Our Homeschool Journal: Enjoying Fall

October 12, 2012 | By Heidi

I just love fall!  We’re enjoying everything autumn while we can…it seems to fly by in Maine and then winter arrives!  Of course there’s lots of raking and jumping:

Raking and Jumping

In our homeschool this week…

In RSO Biology we continued our study of animals and learned about echinoderms.  The lab using a banana peel to explain their shape turned breakfast into science class!

Banan Peel Echinoderms at Breakfast

I’m thankful again for our experiences at the ocean this summer because as we’re learning I can remind them of the real creatures we saw.

My daughter and I are really enjoying WriteShop Junior D.  I need to post a full review soon–it’s one of my best curriculum finds to date.  As we were finishing lesson 2 this week one of the publishing options for her humorous story was to make it into a comic.  We used a printable comic template and she’s been working hard on speech bubbles and character drawings!

Donna Young and her incredible site is my favorite resource this week.  I benefited from her free printables three times this week: once for the comic template, once for a monthly calendar, and lastly for a page with a blank top for illustrating and lines below for writing.  And she had that one with lines in varying sizes so I could find one for both of my kids.

Places we went and people we saw…

We finished with Brazil at geography club this week.  We’ve learned a lot about this country in a fun way.   Topics covered at the meetings have included the history, geography, landmarks, animals and language of Brazil.  We’ve played games, made Carnival masks, and tried foods from the country.  I’m so glad we found homeschool friends and are able to get together regularly.  It’s a sanity saver, and when we combine the socialization for kids and adults with learning opportunities it’s a double bonus!

My favorite thing this week was…

Fall is perfect hiking weather because it is isn’t hot or buggy, and the views with changing leaves are breathtaking.  We headed to Acadia National Park for our longest hiking excursion yet and had a terrific time.  First off we went up Flying Mountain to take in the views of Somes Sound and offshore islands.  The hike itself wasn’t very long, but did involve a bit of actual climbing up and over rocks.  My kids thought this was very exciting.

Flying Mountain Hike

The hike was not long, so we had lots of exploring time at Valley Cove.  This hermit crab became a nature study topic:

Hermit Crab

He (and dozens of his friends) fascinated my kids.  He looks quite irritated with me, doesn’t he?  The homeschool mom in me couldn’t help but point out that he is an Arthropod just like insects.  Crustaceans are like the insects of the ocean!  They loved the idea of him looking around for discarded shells.  I rounded it out at home with a couple library books as their interest continued:  The Crab on the Seashore & Eric Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab for fun.

I’d been mistaken and told the kids we’d be seeing a waterfall, which although in Valley Cove is actually on a different hike.  When we finished the first hike everyone was willing to try the second, so off we went.  The historic information I read spurred me on: the waterfall is called Man O’ War Brook waterfall because British war ships used Valley Cove for shelter and would replenish their drinking water using the falls.  What a great story, and though the waterfall is small it was well worth the effort to get there.

Man of War Brook Waterfall

Things I’m working on…

I’m still working on our family mission statement and a revamp of our chore system.  We’ve had a lot of great discussions about our family and household this week.  The overriding goal for me right now: do the best I can to use my time wisely, keep my priorities in proper order, and retain the joy in the process.  Lofty goals, I know!

I’m reading…

My current reading goes along with those goals.  I finally finished For the Children’s Sake.  It’s a meaty book and I want to add it to my bookshelf so I have it to read over again periodically.  I am more convinced that Charlotte Mason is a match for our style in many ways, and understanding that helps me make decisions about where to focus our time and energy.  Up next for me is a collection of ebooks I purchased in a benefit sale this week.  I’m excited to dig in because many of the ebooks relate to getting it all done (time management, freezer cooking, cleaning) and enjoying life, too.

Our family continues with Treasure Island and On the Banks of Plum Creek.  There were so many cries for “you can’t stop reading there!” this week that I wish we could just read all day.  They’re both great stories.  My daughter is still reading Poppy by Avi for her library book club, and now Little House by Boston Bay (about Laura Ingalls’ Grandmother) by Melissa Wiley.

A photo to share…

I love playing Bananagrams with my daughter.  We enjoy Scrabble, but since my son is too young to play it’s hard to fit in long games that don’t include him.  Bananagrams is short so it’s easier to fit in.  We also love just playing with the tiles.  Frequently I’ll give my daughter a theme and she can use all the letters to make intersecting words about that theme.  This week called for a “fall” theme.

