the kiddos before, but was reminded about it at Barb's previous blog earlier in the summer.  It's a fun way to really listen to classical music.  Basically, you play a piece and let the children use whatever art medium they like to express the feelings evoked in the music.  We chose to use watercolors and listen to several compositions from Beethoven.  The kids did some pieces of art using lines only - long, fat lines that swirled for slow parts of the music and happy colored, choppy splotches when the music picked up the pace.  Other times, they painted pictures that showed the feeling of the music.  My favorite of these was Caleb's picture below.  The blurs are supposed to be Tom and Jerry in the middle of a chase!  :o)

Finally, tea time was later in the day than usual, so we decided to have a muffin tin tea/lunch.  This type of lunch isn't just for wee ones - even my hubby took part in the fun!

Oh, I almost forgot - our Book of the Month Club started this week, too.  Mrs. Lisa gave each of the children a cloth bag to decorate as a kickoff craft.