Another Use for Banangrams Tiles

In case you missed it…

Yesterday I posted 10 fall arts and crafts ideas.  Making things with my kids aligns with my goal of keeping joy in our journey!

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays.

Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Favorite Resource This Week

Posted in Journal

10 Crafts & Art Projects to Enjoy For Fall

October 11, 2012 | By Heidi

We’re deep into fall here in Maine: the leaves are brilliant and the air is crisp!  I love fall and one of the ways we savor it is with crafts and art projects.  There’s the beauty of autumn to celebrate, along with Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Making things is a way to slow down and enjoy the season and holidays.  It’s great for fine motor coordination and creativity…and it’s just plain fun!  Here are some projects we’ve done, and some we hope to do this year:

Fall:

1. Fabric pumpkins: We all enjoyed sewing these adorable pumpkins last year.  They’re easy and make perfect decorations to tuck in here and there or give as a gift.  The only thing we changed was using a rolled up piece of brown felt as the stem.

Fabric Pumpkins

2. Acorn cupcakes: We made these cupcakes topped with a Hershey Kiss and Nilla Wafer acorn at a “Mommy and Me” cupcake decorating class in our town–they were cute, delicious, and easy!

3. Tricia from Hodgepodge generously shares many free pastel tutorials.  We already tried our hands at the chalk pastel apple, and the tutorial for a fall tree looks beautiful, too.

Chalk Pastel Apple

4. Art Projects for Kids has several good tutorials to help celebrate the beauty of the season:  how to draw a fall tree (my daughter used the easy instructions for drawing a tree’s basic shape last year), how to draw a pumpkin, and my must-do for this year, a scarecrow portrait using Sharpie markers, crayons and watercolors.

Halloween:

5. We made these recycled jar jack-o-lantern luminaries last year with a little Mod Podge (love that stuff!) and tissue paper.

Recycled Jar Jack-o-Lantern Luminaries

6. Bat mobile: This year I want to sew this more-goofy-than-spooky bat mobile.  These will be so cute hanging around the house!

7. Making mini pumpkins from acorns is a must this year–they’ll be perfect for my daughter to use to decorate her wooden doll house.  (Be sure to read the comments on that craft about checking your acorns for insects!)

8. My kids love pop-up cards so these haunted house pop-up cards are a perfect project for a quiet afternoon.

Thanksgiving:

9. These wooden turkeys made from a 2×4 may be our cutest Thanksgiving project yet.  It took a few days to finish and left lots of room to personalize.  You use scrap lumber (mine wasn’t actually a 2×4, but a 1×4), popsicle sticks and a paint stick.

Wooden Turkey Craft

10. Oreo turkey pops don’t even require real cooking.  Some day I want to try making cake pops, but these are darn cute and way easier.

Check out my Fall Arts & Crafts board on Pinterest for more ideas. 

Too many crafts, too little time!

 

 

Posted in Crafts & Art Projects

Our Homeschool Journal: Celebrating a Birthday

October 5, 2012 | By Heidi

This week my baby boy turned seven.  Considering his current tank obsession much of our celebrating revolved around tanks.  I made little tank cakes, and his gifts included many tank-related items.  His fascination with tanks is completely self-driven, and we just supply the tools.  He can rattle off the names of tanks, which country used them and in which war.  He’s learning so much and he’s proud of his expertise.  It’s a joy to watch our children develop into such unique individuals!

Tank Birthday Celebration

In our homeschool this week…

The three R’s rolled along smoothly (hooray!), but with scheduled events and a birthday celebration we didn’t accomplish a lot of extras.  A little history (a great book called Old Ironsides: Americans Build a Fighting Ship), a little nature study (we found grubs, the larval form of Japanese Beetles that are wreaking havoc on lawns), reading aloud, and preparing for our weekly geography club (we learned about rainforest animals).

I am inspired by…and therefore am working on…

Colleen at Raising Lifelong Learners wrote a great series of posts on a “Back to Basics” approach to family life and homeschooling.  I enjoyed all of the posts, and plan to implement many of her ideas.

Step 1: a family mission statement.  I pored over her ideas and also posts from Simple Mom and Confessions of a Homeschooler (she has a pretty printable one) and have been discussing it with my family.  My boys (both my son and my husband) like to crack jokes during serious discussions, but I’m going to persevere and get ideas from everyone to include in our mission statement.  Coupling this with a revamp of our chore chart (inspired by Mary) and Colleen’s plan for Easy Discipline (earn an extra chore to make it up to the family) and I’m hoping things will run a little more smoothly in our home.  Or at least I’ll nag less and the bathroom counters will get wiped down more often!

Places we went and people we saw…

We had many of our scheduled events this week: library book club, Cub Scouts, piano lesson, Geography Club, and a homeschool group playground meeting.  Dentist appointments filled up an entire afternoon.  Add to that celebrating a big boy turning seven and we had a very full week!

My favorite thing this week was…

The morning of my son’s birthday as we sat working on building a tank I heard the bus coming.  I yelled, “Oh no!  You’re going to miss your bus!”  He played along and pretended to run to the door.  We both grinned and realized how happy we were to be together.  And perhaps he was happy for the no-schoolwork-on-your-birthday rule.

My favorite resource this week is completely working for us!

Teaching Textbooks.  One week into it my daughter and I both love it.  You can read my full post on our curriculum change from Khan Academy to Teaching Textbooks here.

We’re reading…

Still the same books! I am moving through For the Children’s Sake slowly–partly because I don’t have much reading time for myself, and also because I read it slowly, going back over sections that are especially applicable to our homeschool.

We’re well into the voyage to Treasure Island, and I’ll share a picture of a little cheat sheet I made for us to keep the characters straight.  My son has an especially hard time remembering names so I made this character map with stick figures to remember who was who.  No laughing.

Treasure Island Character Map

I’m grateful for…

Our healthy baby boy born seven years ago, who tells me I’m the best mommy.

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Favorite Resource This Week

Posted in Journal

Our Switch to Teaching Textbooks

October 5, 2012 | By Heidi

I mentioned in last week’s journal that we had to make a curriculum change already in math, from Khan Academy to Teaching Textbooks.  If you’re interested in the long version of that story, here goes:

I did not struggle with math in school.  Not that it was a subject I enjoyed, but it wasn’t difficult for me to do well in school.  My daughter is the same.  No struggles, but no great love either.

Enter homeschooling.  I did lots of research and chose Singapore Math and we slogged through for months.  I disliked preparing my lesson, and consistently found I am not a good math teacher.  I know the information and understand it, but fumble when trying to explain it.  My daughter hated doing pages of workbook problems, and I didn’t enjoy grading them.

Finally my husband persuaded us to try Khan Academy, a free website with math videos beginning at addition all the way to high school and college math topics.  You watch the instructional videos and then do practice problems until you show mastery.

To our surprise we loved it!  If you’ve ever watched a video or talk on Khan Academy you’ve probably heard the term “flip the classroom.”  It means the students watch instructional videos to cover math topics and the teacher in the classroom is there to help with questions or problems.  This arrangement fit us perfectly.  She got a coherent lesson from a math expert.  I could listen if I need a refresher, and then be there to clarify or assist.  The fact that it was free was the icing on the cake.

We used Khan Academy as her main math curriculum last spring and over the summer.  I noticed a couple problems during the summer (yes, we school year round!).  First one of the suggested activities involved questions far above her math level (interest on a loan).  Second, working our way to fractions sequentially through Khan’s Knowledge Map was taking a long time–it was difficult to introduce the concepts of fractions she should be covering for 4th grade math without getting into higher level math that she wasn’t ready for.

Before the school year I researched profusely and had analysis paralysis.  I researched so much I couldn’t settle on something.  As we entered our full time school routine the main problem arose.  When my daughter sat down to work on math she became frustrated with not having clear goals or a direction to follow.  I needed to help her pick which modules to work on and sometimes I wasn’t sure what she should do.  Initially the “suggested activities” worked well, but as she’d worked on the site longer it didn’t seem it was suggesting what she actually needed to learn next.  In short, we weren’t covering the topics she needed to be working at grade level.

Finally I realized we needed a different solution.  After much research (again) and pulling my husband in for mental assistance we went went back to the drawing table.  My main requirement: video instruction.  Our choices were Saxon (with the DIVE CD’s), Math-U-See, and Teaching Textbooks.

We ruled out Saxon after reading too many negative reviews.  The reviews about kids really disliking math, “kill and drill,” and even some families reporting they burned the workbooks when they quit scared us.

Math-U-See was very appealing to my Charlotte Mason side.  After watching many of the available demo videos we decided it was so different that it would require too much backtracking to explain Math-U-See’s system, terminology, and manipulatives at my daughter’s level.

That left Teaching Textbooks.  I read glowing reviews and we watched demo videos from the company and videos made by users on YouTube.  Several bloggers I respect use it (Jimmie, Barb, Tricia), and it’s also recommended as part of the Sonlight program.  We decided to take the plunge.  Placement tests put my daughter at the 5th grade level (Math 5).

Do we hope this will be the math curriculum we can stick with?  Of course!  Do we still have concerns?  Yes.  The biggest are the reviews I read saying Teaching Textbooks is “behind” or that children who use it don’t test well in math.  I’ll be combating those concerns in several ways:

  • She’s already starting a grade level ahead of where I expected, so that may explain the “behind” concern.
  • We’ll still be using Xtramath for math fact memorization.
  • We administer standardized testing yearly so I should spot any testing problems early.
  • I’ll keep my eye on Common Core Curriculum standards and our public school district’s math curriculum to be sure she is covering grade level topics.
  • We’ll keep Khan Academy and its videos in our pocket as a supplement.
  • Lastly I plan to supplement with Life of Fred.  I am very intrigued by the author and his approach.  I have the elementary Apples book that I’m working through with my seven year old son.  I am not confident enough to use it solely, but I think the story aspect will appeal to my daughter, and the focus on understanding math will be a great supplement.

So there’s the long version of our math story.  Any one else already have to make a curriculum change?

Posted in Math

Nature Study ~ Focusing on Insects and Spiders

September 29, 2012 | By Heidi

We enjoy nature study using the gentle leading from Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study blog.  When I purchased her “Getting Started” ebook and read in Challenge #4 about picking a focus area the idea made so much sense!  When her September newsletter came out with a focus on insects and I saw that arthropods were coming up in our formal science curriculum, picking our first focus area was easy: Insects & Spiders.

I gathered related books, field guides and flashcard sets, our magnifying glasses, some specimens (purchased in acrylic and ones we’ve collected in jars).  I placed all these items on a sofa table that I dubbed our “Nature Table.”  The kids were intrigued and I saw a lot more handling of the specimens and flipping through the books with them all on display.  It also made it easy to identify bugs we saw with all the insect books in one place.

Nature Table: Insects and Spiders

 

Using the September newsletter planning chart I mapped out topics I hoped to cover.  She said picking a focus area helped her family learn much more in their area of concentration and that they would see more of whatever item they were focusing on, and I found this to be true in our family.  Here are some of our nature study highlights for the month:

  • We did a lot of reading, finally going through all the wonderful introductory pages in our Complete Guide to Insects and Spiders book.
  • We watched some great videos.  We always watch the YouTube links in Barb’s Outdoor Hour Challenge posts because we can see things we don’t have the good fortune of observing, like a spider spinning a web or cricket making it’s “music.”  National Geographic Kids also has fun short videos and slideshows.
  • We went on focused bug hunts, but also found ourselves pointing out insects to each other everywhere we went!  Sometimes it seemed like insects and spiders were just waiting to be observed by us.
  • Barb’s September grid gave us some things to look for on our nature walks.  We found insects of many different colors, looked for ways they camouflage themselves, watched bees, and turned over rocks and logs.  One of the challenges also involved looking at things through a bug’s eye view, which my son thoroughly enjoyed.

Insect Grid Study

  • This large spider is the perfect example of why a nature study focus area worked well for us.  This exit door we’ve walked by a hundred times, but last week I noticed this spider and we stopped to observe and take photos.  We admired her web (and knew it was an orb web after our studies).  The most exciting part was searching all around for her children after reading about how the young spiders cast out on a line of silk in the wind.  A few were in the same window!  We then went outside and searched around the building, finding lots more smaller spiders that looked just like her.

Spider and Her Young

  • We went on a few bug hunts in our backyard.  We placed a Japanese Beetle and earwig in jars and the kids both completed a notebooking page (free from Primary Possibilities) for their journal.  My daughter loved the organized format, once again my son preferred the blank page and just turned his over to draw on the back!  That’s the beauty of notebooking: flexibility.

Insect Notebooking

I’m not ready to wrap up this area yet–I’d like to talk about grasshoppers and flies.  Barb mentioned spending six to eight weeks on one focus area and I think that will be a good time frame for us.  At four weeks we still have more I’d like to cover, but after a couple more weeks we’ll be ready to move on.

Have you tried having a focus area for your nature study?

Posted in Nature Study

Our Homeschool Journal: Changing Furniture and Curriculum Already!

September 28, 2012 | By Heidi

In our homeschool this week…

It was a great week!  After last week with my husband gone and lots of extra activities, this week felt like a breeze.

A Productive Homeschool Week

  1. We worked on decorating cardstock to slip into the clear covers of our school binders.  Note to self: do not leave a mischievous six year old boy with an ink pad while you put in a load of laundry.
  2. In our study through American History we’re at the War of 1812.  My son loves to build things and here is his version of the U.S.S. Constitution, a.k.a. “Old Ironsides.”  Since he used geometric shapes can that count as math and history?
  3. Our formal science curriculum (RSO Life) and nature study aligned perfectly this week and it was all about arthropods.  Barb’s suggestion in her Getting Started ebook of choosing a nature study focus area worked out extremely well for us this month, and it was just good luck that our science studies coincided.  This large spider was one of our study subjects that we noticed.  I’ll have a full post on our study of insects and spiders coming up.
  4. Geography Club focused on Brazil and we brought these Brazilian treats called “Brigadieros” …and dropped the leftovers off with my husband at the fire station so I wouldn’t have to bring them home and possibly eat them all.
  5. I rearranged the furniture…again.  Our large schoolroom table is now in the family room and provides a great together workspace to really stretch out.  We are supposed to eat meals there so I’ll have to clean it up now and then.  The desks the kids had upstairs in their rooms (that they never used) are now in the schoolroom.  I’ll have to take a photo once I clean it all up!

Places we went and people we saw (which is also my favorite thing this week)…

Our favorite activity this week was geography club.  Last year I was part of a small group that met for a book club once a month.  We decided to meet every week this year with one meeting a month still being a book club, and the other meetings being a geography club where we’ll spend the month focusing on a country.  We all bring something to share at the meeting:  a food, a bit of knowledge, a game or activity.  Our first meeting we discussed Brazil and had such fun!  We’ll be continuing to study Brazil throughout the month, so I’ll post our resources and what we shared at the end of October.

My favorite resource this week…

By chance we ended up watching several videos on National Geographic Kids, and I realized it’s a treasure trove I should check more often!  We watched a very informative short video on Brazil and then clicked over to the animals section and watched short clips on some creatures we’ve come across in our science studies.  The site has gorgeous pictures and an information slideshow for various animals and countries, and many items also have quality videos.

What’s working and not working for us…

Our schedule really is working well.  We have four weeks under our belt and I feel like we’re rolling along nicely.  I never get everything done on my own to-do list and my house seems to be constantly messy, but I’m really happy with the learning taking place for both of my kids.  Their individual work is going so smoothly, and my daughter’s weekly assignment sheet is helping her be more independent and productive.  As always our studies together are favorites and we’re knee deep in exciting topics!

As far as something not working, that would be our math plan for my daughter.  This deserves a post of its own, which I’ll get to later this week.  I’ll just share this photo, and tell you that my daughter and I practically ran to meet the mailman on Thursday for this box:

Teaching Textbooks Arrives

Things I’m working on…

I think I may have a sickness to be rearranging furniture again when it’s been just over a months since I rearranged the whole house for those cool lockers.  Why rearrange again?  No good reason except my daughter (mini-me) and I got an idea and just had to try it out.  It involved yet another multi-step furniture moving process, and one can never be sure how it will work out until everything is in it’s new spot.  My husband made me promise not to carry any heavy furniture up or down the stairs when he left for his 24-hour firefighter shift, so currently all I accomplished was making the house look like it traveled through a tornado like in The Wizard of Oz.  Why do I do this to myself?  Why can’t I leave well enough alone and actually give myself time to dust or clean the bathrooms once in a while?

We’re reading…

Same books as last week:

Other Happenings…

I shared our recipe for homemade play dough this week.  It’s almost time for a new batch and I’m thinking orange or red for fall.

We celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day by watching the Scholastic video for the book Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh (it’s on the Scrambled States video) and eating apple bread.  Do you subscribe to the Homeschool Share blog and get their “Making the Days Count” monthly activity calendars?  We always find something fun to add in to our schedule!

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Favorite Resource This Week

Posted in Journal

Easy Homemade Play Dough and Its Many Uses

September 26, 2012 | By Heidi

I received a recipe for homemade play dough years ago from a kindergarten teacher and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made it.  It is soft and squishy and entirely satisfying to sink your hands into.  It’s quick and easy to make and I think you’ll agree it’s far more fun than that store bought stuff!

Play Dough

Here’s the no-fail recipe for perfect play dough:

  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 2 1/2 cups flour (more may be needed)
  • 2 cups boiling water

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add boiling water and oil.  Stir quickly and mix well.  When cool mix completely with your hands (I usually have my two willing assistants do this job).  Add more flour if the dough is too oily.  Store in an air tight container.

Using Kool-Aid packets to color the play dough also adds a fun scent.  We keep it in a plastic container, and it lasts a month or so.  Having a large amount of one color has worked out much better than individual containers of store-bought play dough in different colors.  And you just can’t beat the squishiness!

My six year old son plays with it the most.  Not only is it good for long periods of creative (and quiet!) play, it actually has been quite handy for schoolwork.  It’s a way for my hands-on learner to practice letters and words.

When we were working on letter names and sounds I purchased a set of alphabet cookie cutters and would ask him to cut out certain letters for me.  I also made frequent use of the ABC play dough mats by Jolanthe of Homeschool Creations.  Print them up, pop them into a page protector or laminate them, and they can be used over and over.  I would have my son make snakes and then form the letters for me.  This worked especially well when he was mixing up letters (like B and D) because the picture on the mats helped reinforce the letter name and sound.

Play Dough Letter Mats

Now that he’s older I’ll ask him to make words for me.  It’s fun hands-on practice that doesn’t involve writing on paper.  There is only so much writing I can get him to do in a day, but if school involves getting out the play dough he’s pretty agreeable.

In case you’re wondering, he uses the play dough for hours outside of our school uses.  His current obsession is tanks, and he uses the play dough to build tank armies.  In the photo you can see his book on tanks in the background.  After all, even when playing one must be accurate when it comes to tanks.

Play Dough's Other Uses

The funny part is that just the other day I realized there was more than just a battle going on–he was testing!  Do you see the tank without a turret that he’s still building?  The little object sticking out of the hole is the man.  (Or should I say crash test dummy?)  After the battle he pulls off the turret or cuts into the tank to see how the driver fared.

A lump of play dough unleashes creativity: leave a fresh batch on your counter and see what it becomes!

Posted in Hands-On Learning

Our Homeschool Journal: A Week Without Daddy

September 21, 2012 | By Heidi

What a week!  My husband was away four days for a training, and our home just isn’t home without Daddy!  He’s a firefighter/paramedic so we’re accustomed to his 24-hour shifts at the fire station less than a mile from our house, but having him be in another state for four days was much harder.

In our homeschool this week…

In our R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey curriculum it was all about worms!  Our favorite activity was a lab testing worm senses.

Worm Senses Lab

We’ve continued with a focus area of insects and spiders for nature study.  Barb posted a fun notebooking page that had my kids thinking like a bug!

We were also busy with outside-the-house activities:

  • My son had his first Boy Scout den meeting and is SO proud to be a Tiger Cub.  He looked so cute in his uniform!
  • Our town homeschool group met and had fun crafting with Duck tape.  At that once a month meeting we’re also giving the kids a chance to make a presentation.  It was our first time trying it and it was a great experience for everyone!  The kids could share anything they wished:  an item that is special, something they learned, a poem.  It was a small, relaxed group and good practice speaking and listening for all the kids.
  • My daughter had her first meeting of a new after-school book club at our local library.  Her two very best buddies that attend public school are also going…much giggling occurred in my back seat on the way.

Places we went and people we saw…

The day before my husband left we took advantage of the perfect fall day for our favorite fall tradition: pumpkin and apple picking.  We have a wonderful pick-your-own farm a short drive away and had a great time with friends picking pounds of apples and perfect-for-carving pumpkins.

Pumpkin and Apple Picking

I followed up later in the week with Hodgepodge’s apple chalk pastel tutorial.  Always a fun, messy time.  If you haven’t tried their tutorials you must!  All ages can produce hang-it-on-the-wall-worthy art.

Apple Chalk Pastel

My favorite thing this week was…

My husband’s return!  We all missed him terribly.  I missed his companionship and help with the kids and household…and his cooking.  The kids missed his wrestling, tickling, and cuddling…and his cooking.  They had a “welcome home” prepared for his late-night arrival.  My favorite parts were the balloon kids awaiting hugs and kisses.

Daddy's Welcome Home

My favorite resource this week…

We stumbled upon the Math Is Fun website while helping my daughter with subtracting negative numbers.  The Khan videos had explained how to do the problems but she still hadn’t grasped the why.  Math Is Fun had a real-world explanation that clicked for her.

We’re reading…

I’m still working through For The Children’s Sake by Susan Shaeffer Macaulay and still really enjoying it.  My daughter is reading Poppy by Avi for her book club and Sacajawea: Guide to Lewis and Clark by Della Rowland.  We’re reading Treasure Island and listening to Cherry Jones read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  For poetry we’re reading through Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies, a nice mix of verses with beautiful watercolor artwork.

In case you missed it…

I posted about our plans for a government and elections unit study.  I’m looking forward to starting it in about a week and connecting my kids with what’s happening in the news.

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Favorite Resource This Week

 

Posted in Journal

Capitalizing on the Excitement of a Presidential Election

September 19, 2012 | By Heidi

I’ve mentioned how we watch CNN Student News every morning over breakfast when I wrote about our daily schedule.  It is a routine we all enjoy and a great way to introduce my children to current events.  They’ve been asking lots of questions since the beginning of the presidential primaries, so I knew this was a great year to do a unit study on U.S. government and elections.

I took the time to put together an elementary-level unit study and lapbook.  I am ever grateful for Homeschool Share and the people who put time and effort into making resources that others can use free of charge.  I was able to find all the minibooks for our government and elections lapbook from free HSS lapbooks or their blank minibook templates.  I compiled a list of books to cover the topics–quality books are always the backbone of our studies.  Lastly, I enjoy rounding out our units with educational videos, websites and songs, so I found some fun additions to reinforce concepts.

Are any of you hoping to capitalize on this election-year excitement to teach your kids about our system of government and the election process?  If you’d like you can read the details on what we’ll be doing for a government and elections unit.

We’ll work on this lapbook in early October so the information will be fresh in their minds as the campaigns really ramp up before election day.  We’ll continue watching Student News each day, watch debates and speeches together, and take field trips to see and candidates that visit locally.  It should be an exciting, educational election season!

Posted in Unit Studies

Our Homeschool Journal: A Full Week!

September 14, 2012 | By Heidi

In our homeschool this week…

It was a busy, productive week.  Our Time Traveler’s history focus was inventions of the 1800’s, and we had a lot of fun learning about the cotton gin, revolver, sewing machine, and steamboat and how these inventions impacted life in early America.  Daddy, a licensed amateur radio operator, stepped in as a guest instructor for Morse Code.  I need to arrange guest instructors more often!  It was a highlight of the week.

We studied the phylum Cnidaria in our science curriculum (RSO Life Level 1), with a hands-on model of the jellyfish lifecycle.

Jellyfish Life Cycle

In other science learning, nature study was part of nearly every day!  I’m so thankful Barb makes it easy to implement nature study because it adds so much enrichment to our homeschool.   The kids checked a few more things off the Last Days of Summer grid while I worked in the garden.  We took a little walk another day and did Challenge #1 from the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook.

Our item of interest ended up being mushrooms and we learned about them after returning home.  The topic that intrigued us was related to our earlier science studies about plant cells and chloroplasts–why are mushrooms not green?  Using the Handbook of Nature Study we learned it’s because they don’t have chloroplasts to manufacture their own food, but use decaying plant matter for food, thus doing the world a great service in addition to feeding themselves!

Mushroom

We also did the weekly challenge on ants.  Our backyard ant hills are a bit quiet this time of year, but we tried to stir them up a little and noticed we have a least two different kinds making a home near our gardens.  It was fun, as usual, to see the differences in what my kids were interested in: my daughter loved the structure of ant hills with separate rooms.  We read the information in our books and then also did a little internet research to find some diagrams.  My son was intrigued by the information in the Handbook of Nature Study on ant battles and how they can go on for days and involve fighting to the death.

The other idea from Barb’s Getting Started ebook was to pick a Focus Area, and for us the next month or two will be all about Insects and Spiders!  I really like the idea of a nature focus area, and we have a catch-all console table that I’ve now turned into our nature study table.  I combed our shelves and came up with several books and flash card sets.  My son has a few interesting specimens in acrylic and we have a few insects we’ve collected in jars.  I’ve set these all up on our nature table and we’ll be on the lookout for opportunities to study insects and spiders in our nature study.

Nature Study Focus Area: Insects and Spiders

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

No need to be derailed by minor illness!  My youngest was starting with a cold one morning.  I’m always thankful I don’t have to ask myself: “Do I send him to school or not?”  That used to be so tricky, trying to weigh how they felt or if they were infectious with what they were missing.  We don’t call off school at home for minor illness, but try to make adjustments to continue learning and give comfort to whoever is under the weather.

First step:  The Sick Couch.  That’s an official family name for the cozy spot we bestow upon the sick member, loaded up with pillows and blankets and stuffed animals.   We pull the table closer and stock that with tissues and treats.  This time I made a homemade hot chocolate that was well-received.

Then we continue with the things we can (all from the “sick couch”) and usually make adjustments like extra reading aloud or an educational show.  This time we brought out our popular Magic School Bus Human Body DVD and he watched “Inside Ralphie” while I worked with his big sister.

Places we went and people we saw…

Did you know that a little town in Maine was involved in the War of 1812?  We had a fabulous time at Hampden Heritage Days, a free event put on by the historical society at a historic home.

Heritage Days

We learned about the Battle of Hampden and a chambermaid who threw the contents of a chamber pot on some British soldiers attempting to gain access to the home.  We were able to step inside Hannibal Hamlin’s law office (vice-president with Lincoln during the Civil War).  We also enjoyed many glimpses into life in another time period, and imagined what it would be like: sleeping on a rope bed, having to hand-make so much of what you needed, and handwriting that was really an art form.  Some of it looked hard, but some of the simpleness of the time is always appealing.  I loved the “Nanny-Rocker” where a mother could lay her baby to rock while having her hands free for handiwork, or how the spinning wheel was made to be portable so women could bring them when they socialized.

My favorite thing this week was…

Good friends coming to dinner!  I love the flexibility we have to schedule social time as a family, and I also love when we have guests because my husband cooks the not-so-healthy meals that we generally avoid like creamy haddock chowder!

My favorite resource this week…

Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler posted her World’s Greatest Artists study for FREE this week.  The printables and activities are a great addition to our Harmony Fine Arts curriculum and I was excited to download it and go further in our study of Renoir this month!  I’m continually amazed and appreciative of homeschool bloggers sharing their hard work and talent with the rest of us!

Things I’m working on…

Putting together our first unit study for the year: it’s a little mix of Elections, Government and the Presidency geared for elementary age students.  I’ll post my plans as soon as I finalize them–hopefully within the next few days after I receive all the books I’ve ordered.

We’re reading…

My 10-year old is still working on Nancy Drew and the Clue in the Crumbling Wall, while my 6-year old pours over a book on Tanks.  Our read alouds are On The Banks of Plum Creek from the Little House series, and Treasure Island.  Yes, the full, unabridged version!  I was wondering how my six year old would do, but it is pirates after all!  I found an audio version but it was read too quickly, so I’m reading it with as much panache as I can manage, and going slowly enough and stopping often enough to be sure they understand.  As we’ve gotten into the story we’re all really enjoying it.  I love the opportunity to read all the great books I missed!

I’m reading For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  I have it on interlibrary loan but will be adding it to my shelf when I can:  it’s one of those I could see myself re-reading frequently for inspiration and encouragement in the Charlotte Mason philosophy.

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!

Favorite Resource This Week

Posted in Journal, Nature Study
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Hi, I'm Heidi and I homeschool my two sweet kids. I want them to know that learning is an exciting lifelong adventure! We love great books, unit studies, notebooking, lapbooking, and hands-on learning.

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